1 week down - 3 to go

WOW! I can't believe we just finished the first week of our course! Time has gone by way too fast. Even though we learned a lot, it's hard to believe that in only 3 more weeks we're supposed to have learned enough to really be out there teaching. We spent almost all of yesterday learning about grammar and it's surpising to see how little we actually know. Even though I studied English grammar in school, I couldn't remember anything. :)

Today was really fun! It was Thai Cultural Awareness Day. We went over a bunch of dos and don'ts in Thai culture. There are SOOOOO many! Thailand has so many cultural rules that are so different from the western culture. Fortunately, the Thais are also very forgiving and they even find it amusing when "farangs" (transl: guava/ foreigner) make mistakes (as long as it doesn't involve Buddha). There are three different positions for your hands when greeting someone and in order to use the right one, you need to determine the relationship or level of respect between you and the other person. So you have to put the palms of your hands together in front of your chest and then bow your head down so your nose (or your forehead or the very top of your forehead, depending on status of respect) touches your fingertips. It's quite complicated to us but the Thais have it all figured out... :)

We then went to a local temple and learned about some different Buddhist rituals. One of them was the releasing of animals. Right next to the temple (this particular temple was right by a river), they sell buckets with live fish, eels, snails and even different sizes of turtles... yep cute little (and big) turtles. People are supposed to buy them and then release them into the river to do something good and bring good karma to them and their ancestors.

We also went to some Museums and learned about the history of Chiang Mai and about the Hilltribe villages, which are different tribes that have their very own culture. For example, one of the hilltribes, the women wear all their belongings in form of head decorations on their head when they go working in the fields... another Tribe kills cats and little puppies because they think they have evil spirits... SAD!!! :(

So today was a great day! This whole week has been awesome. We're hoping to round it up with a fun little trip this weekend. There is a city about 3 hours away from here called Chiang Rai. I think it's the most Nothern city. It sounds very fun so I think we're going to go up for the weekend and check it out. FUN TIMES!!! :)