Samut Songkram

Like last year, we Ajarn Farang were invited to accompany the Australian exchange students on a trip for their last day in Thailand. They've been here for a few weeks staying with their friends in M5 who went to Melbourne in April. The Aussies have been pretty busy these few weeks, but they spent quite a bit of time at our school too. They sat in on one of our classes to help our students practice their English conversation skills, and even helped us with a major project. The two teachers, Jan and Claire, are so nice, and it's been fun getting to sit and talk with them at lunch. Jan visited last year as well, and it was good to see her again.

Sometimes it's frustrating traveling with our school, because we have no idea what's going on. This trip was great for two reasons: 1) since it was a trip for the Australian students, everything was said in English, and 2) we did pretty much the same thing we did last year, so it was predictable. Predictable is good. It's quite refreshing in Thailand. First we went to Benjarong Village where they make the traditional Thai ceramics. We toured the workshops and showrooms, then got to paint our own. This year we painted plates. Again, we signed our names in gold.

amazing artistry

After a delicious Thai seafood lunch overlooking the water, Ajarn Virulh (head of international affairs) and Ajarn Piyawan (head of the English department) took us to the train market. This place is really cool, because its a market built right on top of a train track. As soon as the whistle sounds, the vendors carefully fold up their shades and push their wares back towards the walls. It's a popular destination with tourists. You can actually stand in the market as the shopkeepers close up, and they'll lead you to a safe place to stand while the train passes. We saw it last year, but this year we were much closer. In fact, as the train started approaching, I suddenly had the terrible feeling that we wouldn't make it! We stood with our backs to the wall of the building behind us as the train chugged past literally inches in front of our faces. It was so close that I actually reached out to touch it as it went by.

After the harrowing train market, we went to the palm sugar plantation. Unfortunately, they weren't making the sugar at that time. We took a tour while our guide explained about the sustainablity projects at the plantation and how it's meant to encourage the local economy while providing quality goods (not just sugar, but all sorts of soaps, lotions, oils, etc), mostly to ship back to Bangkok.

We ended the day with a few hours to explore the floating market at Ampawah. I wasn't hungry after our giant lunch, and neither were Kate or Ryan, so we walked along the river looking at the shops. At dusk we all gathered together again for a firefly watching trip along the river. It was a little disappointing, as there weren't as many fireflies as last year, but it was fun anyway. I brought a jacket this year, as I remembered how cold it got last year!

I hope that our visitors have had a great time in Thailand. To be honest, we weren't so impressed with the Australian students last year. They didn't really seem to want much to do with us American teachers. This year the students were very friendly and fun. One girl had some trivia game app on her phone, and they played it with us on the bus. It was really nice to get to hang out with them; sometimes it feels good to be surrounded by English-speakers.

we must be turning Thai... obligatory Ampawah sign selfie