Adventures By Design

In which the travelers get edumacated, aquated, and chlorinated

morning
So the other day we were looking at our map of Bangkok, trying to decide what we should do and where we should go, when we realized that one of the premier international schools in Asia is about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. The school is called New International School of Thailand and though it’s not very old (about 15-20 years) it’s highly regarded, and one of the schools that Ric and I would love to work at some day.

We fired off an email to the elementary school principal on Sunday night, requesting an invitation to come visit, and hopefully get to sit down and chat with someone there. Monday was apparently a holiday (who knew?) so we didn’t hear back until this morning when we got a message back saying the the principal had from 11:00 to 11:30 to meet with us. Only half an hour, but still we were happy to get anything! As we tried to rig up something professional to wear from our traveling gear, we talked about what we’d like to know about the school and questions to ask. We needed questions that were interesting, showed we had done some research about the school, and that would make us look smart and professional! Although this certainly wasn’t a job interview (given that we already have a job and all) who knows what might happen in the future…

Anyway, we made it to the school after a very slow 10 minute walk trying not to get sweaty, met with the principal and chatted for a while. He was nice, down-to-earth, and seemed to know his school well. The situation was a little strange though, since we weren’t there trying to get jobs from him it seemed like he didn’t quite know what to do with us. After talking with him about tablet computers, math curricula, field trips, and some other stuff, our 30 minutes was up and he had another appointment to get to. However, even though he didn’t have time to take us around he welcomed us to have a wander and look at the campus, yay!

NIST doesn’t own the property their school is on (foreigners can’t own property in Thailand, which may be the issue here) but they’ve still invested a lot into it, and have got pretty nice facilities which they are continuing to improve on. The early childhood classrooms looked great, kind of open concept but closed off enough that classes wouldn’t disturb each other. There was also a small swimming pool for the little people, so they didn’t have to share the big pool with all the older kids. They had lots of playground space, and a soccer field made of real grass, something we never saw in Korea! The library was nice and welcoming, but a little smaller than we expected.

All in all it was a great visit to a very nice school. Hopefully we’ll get to visit more schools as our trip progresses and see how they all compare!

 

afternoon
This afternoon Gin and I went for a swim in the hotel’s pool. Although the pool is a little small and shallow, it’s big enough for us the play around in. It is on the eighth floor, and the outside wall of the pool is made entirely of glass, so while you are swimming you can look out on the street below.

I’m having a great time watching Gin learn how to swim. She’s never been entirely comfortable being in the water, and especially having her head and face under the water. I remember learning how to swim underwater when I was a kid, and I agree with Gin: it is a little freaky. I never realized it, but there is a technique you must practice to getting your body to go underwater: until acquiring this skill you just violently thrash about on the surface, and generally look like the awkward terrestrial mammal you are. Not that Gin looked like anything that.

So, other than a few tips, I stayed out of the her way and Gin was soon able to swim the length of the pool underwater! Upon accidentally discovering that our hotel key card is both waterproof and heavier than water, what started as shocked panic quickly evolved into a rousing game of “Dive for the Key”, which is of course the abbreviated title for “Dive for the Little Piece of Plastic that Opens the Door to All Our Valuables, and Saves Us From an Embarrassing and Soggy Trip to the Hotel Front Desk.”

When we were in the Philippines a couple years ago, I was surprised that after some (gentle, I hope) encouragement from me, Gin agreed to try snorkeling. She loved it: floating around on the surface, watching all the colorful fishes go about their business, discovering new rocks and lumps of coral. I am so excited to try diving without glasses. Not since I was twelve years old have I been able to see the bottom of the lake or ocean below me; being near-sighted, my vision has been limited to the first few feet, and to get a better look I had to dive down, hands outstretched so I didn’t bash my chin on the bottom.

Now we are visiting Thailand, diving capital of the universe, and with my recently laser-sculpted eyes, and Gin’s new underwater swimming skills, we seemed perfectly poised for even more aquatic adventures.

evening
All that pool water has taken it’s toll on Ric’s poor eyes. Worst bloodshot ever. He looks diseased.