They think it's all over....It is now!!!

Well people, it is done! I have survived the madness that is Patong town and also the EFL course.  There is no denying it, it was a hard slog and my brain is chock full of grammar and methodology knowledge that has possibly been etched onto my scull but i have had an awsome time through out it all. Meghan, Marie and Adam are fantastic and i don't think i could have asked for a better group of people to do this course with, even though they are slightly crazy!

The teaching test this morning went ok, a few mistakes were made but nothing major and i had some very good comments from Kim, the teacher who observed me. Our grammar teacher asked me how i could only get 86% in my test! I told him that considering that i didnt even know how to describe what a verb was at the beginning of the month i thought that 86% was pretty damn fabulous, as was i. The methodology test was a doosy, lots of writing and a few essay type questions, but i think i just about got it. We dont get our results until later on this evening but i think we have all passed.  I will have to show you all my teaching skills when i get home........in 3 days!!!!!

Tonight, we are kicking back, relaxing and drinking a few Tiger beers because we deserve it! There is a party at a bar that is run by an ex teacher at the school and we are all going, even some of the teachers and other students from the school. I think it will be a good night and a lot of fun.  Its Meghan, Adam and Marie's last night in Patong tonight as they are traveling to Bangkok and then to Cambodia. Its going to be very weird with out them here to hang out with for the last two days and i shall miss them and their craziness. But Marie is coming home for Christmas and she lives in London so we are going to meet up and do some proper crimbo shopping at Lakeside!

Well, i guess this is the last post on here. I will see you all in a few days!  Much love to you all.

Carrie xxxxxxx

Temples and waterfalls.

This weekend, after a dodgy start, turned out to be quite nice. We rented out a clapped out jeep and went into Phuket town to see the Vegitarian Festival. It was CRAZY. The locals dress up in white and line the streets watching the makeshift floats go by with mini shrines and holy men and women sitting on top of them flicking 'blessed' water on to the crowd with leaves and branches and add to the mix men and women parading with them with swords, massive needles, toy golf clubs and at one point even a bmx bike inserted through their cheeks, tounge and more often than not both body parts. One monk was swinging an axe back and forth over his head whilst the blade hit his back. It wasnt the most plesent thing ive ever seen to say the least but it was kind of like a car crash, difficult not to stare!  It was such a hot day though and after a couple of hours we got back into the jeep and tryed to find our way to the 402 road to the waterfalls.  A random Thai said he would take us there for free, we should have known better, he ended up taking us to a lovely temple first of all and we had a look around. The view was amazing and worth going to see, but then he took us to all thses places that cost a fortune and we just kept on saying No We Just Want To Get To The 402 and as a last ditch attempt on his part he led us to a 'jem factory' at which point we just said Can He Point Us In The Right Direction, he looked peed off but he led us to the 402 and let us get on our way. I was doing the driving and managed to find us a national park to look around that had a beautiful waterfall that was surounded by jungle and butterflies. We all ended up swimming in the waterfall fully clothed, as no one had brought swim stuff with them, with some local kids and we had such a blast! The kids were just dive bombing us and we were chasing them around throwing them in the water whist their parents looked on laughing as the funny white people played with their kids. We much have been there for about 3 hours and we were all exauseded by the end of it and so planned to drive home but got caught up in traffic as yet another random village vegitarian festival was taking place. So we stopped to check that out and went on our merry way yet again, back to Patong (Via a KFC, which we were all excited about finding! Little things!) Driving in Patong is crazy as there are so many Moto Drivers about (Scooter Taxis) and they never look at what is coming when they drive, but i must have been driving like a foreigner as everyone gave me a wide berth! We all made it back in one piece (even the jeep, surprisingly) which was a blessed relief. I tell you, when i start driving on the M25 when i get home, im going to epreciate it a whole lot more!
Sunday was an uber lazy day spent doing a little left over homework and watching countless movies and eating cookies, the best way to spend a sunday.  We all met up for dinner in the evening at our fav diner and played some board games and had a well deserved early night. So now here i am typing this for you all at 10.20 in the morning waiting to start this weeks teaching practice with a group of new students. I have already met them and went out for lunch with one of them last week so i think it will be a fun 5 days.  Mariera is from Argentina, Akiyo is from Japan and Dwan is from Thailand. They are all super lovely and good fun. So wish me luck and i will let you know how it goes.


Carrie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

One more week to go!!

This week has just flown by! I have been so busy panning lessons and conducting lessons, but i have loved every second. I never thought that working with adults could be this much fun. Even when, all of a sudden your student suddenly get something so small, like putting the artical 'a' infront of motorbike, you leave the classroom with such a big smile and a sence of acheivement.  My students this week have been supurb. The begining of the week was a little shacky, but that was to be expected as none of us had really done anything like this before. By the end of the week though, oh my goodness, we have all just come on leaps and bounds. The confidence is growing and something inside my head has just clicked, and im starting to get the fact that i could actually do this and have an amzing time doing it to. Could it be that i have found another vocation?? Only time will tell, but i really hope so.

Anyhoo, enough gushing. This weekend Marie, Meg Adam and I are renting out a Jeep and will tour Phuket island. Marie and i are doing the driving (which will be interesting with my sence of direction) and we will hopefully be able to seee the vegitarian festival that is happening this weekend (google it!).  I will let you know how it goes. Well its just a short blog today but i will let you know all the goss next time. Much love.

Carrie xxxxxx

My home for the month!

The joys of Grammar points and limbo-ing.

This week hasnt really let up, but my brain is finally starting to wrap itself around all the grammar points it has to learn and also the methodology of teaching. 

The scariest thing is that they are letting us loose on real students on Monday (poor things!) but thankfully we will not be observed by anyone, that starts on Tuesday. So if i mess up on Monday morning then i can work on my mistakes and hopefully do better the next day. Its all about the experience, but as my family will know, if i dont know the ins and outs of what and why i am doing something, i tend to get a little overwhelmed and freak out a little. But im planning on taking it slowly and methodically, so i dont end up having a strop! lol.

We had a grammar test on friday and i know i did so much better than on the one we took last week. I Knew and understood what i was writing down so that was a real bonus!

Last week Marie and i met up with the bavarian biker guy we met last weekend, and he was talking to us about Phuket town night market and offered to take us there in his jeep as he and his wife were meeting friends there anyway, which was very kind of him. So we experienced the wonder and cheapness of the night market. It was HUGE sooo many stall selling clothes and sunnies, make up and baby cloths, animals and food, everything was there. I bought myself a nice bag (because a girl can never have too many!)  In most parts of the market they have plastic sheeting and random awnings hanging across the 'walkways' between the stalls just in case it rains. But because the Thai people are about 2 feet shorter than me they hang them quite low, so i spent most of the time limbo-ing under these things and trying not to get decapitated by all the ropes holding them up. I must have looked quite funny as many a tiny Thai was giggling as they watched me limbo my way from stall to stall!  It was a good evening. Im really starting to love haggling.....i wonder if it would work in TopShop?!

 Miss Hanpan Rothmann, i have left you a comment on last weeks post. It was fab to hear from you xxx

As always, i love and miss you all. Hope you are all ok. And thank you for all your comments, they make me smile! its always fab to hear from you.

Carrie xxxxxx

Work, stress, tears and Thai Hells Angels!

Its Saturday. Thank goodness! The first week has been a challenge to say the least. There is so much information to take in and retain. Im getting there though, very slowly but surely.

We had to prepare, in pairs, (i was with Marie) our first mock leason plan on wednesday, with a paragraph of text to use as a reference, to be performed infront of the rest of the class (there are 4 of us on the course), which i duly stressed over and even stayed up untill 1am sorting out as i knew i wouldnt be able to sleep if i didnt have it all sorted.
In the morning Meghan went first and did an awsome job and it was good to see what Stephan (our teacher) expected from us. Then Marie went next and also did a fab job. After she had finished Stephan handed out a DIFFERENT text and asked me to prepare this for my lesson plan the following day......i have never felt so deflated in my life. After all that stress and the late night!
I phoned home that night and just cryed down the phone at mum for about 15 mins about my horrid day and how i wasnt any good and i just wanted to not be here. But, mum being mum said that i wouldnt be me if i was like this at the begining and she and my dad would have been worried if i wasnt having a bit of a wobble. And this made me feel so much better, it was good just to let it all out and then calm down and then just get over it and on with it. Which i did. After i got off the phone with mum i worked out my lesson plan in 1 hour and i was quite pleased with it.
The 'perfomance' itself the following day wasnt to bad and i felt more comfortable up infront of the class than i though i would. So hopefully ill get better each time.

After the stress of the week it was such a relief for the weekend to finally be here! We all had that Friday feeling. The sun was shining the sky was blue and it was almost going home time! We had all planned on going to a bar that is owned by one of the teachers at the school, as she was putting on a free BBQ and i never say know to free food! We arrived at the bar at 8pm and found some of the Japansese students from the school (that are there to learn English-and eventually be taught by us)already there and drinking. They are all so lovely and although a little shy, wanting to talk to you in English and ready to learn new words and cockney rhyming slang! After the Japanese group went home we stayed on and got chatting to many random people and drank many more beers and somehow ended up chatting to a group of slightly intimidating leather clad Thai's, who turn out to be really friendly and wanting to know about us and about our teachng course and who we wanted to teach, and how all teachers deserve respect. When i asked one of them where he learnt to speak such good English, i was met with the answer "Ahhhh, The Shawshank Redemption. Its my favourite movie." He had apparently watched it so many times he could recite it word for word and that was how he learnt English. Crazy! I was also chatting to quite a tall Thai with really long wavy hair and a bandana across his fore head, covered with chunky rings and leather chatting about goodness only know what at this point, when Marie leaned over and said "The guys we are talking are the Thai equivilant of Hells Angels. The guy you're talking to is like the head Angel." i wasnt overly sure what to say to that so i just ordered another beer and carried on chatting. They were all so nice though, they were working the Hells Angels look really well, but i kind of got the impression that if they were told of by there mothers they would be reduced to small boys. They were polite and friendly, the only time one of them got a bit peed off was when the token German/Barvairian in the group got narky with Marie, but bandana man just told him tho sit down, be nice to ladies and if he cant have fun, then he should go home.
We stayed out chatting with them untill about 4am at which point i said i had to go. It was only a 15 minute walk down the road but a very nice Angel said he would give me a lift (*dont worry mum, i asked Vanessa, the teacher and the owner of the bar if they were dodgy, and she said she knows them well and they are all good guys*) so i got a lift home on the back of a motorbike! (a scary experience for a car driver such as myself and one that probably wont be repeated but it had to be done once in my life!)

Well thats it for now im afraid, the next exciting installment will be coming your way soon! Im off to the movies with Marie as it is chucking buckets outside! Love to you all. XXXXX

Meeting the others! / The first day at school!

Update time!

 Yesterday morning Meghan arrived and after my slightly weird day on my own when i first arrived it was fantastic to talk to someone. She's very talkative and really nice. I suppose when you throw yourself into these kind of situations everyone you meet is like minded so you are all going to get along. Together we went to knock on Adams door (who we discovered had arrived the previous evening) and introduced ourselves. Adam is also chatty and easy to get along with, so between him and Meghan it was nice to just listen and chill out with them, as I think you all know how talkative i am with new people! The rest of the day was really good. We all went exploring Phuket town, and walked along the beach and had some decent food, which was a pleasent change from the emergency pot noodle thing i had to buy the previous night. Blegh!

I did my first bit of Thai haggling also, more by mistake than anything else (i was riffling through my purse to see if i had enough cash and the woman just kept on lowering the price) and Meghan and i managed to get ourselves some fake designer sunglasses, fake Rayban no less!! 600 BHT for the pair, which is like 3 pounds each.

Meghan and Adam went out for a 'few drinks' in the evening, but feeling slightly tired after all that walking i declined. Im kind of glad i did, as they didnt come back from town until about 3am this morning! Classes started at 10am and we had to be ready to leave at 9.30am. They both looked tired!
Although i opted for the early night, my body clock thought other wise and i got about 2 hours of proper sleep and the rest of the night was just light napping. I think it was also because i was worried about what to expect from the course and my head was just going into overdrive.

As it turned out, it was a good day. Plus we met the other person on the course, Marie, who is great. She comes from London, but has been traveling around for about 3 years i think she said. She's also nice and easy to get along with.
  I think the course going to be a real challenge (we found out that we will be teaching adults, not kids...heyho) and i'm going to have to work really hard at getting my head around everything we have to learn but if i don't freak out too much, ill be just fine.

  Our teachers are nice too. 1 is German, 1 is Canadian and the other is Thai. The German is quite intense in his teaching, but i think that is mainly because there is so much for us to get through (he teaches us Methodology - the method of teaching) but i really enjoyed his class as it was a real eye opener to what and how our future students will be feeling when we attempt to teach them English. He did this by teaching us a bit of Japanese, talking only in Japanese. I got the first few phrases down ok, but then more were added and i had brain meltdown and just forgot everything and ended up slipping a few English words into the mix... like ''Oh'' and ''bugger.''

 Our next lesson was Grammar, taught to us by a very laid back Canadian who went off at many a tangent when chatting and teaching us, which was a pleasant change of pace from Methodology. It was quite daunting to see how little i actually know about my own language. Verbs, Adverbs, Polite Particles, regular and irregular verbs, comparatives and superlatives, i could go on but im beginning to freak myself out again!

 To finish of the day we met our final teacher, Tin, who is to teach us about Thai culture and some language skills. She was fab, so lovely, softly spoken with a wicked sense of humor. It was a lovely way to finish off  a surprisingly enjoyable day.

It is bucketing it down at the moment and has been on and off all day. Hopefully going to meet up with Marie for some dinner in town later.

Ill add some photos soon hopefully, i just need to find a PC that my photo card fits! C x

I've arrived. The first day and night is survived!

I have arrived.! The flight was long but comfy and after 14 hours i got here in 1 piece. Feeling a long way from home and want to just pop over to mum and dads at the mo, but i think i just need to chill out and take it one day at a time. The hotel is lovely. The room is large with air con chugging out at a hundred MPH so its a little bit chilly in the room! Ive had a good nights sleep and yesterday i found a mini mart so got some breakfast for this morning. If im feeling brave i may go for an explore later.

The Hotel is on a hill with a bit of traffic chugging up and down (whole families on the back of 1 motorbike!) The staff at the hotel are friendly and nice but i am yet to meet anyone else on the corse with me although i am told they are coming/have already arrived. I shall keep you posted. Wish me luck for my first day at school tomorrow!! xxx

The night before!

Well, here I am. The night before the flight, packed and ready to go. To say that today has been a smidge stressful would be an understatement and I can safely say, with both hands on my heart, that I would not have made it had it not been for my mums organisational skills, practical thinking and general mum-ness.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThank you Mum xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So, with the backpack packed (and still under the weight limit!!!) a rucksack masquerading as hand luggage, a snazzy handbag and a belly full of butterflies, i am ready to face the unknown....well, just about, lol.

The plan is to take one day at a time, work hard, don’t panic and stay safe.

Hopefully the next time i post on here, it will be with some fabulous photos! Wish me luck!