Never a Typical Day

Today Robert and I both returned to school after two weeks' absence -- last week at the HIV/AIDS conference and the previous week touring with his family. I thought it would be a relatively normal day, but of course I was wrong, this is Thailand!

My morning consisted of reading a book because the teachers were busy showing their 3-ring binders and display boards to a group of evaluators who were visiting the school. The kids were quietly working on their math. My co-teacher sent me upstairs to "rest." (They always think I need rest.) In the afternoon we managed to teach the 6th graders for a little over an hour, the topic naturally being.. Halloween. My co-teacher had decided that with only 2 weeks left of the school year, she wanted to be sure they learned a little bit about the culture of the people who speak English. Hmm.

Robert's day consisted of walking all over town with 2nd and 3rd graders for a Scout activity. The goals, in his observation, seemed to be, 1) exercise, 2) "Scout" skills such as tying knots, 3) conduct and teamwork, and 4) sharing responsibilities. He reports that it was pretty well run, and enjoyable besides.

This evening's dinner was stir-fried vegetarian meat with peppers (Robert) and stir-fried vegetarian meat with ginger (me), both with sticky rice of course. I found both mangoes and strawberries in the "market" today, so I'll be making smoothies in a little while.

It's getting very hot again. Yesterday I took four showers!