I've found a really cool church in Bangkok called New Song. You can look them up online. They have service every Saturday night, and a really cool bible study on wednesday nights. Among the ex-pats and they have a tight mix of English teachers, and missionaries to the slums and prostitutes. About half the church is native Thai's---so it's a really cool mix.

I've lost ten pounds and counting--I got a free gym membership until July (I've been using it)---and should join a gym with a couple of my buddies for the month of July. I just don't know if I'm going to be able to get enough protein here in Bangkok to stay over even 210.

My school has closed due to swine flu scares. I don't know if or how many people have had swine flu, but I get a four day vacation, which melts into the preplanned vacation from July 6-8. Pretty sweet.

A couple of weeks ago, my boss asked me to sub for a kindergarten class. I wasn't exactly sure what to do, but he made me a lesson plan teaching them colors and stuff, and I can always use the money, so I went for it. I got their, and the kids looked waaaayyy younger than my 2nd graders. I introduced myself and asked them what their names were, and they just stared at me. This would be a theme for most of the class. I tried the alphabet song "Heads, shoulders, knees, and toes," and "the wheels on the bus," and "simon says," without the Simon. My record was getting maybe 2 out of 12 students to participate for about ten percent of the activity. The mainly just wanted to stare at me. One little guy just really wanted to walk underneath my legs. I swore I would never teach kindergarteners again. So when my boss called me this Thursday to sub for a kindergarten class, I naturally said--Yes. I have a hard time saying "no."

It turns out the firs kindergarden class I taught was K. 1--which means they were probably 3 and 4 year olds. The kids I taught this time were at least a wopping 5 years old. It went a lot better. They might not have been able to sing along to Old Mcdonald and the wheels on the bus--but they were totally down with oinking like a pig, and throwing their arms "round and round." And EVERYONE could "put their right arm in, and shake it all about."

I gotta run now--we're gonna try to check out some more of Bangkok today. Next time I'll tell you about the cutest 2nd grader ever.

Here's something I wrote June 9th. Computer difficulties prevent me from posting more now, but I will try to soon.

I have been teaching 2nd grade girls phonics on my own for two weeks now. They spent the first 3 weeks on the short “a” sound. We spent the last two weeks on the short “i” sound. This week we are doing a much-needed review of the short “a” and “i.” They enjoy coloring, playing Simon-says, and slapping my butt. They do not particularly enjoy sounding out words with the aforementioned short vowels in them, but I have high hopes for the short “o.”

Adjusting to a new city and job had worn us all down a bit, so everyone from Baylor needed the stress reliever that the tropical island of Koh Samet provided so well. We rented a couple “beach houses” about a 55 second walk from the beach for a little less than ten dollars per person, per night. The water there was a bright blue, and it was the warmest ocean water I had ever felt. It actually felt a bit cooler than Bangkok, but that’s not saying too much. (Today it was in the 90’s in Bangkok, and I can’t even imagine what the humidity level is.)

The seven of us who are contracted with Systems have all pretty much settled in two our new apartment, which is incredibly small---think small dorm room size---no kitchen or living room, but it does have a bathroom. The very bright side is that it is RIGHT next to the sky train, which is the best transportation to all of Bangkok, and also has a bevy of street vendors right outside our back door. I have fruit smoothies every night, and am trying the various omelet, rice and noodle dishes the different vendors have to offer.

The people here are friendly, the shopping centers are MASSIVE, and the taxi drivers don’t speak English.

I’ll post later this week about my experience subbing for a kindergarten teacher. It turns out there is a big difference between kindergarten and second grade.

address

SYSTEM TRAINING
THONGLOR 13
SOI TOSAK 1
KLONGTAN, WATTANA
BANGKOK, THAILAND 10110
+662-392-2154-5

Here's my address. Throw me your's and I'll try to send you a postcard