Life in General

I think its safe to say that things are becoming somewhat routine.  Most everywhere is devoid of water from the flood.  The people who's houses were hit the worst, are still doing cleanup and from what I hear, the smell from stuff the flood washes in, is nasty.  I feel incredibly grateful that getting our street blocked by a river of water was the worst that it got.

Waiting for the sky train

Last Sunday, I flew to Bangkok and navigated their skytrain/airport train system.  I'm so glad that I'm not afraid to ask for help when I'm lost although it usually takes getting lost before I do it.  I was glad that the guesthouse that I stayed in had a tv and I used the internet cafe in the mall next door to check email.  I was tired from my adventures in traveling. 
In the morning, I had breakfast at the guesthouse which consisted of food I'm used to seeing at breakfast like fruit andThai food that I normally don't eat for breakfast.  It was good and the company I shared it with was nice also.  I met another woman who was staying there, from Kuala Lumpur who during the course of our conversation, it turned out that she was friends with my coworker in Chiang Mai.  Go figure! 
The guesthouse-Bangkok Christian Guesthouse is a 3 or 4 story guesthouse that my school likes to use when teachers com to Bangkok.  They get a good deal on the price which is already good since its a guesthouse and not a regular large hotel.  Since I didn't want to miss much work while in Bangkok, I only spent one night there, and kept my backpack with my belongings with me during my workshop.
The workshop was meant to do two things.  One was to get professional development and the other was to continue adding hours that I need to successfully clear my credential next summer.  It was also a very sweet deal that my school paid for everything except my dinner on Sunday night.

Bangkok from the sky train station

The workshop itself was put on by two teachers from the University of  Northampton in the UK.  They were teaching us about an assessment tracking system using P scales.  While I think I understand the reasons behind it, I was a little disappointed that it didn't seem terribly relevant for my students.  The scales help to define different levels of students with special needs so if they transfer between schools, its easier to see where they are at.  But their focus seemed to be primarily for lower functioning students.  Most of my students do not have a diagnosed disability or an IEP.  They come to me for extra help.  But our hope is that my students will eventually learn strategies that help them succeed without the extra instruction. 
I've learned during my time at my school so far that some cultures do not readily accept learning difficulties in their children.  They want their children to be successful and having anything less makes them feel embarressed or like they failed as parents.  Its disheartening when we have parents who don't want to accept the help that we offer or become difficult because their child isn't catching up fast enough. 

On the happy side, I am exciting about our first school vacation.  It will arrive in 3 weeks.  Between now and then, I need to write approx. 9 learning support plans and finish testing one student.  But when that is over, I will be first off to a Foursquare retreat that will include our church, possibly the church from Mae Sot and possibly others??  I was doing my best to mentally interpret the announcement during church last weekend.  I only was able to get part of it.  Should be fun.  The day after we return, I head down to Hua Hin in southern Thailand for a mini vacation of my own.  The theme of that vacation is relaxation.