March Activities

The reservoir that Thais love to visit
Joey and I biked to this reservoir one day. It is a good ways out of town. I think we biked about 20 miles this day from traveling to and around the lake, getting lost and other side trips. We greatly enjoyed showers and dinner that evening.






Thai National Sport – Kataw (kick volleyball)
This sport is extremely entertaining and shows the flexibility and athleticism of Thais. The Thais would like to see this sport played in the Olympics and I think it qualifies as a sufficiently exhausting sport for the competition. I have never seen women play, but I hope they have the chance if they want to play.

At this tournament, I had another clumsy moment. Joey thinks I wasn’t a klutz before Thailand. I don’t remember. Anyways, my moment occurred as Joey and I were leaving the Kataw game. We were sitting on the top seat of the belchers and walking down them to get to the ground. The seats were wooden planks that were spaced a little far apart. They were far enough apart for me to get my toe stuck in them. So on the third tier of the belchers, I got my foot stuck in between the planks and proceeded to tumble down the rest of the tiers. Joey said my fall seemed to be in slow motion and reminded him of a slinky. I thought I might stop falling at the second tier, but I didn’t. I continued on to the ground.

The game stopped in order to see this foreigner, aka me, falling down the belchers. The officials came over and pulled me up off the ground. They also brought me some ice for my scrapped up knee and leg. I bet I was the only injury requiring ice that evening. They were very concerned and apologetic. Joey thanked them, was unsurprised and wondering what else I might do to disrupt the game. J I also thanked them, reassured them that I was ok, and limped away. I knew the next day my shin wasn’t going to look pretty. And in fact, it still doesn’t feel great and this is 4 weeks later. It is much better though.


The court

A spike and block.
A spike and block (all with the feet - no hands allowed).

A spike (using the feet only)
The serve.
The serve.





Hot Springs near Chiang Mai
Gail, Joey and I went here. One interesting thing was the fact that they boiled eggs in the water. The Thais thought it was interesting to see foreigners at the hot springs. It isn’t on the normal tourist route.

















Umbrella village with Gail and Joey
Here you can see how the Thai people make and decorate their umbrellas. It is a long, labor intensive process.









Open House at Language Corner
Our school hosted an open house one weekend with lots of food and coffee. It was a nice day and good way to celebrate the new school. Lots of my students were there and their parents enjoyed meeting me and seeing the classrooms.