I formally homeschooled the kids during our year abroad. We knew we were putting them back into public school in the US so we wanted to make sure they kept up with their peers.
Aside from the formal homeschooling, we were able to educate the kids in lots of other things. Many of these got worked into lessons both formally and informally. While the traditional schoolwork was very important, the experiences below made the year incredibly rich and educational and I’m extremely proud we were able to introduce the kids to so many places, ideas and things!
Historical Sites Visited
Parthenon, Greece
Versailles, France
Great Wall of China
Forbidden City, China
Topkapi Palace, Turkey
Viking Ship Museum, Norway
Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, Greece
Alhambra, Spain
Alcazar, Spain
Gettysburg battlefield, US
U.S. Capitol
Chiang Mai which is a 700 year old walled city complete with a moat, Thailand
Bangkok Grand Palace, Thailand
San Miguel Castle in Almuñécar, Spain
Italica (Roman ruins), Spain
Museums Visited
Louvre, France
Picasso Museum, Spain
Park Guell & Gaudi Buildings, Spain
Smithsonian Natural History Museum, US
National Archives, US
Siam Insect Zoo, Thailand
3D Art Museum, Thailand
Religious Buildings & Experiences
Seville Cathedral, Spain
Blue Mosque, Turkey
Hagia Sophia, Turkey
La Sagrada Familia, Spain
Notre Dame, France
White Temple in Chiang Rai, Thailand
Chatting with Monks, Thailand
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, Thailand
Yee Peng Festival, Thailand
Loi Krathong Festival, Thailand
Learning How
silk is made at the Thai Silk Village
umbrellas are hand made at the Umbrella Factory in Thailand
wood carvings are hand made in Marrakesh
to cook Thai food
to do various “adult jobs” at Kidzania
to take care of an elephant for the day in Thailand
Working with Different Currencies and Exchange Rates
Thai Baht
Chinese Yuan
Moroccan Dirham
Euro
British Pound
Albanian Lek
Croatian Kuna
Turkish Lira
Geography
4 Continents (Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America)
15 Countries (Hong Kong, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, China, Norway, Spain, UK/Gibraltar, France, Greece, Turkey, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Germany)
Visiting the the Acropolis and Parthenon was never that high on my priority list. I always figured I’d get there and it’d be cool to see, but it wasn’t a place I just HAD to visit. I definitely got more excited to see it this year as I taught the kids Ancient Greek history. And once our travel plans included Greece, we decided to spend 2 days in Athens mostly just to see the Acropolis and Parthenon.
A little refresher: the Acropolis is the name of the gigantic rock in the middle of the city. The Parthenon is only one of the buildings on top of the Acropolis but clearly the most famous. The Parthenon was started in 447BC as a temple to the Goddess Athena who was the patron of the city of Athens (hence the name). The building and most of the statues and carvings have been destroyed, largely by Christians and Muslims that took over the city in the last 2000 years. The worst damage to the structure itself came from an explosion in 1687.
There is a new museum that contains what is left of the pieces of these statues and also show models of the original Parthenon and what the statue scenes were on the front and back pediments. Both sides told a story: one of Athena winning Athens from Poseidon and the other side shows Athena’s birth from Zeus.
Model of the East pediment of Athena being born from Zeus’s headModel of the West pediment showing Athena winning Athens from Poseidon
After visiting the museum, it was time to hike up the Acropolis and check it out. You pass some ruins and this cool amphitheater on the way up. It was a neat little stop off and a great excuse to rest and catch our breath.
Once we got to the top and saw the Parthenon, I have to say I was blown away. The building is impressive even though its missing all of its statues, pediments and friezes and is largely destroyed. But one can just imagine what it must have looked like when it was completed. I so wished I could travel back in time to see it in all its glory. And to see the magnificent statue of Athena that it housed but has sadly been lost. I kept trying to imagine what it would’ve been like to be here 2400 years ago and was so in awe of the buildings.
The pediments were in the triangles at the top of the buildingThe pediments were in the triangles at the top of the building
And then there are the views of Athens from up top. You get an almost 360 degree view of the city and can even see out to the sea. Chuck and I could’ve sat there for hours just taking in the views.
Another neat building on top of the Acropolis is the Erechtheion or “Old Temple” of Athena.
The Erechtheion or “Old Temple” of Athena
Lastly, here are some pictures of the The Propylaea which was a monumental gate at the western end of the Acropolis.
El Real Alcázar de Sevilla, the Royal Alcazar of Seville in English, is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe. It was originally founded in 913 as a Muslim fortress and has been rebuilt and expanded over time.
The outside isn’t very impressive, but we were blown away by some of the inside rooms including the courtyard above. The detail on every wall and ceiling was mind boggling. Chuck and I could’ve spent a few hours here taking it all in. Unfortunately the kids weren’t as impressed and were pretty road weary after 4 days on the road (and on our feet). They did perk up when we discovered there was a labyrinth made out of bushes in the garden. We practically had to drag them out of there as they didn’t get to explore the entire maze.
Here are some of our favorite rooms:
Up close of just one part of one wall. They were all covered in this amazing work:
The ceilings were gorgeous. Every ceiling in every room was different. Here are a few of my favorites:
The Seville Cathedral, technically La Catedral de Sevilla, is the largest Gothic cathedral and the 3rd largest cathedral in the entire world. Construction began in 1402 and ended in 1506 and at the time, it was the biggest cathedral in the world. The cathedral is also noteworthy because Christopher Columbus is buried there.
The Giralda, La Giralda, is the bell tower connected to the cathedral but was formerly the minaret of the mosque that previously stood on the site. Construction of The Giralda was completed in 1198 and was built to resemble a minaret from Marrakech, Morocco. When you visit the cathedral, you’re able to go into the bell tower and climb to the top. Luckily the climb up is via 35 ramps which are way, way better than 35 flights of stairs.
Originally we thought we’d visit the cathedral for about an hour before lunch and then pop over to Real Alcazar for the afternoon. Boy were we wrong. When they say this thing is huge, they mean huge! The main sanctuary is massive but it was exploring all the little rooms and going into the tower that took up a lot of time. We were there for a good 3 hours and still didn’t fully explore everything!
La Giralda:
The interior of the cathedral:
Christoper Columbus’s tomb:
The views from the top of La Giralda including some great views of the city of Seville and of the top of the cathedral:
Some of the other beautiful rooms in the cathedral:
Lastly, here is some of the gold treasure that is kept in the cathedral:
One of the main features of Almuñécar, Spain is Castillo de San Miguel or, in English, San Miguel Castle.
The fortifications were originally built in the 1st century B.C. by the Phoenicians and Romans. The Moors however, developed it into a massive fortress with 40 towers. In 1489, Christians took over the castle and proceeded to add and rebuild it. Unfortunately, in the 1800s, the castle was bombed and it fell out of use and into ruins until the 1980s when a restoration process began.
On Día de Andalucia, we heard the castle was open for free, so we trekked up the hillside to check it out.
While the term castle makes you think of a building, it’s really more of a self-contained city. It had a prison, water cisterns, and everything needed to hole up for months while defending against attacks.
At the top of the castle is a battery from which cannons would get fired at invaders, both at sea and on land. There were also lots of slits from which archers could shoot.
One of the highlights was the amazing view of town.
Once we made our decision to come to Spain in the winter of 2014, we started checking airfares from Bangkok to Spain. We found it was cheaper to return to the USA using our frequent flyer miles then fly to Spain from the US. I then found an incredible deal to fly one way from JFK to Oslo, Norway on Norwegian. We knew we could drive or easily get to JFK AND that we could fly from Oslo to Spain pretty cheaply. So, another long layover plan was hatched.
Due to airfares only being cheap for one day, the crazy cost of things in Oslo, and the fact that it was Norway in January, we only opted to stay one night in Norway. We arrived in the morning and had that entire day, one night and most of the next day as our flight to Spain didn’t leave til 7pm.
I kept hearing that Norway was expensive but I figured it was like San Francisco or London or Paris expensive. Imagine my shock when we arrived, went to get breakfast and saw that a stack of pancakes was over $20USD. A cheeseburger and fries was $30USD. Granted this was at the airport, however, the prices were pretty indicative of how much things cost everywhere. Yeouch!
We ponied up for a taxi which was $115USD from the airport to our hostel in the center of town. After a quick nap, we ventured out and let me tell you, it was COLD! Even though it was the same temperature it’d been a few days while we were back in the US, it felt even colder. Bone chilling cold. Of course, the Norwegians didn’t seem to care and we saw many people eating outside in 15 degrees even though it was snowing and there were icicles hanging from the awnings.
Note the icicles on the awning
The next day we headed to the Viking Ship Museum. Part of the 3rd grade curriculum I’m using covered the Vikings and Norse Gods and Goddesses, so I taught the kids about Vikings and then took them to the museum to see real Viking ships. It was pretty darn cool.
Then, of course, Beckett had to go all Viking-style:
After the museum, we took the bus into the center of the city, got lunch and wandered around a bit. I loved the downtown and can’t wait to go back in the summer to hang out (and eat outside in more normal temps).
Love that they don’t shovel the sidewalks or even lay anything down.
Loved this outdoor ice rink. However it was way too expensive (and too cold) to try it out.
Then our time was up and it was time to grab our bags, take the train to the airport (only $60US instead of $115!) and off we went to Spain.
Beck on the train to the airport. This is how we all felt!
Logistics: As mentioned above, Oslo is extremely expensive so don’t expect to go there on a budget. When we arrived at Gardermoen airport (OSL), we opted to take a taxi into town even though it was the most expensive option. We did this because after traveling from DC-JFK then taking a red-eye to Norway, we didn’t feel like schlepping 4 suitcases, 4 carry-ons and 4 tired people to the train then walking a half a mile to our hotel. The taxi trip took about 45 minutes and cost $115USD.
We stayed at the Oslo Hostel Central downtown in their Family Room which was a private room and had 2 twin beds and a set of bunk beds. The room was really big, had a little sitting area, had a view and had a huge private bathroom. It also included breakfast which was your standard European hostel breakfast. We booked it via Booking.com and it cost about $190. Yes, almost $200USD for a hostel. I told you it was expensive!
We took a taxi from our hostel to the Viking Ship museum for about $50USD which was astonishing. So we took the bus back (there is a bus stop about a block away from the museum) which cost about $10USD if we remember correctly. You can buy a ticket on-board from the bus driver although I think its cheaper to buy the tickets ahead of time.
We didn’t want to spend another $115USD to get back to the airport, so this time we hauled our bags the 1/2 mile to the Oslo Central Station (Oslo Sentralstasjon). You can buy tickets at the ticket booths there and the kids rode free with a paying adult. We took the FlyToGet train which took about 20 minutes and cost about $60USD. Definitely the way to go if you don’t have too much stuff or have to walk very far.
Since we were going back to the East Coast for 5 weeks before heading to Spain, I decided to cover American History while we were back in the USA. Doing this meant I could pair the lessons with visits to historic places.
The curriculum covered the period from the American Revolutionary War through the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.
First up was teaching about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We then took the kids into Washington D.C. to the National Archives to see the original documents, which are on display there. Mara thought this was pretty cool as she loves history. Unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to take pictures so there aren’t any to show.
Next up was covering the Civil War including the Gettysburg Address. Well, what better way to learn than to go to Gettysburg, PA to see the battlefields and tour the museum. The new museum is really great and does a great job of explaining the Civil War, what happened in Gettysburg and information about Abraham Lincoln.
As part of learning about American History we covered a lot of information about things that happened in Washington D.C. such as where Lincoln was assassinated, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous speech, the burning of the White House and more. As we drove around DC, we were able to show the kids where these events took place.
We also took a tour of the U.S. Capitol. Both kids loved seeing the dome and getting to walk through the rooms.
U.S. CapitolThe Capitol DomeUp close of the Capitol Dome
In addition, we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History which the kids both loved. This is such a great museum and the kids saw a real ancient Egyptian mummy, lots of animal skeletons, gems such as the Hope Diamond, and much more. Our friends joined us for this trip which made it even more fun.
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History with friends
When we were booking our trip back from Chiang Mai to Washington DC, we found an itinerary that had a connection in Beijing. Putting on our maximizing hats once again, we realized we could create a 13 hour layover – enough time to go see some of the sights.
China has a 24 hour transit visa that lets you go into the country at certain airports without a pre-approved visa, as long as you can prove that you’re leaving the country within 24 hours. We just went through the normal foreigner immigration line, told the agent what we were doing and breezed through. No fees, no hassle.
Once through immigration, we grabbed breakfast and met up with our guide and driver. No way we were doing this on our own!
Here’s how our itinerary stacked up:
5:40am Land 5:40-8:00am Clear immigration, eat, get cash, meet up with guide
8:00-9:00am Drive to Forbidden City (slow this day due to morning traffic) 9:00-10:30am Explore Forbidden City 10:30am Drive by Tiananmen Gate and Tiananmen Square (We didn’t walk in – just a drive-by) 10:45-1:00pm Drive to Mutianyu section of Great Wall, with stop at McDonald’s for lunch. Yes, it’s shameful to eat McD’s there, but it was quick and time was of the essence, plus we knew the kids would actually eat. 1:00-2:30pm Hike the Great Wall 2:30-3:00pm Souvenir shopping and pit stops 3:00-4:00pm Drive back to Beijing airport 6:30pm Fly from Beijing to Washington Dulles
This itinerary worked very well for us, especially considering the weather had temps in the 40s with a stiff breeze. On a nicer day, we’d have liked to have more time at both locations.
Kir was super excited about seeing the Forbidden City especially since seeing the movie “The Last Emperor”. We entered through the East Gate then walked around the moat to the South Gate. Unfortunately the stiff breeze made it super cold and Beckett didn’t have a hat so he was miserable the entire time. So instead of continuing quickly through the whole city and leaving through the North Gate, we opted to turn around almost halfway in and exit through the East Gate.
Moat and wall protecting the Forbidden CityOutside the South Gate of Forbidden City2 of the Inner Golden Water Bridges
Hall of Supreme HarmonyHall of Supreme Harmony Check out Beckett covering his ears – poor kid was so coldThrone inside the Hall of Supreme HarmonyHall of Central HarmonyThrone in the Hall of Central HarmonyThrone inside the Hall of Preserved HarmonyI love seeing the modern city of Beijing in the distanceGate of Heavenly PurityThese metal pots stored water for firefighting, since the building interiors were mostly wood. They’d light a fire under them in winter to prevent freezing.Inside the Palace of Heavenly PurityCeiling
Next stop, the hat store to get hats for both the kids so they wouldn’t freeze on the Great Wall.
All smiles while warming up after the Forbidden City
We really enjoyed driving around Beijing. Some things reminded us of Thailand but many others were just like you’d expect Beijing to look:
A quick stop at McDonald’s for lunch.
Finally, after about a 90 minute drive, we got to the Great Wall.
Taking the chair lift up to the wallChair lift up, toboggan down and Great Wall in the distanceOutside of the wall
After about 1:15 of hiking, it was time to take the toboggans back to the bottom. Beckett had to share a toboggan with Kirsten but sat in front and got to steer the whole way down. Mara was next followed by Chuck. The kids LOVED this and begged to go up so they could ride down again.
Uh oh! The Mongols are waiting for you at the bottom!
Overall, this really was a perfect day trip. We had some nervousness about a number of aspects but everything worked out fine. The kids were very cold at the Forbidden City, which was our fault for not getting them geared up correctly. Both of them LOVED the Great Wall. Even though our time was limited at each attraction, we were delighted to get a peek into China.
Chuck went to the meditation retreat the week before I did and had such a good experience that it seemed like I should go too. So the following Tuesday, off I went.
At the beginning, you sit in room and learn about Buddhism and some basics on meditation and how the two go together. The monk used some really great analogies in explaining things. For example, when he explained the different types of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana) he said its like if you’re trying to go to Bangkok, you can go by bus, train or plane. All will take you there a different way, but they all get you to Bangkok.
One of my favorite things he said (and frankly it was an epiphany) was when he asked what would happen if we didn’t shower for a week or a month. Well, our bodies would get dirty and people wouldn’t want to be near us because we’d smell bad. So what happens to our mind if we don’t “clean” it regularly? Well it gets stressed and overwhelmed and chaotic. Meditation is just a way of “cleaning” our mind and fits into taking care of your body.
As an American, its not acceptable to say you’re working on your mind. It’s considered weird or that you must have mental issues or its seen as a sign of weakness. But for Buddhists, meditation is just taking care of your mind on a daily basis. It’s not a negative but a positive. You clean your body, and you take care of your body by eating right and exercising (or at least knowing you should do those things) but we don’t take care of our minds!
For the first time ever, feeling stressed or being mentally exhausted was no longer a negative. It was just a symptom of not caring for your mind just as a broken leg would be a sign to rest and take care of your body.
As an aside, you don’t have to be a Buddhist to meditate. Anyone can meditate. Meditation doesn’t have a religious bent to it so while the monk teaching us was Buddhist and we learned about Buddhism, he wasn’t converting us to Buddhism or changing any of our thoughts or beliefs.
After the 1:30 introduction, we road 45 minutes to the meditation retreat. We paired up with someone else and had some time to change into our white clothes before we started the actual meditation practice.
We began by learning a walking meditation. You begin by standing, arms clasped in front of you or behind you, eyes open and focusing on your breathing. Then he’d repeat, slowly, “Standing” 3 times. Then he’d say “Intending to walk”. Then he’d say “Right foot, touch” at which point you’d slowly move your right foot forward and touch it to the ground when he’d say “touch”. Continue on for the left foot and you’re on your way. It seems a little silly when you start (and reading it probably sounds pretty dumb) but its actually not. You focus on your breathing and your walking which clears your mind. I actually found the meditation like this to be the easiest because you can concentrate on your body and the feeling as your foot hits the ground.
We then learned the sitting meditation, standing meditation and even a lying meditation. Over the 2 days, we practiced each type as a group but were also given lots of free time where we could practice whichever meditation we wanted. We also practiced outside and were free to wander the grounds (silently) and practice wherever we felt comfortable.
I found the first day the easiest. I would start to meditate and focus on my breathing and whenever I noticed I was thinking about something else, I’d yank my focus back to my breathing.
The 2nd day started at 5 am and if you know me, you know I don’t do mornings well at all. Surprisingly I did ok, at least at the beginning of the day. We started outside in the dark and did some meditation and even some yoga as the sun rose and lit the sky.
We then offered rice to the monk then had breakfast (Thai vegetable soup with rice and toast which was delicious. I seriously need to start eating this soup for breakfast!).
All the meals were supposed to be eaten silently and Chuck’s group followed that direction. However, some of the people there (there were 25 of us total) could not help themselves from talking despite being told repeatedly to eat in silence. It was still much quieter than it would’ve been if talking was allowed. All the meals were vegetarian and quite filling and seriously delicious!
We were given 1:30 to practice our meditation after breakfast and by this point my mind was exhausted. I was too tired to yank my thoughts back and after about 1:15 of practice, I gave up and went to my room.
Next up was a discussion with the monk. This turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the entire weekend. We were allowed to ask the monk anything and everything and so we did. I also found out that others felt exactly as I did: the walking meditation was the easiest and we all did better the first day but did horribly on the 2nd day.
Then he said something that changed it all for me: The goal is not trying to have no thoughts, the goal is to notice the thought you are having, acknowledge the thought, let it pass and return to focusing on your breathing. So instead of yanking my thoughts back to my breathing everytime they strayed, I started saying “I’m thinking about X” and then guided my thoughts back to my breath or gave the thought time to float away. It became a much more fluid thought process and was a lot less exhausting. No longer was I concentrating so hard at not thinking but just noticing and being mindful.
After a lunch of potato curry eaten in not even close to silence, I went to find the monk to ask more questions. Since we’ve been in Thailand for so long, I’ve noticed a lot of things around me or in wats or in the culture but I didn’t understand them. I sat by the monk and started asking him everything from why I see one Buddha image for each day of the week at the wats but an extra one for Wednesday Night, can my family give alms to the monks in the morning and if so, how/when/where/what.
Most of the group came and sat behind me and listened in. It was such a great experience – I know and understand so much more about Buddhism and even the Thai culture and understand more about what is happening around me. Buddhism plays a MAJOR role in the daily lives of the Thai people so you see these things everywhere and all around.
I also learned that meditation can be adapted to your personal life. Maybe sitting on the floor doesn’t work for you but sitting in a comfy chair does. Or maybe you want to informally meditate doing a different activity. Its all good.
In the last sessions, I actually meditated the best and had some epiphanies about some things which are too personal to share here.
Eventually the day came to a close and we all headed back to Wat Suan Dok and I was happily greeted by my kids.
Its too early to say (only 24 hours later) if this was a life changing experience for me or just a really cool experience. I’m not sure I’m going to formally meditate every day but I do plan to informally meditate more often. I also have a new perspective on some things and some things I viewed negatively I can see positively now. I realized that I need to take more time for myself, take better care of my body and my mind and be kinder to myself. And needing that time isn’t because I’m weak but because my body and mind deserve to be treated better.
If you’re in Chiang Mai and want to do the retreat, more information can be found on the Monk Chat site. The 2 day/1 night course is 500Baht (about $16USD). You can purchase a t-shirt and white pants for 150Baht each ($5USD each) when you arrive.
Bring your toiletries, a towel, toilet paper, hand soap and, of course, your white clothes and an open mind. Water is provided whenever you want it however a water bottle is nice to have so you can fill it and have water in your room.
Warning: On the morning of the 2nd day you’ll do yoga. He asked if anyone ever did yoga so I raised my hand and next thing I knew I was standing in front of everyone and being asked to lead the class. I was so confused at first that he called someone else forward and they led the class thru a yoga session. SO, if you don’t want to teach, don’t raise your hand!
To make a reservation, email thaimonkchat@yahoo.com or you can call or stop by in person.
Sadly we had to deal with Mara’s first love and first heartbreak all in a single day. Her name is MaeKwan and she’s an Asian Elephant that Mara got to take care of for the day. Leaving her at the end of the day was such heartbreak for Mara and she refused to leave and couldn’t stop hugging her.
And that pretty much sums up the day.
Once again, I lack the adjectives to fully describe our day at the Patara Elephant Farm. Amazing. Educational. Incredible. And dare I say that this day will have a lasting impact on my kids.
They picked us up at our house, then drove about 20 minutes to part of their farm/reserve. There we were able to meet, feed, interact with and even get run over by some mamma and baby elephants.
This little guy was so playful and rammed into me a few times. Stepped on my toe too but it didn’t hurt.
We even got to interact with a baby elephant that was only 6 days old. So. Freaking. Cute!
After meeting these guys, we drove about 5 minutes to the main event. We started with a presentation by the owner about elephants, conservation, their mission at Patara, and some of the realities of the elephant population. He gave a great talk that was neither preachy or dramatic but set a great tone for the day and made what we were about to experience even more meaningful. It also made me regret going to the Maesa Elephant Camp which I’d already had mixed feelings about.
After getting our mahout clothes we went to our camp area and got to meet our elephants. (Mahouts are the elephant caretakers. At Patara, these guys are from the Karen hilltribe and the women of the community make these shirts and riding pants.)
First up was learning how to tell what mood they were in, how to approach them and how to make friends with them (Hint: have lots of sugarcane). We then fed them and learned their names and some Thai words to communicate with them.
Meeting and feeding MaeKwan. You can stick the sugar cane way back into the elephant’s mouth.Meeting and feeding MaeBonChon
Then we learned how to check their health. We learned to inspect dirt marks on each side of them (to make sure they’re sleeping evenly on both sides), checking their toenails for sweat (they only sweat thru their toenails), check the tear marks under their eyes and of course, the ins and outs of checking their poop. How many poops? Color? Size of fibers inside the poop? Smell? Squeezing it to make sure it holds moisture. Yeah, seriously. But it is an important part of taking care of them and really can tell you (well, them) a lot.
Hmmm, elephant poo
After we checked to make sure they were healthy, it was time to clean them off. This entailed whacking them with bunches of leaves to remove the dirt they blow over themselves. Then we walked them to the shower hose and hosed them down.
Brushing dirt off MaeKwan (she gets to eat the leaves when we’re done)Taking MaeKwan for a walkBeckett hosing MaeBonChon down
Next up was learning how to mount our elephants and ride them bareback, mahout-style. Chuck got on using the trunk to hoist himself up and I mounted mine by using its right front leg. Somehow it seems a long way down when you’re sitting up there. And with only a little rope to hold onto behind you, it was actually kind of scary at first.
We rode them for 45 minutes out of camp, up a muddy, steep hill and down the other side. Eventually we rode them along the road (what a treat for the drivers driving by) then down another muddy hill to the waterfall. I have to say, riding an elephant is EXHAUSTING! You’re trying to hold your legs up over its ears while balancing as its climbing up and down (and ripping various plants out of the ground to eat while its walking) all while holding onto a rope behind your body.
It was made tougher because I had Beckett in front sitting on the elephant’s head and he was holding onto my legs and nothing else. If the elephant dipped her head and he wasn’t holding onto me well, he would’ve slid down her trunk like a giant slide. So I’m holding on for dear life to him in front and the rope behind so we both didn’t fall off. After a while my legs started to tremble so I had to shift position which made it easier to maintain my balance.
Despite all this, at one point the elephant dipped to the side and turned its head which caused me to start to fall off sideways. A quick yell for help and the mahout came to my rescue and hoisted me back on top.
Once we were almost to the waterfall, Beck got off and walked because he was too tired of holding onto me. It was MUCH easier to ride after he got off, however, everyone seemed so worn out when we arrived at the camp!
Despite all that, it was such a cool experience. The scenery we went thru was gorgeous and the elephants can handle hills and mud much better than I can.
Chuck mounting MaeKwan via the trunk
I’m on an elephant!
Hello down there…So beautiful
Luckily when we arrived at the waterfall it was time for lunch. I gorged myself on fried chicken, coconut and other yummy things.
After lunch, we changed into our bathing suits and bathed the elephants in the water. The elephants seemed to love being in the water and were lounging around as we scrubbed them down.
Scrub a dub dub, 8 elephants in a tub
Then it was time for some group photos where we got sprayed by the elephants. I must say that I loved this part!
One of the highlights of the day for me
Sadly, our day with the elephants came to a close and after a brief final ride, it was time to say goodbye. As a parent, this part was heartbreaking to watch. Mara refused to take off her mahout clothes, kept hugging MaeKwan and kept saying she wouldn’t leave. Beckett then gave MaeBonChon a goodbye pat and burst into tears. Both kids had to be led away and Chuck had to carry Beckett and put him in the car. He proceeded to sob the entire ride home.
Goodbye my friend
To say that this experience had a big impact on them is an understatement. We didn’t just see elephants like you do in a zoo or feed them in passing. We got to know them a bit, earned their trust and spent a day helping these gentle creatures.
Mara said her favorite animal is now an elephant and I hope that she carries a little piece of this experience and her love of animals for the rest of her life.
Logistics: Patara Elephant Farm has earned its ranking as the #1 activity in Chiang Mai on TripAdvisor. The work they’re doing is awesome and if you’re ever looking to support an animal charity, please support them. Its a very pricey day out but money well spent.
The normal price for this program is 5,800 Baht per person ($190). However I read a blog post elsewhere about a a cheaper option (4,200 Baht pp) where 2 people share 1 elephant instead of everyone getting their own. I doubt adults can do this (each adult needs their own) but if you have young kids, this is the way to go. I’m kind of glad each kid didn’t have their own elephant as I think they got more out of it by sharing one with mom or dad.
I’m also so happy our kids were old enough to enjoy this activity (Beck is 7 and Mara is nearly 9). I actually wouldn’t take kids much younger than this although I know some do and have a great day.
Some advice:
– I’d recommend wearing light long pants. They do give you mahout clothes to put over your clothes but I wore capris and their pants were short on me (darn long legs 🙂 ) and I got chafed while riding the elephant. If you’re petite, you should be fine, but if not, longer pants are probably better. Chuck wore shorts and was fine though so long pants aren’t necessary.
– They take photos and videos all day (our CD had 981 photos from our whole group) so you really don’t need to bring your own. They give it to you for free at the end of the day.
– Take or wear a bathing suit and bring a towel. They move your bags for you while you’re riding the elephant and there are changing rooms at the waterfall so you can change there. After bathing them, you have the chance to towel off and change back into regular clothes. I had strap-on water shoes which were nice to have in the water (there are some rocks in there) but Chuck and the kids went in barefoot and were fine (flip flops in there isn’t a good idea).
– They provide water throughout, there is access to a bathroom except during the ride and you’re provided with a big lunch so no need to bring much unless you have allergies or need snacks frequently.
– Sunscreen and bug repellent is a good idea as well.
For years, I’ve been intrigued by meditation. I’ve heard about the benefits, including relief from anxiety to better sleep, but never really knew how to start.
Well, where better to try it out in Thailand? There are many different meditation experiences here, but I went with one organized by the local Buddhist university.
Every Tuesday, they hold a 2-day meditation workshop for anyone interested in learning. You arrive at the office at 1 pm and sign in, then a monk gives you some information about how the retreat will work, plus an introduction to meditation and Buddhism. One of the most interesting things for me was learning that Buddhism isn’t really a religion, in the sense of worshipping a God of any sort. The Buddha was a human, who just happened to be the first “enlightened” one and he is honored for being a great teacher, not for any status as a higher being.
Probably the most important philosophy for me was the concept “you” are not the same as “your brain“. My paraphrasing of the logic is that you don’t know what your brain will think in the future and it often thinks thoughts you don’t want or can’t control, so it must be operating at least partially independently from “you”. You have a relationship with your body where it serves you, but also has issues you can’t control, and the same is true of our brains. We need to tend to our brains just as we tend to our body to make it function better.
With that in mind, you can view your mind as a cluttered house (because you haven’t been tending to it) and meditation is just the process of gradually sweeping out rooms and letting some air in. How much better do you feel when your house is clean and decluttered? Exactly!
Around 3 pm, about 20 of us took songtaews about 45 minutes out of the city to their meditation center. It consists of a long dormitory building, a meditation building, and some other service buildings. At the front of the grounds, near the meditation center, lies a courtyard with a big gold Buddha.
From then on, we learned about different types of meditation (sitting, standing, walking, lying) and had a monk lead us through sessions ranging from 30 to 90 minutes.
The retreat is silent, except for discussions with the monk and quiet talk with your roommate (you share a room with 1 other person).
Around 6 pm on day 1, we had a simple dinner of pad thai. Eating in a room of 20 people without hearing talking is really weird, but you kind of get used to it after a while.
We then had an evening session of meditation out in the courtyard by the Buddha statue, which was really neat.
Day 2 begins at 5 am as they ring a gong outside your door until your light goes on. At 5:30, we headed out to the Buddha courtyard for morning meditation and yoga while daylight breaks. While 5 am is obscenely early, this was an amazing way to begin the day.
We then went to the cafeteria and got a bowl of rice to offer to our monks as alms. (Monks everywhere in Thailand go out early in the morning and citizens offer them food. They only eat what is offered and get by on 2 meals a day). We then headed in for a breakfast of vegetable soup and toast.
Offering Alms to the monks
Next was a 90 minute discussion with the monks where they asked us questions about our experience with meditation and we were able to ask them any sort of question. (Most were about being a monk, meditation, Thailand, or Buddhism.) As with Kirsten, I found this fascinating and learned so much about Thai and Buddhist culture. I wish I’d done this our first month here.
The discussion was followed by another meditation session, a lunch of yellow curry with potatoes, then one more meditation session before heading back to town about 3 pm.
I was really glad I went to this! Learning to focus your attention is hard at first, but improvement comes with each session and I definitely found an easing of stress. The first two nights I was back home, I meditated at bedtime and fell asleep fairly quickly, without all the normal thrashing around my mind does while keeping me up at night.
The monks recommend a 15-30 minute session in the morning and before bed, and a couple minutes in the middle of the day if you can swing it, but there’s no requirement. But in general, the more you do it, the more skill you’ll achieve and benefits you’ll receive.
Cost was 500 Baht ($17) for the 2-day retreat plus 300 Baht ($10) I paid to buy a set of white clothes.
Note: They also have a drop-in session for talking with monks on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 5-7. This happens at the university campus and gives them a chance to demystify Buddhism and it gives the students a chance to practice English. I highly recommend it. They monks love to talk about their life and will answer almost anything. The ones who speak pretty good English tend to have a nice sense of humor!
Inside the meditation centerAnother picture of our outdoor meditation
One of the bloggers I read took her kids to a cooking class with Sammy’s Organic Thai Cooking School while they were visiting Chiang Mai. Her kids are even younger than mine yet they were able to help in the kitchen some and it seemed like such a fun and educational day.
My kids LOVE to cook so I thought this would be super fun for all of us and since its at an organic farm, it would be educational to boot. However upon telling the kids I received one “meh” and one “I don’t want to go”. Sigh. I was so upset and almost canceled. Even the morning of Beckett didn’t want to go and was being less than cooperative.
That all started to change as the class started.
We were picked up at Thae Pae Gate in the city since we live in the suburbs and then were taken to a local Thai market. Sammy explained the different types of rice and where they came from and then we were shown how to extract coconut milk from coconuts.
Lots o’ riceSammy squeezing shredded coconut to extract coconut milkBeckett giving it a try
After the market tour we headed to Sammy’s farm. He first showed us different ingredients, passed them around and explained how/when they were used.
Then it was time to start cooking. First up, making curry paste. I made a yellow curry and Chuck did a jungle (red) curry. Actually, I should say Beckett made my paste and Mara did a large chunk of Chuck’s.
After the curry paste was made, it was time to cook it with chicken and other ingredients to make our final dish. When that was done, it was onto soup dishes: Chicken in Coconut Milk soup for me and Thai Vegetable Hot soup for Chuck. They gave Mara her own station to make coconut milk soup so I actually got to cook alone while Beckett took over making the veggie soup for Chuck.
Ingredients for Yellow Curry
Beckett garnishing his Yellow CurryMara showing off her Jungle CurryIngredients for Coconut Milk Soup
Next up was the stir fried dishes: Stir Fried Chicken with Holy Basil for Mara (I pretty much watched) and Pad Thai for Chuck and Beckett.
After all 3 dishes were done, it was finally time to eat. And eat. And eat some more. It was so tasty. And better yet, Beckett who won’t try anything devoured the vegetable soup, tried Pad Thai noodles and even tried a bite of yellow curry! Mara loved the yellow curry and the chicken with basil and mostly took down her bowl of coconut soup single-handedly. So not only did the kids cook and learned some things, THEY TRIED NEW FOODS!!!!! Hallelujah!
With full bellies, it was time to walk around the farm a bit then take a siesta in the hammocks strewn about the property. I so need to get me a hammock.
An hour later it was back to cooking. First up was Vegetable Spring Rolls for Mara (Beck even rolled one) and Chicken in Pandanus Leaves for Beckett and Chuck.
Beckett showing off the wrapped Chicken in Pandanus leaves
Pandanus plant – They just tear off a piece of plant and you use it as your wrapper
Mara wrapping spring rolls
Then Beckett and Mara made Pumpkin Custard while Chuck made Mango with Sticky Rice. My role at this point was just to take pictures and watch.
Mara and Beckett making Pumpkin CustardChuck with his Mango and Sticky Rice
Once again, we ate and ate before we made the trek back to town around 4pm.
I must say, I was blown away by the kids today. I couldn’t believe how well they were able to cook all by themselves and how quickly they picked everything up. We do let them cook at home (and Mara is turning into quite the little baker) but still, this involved some chopping with huge knives, working on the stove including adjusting the heat, and even garnishing the dishes to make them look prettier.
Aside from making the coconut soup, I barely cooked all day which I’m completely fine with. I acted as a sous chef for a couple of things and then got to stand back and observe my children learning, growing and turning into big kids.
The whole way home Beckett was asking if he could cook dinner for all of us the next night and they’re both clamoring to shop and cook a Thai meal all on their own. I couldn’t have asked for a better day!
The logistics: We booked with Sammy’s Organic Thai Cooking School which is a bit out of town in a beautiful location surrounded by rice paddy fields. Sammy picked us up at the Thae Pae gate around 8:30am and we arrived back there around 4:30pm. Cost was 1,000 Baht ($33) for each adult and 100 Baht ($3.30) for each kid. The best way to book is to call as my email wasn’t answered.
I took a different cooking class a week before and they were both a different experience. The Red Chili class was very methodical and you measured, chopped, watched him cook, then cooked everything on your own. Definitely a great way to be able to duplicate recipes back home and really learn how and why you’re doing what you’re doing. The one with Sammy was a bit less formal and you didn’t have to do as much measuring and thinking. For example, sometimes they’d come by with a bowl of coconut milk and ladle it in without telling you how much they were adding or why. However, it was still fun and educational, but I’d feel less able to go home and recreate my dishes if I’d just gone to Sammy’s.
While my mom was visiting, we decided to take a cooking class. We went with the Red Chili Cooking School which had nothing but 5 star ratings on TripAdvisor. The instructor Aon was awesome and deserves every 5 star rating.
He has a different set menu for each day of the week and I picked Thursday because we’d be learning to make a couple of our favorite Thai dishes – Pad See Ew and Massaman Curry.
He picked us up around 9am and we headed to a locals market where he explained what different vegetables and foods were and what they were used for. I knew most of them since I’d been here for 4 months and we had similar items in Hawaii, however, I still found it educational and learned some things.
He then bought fresh items for our class that day and we took a songtaew to his home where he has a great outdoor kitchen/cooking area.
First up was making Tom Kha Gai (Coconut soup with chicken). We would first assemble our ingredients, then he’d show us how to cook it all at his station. Next it was our turn to cook our own bowl and we could customize the sweetness and spiciness as we wanted. He then showed us how to garnish the dish to make it expensive looking.
It wasn’t something I thought I’d ever order, but I loved the soup. It was so complex. Sour, sweet, kick of spice. The flavors kept changing and it tasted so Thai. Yum. And the fact that I’d just cooked it myself was the icing on the cake!
Next up was Pad See Ew (Stir fried wide rice noodle with black soy sauce). He taught us how to make sure the noodles didn’t stick together and what we could substitute back home if we couldn’t find certain ingredients. Overall this was a pretty easy dish to make and since it’s my kids’ favorite, I can definitely see making this one at home. It also made me wish Chuck had come along so he could cook it too. Super yum!
After devouring my plate, we moved on to making Massaman Curry paste. Wow. This takes a lot of work. First off, there are probably 20 different ingredients that go into making the paste and there is much smashing and cutting before you wear yourself out with the mortar and pestle smashing it into a paste. Everything went into this from star anise to toasted clove to lemongrass to garlic, cinnamon and shallots and lots of other things from those spice collections that you never actually get to use. After much pounding (and some help from Aon), we had beautiful, thick paste.
AFTER all of that work, then we could begin to cook the dish. First you boil the paste in oil and then that is mixed with a whole host of ingredients from shallots, potatoes, chicken, coconut milk, palm sugar and more. It boils for a while and then, finally, you have your Massaman curry. Oh so much effort, but oh so good!
After that it was time to make spring rolls. He actually started by making Pad Thai minus the noodles. Then we used the Pad Thai ingredients as the filling for the spring rolls. We rolled them up, fried them, let them cool and then bon appetit!
Finally, he showed us how to make Mango with Sticky Rice (Kaow Niew Mamaung). First you steam the rice in a rice cooker. While that cools, you make a coconut syrup of sorts using coconut milk, palm sugar and some Paladan(?) leaves. Then you mix the two, let the rice absorb the syrup and you’re ready to eat once the mango is sliced.
After the class, Aon drove us home. We had so much food that we took it home and ate it for dinner that night.
It was such a great class that I almost want to send Chuck and then go back myself when he’s teaching how to make Penang Curry, Pad Thai and Khao Soy Gai.
One of the things I wanted to take the kids to was a silk factory. Funny enough, the materials I’m using to homeschool actually talked about silk in Asia and how silk is made. So I was able to tie a trip to Thai Silk Village into an educational opportunity as well.
The actual factory consists of a room where they explain the whole process. We got to see silkworms in every stage – silk moths with their eggs, new worms eating mulberry leaves, worms making cocoons, worms in their cocoons and the empty cocoons after the butterflies had flown away.
Silkworms from the egg thru cocoon stagesSilkworms eating mulberry leaves and growingSilkwormsSilkworms making their cocoonsBeckett holding cocoons
They first soak the cocoons in boiling water then stretch the cocoon fibers out. Then they dye the silk threads. The threads are then woven into cloth and then made into garments.
Boiling the cocoons and turning them into threadWeaving the dyed threads into clothMaking cloth
After viewing each step in the process, we browsed the gift shop that had many beautiful silk garments.
For the record, Kir wasn’t scared – she just had to make a freaked out face!
One fun little diversion for us was a visit to the Siam Insect Zoo. It’s about 30 minutes out of town, near Mae Rim, Tiger Kingdom and a bunch of other attractions.
There’s a decent butterfly garden, a section where you see lots of insect specimens pinned, mounted, and labeled, plus the real fun part, a guided tour and interaction with some cool live bugs! The kids were kinda spooked, but warmed up to holding most of the insects.
There were a pretty fair number of live critters, including funky caterpillars, spiders, scorpions, walking sticks, mantises, and beetles. You could hold just about everything although we decided not to hold the live scorpions even though the lady assured us “it only stings a little bit”.
Another neat part was seeing all the different types of caterpillars and seeing their various cocoons. Some cocoons lo0k like real gold and are beautiful!
Quite the fuzzy little caterpillar
Who’s hungry?!The offered to let us hold the scorpions, but we all passed!
It’s a bit overpriced for Chiang Mai, but the kids got a unique experience to hold some exotic bugs. Adults are 200 Baht, kids are 150 Baht, so that was about $23 US for the 4 of us. Expect to spend about 90 minutes there.
The village of Bo Sang (aka the umbrella village) sits about 20 minutes outside of Chiang Mai, so we took the kids there for a visit one afternoon.
Right past an archway going into Bo Sang is a factory + showroom which demonstrates the entire process of making umbrellas by hand. It starts with the basics of splitting the wood and ends with painting the umbrellas when they’re done.
Beyond the factory, the village itself was underwhelming and a little disappointing. We’d heard that many of the umbrellas weren’t even made there but shipped in from a factory somewhere else.
The actual “factory” was neat though and educational for the kids. And it was a nice afternoon out (and free too).
Ironman Rickshaw-style
Making umbrellas from hand:
Splitting the woodPutting string around the wood frameUmbrella frames waiting for a coverThe artists were free-handing all the umbrella designs – really amazing!
For a small donation, the painters would paint anything you wanted including your kid. One girl I saw had her jeans painted and they kept offering to paint my purse. They are extremely talented and fast! We decided to let Beckett and Mara get little “tattoos” on their arms.
More pictures from around the village:
Bo Sang can be found on the eastern suburbs of Chiang Mai off Rt. 1006E.
I had a feeling I would be homeschooling my kids some day. Of course this never occurred to me before they were born. But once they were a few years old, the thought entered my mind.
This had nothing to do with many of the conventional reasons people homeschool though. For many years, I’ve dreamed of taking a year off and traveling the world with my family. I even went so far as to make a rough itinerary one day when I was bored at work a long, long time ago. So I knew if I was ever going to make that a reality, I was going to have to man up and homeschool.
I’m not like others that homeschool in that I was a teacher or worked with children. And anyone that knows me knows that my level of patience could.. uh.. use some improvements. However, if we were really going to go to Thailand for 6-9 months, I was going to have to homeschool.
I had no idea where to begin. Thankfully my friend Wendy was homeschooling and told me about the book “101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum” which helped me sift through the gazillions of homeschool curriculums. I was able to rule many of them out and felt much better about my direction after reading this book.
I also scanned the internet and the many traveling family blogs out there to see what they were doing. Unfortunately I didn’t come up with many specifics but did hear about this great website called Time4Learning that parents and kids seemed to love. So my plan is to homeschool them then sign up for the website so they can do worksheets and reinforce the information.
My criteria for a curriculum wasn’t extensive. Basically I was looking for:
Something that laid out what kids should learn in each grade pretty easily
Nothing with too many books/worksheets/etc as I had limited packing space
Something secular (many of the homeschool curriculums are religious-based but I wanted something without a religious bent)
Something that would make the transition back to public school the following year as smooth as possible
My plan was to only homeschool for the year we’re traveling and then the kids would return to public school. My biggest fear is they’d show up the next year and not have learned the base skills to be successful and struggle at the beginning.
Of course Chuck didn’t share in those concerns. Both kids were doing well above their peers in all basic skills so Chuck joked that if they didn’t learn a single thing this year, they’d still go into the following grade prepared.
Plus the kids are 6 and 8 and I’d be teaching 2nd and 3rd grade so its not exactly rocket science. As long as they get the fundamentals, they should be fine.
I’d been hearing about the Common Core curriculum and that many states were starting to adopt it. I figured if I followed the Common Core curriculum for each of their grades, and their next school also followed the Common Core curriculum, then they would know what their peers knew and wouldn’t be behind. For example, maybe they should know multiplication and next year they learn division. Or they need to know certain English grammar but some of the more complicated stuff comes later.
So at the end of the day, I settled on the “What Your … Grader Needs to Know (Core Knowledge)” books. As best as I could tell, these books set the precedent for the Common Core standards and are closely aligned with what is currently being rolled out around the country.
These books cover the basics for English (including some poems and short stories), History, Geography, Visual Arts, Music, Math and Science. Basically it covered every topic I needed to teach, gave me enough information to get started teaching the material and wrapped it all up in a book of around 350 pages. And that’s it. All I needed to buy and take with me were the 2 books – 1 for 2nd grade and 1 for 3rd grade. All the worksheets, spelling tests, homework, etc I could make or print out once we were abroad. So for about $30, my homeschool supplies were procured and I was set.
One of the other major things I needed to figure out was what legal requirement I needed to fulfill to homeschool. Some states have strict rules about who can homeschool and they want proof of all sorts of things. Other states don’t care and you just have to tell them that you’re homeschooling and that’s it. This is where my next problem began. We currently lived in Hawaii but were leaving there permanently. Once our travel was over, we had no idea where we were going to move. California was our best guess, but really, we didn’t know. Since we were leaving Hawaii, we were giving up our address there as well and getting an address for our mail in North Carolina through the Traveling Mailbox company.
So who exactly do I ask when I’m living abroad and have no home or home state or even a state I intend to move to?
Well, I’m one to follow the rules so I figured I would start with talking to the Hawaii school my children currently attended. I told them our plans to move to Thailand and to homeschool and had all my paperwork filled out. However, upon hearing that we weren’t planning to return to Hawaii after our trip, they had no idea what to do with me. They needed to figure it out and finally 2 days later I was told that they weren’t interested in “knowing” I was homeschooling as I was leaving Hawaii and not their responsibility. So they asked that I withdraw the kids and that was that.
So where does this leave us? I guess I’m going rogue. My current home state doesn’t want to know as I don’t live there anymore. And I don’t live anywhere else in the USA so no one else wants to know either. And I’m not officially moving to Thailand either as I’m there on tourist visas.
Sure that stresses a rule follower like myself out that somehow I’m going to get in trouble for not legally having my kids registered at a school in the US. But I’m keeping records and keeping samples of their work and tracking the time spent homeschooling. And I’ll tell the next school what Hawaii told me and cross my fingers and hope for the best that there isn’t an issue. Only time will tell on that one.
So I’m heading to Thailand with my curriculum and base materials in place. And with the knowledge that I tried to register in Hawaii and they said no. I’m not sure what I’ll do about the patience part but as with everything else with this adventure, I’ll figure it all out.
