There are four coffee shops that I go to.  One is a tiny room big enough for a counter and a coffee machine. They have a porch with a table on it outside.  I don’t go here often because it isn’t in my village.  There is one that kind of an outdoor thing with a roof.  I don’t know how to explain it.  It sits on the side of the main road into the village.  The lady that owns it and her daughter are the sweetest people.  From day one, they remember what I like and remember what ever customer likes, actually.  This one is my favorite, but since it’s kind of like a shack, I don’t go there if I want to use internet or if it’s too hot out.  Then there’s a modern coffee shop – the only modern thing for 50 miles.  I spend quite a bit of time there because they have internet that works, coffee, air conditioning, and cake.  The people  here are also wonderful, but they don’t speak any English so I usually just point at things.  Then there’s another one where the lady who owns it is so sweet and she speaks English.  The first time I met her she gave me her number and told me to text any time if I wanted to order ahead or check to see if she was open.  She makes salads, burgers and a mean egg and cheese sandwich.  This week, I went into the modern one and had some cake.  As I was paying, the lady handed me a note.  It had written on it that they would be closed, the dates they would be closed and when they would re-open.  Since I am the only English speaking patron and they don’t know English, I can only guess that they found someone who knew English to write the note and then kept it behind the counter until I came in.  So sweet!

This week I did a lesson on Katy Perry’s song Firework for M6 (12th grade).  I had done it for the younger kids earlier and it was so hard.  I had a harder worksheet for M6 and debated just giving them the easier worksheet, but I didn’t.  The questions were difficult, but what I saw was the students reading through the lyrics hunting for any clue to the answers.  Basically, they are doing research in English.  The didn’t get all the questions.  My co-teacher Tussany told me the lesson was too hard, that she didn’t know all the answers.  She wants to tell them the answers instead of let them struggle a little and find them.  When I read over the answers later, most of them were right.  Isn’t this the point of school?  To teach children how to think for themselves, how to learn?  If you just give them the answers and have them repeat, they won’t retain much.  Tussany is my favorite to teach with, but it’s also disheartening to when she gives them the answers too quickly.

Pat’s still upset with me.  I asked her if I could go to Mae Sot with her and Robin because I need to do a border hop too.  For some reason, someone from the school needs to go with Robin.  Something is different with his visa.  She said she’d let me know when she knew what date they were going.  She didn’t let me know.  I had to go ask her again and she said they were going on the 26th as if it was the first time I had asked.  She asked me if I had class that day.  Of course, I have class every day except the days when they don’t show up for some reason unknown to me.  I didn’t say that, I just told her that was the day I had the M1 classes.  Then she just ignored me so I walked away.  A day later she came to me and asked why I wanted to go to Mae Sot.  She has to fill out a lot of paperwork in order for me to leave school and she can’t just take me if she doesn’t know why I’m going.  To…get…my…passport…stamped….  I have to go to the border to get my passport stamped every 3 months.  She acted like this was new information. Why did she think I asked to go to the border to a border hop with her when she went to the border to do Robin’s border hop?  She just kept going on about what a hassle it is to fill out the paperwork and what did I expect she was going to tell other teachers when they asked why I went to Mae Sot.  I have no idea what is really going on.

But leave it to Noi to cheer me up.  She walks in later and asks if I have the menopause.  She had the menopause at my age and you can take supplements to help with the hormone changes.  Then she went on to tell me about another teacher that is having the menopause and wants more information on the supplements.  I told her I’m not in menopause yet, but would gladly welcome it.  I’m not going to have children so bring on the menopause.  Since around 42 I’ve been having problems such as fibroid cysts, more pain, and more bleeding.  After this conversation, I wondered if the reason that I’m bleeding more often than I should be is because my body knows I want to speed up menopause and it’s trying to deplete my egg supply faster?  Hmmmm….the body is so interesting.

Here’s some random photos:

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