Welcome to "Sunday Summary" in which I try to summarize the week that came before. This is the 104th installment, covering the week ending today, the 18th of August 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 was our last shortened school week until the end of the school term just a month and two weeks away now. This Monday's public holiday was the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Mother Sirikit which is celebrated in Thailand as Mothers Day. I did not go anywhere at all, opting to putter around my apartment. We saw rain most days this week, usually in hour-long torrential downpours.
The only major difference to a regular week was the absence of Kru May on Thursday and Friday as she journeyed south to visit her new school. She is returning to her hometown at the start of Term 2 which will be a major change to our classroom. The kids will miss her dearly as will I.
There is a possibility that I (and all the other foreign teachers at this school) may be moved elsewhere next term as well. Our school director and assistant director will transfer to a different school in November. The contract between our agency and the school expires at the end of September and will be up for bid sometime the following month. I have long thought this system of contract renewals in the middle of the year is completely ridiculous and the teachers are never certain whether they will be returning following the month-long break. Our agency has provided foreign teachers at this school for seven years but longevity does not count for anything under this system. Fingers crossed that we will stay. I really love this school and enjoy living within walking distance since my recent move. Stay tuned. . . .
As I approached my school Tuesday morning, I noticed frames for market stalls were being set up as were banners indicating that the Por Tor, or Hungry Ghost, festival would begin on Friday. This is one of my favorite local festivals due to the sidewalks and alleyways being full of good food opportunities for a couple of weeks. Upon returning home that afternoon, I found the photos I took during last year's festival and began putting together an article about the red turtles and the reasons we celebrate them.
In addition to the kindergarten each day, I have been working part-time at a nearby language school a couple of evenings a week since last month. On Wednesdays, I teach three girls and one boy and do the same for a young boy and girl on Thursdays. The latter have requested a Sunday lesson as well and I have added that to my schedule starting later today.
Following this week's Thursday evening class, I was really craving foreign food and ended up ordering a huge meal from Taco Bell -- my first from there in quite some time. I discovered that spending an extra ten baht for a Taco Supreme makes all the difference in the world as the plain tacos do not come with any condiments save a tiny bit of shredded cheese. I think I will make Thursday my non-Thai splurge night; I am already planning on ordering either pizza or pulled pork on sourdough next week.
The sun was shining Friday morning so we unleashed the children into the playground for the first time in weeks. They had a great deal of fun and I ran around trying to snap photos of each student. Our period was cut short a few minutes early as heavy drops began to fall out of the clouds. It was raining so fiercely when we began putting the kids down for their naps that you could hear nothing but the force of the water hitting the roof above our heads. Thankfully, the storm passed by the time my lunch period rolled around and I made a quick run to the nearest 7-Eleven.
I have not finished a single book since last Sunday but I believe I will finish Riley Sager's Middle of the Night by the end of today. I am certainly going to try. The James Cook bio-history is extremely interesting and I am going through the book at a decent pace.
Recently Finished
Currently Reading
In addition to the article about Por Tor, I also participated in the 5 On My TBR meme for the second week in a row as well as publishing my usual Tuesday Intros and WWW Wednesdays articles. I did not do anything over on the Philatelic Pursuits blog so that will be a priority for the coming week.
Published This Week
My main focus this week was continued preparation of my 2024 Part III bullet journal. I spent more time sketching new layout ideas into my junk journal rather than inking anything for most of the week but the floodgates opened Friday afternoon/evening with my "Spending", "Regular Routines" and "School Schedule" layouts coming to fruition. I have a bit more to do with the latter -- the heading for one thing and I also want to put a small "Why I Teach" section into the far right column.
The daily layouts in my current BuJo notebook look very stark compared to the color doodles that dominate the front matter in the new one. I will try to balance the minimalist design with a few more aesthetics when I begin using Volume 3 at the start of November. Once I finish the rest of the pre-monthly collection pages (I think only the Future Log remains as I have decided to dispense with "24 24's in 2024"), I will map out a plan for the full journal to make sure I do not run out of pages before the end of the year.
My days always start with writing Morning Pages and an entry in my Gratitude Journal. I think I may include daily gratitudes in my regular BuJo once the printed journal notebook is full in another month or so. The Morning Pages are written in an A4 lined notebook; my entries tend to be one or two pages in length with three a distinct rarity. The originator of this form of brain dump -- Julia Cameron, writing in her 1992 book The Artist's Way -- recommends doing three pages which I have found difficult to accomplish on a regular basis. I recently watched a video by someone who says he does FOUR pages but takes the weekends off. He also uses an A5-sized notebook so what is that comparable to in an A4?
Most of my photos this week were of the children in the playground Friday morning. I really need to do another "Photo A Day" challenge as I have not gone out exploring since moving to the neighborhood. For this week, I have a few cloudy photos and the usual assortment of food and kids to choose from.
Clouds above the playground Friday morning. A few minutes later, those white clouds were replaced by black and we made a beeline for shelter as the first big drops began to fall.
The tacos (and California burritos) that I ate Thursday night were delicious but I can probably go another six months or a year before having any more.
The last few rays of sunshine brighten the road as I approach my tiny lane Wednesday evening. The hotel in the left background was abandoned following the COVID pandemic.
Wednesday's school lunch definitely looked better than it tasted as those noodles were extremely slimy. After the wonderful meals of the previous week, this week was a real let-down.
Since Kru May was to be gone Thursday and Friday, she spent Wednesday giving the children FIVE worksheets to do, for which I gladly gave up one of my lessons. I used the extra time to dish up the student's lunches and lay them out onto the table. Most days, we serve them cafeteria-style.
Tyme
Gun
Vegas is usually the first student to arrive in the mornings, occasionally waiting outside when I arrive to unlock the classroom. He helps me turn on the lights and air-conditioners so we are ready with smiles when the Thai teachers get there.
Vegas is sometimes armed with morning treats for the teachers. This time around he brought Thai tea which I enjoy almost much as the Ovaltine chocolate drink I usually receive.
Temporary arch which will lead to a plethora of food stalls for the duration of the Por Tor festival. In fact, they should be there now (the blocks were still empty when I left school Friday afternoon).
I shot a couple of short video clips Friday. The first one in the playground are of two children who never really socialize in the classroom. On this day, I noticed Atom take little Nan-fa's hand and was leading her around pointing at different things. Eventually, I spied them sitting together inside of the tree slide. Cuteness embodied.
This final clip shows the kids belting out "Let It Go" from the film Frozen, traditionally the song I play just before I leave the room to go home for the weekend. The start of the song begins fairly calmly with just a few children singing along to the chorus but by the end of the tune everyone is involved in some way, usually tunelessly belting it out as loudly as they can while others hold their ears to drown out the cacophony. The Thai teachers have given up trying to quieten the kids during this song and I think they enjoy it as much as I do. Unfortunately, this is also the way some of them sing the Thai National Anthem in the mornings. I will try to capture that some day. . . .
I spent much of my down-time Friday creating the digital flashcards for next week's lessons I put together the video and uploaded it once I returned to my apartment that evening. It is the longest yet as the topic is near and dear to my heart: "Phuket, Pearl of the Andaman." I created some really nice worksheets and coloring pages yesterday morning and finished the photocopying last night.
See you next week. . . .
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