Ban Phe Week 4 (a little late)

I'm going to try to break this up a little, because I'm not sure I can stare at the computer screen long enough to get everything down in one sitting. I'm in Bangkok for the day, so I'll have plenty of time to come back and update everyone on this last week :)


The last week of the course was intense. 4 days of teaching practice and a lot of preparation, however all in all it went well and again, I had a blast teaching.


We spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening eating killer western food at Su's restaurant on the beach, and every day at lunch we savoured our dishes at the restaurant across the street. Come Thursday evening, TEFL International took us out for a farewell dinner. We went to a Thai BBQ sort of place where you go pick out your own raw meats, noodles and vegetables, then you cook it all in/on a funky little pan/pot at your table. It was a great night with most of us trainees and a lot of the TEFL Intl staff. Afterwards we found a pool hall and played/watched other play pool all night. We got to sleep in on Friday and were presented with our TESOL Certificates! All the hard work was finally over (until we get jobs and have to do it on our own for 5 classes a day instead of just one!)


On Friday a few of us caught the bus and headed back to Bangkok. Jess and I stayed with Kelli at her apartment just outside of Bangkok. Her place is on the 19th story and has a great view of Bangkok's skyline, as well as a river (not sure which one). After a 4 and a half hour bus ride, and 2 hours on the sky train/subway with my back pack on, I was exhausted ... We all went to bed quite early and enjoyed being able to sleep in.

On Saturday, Kelli, Jess and I went to Khao San Road, because Jess had never been there and I needed to get a place for Bean and I to stay, as he would be arriving much later that night. After walking around a little while we went back to Kelli's place to relax before going out, and just sat on her porch watching the cars drive by. Bean arrived around 12:30AM that night ... I almost knocked him over when I saw him. We ended up staying out until 4AM (his jet lag and my excitement was no match for sleep).

Sunday, Bean and I just hung out, walking around Bangkok, enjoying the food and the company. Shannon and Kyle arrived late Sunday night, but we didn't get to see them until Tuesday in Chiang Mai, which I will talk about in my next post, because my eyes are starting to burn :)

Last thing, for now, Dave, one of the trainers, presented me with another possible job opportunity that it looks like I might be taking up. It's not teaching English, but working at TEFL Intl to help train/observe the new trainees. It's a short term, part time thing, but it sounds perfect for me. It would give me some sort of income for the month of October and my accommodation would be taken care of for most of the month in a place I am comfortable and enjoy.

I am posting more pictures, although I'm not sure when I'll get them in order. There are a ton ... Enjoy!