Sawatdeeka :)! We went to the Grand Palace yesterday morning... the King was visiting there that afternoon so it was immaculate. It was absolutely amazing. Seeing as it was built in 1782 I can't believe there's so many vibrant colours and such attention to detail. Most of the columns are made of individual mosaics and mirrors. After our two hours there we went for lunch at a navy club and the food was, of course, spectacular. We had spicy tom yum soup, seafood, vegetables, a stuffed fish, things wrapped up in leaves, Thai omelette (better than the english version, had it three times already) and obviously lots of rice. Today I tried some strange Thai fruits for my dessert, they all have strange textures and one is bright pink and looks like flourescent worms.

I suppose I should actually talk about orientation. Long days but we're learning a lot of basics about teaching, having language classes everyday (I can now say about 10 phrases in a very bad accent), and today we had specific sessions depending on whether we're teaching primary or secondary. The primary session was very useful, and really gave us an idea of the level we will be teaching. It looks to be mostly cutting and sticking, acting out things/miming, singing songs (ahhh) and teaching basic vocab. I will be called Teacher Abi by the children, awww. Still a bit daunted by the fact that the classes can be up to 50 students.

I'm going to the Lumphinee night bazaar tonight, where there's lots of street vendors, bars, clothes shops, and ping pong shows, which I intend to avoid. I won't be having a late night though as tomorrow we meet our school co-ordinators and then have dinner with them in the evening, then I have to pack. On Thurs morning we go to Kanchanaburi where we'll be visiting the bridge on the River Kwae (the Thai way of saying it, not like we say Kwai), and then Friday we're elephant riding and bamboo rafting down the river (which is infact peaceful and not like rapids, phew). Then we travel back on Sat morning and go to our apartments that afternoon, so I probably won't get a chance to tell you about it all until sometime next week.