Sawaddee torn bai!

Had a good weekend, althuogh didnt do that much! On Sunday we got a bus into Singburi and went to the pool again. it is so nice just to get in some cool water! It is so hot here , there is never a point when you are not thinking, 'i'm bloddy boiling'. our room only has fans (and i broke one of those) so when we get the change to go into a department store for an ice cream and some air con we take it. I always feel hot, sweaty, and dirty. the air here is just dirty and it doens matter how many times you clean you never feel nice. anyway, when i got back from Singburi a friend here asked if i want to go and make a bracelet, so we got a taxi to this womans house and sat in her kitchen with her children who helped us to make a bracelet. we also had their rabbit and gerbal on the table to help us. i made a pretty bracelet which i am happy with and will remind me of my random afternoon making bracelets in a random womans kitchen in Thailand. When we first got there they thought we wanted a massage and had got massage tables out and couldnt understand why we wouldnt get on the bed!

Today i had my school placement. i was originally told i would be in the kindergarten, and thought i would just sit in on the first day watching the teacher and helping the children. But no, how wrong i was. I got a taxi to the school just round the corner where i am staying, and met the 'English Teacher' when i got there. The English teacher however did not understand and could not speak a word of English it became apparent very quickly. After i asked her where i would be helping and how old the children were, she just smiled and nodded. I have heard that it is quite common for English teachers to have very poor english, and hardly understand it themselves. she then led me into a classroom and stood me in front of a class full of 12 year olds and walked out! So i was stood there infront of about 35 12 year olds with nothing prepared all looking at me waiting for me to start. It was very scary, and i just told them my name, worte it on the board, and then began thinking about how i could possibly take up an hour on nothing. i got them to all introduce themselves to me, and then, not knowing what else to day, i just said 'Who likes football?!' since i have been here i have noticed a love for david beckham and manchester united, so i thought it was worth a go. i then drew pictures on the board of various english sports, and asked them to tell me what they were, went through them writing them down on their own, then asking them to fill in the missing letters and just kept thinking of things to do with the words. i got them to practice saying, 'i like playing...' and 'you like playing...' and practicing it with a partner. it is quite fiunny as people here cannot say the letter 'r' so it became 'i like playing clicket'. after that, comepletely randomly, i got them to practice saying occupations, then saying to each other in pairs 'my mother is a..' and 'your mother is a...' and the same for fathers. i wanted to teach them a sentence rather than just words, because i think that is waht a lot of volunteers do, and it must get pretty boring. by that time it was the end of the lesson. It was completely all made up on the spot, but i was really proud of how i handled it and didnt get nervous, just thought, be confident, they dont know you dont know what you are doing! and it worked! as i was strolling round checking their work i even saw that one of the boys had written 'i love rosie' in his book. ahhh. breaking hearts already. it was weird teaching a class with my shoes off, and bowing (wioth pray hands) all the time to say thank you, but you do that a lot here so was kind of used to it, but when you comp[are it to England it is very different. I was then taken straight into another class of 11 year olds. i did the exact same lesson with them, but took it a bit slower and made it a bit easier. we also didnt get onto the occupations bit as some of the children in that class were quite naughty so i had to keep telling them off. I came out exhausted but i loved it, it was really rewarding and i felt so proud of how well i did. I only did the two lessons, then Won (one of the coordinators) gave me a lift home on the back of his motorbike, also a new experience!! I will have the same two classes tomorrow so have to go and do some lesson planning now. I will try and make tomorrows lessons a bit more fun with some games i think. I will be there a bit longer tomorrow as i will have lunch with the staff and possibly do another lesson i'm not sure.

Got back to Twin house and watched 'The Reader' on DVD and did my washing. Have booked my accomodation for Bangkok now, sharing a 10 bed mixed dorm at the grand total of 2.72 per night. The cheapest accomodation i could possibly find. will probably be a cesspit but its only for two nights. need to start planning the cambodia part of my trip now, have no idea how i am going to get there or where i am going to stay yet. think i am going to go to Siem Reap first, but looks like it is going to be a complete nightmare getting there. Anyone got any suggestions who has been there?Am hoping i can get my visa on the border as i dont have one yet.

One other thing to say is that it is incredibly noisey here. even though i am in a rural area the millions of dogs are always howling, thai religious music starts at about 5am, the birds and crickets are loud and it is always generally noisey. ear plusgs are a must.

any advice on cambodia most welcome!!!!

PS. Happy belated birthday to Steve, Steve and Anna!!!!!!