May 10, 2011

Nothing much new to report for today. I had intended to take many pictures and buy some sandals. My jet-lag had other plans. I managed to sit through the morning with a headache so bad I couldn’t see straight. I must have wrote all of 3 sentences and managed somehow to sit through a meeting on Thai culture. The rambutan was out of the question. I went home at lunchtime and slept away the afternoon and right until 11:00pm. It was too late to hit the markets so I have confined myself to my room. I will go back to bed after I finish unpacking and writing a shopping list. Tomorrow after school we are going into the downtown and taking a water-taxi up the river to take in the view.

I did learn some new things. First of all, everyone here knows about the flooding back home. Most of the Canadian teachers are from Winnipeg and read Winnipeg FreePress online. I was hit with many questions about that at breakfast. Second, often Thai people don’t want you to speak Thai. (Probably because we butcher it.) Third, Buddhist monks are not allowed to touch a woman. There is a story about a monk long ago who watched a woman drowning because he was not allowed to touch her. Other things include it being inappropriate to rest leaning against a desk, there are bathrooms adjoining every classroom because we should never leave during the day, and shoes are not to be worn in classrooms. This is the hot season and it is the coldest hot season on record for 35 years and that it rained yesterday bothers locals. It does NOT rain during the dry season.