Teacher No More

After six months of teaching, hundreds of pelvic thrusts, countless "Good morning Mizz Hullees," four quizzes, four exams and 34 1st graders later, my tenure as a teacher at Sarasas Witaed Saimai School is officially o-v-e-r, over! Friday was my official last day (ever, may I add!) as a 1st grade teacher as the 2007-2008 school year came to an end in Thailand.

Last week was spent preparing and testing the kiddies on their four main subjects: English, Math, Social Studies and Science. I am sooo very proud to say that Grade 1C (aka my class) ALL aced both their English, Science and Social Studies (except for Katsu - the dumb kid who doesn't speak English, because well, he doesn't speak English)! Although, I give myself none of the credit - my students are exceptionally bright and would do great things for Thailand, if their futures weren't already planned out for them by their parents. Seriously. Especially Aan, who got a 100 out of 100 on all her exams. No wonder she's my fave - the girl is cute, well-behaved and smart!

(Back Row (l-r): Pimchada, Nattaporn, Aan (the smart one), Kochaporn, Ratima (the stealer), Boonyakorn, Nattida, Thanakorn & Ariya. Front Row (l-r): Rathatip & Hathaiphat (nickname: Meeme - so cute!).

In other words, the grade ones were needless to say, a bit out of control on Friday after they finished four rounds of English exams and 7 rounds of Thai exams! Here is a better example of how my students normally behave - girls can be found chatting non-stop with each other while the boys thrash, kick, fight, talk and whatnot on the ground of the classroom. Just another day in Grade 1C...

I am definitely going to miss my little ones - even the ones I don't especially care for, like Ratima, the girl who actually looks like a rat (hence 'Rat-ima') and who I caught digging through my purse one day, or Chayakorn, who is definitely the booger kid, always sporting crusty boogers for everyone to see. My faves, like Aan, Pornpawee (aka Pam), Chotiros (who actually reminds me personality-wise of a younger version of me), Pavin, Chakriya and Attakan (the pelvic thruster). What a group! Here is Attakan, with his devilish smile and addicting laugh on the right, along with Korapat on the left (his mom is a famous Thai actress) doing what they do best - talking!

After our last school day on Friday (which was also payday, hallelujah!), I met up with my Austrian/Wisconsin compatriot Ted that night and headed to Central Lad Prao, one of Bangkok's million malls, where we grabbed dinner and saw the Thai movie 'Chocolate.' A kung fu movie about a mentally handicapped girl who turns out to seriously kick ass, it was really good! Then, Lauren and I preceded to do what we do best - shop! Saturday, we once again gave into our shopping craving and hit up Central Lad Prao again for some serious shopping. I have to say we definitely came away with some serious goodies. Seriously!

Today, we headed to a meditation class in Bangkok so check the blog tomorrow or the next day for a full run-down of that! Hope all is well back home and see you in one month. Ahhhh...one month!