A busy Thursday at school and it’s still the morning. I managed to leave my glasses at home so there is very little paperwork I can do between my lessons. I will keep this entry short as it’s very much a blur as I peer at the screen. I had to do “gate duty” as soon as I arrived which is greeting students, teachers, and construction workers as they arrive. I am always on the temperature scanner which is fun the many times it gives a “too low” or “too high” reading. The Thai teacher standing next to me usually berates the children for missing buttons on their shirts, unkempt fingernails or masks not properly worn. My first lesson was directly after this 45-minute session standing in the sun so I was quite soaked with sweat as I tried to teach the class. Luckily, most of them were absent this morning so I had only nine 15-year-old students.

The main Tourist Information Center for Old Phuket Town can be found in this narrow yellow shophouse located at No. 64 on the northern side of Thalang Road. There are several very helpful ladies who work inside and a large selection of brochures on local history and attractions. You can also buy some local sweets that are packaged in boxes that resemble various Sino-Portuguese buildings in the neighborhood.

Here are a few more photos taken this morning. The first is of the morning assembly still in progress as I was walking to my first classroom of the day. Thursdays are “red shirt days”. The large structure in the foreground is the tent in which lunch is served. It is a very temporary structure as the main dining hall is reconstructed following last year’s fire. However, I have seen no signs of construction in the dining hall ever since they began working on the new arena, sports apparently having a higher priority here than food amazingly enough. The remaining photos are from my first lesson this morning in M4/2. The students who attended today are always very well-behaved and work hard to understand and participate. It helps, I think, that their classroom is in the new building and not nearly as run-down as the M3 classrooms where I will spend the remainder of the next two days.