a life worthy

I’m pretty sure Worchihan and I had one of the easiest weddings ever. Well, at least it was easy for me. I did ALMOST nothing.

How is that possible, you might ask? To be fair (to myself), the location determined pretty much everything — especially the fact that I wasn’t going to be a lot of help — and made the decisions easy.

When to get married? We got engaged on November 4 (Worchihan had a pretty sweet reason for asking me on this particular day) and visited Worchihan’s family in the village that Christmas. Our next shared holiday was Songkran, the 3 days + a weekend mid-April Thai new year celebration, so that was the obvious choice. When you are as old as we were when we got engaged (Worchihan was 29 and I was 30), you gotta get married. Fast.

If you travel to Bangkok, don’t miss Ayutthaya. The second capital of the Kingdom of Siam, Ayutthaya was founded in 1350, prospering until it was razed by the Burmese in 1767, leaving its temples and palaces in ruins. The Historic City of Ayutthaya was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991. As Ayutthaya is only about an hour north of Bangkok and is easy to get to and get around, it makes for a perfect day trip. (For more about Ayutthaya, visit https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/576.)

I have been to Ayutthaya 3 times and have had a different experience each time. The first time, I went with 2 fellow foreigners. We took a (very fast) van to Ayutthaya and then rented (very old) bikes to ride around the temples. I’m pretty sure this is the hottest way to see the ruins. The second time, Worchihan and I took the (rather slow) train from Hua Lamphong with a group of Thai and Naga friends. Since we didn’t buy our tickets in advance, we got 3rd class standee tickets (can’t complain when they’re only 20 baht!), but fortunately we were able to sit all the way. On the way back to Bangkok, we ended up with 3rd class standee tickets again on a pretty full train; Worchihan and I ended up standing outside between two cars, which was a little scary. Anyways, on that trip we rented a long tuktuk (and driver) for a price a little bit cheaper than what foreigners would pay. The third time, this past Saturday, our friends Ping and Som took us, so we drove to Ayutthaya and then drove around to see the temples, which is the most comfortable way to go. Going with Thai friends in a car is the best way to go! Continue reading “Ayutthaya”

When Worchihan and I meet new people, their first question is often how we met. It’s a good question, because Worchihan and I ourselves are often surprised by the fact that we are together.

Continue reading “How We Met”

Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, was our last stop on our 3-week UK trip. There wasn’t anything in particular we wanted to see or do in Glasgow, but we thought we would visit since it’s only an hour and a half on the bus from Edinburgh.

What We Did

Glasgow was the only city we visited for which we didn’t make a list of things to do. Because nothing came to mind when we thought of Glasgow – no church, no museum, no attraction – we were free to explore. It was a nice feeling especially after the pressure of our long lists for London and Edinburgh.

Continue reading “UK Trip 2018: Glasgow”

The quickest way for a student to hurt my heart is to say that he or she doesn’t like reading. I love reading so much that I take this personally, but I also realize these students (most students) were probably not encouraged to read the way I was when I was a kid: my mom took us to the library often, both my parents read a lot and the school I grew up in encouraged reading. My primary academic goal for these students–for all my students–is that they would enjoy reading and writing. If students enjoy reading and writing, they will read and write, and if they have the right guidance, they will become good readers and good writers.

One difficulty all readers encounter is unfamiliar words. Good readers aren’t discouraged by these words because they are often able to guess the meanings of these words, but struggling readers can easily become frustrated because they don’t know what to do when they see words they don’t know.

We can empower our struggling readers–all of our readers–by giving them ways to figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words; we can give them the clues to solve the puzzle. Continue reading “Word Attack Strategies”

Bangkok is absolutely overrun with tourists. OVERRUN. Which I understand, because Bangkok is definitely a must visit. But because these tourists often have no idea where they’re going and are going to pay a lot more than they should for taxis and tuktuks and souvenirs at Chatuchak Market, I feel sorry for them. Bangkok is a strange, huge, exotic and overwhelming city (even to me), the kind of city that many tourists may not have visited before. In my opinion, Bangkok tourists need all the help they can get.

I take the subway every day and work in one of Bangkok’s most popular tourist areas, so I often see tourists who could use some help figuring out how to get around. Here are my top tips.

Continue reading “Tips for Getting Around Bangkok”