September 17, 2014
Thursday
So it was a
better week than the week before. Field
Trips have been reinstated as part of the curriculum. We took an awesome science field trip on
Saturday to the Snake Farm here in Bangkok.
It is run by the Thai Red Cross and was started by a doctor in 1923
after he realized that the antivenom that was being imported from overseas
wasn’t working very well for the local snakes.
So he started raising local venomous snakes to make better antivenom. They put on a show where they introduce you
to a variety of local snakes, poisonous and non-poisonous. They also have a show where they demonstrate
how they “milk” the snakes for venom, but they only do those on weekdays so we
missed it. Bummer. The facilities are much nicer than when we
visited 15 years ago. And they still let
you take pictures holding a big Burmese python who was just the sweetest
snake…when you’re surrounded by handlers who can lift the heavy snake scarf the
second you’re done.
Other highlights of the week: trying out a Homeschool Co-Op group that
meets on Thursdays. It was okay for
Rachel, and just a little young for Emma.
They did four classes: Thai (just
okay), Music (very fun), Science (too easy for both of them), and Soccer (good
to get out and move around). Met some
very nice people and the kids were pretty friendly. Not sure it is worth Emma’s time…she is so
concerned about working at her grade level and keeping up. We will try it again this week and
decide.
We are enjoying the rainy season
here, especially from the dry safety of our apartment. We like watching the pouring rain when it’s a
real gully-washer. We like watching the
lightning and thunder shows from our living room windows when they’re not TOO
close. We like how the air smells after
a good down-pour. We like the cooler
temperatures (well, relatively cooler) when it’s overcast. It’s a good time to be in Bangkok.
 |
| Entrance to the Snake Farm |
 |
| The Snake Farm is all in the trees behind the kids. |
 |
| Holding the Burmese Python. Rachel and Emma are not so excited, but they posed anyway. |
 |
| I thought this snake was just cool. Allen humored me and joined me for a picture with my python "scarf". |
RACHEL, 4th GRADE
On Saturday
we went to a snake farm. It was kind of
creepy because at the show they said they were going to bring out venomous and
venom-less snakes. The first snake was a
cobra: a venom snake. Apparently cobras don’t have really good
eyesight. They watch for movement and
follow what moves. What the handlers
would do to catch it was grab it by the back of its head and then hold it by
the back of their head so they couldn’t bite them. The handlers would hold the snakes by their
tails so they couldn’t bite them, but the snakes would just turn around and
hiss at them. The next snake they
brought out, the speaker said was a venomous snake. The handler picked up the
snake and it was standing up and tried to bite him. It bit his finger. Right as it bit his finger the announcer guy
said, “We’re just kidding. It’s a
venom-less snake.” Whew! I was freakin’ out! Then there was a rainbow snake that if it
went in the sun it was all rainbow-y.
The rainbow snakes are all lazy in the day, so you’d really have to do
something to get them to bite you. The
handler was holding one of the snakes that was black and yellow, and all of a
sudden, the snake starts to go to the bathroom all over the floor. All the people in the stands were all,
“Ewwww!!!” Then a janitor came in and
cleaned it up. The announcer said,
“Oh. Poop. That’s nasty.” Then they brought out two king cobras. The handler was holding them by the tails and
the handler had a really hard time getting them back. He got one back and ran it out and then the
last one was really hard to get. The
cobra kept watching him and the handler would stand right in front of us. Finally the cobra looked away and the handler
grabbed it by the tail and ran it out.
Then they brought out a green snake that they held out on a stick
because it was venomous. But it was lazy
in the day and just lay there on the stick.
Then they brought out a huge python and they were letting people put it
on them like a scarf. It looked really
light on people. Everyone in our family
except Dad and Laura tried it out. I
didn’t really hold it because I was in the middle, but the snake’s head kept
getting close to me and I kept bending down and bending down. Then we took another picture with just me and
Emma. The snake was really heavy! It’s heavier than it looks! The scales felt like they were peeling off. I was holding the head part, but it kept
slithering toward Emma’s feet. Then we
had to wash our hands. Then we went to
see some snakes in aquariums. Then we
saw some snake skeletons and a dummy that would show what would happen to you
if you got a snake bite, and a room that talked about snakes in mythology. They had a skeleton of a cobra and it only
had the spine and then the ribs went all the way up to the neck. They had some displays of snake skin that you
could touch. But then they also had some
long python skin that was behind glass that you couldn’t touch. Also, they had dead preserved snakes that
were in tall jars. Ewwww! I liked the snake farm, but there was only
one thing that was kind of disturbing:
the snakes in the jars. I thought
it was going to be scary, creepy, and disgusting at the snake farm. But I thought it was cool. My favorite snake was the rainbow snake. Now that I know which snakes are poisonous, I
know which ones to stay away from.
Love,
Rachie
 |
| The infamous pooping snake |
 |
| One of the cobra skeletons. You can even see where his hood was. |
 |
| Python skins. The one on the left is a Burmese Python like the one we held and the one on the right is a reticulated python. |
EMMA, 6th GRADE
Dear Personages Who Read This,
On last Monday,
we had the sister missionaries over. We had
really good powder sugar brownies, IT WAS DELICOUS!! However, mine had a
HUGE bubble in it, so I really got half a brownie.
On Tuesday we got pizza
delivered. The pizza was really tasty. So were the breadsticks.
They had this scratchy stuff on the crust parts that felt really great on my
tongue. Also, there was a mini chocolate lava cake that went with it. It was
SOOO GOOD! We each got a bite of it.
On Wednesday, we tried something
else new. We ordered burgers from Carl’s Jr. I had my first big-person burger
in my whole life. It was so heavy! It was basically two chicken tenders in a
bun with a bunch of stuff on it. It was okay.
On Saturday, we went to a snake
farm. However, mom and dad wouldn’t tell us where we were going until we
figured it out playing 20 Questions on the subway ride there. They did that so
we wouldn’t have time to worry about it. So, I was just in shock that we were
actually going to a snake farm because I don’t like snakes. I’d only ever seen one in person before. Once we got to the snake farm finally we had
to sit in these bleachers and wait for 5 minutes (which felt like a long time)
till this guy came out and started talking in Thai. Then he translated it into English. So, it
took a while. Also, he talked really fast, and took lots of short breaths. He
had this kind of creepy smile the whole time he talked. He was so happy to talk about how these
venomous snakes would kill you. I didn’t
get a really good view of the snakes though because Dad and this other guy were
sitting in front of me. They put the
snakes on the floor in front of the bleachers.
The first snake they brought out was a cobra and they taught you how to
catch it. You grab it on the back of the
neck by their mouth so they can’t open it and bite you. Then they told you not to ever do that. At the end they brought out two king cobras
that are REALLY venomous and then they let them out on the floor…two of
them. The guys were wearing rubber boots
and they kept poking them so that they’d do stuff. When they brought them in and out they would
hold them by the tails and run with them.
There was one snake that wasn’t venomous so the handler just let the
snake bite his finger. At first, the
announcer guy told us that the snake was venomous and then once it bit the
handler he said he was just kidding. I didn’t get very good pictures of
everything because dad’s head was in half of them and the other guy’s head was
in the other half. At the end they
brought out a big fat Burmese Python. They let us take pictures with it. At first when mom and dad asked me if I
wanted to get my picture taken I said no, but then when Rachel got up to go I
decided I had to go up because I couldn’t be bested by my little sister! And then Nathan went up with me too. Once it was our turn to hold the snake I was
really nervous and I didn’t want to hold up the head even though they promised
it wouldn’t bite us and it wasn’t venomous.
It was REALLY heavy and really smooth.
I got snake on my hair. We had to
wash our hands afterwards. We went and
did it again and took individual pictures, but I did it with Rachel. And the head was right by me even though
Rachel was supposed to be holding it up.
After that we looked at a bunch of snake exhibits inside a building and
I had to use the flash for most of my pictures because it was so dark. We came
to a room that was completely dark and I took pictures of the walls with my
flash on to see what was on them. Then
we realized there was a button you could press and the lights would turn on and
would tell you how snakes were used in cultures and mythology around the world. They had dead snakes in jars and snake
skeletons. They had snake skins you
could feel. Then we went back outside
and saw another exhibit and we saw a reticulated python. He was about as fat
around as an adult’s thigh. He was SOOO
fat! I’m glad I went to the snake farm,
but now I know there are lots of venomous snakes in Thailand. But hardly any of them are in the city.
GOODBYE!!!!!!!!
 |
| One of the aggressive snakes striking out at the handler. |
 |
| This snake is heavier than he looks! |
 |
| Just a sample of the dead snake specimens. Ewww. |
LAURA, 8th GRADE
HELLO!!!!!!!!
I
made a lemon meringue pie!!! It was so good!!! The easiest part was probably making the
crust. It had just a few steps: mix ingredients, roll out, put in pan and
bake. Then you had to make the lemon
filling. It wasn’t that hard, you just
had to be careful to cook the egg yolks when you added the hot lemon
mixture. Then you just poured it all in
the crust and cooked it for a little longer.
The hardest part was the meringue.
At first it looked really easy from the instructions and it pretty much
was until it came to the part of using the electric mixer. We don’t have an electric mixer. Whipping something the consistency of water
into Cool Whip consistency was really hard.
Me and mom and Nathan had to take turns whisking the egg whites as fast
as we could till our arms gave out. In
the end it looked really pretty and tasted really good. I thought the meringue could’ve used a little
more flavor—maybe some lemon flavor or something. I'll send some pictures. I accidentally made
the meringue weep. It melted at the bottom and made it super slippery. But it
was still REALLY good. I'm also planning a key lime pie but we need frozen Cool
Whip. So we've been looking everywhere for unflavored gelatin to make a
substitute for the frozen Cool Whip. WE CAN'T FIND ANY!!! AND WE CAN'T FIND
FROZEN COOL WHIP EITHER!!!!
*Update* We found
unflavored gelatin. Apparently, they have a separate section for the unflavored
gelatin. (Why?) I made the pie and it's in the freezer. I'll take it out when
it's done. If it's pretty, I'll post pictures. If not, well, I won't. I've
really gotten into cooking and I have no idea why. Next Wednesday, I'm making
pizza, garlic bread knots, and eclairs....hopefully. I am looking forward
mostly to the garlic knots and the pizza.
We also went to a snake farm on
Saturday. They did a snake show about
venomous and non-venomous snakes in Thailand.
During the show, one of the snakes pooped. The announcer guy went,
"Snek poooooo. Ees soopah nasteee." That's exactly how he pronounced
it. YUCK!! They had this really cool snake that kept biting the handler, but it
didn’t have any teeth, so it looked like Pac Man’s head on snake body. It was so funny. It was standing on its tail with its mouth
wide open. At the end of the show they let people hold a giant python. I passed. I’d like to be snake-free, thank
you! They also had a huge indoor snake exhibit with skeletons and skins from
snakes. The bones looked so flimsy!!! They had live snakes in little glass
display habitats. One of them was banging his head on the glass. It was kinda
sad. Overall it was really cool.
I’m glad I didn’t have to touch a snake.
 |
| My beautiful Lemon Meringue Pie entirely from scratch. |
 |
| And it looked good on the inside too. |
NATHAN, 11th GRADE
On Saturday
we went to the snake farm. It’s a place
where they raise local poisonous snakes to get the venom out of the snakes and
use for antivenom. We got there just in
time for their snake show where some handlers came out and they showed us
different types of snakes. There was a
king cobra, a Siamese cobra, some other snakes—but I can’t remember their
name. Some of them were pretty
aggressive. One of them kept biting the
trainer guy. I think they took his fangs
out because it didn’t hurt when he bit him.
My favorite snake from the show was the Siamese Cobra because they were
the most exciting to watch because they were hissing and trying to strike at
the trainer. After the show they brought
out a Burmese python and you could go up and hold it around your neck and get a
picture with it. Me, Mom, Emma, Rachel,
and Dad all went up and got pictures with the Burmese Python. It was super heavy. Then we went to the exhibit area which was
indoors. There were some snake
enclosures with more snakes, and then there was a whole bunch of information
about snakes, snake skeletons, dead snakes, and how to treat snake bites. It was pretty cool. The best part of the exhibit was the
collection of giant snake skins. There were also outdoor exhibits for
snakes. There was a HUGE reticulated
python and a green anaconda. Most of
them just sat in lumps by the windows. I
liked the green anaconda the best. It
was fun.
We had
school again this week. That went
well. We went down and swam a couple
times. We ordered delivery burgers and
pizza which we haven’t had in forever.
They were pretty good. They
didn’t taste quite as good as the ones back in the States, but they were okay. Me and mom went to the library on Wednesday and
got some books. Then we went to a Tops Market on the way home which was really
weird and didn’t have a lot of stuff. It
was kind of run-down. There was a huge
thunderstorm last night and there was really loud thunder. But we didn’t lose power. It was a good week.
 |
| The first snake they brought out...a King Cobra. Notice the handlers heavy rubber boots. No accidental bites as part of the show today! (And good for having to clean up snake poop too.) |
And then just for fun they brought out two cobras at the same time.
 |
| Up close and personal with the Burmese Python. |
No comments:
Post a Comment