Narita, again.

Bangkok, 2:46 pm
Tokyo, 4:46 pm
Chicago, 1:46 am

Last layover in Tokyo, one more flight, and I'm home!

My last few days in Bangkok were good, despite being sick. This is right when I caught a cold last year, boo. So I spent part of Monday in bed. Tuesday I hung out with Kraig, saw his house (MAJOR fixer-upper), met his puppies (OMG CUTE PUPPIES), bought a 250 gig external hard drive for 3,000 baht, and ate pizza with him and Anne. I was kinda sneezy and falling apart by the end of the night, which was no fun.

Wednesday, I stayed in bed most of the day. I managed to get showered and dressed, but then I slept all afternoon. And then Amir took me out- ostensibly for dinner. This actually meant copious drinks beforehand and after. It was a fun night, though. And I haven't had that much to drink since Pub Crawl. Miraculously, it made me better. I can't explain that- maybe the alcohol killed the little buggers?

Thursday I packed. Nat and Lea came over, and it was like Christmas day- I gave them all the stuff I couldn't or didn't need to bring back. My fan, my pans, hangers, laundry baskets, most of the books I bought, my speakers, curling iron, towels, all the pepto and imodium pills, the backpack I bought . . . Nat was estatic, it was rather hysterical. :D Then we took that stuff to school, and went to the Esplanade. Had dinner, went to see the new National Treasure movie. Which cracks me up, last night in Thailand I go see a movie that's all about American history. Though the part in England, Nat said it looked like home. Not a bad movie.

I got home at 10:30, finished packing. Couldn't fall asleep at all. And then I woke up BEFORE my alarm at 3am. Was downstairs checking out at 4. Lea came with me to the airport because she had a friend getting in at 7am.

My one suitcase was 37 kilos. OUCH. And I had to pay for it. 12,600 baht. 400-something dollars. On the upside, they let me take my guitar on as a carryon and I didn't have to pay for that, so that's something. But really, I didn't think I bought THAT much stuff!

Now, for the 10.5 hour flight, and I'll be HOME. The sun just set here in Japan, and we're going to chase the sunlight back to the afternoon back home. I'm listening to christmas music as I type this . . .

Boarding in ten minutes. I should get over there.

Hey, I get to be in the same timezone as most of my friends now! What a revolutionary concept!!

Today is the last day of school. We had a class and a half, and now it's break, and then we have assembly, and that's it. And then I come home in a week.

It's strange, saying goodbye to students and friends. It's not like people from back home, where I can drive four hours and see them, or at the worst drive across the country. Estonia, Romania, Germany, New Zealand, UK. Being here makes the world feel very small, like anything is possible. And now it feels so very big and vast and insurmountable.

Christ on a bike, I just signed withdrawl forms for two students. And there were two more yesterday. Dave is going to New Zealand, Olivia is going back to Korea, Sachiko back to Japan, and I forget where the other boy was going. I never moved as a child; there were a couple kids I went to kindergarten with that I graduated high school with. It's not like I was in a small town and there were only 200 kids. But I can't fathom moving a lot. A kid needs a home, a rock, a place to belong to. I suppose it's possible to move a lot and still have that family stability. But on the other hand, you're never somewhere long enough to forge deep relationships, to learn the way and move up in ranks to become a leader in your community.


-It's almost noon, we just had assembly. Heath dressed up as Santa Claus, only the pillow padding was a little iffy- looked like Santa had rather perky double Ds.

Sigh. I can't even articulate how I'm feeling right now. Maybe I'll try later.

6 1/2 days of school left . . .

We've got Wednesday off for the King's Birthday, and then the following Monday is Constitution day, I believe. We haven't had a single days off save for half-term, and now they're at the most inconvenient time. Alas. I'm going to SLEEP on Wednesday, for I am EXHAUSTED after the week I just had. And I now get to tell you all about it.


Wait a second, first I need to show you what a Thanksgiving dinner in a British brewpub in Thailand is like. :D

First plate- salad, bread & butter, candied yams, twice-baked sweet potatoes, and pumpkin soup. You don't understand, honest-to-god real bread is SO hard to find, or expensive, here. It was SOOO good.


Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, broccoli in cheese sauce, wild rice with mushrooms. The mashed potatoes were kinda . . . gluey. Like when you melt cheese in mashed potatoes, only there was no cheese. And I was disappointed in the wild rice. The turkey, however, was to DIE FOR.


More Turkey, more salad, more bread. Mmmmmm.


Dessert. Cinnamon cranberry cake of some kind: meh. Apple pie: decent, but not what I would call apple pie. Pecan Pie: It was abundantly clear it wasn't my recipe, which is a pecan RUM pie. Needed rum. And a pumpkin cheesecake, which was lovely. Also, fancy cheese and apples.


Lea, after having entirely too much to eat.

And then we couldn't go home and be sluggish and maybe go shopping on Black Friday, nooo, we had school! :P

Monday was a lovely start to my week. I had the year 10 drama students in a rehearsal for the songs for their Christmas Carol production. Gareth was in the other room, and I was about to warm them up. A student leaned over, and something fell out of his pocket. It was a cigarette case, which then broke open on the floor and spilled.

Yes, I busted a kid with marijuana on Monday. Honestly, it was a bit surreal- you talk about drug policies and DARE and yadda yadda- but then to have it quite literally fall on the floor in front of you . . . My cooperating teacher took him to the headmaster, and the student was expelled. There's a rather strict drug policy here, and quite rightly too. He was a smart kid, and I think they're trying to find him a spot at another school. But what a mess; and to top it off, June no longer has a Scrooge.

Tuesday, the year 13 drama students did their performance, which got taped and sent off to England to be adjudicated, etc. They took a Thai myth called Maenak, and rewrote it into a piece. It was performed entirely without dialogue, they used their movements and the music they chose to tell the story. And a bit of screaming and laughing as well. It was about a half an hour, and it was just lovely. It's so difficult when you don't have words to tell the story for you, and they did such a wonderful job.

Wednesday I came home exhausted. I had a lot of paperwork to do in preparation for the rest of the week. About ten minutes after I'd gotten to my apartment, the phone rang. It was Davy Jones; Mr. Cooper had gotten into Bangkok early, was here, and would like to come talk to me. Cue me going 'AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!' Mike Cooper was the previous secondary head here, and he started working for GST back in England. It was very nice to meet him in person, after the phone call mishaps of last summer. :D But I was not really prepared to see him until Friday. He asked about my portfolio, and I said half of it was at school- which was the truth!

Thursday, I had a choir rehearsal. I realized when I went to Singapore that I miss singing in church, back in Ripon. I knew I wouldn't find a place like First Congregational here, but I did manage to find an Anglican church that seemed ok, at least for a temporary basis. They're doing a lessons and carols service on the 16th, and since I'll be here then, why not? It's glaringly obvious that I haven't sung in ages, nevermind singing with my students and to demonstrate stuff. One of my goals has always been to find a choir or a theatre group, something, in order to keep my singing skills in shape. Here, not so easy to do as back home. But I'm excited, simply because I get to sing the nasty high descants Sir David Willcocks wrote for some of the carols . . . . I don't quite get the Anglican church, they use those nasty communion wafers, and I'm not sure I agree with bits of their doctrine, but I met a few nice people, and it will be nice for a couple weeks.

Friday I was a bit on the looney side. I knew I had no reason to freak, but it was still there. The one thing that was different was when Norman was here, he ate lunch with me, we talked a lot, and he saw me in the context of the entire school. Mike Cooper, on the other hand, knows everyone here already, so he spent a lot of time visiting in general and not with me, besides lessons. The first lesson went pretty good- the year 11s. I had worked up for them some questions with listening. If this test is the thing they're focusing on, and they need to improve their listening skills, why not do that? I had them research a musical each, give us a brief background. I think next time I'd give them more specific instructions on what to bring. Then we listened to 2 or 3 songs from that show, and they had 2 or three questions each- some on musical things, other questions asking about the plot, or what the character thought, etc. Les Mis (which, I have to say, was horrible of me because poor Tuang had no clue how to pronounce Jean Valjean or Javert or Cossette), West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, and Sound of Music. The one thing he had for me to improve was that he thought I was asking too specific of questions, he wanted more open-ended things. My response to that was that I'd tried open-ended questions (I had!) and gotten nowhere; and also, the questions on the GCSE are rather specific as well. Richard (who's class it really is) said he would have said the same thing.

The afternoon, I had the year 7s, second day of musical theatre for them. The goal by the end of the class was to have them able to perform- singing and dancing- Comedy Tonight from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. The one choreography bit where they do a criscross was a bit funky, but on the whole it went really well. My goal was to get them to connect what we were doing to theatre as a whole- why does an actor do tongue twisters? Why are movements big? What happens when the audience can't understand you? (well, they can't get the story, and that's really the point, isn't it?)

Before I dismissed the class- and they were raring to go, as it was the last class on a Friday- Mr. Cooper actually complimented them on how well they performed, how well they worked as a class, etc. And then he told me he couldn't think of a single thing that I needed to improve upon in that lesson. "Excellent competence in all aspects of the instruction", quoting from the write-up there.

*THUD* That's the sound of my jaw hitting the floor.

I mean, I thought it was good, but I wasn't expecting that!

And then I went home, and I was so exhausted that I fell asleep at 6:30, intending to get up at 9 and eat something and watch a movie. I woke up at 1am. Then I couldn't get to sleep until 4am. Then I was up at 7, because I went to the Ploenchit fair with Heike. :D Zzzzooommbie!!

The Ploenchit fair is a chairity thing organized by the British Council on something-or-other, and it's a big thing. A lot of the British schools have booths, like we did, and all the money goes to charity. I believe our booth raised over 33,000 baht, beating last year's record. I got a couple small things, and had some nice fish and chips and coconut ice cream. I went home, napped a bit, and then went back to school. Saturday was the staff christmas party, and to be honest I didn't really feel like going. I'd had my big dressy thing already, and I'm tired and broke. And Patsy, who runs the boarding house, likes to go with her daughter Charlie, because it's the one time they get to go to something together. So I volunteered for 'babysitting'. It was lovely, actually; I had internet and munchies, and the girls were no trouble. Marina was looking up the top 10 christmas songs, and I'd hear one I haven't heard in awhile and go running out to see. Some of them they didn't know, being teenagers from Estonia and Armenia. The Chipmunk song, for example. I think that's both an American, and growing up in the eighties thing. And then the Royal Guardsmen Snoopy and the Red Baron album, which I only know because my mom bought it for me as a kid and it's AWESOME. :D

Sunday was church again, and then home for another nap. Then I steeled myself for the torture to come . . . just kidding. :D The Bangkok Opera was doing Die Valkyrie, and we had two students playing plus our violin teacher, and comp tickets . . . It was lovely, it really was. But I don't think I need to sit through any of the Ring Cycle ever again. I hadn't realized it, but 90% of it was recitative. And there's only so much recitative I can take. It was supposed to start at 6. They played the King's Anthem and turned down the lights at about 6:12. Then Somtow Sucharitkul, the conductor, comes out on stage and apologizes for another delay. One of the violinists had dropped her bow underneath the pit, and they had to raise the pit to find it. So up on hydraulics the entire orchestra comes. Then they start going down again, only to stop when someone shouts from underneath . . . . They finally started at about 6:23. There were two intermissions, where we'd go out and warm up, because the hall was FREEZING. Literally, us women were huddled in balls with our pashmina shawls wrapped twice around us. And the seats in the Thailand Cultural centre are just horrid seats. I think the best part was seeing Mr. Kneath's eyes go buggy when, during the second intermission, he learned there was still an hour and a half left. The final curtain fell at 11pm.


Boon and Ruaychai, during an intermission.


Your humble author, and Amir, our violin teacher.


The fire curtain at the Cultural Centre, just 'cause it's pretty.

And then today was the school's celebration of the King's Birthday.


The stage set up on one side of the field.


A veritable sea of yellow. Thais have colors corresponding to days of the week. Monday is yellow, and the King was born on a Monday, so thus his color is yellow. Thus most Thais wear yellow on Mondays. The King turns 80 on Wednesday, and here's for many more. He's done a lot for Thailand, and is deserving of the respect and love the Thai people have for him- unlike many leaders in the world today.

Tonight's goal: find a salad dressing. I've tried four kinds in as many days, and the one kind I know I like I can't find anywhere. They have really bad salad dressing in this country.

Also, curses. I have to figure out Christmas presents and the like.

ok, I just had to stop and post this

Because I'm kinda flabbergasted.

I taught a lesson yesterday, and just got the feedback. Gareth, the one Brit in our department, talked things over with me. My content was good, my homework was awesome, but he didn't like my in-class activities.

Now, I was doing a basic outline of the subject, the history, on the board before we went into depth on the actual music. I told them to take notes on what was on the board, for about 15 minutes of class. And he said I can't do that. I have to give them a worksheet or tell them exactly what to write.

Because students aren't taught to take notes. At least, not until they get into A-level material. When they're 16 or 17!

I remember learning how to take basic notes when I was ten, and then going on from there. You read the text, you take notes. They teach you how to do it. By the time you hit high school, you should know how to take notes in class, and take notes from reading. These kids can't do that at all. They won't even copy down the bullet points from the board unless you specifically tell them, write this like this.

I need to stop assuming things. Assuming they have the same basic skills. Assuming they have any basic knowledge about anything. Because assume makes an ass out of you and me.

EDIT: I caught the deputy heads, curriculum and pastoral, at lunch. They confimed what Gareth said- it's not taught, unless the teacher decides to take it on themselves. And teachers don't. They go, you can teach a lesson on note-taking if you want! No, I do not want! I want to be teaching them the content I want them to take notes on!

I guess I'm making worksheets. Fun.



I had the MOST AWESOME lesson with Richard's year 8s today. SO AWESOME. And then Martyn sees me at lunch, says that he was going to come observe me at 11:30 but something came up. Nooooo!!! It was such a good lesson!! He has to observe me before Cooper gets here, and now he's going to come to see a class that won't be nearly that awesome. Arg.

Long, with lots of pictures.

The year 11s are taking a test right now, and they're listening to this HORRID piece of 20th century music that sounds like sound effects from a bad sci-fi movie.

I am so utterly exhausted; after wednesday, then I stayed at school fairly late last night, and slept badly, and now I want a new neck. Mine is completely stiff on one side. And even if I'm not moving it, stretching it, it just has this dull ache. I forsee a bath with painkillers tonight, if it doesn't improve.

So, Wednesday was the World Consular Fair Gala Dinner. This is the first conference they've had in Southeast Asia, for all the honorary consuls. Dimplomats, basically. There were 70-odd diplomats there, from 60+ countries. We were there because the Chairman of the school, Dr. Virachai, is a member of the group, is hosting parts of it, etc etc. I'm not entirely sure all, but that's the gist. So, naturally, he brings his students in. It's also been a thing that's been weighing on our minds for awhile, simply because it is high-profile.

We left school at 1- I had to leave the test and work for the last hour class on Wednesday, which annoyed me as they're the group that will act up. Consequently, I think some of them cheated on the test. I can't confirm, and they didn't do so well anyways. I'm not pleased with them. I'm not pleased with the test results in general, but that's another story. We got there around 1:30, and Kraig got the music students on stage first to rehearse. The boarding girls were there to do some Thai Dancing, and they didn't have to do much of anything for about an hour, so I stayed with them, as they ate desserts from the fancy luncheon that had just gotten out. I made an observation that a Thai sweet tasted like an air freshener. It did! Flowery tasting, almost artificial.

The first section was playing during the cocktail hour, where people were arriving. The students and Kraig played wonderfully, and I did my part well. I had to look pretty and take pictures, and play the guiro on 'Girl from Impanema'. Not difficult. I was wearing my new black dress from Singapore, and a salmon-pink shawl my mom bought me when she was here. Kraig was playing with them on his Bari Sax, because there's not a single cello in the entire school. We can't fill out a string quartet with just students.

Best thing- I'm there taking pictures, for myself and for the bulletin board in the music department. Khun Miki and Khun Ice are whispering to each other, and then Miki asks me if I have a lot of memory on my camera. Umm . . . enough. Not a whole lot, but a decent amount. (256 mb, not a lot!). Apparently Josh, the guy who normally takes photos for Regent's, couldn't make it, and could I take pictures of everything, and Dr. Virachai and Khun Tip? So I was abruptly turned into the official Regent's photographer for the night. That was interesting. The lighting was HORRID in the lobby, and the quartet was playing in front of windows. I had to use the flash, and when it did it would reflect off everything. There were a lot of video cameras, and fancy cameras with gigantic lenses and flashes- and here I am, trying to but in with my little Nikon P2, which is not at all advanced anymore.

After playing an hour's worth of cocktail music (and I have to protest the definetion of cocktail. There were no cocktails at this cocktail hour. Lynn Smith expressed her observation of it being the driest cocktail hour she'd ever seen), it was dinnertime. Everyone went in the ballroom, and started on dinner. Kraig and I had tickets- it was a fundraiser, tickets from 3,000 baht to 20,000 baht. (from $95 to $645), but we didn't pay for them. First, the boarding girls did their Thai dance, and did very well. They were dolled up A LOT. Kaia was not happy with her makeup- rather thick, she looked like blonde Madonna from the 80's. They don't realize that once you get on stage, the lights bleach everything out, and especially from a distance you need a lot of makeup to even look like you have features. I was proud of them!

Martin Kneath, the headmaster here, was somehow appointed to be master of ceremonies for the evening. They handed out awards at the beginning, and the poor man had to pronounce all sorts of bad things. He speaks in very proper gentlemanly British English, and he had African, Thai, Indian names . . . it was horrid. He did a very good job, but it was still rather mangled. Each person had about 5 diffrent titles as well . . . Our students performed about an hour into the dinner, and they did so well. They got a lot of applause, and the board & Dr. Virachai were impressed. A couple students had never performed in front of a large group like that, and I think it will be easier for them from now on. Once you cross that hurdle, go into the fire and come out on the other side, it doesn't seem as bad.

Dinner was utterly divine. I felt decadent sitting there eating this lovely food, when my dinner normally consists of a tv dinner, or fruit and popcorn, or something else simple. The rolls at the beginning were SO GOOD. I will never take good bread for granted again. Then we had a seafood salad- shrimp and scallops in some sort of creamy sauce with lettuce on top, with pesto around the edge. I even ate the dill garnish because it was DILL and FRESH and so good!! And the pesto! Real basil!! Then there was a soup that was fairly mediocre- only thing that night that was. The main course was a salmon fillet and two dory fillets, on top of some ratatouille, with herbed little potatoes that looked like seashells, and a ring of mustard around the edge. The potatoes were meh, but oh the salmon was divine. I really haven't eaten any salmon here yet- which is strange because it's SO cheap. I'll have to get some at the grocery store this weekend.

Dessert was a bit of vanilla ice cream, a shot glass with pureed strawberry stuff, and Tiramisu. TIRAMISU. It was real tiramisu and SO GOOD. Martyn Smith was like, I'll bet this isn't what you were planning on doing your teaching practice. :D Really, it wasn't- but on the other hand, I was prepared. That's one thing in music that you learn, how to present yourself, how to dress up for things and be prepared. I know kids in college who didn't have any dressy clothes with them freshman or sophmore year! I'm generally always prepared to dress up for something, it's a fact of life as a performer. It's no mistake I brought a set of flashy jewelry. And I can get beautified quicky, too!!

At our table, it was myself and Kraig, Martyn & Lynn Smith, Mrs. Kneath (Martin was up at from emceeing the entire time), Miki and Ice, and Dr. Virachai's daughter. I got to speak with her a bit, and she's a nice girl. Either my age or a year older, she went to school in London and is now working for the Regent's campus in Pattaya. She's going to Chicago soon, so I told her all the neat Christmas things in Chicago to go see, like the market in Daly Plaza, and the windows in Field's. She'd never seen twisty jewels for hair like mine, but they do apparently have Claire's shops in London! I think she was glad I talked to her- she's the boss' daughter, people don't talk to the boss' daughter!!

I got home around ten, and just about collapsed.

Now, for some pictures!!


Rehearsing in the afternoon.


Dessert!


Boon & Ruaychai- the boys never stop playing.


The quartet in front of those stupid windows. Ruaychai, Bay, Boon, Kraig, with Carlie, Kiara, Poon, and Boat in the back.


Martin Kneath, Headmaster, refining his remarks backstage before the gala.


PINK!!


Mrs. Kneath & Mrs. Smith, dressed for the occasion.


Khun Miki, Knun Ice, and Martyn Smith, secondary Head.


Here's my efforts as official photographer . . . Dr. Virachai is the man third from the left, looking at the camera. His wife is two over, in the striking blue dress.



This is the ballroom we were in . . . fancy!!


The boarding girls after their performance, with their teachers- members of the Thai staff.


This is Bay, on violin, accompanied by her brother, Boat, on piano. She was playing Meditation from Thais.


This is Kiara on flute; she was playing Handel, I believe. They had TV cameras filming and putting the images on big screens on either side of the stage. There were some really neat pans and zooms . . .


Great minds think alike . . . at least in terms of dress!!


Now, to give an exam to the last class of the week. Sigh. It's just not sinking in. Kraig left it up to me to assess their progress and make up the test. He thought it was too easy. I thought it was easy, but challenging enough to get a good grasp of where they were. I've had two students out of about 100 get As, maybe three Bs, and the rest are in the area around 50%. Nothing on the test was brand new, nothing we didn't go over ad nauseum in class . . . . I've got to come up with new strategies to teach note names & rhythms. And what makes a brass instrument not a woodwind instrument. The one class seemed convinced a tuba is a woodwind instrument. *facepalm*

I've FINALLY got a good resource on the IGCSE curriculum- including a rubric. Thank God for rubrics . . . .

This is intended as a response to Josh's
Top Ten Things You Never Think You Would Need to Translate (or shouldn't attempt).

Shall we attempt a Thai equivalent?

Mai dat kluay pom le hai phet prawat pom mai chai jow choo!!
Don't cut my penis off and give it to the ducks, I'm not a playboy!!

(When men cheat, the Thai women cut it off and give it to the ducks. Kinda like a whole country full of Lorena Bobbits.)

Ok, that's the best one. But here's some others that just sound bad.



Tuk long, khrap = Okay!

Mai mai mai mai mai = New wood doesn't burn well, does it?

Cow cow leaw cow cow cow = He entered the mountain with white rice.

Moo = pig

Gai = chicken

Kai = egg

Fuktong = pumpkin

Child:"Mea doo falang!"
Falang: "Mai chai pon la mai! Pom phen khon! (pom phen ma kuatet)"

Falang = guava and a foreigner.

Child: Ma, look, a foreigner!
Foreigner: I'm not a fruit! I'm a human!! (I'm a tomato)

Heeee!!

My birthday was lovely, I had a couple people over for dinner and ice cream cake. And there's still leftover ice cream cake in the freezer . . .mmmm . . . so worth the 350 baht.

I also got all my hairs cut, and was a bum. I'm going to slowly rewatch Heroes season 1, because I can't get the new eps fast enough. Then I'm going to lend them to Heike, so we can be nerds together. :D She apparently watches Atlantis, or did back in Germany, so I've got to get her caught up on that. If I come back, I'm bringing a lot of my DVDs, or rather ripping them to an external hard drive. :D

Wednesday is the thing at the ballroom, where we have to play dinner music for two hours. Or rather, Kraig and the students have to provide two hours worth of music. I just have to look pretty, turn pages for Boat, and play the guiro on Girl from Ipanema. :D I suppose I'm a pinch hitter if something happens, but eh. :D I have a pretty new black dress to wear, with a pretty pink pashmina. And I even bought a curling iron. *sings* I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and bright! . . .

Yes, I'm in a silly mood.

I miss home a lot. And it's nice to know I'm missed, judging from the 60 emails that showed up in my inbox over the weekend. But I also realized that there are people here that are glad I'm here. It's tough- there are things I miss about home that just drive me INSANE.

Let's see if this posts . . .

Clearly, you've never been to Singapore.

. . . wait a minute, that doesn't apply anymore!

Yes, I'm in Singapore.

I'd been attempting all week to get some help from the school's staff with my visa issues. There's a person on staff who's sole job is to deal with visas for the foreigners. After repeated emails, missing her, and then finally learning that she'd be in Pattaya the rest of the week . . . . I lost it, just a little. Thank god for Amir, our violin teacher. Currently my favorite person in the world. He knew a place to stay in Singapore, and helped me research things. I had to leave school right after 3 yesterday (thursday), run home and pack fast, and sprint off to the airport so I could buy the airplane tickets. I do like Asia Air these days. I got into Singapore at 10pm, and made my way to the hostel. It's pretty nice, all sorts of travellers, and there's a basic free breakfast of eggs and bread :D And free internet- in fact, the best signal I've gotten on this side of the world.

I went to the embassy this morning, handed over my passport, photo, application, and 50 Singapore dollars. I go back on Monday at 2, hopefully with a 60-day visa that I won't have to deal with again. I fly back to Bangkok at 8pm on Monday. Between now and then, I've no clue what to do with myself. I want to do a little shopping- I already did some this morning. There was a BORDERS, a big beautiful Borders with lots of beautiful books. I restrained myself and only got the lastest Clive Cussler paperback. There was a new one, about ten dollars more, but I didn't need it. Also bought a couple little accessories at the 'apple store' here. There was a guy in there who had moved here recently from America. I was hedging over buying an adaptor cable- and he told me to go for it. He said it's so much cheaper here, that it's worth buying things here. I want to look for clothes, a couple dresses I can wear to these fancy concerts we have coming up. I think I'll have better luck here than Bangkok, because the women here AREN'T all as skinny as toothpicks. :D

That's the other thing that's nice about Singapore- everything's in English, most people speak English. It feels almost indulgent to be able to go anywhere and talk to anyone, to be able to read all the signs. What a luxury!! It's almost like being back home, except for the heat and humidity, and funny taxis. The Burger King here is just as bad as the Burger King at home. I'd forgotten how much I hate Burger King, having not eaten there in probably 4 years. Whoops, now I remember. Dinner should be better- the hostel's in Little India- there's a mosque down the street- and there's lots of indian food around. Yum!

I'm gonna find a grocery store, and anything else I can see. But hoo boy am I tired!!

Yes, it's been ages since I've updated. My mom was here for two weeks, and the second of those two weeks was our half-term break.

Things are going ok. I keep finding little things about the British system and curriculum that just make me scratch my head and go, huh? But the kids are pretty awesome, and I'm having a ball when I'm working with them. I've had mostly success with everything I'm doing. I need to work a bit in one area, making my lesson a bit more structured. But I think I'm getting through to that group well. :D

One thing I'm really proud of is a lesson I did. My lesson, entirely. But my cooperating teacher was being observed, because it's his first year here. We were doing my lesson that week, but since the secondary head was coming in specifically to see him, he had to do the teaching that day. That day rolls around, and Kraig's sick. Voice is almost gone, fever, sweating, the works. But he still had to teach it, though I ended up doing more than we had originally intended. Not the ideal situation at all. But he got a really good review- as did the lesson in general. And he wrote some good comments for me in there as well. I'm pleased!

I got the new Battlestar CD- LOVE LOVE LOVE. Peeved about this April thing- I'd really like to know what is going on in the brains of The Powers That Be over at SciFi and NBC Universal. A 14-month hiatus? Are they high, or insane or something?

I somehow have to go to Laos or Singapore or someplace NOT Cambodia this weekend. I really dislike that part of my experience here.

Tonight's goals-
1. Make midi files of the accompaniments for choir things
2. Write, or at least start, my unit plan for the 11s- musical theatre.
3. Watch Heroes!
4. Finish paperwork. I hate paperwork.
5. Write a more comprehensive update for this thing!

I'm sorry I'm such a horrible communicator. I'd give my spleen for decent internet access- getting a better signal here, or getting internet at my apartment AT ALL. It's just not time or cost effective to call people, or write emails to everyone I want to write to. And it's driving me INSANE, because I do like communicating with my friends and family, ya know.

*dances, sings*

Oh, I had a generally lovely day!!!

I gave a lovely guitar lesson this morning with my new guitar. My student is not as advanced as I thought she was- I think her previous teacher didn't know what they were doing- but she's an awesome girl and I'm excited to see what we can accomplish. I need to get a beginner guitar book, and fast . . . . but that will be all good.

I then gave a double clarinet lesson to two boys. One had a lesson last week, and the other was just starting today. I miss my clarinet, but it's not logical for my mom to bring it here- it's big and there are other things I'm making her bring me! I got really good sounds out of both of them, and we got to playing and I think they're getting it. They're having a bit of issues with reading the notes, but not too bad.

Again, I do not understand AT ALL the logic in NOT teaching students elementary note reading. They don't have to learn how to read something nasty with 32nd notes and chords, but they need to know the notes on the staff, and what a quarter note is, and what an eighth note is. Whoops, sorry, a minim and a quaver.

Choir was lovely, I'm doing Once Upon A December with them- I may not be in Ripon, but the spirit of the Choraliers is alive and well here! And the girls really like the song, so hooray. And they're getting the harmony!! We got through the entire song today- it took them two days. It's still a long way off from being performance ready, but they're doing great.

I'm also happy because my weekend just got a lot easier. I have to get another visa soon, as mine expires on the 12th. I don't want to miss school again to do it, so that leaves the weekend. I thought I could only go on Saturday. One of the ESL teachers here, her birthday was the other day, and she's having a party on Saturday night. Going to Cambodia all day on a bus, and then going to a party was not my idea of fun. But I can go on Sunday now, so that's perfect! The party has a masquerade theme, so I'm going to do a little shopping. It's hard to come up with a costume without A. the Goodwill and B. my closet. :D

Girls want voice lessons. Hooray- I'm more than happy to give them! I'm really really enjoying the year 13s, and the boarding students in my choir. Some of the younger ones are really awesome as well.

I need to email my mother- and tell her to bring more of my music books! They don't have much here, and I need SOMETHING to have them sing if they're doing voice lessons.

Dinner is calling to me . . . .

I have Heroes to watch tonight, and episode 3 of Sarah Jane . . . it's almost the weekend . . . the kids aren't looking at me like I have two heads anymore . . . well, at least not most of the time. :D Life is good.

*facepalms*

We've been doing elementary notespelling and such with the KS3 kids for the last month. Since school has started.

I gave them a quiz today- note naming "what is this note" and rhythms "how many beats does this note get'. Simple.

I had no less than 5 kids answer a "what is this note" question with 'H'. H! I kid you not!

I'd like to know how one plays an H on a piano. I think you have to be inside the piano with the strings, perhaps. Or maybe in the Twilight Zone. :D

More pictures!

Here's a set of pictures from my Visa run last month, and then from Saturday's adventure to the Grand Palace.

Friday night we went to the Esplanade, and had sushi buffet. YUM! And then we saw Resident Evil, which was of course full of blood and gore. And not enough Oded Fehr. But good, for a movie based on a shoot-em-up video game.

Saturday night I went to the cultural centre and saw Swan Lake, the Portugese national ballet. It was lovely. The last time I saw Swan Lake, I was IN it. My dance school did it when I was 12- a much more dumbed-down version, of course, but the choreography was basically the same. I got a 600 baht seat, and the program was 150 baht- which I probably didn't need but alas. Nosebleed seats, but still good. :D

Sunday I went on an expedition to Siam. I bought a guitar, so I can now give guitar lessons! It's a lovely guitar, and it sounds good. It was 4400 baht, around $128, and the case was 1500 baht, around 40-something. Expensive case! But it's a hard case, which will come in handy when I have to ship it home! I asked my mom how much we paid for my guitar in 4th grade, and she said around $300. Eek! :D Coming home on the train with a huge guitar case strapped to my back was FUN. :S

Also on the ground floor of Siam Paragon is a gourmet grocery store. I found baking powder, which is impossible to find anywhere else. Baking soda, sure. Not baking powder. There was a lot of food there I was dying to eat- real cheese, for instance. But expensive- I don't need it. Also vanilla. I can cook more things now. I was going to bake cupcakes for this apparent bake sale tomorrow . . . but there's no oven. ANYWHERE. I had heard there was one here at school, but Lea checked and apparently not. It makes me sad that I bought the self-rising flour for NOTHING. Oh well, I'll put it in my pancakes, and maybe it will make them fluffier or something. :D

It's gonna rain soon . . .

First day in primary. There's a reason I don't want to teach primary music. I love little kids, really I do, but I don't think I could teach a lot of them day in and day out. Give me small groups, sure. And this one bunch, it was like they'd regressed into monkeys. They couldn't sit still for 30 seconds.

I'm gonna go write a few emails. And then walk home and make dinner!

Hey Uncle Pat- leave me a message with your email- I can't find it, and I want to write you back sometimes!

And Dad? Way to call me this weekend.

Well, then.

I had a slightly surreal conversation with a student this afternoon. We had them doing mini-posters with music related quotes. A girl raised her hand and asked me what a word was. Her quote was Music is food for the soul, or something equally sappy-ish. She didn't know the word soul- said she didn't know what a soul was.

What a question to get! I think I handled it well. I sat down next to her, and said, "Well, that's a good question." I gave her a couple examples of what other cultures/religions think- but only in the basic sense, and I had no clue if she was Buddhist or Christian or what. My overarching answer was "It's what makes you, you." Not your body or your brain- but you. I think I handled it fairly well- not what I was expecting at all!

We actually had an orchestra rehersal today. Like, an honest-to god ensemble. And it went pretty well. I was conducting, because Kraig was playing his bari sax. That was kinda bad, because he and another teacher who plays the tenor sax are the entire bass-lower voice section at the moment. A teacher shouldn't have to play in the group for it to function. But they sounded not half bad for the utterly mixed group we have. The kids also don't know how to follow a conductor. I had two pairs of eyes on me- Kraig and our year 13 who plays with the Bangkok Symphony. Next week, conducted warmups where I'm going to mess with their minds. :D

I'll leave you with some quotes:

"When played properly, a bari sax should sound like a cello . . a cello of death!"- Gary Lewis

"Band prepares you for life"- Richard Saucedo

"My music is best understood by children and animals"- Igor Stravinsky

"Without music, we could completely destroy the structure of the space-time continum!"- Dr. Emmet Brown

"I can't listen to Wagner that much. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland"- Woody Allen

"School curricula that ignore the arts produce 'Highly Educated Barbarians'"- Edward Albee

"It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself"- JS Bach

Check this out. Just incredible, and not in that good way.

I think I'm figuring out Sibelius and the photoscore thing. After attempting 6 diffrent ways to scan music into Sibelius, I have achieved some measure of success. Hey, I made a pun! My goals tonight are to arrange the Mozart for a saxophone quartet instead of a string quartet. And write up a worksheet for the Key Stage 3 classes, so they can have some homework practice. We're still on reading notes and rhythms. A lot of the kids are getting it fast, which is absolutely wonderful.

I'm also in love with Garage Band on my computer. For the musical auditions, the drama teacher needed the songs on a CD. We had a student play them on the Clavinova, and I was able to hook it into my computer and record it on Garage Band, which then sent the tracks to iTunes and I burned them onto a CD. SO easy! Not utterly perfect, but it works really well for our purposes. I've got to learn how to edit tracks on there . . . .

It's lovely and cool at the moment, as long as there's a breeze outside. This brings me joy! I'm curious to see how my mom deals with the heat and humidity when she gets here. I remember being utterly miserable the first week here because it was just SO hot- and I can't tell how much of that is me getting used to it- a lot I hope- and how much the weather is changing.

Back to photoscore . . .

It's Sunday afternoon, and I'm being a bum. You cannot underestimate the time in which to do absolutely nothing when you don't really get the chance the rest of the week. It's golden, really.

I just finished watching the Abyss, which if you've never seen it, you need to go rent it. Ed Harris is in it, and I suppose it has a bit of sci-fi in it, but that's not what it's about. Honestly, the best sci-fi doesn't focus on the robots or the aliens or outer space. It's about the normal people whose stories are being told within that framework. It's a really good movie. But the credits begin to roll, and I go, wait a minute, they skipped something! There's a whole subplot revolving about how the world is on the brink of world war three, complete with nukes. The 'aliens' are about to wipe out humanity because we're about to destroy ourselves, until Ed Harris' character tells them about the good things humans are capable of, like love. And the entire subplot wasn't there.

And then it hits me. The aliens can control the oceans, so there's a gigantic tidal wave about to crash down on every coast . . . and then it just stops, then it recedes. See, they actually have Tsunamis in Thailand, there was a tsunami warning last week after the earthquake in Indonesia. The big tsunami that hit a few years back hit parts of Thailand and Malaysia pretty hard. I get why they took it out now!

It was a very very long week. I started out Monday with meeting Norman, the GST person who flew from England to observe me. (!!!) It was a little nerve-wracking, but he was lovely and we had some very good conversation. It was good to get the perspective of someone who knows the British curriculum very well, but who also has experience outside of the system. He could admit to the shortcomings, but also see the strengths and compare it to other systems. Kraig and I could also ask him questions and get, I suppose you could say, a straighter answer than from others, because he could get where we were coming from.

One thing I learned was that the British curriculum for music is entirely academic- there's no practical performance at all. The Wisconsin standards are split up into three areas- choral, instrumental, and general, which implies that at a secondary level the curriculum centers around choral and instrumental performance, along with a more academic class. Any sort of performance beyond simple keyboard, percussion, and singing skills are not in the curriculum at all. Any choir or band is after school, and is treated as such. Private lessons and serious instrumental or vocal study is entirely out of school. School music teachers often don't deal with ensembles at all, which explains why one of the other music teacher reacts with such . . . the idea was alien to him. The one contradiction I see is that once kids hit key stage 4 and 5, they're expected to have studied an instrument for years, they're expected to be at a certain level without any support from the school system in the earlier years. If one's parents don't start them on their own, they don't get started.

Another contradiction is that while it is a British school, they're mostly Thai kids in an international situation. And being an international school, they're expecting 'top quality performances'. They want the orchestra, to be able to show them off. That's partially why performance is big in American schools- they want something to be able to show. And that's at odds with it being entirely extracurricular, and not associated with the school as is customary with the Brits. I suppose that's just par for the course, Bangkok being a place of contradictions. :D

I taught a lesson to the year 13s about vocal and instrumental ranges, and other characteristics useful in composition. They were writing a chorale, and they didn't know that the tenor line probably shouldn't be above the alto line. It makes the pianist's hands go wonky, and it makes the tenor and alto's brains hurt. A lot of what I put on the handout I gave them one picks up through trial and error, and through being involved with a choir or a band, and just knowing that the flutes generally stay in the higher areas in band literature. But they don't know that because they have no experience being in a band. They were like, why do I need this? I don't play the trumpet? But that's not a good answer, because what if you're comissioned to write a trumpet concerto someday? You can't rule anything out.

After school on Monday, Norman took me out to dinner at his hotel, which was simply lovely and very kind of him. The buffet was amazing, and I took the opportunity to eat a lot! He'd never had dim sum before, and I love dim sum, so I taught him something there! We also discussed things in Bangkok- he didn't know what the yellow shirts were for, things like that. He was the epitome of a British gentleman, and it was a lovely evening. I took the MRT home afterwards, and it was also nice to see a bit of Silom, where I hadn't really been before.

Did I tell you all about the yellow shirts yet?

Norman came back Tuesday, to see my choir rehersal. My write-up of the lesson the day before had been good, but with a few things to work on (that of course I knew about, and made sense to me). The choir rehersal, despite having a small number (I seem to be scaring them off. Must adjust strategy) was lovely. He wrote that he could see that this is where I was in my element, and I got things done, and I made the singers at ease, and kept a smile on my face, etc etc, It was lovely to hear, made my day. One of the things he did say was that ultimately my certification would be in the US, so while I did have to conform to the curriculum here, I couldn't lose my skills more focused towards the American system.

Thursday was an adventure. My entry visa ran out on Saturday, so I had to go on a Visa run to Cambodia. Not really my idea of fun. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. The hardest thing was finding pictures for the paperwork with about 12 hours notice. The school took some, but they had none on hand so it was up to me. At home, I'd just go to the Walgreens and get the hour-pasport photos. Ha, no such luck here. I ended up on Sukhumvit before 7am, in an attempt to find someplace to either take photos or else get the one I took at home developed. I was missing my printer Thursday morning! But I did find a picture place, hallelujah. It was 4 hours to the border, I spent 20 minutes in Cambodia, and then came back with a month's visa. They took good care of us, movies on the bus and water and lunch, but still not fun. And a waste of time- I had to miss my Thursday choir rehersal. I need to look into what I'm going to do next month, see if I can get a longer visa or something. But I survived!

Friday was tiring, capped off by losing a score. I'd spent about two and a half hours arranging the Royal Thai anthem for what orchestra we have on Wednesday. I went to find it on Friday, and it was gone. I'd saved it on the hard drive and it was gone. It was either a student or a teacher, deliberately or inadvertently, or it was just the computer wiping somehow. Either way, I was not happy.

I went to MBK yesterday, and I managed to get everything I went there for. I got lovely and cheap dim sum for starters. :D I got a backpack, a new case for my ipod, some dvds, a copy of Sibelius for my own computer (hooray!!), and some audio cables. I wanted a backpack so I had something to bring if I needed to haul a lot of stuff. I got on DVD Ratatouille, the Shawshank Redemption, Pirates 3, Sunshine, Master and Commander, and A Mighty Heart. The one TV show I wanted to find they don't have- Life on Mars, a BBC 1 show. I'm catching bits and pieces of it on BBC entertainment, on the telly, but I want to start from the beginning. It's really good but it's confusing me!

The audio cables are for hopefully recording the music for the school musical, to use in auditions next week. We've got a pianist, but the recording things here aren't set up in any sense of the word. I think we can hook the clavinova straight into my computer, and record through garage band, so the cables were to achieve that. Thank god for them I know something about audio equipment, because Kraig doesn't! If somehow you're reading this, Phil Granucci, thank you for all the electronics and computer knowledge I learned from you!

The copy of Sibelius is LOVELY. I was going to buy it anyway, but having it on my own computer and not the ones at school is wonderful. I need to buy a usb keypad, so I won't have to hit the num lock key every two seconds to input rhythms!

That was a lot of rambling, right? I'm generally doing very well. I like it here, and it finally feels like things are being accomplished and moving somewhere. I'm still frustrated at a few things, like the quality of internet connections here. You'd think if every person has a cell phone and I had a signal there the entire trip to cambodia, they could have internet access that wasn't a snail's crawl. And the apartment complex tells me Friday that apparently I never signed the lease when I got here. Why did I not get this when I arrived, a month ago? They can't give me an answer. I'm not impressed.

:D There's a few other neat things in the works, and we've got a lot to do. Talk to y'all soon!

I uploaded the next set of photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11526637@N02/sets/72157601826215330/

I hope y'all have a good labor day, or classes if you're at Ripon. No such thing here- though I should be used to that by now, eh?

I want it to be lunchtime now. :D

'1-2-3-and-4'

It's been a very long week.

We had the last day of inset on Monday, with meetings. Meetings, and more meetings. Then we could finally get started doing something. The kids arrived on Tuesday morning, and after a bit of assembly, got right down to classes. Since then, I haven't left school any earlier than 5:30 each night- and one night I didn't get home until 8! I don't really find that all that strange, because I'm used to being at school late. In high school, I always had music or theatre rehersals until at least 5 or 6. A couple memorable times, when I was doing the musical and marching band at the same time, I was at school until 8:30 or 9. Each night. Most of the other teachers here, including two of the other music teachers, leave as soon as they can, when 3:30 rolls around. And there aren't that many after school activities that last long, so it's understandable. But still . . .

And to why we're here so long? The music department is a bit of a mess. We can't find any records from the past 3 or so years. We've found a few scattered programs, old tests, that sort of things from Mr. Jones, who left in 2004 I believe. Even the head of music email address still has his 'signature' on it. The last guy, nothing. Instruments are missing, we have no clue who was in the orchestra last year or who plays anything. It's almost like the guy didn't do anything. I mean, he has to have done something, but there's no record of it at all besides some pictures on a bulletin board.


I know I'm getting used to the heat, because I turned the aircon off because I'm too cold!

In addition to the lack of organization, I'm having a bit of a clash with the British curriculum. Or rather, I suppose, the interpretation of it. I had a look at a few websites before I left home, and the standards were just about the same. The curriculum . . . . Here's an example. The IGCSE book? Contains all of 1600-1900 in about five pages. That's Mozart, Bach, Beethoven . . .all of it. And then later on there's 15 pages detailing the history of electronica. It's not that the subject matter is wrong, at all. I just disagree with the interpretation, and the allocation of time moreso on certain things, and not others. Just veery diffrent than what I consider well-balanced, at least at first view.

I could go on longer, but I'm tired after this week. A lot of what I saw was regurgitation, honestly. They have to know four pieces for the A-level exam- and I think that's all they're expecting to study. In my experience, if you're studying the Baroque period, you'd look at as many examples of Baroque music as possible. These kids know the terms, know the pieces. But I think if we showed them a similar yet not the same piece of music, they'd be at a loss to discuss it. I don't think the knowledge is transferrable. I mean, it's only the first week, and these kids have SO much potential. By the end of my time here I want them to realize that life is not just a test- I want them to find the beauty in it!

It's been nice this week, a few good storms. I like thunderstorms, so that's good. It was just pelting down last night! I got caught in a storm last sunday at a market nearby my apartment. The sky lit up and then the crash was so loud, everyone jumped. And of course it was the one time that I didn't have my umbrella with me. The thing about Thailand is that a lot of buildings have tile floors outside. And they're very slippery when wet. Tell me, how is that logical when it rains every day? I've been slipping and sliding a lot, and I actually fell this morning outside the staff room. My right leg went forward, and the left leg, my foot kinda bent backwards, and my knee met the tile in a not-so-nice way. It's not going to feel good tonight.

Wednesday I got to go to the opera! One of our year 13 students was playing in the pit orchestra, and he had complimentary tickets. Kraig and I were in row G. The main floor, 7th row back. Free. It was Madama Butterfly, and pretty good, especially for Thailand. And really good, considering half the pit was high school students. Not perfect, like an opera company back home, but what an experience for a student! I couldn't do that back home, go play in the CSO! It was interesting though, an opera set in Japan, written by an Italian, Puccini, performed in Thailand, with English subtitles along with the Thai ones. It was partially performed in the Kabuki style, with these people in all black, holding props and moving set pieces. They looked like ninjas, with head coverings in black and all. I guess in Japan, people just ignore them and don't think anything of it. It was neat.

Tomorrow I'm 'chaperoning' the boarding girls to a trip to the Esplanade. It's a big shopping mall with a movie theater, bowling alley, ice rink, and a lot of neat things. It's also right near a lot of other stores. The boarding staff can't go, so I volunteered. Why not, free trip where I don't have to pay for the taxi! Not like the taxis are expensive, but still . . . I'm cheap. :D There are several girls here from Armenia and Estonia, studying and living at the school. The school's chairman was an ambassador to those countries before, so he sort of sponsors them. They get the experience of coming here, and the thai students get to meet international students.

And what else am I doing this weekend? NOT MUCH. I want food that's not from the school canteen- although I adore the food here, best food from a school EVER- but I want some more of those little I think corn cake things, and some dumplings . . .food. :D and rest, I think some lounging by the pool? :D

gigantic post number 1

I guess I can take time away from watching my DVDs of Heroes, to finally type this and update you all on what life is like in Bangkok, eh? And yes, Heroes DVDs, I'll explain that in a bit.

As I write this, it's Wednesday night, 10pm. 10am Wednesday back home in Chicago and Ripon. And I won't post this until tomorrow morning, because I STILL have no internet at my apartment. They say it's coming. I still have hope.

At this time last week, I was attempting to finish packing. I ended up taking not a whole lot of stuff, clothes, etc. And I'm proud of that. Normally I pack entirely too much. And as it turns out, I packed a few things I should have left at home, and vice versa. Ah well. I was also freaking out, due to lack of visa, and the normal OMG I'm going to live in ASIA for four months.

I got up early Thursday morning, finished packing, hugged my dog a lot, and had my mom's pancakes. It was slightly surreal, but I'm really glad I wasn't rushed. My flight was at almost 1pm, so I had a bit of time. I flew out of O'Hare once at 8:30 am, in the midst of a snowstorm that had been going on for over two days by then. Not ideal. This was much better. Mom and I got to the airport at around 9:30, 10, checked my bags, walked up and down the section of the terminal where the airline counters were, and got me some lunch. Extremely expensive stuff from corner bakery, but good mozzarella. We had a lady take our picture. Then I hugged my mom, teared up a bit, and went through security. They made me take my shoes off to be x-rayed, and take all the electronics out of my stuff, but not bad. The only really expensive things I was bringing with me- this laptop, the ipod, and the camera- were all in my carry-ons. I waited in the terminal for maybe 20 minutes. I was amused because there was a group of people from Grand Circle Travel- they do trips and tours for older people. My grandparents went to Thailand a few years ago with them, and now here was another group going! I met a girl who was going back to Japan, where she was teaching English- she was around my age.

The flight to Tokyo was LONG. 12 hours. After waiting an hour on the plane, at the terminal, for them to fix something on the plane. And it was packed. The guy next to me was named Rex. No joke, Rexford something. He was going to Japan to swim for the United States in something- Professor Katz, who knows stuff about swimming, figures it was some competition as a sort of pre-season for the people going to the Olympics next year. He was very nice, but kinda on the 'duh' side. We flew up north into Canada, over to Alaska, and then down, hugging the land as we went. I can see the logic in sticking close to land, but you'd think it would be a lot shorter just going straight across the ocean? I was kinda surprised- we got 2.5 meals on the plane, so I ate A LOT. The travel agent said we only got one meal.

We landed in Tokyo around 4pm their time. First priority was some water, as I was feeling horribly dehydrated, and a toothbrush- my mouth felt like it had been a week since I'd brushed my teeth. I went in the little duty-free shop. And they had Pocky. I LOVE pocky. And it was SO good- it was a lot fresher and better tasting than the stuff I've had at home. I ate the box of pocky in about ten minutes while I emailed my parents, grandparents, and a good friend to let them know I was alive and well in Tokyo. I was very pleased that the airport had free wireless!! I also left a facebook message for my friend Hikari who lives in Japan, saying I was there and thinking of her!

The flight to Bangkok was SO MUCH BETTER. I had a window seat, and nobody next to me in the row at all. We got one meal and one movie, and the flight attendants were really nice. There was one guy flight attendant who was just bugging me, because I couldn't figure out who he reminded me of. And then I got it. Picture an Asian Adam Krueger. Mannerisms, everything. It was uncanny. :D We landed in Bangkok around 10:30pm on Friday night- 24 hours since I'd left my house, but 36 when changing time zones. I was very nervous going through passport control, but they let me in no problem- only with a 30-day pass that's not even a tourist visa. Made Khun Miki cringe on Monday. Though she and Martin both reassured me that it's not my fault, and they'd figure it out. I got my bags, changed my money, waltzed right through customs, and then was faced with finding a taxi. I took the probably horribly expensive and touristy trap way and got a taxi in the airport- but I was so tired that I didn't care. Now I'm like, you idiot, you probably overpaid! But it was a long distance, so ah well. I got to Eakthanee, the apartment building around midnight. I proceeded to sign my life away in the form of one month rent plus 2 month deposit- 45,000 baht plus fee for the credit card transaction, got my key, paid another 500 baht for the beeper key ring to get into the building, and got to my apartment. And then I couldn't fall asleep until 3am.

Aaaaand then I woke up the next morning, Saturday, at 6am. And couldn't fall back to sleep again. I decided to get dressed and wander, see if I could find the school. They said it was really close, so I was hoping to find it and someone to tell me when I, oh, needed to be at the school! Hooray for not much communication! So I picked a direction, and started walking. And after about 20 or so minutes, I realized that I picked the wrong direction, and turned around. Bought some water, got back to the intersection, picked another direction. Another wrong direction. And so on. I went back to Eakthanee, changed my shirt as I'd sweated through the one, and picked another direction. I later learned that this was the right one, but I didn't go far enough. I was so HOT and frustrated that I went back to my apartment, put on my bathing suit, and went to the little pool on the third floor. Figured that I wasn't getting anywhere, I might as well cool off. And 15 minutes later two people walked in, and then the guy asked me if I was a new teacher at the Regent's. And I met Jen and Andrew- THANK GOD. I hadn't spoken to anyone who spoke english since I had really gotten off the plane. They also gave me Martin's number, the head, who then invited me to a get-together at his condo that evening. I went, got some food- the first real food I'd had in Thailand- and I met everyone, new and old teachers alike. It was SO wonderful to talk to people and find out what was happening, etc. And everyone was really nice, and sympathetic to the fact that I was horribly jet-lagged- and I was about ready to keel over with exhaustion by that time as well!

Most everyone of the new teachers is British, save me and a couple others. One of the guys is from New Zealand, and Kraig and I are American. Though I don't really count Kraig as the same as me because his wife, Anne, is Thai, and he's lived here for 4 years before. He speaks better Thai than anyone else besides the Thai staff! He's the new head of music, and technically my boss, I suppose. He's knows American things, but he knows all the good places in Bangkok, etc. He's very witty and this may sound bad, but I'm glad he was as clueless as to how the music department here worked as I was! Anne's really nice as well- she's a scientist, about to get her doctorate. She works on cancer drugs or something, with one of the Thai royal princesses, who I guess is also a scientist. There are also three gap students, taking a year off before they go to university. Heike and Lea are from Germany, and Natalie is from the UK. They're being kind-of teacher's aides, and I'm becoming good friends with them.

Enough narrative- time for things about Thailand I've learned.

The traffic is insane. And I thought I knew horrible traffic, having driven in Chicago in the worst of conditions. I guess people in Bangkok spend a good 2 hours in traffic every day, at least- and this is normal. The trip to the school in a taxi isn't bad, but it's only a 20-minute walk, in a straight line. And there's no real traffic . . . laws, though that's not the word. Everyone drives like maniacs. Switching lanes, going over the center line, cutting in and cutting people off- there's no such thing as right-of-way, I think- you just go. I can't watch the road when I'm in a cab, because it feels like we're going to crash every ten seconds. But we don't. And there are motorbikes and mopeds and even bicycles and bicycle-carts weaving in and out of traffic, it's insane.

A way to partially explain it- Kraig told me there are no zoning laws in Thailand. So nothing of the city was really planned- it just kind of got built, and there are big roads and little roads with no plan or rhyme or reason to it all. Makes no sense. Also, you can have really strange neighborhoods. Like, my apartment building. On one side there's a derelict gas station, I think it is. Then on the other side there's a clothing factory, a restaurant, and then a big vacant field and marshland thing. You can have a million-dollar home next to a shantytown. Again, no planning whatsoever. Some places smell really good, but then you go past the vacant field and there's dumped rubbish, smelling of rotting melon. And the canal-things smell of sewage something horrid. But you get used to it.

I was kinda freaked out when I was wandering that first day to see a dog. Loose. And then another. I asked someone that night, and they said that there are street dogs all over Bangkok. They're perfectly tame, but they don't really come up to you like a dog in America would. They're sometimes adopted by people, but they live on the streets. I was told just to ignore them, pretty much, and they wouldn't hurt me. Some of them are really cute, and they make me miss my dog, Luke.

It's really really hot. I mean hot. And I think it's more the humidity than anything else. I've never ever sweated this much in my life, not even at home when I'm outside all day or something. If I'm walking home from the school, in 20 minutes I can sweat completely through my clothes. And then you get in the air con and it's a complete shift. And the sun is really strong as well. I got so sunburnt my first day here. They said it's so strong here and westerners are so totally unprepared. I've been very good about putting sunscreen on.

Interesting thing about Thai culture- unlike Americans, it's desired to be as pale as possible here. It's the old if you're brown, you've been working in the fields like a peasant. Like it was in the US years ago. Nowadays, it's popular to be tan in the US because it means you don't work, and you spend your days lazing on the beach in the sunshine. But it's a really big thing here- almost every face lotion is whitening this, white beauty that. There's a lotion thing called Melanin- Away, or something. Seriously! 8 million products to whiten your skin!

Things here are really cheap. The baht is about 33 to the dollar. The taxi to the school is about 40 baht or less in the morning. I bought some shoes today for 200 baht a pair.

And yes, I have Heroes on DVD. I checked this morning on Amazon- around 35, 40 bucks there, 56 retail- and it's not available in the US until next week. But I got the entire season for 600 baht- around $18 bucks. Jen bought Ratatouille last night. You can get anything here- and probably cheaper than in the US. Though I'm still searching for some plain oatmeal- Kraig says you can get it here, but I've yet to find it.

It's 11pm now, so I'm off to bed. I have a lot more to write, but it's bedtime . . .

*Sweats*

I got here. I made it. And I finally got some internet access- but only at school. The internet at the apartment is forthcoming, or so they tell me.

Here's a link to some photos- narrated- Chicago to Bangkok.

It's very hot. And the AC in the arts building is apparently not getting any power, so we're simply dying. Dripping. Wilting. :D

I'm going to type up a big post soon, but right now- it's too hot.

Pics!

T minus 16 hours, and I'm remarkably calm.

I'm crossposting this so people have all my contact info, etc . . .

I leave tomorrow from O'Hare around noon. United Flight 883 to Narita Tokyo. Then United Flight 837 from Narita to Bangkok. I arrive in Thailand at 11 pm Bangkok time, Friday, which is approximately 11am here.

I should have internet access throughout the time I'm there (and really, if I end up not, I might go insane with the lack of communication.

I'll be making regular updates here, as well as my private journal. I'll also be posting photos on Facebook, as well as getting a flickr account.

I'll be checking my email regularly. My Ripon account is still active through the end of the semester, but my mail email is altorogue (at) yahoo dot com. I'll still be on Aim, as well as MSN and yahoo, all as altorogue.

I'm putting my cell phone on hold- I'll have it back when I return. I plan on making most my phone calls on skype, which is an awesome little program. If you want to call me, that's the best way. You can search for me as altorogue or Kali, and I'm listed as being from Chicago. The time change is going to be a bitch, but I suppose I'll figure it out somehow.

I don't have a mailing address yet, or a phone number there. Forthcoming.

I fly back on December 21. And due to me flying the other way around the world, I make the 22-ish hour flight in less than 12 hours- leaving at 6am and getting into O'Hare at dinnertime. Gotta love the time zones. :D



SOOOO . . . . I should finish packing. But So You Think You Can Dance was on! :D

I got a new, gigantic suitcase. I got a new expensive purse. I have a new travel wallet, and etc etc etc. And I am THE worst packer ever. Just ask my mother, or anyone who's ever lived with me/near me. Absolutely horrible. But I'm going to restrict myself to clothes, and essentials, and keep things light. I AM! (Don't laugh at me like that, Josh! And anyone else who is reading!)

I still have to call Verizon and put my cell account on hold. And make sure Humana knows I'm going, because my program-supplied health insurance stops covering me 5 days before I come back. Eek. :D

I got a Hepatitis A shot on Monday, and then I got not only Typhoid, but Diptheria/Tetanus and Polio this morning. And then I bought immodium, pepto-bismol, ibuprofen, and aspirin this morning. I'm set. The aspirin is for my paranoid mother, so I don't get a blood clot on the plane :D

And I HATE Visas. Specifically, I don't have one yet. Long story, but I can't get a student visa because I'm not a student of any school in Thailand. And I am not teaching and earning a wage, so that's out. Tourist visas it is for me, but I don't have one because the school sent me the letter too late for me to get one here at the consulate. So airport it is! *prays and hopes*

But really? It will all be ok. Whatever will be will be. The future's not ours to see! *sings* Que Sera, Sera!!

Tick . . .tock . . .tick . . .tock . . .

I have 55 minutes left of work. And then comes the hell.

What you have to know is I own entirely too much crap. I blame my mother. Because if something's on sale, you never know when you might need it! So she buys me stuff. I have a couple purses that I've never used, but I don't want to get rid of because you never know if I will!

And I also blame my major. I have copious amounts of sheet music. I want to say around 4 milk crates full right now. And there's more at home, and more I'm sure I'm not counting. Not to mention the books. And all my knitting stuff. And my dance shoes. And my computer stuff. I have too many hobbies that require too many specific things.

But what's the big problem? First, a lot of stuff just STAYED in Ripon for 4 years. I didn't bring it home during the summers or breaks, because I needed it up here. And now it all has to come home at once. :D My mom's currently on her way up, so we can fill her car and my car to the brim, and hope it all fits. I did give some stuff to the thrift store, and some is going to the house, and etc etc etc.

NOTE TO THE WISE: Never move out of an apartment by yourself. And also, never move out of an apartment into somebody else's home, so that you have all this extra furniture and kitchen stuff that you want to keep, that you like, but it sits around for months.

Boy am I rambly. And I still have packing to do before we leave. And stuff to take to Nate, stuff to take to the library, a couple books I found that I think belong in Rodman . . . :D And what am I doing? Sitting here, being bored because all of 4 people came in today. I wish I could mentally pack and go back to the house and have it all packed and waiting for me :D

Next stop, Berwyn!

7 days!

It's a week until I leave the country. Am I prepared? Nooooo. But first I suppose I have to get home first!

See, I spent this summer (and last summer) in Ripon instead of going home to Berwyn. And on top of that, a lot of my stuff has just stayed up here in storage instead of driving it home and back. So I have a LOT of stuff. Which is going home tomorrow, when my mom drives up so we have two cars to haul stuff back in.

But first that means I have to pack!!

In the past few years, Ripon has become home for me. And it's hard for me to think of leaving for good. Well, not for good. I'll be back for Tau live-in and formal. And if the high school choir job was open, I'd apply for it in a heartbeat. But for now, this is for good. Last time I check my mail, last time I walk the dogs, yeah.

I mean, I'm excited about going to Thailand. But for right now, I'm a bit scared, and a bit more melancholy.

Ah well. Packing awaits!

Dexter & Spice, my summertime dogs