Loy Kratong!

Another Loy Kratong is in the books. Loy Kratong is an immensely popular holiday here where people make Kratongs, light them and put them into a river while wishing for good health, friends and happiness. It is very fun, students make them in class, to varying degrees of success. People also light and set off lanterns into the sky that would make almost anyone fall in love with Thailand instantly.

                                 The main reason for this post is when my friend said I should make a wish. I love wishes, specifically fountains that I can throw small change into. I think it is very romantic and optimistic about things to come. My favorites tend to be casino fountains. I can remember being in Ottawa and wishing for a girlfriend, a better job or any slight improvement to my average life. Before setting my beautiful Kratong alight that I may have received a mild bit of help with by my patient Thai teacher and one of my very bright students, I thought about what I wanted to wish for.
My wish: I don't want a single thing. 

I want my life to continue going exactly the way it is without any interference from  anything or anyone. Do I have everything I want? No. Do I have everything I need. Certainly. I'm also writing this with the prospect of a three day long weekend on Haad Yuan with some of my best friends, a no work Wednesday and a 12 day trip in Bali coming up with the legendary Kait, Jake and Emma so I might be in higher than usual spirits but as my Mother Goose would say: All is well. Here are some pictures from our schools beauty pageant on Wednesday. 

Thanks for staying tuned with my life. 
Stay safe, mildly sober and extraordinarily happy. 

Halloween and student quote

I will get to the best part right away. Once a week I have a writing class with my students. They are crazy smart and my favorite part is teaching them new vocabulary. This evaluation we are teaching them about letter writing and in their Thai class they are learning the same thing. I bought all of my kids postcards while I was in Malaysia and I am in the process of writing them each a personal note and will put it in the mail so they get a postcard from their teacher. Might be a bit lame but I think some of them will like it. I had them bring in their addresses because they need to write a letter to the other grade 3 class. So I wrote a sample letter on the board and had them write a letter to me or to one of their friends in class. This is an excerpt of what one of my brightest and funniest kids had to say: 

"Dear Teacher Bert,

Hi! I am sad because I study with you. What are you doing now? I think you are playing with another student. Why your face is red all the time? I know that your colouring is so ugly. Do you know that my mom said you are very handsome? I think my mom eye is not ok....Sometime teacher Bert is crazy (draws a sad face) because when I said something he will laugh and laugh and laugh...I hope you have a bad day.

Your student, Kiki."

So funny. Another student told me she wanted to kick me 10 or 11 times. 

As for Halloween, this picture speaks for itself.

Most classes had treats to give to the students. We have just over 220 kids so I bought a bunch of grapes, put them in a bowl and had the kids close their eyes, put their grubby little hands into the bowl and pick out an "eyeball" and eat it. I think it worked out well, had scary music going on in the backround. Any student who might have been scared just sort of looked at me and thought there is nothing dangerous going on in this class.