Christmas in Nakhon Sawan

The roaring fire has been replaced with a fan and I will be eating vegan duck instead of a stuffed goose but don't worry, we know it's Christmas time...

Here in Nakhon Sawan Christmas doesn't happen unless you make it yourself. So that's exactly what we've done. We've filled our flat with fairy lights and paper chains, the fridge is full of chocolate and cheese and I am listening to Carols from Kings as I type.

Here at school ....

We've been working for six weeks now so I thought I'd write a little post about how we're getting on at school.

I (Ruth) am teaching Kindergarten 1 and 2 so am doing a lot of singing and colouring in and communicating mainly in hand gestures and flashcards! One girl in K1 has cried every day since the start of term - she must be exhausted! They are great kids though and very cute. Altogether I teach 530 children but there are two main classes of 25 that I see every day and so have got to know well (the other classes I only see once every two weeks.) I have a different topic each week such has five senses or fruit. 

Matt teaches more of a mixture but his main class is Grade 2 who he teaches for English five times a week and Science twice a week. He also teaches Maths to Grade 1 and Art to Grades 3 & 4. This means he gets to know a lot of kids which is cool although Grade 2 are definitely his bezzie mates!

Here in our little home

A little tour of our flat - it's not much but it's our new Thai home! Complete with a sofa bed for visitors :)

http://youtu.be/V4cLT7hMfTU

Wai Kru

On Thursday it was 'Wai Kru Day' at our school. Wai Kru means Respect for Teachers and the focus is a ceremony where the students 'wai' their teachers and present them with flowers. *(Wai is the traditional Thai greeting; a slight bow with palms pressed together as if praying. The position of the hands in relation to the face and the extent of the bow depends on the status of the person/amount of respect they are showing)

There is no hall in our school big enough to cram all the students in so we had 3 round of ceremonies and as K1 and K2 teacher, I ended up taking part in two of them! Class by class all the students file on to the stage where their teachers are sat. They kneel in front of them, wai to them and then present their flowers. Each year has 7/8 classes of 40-50 so altogether it took about 5 hours! At times it was complete chaos trying to organise so many children in a hot assembly hall but it the whole day was a great experience!

Here in Nakhon Sawan #2 (and unfortunately not in London)

Today I turned 25 and spent my first birthday in Thailand. We are having a relaxing food filled day and enjoyed the views of our town from a local temple. It seems like a long time since I turned 24 and I'm looking forward to what the next year has in store!

In other news, two of our best friends got married yesterday back in London and we were obviously gutted not to be there. We weren't sure what to get them but then there was a military coup in Thailand and we got a day off work. So naturally we put the time to good use and made them a music video!

Take a look here: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yCtAbdUHPE

Here in Vientiane

 http://youtu.be/iQjGOA_29Fk

We had to go to the Laos capital to get our visas. We got a sleeper train from Bangkok; I’ve never ben on one before and it was a great experience. Matt had the best night’s sleep he’s had since we’ve been in Asia and I slept okay although the train was very cold and bright! 

Vientiane is a very small capital and most visitors seem to be there to renew visas. It is quite similar to Thailand although the french influence means that they drive on the right and beef, baguettes and cake are readily available! It was a lot cooler than Nakhon Sawan and we appreciated this and spent most of our time, wandering between coffees shops, restaurants and our guest house!

We are now back in Thailand with our visas so job done but we look forward to exploring more of Laos.

Here in Nakhon Sawan #1

http://youtu.be/yw297I52GG0

Welcome to Nakhon Sawan and our new home! We have found a great little bargain of a flat round the corner from our friends in a lovely little community. Our neighbours are very friendly and have really helped us out. It’s wonderful to have a place just for the two of us at last and we are slowly making it into our little home :)

Hong Kong Snaps

A few snaps from our few days in Hong Kong; an expensive city but a wonderful mix of high rise city life, street markets and beautiful countryside. 

Highlights were definitely the cable car and cliff jumping (and of course seeing Emma King!) 

Food wise, there is so much on offer and we ate very well but the best thing I had was Chinese vegetables and noodles at one of the night markets the first night we were there. 

Hong Kong, we'll be back!

Here in Sai Wan

Who knew Hong Kong was so rural and picturesque? Well I didn't! We got the metro, a bus and a taxi; we walked, we climbed and then we jumped off a rock into a pool!

http://youtu.be/NgQfAkjmXQU

Here in Hong Kong!

On 17th April we said our goodbyes to the UK and jetted off to Asia. First stop was Hong Kong for a little holiday and to visit Matt's sister. We've cobbled together a quick video of our first day there, the blur and shaky camera work is part of the charm ok? :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeLUotsapuY