Lots of new things are happening here every day as we explore and discover and eat our way from experience to experience. On Saturday we got up early (again) and visited the "floating market." I heard someone remark that [even] if I had all day, I don't know how I could explain what the place is like (please check our photos [arriving soon!]) We had quite a unique experience, with the sights, sounds, smells and of course the tastes.
Later that day we picked up our baggage at our hotel and boarded a train at 5:00pm, heading for Trang provence. Our accommodations were seats, turned into a bed, and after 15 hours and a reasonable night's sleep we arrived in Trang town. We were met there by several of the directors of the 4 different schools where our 5 students will be teaching.
After breakfast in Trang, a school van transported us all to our bungalow accommodations along the Andamran Sea, about 120 miles north of the Malaysian border on Thailand's west coast.
Monday morning we had a special audience with the governer of Trang provence as well as with the minister of education. By the afternoon we were starting out TEFL training. Tuesday we spent putting into practice the skills we were learning and here we are on Wednesday and each of the students is doing some classroom teaching.
the Dana students have really been a quick study as far as TEFL. They have shown confidence in themselves, eagerness to learn, open to suggestions for improvement, and terrific rapport with the students. I never expected them to be doing so well at this early stage in their teaching.
Last night was also the first night the students spent with their host families. So far so good. The students are enthused and the host families are professional people from the schools where our students are teaching. They have comfortable, middle-class homes which, in this part of Thailand, doesn't include A.C., hot showers, or modern flush toilets. They are manual flush and I'll leave it at that.
We are all safe and well.
Dr. Hal, noon on Wednesday
For the record, I am fortunate enough to be in a house with a toilet that flushes itself when the water is turned on.
Once again, when I get the cameras back and some time to upload (they take quite a while, as the Internet connection here is a bit slow), there will be more photos and some video to view. I will be posting some on Facebook at some point, too, which will probably just be excess photos I take myself. The video will more than likely wind up on YouTube.
Until next time.
So glad to hear you are all well and having an experience of a life time. I think about you all often and can't wait to hear/see all about the trip in person. Be safe and take care, Dr. Ladwig
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