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Going Greek at GIS
On Friday March 11, year 5 at GIS had a day of being
Ancient Greeks. To begin the day the class dressed in their chitons (Greek
tunic) and prepared for an Olympics. Year 5 ran the stade, threw the discus
and did the standing long jump with weights.
The
assembly ended with a battle of epic proportions.
After a well earned break the students prepared a
delicious lunch. They cooked lamb marinated in garlic and red wine,
barbequed fish stuffed with basil and bay leaves, faki (a Greek lentil
soup), and prepared a lovely Greek salad with olives and feta cheese. They
also enjoyed hummus on bread. They washed this down with red wine (grape
juice). For dessert the class enjoyed almonds and figs dipped in honey,
grapes and yoghurt.
After a
well earned break the students prepared a delicious lunch.
Finally the class had to perform their assembly which ended with a battle
of epic proportions. All children enjoyed a great day and went home with a
better idea of what it was like to live in Ancient Greece.
Annual swim takes on new dimension
This year’s annual swim party for the children from Fr. Ray’s
Foundation was held as usual at Jomtien Beach Condominium. The organizers
were under the direction of Egbert Scherer and his wife Bridget from
Germany, who spend a good part of their holiday in Thailand coordinating
the logistics of the event and their time at home in Germany raising funds
in order to give the children a memorable day by the pool.
Amused
children playing in the refreshing water didn’t want to stop.
With over 120 youngsters being accommodated this year it
was the largest party held so far. Also this year, with help from Bruce
Cronheim and the doctors of Samitivej Sriracha Hospital, all the children
received complete checks on their eyes. Those who needed glasses were given
them, and those who actually needed corrective surgery were also given the
necessary treatment thanks to many generous donations received and the
helpful reduction in costs from the surgeons and hospital.
The
MacDonald’s staff distributes lunch to the children.
Sister Maria and the foreign helpers kept a watchful eye
on the happy throng in the pool. A number of the older students found the
fitness equipment and table tennis tables a pleasant way to relax until the
ever popular round of games and balloons appeared with the food from Mr.
MacDonald.
The children, Egbert, Bridget and Bruce thank all those who were so
generous to make the day possible. Unless one has actually been there it is
impossible to say just how much enjoyment the children get out of the day,
and how those who contributed feel, seeing the children enjoy themselves.
St Andrews join in football and T-ball fun
Year 2 children from St Andrews International School,
GIS, Regents School and the Fountain of Life all participated in an
afternoon of football and T-ball fun.
 All
the children played extremely well.
Hosted by the Regents School, all the children played
extremely well, as they met new friends and enjoyed putting all their team
skills into practice!
The highlight of the afternoon was certainly when parents
decided they wanted to join in the fun of T-ball. The children were
delighted to see their parents participate, as they gave the tennis ball a
good ‘whack’ with the bat, to run around the bases.
At the end of the afternoon, no one knew who won, who
scored the most runs, or kicked the most goals. We all knew that we had a
great deal of fun, despite being hot and sweaty.
The children all look forward to another event like this in the future!
Taking
in some refreshment on a hot day.
We all
knew that we had a great deal of fun, despite being hot and sweaty.
REPS school building a reputation
The New Year has been full of activities for REPS school in Ban Chang.
Red has been the theme, with students and staff dressing in Chinese
clothing for the Year of the Rooster celebrations.
 Parents,
students and staff had a great time with the bilingual bingo calling.
Then, February 11 saw a romantic theme fancy dress
competition at the Valentine’s Bingo Night. Parents, students and staff
had a great time with the bilingual bingo calling and romantic tunes making
it a real hit.
REPS is a new English program school based in rural Ban Chang. We are
currently accepting students for our English Summer Camp and the new school
year. Class sizes are set at 25 students and teaching is done by
well-qualified Thai staff and native speakers. Please call 038 631167-8 for
more details.
Mayor addresses Phothisamphan School graduating class
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn addressed the
Phothisamphan School 2004 graduating class on March 31, telling them to
work hard and develop themselves and the country.
Mayor Niran also congratulated them for completing what
he termed “one educational level in their lives”.
Mayor
Niran Wattanasartsathorn presents certificates to the graduating secondary
class students at Phothisamphan School.
715 students graduated from two levels this year at
Phothisamphan School: 469 students graduated from secondary level class 3,
and 246 students graduated from secondary level class 6.
The school also rewarded 179 students for good school
results, best behavior and good performance.
Phothisamphan School also has a special “Dek Dee Sri
Pho” award for students who maintain a good reputation and exhibit useful
conduct at the school. The “Gold Honor” was given to 41 students who
had grade point averages of 3.50 and higher. The “Silver Honor” was
given to 113 students who had grade point averages of 3.0 and higher. 34
prizes were awarded to students who “Gave the school a good
reputation”, and 23 prizes were given to students who “Performed useful
activities for the school”.
Mayor Niran told the students, “The completion of this level of
education today is only one step towards success. All students should
continue to study, and to develop themselves and the country. The most
important thing is that you, the students should be motivated to fight for
resolving problems and to reach success.”
Little Guides project teaches students the beauty of Sattahip
Patcharapol Panrak
Sattahip is becoming well known as a tourist destination
for Thais and foreigners, with local officials and private organizations
responding to government policy to open up to tourism.
This has been especially successful at military camp
locations, where the beautiful scenery, clean beaches and clear water are
proving ideal for students, those undergoing personnel training, and groups
studying methods for outdoor classes.
Sattahip Municipality, appreciating that team leaders
need special knowledge and advice on the district, has created the Little
Guide Project, as preparation for youngsters to be professional guides in
the future.
Sattahip Mayor Narong Bunbancherdsri inaugurated the
project by visiting Prince Chumporn Garden on a bike.
Sattahip Municipal Councilor Brat Bunbanchersri
described the purpose of the project, saying that it is for students who
wish to use part of their school holidays to study tourist destinations in
Sattahip.
Councilor Brat said that with parents busy at work,
students would learn to act under their own initiative and to work with
each other. He added that it will encourage students to spend their free
time positively, to stay away from drugs, and to study historical places.
Royal cloud seeding project succeeding
Pacharapol Panrak
The Royal cloud seeding project has eased the current
drought in many parts of the country, including in Chonburi, where Deputy
Governor Wirawit visited the cloud seeding centre at Utapao airport to
relay the results.
The
centre uses a CN 235 twin engine aircraft to distribute 2,000 kilograms of
silver nitrate to seed clouds each trip.
Wirawit told centre director Tawee Kanjana that the
recent rainfall had increased water levels greatly and eased drought
conditions, but that there were still some districts in desperate need of
rain, particularly for farmers and fish farms in Parnthong, Nongyai, Ban
Bueng and Koh Jant.
Tawee gave the deputy governor an overview of the
project saying that the centre uses a CN 235 twin engine aircraft to
distribute 2,000 kilograms of silver nitrate to seed clouds each trip. On
the upcoming flyover they were using only 1,500 kilograms and targeting the
Khao Chamo district in Rayong, and they would follow next in the district
of Parnthong. There would be rainfall that day, he promised.
The centre covers the eight eastern provinces of Chonburi, Rayong,
Chantabuir, Trat, Chacheongsao, Prachinburi and Srakaew. The project has
been successful to date with rainfall being recorded in all areas.
Asian U students have fun in the sun
Plenty
of action in the Hard Rock pool.
There were no classes on Chakri Day, so about seventy Asian U students
headed off to the Hard Rock Hotel in Pattaya for some fun and games!
The Hard Rock staff organized various games and sports, some in the
water, and others in the dry. A good time was had by all. The main event
was water polo, in which there was no limit to team size.
Let’s get digital
by Ian Frame
If you stroll round many of the large shopping malls in
Bangkok, you will probably notice touch-up artists using computers to
remove perceived imperfections from ladies’ passport photographs. Eyes
are made bigger, bags under the eyes are removed, eyebrows are made
symmetrical, and blemishes are zapped. The final image sometimes bears
little resemblance to the original subject, but such treatments make a
plain Jane look like a model or movie star. Even in Pattaya one will find
such artistry being performed.
 I
recently read in the Pattaya Mail that more than 1 million digital
cameras are expected to be sold in Thailand this year. One of the fantastic
things about digital photographs is that they can so easily be modified in
a personal computer.
Many years ago I experimented with black & white
photography in the darkroom. These darkroom activities were, however, very
time consuming, and there were limitations to what I could achieve with my
basic equipment. But now, with the advent of relatively inexpensive digital
cameras, a whole new world has been opened up.
In days gone by I filed my negatives and prints in photo
albums. These bulky albums are now spread across bookcases, cupboards,
trunks, and attics. Digital photography now permits long term photograph
storage without any of the colour deterioration one gets with paper based
prints. And, since computer memory is now so inexpensive, there is almost
no limit to how many digital photographs can be stored in a home computer.
 I
currently have 11,115 images on my PC. These images occupy 4.5GB - a small
portion of the available capacity of my notebook hard drive. However, one
must remember to make regular back ups! I back up mine both on CD and on a
USB connected 40GB external hard drive.
Do not despair if you do not possess a digital camera -
you can still obtain digital images by having your photographic prints
scanned. My brother recently scanned a hundred year old sepia photograph of
my great grandfather and family. I was elated to receive this as an
attachment to a recent email. I copied this file to a CD to permit Kodak
Express to make a superb 10"x 8" print for hanging on my wall.
Of course, irrespective of the type of camera used, one
should make every effort to shoot the best photographs possible. A bad
photograph will usually remain a bad photograph despite what is later
attempted in your computer.
I recently took some photographs with my digital pocket
camera at Mini Siam, on Sukhumvit Road. I then uploaded these images to my
computer. I played around with a shot of a fountain figure, and within an
hour I had generated five or six interesting images. A few days later I
carried out a similar exercise with some figures I discovered decorating
restaurants along Jomtien Beach Road.
There are many computer programs which can be used to
modify photographs. I still use a number of old ones which I feel
comfortable with. I have jotted down a few of the basic features one could
expect to find in a computer photo paint type program.
* Brightness and colour adjustment
* Image sharpening/softening
* Cutting/copying/pasting
* Cropping
* Smudging
* Cloning
* Image rotation
* Paint brush/spray
* Flood fill
* Special effects
Some really unusual effects can be obtained if you allow
your artistic side free reign.
* Colour photos can be converted to black & white,
and then the interesting parts can be recoloured. This effect is sometimes
used to make products stand out in commercials.
* Photograph backgrounds can be changed.
* People or objects can be pasted into scenes (think Tom
Hanks in the movie Forrest Gump). There are kiosks at Bangkok Airport where
customers can be pasted into photographs with VIPs or dangerous animals.
* Telegraph poles or flowers which appear to stick out
of your subject’s head can be removed (or added if you so wish).
* Leaning Tower of Pisa type buildings can be righted.
I love modifying photographs in this way - your imagination is the only
limitation to what can be achieved. Give it a try, perhaps there is an
artist lurking inside you just waiting to burst out.
Sawadee! – Round Square Show is a Stunning Success
This is the kind of evening that parents, teachers and students live
for. The culmination of months of work, the Round Square Conference opening
show, entitled ‘Sawadee’, comprised a series of brilliantly
choreographed and immaculately prepared performances, ranging from moving
drama, through academically orientated delivery, to uplifting musical
renditions.
The theme, “Same Same But Different”, was woven like
a magical thread and imaginatively integrated into all aspects of a
production, which kept the audience captivated.
Regents
School Round Square delegates, embodying IDEALS.
The Globe theatre provided a spectacular setting,
sensitively lit and witnessed by three figures from the school’s recent
past whose legacy is the Regents School as it is today. For Mr. Michael
Deveney, Formerly Head of Secondary and Head of Campus, now in Vietnam, and
Mr. Simon Leslie, previously Head of Campus and now Principal of NIST,
arguably the number one school in Thailand, the evening must have been
filled with nostalgia and pride. Similarly for Mrs. Barbara Deveney,
enjoying the fruits of her labour in the setting she did so much to help
create. And of course, the estimable Dr Virachai was there, glowing with
paternal pride. For Mr. Andrew Bennett, installed as Vice-Chairman and Head
of Campus three months ago and a hugely experienced leader of world-class
international educational institutions, the future must seem rosy, indeed.
Yet, for all the tangible pride felt by the invited
members of the audience, the show was really about the Round Square
delegates. In particular, the evening was an often moving testament to the
sixteen special Regents students who had spent endless hours creating a
memorable evening and to the reluctant guru, Mr. Paul Crouch, who has
already castigated me for publishing his name once. The message of the
Round Square “IDEALS” rang loud, true and clear. “Celebrate
diversity,” “make a difference,” “enjoy life”. I felt genuinely
touched.
The Round Square Conference road show now moves to Koh Chang. If the
rest of the delegates’ week is to be anything like the “Sawadee”,
they’ll be having the time of their lives.
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