Hurricane January

What a crazy past month this has been. As I came back to Thailand from my winter break in Vietnam and Singapore, I was still so unsure as to what was going to happen next after I left Assumption. As much as that was playing on my mind though, I also had to get my head around planning the final half of the semester and ensuring all the topics in the workbooks were covered before the final exams. Sounds like an easy enough request right? However, take into account that the few couple weeks of January were riddled with holidays, unexpected events and half-day of classes, I estimate that I must have missed around 10-15 teaching periods. So the pressure was really on.

Just one of the many activities being held at my school in January.

The first event was Children's Day, which marks a celebration for the 'future generation' of Thailand and is celebrated by lots of activities and games being put on for the kids so that meant a half day of school. The next week or so had multiple academic activities, including preparations for national tests and an "Academic Day", which was put on by the school to showcase the academic achievements of the students and to essentially show off the talents of our school to other visiting schools. The final big event of the month was ACN night. Essentially, this night is a massive spectacle for the school, where parents come to watch their kids perform as well as seeing some famous Thai singer perform at the end of the night. At 4000 baht a table and with around 200 tables at the event, it was a huge money maker for the school. Thankfully, this event only took up one night of our weekend rather than two like last year. For this year's ceremony, each class was presented with a different country (predominately ASEAN nations) in which to embody a cultural dance from. Some of the representations were spot on, others were a rather interesting embodiment (I never knew Carl Douglas' 'Kung Fu Fighting' represented Singapore's culture before...). Nevertheless, as much as it was a very long and tiring night, this was a cool event to watch and gave me an opportunity to take some adorable pictures with my students.

Getting captured by these crazy soldiers was the least of my stresses.

It's clear that school has been rather hectic this January, but it has been all smooth sailing on the personal front either. After coming back from break, I knew there were potentially two employers to hear back from as to whether I had scored a job in Singapore. I had yet to hear anything back from them since my interview in Mid October so I was getting rather anxious. After a few emails were exchanged, I finally got a preliminary offer from the one of them! Great news right? However, my father had booked a flight back to the UK for me at the end of March as I was told in my interviews that I would not get hired until mid April. But, this employers training began at the end of March which meant that in order for me to accept this job, I would have to change my flight back to Asia which cost almost two thirds of the original...something that just wasn't going to be feasible. I felt really defeated. The thought that I couldn't do a job that I worked so hard to get because of money was a real bummer. However, just a few days later, the second employer got back to me and offered  job! I felt like this was a sign as everything fit into place. So without hesitation, I accepted the job! From April 13th, I will be living and working in Singapore! I can't quite believe it. But I am over the moon and can't wait to begin this new adventure.

A month of changes for all of us! But glad we rode out this crazy month together!

To celebrate the new job offer, the girls and I headed to Nine Inch Bar, a really swanky little jazz bar located in the heart of Korat. I had never visited before which is a shame really because it is perhaps my favourite bar in Korat. It has a really chilled out vibe, dim lighting and smooth saxophone beats playing. It is predominately a cocktail bar and it didn't disappoint. Despite not having it on their menu, the barman made me a Singapore Sling to toast my new employment. It was a great night and really put things into perspective with how life changing this new job could be for me and how blessed I am to have met such wonderful people during my time in Korat.

Taking advantages of my last few weekends in Korat.

The weekend after the drinks, one of my tutees, Nine took me into the hills of Nakhonratchasima (on a very cold morning I might add!) to this secluded temple named Wat Pa Pupasoong. It was located on the edge of a cliff and boasted spectacular views of the province. We visited the temple which was located underground and we were told that in just a few months, it would be presented to the King and sealed for 1500 years. It was a beautiful sight to see, made eerier by the mist and very cool temperatures (the temperature had dropped to 11C!) which was something I was NOT used to after living in Thailand. For the few days after, everyone was wearing jumpers and hoodies. It was like an ice age had hit the country (to Thai people anyways). My students were in wooly hats, gloves, scarves and ski jackets -- it was quite the spectacle. One of those students, who donned an amazing hand knitted minions hat (I kid you not) invited me to his house for dinner. It was a strange request as I did not know how to respond. Of course I said yes, out of feeling awkward if I had said no, but it was something that had never happened before and I didn't quite know what to expect from it. Was it just a casual or formal dinner? Was I going to be grilled on my teaching methods by his parents? Well, it turned out to be none of those as I went to his house and hung out with the kids for a few hours whilst the parents went off somewhere...I almost felt as if I was a free babysitter for the night...haha. However, it was a nice night and I was humbled that the parents had invited me...I must have been doing something right...or maybe it was just because I was hit only white teacher...hmm...

Now as January comes to an end, the storm of a month has finally seemed to have calmed down. Only four weeks left of teaching and that's when the panic starts to ensue. I'd better get my butt into gear!