ABC - I hope it's as easy as 123

Little by little, I'm finding out more and more about what to expect in the classroom (which still doesn't add up to much.

Today my fellow teacher Angela and I stood in front of all the students, their parents, and the teachers of Wangchanwittaya and introduced ourselves.  Luckily no major embarrassments occurred! After the announcing of the FARANG to Wang Chan, we followed our coordinator PeeMam to the office where we received the teaching schedule for the next two weeks.  I have 18 classes a week! Also, I'd like to mention that I was placed with the Mattium 1-3.  Angela has MAttium 4-6.  What does this mean for me?  I'm teaching the younger students...who probably don't know much English.  Therefore, I quickly walked home and started back at square one on lesson plans.  I guess I'll find out in the morning what level of English we're looking at here.

The school has been very welcoming - many teachers have passed by to say hello, and everyone smiles (of course).  Our town is literally about 2 streets.  One with 7-11 and the market, the other with restaurants and laundry.  It appears that most places close early.  On my way to eat dinner last night (about 6pm) many of the shop keepers I had seen earlier were packing up and going home.  However, I did happen to find an amazing restaurant where I had spaghetti with pork and 8 fried shrimp for only 120 Baht (which is only about 4 dollars!) During dinner the owner came out and asked if we were the new English teachers.  I guess news does get around fast in a small town.

For now, though, I'm taking a break.  I'm going to go stroll through the beautiful campus and find my classrooms for tomorrow.  Then I'm going to go buy some markers to add some color to the very childish drawings I've been working on for lesson plans.  And THEN I may go have a beer and relax for the rest of the evening.  Also, there's a group of cats at the next house - we named momma cat Minerva.