Happy Birthday Krista and Dano!!

Happy Birthday Krista and Danielle!!

I just want to let everyone know that on this day, February 17th 19XX two blonde little girls were born.

I guess Krista is about 15hrs older than she really is or wants to be, but when we return to North America she will gain those precious youth hours back (She’ll take as many hours as she can get ;)

Please wish these too young ladies a very happy birthday. I hope you both have a wonderful day!

Krista and Danielle on their birthday 2009

Krista and Danielle in Minneapolis summer 2009

Jon, Krista, Danielle and Todd

Krista, Momma and Danielle Feb 2009

Krista prepared a special birthday video for just for you Dano, with the help of her students at iSponge English, take a look! (If you’re viewing from email, click here to view the YouTube video)

iSponge Campus – Our School

After being in Seoul for a week and going for a medical check, we finally got to have a tour of the school we will be teaching at. We are working for a franchise called iSponge, the location we are at is brand new – students are just registering for the first time there now! We will be the first native English speakers to have worked at this school, so we get to help get the place started!

The school looks amazing! Lots of bright colours, it is designed to make the children feel that they can have a lot of fun while learning. The teaching style the school employs has a lot do with learning through activities as well as regular workbook learning.

The school staff consists off one owner/principal, vice principal, secretary, two Korean-English teachers and two Native English speakers (Krista and I), and the bus driver! As it turns out, I am the only male on staff, aside from the bus driver, but he is not around often.

These last two days we have been going through lessons and role playing – pretending to teach each other. On Friday and Saturday we will have two days of training at their head office.

On Monday we will be doing some other prep work and then Tuesday is the big day. September 1st we have our first day of teaching with brand new students!

We took some pictures of the school, check it out! (You can click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Front entrance

Front desk

Play room

Classroom

Classroom, same as above but different view

Sponge room, this is used for various activities and games

Classroom

Kids can wash their hands here before lunch and after activities

Activity / game room

Classroom

Classroom

Classroom

Teacher’s room – this is just a partial view

Until next time.. after we start teaching!

Scooter Rental & Hua Hin Market

It would normally cost 100 baht ($3) to get a tuk tuk ride from our hotel to downtown. As you can see, this would add up fairly quickly so we decided to rent our own scooter for the week instead, this way we were able to go when we wanted and stop anywhere along the way.
The first bike we rented was a manual, I didn't like it that much, it was a pain to drive in the crazy rush hour traffic on the 'wrong' side of the road. However, we had it for one day and managed.

The next day we traded it for an automatic, it was sooo much more fun to drive! I started weaving in out and of traffic with everyone else.. why wait for the big cars to slowing make their way ahead when you can drive between cars! I can already tell I'm going to be more of an agressive driver when I go back to North America ;)

Anyway, we paid about 900 baht for the week rental and then a little more for as - it was a great investment.

We both road with helmets and sat properly on the scooter, but you would see many people in Thailand without helmets and riding side sadle as well. You could also see 3+ people on one scooter, not to mention people riding with infants on their laps without helmets either!


The manual, in red!



The automatic, in blue! Let the fun begin!



Hua Hin Market











Video of a drive on the scooter



Video in the market - a Thai grilling up fresh seafood!

Wat Khao Klailat - Temple in Hua Hin, Thailand

While in Hua Hin, we had a chance to cruise around on the scooter we rented and see the area. One afternoon, on our way to the beach we came across this temple - Wat Khao Klailat. There were a lot of monks walking on the grounds doing some odd jobs such as sweeping, raking rocks around trees and tending to the gardens.

Not much to say, but the temple designs were quite nice!









A fancy window shutter.





Treasure!



The temples has a few large paintings such as this one inside.



This was a railing leading up to another temple (which was closed off at the time).





King crab!



Turtles!

Days at the Beach - Hua Hin

After going to "Monkey Mountain" we went on to the otherside of the mountain to a nice quiet beach area to enjoy water and bake in the sun.

Here is jon and Eva walking towards the beach.





A little drink shop, not quite open yet.. I guess it was too early, although that didn't stop us from drinking the beer we brought!



Do you like the "prise" list, "thang you"


Up the hill were a few little shops selling tourists goods, a small temple, massage shop and a buddha standing 19m tall.



At this beach you could rent sunbeds all day for 50baht ($1.60).

















The pictures below were taken at a beach on the south side of the mountain, this beach was a lot busier but it was nice to people watch (until the 50+ yr old woman with dyed red hair like she fell into a jug of red kool-aid was sunbathing without a top on but wearing what looked like to us, her husbands speedo).






Here is a Thai woman carrying corn, a steamer and a stool to sit on. She was selling steamed corn to tourists along the beach. Passing her by, was another Thai who was selling clothing along the beach as well.



Beautiful isn't it? This depicts our time spent in Hua Hin - sand, water, sun, shade and Chang beer. You could a can of chang for 25baht at most local places off the beach, at 7-11 you could buy two for 44baht! On the beach a bottle went for about 40-50baht each, we usually brought about two cans each and then purchased one more from the local vendor.