3 weeks, already?!

Today marks the end of our third week in Thailand...or I guess it is also the start of our fourth week! My, how the time has passed! This week was full of many new activities. We learned lots more Thai, and now I really need to use it and study it to get it down. When I go to the Sukhothai Province to teach, I will definitely need to use Thai to communicate. In other words, I probably won't be able to "rely" on my English as much as I have in Bangkok. I guess that is a pretty big incentive to learn the language!

Yesterday we visited Wat Bovorn-Niwet Viharn (a Buddhist monastery and university). We learned about Buddhism from the Venerable Phra Anil Sakya who has been a monk for more than 35 years, and started his training when he was 14! Yesterday I also had my first Thai massage! It was awesome and crazy! I would open my eyes periodically and the masseuse would by standing on my back or pulling my body this way or that. I am glad to say I survived, and actually my body feels great! It was 200 Baht for one hour- or basically about six dollars. I might have to make it a routine :)

Tomorrow, some of the group and I are going to Ko Somet - an island about 4 hours from Bangkok. Should be nice to get away from the city and enjoy some relaxation on the beach!

Next Wednesday, we start a week of teaching at a local Bangkok high school. The point of this "teaching practice" is to help us get familiar with teaching in front of many Thai students, and hopefully to teach the students some English too! I plan to work on my lesson plans this weekend!

Guess what?! I just learned that the lowest daytime temperature for Bangkok was 22.3 °C (72 °F), recorded in December 1999. Isn't that crazy? I guess I shouldn't expect any snow :)

It is Zoe's (a member of the ETA group) birthday today. Some of us are going to go out and celebrate with some karaoke! Should be an experience!!!

Hope you're doing great! I would love to hear from you!

Love,
Kate