I Think This Post is Mostly Pictures

    So we've almost been here three weeks. And tensions in the group are running high. The next few months are going to be really fun (sarcasm heavily implied here). Where we are going and what we will be seeing are going to be amazing, no doubt there, but the six hour car trip there is going to be a whole other story.

• Almost got to sleep in!!
• Except my internal clock wakes me up at 8. And we weren't leaving until 11:30. Bit of a disappointment. 
• Learned the colors!!
• When I have more energy I will take a picture of our text book, but basically it's trying to teach us colors like we are a dog. By this I mean the Thai word for a color is next to a white/gray/black circle. Not the most effective teaching method I have found.
• Lilith revealed her true colors!!
• So today Niko and Alessa went off by themselves to eat. Which meant Lilith followed the rest of us around. And listened in on our conversation about how we are not fond of Alessa and Niko. When we arrived at the classroom, she was putting the final touches on a doodle of a horse on the white board. Then she had the horse saying "sometimes you get mad and often speak words" which we all realized was directed at us. And it came straight from the horses mouth. 
• Unfortunately, I can see Lilith being bashed more and more on here as this trip goes on. It's really hard to live with someone who seems to hate us all but forces us to be around her. The only good thing so far is that she has not talked about wanting to kill us all because we aren't of the Aryan race. 
• I think I forgot to mention she's a Nazi. Who hates black people. 
• And we get to meet some of her relatives when we visit Laos. I think I'll just go to the hotel and hide under the covers.
• Started volunteering at a school!!
• Previously on this term, people have volunteered at a English teaching school for the few weeks we're here. Drexler took us over and left us. Niko took the computer class, Karen took the intermediate class, Donna and Alessa took the super beginners class, and the beginner class was left to Deanna and me. Literally.
• The teacher who was supposed to be teaching did not show up so the other teacher who teaches the class tried to dump them on us. They do not speak English, we do not speak Thai. It was a train wreck. We even tried talking to the 'principal' (who I swear was on something) to get him to make her teach. He did not. Eventually one of the students got the teacher and she took over till the main teacher showed up and took over.The way the classroom worked was pretty confusing. Deanna and I were pretty ticked the rest of the two hours, but that's mainly because we were hungry. I also threw in a few curses at Drexler for abandoning us. 
• So we sat there as they taught and tried to figure out how to teach like the regular teachers. Because after our group shows up the teachers suddenly fall sick and we are forced to take over the classes. 
• We're going to go for the next few days (because Drexler said we could do it everyday for the next five weeks. My opinion: heck no we aren't!!) to get a real feel for it. But from what people were saying afterwards I doubt all six of us will continue on for long.
• As we were leaving, Deanna and I started telling people about what happened in our classroom. Niko felt inclined to tell us we sucked and that we should have gotten him because he has taught English all over the world without speaking the language. Because he knows everything and could do everything and blah blah blah. I really wanted to shove him into on-coming traffic. 
• Crossed the interstate!!
• Had a few near misses. 
• Still have all my limbs. 
• Almost lost my shoe.
• Jumped into a moving songthaew.
• Got really freaked out when the driver took back streets all the way back to our guest house.
• Rewarded for our bravery!!
• Papa Duck (or Drexler as he's known to most people) took us out for roti, which is basically Thai crepes. I believe all the girls got chocolate with cocoa powder while Niko had banana and chocolate. 
• I am not a Justin Bieber fan. Niko is a Justin Bieber fan and tried to convert me. Or at least make me stop saying Justine Bieber (the first time I heard Bieber I thought it was a lesbian singing). Really had to stop myself from 'accidentally' pouring my hot tea on him. He went on for a long time until he realized I had tuned him completely out in favor of the Thai/Japanese soap opera that was on. 
• I think I understand Niko's distress. Many people believe Niko is a girl who identifies as a boy but is still physically a girl. Many teachers address him as a girl and people have asked us away from Niko if he is physically a boy. 
• Lilith did not get any roti because she decided to stay in her room the whole day. 

Here's some pictures from last week:

 

Us playing cards between classes. Clockwise: Me(against the wall), Niko, Alessa, Donna, and Lilith

Dance lessons. And a full shot of me in uniform. Thai dancing does not require a lot of movement so it can be done in a pencil skirt. Left side, front to back: Deanna, Me, Donna, Lilith. Right side: Dance teacher, Karen.

After dance lesson we were taken out by an administrator. For most of us, the khao soy (cow soy) was too hot to eat so she ordered us some really good ice with coconut milk. However, there were these weird green and white tasteless worm things made out of flour but with the texture of a gummy worm in it. This is my reenacted reaction to them. It was really weird, okay?? How often do you find weird green things in your food??

Here's Karen and I at the elephant farm. I had been posing with an elephant but it's trainer decided to grab some money right before this was snapped and I turned to look for it. There is another picture of me being smelt by an elephant but the person who took it has not given it to me yet. So for now I look like Cousin It while Karen gets a perfect shot. 

In retaliation, I upload Karen making one of her goofy at the camera with a scorpion.

It's right next to her head. That weird brown spot to the left of her face. It's seriously there. Here's a close up.

Lizard count: 6      They came back to us!!