I can't believe this time next month I'll be home, snuggled up in a big jumper and eating swede! Time has flown by! I'll give you a bit of an update of what's been going on the the last few weeks.
It's been a really odd term with two weeks of school closure after the flooding. We got back to school after half term and within a day or so, the Thai government had closed the schools. Volunteers went in to move everything from the first floor upstairs.
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| Rachael pleased with our new Drama office arrangements |
So, we had two weeks at home, uploading work onto the internet for each lesson for the students, replying to their emails and going a little bit stir crazy! We were very lucky though and the flooding didn't really affect us at all, unlike so many of my colleagues and the Thai people. The flooding did get worse around us, but it didn't reach the apartments.
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| The river continued to rise before high tide |
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It didn't breach the wall at school, but sneaked through
the cracks until the water level was about 30cms |
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Charoenkrung Road had some flooding in places, which
made it difficult to get out and about |
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In some places the water was about 50cm above road level
and the sandbags were keeping it back |
In the last few days, the sandbags have just started to be taken down and the temporary steps outside of the apartments have gone.
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Flood prevention measures - a little difficult
to navigate so pleased they're gone now! |
The feeling of impending doom that had been lurking for the last few months has gone and people seem much more positive and upbeat. There are still lots of areas of Bangkok under water, more water to come down from the north and the high tides next weekend may mean more water gets into the school grounds again but it should be the 30cm-2m we'd been prepared for. Ploenchit fair
http://www.bctfn.com/ that was meant to be at school has been moved to the other side of Bangkok, which is a real shame because of it. Will hopefully still go though.
The flooding meant Pippa and Rach had to spend far more time with me than usual, but they managed to put up with me. We took Pippa out for her birthday to the Mandarin Oriental, just up the river, for afternoon tea. It was a lovely day and we felt very posh and dainty!
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| Pip and Rach looking glam for afternoon tea |
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| What a treat! Too much food though! |
At the weekend, I went to Singapore with the Drama department and 34 kids to see Kevin Spacey in Sam Mendes' Richard III.
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| What a treat! Such a good show. |
We left early on Friday morning and arrived in Singapore at about 3.30pm. I liked Singapore, it was clean and organised and quite Western. The streets reminded me a bit of Disneyland! The weather was good, although very humid.
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Our hotel was nice, although a little weird. They threatened
to charge us $0.50 fr very gram of food we wasted at breakfast... |
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| The show was at the Esplanade Theatre |
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| The view from the Eplanade |
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| Traditional tourist pose! |
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| More view from the Esplanade |
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The Esplanade is supposedly designed to look like a
microphone...? |
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| Rach and Steve get in on the posing |
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| Pretty tile prints on the wall inside the theatre complex |
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| Singapore Dollars - $2 = £1 ish. Singapore was SO expensive. |
The play was really good. It was so nice to go to the theatre. Spacey was fantastic - so often you have high expectations of a 'famous actor' doing theatre, and Shakespeare especially, but he was brilliant. Great physicality and such a character. Mendes' direction was great too, episodic and modern and stark. Very good and the students loved it.
On the Saturday we spent the morning making notes on the play before heading to Sentosa - the man made beach resort in Singapore. It was very odd. Gorgeous looking water and sands, but all created, not naturally occurring.
I arrived back at my apartment to find a festive, gold, jingly bell hanging on my door. It made me smile! But when I got inside, Father Christmas's elves had been and left me a beautiful decorated Christmas tree and festive music box! What a treat!
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| Thank you Fairy Rach and Fairy Pip! |
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Everyone knows Christmas is all about
zebras! |
What a lucky girl I am to have such lovely friends - thank you! It now officially means Christmas is on its way and that we can start listening to carols, watching Christmas films and doing other such festive things! I've started by making chutney!
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| 9 jars. Not too bad! |
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| Slightly made up recipe, but it tastes nice! |
As well as making chutney, I'm listening to Stephen Fry read me the Harry Potter stories, they always make me feel wintery! What a treat!
Just popping to Singapore! Am jealous, especially as it was paid for by school. Shame you had to take 34 kids!
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