2nd week in Pattaya

Two of my students.

This week was a little bit harder to wake up to teach. I feel like I am worn out and tired. This week we have to start worrying about where we are to going after we graduate. I am trying to figure out my job situation and prepare for the final test before graduation. My classes this week were ok it was a little bit more difficult. I had a hard time finding and doing new activities with my students. My classes also got smaller this week I had a couple of ladies go on vacation and one lady had to go into the city to go to the doctor. I could also tell my ladies were burned out on the book work so I needed to do activities that had nothing to do with the book. The week ended off with our hardest class to date. The ladies had a difficult time understanding when to use should, would, and could so I decided to try and teach it, I reward them with their favorite game at the end of class. It was a difficulty class and I think the ladies kind of got it but I know it is a difficult subject to grasp especially if it is the first time they have been introduced to it. It was a great last class I brought in gifts for my ladies since the previous two weeks they had brought me sweets, water, fruit, donuts, and made me coffee.To top it off they got me a beautiful jewelry box for being their teacher for the last two weeks.  I gave them some cookies and candy, but because I brought in such a nice gift they made me an omelet and spicy papaya salad. I was so spoiled by these ladies they were all so sweet and I am going to miss them tremendously. I did so much work for that class, but was rewarded with their genuine desire to learn and great attitudes.

The rest of the week we tried to figure out our job situation and the next step on our adventures. I had applied to about 10 positions in Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Nakhon Si Thammarat. I heard back from 1 school saying that the position had been filled. I decided I would go to Phuket with the girls and continue my search down there since I mainly applied to schools in the south. We decided to take the bus to Phuket which was extremely cheap $37 for first class the only downside was it was a 14 hour bus ride. As luck would have it friends of my parents have a home in Phuket and would be there when I arrived so I was invited to stay with them as long as they were there which was about 2 weeks. So things were beginning to fall into place. 

Our second week of class was mainly Thai lessons, working on lesson plans, and job hunting. I continued to really enjoy Thai class I couldn't believe how fast the class would go and I felt like I was learning. If I practiced more I think I could get it down. Hopefully once I am settled that will happen. We had our Thai test at the end of the week and I did pretty well I believe  I had the second highest grade. I was really proud of myself especially since I was having so much trouble with the listening exercises we did earlier in the week. 

Friday finally came and my room is pretty much packed, I get to see my church ladies for the last time, and I have my exit interview with Jam. The exit interview was fun. Kimber, Jam, and I all just talked about our experience what we did well, what we didn't do well, and what to improve on. When that was done I was finally done. I just have to grab my graduation certificate and its official. It is quite sad this is going to be the last time in a while that we are all going to be together. I have grown so close to these people and now I have to leave them. I really enjoyed my month with LanguageCorp it was a nice little bubble to be in. Now I have to grow up once again find a job and get a place to live, I am not looking forward to it. Our graduation dinner was really fun we went to this BBQ buffet restaurant. 

An example of what we did none of us took pictures at dinner.

When I say BBQ it is nothing like the United States. BBQ here means we cook it ourselves. We sit at a table with a hole in the middle where they put hot coals in a bucket and put this dome like bowl with like a moat surrounding the dome. Once the dome like bowl is placed over the hot coals water is put into the moat so that you can boil vegetables or cook some noodles. On the dome part you place the meat and seafood to be grilled. At this buffet there was such a variety of food items: pork, beef, chicken, liver, fish, shrimp, squid, jellyfish, vegetables, and salad ingredients. There was also a station that would cook any kind of seafood you would like we got crab, shrimp, mussels, and clams. Then there was a cooked food station with spring rolls, dumplings, chicken wings, fried chicken, rice, pad thai, and french fries. There was a make your own spicy papaya salad station or make your own pad thai station. Of course there was wonderful desserts all kinds of cakes, ice cream, and sno cones. We had an all around great time with Jam. 

After being fully stuffed we got back to our rooms to get ready to spend our last night on Walking Street. Of course the others decided to pre-game so needless to say the night was full a lot of indecision and bar hoping. Even though it was a chaotic night we all had fun and made it back to our rooms at a decent hour. 

Our last day in Pattaya was subdued we were all finishing up packing and just kind of spending time with one another before we split up. During that time I applied for some more jobs hoping to hear from something early in the week while I am in Phuket. We left Pattaya at 6 and thank goodness I upgraded to first class there was so much more room to sleep and 16 hours later I am in Phuket where meet Suzi for the first time. Let's see how Phuket treats me.