Namsom and Nam som
So the Thai language learning crawls on. This week I have picked up that Nam Som (with a rising tone on Som) means orange juice and Namsom (with a falling tone) is the town I am living in. No wonder people giggle at us falangs all the time.
Yesterday the monsoon rains prevented us doing much so watched some dvds (the selection is limited!). I tutored two nurses (Pi Mon and Tae) from the hospital with Femeke last night which was good fun as they are really lovely and more like conversation really. Until I bring up things like murder and crime which leads to a role play by Fem and myself. hilarious.
We then went to the hospital for dinner - an unusual concept you may agree but the monsoon rains meant the street vendors would be safely at home and the hospital is pretty close to where we live. The food was actually very good and it was a blessing have Mon and Tae to translate the whirly writing.
Earlier this week Daphne and I had a cooking lesson with Jeab, one of the thai coordinators. We made gai phad mit (cashew nuts and fried chicken), ka poew (fried chicken with basil - quite spicy), omlette and a few other bits and piece. Really lovely although it is so cheap to buy food here - much cheaper than buying all the ingrediants for dinner.
But perhaps less worrying. Our school lunches meet with a bemused look everyday wondering if there will be chicken feet in it, exactly what it means when someone tells you the meat is not chicken but bird, what went squish then crunch and why oh why they put so much liver in everything!
School this week has been quite good although I took my first lesson by myself today. We didn't have much time for games as the teacher requested I spent quite a long time testing their reading of simple words like cat and hat and sun and then I asked them to draw their favorite things. It was quite interesting to get this idea across to them as the teacher was absent but we got there in the end!
Today, in contrast to yesterday, is sunny. There are no extremes here. It is boiling hot - probably 38C and no air conditioning anywhere. I'm not complaining though, honest.
Yesteday (wednesday), was Daphne's last day at Namsom and teaching so we went in early to watch the flag ceremony. The general idea is that a boy and girl together raise the Thai flag up the mast while the rest of the primary school sing (well, shout) the national anthem. A prayer is then said.
The our teacher, Pi Neung, took the microphone to bid Daphne farewell and she had to say a few words. Then they said hello to me. By this time everyone seemed to be wandering off into their classrooms so I kept it short and sweet - not least becuase I doubt they had a clue what I was saying anyway!
Tomorrow Fem leaves and I think I am to go to Udon Thani. The Lonely Planet says this is a grey concrete town of no charm but the thai's love it for the shopping, cinema, and nightlife.
Jeab goes there to see her brother and sister so I will go with her or meet her there and check out the night market, shopping and maybe even get to see a film. I was hoping to catch Superman or Pirates of the Carribean 2 but I'm told most of these are dubbed in Thai.
So I may have to settle for a Thai film with English subtitles - which is the way it should be I suppose!
I am now to go and explore something at the bus station. Something about the market moving or the muncipal office... and some kind of festival. Not sure what it is exactly but I plan to go and be nosy!
Yesterday the monsoon rains prevented us doing much so watched some dvds (the selection is limited!). I tutored two nurses (Pi Mon and Tae) from the hospital with Femeke last night which was good fun as they are really lovely and more like conversation really. Until I bring up things like murder and crime which leads to a role play by Fem and myself. hilarious.
We then went to the hospital for dinner - an unusual concept you may agree but the monsoon rains meant the street vendors would be safely at home and the hospital is pretty close to where we live. The food was actually very good and it was a blessing have Mon and Tae to translate the whirly writing.
Earlier this week Daphne and I had a cooking lesson with Jeab, one of the thai coordinators. We made gai phad mit (cashew nuts and fried chicken), ka poew (fried chicken with basil - quite spicy), omlette and a few other bits and piece. Really lovely although it is so cheap to buy food here - much cheaper than buying all the ingrediants for dinner.
But perhaps less worrying. Our school lunches meet with a bemused look everyday wondering if there will be chicken feet in it, exactly what it means when someone tells you the meat is not chicken but bird, what went squish then crunch and why oh why they put so much liver in everything!
School this week has been quite good although I took my first lesson by myself today. We didn't have much time for games as the teacher requested I spent quite a long time testing their reading of simple words like cat and hat and sun and then I asked them to draw their favorite things. It was quite interesting to get this idea across to them as the teacher was absent but we got there in the end!
Today, in contrast to yesterday, is sunny. There are no extremes here. It is boiling hot - probably 38C and no air conditioning anywhere. I'm not complaining though, honest.
Yesteday (wednesday), was Daphne's last day at Namsom and teaching so we went in early to watch the flag ceremony. The general idea is that a boy and girl together raise the Thai flag up the mast while the rest of the primary school sing (well, shout) the national anthem. A prayer is then said.
The our teacher, Pi Neung, took the microphone to bid Daphne farewell and she had to say a few words. Then they said hello to me. By this time everyone seemed to be wandering off into their classrooms so I kept it short and sweet - not least becuase I doubt they had a clue what I was saying anyway!
Tomorrow Fem leaves and I think I am to go to Udon Thani. The Lonely Planet says this is a grey concrete town of no charm but the thai's love it for the shopping, cinema, and nightlife.
Jeab goes there to see her brother and sister so I will go with her or meet her there and check out the night market, shopping and maybe even get to see a film. I was hoping to catch Superman or Pirates of the Carribean 2 but I'm told most of these are dubbed in Thai.
So I may have to settle for a Thai film with English subtitles - which is the way it should be I suppose!
I am now to go and explore something at the bus station. Something about the market moving or the muncipal office... and some kind of festival. Not sure what it is exactly but I plan to go and be nosy!
posted by charlie at 5:21 pm
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