I’ve been home for a week now after the week in Viet Nam and am pretty well settled back into my routine.
To conclude our holiday together, Jackie and I had half a day in Bangkok last Thursday. Since I learned that she likes reclining Buddhas, I suggested going to Wat Pho, home of the big reclining Buddha. We went to the central pier, planning to take a river boat up the river, but the boats were not running due to the high waters and flooding. So we took a taxi. 
On the way to the road to get a taxi, we stopped at the Chinese temple next to the BTS station.
There an enthusiastic old man showed us around and clapped when I took photos.
He took photos of us at a couple of the altars.
Jackie enjoyed the huge (46 meters long, 15 meters high) Buddha. It is spectacular. She also enjoyed the temple area around it, as I do. I’d been there in the spring but was happy to visit again. Since we missed lunch, we were ready to eat but decided to go to the food court at the Siam mall. This was a good choice. Jackie wanted som tom and pad Thai for her last Thai food in Thailand, and we found some that was quite good. I also bought a grilled salmon that was delicious. One of the things I like to do in Bangkok is buy bread to bring home. The bakery I usually go to in Central Mall now has a shop in Siam that is next to the food court; so we were able to purchase bread and eat at the same place.
Since Jackie’s flight was at 6:00 AM Friday morning, we had agreed that she could take the hotel shuttle to the airport without me. But I did want to wake up with her at 3:30 for a last “good-bye.” Then I read and slept for an hour before I had to leave at 6:00 to get to Mochit for my bus home. I was a little concerned about getting there from the BTS and about whether the buses were leaving from Mochit because I’d learned that the weekend market nearby was closed that weekend. But all went well. I picked up some bus snacks and more bread at the BTS station. At Mochit, I went to the 7-Eleven to get a drink and the shelves were almost empty. I wasn’t sure if people had been hanging out there for long times or if the distributors were not able to deliver (I’d seen signs at the hotel and at the BTS bread shop saying that their distributors were unable to deliver water to the hotel or goods to the shop.), but I was glad I’d purchased my snacks elsewhere.
The bus ride was 12 hours instead of 9. About half way to Ubon, there was an accident that took almost two hours to get to and around. A big truck full of cardboard for recycling had slipped off the road and overturned onto the road, covering one lane. I finished my book at the time when I should have arrived home. Fortunately, since I had a short night, I was able to sleep for an hour a couple times.
Saturday I unpacked my new possessions and gift items. This is always fun to do. I am really happy with everything I bought, which is always nice. I washed all the clothes and the backpacks. Most of the weekend was spent reading and looking at photos of the trip.
Monday I returned to school. I was not looking forward to this, but it was good to see my foreign teacher colleagues again. There were meetings for the other teachers, but we had been excused because they would be in Thai. We were told we could use the time to plan excellent lessons. I got my math unit planned. Before the holiday, I’d worked on planning English and some science. I got enough science finished to begin teaching this week. Since there was no food in the canteen because there were no students, we went to KFC for lunch (Kate and Lovely’s choice). It was fun to hang out with the group again. After eating, we shopped at Tesco a little. We noticed that some of the shelves were empty and had signs asking people to please be patient and explaining that some of the distributors are unable to travel due to the floods.
Monday was Halloween. When I moved, I found some Halloween napkins that had been sent to me. I put them with chocolate and enjoyed giving a small treat to my office mates, neighbors, and Bitoy.
Tuesday it was back to work full time, as students returned. However, Sister Viphaporn had meetings with all the students in sections; so I didn’t have two of my three classes. It took me only five minutes with the one 8th grade class I did have to remember why I don’t enjoy teaching them. Fortunately, they were better the next time I saw them. And, fortunately, the 5th, 6th, and 7th grade classes are usually OK and have more students who try to learn.
Friday there was a surprise field trip for 4th through 9th grade students. Sister Viphaporn told me about it when I went to do the word of the day in the morning and said I could go. They went to see an agricultural exhibition at a university. I think it was part of the king’s self-sufficiency project, as I went to something similar at Nam Tuam last year. Tony went with the students, but I decided to take advantage of the three hours of free time and plan the 7th grade science unit. I was happy to have this time and got that work finished. In the afternoon, there was no club because students were practicing for the upcoming Sports Day at the end of the month. So I had two of my five classes that day.
As always after a break, it is good to have the first week finished and to be back in the swing of things. I find myself counting the months until the year is over. For the first time in my career, I woke up on the first day back to school thinking about why I don’t like teaching at this school. Fortunately, that stopped, but knowing that we are on the downhill side of the school year helps.
The two 7th grade girls who failed my classes (the rest were boys) asked what they could do about their “0’s.” I had been told to prepare extra work for the failing students to do so they can “earn” a passing grade. My suggestion was to require that they come to a special class after school for a week for teach subject to do the work. If they take it home, they won’t do it; someone else will. So, for the next two weeks I’ll have several students completing extra work so they can have a passing grade, as it is required that all students pass. I do have a problem with this, as a few of the failing students do almost nothing in class and have an average of 20% to 30% for the term. This is not close to 50%, which they will get after doing a little work. Then they’ll probably go back to doing nothing in class. The two girls who were concerned do try to do the work; they’re just so far behind that they can’t do much of it well. I feel bad for them. Some of the boys have obvious learning disabilities or overall low ability (undiagnosed, of course) and are not able to learn a foreign language—or much else from what I hear. The girls may, too, but they’re very quiet and I don’t know much about them. The 8th grade students who failed have not asked about their “0’s.”
Kate’s birthday was Thursday, and Tony and I took her and Lovely to lunch on Saturday for the occasion. She chose to eat at the Japanese restaurant in the mall, which was a good choice. The food was really delicious.
Saturday was the first meeting with the new group—two women and three girls. They just want to talk and have conversations. They are quite nice and all try to talk.
Weather is moving to the cold season. Rain has stopped and wind has come. This makes for good clothes drying. Temperatures are lower.
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