Update Jan 4 - 9

On Wednesday and Thursday, we were back to the regular routine of teaching in the morning, lesson planning in the afternoon, then heading into Damnoen in the evening.  These were our last 2 days of teaching, which was kind of sad as your just starting to actually learn their name and getting to know their personalities.  We played games and word searches for most of the classes as it was our last days there but also quizzed them at the start of the classes with flash cards to make sure that they at least had retained some of what we taught them.  Overall teaching at the local school was a great experience and I would definitely do it again.

On Friday, the NYers headed to the floating market to buy some gifts for their loved ones back home (somehow I missed going with them and they left without me) so I headed into town myself and did a bit more exploring.  Looked around at motorcycles as I plan on buying one for my stay here soon so I can actually go out and explore more of the area as the buses only go certain place (well it seems that way anyway).  That night at 12 midnight the NYers hopped in the taxi with Mr Boon (the same guy who brought me here, who was nice to see again) and headed to the airport for their 5am flight.  

Saturday and Sunday were quite uneventful and I am trying to get back into the routine around here.  Haven't made it for breakfast pretty well since the NYers got here (still haven't actually, hopefully tomorrow which is Tuesday), as we'd stayed up pretty late each night playing card games and charades ( which ended up making us do some pretty funny stuff).  I made it to chanting and meditation though the last couple night and am slowly getting my sleep schedule back on track.

Today (Monday the 9th), I taught the monks this morning, a class of 5, which went pretty well.  Their English is actually pretty good and they are definitely wanting to learn.  I believe the class fluctuates depending on what other classes they have and who is at the temple at the time.  The class was from 9 - 10:45, which at about 10:30 they told me that I should have gave them a break.  So now its been changed to go from 8:45 - 10:45 with a 10 minute break in the middle.  They actually said something that I've never heard a class say in my life, "What's for homework?".  LOL.  I asked them if they wanted homework and they said "Yes".  What class says they want homework?  So I guess I need to plan a bit more content so that they have some.  Tonight (actually in about 45 minutes) I have some local children, I believe around 13 years old, so it should be fun to play some more games with them as I imagine they'll be just as eager to learn.  Well I'm finally caught up on this blog.  Thanks to all that have been reading it and commenting.  Happy New Year!