Teachers from 14 different countries and students from 37. Here is the Norwegian delegation. None of the students have ever lived in Norway, one does not even speak the language. JT, needless to say, speaks the language, but has so far not visited his home country.
Yesterday was the celebration Loy Krahtong. We went to a beach and saw small boats with flowers and candle lights being put on the water as well as Thai Khom Loi being released into the sky. I did not bring the camera so here instead is a video found on the Internet showing the release of thousands of Thai Khom Loi, at the full moon party in Chiang Mai.
Loy Krathong is held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November.
“Loi” means “to float”. “Krathong” is a raft about a handspan in diameter traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although modern-day versions use specially made bread ‘flowers’ and may use styrofoam), decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are often judged in contests. In addition, fireworks and beauty contests take place during the festival.
More from Wikipedia.
Today the school took us to Pattaya for shopping. We bought two fans, a high chair for Sebastian (actually one you strap onto a normal chair, but now he doesn’t need our laps anymore for eating) , and a blender for the kitchen.
We shopped at a huge mall and then at another huge mall. The saying goes that in Pattaya you can find anything. It may be true. I found a waffle maker with waffles in the shape of four hearts.
At least one teacher commutes every day to school from Pattaya, a forty minutes drive.
In my humble opinion big cities, like Pattaya, are to be visited not lived in. Although when I saw the variety of exciting food being offered in one of the malls I wanted to live just there. On that very floor! 
Do polar bears walk the streets of Norway? Do elephants walk the streets of Thailand? The answers are “no” (possibly with the exception of Svalbard) and “yes”. As we sat in the school bus in downtown Ban Chang an elephant passed by. It had a rider on its back who used a stick and his feet to drive the vegetarian animal. On its tale was a red light to warn traffic approaching from behind. The picture above is from India, but you get the idea. I didn’t have my camera handy.
Yesterday I started “Thai Language and Culture Course For International School Teachers.” It is a 20 hours course that appears to be very interesting.
I borrowed a CD to copy that you may find a version of online here.
Some more information about the course. ISAT’s site.
In Thai “New wood doesn’t burn, does it?” is “mai mai mai mai mai” or more precisely:
“To a foreigner studying Thai for the first time, there is only one word in the above example, “mai“, and its meaning changes with different tones. However, to a Thai person, these are five distinct words that are not only spelled differently but are pronounced differently.” Source
Should be a piece of cake to learn! Shortly we will know. By the way, we will live in Rayong.