Week 3 & 4 of TEFL

Week 3:  Definitely a busy week as far as class was concerned- two classes to teach (with increasingly less guidance from the instructors), a one on one lesson assignment, a materials project and a whole lot of studying for the exam to do.  Made it through no problem though- it's really nothing compared to the work load I've had with college and teaching in the past.

 Dinner at 'the American Place' (at which I always order Thai food)

 lesson prepping at the school

Week 4:  Exam was on Monday... not too bad, just a long 3 hours.  Passed without a problem, but didn't ace it like I usually do with tests (not bad though- 89% on grammer and 96% on phonetics).  It only confirmed that in no way am I yet ready for grad school.  Only one 'real' class to teach and the other I had to make a game of some form.  I made a form of the game Trouble... students seemed to like it and it was actually kind of fun to make.  Wrapped up class just in time for my first interview.  Had been applying all over just to see what was here in Phuket as far as jobs are concerned.  Received a phone call for an interview at the Hilton to be a full time employee teaching the other employees English- yeeee haw!  So just as class wrapped up on Thursday and we received our certificates, I was back to preparing lessons.  The interview started with a 30 minute teaching demonstration- talk about intimidating.  Thankfully it went pretty well and I got a free meal out of it (best pad thai with prawn I've had yet).

class photo

showing off my certificate to teach English

Big Buddha

We had a day that was technically only a half day of class, and although there are about a million things I could have worked on, I decided that since the weather was good, I should go out on an adventure of sorts.  I had been wanting to go see the 'Big Buddha' since I got here since it's a famous spot on the island so Kelsey, Dan from England, Adam from Boston and I decided to all go.  Dan rented a motorbike for the day and drove Adam (this is way cheaper but you have actually drive a motorbike) while Kelsey and I took a motorbike taxi.  Getting to the Big Buddha was an adventure in itself.  First, our taxi had no idea what we were talking about and spoke no English so he had to stop along the street and ask someone to get a translation (but really, how confusing can two words be?  Big. Buddha.  There's only one giant one on the tallest mountain on this island....good thing we were able to just laugh about it).  Dan was following our taxi and realized that the motorbike he had rented needed gas and so we had to somehow tell our non-English speaking driver this while driving around as if we were in the game MarioKart.  We managed to explain it at a stoplight though and got Dan some gas.  Then up the giant hill we went. Kelsey and I were a little afraid our driver's motorbike might not make it.... it almost didn't but it pulled through.  At last, at the top of the mountain for some quality time with the biggest Buddah I've ever seen.

elephants along the way

view from the top

Kelsey and I at Big Buddah- he was under construction but still very cool!

view of Phuket.... I live somewhere down there

Big Buddha Big Buddha Big Buddha

inside the temple

I'm not sure if you can read the signs, but the gold tree says "you may make a wish to your father" and the silver "you may make a wish to your mother"

The Big Buddha is entirely funded by donations, so to support that, and of course to wish for my mom and dad, I added some baht to the trees and wished for good health for my dad and happiness for my mom.

inside the temple

workers on the bamboo scaffolding- so dangerous!

interesting details of a shrine

prayer/wish bells on the way up to Big Buddha

the view

statues around the bottom of Big Buddha:

building Buddha

this is one of the knobby things that go on the head- such a big statue!

this gold Buddha is right next to the Big Buddha.... looks tiny in comparison but it's not small by any means

lookout point

our crew

from left to right: me, Dan, Adam, Kelsey

elephants

Dan rubbing the gong for good luck

coolest bathroom everrrrrrr

After an eventful day, we headed to Kata beach to go for a swim, grab dinner and watch the sun set.

soccer game on the beach

Kata 

Kelsey and I found crabs in the water..... like little spiders

Our Big Buddha day was definitely a good break from the monotony of class and was a good reminder to me as to why I am here.  Stay tuned for more travel adventures..... :) 

Butterfly Garden

After a night out in Patong, the majority of my classmates were not quite up to much activity the next morning, but I on the other hand was not hungover and had to get out of the hotel before I went stir crazy, so off on my own little adventure I went.  I had heard about a butterfly garden so I decided to see if I could find it.... apparently it was only 3 km from the hospital next door.  Of course I walked in the wrong direction but at least I got to see a little more of Phuket town.

It's still a little weird to me to be in a country where there is a royal family (I'm assuming this is a picture  of them)

Old Phuket

Old Phuket

I ate at an awesome little cafe called 'Rider Cafe'.  Definitely a western owner who loves motorcycles.  I didn't particularly love the biker decor, but the food was delicious AND they had iced Americanos- totally worth walking in the wrong direction for.  I asked the waitress there how to get to the butterfly garden and she is the one who pointed out I had gone really far in the wrong direction and told me just to take a motorbike taxi there- she was right- it was too far to walk- so I hopped on a motorbike taxi.  

I loved this driver- he was really nice and offered to take me all over the island (for more money of course) and to give me his number so he could essentially be my chauffur for the month.  I declined but in hindsight I should have taken him up on it because I haven't had as good of a driver yet. 

Finally, I made it to the butterfly garden:

this was about 8 inches wide

scorpions

A few of my favorites on display:

It was not just a butterfly garden, but a bug museum as well....

for real?

giant

the colors and patterns make me want to paint!

 haha

After the 'museum' part, you enter the gardens.  It's a really big caged in garden area with plants and ponds and all sorts of things.  Oh, and butterflies of course.  Lots of butterflies flying all over.  Some really really big ones too.  

 These were the ones I saw flying around the most.  They give you butterfly food but I could only get one to actually land on me.

These little tables were placed throughout the gardens- apparently butterflies love bananas.

Koi

There was a special breeding room for the butterflies and this sign was on the door by the exit. For some reason I found it amusing.

This was a popular gathering place for the butterflies.

 Those aren't leaves on the screen....they are butterflies.  Best camouflage ever.

Look closely.... there are larvae alllllll over in those bags.

Cocoons

Orchids.  

To the side of the gardens were some displays with live bugs as well.... I usually don't mind bugs at all, but some of these were gross even for me.

Stick Bugs... at least a foot long.  creeeeeeepy.


Looks like all leaves.... but there about 5 'leaf' bugs in there.


GIANT cockroaches.  (4-5 inches long).


I'm not sure why this guy was there.... but he was photogenic.

After the butterfly gardens, I went to the Thailand equivalent of Wal-Mart/Target called Tesco Lotus and then back to the Roongrawee for some quality study time.  Third week of class= lots to study/do.