A freak, ah?

We head off to Africa for the rest of the summer. A couple of weeks in Tanzania, and then Kenya. Initial impressions are that East Africa is remarkably chilly and surprisingly pricey. I've clearly been in Thailand too long.

House-sitting in the Countryside

Small place in the country

We luck up big time (as I think Americans say) when Rob and Sarah decamp with their family to Vietnam for 3 weeks, and require us to house-sit for them whilst they're away. OK, we do have the minor hassle of looking after their menagerie of dogs, buffaloes, rabbits and tortoises, but the beauty of the location more than makes up for it. We're 20km outside Chiang Mai, in an idyllic rural setting, which we've been able to fully explore thanks to the car, 4WD truck, ATVs, bikes and wellies that Rob kindly left for us. All around is classic Thai countryside; farmers in bamboo hats tilling their paddy fields (no doubt cheered on by the skyrocketing export value of Thai rice), buffalo stubbornly being put to the plough (they were outdated, but now petrol prices have made the tractor unfashionable), and a plethora of churches springing up in every village (churches? surely you mean wats? no - churches - there's loads of them. American missionaries must have been real busy up here)

Teaching the Natives how to Speak

Long story, but I've decided to transform myself into a fully qualified Physics teacher, and the metamorphosis has begun. First stage was getting a CELTA qualification, which is Cambridge Uni's teaching-English-to-Johnny-foreigner course. This will allow me to work as a teacher in Thailand as I study towards my PGCE (a 9-month course starting in August). The CELTA is infamous as being a tough course, and sure enough it turned out to be so, with relentless 12-hour days for a month. Apparently just repeating English phrases at an ever-increasing volume until they are understood just doesn't cut it in the teaching world anymore.
That was the reason for the temporary hiatus in blogging. But full service is now resumed...