Agricultural Fair Field Trip

Last night I went to bed around 7, and got up at 11 to meet at the school at 11:30 to go on a field trip. We waited for everyone to arrive, and then when the buses got there, we got on them and left around 1am. Instead of writing of all of the things we did, I’m going to let the pictures and captions tell the story of the day. Having been here for just over a month this was a great opportunity for me to travel with the sixth graders and to get to know some of them a little better. At times it was super frustrating because I would see something I wanted to buy, but we would be swept by it so quickly I didn’t have time to think and decide if I really wanted it or not. At other times, the students were let go in pairs to go shopping and I would try to head off with a group of them and then a teacher would pull me to go and see something else. However, in the end we all had a great day and I was able to get to know several teachers and students better, so hopefully they’ll be more comfortable with me and start speaking English more. As I build relationships with students outside of class, I’m hoping that will make things easier in the classroom as well.

eating Ramen Noodles at 3 am

We got home after 10, so I’m pretty certain I can say it was the longest field trip I’ve ever been on that didn’t have an overnight sleeping component to it. Enjoy the pics J There are some good ones

a teacher sleeping on the floor at the back of the bus, he was laying down just before I took the picture

the butterfly dome

listening to the guy talk about the butterfly dome

a butterfly in the dome

minion made a friend in the butterfly dome

inside the dome

there were a lot of different cases of over 2000 preserved bugs in a building next to the dome

some of the cases

The heading at the top of the poster says have you tasted these bugs yet?

a bee made out of coconuts

I'm not sure what happened between this picture and the next one, but the kids on the left make me wonder...

minion and one of my students near the fountain

a fruit I had never seen before, of course they didn't know what it was in English and I forgot it's Thai name

growing mushrooms

fish from the area

flowers

holding a bird I think it's a cockatoo but I don't remember

I'm not sure who's more unsure, the bird or the boy

then we were holding this bird

these bird pics are for my grandma to identify

the students got to practice drawing blood from a dog

as we were gathering to go to the next area, this bird flew over and landed on my head.
They didn't take it off for several minutes as they made sure that everyone got a picture of the bird
on my head before someone felt bad for me and took it off...

they also had cows they were raising, these pics are for my grandpa and brother

I made a friend as I was also teaching my students not to be afraid of cows.
Little did they know I don't really like them much myself...

They had horses you could ride, most of the students I asked had never ridden an animal of any type before.
Only 3 or 4 were brave enough to attempt riding a horse.

Then there was a rock wall to climb.

I made it halfway to the top before deciding that the handholds were too small and too hot for me to go any farther.
They were still impressed never the less.

There was also a blow up one to climb

this was too good not to include

Yes, I made it to the top of the blow up one

sleeping on the bus after a tiring day and leaving the school at 1 am

my Thai elephant ear

The Bridge over River Kwai as they were setting up for the anniversary celebration they hold each year.

The explosives they had ready for the evening show that were ready to light and completely unattended...

The mock Japanese camp they set up

The Japanese camp

with a student on the bridge