Day 2 - Arriving in Prague

-Uneventful layover in Abu Dhabi; read my book for two hours; and the ticket checker at my gate called me "Miss Toolee".

Abu Dhabi airport

-Nothing to play with on Czech Airlines except the window shade. After my earlier encounter with Etihad's "coffee," I opted for a glass of red wine with my 'breakfast' of breaded chicken, potatoes and chocolate creme pie. Finished the first 100 pages in my Stephen King page-turner Different Seasons, and, wanting to save some for later reading and not daring to open the window shade for fear of blinding myself on the bright white clouds, I resigned to staring at the seatback in front of me, pretending to understand all the conversations going on around me Czech. This went on for another hour and a half until (FINALLY) the captain announced our final descent into Prague Airport.

Boarding the plane

Our "snack" on the plane...

-Our flight attendants consisted of one nice but boring-looking middle-aged male who was almost completely bald, and two bleach-blonde females who might as well have been clones of each other; their only differentiating feature being one's horrid dark aqua-gray eye shadow which only served to startle the living daylights out of me when I'd look up to what looked like a zombie offering me "coffee or tea?"

-Arrived in Prague where it was a crisp 7 degrees Celsius, and promptly changed into warmer clothes (the Czech airport staff gave me so many funny looks and gasps when I exited the plane in shorts and a half-sleeve sweater).

-There was no one in line at passport control when I got there (apparently I was the only non-Czech on my flight), and when I handed my passport through the window, the officer first scoured every single page, and then proceeded to put my entry stamp right smack on top of the "endorsements" page! When I got my new passport two years ago, I requested the 52-page one specifically so this would never happen. 35 empty visa pages, and he stamps the endorsement page. Ugh. Moron.

-My immigration stamp soon became the least of my worries when I approached the currency exchange counter and the woman smugly informed me that "we don't accept Thai baht here; you'll have to go to a bank in the city, and you'd better hurry because it's Friday and they close at 3pm." I looked at my watch - 1:50. Well, shit.
Figured I'd look for a bank on the way to my host's apt, but it was only a short bus ride and I didn't see one. Luckily, after much googling and a few phone calls we were able to locate an exchange office run by a Turkish man that said he would accept Thai baht. Irena and I met Pavel on the way there, and after some careful counting and quick decision-making I walked away with enough Czech koruns (pronounced "crowns") to last my 4 days there, and the rest in Euros (which would be accepted for exchange in the next 3 countries). euroexchange.cz

-As a thank you to Irena and Pavel for being so helpful and understanding, I cooked dinner (with Irena's help). We hit up the supermarket for ingredients, then I/we made DIY soft shell beef tacos and broccoli cheese balls(http://www.staceysnacksonline.com/2011/01/broccoli-bites-for-kids.html). Everything was delicious, and we all went to sleep that night very happy campers.

Getting ready to cook!

Broccoli bites

Mmmm taco

Appetite satisfied, ready for bed! 

Day 1 - Flight to Abu Dhabi

- I arrived promptly at Suvarnabhumi Airport 2.5 hours before my flight; when checking-in, the woman behind the counter changed me from a middle seat somewhere to the window seat in the emergency exit row. This was great as far as leg room and potential sleep, but there was no window next to my "window seat," and no entertainment screen on the seatback in front of me (as there was no seat in front of me). However, I did appreciate when the airline representative came over at check-in, weighed my "carry-on" bag (which, despite my insistence that it was light as a feather, was actually 12kg), and gave me a wink as he gave it an 'approved carry-on' tag and said, "I only see 7(kg)...you understand?" pointing to the scale readout. "Kao jai, ka," I replied with a smile, "Korp khun mak ka!" See that AirChina*? THAT'S good customer service. :)

My exit row windowless window seat

-Food on the airplane was terrible, as usual, save for the one little block of cheddar cheese. When the flight attendant said black coffee, apparently what he meant was "we ordered this crap from France, and despite the double creamer and 4 sugars you're adding, it will still taste like bitter sludge." And it did.

-Cherry on top? The screaming TWINS across the aisle from me.



*My beef with AirChina: When I flew home for Christmas I had two checked bags (and two small carry-ons), all full of shoes, souvenirs and keepsakes accumulated over the last two and a half years, and Christmas presents. The kg limit for check baggage was 23kg - one of mine was 3kg over at 26kg(just a really big bag), but the other was 8kg under at 15kg. LOGICALLY, being on the same ticket and going on the same plane regardless of which bag the weight is in, they should have let it go. But no. They wanted me to either "rearrange" my bags (which I spent a month packing efficiently), or pay $200 in overweight charges. Needless to say, I became "that person" who makes a scene at check-in about their bags. I took two items out of my large bag, put it back on the scale, and the woman says, "One more kilo." I lost it. Yanked my bag off the scale, removed ANOTHER item, stuffed it into the plastic bag with the other two removed items (so I now had THREE carry-ons), shouting and cursing as I went, and this woman had the balls to open her mouth and say to me, "We're only trying to help, ma'am." "NO," I snapped. "Trying to help would have been looking the other way and checking the f*cking bags. Just print the damn tickets, please. You're ruining my Christmas."  She didn't say another word. And I will never fly AirChina again. Ever.

Logos Hope

The Logos Hope ship is one of the many ministries through OM(Operation Mobility) International, and is currently docked here in Bangkok! We got a group together last weekend to go visit the ship, and were lucky enough to get a tour with two awesome guys from Jamaica, Maurice and Shane. All the staff are volunteer, and raise their own support before joining the crew.

Alina, Lek, Me outside in front of the ship

Alina, Lek, Ora waiting in line

The SUPER crowded bookstore on board

Zhen, Kob, Me

Zhen managed to find a Chinese-speaking staff member, but they were from Taiwan

Shane telling us about the ships captains

Ora, Annika, Me

Our group! Lek (Thai), Alina (Armenian/Dutch), Sarah (Canadian), Kob (Thai), Zhen (Chinese), Annika (Australian), Me (American), Glaister (Jamaican), and Ora (Thai)

Beautiful views of Bangkok from the ship

Ora wearing the captain's hat :)

The main chapel hall

Our two awesome Jamaican tour guides - Maurice and Shane

P. 6/6B

As you know, last week marked the end of classes for me and my students, and with sad farewells and lots of snacks, I concluded my final week as their teacher. 

Since I had them last year in P5, my P6 class was extra special to me, and were often a refreshing break from the craziness of my P5s. I didn't have to worry as much about keeping them attentive and focused, because they already knew the drill. We were able to do more projects and activities as well, since it was also my smallest class at 17 students. Let me introduce them:

Mew and Baitong - Best Friends

 Jeep - My only male overachiever in the class :)

Bill - good kid, but easily distracted 

Otto - Such a beautiful child, and really tries his best

Peem - Insisted on writing in cursive, until I started cracking down on  his handwriting ("If I can't read it, it's wrong")..he then started using print when taking exams 

 Benz and Bond - Twins, but totally different in every way

Folk - I've had him in summer school as well, and he thinks he's tough, but deep down he wants to learn and improve.

Mangpor - My little female smarty-pants. A real sweetheart too :)

Focus - Great kid, very studious, and really funny sometimes too

 Cream and Fah - quiet friends, but hard workers
 

Tan - Didn't have Tan last year in P5, but she was a joy to have this year. Works very hard, always sweet, and  a great addition to my class. 

Jane - The tallest of my girls, she and Benz are very close friends. She wants to be shy, but doesn't realize how delightful and funny she is. Smart girl, too. She told me she's going to a different school for Mathayom next year, so I told her to make sure she goes to university to become a doctor so I can call her "Dr Jane". She said okay. :D

We had our final party day outside down in the canteen area, and Teacher Jun brought his half of the class (6/6A) down to join us. I handed out certificates, we had snacks and drinks, and finally said our goodbyes. 

Trying to get all the students together...like herding cats.


Waiting for them to quiet down...


And finally...

Jun was filming it, and the students thanked both of us...but his students said thank you to him, and then to me, and mine did the opposite, but because my name is longer it just sounds like they said Teacher Amelia twice. LOL