Good Bye

After the speech I spoke to all the children. In the photo you see how strict the school is; all standing in the right pose! hihi












At Malfried's house Christine and I baked cookies for Christmas but they were eaten long before...












Malfried and I at Ritzy's.














Som now really leaving,,, nice big bus eh?


















Here we are in Chiang Rai working on the new laptop project. An office was set up on the balcony overlooking the mountains and river.

Tzu Chi

The children had bought and made many presents for me to give me on my last day. So sweet cards that it was hard to say goodbye to all of them!










One of the classes.... many photo's were taken in the last week!












The Taiwanese teachers... Kate is actually the accountant but does a lot of work for the teaching side of the school as well; Wandjun and Amber. They are a lot of fun!










Terry, the student from the English competition, prepared togther with Kate a speech! In front of many students he delivered a very sweet thank you speech.










Suri's school is going well. A lot of girls everyday!

Beautiful Fang

Som Deaw left with a big bus to his new school. He already visited Fang a few weeks later.












Here you see the Sisters from the church. On the left is Sister Salome from India and on the right you see Sister Tess from Phillipines. Lovely ladies...










Darrin had to go to the hospital for a check up for her TB. All is fine! unfortunatly she had a cough for over a month and first the doctor said that all was well and when I asked her to listen it was still ok,,, only when I asked again about the rattling sounds it suddenly was bronchitus... just shocking.








Aer's school is going great! The do some performance in front of the class.

Fang

Life is still treating us well here in Fang. The rainy season has finished and Ben is dutiful watering the grass at home with a new sprinkler. Yeh, a real houseman. He is working hard to finalise the handover of the project to Mirror Group. It is going to be less 'hands on' because they are not going to visit the schools each week and that worries me a bit but we just have to trust all will be fine.

Last week we send of 18 kids to school for the first time in their life. This was made possible by the generous donation of my neighbour in Holland. Ineke Vereecken and her Soroptimists club. (http://www.soroptimist.nl/) We are so happy for this because we started of a new pilot with the 6 Lahu kids who are now going to school because of sponsoring from Free Schools. We of course have done this with the intention to slowly expand this but there is no more funds from Free Schools for this. But we just wanted these kids from Ban's school to go to a real school and these ones really needed some help to attend a day school. So the contribution of the soroptimists came at the right time and now we can pay for the car who drives them from and to school. The school is not a government school but the Shan school from Terry Brown I wrote about before. This school is from a NGO for the Shan, Tai ai or Burmese people living here. They learn Thai but also get educated about their own language, history and culture. Most adults are wishing to return one day back to Burma/ Myanmar but most children like life in Thailand because they grew up here. So these kids are now attending that school and are part of that same community which is important. The only disadvantage is that they don't receive papers but by doing a state exam that barrier is over come. With the mirror group involved they can advise the students and parents about this and make it happen. The parents have often no Thai language skills and are not able to get such things organised.
Soon more about the kids and their stories...

The big thing this month was the visit from Paul, Ben's brother, to Fang. He is a pilot and had only a few days in between flights but made the big effort to come and see us. Wednesday last week Ben picked him up in Chiang Mai and we had a nice cup of tea late at night when they got to Fang. The next day, I had to work unfortunately, the brothers went to pay the teachers at the day schools and just hang out together to catch up. I left school early what is most uncommon and we went together to pay the salary of the evening school teachers. We met Kristina and Jon as well for dinner and went home not late to have some time together as well. Paul and his wife Karolina can't come to the wedding because they are expecting their baby on the 7th of Jan! A real shame that they can't make it because we spend some real good time together back in Australia and they are very dear to us. We wish them all the luck for the last month waiting and the time around the arrival of the newborn!

Ben and the other band members of Moments of Inertia are really exited because the recorded songs are now being mastered back in Melbourne! So every week we can listen to another finished song and it's really exited because they so sound good, real good.....

My work is going really well and I get great experience as a educational consultant ;) I teach less hours and are now busy observing the teachers and giving them feedback and talk with them about the observations and the written reports with the aim of improving the teaching standards. Not an easy job because there is not a great deal of self awareness regarding their skills and techniques and no one really understand about 'reflecting' and 'critical thinking'. I do my best to help them see their 'blind spots' and help them grow as teachers. Days are really long and still there is no change in the schools policy about having a break to relax a bit... :( The Thai friends think I'm crazy to choose to work at this very strict school but I think the experience has been most valuable. I have all freedom to do and try what I think can help the school which is great.

The wedding is all organised and now we need to look after the small details. The bus is finally confirmed, last week it was not yet possible but this week it was ok!.. Still all is a bit unknown but we have Som Deaw as our wedding planner so all will be fine. He even delegates things to other people, we just love to see it all coming together.
I had a Thai dress in making and yesterday I organised another one which is more suitable for the evening. I went with Kristina shopping for fabric last weekend in Chiang Mai. She was so sweet to have patience with me and my not developed sense of fashion... knowing she was a model and is right out there with the 'cool trendy people', she just adapted to my more simple style. Just great! She bought me brides magazines to pick a dress which I like and that one will be ready in in a week. My friend Malfried, from Fang, went with me to the shop to explain in detail what I wanted so now we just have to wait!

Take care dear friends and family and we will see most of you really soon now!!! We can't wait!!!

Som Deaw's party

A black page in the history of Fang: Som Deaw is leaving...
Som (left) is given a new position in a small school in Uttaradit, 4 hours south of Chiang Mai. Not just a simple new job, no he is the new principle! Even though every body in Fang in really sad about him leaving, we are all proud of him too!
But Fang without Som just doesn't work... he knows really every one and is involved with everything! From all the activities at school, the temple, the police station to sort out the youth who made trouble, he is working for the radio station and he is a professional MC at the weddings and openings of new places. An 'alrounder' so to say, - Ben says he is the Eddie McGuire of Fang. We will try to get him back!

Here you see Mister Chai (trainer from Free Schools teacher training); Mister Sawat (one of the top leaders from the district of education); Ben and Som.
We got a phone call while in Chiang Mai that the next day there was going to be a party and that it would take place in our house. On the day we arrived less than half an hour before the first people arrived. Well, you can say a lot about the Thais but they pulled a great party together. All was brought in from food, drinks, ice, tables etc etc. So before we realised what was happening a privet restaurant was set up in our back garden!

All the English teachers and other colleagues were present and it was a great night.
Som had good bye parties started probably a month before his actually departure! Lunches and dinner... every day... people arranged it all for him...








Here is Mister Tum, a very dedicated teacher from a school far away from Fang. He will be at the wedding just as Mister Chai will be.










Ben and Som enjoying the whiskey soda and the conversations with Mister Sawat.

www.laptop.org

A week ago we met Jon and Kristina from Canada. Together we went on an amazing journey to find the only 20 laptops from OLPC in Thailand and while on the way we met the right people and things just kept coming. We came up with many ways to get this special laptops into the hands of children because that's what it's all about! The laptops are a tool for education to help children to learn, explore and become their own teacher. The pilot projects around the world have been a success and the educational professors are raving about it in all continents. Some of you might even have heard something on the radio or on tv.
Maybe we can find a way to work together on this project combining all our skills.




We had many discussions and the ideas kept evolving into even better ones. We will see were it will lead, for now it's just very exiting to imagine what we could do for many kids in the world.
Have a look at the website from the the people who are developing the laptop,,, it's worth it,,, the vision is just great!
http://www.laptop.org/

English Competition

And guess who won......???
YES MY STUDENT!!!! He is number one from the whole Chiang Mai province and deserved!
He needed to talk for a few minutes about a subject. Because Ben saw at another teacher and student preparing in a school in Fang making a whole presentation as well as a text, he told me to do the same. So with only two days left I made a new text for the boy to study and collected all things for a presentation. It was about health and food so I made plastified pictures of cheese, meat etc and had real eggs, tofu, fruit and vegetables in bowls and serving trays. A neat collection it was. But one thing I didn't know was that there were two categories in English; one with only speaking and the other was more a presentation with a simple use of English. So we ended up having a perfect text plus a presentation!
Terry, the student, is really good at English but only finds it hard to write. He understood it all and together we made the text the way he liked it. Unlike the other contestants he knew what he was talking about and that made all the difference. Most students studied hard to learn a text by hearth but had no understanding at all and used words I had never heard about. So the questions afterwards were answered very well by him! He did a great job!

Here you see Terry presenting!
One funny thing I just have to tell: I told him to bring two boiled eggs to schools so while he was practising the text he made a bend and looked rather shocked,,, what happened was he forgot that he had put eggs in the pocket of his pants and worse, he had forgotten to boil them!!! So of egg was cracked and was running down his leg... I couldn't help myself and laughed very hard. He tried to clean things up but we got him some other pants. Lucky the cook brought us that afternoon new eggs who were boiled a long long time.

Many schools presented themselves and made the nicest 'rooms' with materials used in school, art work and fun things to do. It was a kind of fair.














Many schools came with a big bus with students and teachers to enjoy both days. Unfortunately my school is very different,,, Terry was alone stuck with me and a Thai teacher! Not much fun there! I tried to feed him ice creams to make it a good day...
On the photo you see Thai dancing. The competition was so big,,, there were nearly 50 categories! art, music, dance, language, maths etc etc. Just great!

Loi Krathong

A few weekends ago Ben and I had to do our visa run, buy the first bit of alcohol in Chiang Rai for the wedding and other things in Chiang Mai. I got two days of work and on Thursday we started our trip to Taizilek in Burma. We had to ask Som Deaw some things so we went into town first and ended up watching a parade of nearly 3 km long going trough whole Fang. All the schools, clubs, offices and young and old were joining. This because of a special Buddhist day just before the festival Loi Krathong. No camera of course but never mind.
We couldn't find Som Deaw but suddenly we heard his voice and there he came by in a parade car reading out loud the Buddhist story. At the temple Ben enjoyed the food cooked by many ladies who were more than happy to feed the big Farang! The elephant was also still around with the most beautiful ornaments and 3 people on top in Thai style. It's amazing how they can make things soo pretty and of such a class.
The photo is taken in Chiang Mai were Loi Krathong festival went from Friday until Sunday.

So after the parade we went passed Mae Salong to book the hotel for after the wedding and had a quick coffee at our friends coffee shop. Nice to see them again! It was fun to take a different road to the boarder at Mae Sai but it was a real adventure. Nice to walk around the market in Taizilek and we bought some cs's and DVDs.
Then we stayed the night in Chiang Rai after we got some alcohol. So lucky to have a car..... We couldn't have done any of this!
In the photo you see a lady lighting the big balloon like thing you send up in the air to let go of all your worries and fears. The sky was for all the evenings full of lights, really beautiful. But well, the amount of rubbish coming down out of the sky is another story... hihi




All the evenings in Chiang Mai was a long parade. Stunning it was. A nightmare to drive through Chiang Mai,,, we rented a motorbike because a car is a bad idea anyway, but we just couldn't get back to our place because all the streets were blocked. What would have taken us less than 10 minutes took an hour and half.




You see that there is amazing creative talent around...

Chiang Mai - Doi Sutep

On sunday we went on a short tour to Doi Sutep. It was a cool morning and the mist was hanging low above the trees and hills.











On the way up there is some nice scenery.

















A real old Pagoda high up the mountain dating from hundreds of years ago when Chiang Mai was just starting to become a city.


Mister Ben!















This photo was taken in Taizilek in Burma. The market looks nice but one street away and it's pure poverty.

Thai food and friends

On the way up to Doi Sutep there are two villages to stop. The first is a giant tourist haven with crowed by Farangs coming out big tour busses and the second is a village with a market were the locals go to. Also Thai tourists are going there and it is really nice.













This is Aa and his girlfriend Aew. They live in Chiang Mai but we know Aa from when he was still in Fang. He is on another photo from months ago. Here we had some lunch on Sunday after our trip up to Doi Sutep in the shopping centre Airport Plaza. There is this great food court on the ground floor worth checking out.

Good old Fang

How we love Fang and how we love The King! May he live for many more years. It was His birthday last Wednesday, 5 December, and there were celebrations everywhere.















Nice drive around Fang. I had to get of the back of the bike to get up the hills!













Scenery behind Pui's school in Moung Choum.












Meet the friendly gecko living on the outside of the house. He likes to make a mess inside the laundry shed. Keep your nose closed when you go inside!

Christmas at Malfried's

Our friend Malfried (left) and Christine are both from Norway and working as missionaries in Fang.
Malfried is absolutely crazy about Christmas and for weeks now she plays Christmas music and last week was The Day for the decorations. Ben and are were invited to be part of this ceremonial happening. First we ate delicious taco's, from Chiang Mai,, and than it was time to set up the tree and all the other things. Now Ben and I have a small tree at home with lights and I have to admit it is really nice and cosy...









The area were we live is also really nice so we don't need to go away every weekend.

Mae Salong en Chiang Rai

So lucky we are! just take the bike and drive of for a weekend away. Toothbrush and a set of clean clothes in the basket in the bike and off we are. You see the picture here and will understand why we love to go away!

The photo is taken in the new coffee shop from Mii and Thon in Mae Salong. They have done such a good job, Ben and I did not have too much faith building a cafe out of the old shed what it once was but we were pleasantly surprised.





Thon and Mii in front of the coffee shop.











Ben trying out their new Aussie barbie! I thought at one stage that the whole place would burn down when the pork set on fire. We wanted not to cut the vet away because the Thais like it like that,, well never try this at home...

We had a lovely night!






This is our friend Elin from Brazil who visited us and on the picture we were in Chiang Rai were we went to see her. She is working on a recycle project at the Mirror Foundation which is going very well.

She will leave for Mexico too soon... I will miss her!





Back home the bike was in need of a wash.