Two short updates:

Motorbikin’ in Thailand

            So, I did it. I got a motorbike. I have been warned many times before about the dangers of a motorbike, but I have realized that if you go really slowly on the side of the road (as if you are riding a bicycle) you will be fine. To be honest the drivers in Thailand are scary, they weave in and out of traffic, and do some crazy things. Yesterday in the taxi the light had clearly turned red but the taxi flashed his lights on high beams and continued through the light…huh?

            I have thought about the pros and cons of getting a motorbike and, if I am very cautious (including watching those around me) then the pros far outweigh the cons. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love living at a boarding school. Getting to know your students after school and at dinner is a treat. But, sometimes it feels like we live in a bubble. The only way to get out of the bubble is to make a phone call to the taxi company. We have had many, many communication problems with the taxi company and the drivers sometimes resulting in the drivers simply giving up and not coming to get us. I cannot do my laundry, pick up anything from the store, or go shopping without a painful miscommunication with the taxi company (and 6 dollars round trip).

            Last night Kyle and I met an English teacher from a school downtown to rent a bike. The title “English teacher” is a little deceiving here, Rob is from England. He is extremely nice and he has rented to the foreign teachers at our school before. I brought Kyle along because he has driven dirt bikes so I knew he would get the hang of driving much faster than me.

            The ride home was extremely enjoyable. Feeling the wind on our skin, seeing the sights all around and tasting the sweetness of freedom, the language barrier between the taxi company and me has been demolished and it feels great.

In the Classroom

            This week has been fantastic in the classroom. Although I realized that BINGO is not as great of a past time as hangman for my Thai students, my co teacher sat in the back of one of my classes and told me that the kids are having a great time with me and that he is very pleased with how our classes complement each other.

            My lesson this week included DNA Trascription, Translation and Gene Expression. Often times in my class I will see the students staring at me and I get a sense that they are lost. I quickly think of examples and analogies I can throw at them but they still don’t get it. Then, finally it will turn into a game of charades trying to get the students to understand what I am talking about.

            For the lesson I showed a couple videos, drew on the board to help them understand, and spoke very slowly in English. For the most part I think the students were getting it.

            For the second part of the lesson we played BINGO! I had the students make a 4x4 board in their notes and gave them a list of words to use in the blocks. The list included RNA Primer, Helicase, Promoter Region and so on. I wanted them to practice reading and writing the words. When they were done I would read the definition of the word and they would have to decide if they had it or not.

            After that was done, if there were a couple minutes left in the period we would play “Hot Seat.” In hot seat a student will sit in a seat at the front of the room facing the class, another student would write a vocabulary word on the board behind them and the class would describe the word catch phrase style to the student facing them.

            Today was interesting, and hilarious. One of the strongest students in the class (who they all pointed to and cheered on to volunteer for hot seat) was sitting in the seat. Another student wrote “RNA Polymerase” on the board. The students start to describe it to her and she smiles, wiggles around in her chair and says “mRNA Polymerase!!” I am not sure what the students were saying at this point but I gathered they were telling her to “not say the m!” So, the girl thinks really hard and she starts “m—R---N---A….po---lllllllll----er--ase?” hahaha! She took the m out of Polymerase. It was the cutest thing ever. I am so proud of the students and what they are able to understand from my class. Every now and then I have to tell them to only speak English, but for the most part they are good at listening and speaking.

I am currently sitting in BioLab2 waiting for my students. They told me to come Tuesday evening at 6pm to teach them more about the lesson they learned last week. Some of my students have very clear visions for their future and that includes being good at English. They are dedicating more of their time to come back to the science building at night to continue to listen and to learn. The only problem is that they didn't know how to say "thirty" so they omit it. As a result I have a half hour to catch y'all up on my life before the students get here. Here's a bit of what I have been thinking lately.

In my country…
     It is SO weird to say things like "In America, we do this" or have a student or teacher say "…what do you call this in your country?" At Lock Haven there were many, many exchange students so I would hear "well, in my country…" often, but the thought of being the one to say those words never crossed my mind.
     Jimmy and Jennifer both traveled to Europe when they were in high school, while I thought it sounded fun and exotic, I never really had the urge and I have no memories of ever being bit by the travel bug…or even sensing the bug anywhere close to me. It wasn't until Kyle and I thought about what we were going to do in the future that I thought about going abroad. The moments that evoked thought about this topic most was when I would talk to the four girls I knew this summer about their experience in the Peace Corps. It sounded riveting to immerse yourself in and truly learn another culture. So, I did it!
     Another odd realization is each morning when we get to school, I walk with the other teachers and Kyle and Monique will say bye when we reach the "Foreign Language Department." Weird! English…a foreign language? Me, a foreigner? It's all still unreal to think about.

Dirty or clean?
     When I got my assignment here in Chiang Rai we were given a list of accommodations. Included in that list was a "washing machine." Well, I am not sure if they were referring to the two large buckets sitting in the vacant downstairs room, but there is no washing machine in our house (or to use on our campus).
     I have always been funny about laundry, I like to wear something once and if I sweat in it a tiny bit I toss it in the laundry (I am becoming more ashamed of this as the days go on). Here, it has been a little different. Although I brought a lot of teaching clothes, when we first arrived in the country the Supreme Patriarch, Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, passed away. As a result the nation would mourn for 30 days only wearing black, white and gray. None of the teaching clothes I brought with me are black, white or gray forcing me to buy a new wardrobe. Knowing that this was only temporary, I only bought about three outfits worth of clothes that I planned on rotating for the next 30 days. Last week I wore the same shirt THREE times. 
     Is it really dirty? No, if its not underwear, its never really dirty; unless you want to wash it by hand or ride your bike a few miles to the washing machines. 

Eating for energy
     This is something that I have never really experienced before. Upon getting to Thailand where the food is much…different than America I realized that the difference between Thailand and America is that here they eat for energy. This is not to say that they do not enjoy what they are eating, but the main purpose for eating is to gain energy. In America I found myself eating when I was bored, eating when I was sitting on the couch watching a movie, when I turned on the Food Network…all the time. I would eat just to eat, or because "I wanted to." This is kind of a hard one to explain, but truly eating for energy is a new concept that I like.

Routines…things I "cannot live without!"
     There were many times when I would sit in the comfort of my Johnson City home thinking, goodness I really hope they have (insert luxury here) in Thailand! I thought about my specific face moisturizer, my daily snack of rice cakes, my diet coke at lunch. I thought of everything that was routine and comfortable and I thought about how I would possibly be able to do without these comforts and routines in Thailand.
     When you get here you only have what's in your suitcase. While the thought of not being able to pack enough rice cakes for five months made me a little uncomfortable, you realize how quickly you adjust and find new comforts that work in your new country. Saltines may turn into fried banana chips (not equivalent in calories) and your daily diet coke may turn into Northern Thailand's rich, unbelievable coffee. Everything else is changing, so why wouldn't your comforts?
     Turns out the things you thought you couldn't live without, they change...and it's quite a freeing experience to not "need" them anymore.

There is much, much more but the students have arrived! More later.

Miss ya, love ya, Meg

Greetings!

I am currently writing to you from my tiny desk in my room on what I thought was a Saturday morning, but now that I look at the clock it is 1:24pm…I have been lounging around and it has been glorious!

What a crazy journey it has been up to this point. So many new normals, reevaluations of previous views/thoughts, realizations of what you "need" in your everyday life, the education system…pretty much everything except rice, that is one thing that has stayed the same.

After a couple…interesting….meals in a row, my fellow teachers and I decided to go downtown to get some pizza. We caught wind that they use REAL cheese on their pizza and that it tastes just like pizza in America. Although I found this hard to believe, we began out journey by calling the cab. 

Sara, one of my roommates, called the cab at 5:18pm when she was told that it would be an hour before the cab would get to us. We were hungry, but we all decided that pizza was worth an hour wait. Laying in bed a while longer watching some youtube videos and getting caught up with our American friends and family on Facebook, we started to get ready for our night of fine dining. An hour had passed before we realized that the cab company did not ask Sara for her phone number, something they did every time so the cab driver could call when they were close. Sara called back asking for a cab again and they told us a half hour. 

Impatiently waiting, we microwaved a bag of popcorn and got out a deck of cards. A flush, four of a kind, or any other winning hand would buy your taxi fare to and from dinner.

A half hour passes and Sara's phone rings, the taxi drivers speaks no English. Here we go again. It seems that the moments we are most excited, or starving, are the moments when it is most difficult to attempt to explain where we are, where we want to go…or anything for that matter. Frustrated, we walked outside our door, found a student and had them talk to the driver. Twenty minutes later we are back on track for dinner.

Upon getting to town we make our way to the pizza place. When we entered through the doors we realize the entire place filled with Americans and Europeans. Classic. 

As we were waiting for our food we started talking about how expected we all were to eat something familiar that did not contain rice. Believe it or not, I wasn't even craving a Chipotle burrito…a burrito has rice in it. I wanted something that was as different from Thai food as it could be!

We also started to talk about what brought us to Thailand in the first place. The four of us had gone through this entire experience together, but we never really had this conversation.

Sara, from Missouri, has her masters in Education. Not wanting to go straight into the world of Education in the states, she wanted to go abroad and go on an adventure. Sara is similar to Kyle as far as not being too worried about the future, just going with the flow and planning when it's time. Monique, on the other hand, has a similar story to mine. She had been working for the same company for 9 years while attending school full time. She just graduated and was considering her options when she decided to sell everything she has, pack her suitcases and go on an adventure. 

Monique started to talk about how she has been feeling a little freaked out lately thinking about the fact that all she has is what she packed in her suitcases. Although she has comfort in knowing that she could stay with her parents when she gets back to the states, that is not ideal in her mind. I assured her that I had the exact same freak out moments when I was selling all of my possessions. By the time I left Tennessee I had everything I owned packed in my Honda Accord. Often times I would be with Kyle and one moment I would be beside myself thinking about how cool my life is that I am moving to Thailand, and in the very next moment I would have a pit in my stomach thinking about the fact that I just sold my microwave, I terminated my lease, I quit my steady job and I was thinking about selling my car. What kind of crazy got into me?!

But, the more that I thought about it as we were sitting there, the more and more I realize how blessed all four of us are. We have support systems, and faith in ourselves and our abilities to pack up everything we have and move halfway across the world the live with people we had never met (at that point) to teach at a school we have never seen and to stand in front of students that don't understand us.

We are so lucky to have even the resources and support to allow such a crazy idea enter our thoughts, and soon consume them allowing us to book a flight and commit to a position. 

I have always been a grounded person. I have worked since I was 14 years old, I have always had a great, loving home life and I have had opportunities fall into my lap. I had no reason to leave everything I knew, a job that I loved and a land that understood me. But, comfortable is not what pushes you to grow. Comfortable is not what allows you to truly understand what others are going through if you have never put yourself in an environment where nothing is easy; where deciding your next move is based on whether you can communicate your needs to someone. 

I do not want to get into this too much because I do not feel that I am educated enough. But, in the US when everyone was debating over Obamacare I often wondered to myself if they have ever known anyone that has lived in poverty. The people who are complaining about allowing people who have struggled their entire life to have healthcare…have they ever gotten a taste of what it's like for every decision you make to be one that involves feeding your family or medicating your child?

This is one reason why I wanted to be uncomfortable. I wanted to travel to a land where not only do I not speak the same language as the people, but I don't even look like them to start to understand the struggles that people in America go through every single day. I want to live in a house with no windows, ride my bike a couple miles on the side of the road to town to do my laundry and struggle to do something simple like hail a taxi to go to town. 

When you have grown up with opportunities, resources and a loving family, its hard to know what its like to not have one, or any of those things. Although I will never know what it means to not have a loving family, I have learned to manage my resources and I have learned how it feels to have no one understand you. 

I was laying in bed today catching up on some of my favorite TV shows when I heard this song. Every lyric in the song is perfect, and the girls do it justice. Take a listen:

Thank you to everyone who got me here, and to all of you who continue to support and encourage me. Although it has been challenging, it has been everything and much more than I hoped it would be. 

Stay tuned for more. 

Love and Miss You ALL!

Meg

Sa wat dee kha! Sa bye de mai kha? (hello, how are you?)

Hello! I just got back from morning assembly which consists of the students singing the national anthem, singing the school song and repeating some other stuff (not sure what they were saying). At the end of the assembly the person over the loud speaker said something that made all of the students laugh…too bad I don't speak Thai…it seemed pretty funny.

Some updates:

Do you miss American food?
     When I first got to Thailand, we were staying at a hotel in Bangkok for orientation. The food that we were served was mass produced Thai food, and I must say…it wasn't very good. I was getting adjusted to the climate, to the people, to the language among other things, it was difficult for me to also get used to eating fried rice and curry for breakfast!
     At first, it was a comfort thing. You would be surprised how much you can miss something when the option of having it is not there at all. Knowing that Thai food was my only option at that point made me miss the comfort of American food, something I know and something I could predict how my stomach would react to it. As time has gone on, I have adjusted well. Now, my new normal is to expect something with coconut milk/water based for lunch, noodles and rice for breakfast and dinner, and I know a couple places in town where I can go to get some Thai-ized American food (like Americanized Thai food).

What is the biggest cultural difference you have experienced so far?
     I have definitely experienced a lot of differences, but there is one that stands out the most in my everyday life here in Thailand. The attitude of the staff here (and everywhere in Thailand) is not to worry, but to relax and go with the flow. When I got here for my first day of school I didn't have a schedule, I didn't know what or who I was teaching and I didn't have any supplies. My schedule changed many times, often leaving me unprepared and frantic. In America I would consider the administration's lack of preparedness a personal attack, that they did not care about my success. But, that is far from the truth here. Thai people genuinely want you to be happy, if they sense that you are upset or nervous they will tell you not to worry, to relax. Although it has been very difficult for me, someone who likes to be over prepared and I will admit that I am a little uptight, it has forced me to slow down, relax and just go with the flow. This is a very good difference that I have experienced.

How is the language barrier?
     The language barrier is very difficult, but I am learning to get used to it. There are many minutes in the day when I have no idea what is going on, I have no idea what anyone is saying. I will be sitting here at my desk with a conversation going on around me and their tone will sound like they are having a very serious discussion and then all the sudden they will break out in laughter. Other times I will hear two teachers talking to each other thinking to myself, what in the WORLD does that mean in Thai? That could not have been a word!
     The language barrier has been difficult, but sometimes funny between me and other teachers. Two examples: one day my co-teacher turned around in his chair and asked if I was trying in class. Mortified, I froze and just said "yes." I couldn't believe they didn't think I was trying…it was the third day and all I had done up to that point was introduce myself and describe to the students what they would be learning in my class this semester. Luckily, they were trying to ask if I was "tired" in class. Whew! The second mix up was when I asked if the students would get my class in English, and also in Thai. At first the teachers said no, no you are the teacher. But, after my first class went terribly and I frantically went to the teacher asking her how the students would be able to learn with such advanced English words, she told me that they also get the class in Thai. Whew!

How is being a teacher?
     Being a teacher is hard, but it is very fun too. It is difficult to come up with lesson plans when you have only ever been a student, not a teacher. Without any background or knowledge about teaching strategies, diagnostics or classroom management, it has been up to me to figure everything out. Although this has been challenging and I have learned a lot, it has taken a lot of time and energy. Luckily, my students are very sweet and forgiving. When I forget where I am in the lesson or I accidentally forget to plug in the speakers for a video, they run up and help me out. The students (for the most part) really want to learn and have a great respect for their teachers.

How are your living accommodations?
     They are great! I would say that I am "roughing it" a little bit, but that's what I wanted. I am still getting used to seeing a gecko running up my wall while I am lying in bed about to fall asleep, but after realizing that they eat other animals, insects and creatures in my house, they can roam as much as they want!
     Our "kitchen" comprises of a mini fridge, a microwave and a wok (which we haven't used yet). We use the sinks in the bathroom to was our dishes. Although the kitchen is lacking a bit, it doesn't bother us because we have GOT to have some of the best school meals in the country. Each day we have traditional Thai food that is so delicious! I am doing my best to give everything a try once, sometimes the textures or the sweet/interesting taste is too much for me but for the most part I have loved the food here. One of our fellow teachers is still building up her tolerance for spicy food. Each day when we go to the canteen a student will let her know whether the food is ok for her to eat, or if she should stick to rice. It's absolutely adorable and precious how much the students have taken us under their wings.
     Something I did not expect…We are entering November which is "winter" here in Thailand. When the teachers told us it would get cold, of course we giggled a little and told them that we like this weather, it's not cold for us. But, the past few mornings I have woken up freezing! It actually does get cold here! By cold I mean that I got one extra blanket from the Big C (similar to Walmart) and I was good to go.

I have to get to work on my digestive system lesson, more updates later!

Love,

Meg

Hello! Thank YOU (whoever you may be) so much for clicking on the link to come and share with my experience here in Thailand! I have a LOT to update on!

Let's travel back to mid October when I touched down in this great country, that's the last time I posted right? I will post more often to keep these a little shorter! :)

So come with me, on my journey of leaving America for the first time….

Arriving to Bangkok, Thailand:
     Upon landing in Bangkok, the nerves started to set in…I couldn't figure out how to fill out my immigration card! I am here for…employment!? What did I agree to?! I have never been to a foreign country before so naturally I agreed that my first time would be to work a full time job, of course. After I set that straight with myself, I got to the next part. Since I was a non-immigrant traveler I had to write my home address. MY HOME address. Oh yea, that's right. My first trip to another country (halfway around the world) and I don't even know where I am staying! Hopefully the name of the school that I am not sure how to pronounce will work for this one. Next question: employment. Teacher? Oh yea! I decided that with my BS degree that I was going to teach High School Biology.
     I finally made it through the long lines to the officials at the front. Terrified, I handed the nice Thai man my virgin passport and was so excited to say "Sawatdee, kha" like I had learned from my iPhone app, but my mind went completely blank and I awkwardly stood there. He sat there in his official uniform and all I could think of is that he would start to question me and I would have no idea how to answer his questions and that I would be deported. If you have ever traveled internationally you have probably figured out that he didn't ask me any questions, he stamped my passport in about 3 seconds and put it back through the window to me. Whelp, that was easy!
     Next I was off to exchange my $300 USD for some Thai baht. I got to the window and handed the lady 300 USD and she bowed to me. OH YEA! I had forgotten all about wai'ing to people! Cool! I got my colorful bills (that looked like monopoly money) and we were off...

Orientation:
     After arriving to the hotel, we had to check in. There were two orientations going on at the same time so we had to walk over to the other hotel to get our materials and name tags. Walking out on the street, pretending not to be effected by the strong smells, roaming dogs, street meat everywhere, 4 people per motor bike and four 7-11s within 100 yards of each other I started to walk to the other hotel. Culture shock, you will not get the best of me. As I was walking to the other hotel, who do I run into other than Mark Lenz. Within minutes of getting to our hotel in Bangkok I see one of my former ASP staffers who had also been accepted to the same program. Unbelievable!
     Training was a lot of fun, we had a couple sessions in Thai language and teacher training which entailed what teaching Thai kids may be like, a couple fun games to play with them and a couple challenges the kids have when learning English.
    During the last part of training we went on a little field trip to Kanchanaburi which was absolutely amazing. When Kyle and I got to our room we walked out on our balcony to see an unbelievable view of the mountains. The next day we went got to ride elephants and go bamboo rafting, it was SO much fun.
    OEG (overseas exchange group) training reminded me so much of ASP training. All of the applicants were together in each of our sessions and we got to know each other and form friendships throughout the week. We all knew where we were headed afterwards and what some of our challenges would be. Throughout the week we friended each other on Facebook to stay in touch when we get to our Provinces and to make sure to be in contact about when we can visit each other.
    After returning from Kanchanaburi each OEG teacher got to meet the coordinator from their school. Kyle, Sara, Monique and I found a teacher from our school, it was too far for our coordinator to travel to meet us. The teacher took us to the bus station so we could catch our 13 hour bus ride to Chiang Rai. We said bye to all of our friends wishing them luck in their new schools, promising to keep in touch and that we would visit.

Heading to Chiang Rai!
    After being dropped off at the bus station we began the long journey to the north. Contrary to what I had been thinking, the bus ride was actually very pleasant. We were given pillows and blankets when we got on. Then we were giving little snacks and treats, then some water, then a juice box, then some coffee, then a fascial cleansing wipe….the service never ended! We stopped at 1am at a rest stop where they had food and bathrooms - squatters. We got back on and continued the trip. We were woken up around 6:30am to some Thai pop music videos which was fun.
     Once we arrived at the bus station in Chiang Rai we were greeted by our coordinators, two loving, funny ladies who spoke very good English. They took us to a morning market where we got some dried pork and sticky rice for breakfast (SOOO GOOD). After, they took us to the school where we would be living. As we pulled into the school they looked back and smiled and told us that our school is like a resort. As we drove around I definitely knew what she was referring to! There were palm trees, bright colors, so, so, so much space to run and play!

Or living accommodations:
     We pulled up to our house and it looked just as it did in the picture. As soon as we walked in, the two ladies took of their shoes and explained that it's a thai custom. We all took off our shoes too. We walked around the house which has now (two weeks later) become quite cozy. Upstairs there are four bedrooms. Each bedroom has a bed, desk and closet. The rooms do not have windows, just shutters and screens. Downstairs is our shower stall and two toilet stalls. We also have a "kitchen" that has a mini fridge, a microwave and a toaster (no sink or stove).
     In thai culture boys and girls do not live in the same house so Kyle is our neighbor across the way. He is living alone in his home. Well, not really alone though. He has a lot of gecko, snail and frog friends :)
     Our houses are on a VERY large campus with the students. At first I was a little nervous to be living on the same campus where I work. Our coordinators told us that they would like for us to play sports with the kids. I thought, are we going to get any time for ourselves? After school on Tuesday we decided to play basketball with the students and it was amazing. The students are amazing at basketball! They play smart and hard, although they are extremely polite, they are competitive! Walking around campus and seeing my students has been so much fun. It is great to see them outside of the classroom, they are full of joy and laughter and brighten our days!

Quick trip to Chiang Mai!
     When we got to our house in Chiang Rai, our coordinator told us that we would not be starting until the following week and that we should go and explore, specifically to go to Chiang Mai for a couple of days. We took her advice, repacked our bags and headed to Chiang Mai. We didn't have any plans, we didn't know where we were going to stay, we just packed a backpack with the basic things and headed to the bus station. We got our tickets for the there hour bus ride for six dollars.
     When we got to Chiang Mai one of our other OEG friends called us and told us that they found a place for 6 bucks a night. Obviously we quickly booked a room and went out explore the town. We got some GREAT thai food close by, the meals are usually only 1 USD. We stopped at a 7-11 on the way home for some shampoo and cookies and got a good night's sleep. The next day we went to Tiger Kingdom, it was awesome! I was too scared to go in with the big tigers so I saw the baby cubs. My goodness it was adorable.
     We did more exploring, more eating of great thai food and eventually headed back to Chiang Rai.

School!
    The following Monday was the first day of school: AHH! The first day of school was hectic beyond measure. The only things I knew were to get there before 7:45am and to wear a long skirt and a blouse.
    Upon arriving I met the biology teacher. He gave me my schedule and went over what the class would be learning this semester. He then told me that he was the biology teacher for M4 (10th grade) and that I would be working with the M5 (11th grade) biology teacher as well. For my M4 class I learned I would be teaching Genetics, DNA, Evolution, Biotechnology and the History of Life. I had a class in 20 minutes and I had to explain these concepts to them and get them excited for the semester. Um, what? Yea…I am going to need those 20 minutes and wikipedia before I can teach this first class!
    After I survived three classes I met the second M5 teacher who told me that I would be teaching the digestive system, the immune system, the nervous system and hormones. She told me that this week I need to start teaching the digestive system. Once again, let me study a little and whip together a quick power point and I will be there.
    Throughout this whole process I managed to use enough words to ask the teachers if the students get the classes that I am teaching in English in Thia as well. Their answer was no, that I am the biology teacher for those subjects. Yea, what?!
     So, here I am, right before heading to lunch, thinking…what. did. I. agree. to. do? What if these kids don't understand me? How do I teach? What is animal phyla? Goodness gracious!

Teaching in class:
     If the students in America acted the way the students do in Thailand…I don't even know what our country would be capable of. The amount of respect each student shows to the teachers is unbelievable. In the morning as I walk to school and to class each student will bow their head to me, look up, smile wide, wave and say "good morning teacha!" sometimes accompanied by "I love you teacha" or "how are you!?" with genuine interest in your answer.
     At PCCCR (Princess Chulabhorn's College, Chiang Rai) the students must test into the school. The school itself is a public school that is funded by the princess who was a science major. It is similar to a magnet school in the states. The school is extremely well funded with amazing resources available to the students and the teachers. For the most part the students are excited to learn and the importance of education has been instilled in them in some way. This makes teaching a little easier, but the students also inspire me with their excitement and will to learn. Their motivation to become something and work hard for it and to help each other is incredible. I feel extremely blessed to be at this school with these students!

The US teachers/my roommates
     Sara is from Missouri and has her masters in English Education which is kind of funny because she is the other one working with me in the science department. Sara is teaching general science and the scientific method to M1 and M2 students, or 7th and 8th graders. Sara is high energy and a great friend.
     Monique is from California and was also an Education major in Arts and Theatre. Monique is teaching English to M1, M3 and M4 students. Monique loves to listen to music and she has been my workout partner :)
     Kyle is not our roommate, but he is our neighbor across the way (the director's house is between our house and his house). Kyle is teaching M3, M4 and M5 students English. Kyle is also teaching an elective class in public speaking.

I would love to write more but I am fighting my eyelids right now (it's 2pm in the states, but it's 1:10am here!). I hope that this post give everyone at home a little bit of an idea/picture of what's happening while you're sleeping at night ;) it's so funny when I am on Facebook I only see my Thai teacher friend's updates because everyone in America is sleeping and right when I wake or up right before I go to sleep I see my American friend's updates :)

I will type much more later and try to keep up with this so you all can have an idea of what I am doing and how the semester is going! I love and miss everyone so much!

Goodnight!

Meg

PS sorry for all of the typos or incoherent sentences, it's been a long week and I don't have time to proofread :)