Displacement

  Well, I made it! I think I spent at least 20 hours in a plane with my ass hurting the whole way.  Luckily there were plenty of movies and narcotics to keep me entertained. I think I watched 5 movies and a tv show, while occasionally slipping in and out of consciousness. The ride was exhausting. Sitting in one place for so long makes one susceptible to cabin fever. On the plus side, I am not as tired as I thought I would be today. We arrived at St. Gabriel's last night around 2am and I got to bed shortly after, about 2:30am. Pretty sure the time difference is 12 hours, so I thought adjusting to Bangkok time would be difficult. Everyone else seemed to wake up terribly early today near 6am, so I guess I was lucky to sleep till 9am. By the way, facebook is blocked during certain times of the day so that means very limited use. 
  
  Today we took a short tour of the school with St. Gabriel students as our guides. I believe our guide was in 10th grade. He led us through the campus as the younger children were running around doing different things. Some were dressed in little robes and swim caps to go to the pool, and others were going to the cafeteria (canteen) for lunch. All students except the swimmers were dressed in the school uniform of black shoes, white socks, light blue shorts and a white shirt. It was funny to see so many loud little kids in uniforms being herded by teachers. I won't be doing any of that. The tour took us through the courtyard (with a small soccer field) into the cafeteria, up to a few museum exhibits of ships, insects and sea creatures, and then by a few classrooms. The school is very nice and well maintained. 
  We received our assigned courses to teach! I was given a computer class to teach, so naturally I was frustrated. Thankfully someone volunteered to trade schedules with me so I can teach reading and writing to tenth graders. As an English major I believe I am also going to help with the interview process as more students are accepted into St. Gabriel's. More information on this to be determined. At 4pm we are going to the store to get any necessary items like cell phones. Gotta drop 1000 baht to get one, which sounds like a lot of money, but 1000 baht = $30 USD, so no big deal. Off to the store, tune in later!
-Ryan