Get to the choppa

It's hot, I'm strandedish so I'ma just write till...????

Yesterday Rob picked me up and we went over to school.  He showed me around and I picked up many, if not all, the books I'll really need for the year.  One book(let) is the curriculum outline and a rough class schedule.

Perusing the schedule, I teach English 5 days a week, math 4, science 3, and health, geography, and PE once.  Each 'period' is a hour long and I handle about 3-4 per day.  I'll also be covering 1st and 2nd grade PE and all teachers rotate covering morning and lunchtime playground duty.  So everyday there is just 3-4 hours of hands on class time and the occasional playground duty.

Bryan, last year's 4th grade teacher, neatly left me the books along with notes as to which was handy for what (core vs supplemental).  Moses, last year's 3rd grade, teacher said the students coming up to me were wonderful students (academically/behaviorally) (he wasn't being sarcastic, as I first feared).

All my teacher doings will get posted here, a blog I've made specifically for such.  I aim to keep it clean and professional.  The URL is a work in progress.

http://adam3004s.blogspot.com/

School starts May 20th so I'll be tackling a lot coming up.  I have to create a rough guide for the year and steadily make plans finer and finer as I get down to things like test creation.  I'm eager to plan how I'll run things too.

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After the school doings, Rob dropped me off as he had his own doings to get doing.  It's hot as all hell and my AC is funky/I don't wanna pay for it so I read for 4 hours on my porch before heading out around 4 when the sun was much weaker.  I aimed to wander, take pictures, and find food.  I still bring my loperamide wherever I go, can't be too careful...

While walking my neighbor, Neung, picked me up because Idk, she's nice?.  Neither of us could really communicate but I managed to get across "just drive I'm following you."

We went to a market where she picked up her dinner stuff and then headed back, I had her drop me off at the mall in town as I wanted to see it.

The place is a dump,

Sauces and stuff in bags.  BAGS

Lil sushi for $1.50 and...Idk Obama scotch

There's a whole foodsy supermarket with whole foodsy prices.  Apparently though it's the place to buy the best meat.

I then proceeded to jack-ass around town till 830pm (wandering/getting lost/dinner/eating crickets(tasted like bacon I shit you not)) and finding out showing a map to a taxi driver/tuk-tuk driver to get you home is like showing them the map Starship Enterprise used to navigate the universe.

Me: "Hey can you take me here?"

Me: *Points at EXACT location*

Them: *Blank stare*

Me: "Here  ---->, see, we're here...I want to go here...it's south for 10 minutes on this road."

Them: *Blank stare*

Me:

Me: "Can you take me here?"

Me: *Holding a clear as fuck'n day map of the city these drivers have lived in probably their entire lives*

Them: "How many kilometers?"

Me: 

Me: "Idk, 10 minutes *points to ground and south* this way, that's it.  Can you do that? 10 minutes this way?"

Them:

Them: "How many kilometers?"

Me:


And so I walked for an hour and twenty minutes south with the 2 gallon jug of water I just bought.

Finally back my neighbor I went to the market with was with friends eating and drinking so I hung out with them doing the same for a few hours.  They liked practicing their English with me and one of them was pretty good.  All were in late 30s.  They also liked asking me anything and everything and I obliged as best I could with simple verbs and adjectives.  One was reaaaalllly drunk and kept asking me the same questions every 30 minutes.

"how long you in thailand?" "how ouurrld are you?" (could be old or are??)


The same drunk woman also kept trying to convince me that Australian English is easier to understand than American English.

I was all like You're out of your fuckin mind.

They also liked to take pictures with me.

Them: "Ohhhhhh you so handsome"

Me: Wut? Where? Point to it?

Them: "Ahh yess tarr, very handsome?"

Me, thinking: Well you aren't a prostitute so thanks.

But wait...

I've noticed Thai people often staring at me and I read it's not to be taken with offense, they just don't see that many foreigners and some of us look pretty odd by their standards.

That made sense so it hasn't been bothering me.

My 'travel clothes' even get laughs out of young monks (shorts, boots, sleeveless T-shirt, big hair)



Hmm....

Most western males I see have short black hair and are a bit tan.

.....wait a minute....

....I don't look like 95% of the western visitors

....I fascinate them...

....This country is mine for the taking.


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Anywho, when Neung understood I had no bike as of yet she was all like, heyyy use my "choppa" while you're hear, just gas it up.

I was all like...you mean that...awesomeness in the back?

She was all like...mmhmm

I was all like......Thanks

She showed me how to start it, rev'd it and shut if off.

Was all like, your good bro.

Rob said he knew how to drive one so I'll have'm show me how to not die on it so I can get god damn food.  I'll needa pickup a helmet...

That's all folks.