The Crossword Competition in Chonburi

Friday, 13 August 2004

As is the Asian way to travel, eleven children and five adults piled into a van (There were about the same number in the other truck), along with all of our luggage for three days and two nights, and left "Thai time" (about half an hour after our original departure time) for our drive through bumper to bumper traffic in busy Bangkok to a province called Chonburi. Chonburi is southwest of Bangkok, on the coast of Thailand. We arrived at around 5:30 pm and visited Bangsaen Beach, took pictures, and found our guest house where all the girls would sleep in one room, and all the boys would sleep in another. At dinner, we ate pork with rice, which I've had three times in a row already, but I hearI will eat a lot of Nakhon Pathom because that town is the main exporter of pigs in the country. We went to visit an island, which was more like a construction site, with men working at 8 0'clock at night. Several stduents visited a Chinese shrine and prayed and lit incense. They asked me if I could read Chinese because they got fortunes in Chinese, but alas, I don't know that language either!

We drove to 7-11 and an eating area with lots of markets. There were many karaoke clubs and Japanese restaurants on every corner (I think many Japanese tourists frequent this area.), and there seemed to be quite a nightlife. I went with some students to buy some toiletries and snacks. I ate some local fruits, rambutan and longan (like lychee, where you peel the skin and eat a sweet white fleshy fruit, but avoid the seeds inside) while the children ate all sorts of junk food. Pen, a very hyper and talkative boy, cracked me up as he ate slurpees and candy and chips and jumped around.

Saturday, 14 August 2004

We woke up, showered (and I have begun to use the baby powder everyone throws onto themselves leaving a white sheen all over faces and body, because it really does cut the sweaty and stinky sheen you would get otherwise, and believe me, when you have to sit next to 15 other people in a stuffy van packed in like a can of sardines, you will be glad others have used baby powder as well), and we went to eat breakfast in town. I ate noodle soup with pork and seafood. In Thailand, when eating, you first decide whether you will have rice or noodles. Then, you decide how you want it prepared (fried, soup, etc.) and what kind of meat you want with it (pork, chicken, beef, seafood). You can basically have it any way. A popular dish is khao men gai (chicken over rice). All meals are eaten with a fork and large spoon. The spoon goes in your right hand, and you use the fork in your left hand to push the food into the spoon before putting the spoon with food in your mouth. Many times, you will get four sauces or condiments to put on your dish before you eat. There is a sour sauce, sugar, a salty sauce, and spicy peppers. All Thai put about a spoonful of each on their food. With khao men gai, there is often a side of broth that people spoon onto their food before eating. It is all very delicious (arawy) but I still go light on the spicy hot pepper flakes.

We walked through the open market a bit, then headed to the Robinson Center for the annual Crossword Competition. This was the Eastern and Central Championships 2004. There were hundreds and perhaps a thousand children in their respective school uniforms. They competed against each other in Thai, English, and Math. Basically, they are Scrabble games, except that they have all these "special" words that are non-English to us, but are exceptions to the rule when playing the game. The children gave their dictionary resources to the teachers before they sat down. No cheating!

In the beginning, they called all the teachers up on stage to take a picture. Again, because we are held up on a pedestal here, they directed us from the English program to join the picture, even though the regular Thai teachers did not go up. There were explosions of glitter, and with the Crossword theme song playing in the background (believe me, after hours and hours and two days of competition, it is not a nice song to have memorized in your head), the games began. The teachers walked around for hours, ate, window shopped in this mega mall, and saw children come and go as they won and lost their matches. For awhile, we just found a place to sit and read Thai entertainment magazines and practice my Thai speaking. It was like being at a huge chess competition with Bobby Fisher. When an empty game would be up, Jill and I would play (the English version of course).

At the end of the day, we would visit the beaches, temples, and get snacks at 7-11. We would eat dinner in the town of Sriracha, and walk around the market lookig for things to buy. I was determined to find shoes, but everything was too small! I ended up finding sandals that fit me for 99 baht ($2.50), and I also bought a blazert/skirt set for work for 200 baht ($5), although it's too small. But, Aw and Pi Roong convinced me that I can get it tailored to fit me for about 50 baht ($1.25).

Jill told me there were three words/phrases I should know to get by: "Sanuk mai" (Fun today), which I will be asked after every outing, "Arawy" (Delicious), which I will be asked after every meal, and "Suay" (Beautiful), which I will be asked when about to give or get a compliment on how someone or something looks. Finally, my best phrase I'll probably use most often is "Mai khao jai" - I don't understand.

Sunday, 15 August 2004

After a difficult sleep of being a mosquito bitten victim, I woke up at 7 am with huge bites and rashes. We packed up and left to eat breakfast, had khao men gai (chicken over rice), went to 7-11 to get snacks, and then headed back for the second day of Crossword Competition. One of the students from our school was currently in second place. Others were in the top 40 or so. Again, we walked around the mall, played video games, ate at the food court, and window shopped. I tried on clothes, but I think the salespeople could tell my Thai was not too good. Good thing some of them speak broken English, and at least I could ask "Thao rai?" - How much? After a weekend of eating junk food, Dairy Queen blizzards, it was nice to get "home" that night at 9:30 pm to shower and unpack and rest. Before we left, we supposedly saw the current reigning Thailand Crossword champion, playing against another adult to see who will represent Thailand in the big competition. Apparently, there are a lot of special exception words like "hullo" and "et" that are allowed in the game. (=

Monday, 16 August 2004

Jill and I went to church this morning. The campus chaplain hlds a service at 7:40 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's all in Thai, but we sang a couple of English songs this morning, probably because we were there (the English teachers).

Today, everyone was a bit tired from the long weekend, and even Phu, who is the most difficult behaviorally, was antsy and irritable. I taught a little bit of phonics, and this afternoon we had computers. The school has a lot of new computers and software. There was a fun Disney animation program which allows you to draw, write words, and insert animated cartoons with Disney characters that dance around. I was impressed with the amount of technology they have, even a big screen flat TV that is used as the teaching demo TV and software programs organized for each respective grade level.

Later, after school, I organized and cleaned up a bit. Then Tik came over to see if we wanted to go get dinner. This was the highlight of my night. The four of us (myself, Jill, Aw, and Tik - Aw and Tik teach English and Math respectively) walked through the alleyways towards the canal to the street vendors. I always ask for suggestions of food and want to try a variety of dishes, so I got what Aw was having - chicken with mushrooms and baby corn over rice. I ordered a watermelon shake (all by myself, but have since forgotten how to say it), and then we went to get the famous spicy papaya salad (which has crab and all sorts of yummy spices in it), and roti (Indian bread fried with butter and garnished with your choice of fruit spread or ovaltine and condensed milk...I got the more expensive one, for 15 baht rather than 8 baht, with fresh bananas in it! Yum!) As we walked with our bagged drinks (all drinks are served in a plastic handled bag with a straw), and food, we traded Thai and English vocabulary words. Aw asked what each type of vegetable on the street vendor's cart was called in English. I laughed as she just grabbed things out of the vendor's basket with her hands, for these same items would be put back and cooked for the next customer! I took a few pictures, like the camera toting American tourist I am, and we walked home with our food to eat back at the house. I splurged tonight with dessert and the shake and spent a little over $1 for dinner.

We had to cross a street with motos and cars blazing by, food on our arms, and Tik grabbed my arm at one point, and said "Tan-YA" (which is how all Thai people pronounce my name, emphasizing the "ya"), "Go!" As she dragged me across the street, avoiding motos and cars that weren't even thinking about slowing down. After we safely crossed the street, I said to her "Run quick!" and she laughed. We headed down the alley, and saw a Heineken beer truck, and Tik said "Heineken" in perfect English. I laughed because her pronunciation was so good, and she usually has such difficulty with everyday English words. We stopped at someone's garage store where Tik bought a coca-cola and a bag of ice. The woman poured the soda into a plastic bag, popped in a straw, and off we went, or so we thought. Suddently, we saw bright lights of the Heineken beer truck trying to make it around a really tight corner (and if you could see this alley way, you could figure out why it was such a predicament). The two girls pulled me towards the garage. We noticed the truck was going to take a long time rounding the corner, so Tik motioned me to walk and said "Go, Tanya", and as we walked down the alley, I said "Run quick Heineken coming!" We all had a big laugh!

We made it home safely and ate all of our buffet of Thai dishes while watching a Thai soap opera. We even topped off our meal with a coconut cake with fresh shredded coconut that a parent had given us. Boy, did I sleep good that night! "Im!" (Full!)