Today they took us to a pineapple farm.  The pineapple is delicious here.  Xploreasia bought some of the pineapple that was no longer fit for humans to take to the Hutsadin elephant foundation to donate for the elephants.  I love the way Xploreaisa is giving back to the community in unique ways.  Then they took us to see the elephants.  They rescue elephants.  In order to pay for their costs, they sell rides or walks with the elephants and they have an elephant show.  It’s not ideal to have to “sell” them out to tourists, but it’s the only way they can afford to feed and care for them.  We got to feed them.  We also had Thai language class and had a talk about what it’s like to work with agents and schools.  We may have agents that represent us and help us with the teaching contract, accommodations, payroll, etc or we may work directly with the school.  Each situation will be different.  It may be fairly organized and structured or it may be the complete opposite.  The range of things we may encounter covers just about everything.  After that we went to the Thai market which I wrote about in my other blog from today.

After the market, I went out to a small shopping center with my house mates.  I really like my house mates.  There are 5 of us in this house.  We all get along and I feel like I have some of the more mature people in the class as my house mates.  There are 27 of us in class and I am the oldest by probably 20 years.  It feels odd at times for me.  The difference in age can go from hardly noticeable to staggering in a split second.  It’s difficult to quite put my finger on what it is.  I could say it’s maturity or a lack of it, but that’s not really it.  It’s more like an energy or frequency difference.  There is a more frantic energy to them as a whole which feels loud and awkward.  This tends to be more noticeable during the more social times and is hardly there during learning times.   There are quite a few that I can tell are going to be amazing teachers and are going to embrace the experience with an open heart and great courage.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore