Tag Archives: certificate

Friends met and made along the way . . .

Aloha Thailand!

Aloha my friends,

Thanks for hitching a ride on this leg of my journey. I’ve enjoyed having your company.

Where am I writing this? I’m in Tokyo’s modern and amazing Narita airport at a lovely and free internet access “cafe.” (That’s in quotes because the only way I see to get coffee, or any other beverage, is via one of those automat machines–like you see at rest stops along France’s highways where I drank many of them with Dad back in our month-long trip, with Mom and sister Hannah, in the Fall of 1999. And I don’t have the local currency for making a purchase . . . but of course they’ve thought of a solution for that, I’m sure, but coffee’s not on my list of beverages right now. The next plan of action is to sleep and try and get in sync with Hawaii’s time and day zone . . . )

After about a 5 hour layover, I’ll hop on the next flight to Honolulu. When do I arrive there? 10:20 a.m. on Sunday. What time and day is it here now? 7 p.m. something on Sunday. Cool how that works. Due to my frugal and practical nature, I don’t arrive on Kaua‘i until Sunday evening (using HAL miles). So, I reckon I’ll take a bus to the beach in Honolulu for a dip and a shower. At least that’s the plan, I’m open to however it unfolds. This “live-in-the-moment-and-keep-my-eyes-and-ears-open-to-all-possibilities” (or litmakmeaeotap®) form of travel has served me really well the past many months.

In moments of daydreaming, I’d imagined that I’d write a “*SJ’s streaming consciousness thoughts and rambles about SE Asia” kind of something. But, at the moment, I’m not feeling it, so I’m not going to. (Okay, some of you are groaning that I already have with my long going on about coffee machines in France and the trip with my family ages ago . . . ) Granted, I may change my mind (or not : ). That’s part of the beauty of following my heart; when it comes, it just flows. If it doesn’t, then I do something else. There’s always something else.

Kay den, ’nuff of that.

Love and blessings to you all. May the light always shine on you; may you always be surrounded by friends (even when you’re “alone”); may you feel peace and happiness from the top of your head to the tip of your toes; may you enjoy each and every day on your journey of life, the best darn gift each and every one of us has been given.

***Sat Nam.

-sj

With my gal pal, Chela, who gave me a ride to the Kaua‘i airport early one morning at the end of May.
I had a long layover in Taipei. Prospective English lesson clients? Maybe.
Class #100 at the CELTA English language teaching school in Bangkok.
During the horrible third week (while passing through and/or over the CELTA wall), we couldn’t calculate how much to pay at lunch! And it was easy math!!!
A smart and friendly student from Japan on my right; Isky, the talented actor from Kuala Lumpur, on my left.
The winners of fellow CELTA student Suelin’s very original and unofficial awards (SJ, Alvin, and Isky, short for Iskander).
Moi with my Bangkok Kundalini yoga instructor, Sunderta.
The 12 trekkers from Denmark, France, Taiwan, Spain, and the United States, who first met in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
My first pals at FLO: Rick, the cameraman; Emily, the troll; and Kate, the giant.
With one of my students while at the beach with FLO (Future Light Orphanage). Recognize him from the dinner out in Phnom Penh?
And with another wonderful FLO student (who recently graduated from high school and started her advanced education course this month).
The fun summer gang of FLO-fans one evening in Phnom Penh.
One of my favorite students . . . okay, who am I kidding, they were ALL my favs!
Dani and Andrew, fellow FLO volunteers, returning “home” after a fun “getaway” to Phnom Penh.
Some of my younger friends at FLO. (Enjoying an apple, thanks to many of YOU !!!)
She’s the most natural teacher . . . and she’s a talented artist; she gave me a cool going away card that she made.
My friend Dani stopped over in Phnom Penh for one night (after visiting Siem Reap and before heading to Ho Chi Minh). FLO’s wonderful chef, and my dear friend, Chancy, and I dropped everything to join Dani for dinner. That was how I found the perfect restaurant for when I would later accompany eight FLO students to dinner in the city. Look up the Friends restaurant in Phnom Penh for more info.
Remember when I wrote about that amazing last day at FLO when many of us went to the Pagoda? The little guy on the right is the boy who took my hand during our walk to and from the temple. : ) Aren’t ALL three boys vibrant!
Oh, what a special day that was!
And I love this shot too much to not include it in my “wrap-up.” It embodies so much of what FLO is about.
Did I tell you about the storybooks that my older students made? They were as varied and as fascinating as the Ss. “Were there recurring themes?” you ask. Yes.
Making friends (or the wanting of friends). Giants (fighting giants, killing giants, running away from giants). Poor people (who need help, who I want to help but can’t, who I hope to help someday, who I want to come to school with me, who have no food). And magical animals or people (who do all k i n d s of things!).
Yes, I think the storybook project was a success.
We ended up doing the second of two scavenger hunts early on the Saturday morning when I bid FLO adieu.  Why? There was a powerful monsoonal rain the previous afternoon. It worked out well; I was able to pass out all their learning materials (their notebooks, storybooks, tests, etc.) AND give them lots of prizes which I’d gathered. There were even enough lollipops for all the little kids who were hanging out with us. (Thanks Dani, Sean, and Kai!)
How very special it was to look these dear human beings in the eye and know that our bond is eternal. Just the right number gathered for a very personal, unhurried, and precious farewell.
And then I began my “travels” . . .

My new friends from Australia (by way of Ireland) and Canada (Laura, Nick, and Leta respectively). We biked together and shared a tuk tuk in Siem Reap (when visiting the many ancient temples).
Here I was with a beautiful young lady from Laos who was taking her visiting parents on an excursion.
The beautiful young couple from Israel (who found me in Hanoi somewhere and somehow early, early one morning) with our trek guide.
The lovely lady on the left made my delicious (and expensive by Vietnamese standards : ) coffee; she was the only “game” in the market (and she’ll do well)!
I had planned to meet Nat (and her friend, Gerry) the previous evening for dinner, but I went to the wrong restaurant (I initially met them on the boat trip to Ha Long Bay). “If I’m supposed to see them, I will, ” I thought to myself. And sure enough, I did! Yeah, I love those synchronistic moments too. : )
On the boat with the “cook” who made my dinner one evening in Hue (with her son).
Remember the “locals only” café in Hue I told you about? Here we are again.
I met these friendly childhood friends from London while touring Ha Long Bay; we ran into one another in both Hue and Hoi An. While in Hoi An, we decided to share both delightful conversation and a delicious dinner.
A few evenings ago in Bangkok, I met up with some of my fellow CELTA graduates; we ate at a place called Cabbages and Condoms. Yes, condoms. Look it up on-line; it’s a cool place with a good cause (and a tasty restaurant). Yes, it was great to see them again. They’ve all gotten good jobs (yes, teaching) in Bangkok!
Michele, my longtime friend who with her husband, graciously shared their Bangkok home.
I spent all day yesterday at a Kundalini yoga retreat doing white tantric yoga; it was amazing. The exercises are done with a partner. Meet my new friend, Japnan; she’s a beautiful young lady (my nephew Jo Ryan’s age) from Taiwan. Being a self-motivated person, she has her own business and is able to work from her home. Good for her! And she has the most beautiful dark brown eyes. It worked out perfectly that the retreat took place on my last day in Thailand (and SE Asia).

That’s me looking up at the ceiling of Bangkok’s Sunvarabhumi airport early this a.m.; or am I really looking down? What do you think? : )

Aloha Thailand!

*One entry was going to be: Vietnames Airlines, the Big Save of SE Asia, i.e. short line, long wait (thanks Tones for that tag line : ) ; it’s one of his classics.

Another? Cheapest place in SE Asia per my informal survey? Vietnam
(Also, didn’t see nary a McDonalds or Starbucks in **Vietnam, did see one KFC there though, in Hanoi, right in a major tourist area and intersection. There are a zillion KFC’s in Thailand and Cambodia btw; they L O V E KFC in those two countries!)

And another, it’s very L O U D in SE Asia, even in the countryside. Sometimes at FLO (in the middle of nowhere really), it would be SO loud as the neighboring communities blasted out their this’es and thats with the wind. (That was one reason I loved Luang Prabang so much; it was quiet there; it felt so much more restful than in other cities.) “Okay, what about LA?” I can hear you ask. “And NYC? And Detroit?” (Detroit? I’ve never been to Detroit. lol Always thought it’d be nice to visit Augie and Rose though.) Alright, got it; we Americans have very loud places too.

Things like that is was I had been imagining that I’d write . . . but not now, maybe another time (or not . . . I’m not making any promises one way or another).

**Didn’t see one KFC or chain restaurant in Laos, but I was only in Luang Prabang. Don’t know about Vientiane and other areas.

***Sat Nam is similar to namaste, which most of you know.
The following was copied from a website I found: http://www.kundaliniyogablog.com/-2006-11-12-sat-nam-definition/

“The Mantra Sat Nam

Sat Nam is a mantra commonly used in Kundalini Yoga and amongst its practicioners. It is frequently repeated three times at the end of a yoga session. But what is the importance of Sat Nam, what does it mean.
I’ve heard the following interpretations for Sat Nam via my Kundalini Yoga instructors:
  • Truth is my identity
  • My identiy is Truth
  • My True Self
  • Truth is our identity
It has been called the process of naming ones self Truth. It can be used similar to Namaste, (the divine in me aknowledges and pays tribute to the divine in you.) Where the “Truth” is the divine.
Being one who likes to get to “Source” info, I decided to do some further research into the nature of Sat Nam. I made an assumption that Sanskrit is a rather root dialect and that “Sat Nam” in Sanskrit would provide supplemental information on the nature of Sat Nam.
I found this Sanskrit Dictionary, and looked up the words, Sat and Nam.
Sat
  1. being
  2. real
  3. that which really exists
  4. the real existent truth
I’ve seen it written that Sat means Be, or more apprpriately Be-ness. Which would be the essence of being. (HPB’s Secret Doctorine) I suspect some careful analysis would find an interesting correlation between Be-ness and emptiness. (For those of Buddhist faith)
but onward to Nam.
  1. To bow
  2. To submit or subject oneself
And so one is bowing to Truth, to Be-ness the essence of being.
And the active interpretation of Sat Nam emerges.
Sat Nam
H~”
And for those of you who read this far, this just came in today’s “calendar” email from Julie Redstone:
46.
To experience God one must live in the present, 
for it is in the present that new experience arises.
Let go of thinking and be in the moment.
It is in each moment that God may come to you.
 
***

I made it!

C’est moi! Fini!

Hi Everyone,

The CELTA course is officially over, and I made it! Fortunately, I ended on a high note with my best practice teaching session ever. I decided that I really wanted to have fun, and I did. I still prepared a lesson plan, still had an idea of what I was going to do and what I needed to cover in order to help the students clearly distinguish the difference between present simple and present continuous (I jump every day. Is this a habit? Yes. So it’s . . . present simple. I am jumping. Am I doing this now? Yes. So it’s . . . present continuous), and still met my aim . . . but THIS time, I had fun!

And I think they did too.

One of my fellow trainees told me, “You had me too; I had to watch to see what was going to happen next.” : )

Now that makes me smile.

“So what’s next?” you ask.

I’m not sure exactly.

I have 4-weeks “free” in Thailand before I report to an orphanage in Cambodia where I’m going to volunteer teach for 8-weeks. They’ve asked me to teach two classes a day: one with Elementary level students and one with Pre-Intermediate students. “The ages of the students?” I’ve been told that the ages will range from 11 to 17. “The class size?” I’ve been told that it might be with 15-20 students or 35 and more. So . . . your guess is as good as mine.

I’m to supplement their regular classes with a curriculum focusing on speaking and writing. My rough sketch is to have a theme for each week, a collection of practical things that they can really use. I’ll take what I learned this last week at CELTA and put it into action. “What are those things?” you ask. Well, for starters, I’ve been told that the students like a rhythm, a pattern, so that they know Wednesday is “story” day and Tuesday is “games” day, etc. Friday will be the “review” day. I think I can use the same theme for each class; I’ll just grade my language (do my best to make it match their level) and adapt the activities for the two different levels.

So, this is where YOU come in! I have already made a very, very rough sketch of what those 8 themes will be, BUT I’d love to hear from you. Get your opinions on what YOU think they should be. I’ll keep you posted on what comes in and what I decide to do.

I’ve got a collection of shots from yesterday’s party. Have fun checking out who I’ve been hanging out with for these past 4-weeks. And you’ll notice me with two other students holding official-looking certificates. The fun gal-pal–fellow-trainee who hosted the barbeque two weeks ago surprised us at the “unofficial” but “real” party after at a Mexican restaurant called “Coyote.” (“Mexican?” Yes, I know. There’s e v e r y t h i n g here! “The food?” It was good, but of course it doesn’t even come close to Marcie’s! No place or person could!) The “winners” of the certificates were selected in a fun happenstance kind of way immediately after she pulled them out of her bag. When you read the label on mine, you’ll see that it essentially says, “Biggest Nerd.” : ) Yep, that’s me. And happily so.

Okay then, time to sign off and enjoy the day as a carefree student who’s just “graduated.” What will I do? Not sure. I may go to that HUGE market at the end of the BTS line that a friend on Kaua‘i told me about just a couple of nights before I left, just a few weeks ago really . . . that seems like ages ago!

And, I’m lucky enough to have been invited to a “Bangkok Vice” party tonight to celebrate the 50th birthday of a new friend’s husband. I’m supposed to “dress to impress—Miami Vice style!” Fortunately, I already have one cool top . . . I’m wearing it in the shot at the top of the page. : ) Thanks to my buddies from the retreat I attended back in February on Kaua‘i, I stepped out of my normal realm of dressing and tried on a “different” looking top from the sales rack at Roots. And this is what I found; I love it!

And I love you too.

Thanks dear friends for coming along with me on this journey. I have a feeling that it’s just getting started.

With warm aloha,

SJ

It just so “happens” that a group from the Honolulu rotary club will be there for part of the time that I’m also there! Ends up they sponsor or help out this orphanage. Yes, small, small world.

Shots from the closing day . . .
International House staff
iH Teachers
Ditto
The “official” party
Party group shot
New friends . . .
More new friends . . .
And more new friends!
Moi and a new student friend
Trainees and students
CELTA pod THREE plus one
Party grinds. Notice the mangosteen and rambutan?
Class “action” shot 1
Class “action” shot 2
(I was acting out what it is to be a detective . . . it made sense at the time : )
Can you tell that we’re having fun?!?!?
Da certificate close-up . . . I think my smiley face was contagious . . . : )