Trouble in Bangkok

Today Nadim and I were all prepared to teach our first English class solo, but as we opened the door to Naiyana's office to retrieve supplies, we were surprised to see her there. She told us that she wasn't going to Bangkok, because protesters had shut down the airport and her contact in Bangkok advised her not to come. She will wait until things settle down a bit.

The feeling up here in the north is that they just wish this would go away. They seem to feel that it is a problem only for Bangkok. They have no desire to protest or cause turmoil. It's really a shame, because the protests will have huge impact on tourism and with the economy in the state that it is, this just adds additional pressure.

We're not too worried as we don't plan to be in Bangkok area for another month, even then it will only be for a short stay. We won't be going through the airport until mid to late January, so I'm pretty sure things will have calmed down by then. If not plan B will be to fly out of Chiang Mai.

So we had Naiyana there for the English class, but Nadim and I and the girls were put to good use. We divided the class in two and Roya and I took one half and Nadim and Yasmin took the other half. We then asked them questions about the weather, which seasons they preferred and why, and what was their favourite animal. The kids are pretty good with reading, but speaking is harder for them, so this was great practice. We spent most of the class interviewing the kids. We plan to do the other game about the past, present, and future the next time we see this group which will be for a two hour session.

Last week Nadim and I did some Mr. Fix-it work on the play structure. The slope of one of the slides was too steep so we raised the bottom up a bit. You can also see the tires at the end of the structure. We attached those as well. Looks like the kids are enjoying it.

CM