Mark Joseph Jochim posted: " Welcome to "Sunday Summary" in which I try to summarize the week that came before. This is the 77th installment, covering the week ending today, 11 February 2024. Each week, we link up with The Sunday Salon, hosted at ReaderBuzz, and Sunday " Mark Joseph Jochim
Welcome to "Sunday Summary" in which I try to summarize the week that came before. This is the 77th installment, covering the week ending today, 11 February 2024.
Each week, we link up with The Sunday Salon, hosted at ReaderBuzz, and Sunday Post at Caffeinated Reviewer. Check out their posts and the links to see what other book bloggers have been up to in the last week.
This week's thumbnail image features my favorite of our boys, young Pakin who turned four years old this month. At the start of the year, I began using photos of different students for the "Sunday Summary" featured photo and have just realized that the school year will run out before the kids do. I will have to double- or triple-up. So far, we have seen the following:
Kazee
Beyond
Prom and Nalin
Lisa
Aya
Pakin
Not only is Pakin extremely cute but he's smart and funny. He and one of the girls, Maizin, have their own language which they use to communicate with each other. I can understand them most of the time but nobody else seems to know what they are talking about unless they revert to their natural Thai or English. Both are very good at the latter but Pakin is the more confident and talkative. He also has some rather amusing dance moves and he makes me laugh on an almost daily basis.
The topic of the week was ASEAN, the ten countries that make up South East Asia's version of the EU. This has been a big deal in the Thai curriculum since around 2005 at all levels from pre-K on up to the seniors in high school and I have accumulated a great detal of material to use. I spent Monday focusing on the different national flags while Kru May taught them all about Thailand's national flower. She was out of the classroom most of Tuesday and Wednesday so I used videos to teach about the 10 national animals of ASEAN and the different traditional clothing.
Aya greets T. Mark
ASEAN, last unit of the year
Gift and Prom
T. Mark helping Ping Ping (l.) and Beyond during Computer class.
During the animals lesson, I found out that in addition to Prom bursting into tears at the merest mention of tigers (Malaysia and Myanmar), Alin is extremely scared of dragons (Komodo from Indonesia). I had finally gotten her calmed down when, in the afternoon, K. May gave the children a coloring sheet showing a Chinese lion dance costume which she mistakenly explained was a dragon. Alin was in hysterics but I got her calmed down by the time her mother picked her up.
Cheram
Prom, Lisa, Beyond, Mayzin, Pakin, Kla
Thursday saw the school's celebration of Chinese New Year. As I had no red and gold garments to wear (other than a Kansas City Chiefs t-shirt), I wore the orange polo shirt which is the normal Thursday uniform and was told this was perfectly acceptable. It was also the first day that our classroom "assistant" made an appearance following a week of leave and she was positively rude to me, preventing me from appearing in any of the many group photos taken of the class due to my wearing the "wrong color".
Aya
Heart
Alin
Thursday morning, we assembled after breakfast to watch a Chinese troupe perform the lion dance. Alin and Lisa both started screaming as they still thought these were dragons. They each held onto one of my hands which calmed them a bit. The "assistant" came over, ripped them apart from my handholds, and shoved them towards the dancers. One girl vomited and the other peed herself; the "assistant" thought that was funny and ridiculed them. By then, I had had pretty much all I could stomach but marched on to the first backdrop where we were to pose for photos. That is when the "assistant" first told me that I could not be in the photo wearing "a non-Chinese color"! Um, don't they give oranges as symbols of prosperity at the New Year? I endured that first photo session behind the photographer and then got ready for the next spot only to be shoved out of line by the large woman.
Heading towards the first photo.
Shoved away from the photo.
I was naturally extremely upset and eventually returned to the classroom, texting Kru May that I was ill. She was unaware of the developing drama as she was preparing to depart for her first visit to her hometown -- and her recently wedded husband -- of 2024. One of my students' parents witnessed the "assistant's" behavior and urged me to file a complaint. I simply didn't want to spoil any one else's enjoyment of the festivities.
Aya
Peng-An
Prom
Thirty minutes later, K. May texted me with a photo of where the kids were. I walked down to the main building in time to be given an ang pau envelope from the school's director and to have a solitary photo with her. After assuring the children that I was okay (several expressed some worry about me), I returned to the classroom where I remained through lunch after which K. May asked if I wanted to go home. I knew if I did that she would miss her minivan back to her home some eight hours away. I told her I would stay so the kids would not be left alone with the "assistant".
Right before she left, I had the children do a dance to some Chinese music to say "goodbye" to K. May. The "assistant" came out of the bathroom and screamed at the kids to sit down. I had been having problems with my camera but managed to film where I told her not to yell at the kids; unfortunately, the "Don't" got cut off. . . . I stayed in the classroom until after four while waiting for parents to pick up their children and also to make sure any late messes got cleaned up. Thankfully, there were no further incidents as she spent most of the remainder of the school day either sitting behind the desk eating or hiding in the bathroom. I had the children dance and do a lion roaring game; even Alin joined in, having decided she was no longer scared.
Where is T. Mark?
Friday was a school holiday (again, not announced officially until Thursday afternoon). I spent the day reading and listening to lots of fireworks outside. Sometime during the day, the classroom photos that had been taken during the Chinese New Year festivities were posted on the school Facebook page. Several of our parents commented about my absence, wondering if I was ill. K. May texted me; she'd thought I'd been in the early photos as I had walked out there with the kids. She was surprised that I wasn't in any of them. I just said, "I'm sorry" and left it at that.
The best part about the day off was that I (finally!) was able to get a haircut; my barber usually closes between 5 and 6pm and is closed all day Sundays. With the month of working Mondays through Saturdays and arriving back home in the evenings, I just couldn't get the task done and my hair had gotten long and curly. Fridays, the barber is open until 8pm and I told him to "cut out ALL the grey!" He almost succeeded.
Saturday morning, I took the bus to Patong Bay to see the cruise ship Spectrum of the Seas return as well as the large dragon planted in the sand. I had planned to have a French toast breakfast at Yorkshire Inn but the restaurant was closed. I was shocked to see the condition of the main entertainment street at 7a.m. following the recent extension of closing times; there were huge piles of trash, lots of inebriated people (Thai and foreign) stumbling around, and gangs of Middle Eastern men on motorbikes trying to accost drunk women. Sickening. And nary a police officer in sight.
Today has also been an at-home day, one I sorely wasted away fiddling with the "productivity" workspace known as Notion. It has such a steep learning curve to do the simplest of tasks that I cannot fathom how it aids productivity in the least. I spent hours just trying to make a table showing the books I had read so far this year and have that database populate some graphs and trackers. Thus, I got a late (post-8pm) start on this week's "Sunday Summary" and still have some bullet journal tasks to accomplish.
The Chiefs fourth appearance in the Super Bowl will start about the time I arrive at school in the morning. If it was just me and K. May and the kids, I could probably attempt to watch bits of the game. If the "assistant" is there, I would have to endure her yelling at the kids while trying to enjoy my team. Of course, she has not worked a Monday all year yet so perhaps we will be spared her appearance. I honestly don't know why they keep her around and think perhaps she has "connected" relatives.
I have slowed down quite a bit on my reading, still around 150 pages from finishing The Book Woman's Daughter. I finished a rather short novel called The Tusks of Extinction (my first book to read that was published in 2024) but found it rather confusing. Sometimes the characters were people, sometimes the same characters were resurrected mammoths. I think. I began reading a compilation of Thai children's stories today which should be another quick read but need to start the three lengthy novels still on this month's TBR including The Poisonwood Bible.
I skipped Monday's 5 On My TBR meme as I could not think of anything relating to the prompt, "Arsty". I should do better tomorrow as the theme will be "Books Starting with M". I tried to revive my old "Friday Finds" series, even renaming it "Saturday Surfs" when I couldn't get it finished that night but just never found the right motivation or format. I will try again next week.
Not too many pages in my bullet journal this week, although I am quite proud of the Charles Dickens sketch I made on Wednesday. Haven't gotten around to doing anything to my Sunday layout since adding the header last night. I spent too much time today working on Notion, a supposed productivity tool that I cannot figure out how to make it do my bidding. I think I will be working on filling that layout, creating my Week 9 page and one for Monday during K. May's morning lessons tomorrow. Yes, the English lessons are finished for the school year and the foreign teachers' only role are to prepare for the final exams and write our student profiles while the Thai teachers do what is called the "Project Approach".
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