Where will my feet take me next: Part 2: March 2013

Friday, March 22, 2013

Back to business

My last day in Thailand was great! I ate, slept and had a massage. I managed to sleep though most of my journey. Thank goodness for lavender tea and massages. After landing in Korea, I was homesick for Thailand. I had people push me out of the way and queue jump at the airport. I'm better now, but for the first week back I really regretted re-signing my contact. I was a little bit depressed and was tempted to fly back home. I'm okay now! I've gotten over my homesickness and am back to having a great time in Korea.

I've also joined a gym! This is a big deal for me. I have never done a days worth of exercise in my life. But,I want to tone up. I don't want to lose weight!!! >< I've started going twice a week and it's slowly killing me haha.

I got fifth and sixth grade again, which I was angry about. All teachers change grade each year but me. It's okay now, as I realised I can adapt what I learnt on my course for my students. My students seem really well behaved so far......

I also asked my new-co teacher to write a note to my neighbour telling her to turn her bloody TV down (in a nice way). So my neighbour has finally turned her TV down and I can go to sleep without feeling stressed. I have nearly got through my first month in Korea. Only 11 more months to go until I'm home! Though lately I have been thinking about how much I will miss Korea when I leave. But, I am determined this my last year!!!!!!!

Oh! I almost forgot. I went to get my new visa on Tuesday. I had to wait in a queue for six hours!! Six hours!!!! Six blooming hours! Luckily, I had cakes to get me though.......

Siam rice cookery school

With our teacher!

On the third weekend we had finished our assignments and were nearing the end (yay!). Me, Alex and Dave decided to book ourselves into the Siam Thai cookery school. We got picked up in Chiang Mai old city and got driven to a market. At the market we were shown the different vegetables and spices. We then had free time to wander around.

We were then driven to the cooking school. We had been recommend the Siam rice by some of our friends at the Celta course. If you are thinking of taking a cooking class in Chiang Mai then I recommend here. The lady is really friendly.

At the school we choose the 3 dishes we were going to make. You have a choice of a full day or a half day course. We were seriously stuffed after half a day, so only take the full day if you have a giant stomach. My first course was chicken and coconut soup. It was delicious. mi want to make it here (in Korea), but I can't find all the ingredients that are needed. For the second course, Alex was brave enough to try drunken noodles. They are called drunken noodles as people are only crazy enough to make them when they're drunk!

Cooking!

The last course was a curry. I chose the northern pumpkin curry which was lovely, but I couldn't eat anymore. The lady teaching us was so funny. She made rude jokes throughout the lesson. At one point she told us that you can tell if someone will make a good wife/husband by the way he/she pounds the curry paste haha. When we finished they gave us a certificate and a book with all the recipes from the course.

After the cooking school we met our friend and we went to the Sunday walking market. I love the Sunday market. Though after 6.30pm it gets crazy busy!!! ><

Coconut/chicken soup

Drunken noodles

Our teacher

Before cooking!

Sunday walking market

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Celta time!

Vdaras

If you are thinking about doing the Celta, then I recommend International house Chiang Mai. You live in the hotel where the Celta is being taught. You also get your meals provided for you 5 days a week. It is outside the main city, therefore, you can focus on the course.

The lessons were from 10.30am - 8pm. The last two hours being teaching practice or observation. The rest of our time was spent on the computers doing assignments and lesson plans. This was the daily practice for most of the course.

The hotel we stayed in was Vdaras. It was beautiful. Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy it as I was so busy. My room was 3 times bigger than my apartment in Seoul. I had a beautiful four poster bed. The only thing it was missing was a bath (It's been over a year since I have had a bath *sobs*).

Study! Study! Study!

There was twelve of us on the course, and I luckily was with a cool group of people except one. There was a variety of ages and nationalities but everyone got along well (except that one person). Who was this one person? I can safely say she was the most bitter and nasty person, I have ever had the unpleasure of meeting. She complained about everything from the start. The tutors, the hotel, the whole Celta system.... She would mutter under her foul breath. The type of muttering that they pretend no-one can hear but everyone can...like a teenager. You may think I am being harsh on this woman. But if you ever had the displeasure of meeting her then you would understand. I was stuck in a group with her for the whole course.

With students at the leaving party!

She seem to target her complaints to me and another girl. We took it on the chin until the third week. I was sitting on the computer alone doing my lesson plans when she came in. You must understand this is a very stressful course and by this point everyone was stress. But, unlike her we were not taking it out on other people. Anyways, back to the story. There I was minding my own business. She was already pissing me off as she was taking her of the tutor time before our lesson. Therefore, me and the other guy in the group never got a chance to talk to our tutor. And she comes in complaining about me and the other girl. I told her to stop being so aggressive and she had got her facts wrong. She walked off mumbling like a teenager. So that was it. I called her out on it. I told her we can all hear her when she mumbles and we are all stressed, but unlike her we didn't take our stress out on everyone. We never spoke again after that and I considered myself very lucky. But seriously! Our tutors were the loveliest people, but I could see them getting angry at some points with her. Oh well! One in every group.

With Alex and Natalie! Don't know what I would have
done without these two to keep me sane.

We had a few nights out as a group. The first weekend was my biggest regret. I had the worst hangover the next day and it delayed me doing all my work.

We had 8 lessons to teach in all. Our students were adults. It was a complete change from teaching kids in Korea. The students did what we said and enjoyed the task. We took it in turns to teach. Whoever was third (and last) teaching was the unlucky one. You had to sit through two lessons getting nervous for your turn. We actually never knew if we did well or not. One lesson that I thought went so terrible that I burst into tears to my friend straight after actually turned out to be an above standard. And another that I thought was my best, was just a standard lesson.

Fruit everyday!

I am glad I did this course. I gained a lot of teaching knowledge that I am now incorporating in my lessons in Korea. I also met a bunch of great people, I got to see Thailand and most importantly... I got to eat a lot of tasty Thai food.

My final grade was pass B! Yay! I just neeed to focus on my timing.

If your thinking about doing the Celta course then I recommend reading the set course book before as it has a lot of the information in there that will help you with your lessons and assignments.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Chiang Mai Old City

Flower festival

After Doi Suthep, I asked to be dropped off near the flower festival. This was possibly the best part of my whole trip. It was busy, but not too busy. There were flowers and fruit stalls everywhere. It was also my first time exploring Chiang Mai, so it felt kind of magical. The flower floats were really interesting and you could see all the work that went into them. There was a lot of people playing instruments. At one point I went for a foot massage and was surrounded my flowers with street musicians playing traditional Thai music. It is going down as one of the most memorable moments of my travels.

Wat Phra Singh

After eating as much fruit as I could and taking photos of the flowers, I set out to find some of the temples of Chiang Mai old city. I think it is quite easy to fit your way around old city. I soon found Wat Phra Singh. I didn't go inside the temples because I was worn out by this point, but I walked around the outside. There was a mini market and I saw my first old Western guy with a young Thai bride combo. There was also a lying buddha. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phra_Singh

Wat Phra Singh

Temple market

After relaxing in a cafe,I tired to find the next temple in my list but ended up at a market inside one of the temples grounds. By this point the Sunday market had already been started to be set up by the sellers. I finally found Wat Chedi Luang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Chedi_Luang). I really liked this temple as it was quiet and I just relaxed for a bit there. It is really beautiful.

Wat Chedi Luang

After siteseeing I shopped under it was time for my to go off to my final destination.... My hotel for my CELTA course.

When I finally got there I went straight up to my room and slept until the next day........ (left the cliffhanger just for Alex!)

Hmong hill tribe village and Doi Suthep

Doi Suthep

On my first free day, I had booked a trip to Doi Suthep. I booked this trip with travelhub. I would recommend this trip, but if you have your own scooter then go earlier to avoid the crowds.

I got picked up at my hotel and we first went to the Hmong hill tribe village. The journey is quite long and I was still tired from my flight. Fortunately, our tour guide was really friendly and made the journey go quicker.

Hmong Hill tribe village garden

The hill tribe village was basically a small market. If you don’t go whilst you’re in Chiang Mai, then don’t worry. The sellers go down the Sunday walking market in Chiang Mai to sell their items.

The strawberries here were delicious! All the others I tried in Thailand were sour! >< There was also a waterfall at the village. The whole area was covered in flowers as I went on the weekend of the Chiang Mai flower festival. I managed to buy some gifts for people back home too. It is the same prices as the Sunday walking market except for, unlike the market, it is peaceful and quiet at the village.

Flowers

Doi Suthep

We then rode to Doi Suthep. There were hundreds of people. Yes, it is a stunning temple. BUT, the temple is so crowded with people; you cannot get a true insight it to its real beauty. There are stalls and food vendors all the way up to the famous staircase. On the stair case are children dressed up in traditional clothes which are waiting for tourist to pay to have photos taken with them.

I preferred the outside of the main temple as it seemed calmer and had views of Chiang Mai. Inside the temple, I found to be so crowded you could barley move. Of course, there are photographers going around charging people for photos. This was the busiest temple I have ever been in (including the ones in Beijing). Even though it is a truly beautiful temple, it is low on my list of favourite temples for this reason. I recommend going during sunrise. I heard that is before us tourist go. It’s just hard to get there……. ㅜ ㅜ

Here are my favourite pictures from Doi Suthep.

Doi Suthep

Doi suthep

Doi Suthep

There was also a group of village girls dancing which was so cute.....

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

CELTA in Thailand Part 1.

I hate them all!

I decided last year that I wanted to do a CELTA. Some of the jobs I was looking at, for the future, wanted a Celta with 2 years experience succeeding the training. Plus, I taught an afterschool program at a middle school and decided if I wanted to become a better teacher I needed more training. I booked my training course with International house at Chiang Mai and I am so grateful I did (but that is a story for later on).

I had my first interview at the latter end of 2012. I was really nervous about the interview but managed to get through it. After which, I had to do a pre-course task. Some people on my course admitted to me later on they did not do it as it wasn't mandatory. I recommend doing the pre-course task, especially if you haven't taught before as it will help you later on. I did most of mine when I was desk-warming by myself in Korea. I also read some of 'Learning English' before and it helped me a lot on my course.

So on the 2nd February I flew to Chiang Mai for my course. I really love waiting at Incheon airport in South Korea. It's great! There is a free cultural center where you can make stuff. There are so many shops and resturants. There is also a Charlie Brown and a Hello Kitty cafe.

Print from cultural center

Charlie Brown cafe in airport- The Chai Latte was horrid!

The flight to Thailand wasn't too long but I arrived a little after 11pm. I had booked a hotel in Old town, so I could have a wander around on my only free day in Thailand. The taxi's to the city are convenient and easy to book. They cost around 200-250 Baht depending on your location.

I felt sorry for my hotel as they were waiting for my to come before they locked the doors for the night. I also did the stupid thing of packing my PJ's at the bottom of my suitcase ㅜㅜ.....

Update and Christmas in Seoul.

Things have been crazy for the last few months, but I am finally doing my update. It will mainly be pictures because I have a bad memory.

The reason I haven't updated for some time if quite simply things have been manic. During December and January,I had to prepare lessons and materials for Winter camp. I also had to study for my CELTA course. On top of that my home laptop is broken (not buying a new one until I leave Korea) and my old work computer was also broken. Last month the school replaced all computers in the office as the poor IT guy had enough of being called down everyday.

Anyways, in December I went to see the Hobbit in IMAX. Richard Armitage looks sexy even as a dwarf.......... I also decided to have friends over this year for Christmas. We all got different parts of the meal. My friend who was in charge of dessert went overboard. She got enough to feed an army, so we all ended up lying on the floor after.

It was also my first and last Christmas with Kitty before she went back home. She hid for most of it because she hates people....

Christmas cake

Straight after Christmas was the start of the camps for me. I first did cooking camp, where I made cookies with the students. I then did Dr. Suess camp. I taught the students rhyming words and games. The last week I did Harry Potter camp. More students turned up than expected and it was crazy but fun.

Lorax

Magic cookies

Harry Potter wands

One Saturday, I went ice-skating and dinner with friends. I have never eaten so much in my life!!!!!! My first went to my favourite Greek restaurant, then a pie shop and then a kimbap heaven shop...... Ice-skating in Korea is so cheap! It cost about 50pence for an hour!