Joy Singbeil wearing her Weslsh dragon hat in Vancouver - photo Marion Hoy
Postcard #2
by Joy Singbeil
special to www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com
Hi Everyone.
This hopefully will reach you all. I have sat down numerous times to write a long missive, only to have the power fail and the internet to go down all is lost !! So maybe I will have a better chance to hit all of you in one lucky go.
So what to say so far... Today is the 3 week anniversary of my arrival. I feel as if every day is weeks long. There is so much to do and see and as soon as my eyes and ears light on one thing another takes its place and I am truly "gobsmacked"
This week's highlights. My first week of school is over. The school setting is idyllic. A green oasis with shrubs and flowers and cool buildings. All open air or open to the rains I should say which fall regularly in varying degrees of deluge quantity every afternoon. There is a swimming pool and a "club" beside it. Yes I could have a beer between classes. Northbridge is a real estate chunk for want of a better word and the school belongs to it rather than the other way around. So it is a business and the fees are about 10-15 grand a year. Classes are small and I have a drama class of about 15 who are delighted to do other things than academic. I had ten to start with and then word got out and I have all the Gr 12 bar 2 now. This week we learned how to do dramatic sword fights as we are doing a brief play on Romeo and Juliet. My English Classes Gr 9 and Gr 9/10 are about 22. My Ap Lit class has 11. For some reason they forgot to schedule my fifth class. Oh Darn!!.........So I am enjoying my work life. I have plans for a music production and also I am starting up a student magazine.
The new staff are great and we have bonded quite a bit as we are all thrown in together. So much entertainment is done together and seems to revolve around eating and drinking. We had a party at the Penthouse on Friday. I along with 2 other girls have managed to score a wonderful place to live 8 stories up overlooking the city. We have a security guard downstairs and the place is lovely with a wide balcony overlooking all. From there I can see several "wats" (temples) and the river in the distance. Traffic is unbelievable. I could write a novel on the kinds of things I have seen transported around the city on the back of a motor bike. Every step into the street has an adventure. The simplest shopping trips take hours and involve all kinds of interactions.
Finding a phone took forever. If you have a calling card you might be able to reach me. Wireless/internet/electricity here has a life of it's own and sometimes is on and sometimes off. For a phone you need to show a contract that you actually live here and a passport to prove who you are. Then you get a sim card and after that you can buy time. I have tried to Skype but it drops pretty often. I think I'm going to stick to Internet Cafe. Last time I used one I had to stop as it was raining so hard it was so noisy I couldn't hear myself or the other person.
Yesterday I went on the Hash House Harriers Run out into the country. It deluged and deluged and deluged so much it hurt my eyes. Needless to say we were all soaked. It's not so much a run as a balancing act as you thread your way through the rice paddies on the top(hopefully) of the dikes holding back the water. There are 5 paddy fields of differing heights of water (which is pretty warm when you slip into it). There are villages and people everywhere. All fascinated by these strange people running through. Yesterday they were taking showers outside and he children ran after us. We arrive in two cattle trucks and there is quite a commotion. We form a circle at the end and then follows some very old British Public School /Rugby shenanigans involving quantities of beer and rude songs. Needless to say they villagers all crowd around an gawp at the entertainment. After the breezy ride home we end up in a restaurant and eat. The food here is great and amazingly cheap $5 will buy you all kinds of good food and beer.
Saturday I went to an orphanage. Well not really an orphanage but a place where they rescue kids from the dump. We wound our way down numerous streets in a tuk tuk. When they opened some metal doors, inside there were 93 kids. They rushed over and grabbed us (gently) what affection and love. They made me cry. They proudly showed us around. Bunk beds and 6 to a room. all very shabby but spotless. They are really keen on education as the whole point is to make sure they don't end up back on the dump. I have volunteered to go and teach some of them this Tuesday and then perhaps for a lot longer.
People here are so forgiving and serene and they just get along! Even when your tuk tuk veers into the oncoming traffic(standard practice) everyone just moves out of the way. I havn't seen one incidence of road rage yet!!
Shopping is amazing and cheap. It is tiring as it is so hot and humid. I have put away two thirds of my clothes as being too hot and the rest you use up pretty quickly as you get so hot in them. The guys at school are having dress pants made for $14 and shirts made for$10 and shoes are made for $18. I'm waiting for payday to get some silk things made up. Rent is our only really big expense. This is probably the only time in my life I will live in a Penthouse. We call ourselves the Princesses in the Penthouse (soon to be Paupers in the Penthouse)
The sounds from my apartment will remain with me forever. Last night I got home and I went out on the deck. It was so noisy. I called the others and we went out. It was crickets!! Last week they came and took the dead grass away from the flowerbeds and laid in fresh grass(really different from ours more like ground cover) Then I guess with all the rain the eggs hatched and there we were 8 stories up and listening to crickets!! It even drowns out the squeals from the piglets as they are hauled out of the truck and literally thrown into the butcher beside us. One piglet escaped last week and ran off down the road and hid under a car.
I'll write more next week ..........Love to all Joy
by Joy Singbeil
special to www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com
Hi Everyone.
This hopefully will reach you all. I have sat down numerous times to write a long missive, only to have the power fail and the internet to go down all is lost !! So maybe I will have a better chance to hit all of you in one lucky go.
So what to say so far... Today is the 3 week anniversary of my arrival. I feel as if every day is weeks long. There is so much to do and see and as soon as my eyes and ears light on one thing another takes its place and I am truly "gobsmacked"
This week's highlights. My first week of school is over. The school setting is idyllic. A green oasis with shrubs and flowers and cool buildings. All open air or open to the rains I should say which fall regularly in varying degrees of deluge quantity every afternoon. There is a swimming pool and a "club" beside it. Yes I could have a beer between classes. Northbridge is a real estate chunk for want of a better word and the school belongs to it rather than the other way around. So it is a business and the fees are about 10-15 grand a year. Classes are small and I have a drama class of about 15 who are delighted to do other things than academic. I had ten to start with and then word got out and I have all the Gr 12 bar 2 now. This week we learned how to do dramatic sword fights as we are doing a brief play on Romeo and Juliet. My English Classes Gr 9 and Gr 9/10 are about 22. My Ap Lit class has 11. For some reason they forgot to schedule my fifth class. Oh Darn!!.........So I am enjoying my work life. I have plans for a music production and also I am starting up a student magazine.
The new staff are great and we have bonded quite a bit as we are all thrown in together. So much entertainment is done together and seems to revolve around eating and drinking. We had a party at the Penthouse on Friday. I along with 2 other girls have managed to score a wonderful place to live 8 stories up overlooking the city. We have a security guard downstairs and the place is lovely with a wide balcony overlooking all. From there I can see several "wats" (temples) and the river in the distance. Traffic is unbelievable. I could write a novel on the kinds of things I have seen transported around the city on the back of a motor bike. Every step into the street has an adventure. The simplest shopping trips take hours and involve all kinds of interactions.
Finding a phone took forever. If you have a calling card you might be able to reach me. Wireless/internet/electricity here has a life of it's own and sometimes is on and sometimes off. For a phone you need to show a contract that you actually live here and a passport to prove who you are. Then you get a sim card and after that you can buy time. I have tried to Skype but it drops pretty often. I think I'm going to stick to Internet Cafe. Last time I used one I had to stop as it was raining so hard it was so noisy I couldn't hear myself or the other person.
Yesterday I went on the Hash House Harriers Run out into the country. It deluged and deluged and deluged so much it hurt my eyes. Needless to say we were all soaked. It's not so much a run as a balancing act as you thread your way through the rice paddies on the top(hopefully) of the dikes holding back the water. There are 5 paddy fields of differing heights of water (which is pretty warm when you slip into it). There are villages and people everywhere. All fascinated by these strange people running through. Yesterday they were taking showers outside and he children ran after us. We arrive in two cattle trucks and there is quite a commotion. We form a circle at the end and then follows some very old British Public School /Rugby shenanigans involving quantities of beer and rude songs. Needless to say they villagers all crowd around an gawp at the entertainment. After the breezy ride home we end up in a restaurant and eat. The food here is great and amazingly cheap $5 will buy you all kinds of good food and beer.
Saturday I went to an orphanage. Well not really an orphanage but a place where they rescue kids from the dump. We wound our way down numerous streets in a tuk tuk. When they opened some metal doors, inside there were 93 kids. They rushed over and grabbed us (gently) what affection and love. They made me cry. They proudly showed us around. Bunk beds and 6 to a room. all very shabby but spotless. They are really keen on education as the whole point is to make sure they don't end up back on the dump. I have volunteered to go and teach some of them this Tuesday and then perhaps for a lot longer.
People here are so forgiving and serene and they just get along! Even when your tuk tuk veers into the oncoming traffic(standard practice) everyone just moves out of the way. I havn't seen one incidence of road rage yet!!
Shopping is amazing and cheap. It is tiring as it is so hot and humid. I have put away two thirds of my clothes as being too hot and the rest you use up pretty quickly as you get so hot in them. The guys at school are having dress pants made for $14 and shirts made for$10 and shoes are made for $18. I'm waiting for payday to get some silk things made up. Rent is our only really big expense. This is probably the only time in my life I will live in a Penthouse. We call ourselves the Princesses in the Penthouse (soon to be Paupers in the Penthouse)
The sounds from my apartment will remain with me forever. Last night I got home and I went out on the deck. It was so noisy. I called the others and we went out. It was crickets!! Last week they came and took the dead grass away from the flowerbeds and laid in fresh grass(really different from ours more like ground cover) Then I guess with all the rain the eggs hatched and there we were 8 stories up and listening to crickets!! It even drowns out the squeals from the piglets as they are hauled out of the truck and literally thrown into the butcher beside us. One piglet escaped last week and ran off down the road and hid under a car.
I'll write more next week ..........Love to all Joy
