Korean Barbecue: Head vs. Taste Buds

Korean Barbecue is my favorite meal in Thailand, but it is also my least favorite. Let me explain...

Why its awesome:
- 100 baht (about 3 bucks) for an all you can eat buffet.
- fruit, veggies, pre-cooked items like spring rolls and fried chicken, raw meat and fish you cook at your own table to your liking, sauces galore, kanoms (small gel desserts), and coconut ice cream with peanuts.
- picking what you like and cooking it yourself
- staying warm by the firepot on a cold night with the whole thai family.
- awesome restaurant atmosphere
- live music

Why its incredibly stressful:
- placing raw meat on the fire with the same chopsticks you remove cooked meat with.
- soaking said chopsticks in boiling water every time you touch anything with them...in an effort to stave off salmonella.
- being just about ready to pull off a wonderful piece of bacon, when someone plops down some raw liver right on top of it.
- you never know when someone is going to put a questionable item on your plate. maybe its a little undercooked, maybe its boiled blood, maybe its an entire squid. you've picked your own food from the buffet, but somehow you're expected to taste "chim" whatever is placed on your plate.
- No one else seems to have the same concerns as you.

That being said, I can't wait for the gamble that is my next Korean barbecue meal. (knock on wood) I haven't been sick yet!

Nong Khai

This past weekend was another 3 day weekend (or 4 day because of a WorldTeach meeting in the city on Thursday).  Although I would have been happy to stay and relax in Kut Chim, I felt a need to wander and explore.  Rita, Ben, Peter, and I made plans to travel to Nong Khai to do just that.

After our meeting, we thought it best to crash at Jes’ house so we’d be able to leave early Friday morning.  It was nice to relax in such a cozy setting.  We went to an amazing restaurant for dinner, and even baked M&M cookies for dessert. Ovens are few and far between, so when Jes acquired one, we were all pretty excited to use it!  Pi Nok helped us with the bus schedule and we were set to leave at 5:30 to catch an early bus.  Sure enough though, we found out that the earliest bus wasn’t running so we’d have to leave at 9 instead.  Mai pen rai, a lazy morning sounded nice, and we’d still get to Nong Khai with enough daylight to find our way around.  The next morning, Pi Nok went to the bus station before we woke up just to ensure we’d get tickets and the right information.  She came back with tickets (just 2 for the boys…) for 11:30 am.  Turns out something happened to the 9 am bus and we’d have to leave even later! Such is life in Thailand.

The bus was pretty uneventful, except that it stopped quite often to let people on and off the bus – making the journey much longer than it needed to be.  We arrived in Nong Khai right after sunset and needed to find a place to stay ASAP.  After spotting a farang couple on the bus, Peter, in typical fashion, started jabbering at them in English. Turns out they spoke French, woops. Mai pen rai, Peter speaks French too!  They told him where they were staying and gave us directions and we were on our way! They turned out to be staying at a hostel that was raved about in our Lonely Planet guides, so we knew we were in for a lot of tourists, which wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but we just needed a place to call home for the next few days.

What we neglected to think about though, was that it was a holiday weekend, and even Thais would be traveling to Nong Khai because it is one of two cities with a friendship bridge to Laos.  So the cool looking hostel was booked, and so was the next one, and so on all the way down the riverwalk.  We started to get a little nervous that we would be sleeping on the street, and I could sense Peter’s dad instincts setting in.  No chance he’d let us be both hungry AND homeless. But once we reached the end of the walkway we saw a little shop with a sign “wanna guest house.”  Well in fact, yes, we do wanna guest house.  There was one room left, on the third floor, with its own private balcony overlooking the river, AC, hot water, and 1 king sized bed.  What luxury, especially at about 4 dollars each a night.  Being used to sleeping on rock hard mattresses, the boys graciously let Rita and I take the bed – Thanks guys!

Despite our sleeping predicament, we immediately fell in love with Nong Khai.  It had a riverwalk just like NKP, but shops separated it from a busy road instead.  It’s a quiet, and clean, and also has everything you’d expect to find in a city.  We were, of course, taken a back by all the tourists and giant ex-pat population, but we took the opportunity to meet some of them.  We met a guy, Ryan, from Oregon, who’d just finished a month of teaching in a small village in another Isan province.  He was then taking the opportunity to travel around a bit, and was paying for his stay by playing guitar at the hostel’s restaurant.  He had similar stories to share, and it was fun to converse with someone outside the WorldTeach circle.  He even led us to an awesome sidewalk restaurant away from the fancy dancy riverwalk where we feasted on som tom, sticky rice, and rotisserie chicken.  It was so much fun to wander this beautiful city!

On Saturday, we spent a few hours at a sculpture park.  We’d read about in the guidebook, but we weren’t expecting much at all.  We pulled up, and were blown away by the sheer size and number of all the bizarre sculptures.  Unfortunately all the explanations were in Thai, so we didn’t really understand the purpose of the sculptures. We started out taking normal pictures, but then we decided it would be fun to pose in the same positions of the statues.  And thus began a hilarious photo shoot.  We probably made quite a scene, but we enjoyed it immensely.

One of the best parts of the weekend was surprising all the locals with our knowledge of the Thai language.  Being a pretty large tourist town, people would just start speaking English with us.  We'd try to reply in Thai as much as possible, and everyone was so impressed with what we knew. It was definitely an awesome feeling.

This weekend reinforced what I LOVE about traveling.  Finding yourself in a new place without a plan and just wandering around for a while.  Meeting new people, seeing new sights, and enjoying whatever happens. 

For pictures of the crazy sculpture park:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072718&id=1326450028&l=a9f5e654e1

The Perfect Week

This past week has been incredible.  I’ve been experiencing such highs and lows lately that its been kind of frustrating not feeling in control of my emotions.  This past week, however, I gained some control of emotions and was able to really enjoy the week.

First things first, I was able to convey the importance of me needing to bike/run alone everyday after school, if only for 20 minutes.  Nit understood and now allows me this freedom.  It’s incredible what this has done for my happiness in general.  It certainly helps that by the time I can go for a ride the sun is setting over of the rice fields and Kut Chim is absolutely beautiful. I’ve also felt so much more a part of the community here because of the rides.  Everyone is out and about and I say hello to everyone I see.  They always ask where I’m going “bai nai” or tell me that I’m strong “kang lang.”  Nit has even allowed me to go for short runs alone (she thinks biking is much safer, so I was pleasantly surprised at this).  As I started my run, all of my students were leaving school and started to follow me – I felt like Forrest Gump!  Although many of them couldn’t keep up (exercise doesn’t really exist here) it was just a hilarious feeling.  Just running through the village and saying hello to all the people has really helped me feel more at home here.

Another event that really brought me into the community was a string-tying ceremony for a newborn baby.  The English teacher at my school had a baby the day before I moved in, so all my teachers headed to her home after school one day last week.  String tying ceremonies are always special, but this one just felt really significant.  The only attendees were teachers at my school, so it was much more intimate that others.  As I tied a string around the infant’s wrist, I spoke in English all the things that had been wished for him in Thai.  It was a really special moment that I’ll never forget.

After meeting up with my fellow volunteers every weekend since we went our separate ways, I knew I needed to not make plans for the weekend.  It was a 3 day weekend because of the King’s Birthday and I was sort of worried about how I would fill my time.  I thought about going into NKP to meet up with friends, but I felt like I needed to stay in my village to prove to myself that I could spend all that time alone.  It’s definitely nice to look forward to some fun on the weekend, and now I’m so happy to know that even if I don’t make any legitimate plans, I can still have fun right in my own village.  

I woke up Saturday morning to some girls giggling outside.  I opened the door and found a group of students from That Phanom.  Their English teachers had given them an assignment to find a foreigner and interview them.  I’m not quite sure how they knew I was there, but word travels pretty fast.  I’d met a South African teacher from their school a few times, so I’m sure he told them that I lived in Kut Chim.  Once they got here, all they really had to do was ask anyone in town and they could direct them straight to my home.  I’m not sure how I feel about being so easily accessible (my phone number has been passed around as well – in the middle of the school day I get calls for “small talk” from people I’ve probably never met before) but I’m getting used to it.  Anyway, I sat through the interview – it was filled with questions like “Until you have been to Thailand travel to when?” and I managed to come up with answers that I thought might be the right ones.  I thought about editing their questions, but I didn’t really know what they were even trying to ask.  I asked about the South African teacher, and they told me that he only teaches the VIP classes (larger towns and cities have leveled classes – my village is too small).  This explains the fractured English from the interview. 

That afternoon I was reading on my porch and four of the neighborhood children came running down the driveway carrying hula hoops.  They started hula hooping and singing the ABC’s which I took as my invitation to join them.  They giggled at teaching me how (hula hoops are much bigger and heavier here and kinda hurt your sides) and we spent the afternoon taking turns hooping and singing and even practicing some numbers.  They even stayed and helped Nit and I make dinner (summer rolls – yum!) and I really enjoyed their company.  

Monday morning J called me up and said he was going for a long bike ride and that he would come down to Kut Chim if I wanted to join him.  J is in his second year of WorldTeach Thailand and has had ample time to explore nearby villages.  Living alone and being an older guy he never really experienced the independence issues the rest of us have faced.  We ended up spending about 2 hours on dirt roads around my village just seeing where the path would take us.  I was worried about Nit being upset that I’d been gone so long, but she didn’t say anything about it when I returned.  It was really nice to be able to feel so spontaneous.  That afternoon, J, Gen, and I headed into That Phanom, where we were dropped off and allowed to explore on our own a bit.  Again, more freedom!  We went to the temple, wandered the markets, and found a real café!

Back at school, I’ve really been enjoying my students.  I taught pictionary last week and they love it!  I also broke out a word card game, Scrabble Slam (thanks mom!), to practice making words with them.  Playing cards is actually illegal here (maybe it’s just gambling) so when they saw how proficient I was at shuffling they squealed with delight!  Through some miming and “tenglish” they explained about cards being illegal and I just gave them a little smirk and said “mai pen rai,” which I think really made their day.

I’ve also taught them the word “rules.”  We’ve had classroom rules since day 1, but “rules” is currently a vocab word.  Rs, Ls and ending consonants are difficult for Thai speakers…so imagine how this word really threw them off.  Discouraged, they seemed to almost give up.  Instead of letting them, I wrote a thai letter on the board, ง, and asked them to pronounce it.  They perfectly pronounced the Nga Ngu.  And then I tried…and failed.  This letter is really hard for English speakers.  Sure we make this sound at the end of words like sing and thing, but making this sound at the beginning is nearly impossible.  It seemed to be a really meaningful learning moment for them and they were more motivated to say the word “rules.”  

While not without some typical frustrations, there it is, the best week in a nutshell…no crazy festival, no traveling adventures; just small, unplanned, perfect moments.

For pictures of my hula-hooping friends:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068466&id=1326450028&l=068b9d4011

Thai Thanksgiving

On Wednesday afternoon I found out that I would not be teaching either Thursday or Friday because of a leadership camp my school was hosting – which turned out to be more of the presentations similar to the ones at the temple a few weeks ago.  It was unfortunate for my students, but I was excited to have a “thanksgiving break.”

Knowing that I didn’t want to spend Thanksgiving Thursday cooped up in my cabin alone all day, I made plans to go observe Rita and Peter teach.  They are the volunteers that live farthest from me, so having two days off was perfect to make the trip worthwhile.  I was supposed to head to Rita’s school, Chok Amnuay, Wednesday evening, but instead Nit and I took a death-defying bike ride that made it too late to head to Rita’s.  Makes me wonder why it’s not safer to go by myself?  Ok, enough of my independence issues (more on this at a later date), and back to the fun!

Thursday morning I arrived at Rita’s just in time to walk to school with her and meet some of her students.  I always find it helpful to observe other teachers and get ideas from them, so I was really excited for the day.  As Rita was showing off her school, we ran into two of her teachers that told her school was cancelled for today because of some academic competition.  Mai pen rai…off to Peter’s we go!  We got to Peter’s school and many of the students were in the courtyard practicing for the color games (a week of school sports competitions that most elementary schools hold).  Only 2 of his classes showed up, but it was great to sit and chat and compare teaching notes.

Rita and I got back to her village just in time for our Thanksgiving feast!  She eats at a restaurant every night, and they cook her wonderful meals.  I was so thankful for someone to share a meal with on Thanksgiving, and the owner of the restaurant even gave us ice cream as our dessert! We got back to her house and watched a movie and quickly fell asleep.  The next morning we headed into NKP (after skyping in to various family thanksgivings) to meet Nit and watch the province’s culture show (I think that’s what it was).  But it required us to sit and listen to people speak thai for about 4 hours.  After about 15 minutes, Nit says to me “I don’t think you understand this. Paaw Aaw says to pretend we go to bathroom and we walk around outside.” Alright!  There were a lot of cool exhibits in the school’s field from all over Asia, so it was awesome to ditch the boring stuff and look around a bit. 

Then we all headed back to Kut Chim and completed many errands and some mashed potato shopping.  We had a lazy Saturday morning, and then it was time for Rita and I to get cooking.  Washing, peeling, and cutting all the tiny Thai potatoes took about 45 minutes – and then it was time to get the water boiling. Note to self:  boiling water in a giant pot over a tiny fire takes a loooong time.  We watched the pot not boil for a while, but then we headed off to lunch at my favorite, and only, restaurant in the village.  The place only serves Goi Tiow, which most closely resembles chicken noodle soup – except when it has chicken feet and pig blood in it (thankfully not at the place I frequent).  Gen had been dropped off by this time and when we arrived back to the house the potatoes were boiling and finished.  The 3 of us quickly got to mashing, and the potatoes came out perfect!

We headed off to Peter’s and assembled our pot-luck Thanksgiving feast!  We had all the usual fixings, albeit Thai-style and a little….off.  We ate off the floor and made make-shift platters out of beer boxes and plastic bags.  We were also able to share our traditions with some beloved Thai guests: Rambo (the security guard from Pla Pak), Pi Nok (Jes’ roommate and the amazing sister of WorldTeach), Pornchai (the education office’s director), and some random guy that drove Zach and crashed the party hahaha. While it didn’t really feel like Thanksgiving, we had a wonderful time and I’m so happy to have the WorldTeach family to share it all with.

No Thankgiving post would be complete without a list of things I am thankful for:

1. Family and Friends back home – Thank you for all of your love and support for this journey of mine.  I love getting your emails and calls that, no matter how seemingly mundane, mean the world to me. They keep me sane while I navigate this new world of mine.
2. WorldTeach Kru – You are the greatest support system to have here in Thailand.  Weekly gatherings and frequent emails keep me going and motivated to help my students “beat the system.”  I love you all.
3. My Host Family

Nit (mother)– For understanding me, despite our language barriers. For understanding when I’ve had enough and am overwhelmed.

Loi (father) – For the silent support and anticipation of what I need. He brings me whatever I’m in need of, without me asking, and without saying a word.

Cinto (brother, age 22)– For finally conversing with me and slowly overcoming his shyness.

Bo (sister, age 24, lives in Bangkok) – For the weekly check-ins by phone.

Chang (brother, age 19, at college somewhere) – Although I haven’t met him yet, I am looking forward to his arrival next week.

Pi (dog) – For being the best protector and questionable food eater in all of Thailand.

4. My students – The brightest part of my days. Some of my m.1s asked if they could have English class every day – and I’ve recently seen them show up in some classes that they aren’t actually a part of.  When I tried to convey Thanksgiving to my m.3s, I told them I was sad I’d be missing it at home.  2 minutes later, in unison, they said, “We love you Teacher Malee” (Malee is my Thai nickname and has completely replaced Heather).
5. Kut Chim Teachers – For always asking “Are you happy?” and wondering what the heck I eat for breakfast (breakfast, or differing meals for that matter, don’t exist here), but I eat an American breakfast of cereal or PBJ everyday.
6. My independence – While struggling with this here, I’ve become accustomed to cherish whatever freedom I do have, and work towards getting more. It was something I took for granted in the states, which I will never do again.  I’ve learned the value of independence, and for that I am thankful.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope yours was as special as mine was.

For Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071401&id=1326450028&l=604b774afe

Surin Elephants and Loy Kratong!

Last Friday evening all of the volunteers converged in NKP for a weekend of, you guessed it, more festivals!  We spent most of the night catching up on stories from the last week and watching Takraw, which is an insane sport, and awesome to watch.  Its basically volleyball, but played with feet instead of hands.  The kicks and flips the players do are incredible.

At midnight we piled into vans and were off to Surin to see the Elephant Round-Up. We got to our hotel around 6 am, dropped off our bags and were off to the stadium.  We wandered around the makeshift market set up for the event and had a breakfast of sticky rice and fried eggs, as “breakfasty” as you can get in a market. 

The cast of characters around were quite unusual to see.  First, there were the elephants – just roaming the streets until it was time to put on the show.  What a sight to see!  But perhaps the strangest sight of all was all of the tourists.  Everywhere we looked we would see a Farang (white foreigner).  Almost two months into our Thai adventure, we’d become completely accustomed to being the only farangs in town, with the few ex-pat or creepy husband exceptions. Here in NKP we play a game that entails earning points for spotting a farang (very similar to Yellow Car, I win!) but playing in Surin was impossible because of all the tourists.  It was definitely weird, especially because it was a lot harder to point out and gather all of us together.  We did find another volunteer group, CIEE, and were able chat with them a bit at first in the night market, and then again when they showed up at the same bar we’d found later that night.  Having looked into CIEE before deciding on WorldTeach, I was interested to see how their program compared.  To make a long story short, while their stipends are 3 times as much as ours (totally unnecessary), I am so glad I went with WorldTeach. 

Anyway, back to the elephants!  It was an incredible show, and so cool to see all those elephants all together.  The elephants and Thai performers reenacted religious and historical events, including an outrageous battle that included legitimate artillery.  By far my favorite part of the show was when they had the elephants do tricks and then play a soccer match!  It was like polo, but with elephants, and the elephants actually kicked the ball.  The elephants all displayed so much personality that it was hilarious to watch!

We spent the rest of the day napping and exploring the city of Surin, which was pretty cool.  We headed back to NKP bright and early Sunday morning to make it back to our villages to celebrate Loy Kratong.  Loy Kratong is an important holiday in Thailand, where people float (loy) either lanterns or small boats in the river to release all of their bad thoughts.  I celebrated in That Phanom, where the sight of all the kratongs was amazing.  Both the river and the sky were lit by these gorgeous creations.  After releasing all of my bad thoughts, I asked to be returned home, where I could catch up on my sleep and plan for the week’s lessons.

For Pictures:  

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070603&id=1326450028&l=601641ef80

Next blog, coming soon (I promise)... Thanksgiving – Thai Style!

Weekend of Festivities!

This past weekend was full of festivities.  After just a half day of school on Friday (Paaw Aaaw moved my classes to the morning so I didn’t have to miss any!) I was able to go home and spend a much-needed afternoon resting.  Turns out though, that I couldn’t rest!  For the past 6 weeks it’s been a constant go, go, go, that being faced with a few hours without plans was quite a conundrum.  I had the internet, I had a kindle full of books, but it just didn’t seem real that I didn’t have a single ounce of work to do.  Laundry was done, lessons were planned, cabin was clean and finally settled. I wanted to go out and do something, but since no one was at my host family’s home, I was told to stay in.  I’m hoping to get a bike soon (thanks to Gen’s host mom, Pi Mok) so a leisurely ride through the village and rice paddies would be a perfect lazy afternoon activity!

After a few hours of pacing (literally – I had NO idea what to do with myself) Gen came over to go to a wedding with me and my family.  My host dad, Loi’s, friend’s daughter was getting married, so of course we could go to the party. It was actually pretty tacky and not at all what I was expecting of a Thai wedding.  Apparently though, the actual ceremony had been in the morning, so we were only attending the party.  As soon as we arrived we were ushered to an area where we were to take a picture WITH the bride and groom.  Never met them before, no idea who they were, but still, we took a picture with them, and they seemed to thinking nothing of having complete strangers, farangs no less, at their wedding.  The rest of the wedding was like a typical Thai party – karaoke, too much food on too many plates, a lot of whiskey, and a lot of people.  We didn’t stay very long, but we did go to another restaurant to eat a second dinner (remember what I said about too much food?!?) with some of my family’s friends.  It was fun, even though there was no real purpose of us being there.

The next day some volunteers met up at Gen’s house for an American dinner and a mini string tying ceremony.  It was great to see everyone in such a relaxed atmosphere.  Pi Mok’s house is incredibly comfortable, and as I’ve stayed there before, it felt like home to me, too.  The dinner, however, was weird.  We made spaghetti, breaded chicken, and garlic broccoli.  It was weird to eat such bland food after all the spices we’re used to.  It was still good, don’t get me wrong, but the spaghetti could have used a little chili sauce.  During dinner Pi Mok wanted to do a string-tying ceremony with us, which was really nice.  It was quiet and intimate, and really special.  I’d heard her asking the other volunteers to be her friends, but when she got to me, she asked if I would be her daughter!  It was really special to be so close with another host mom, and its great to know that if I’m ever stuck in a rut (or at the saawng tao stop without a ride) I have another caring woman to call.  After dinner, we sat out on Gen’s balcony (yeah, she basically lives in a palace by thai standards) and had a really great conversation about all sorts of things.  It was a beautiful night, and it was so nice to spend it outside with close friends.

The next morning we awoke pretty late (late is 7am) to prepare pancakes and French toast.  As we were cooking though, Nit called and told us to pack up the food and bring it back to my house.  Nit had planned a string-tying ceremony for me that morning, and wanted all the other volunteers to be a part of it.  When we pulled up to my house there was a tent set up in the driveway covering tables and tables of food.  There were a bazillion cars there and just about every person I’ve met since being in Kut Chim. We sat on my porch and the village elder presided over the ceremony.  Then, all the guests came around and tied strings around our wrists.  While they tie the string, they say things such as “have a happy year, good health, to be wise, etc.”  It’s a really special ceremony and meaningful in the Thai culture to wish someone well who is undergoing some sort of life transition.  I can’t even imagine all the tears that will fall from my face when they have a ceremony for when I leave Thailand.

Perhaps the best part of the day was that I was able to share it with some other volunteers.  While I wish all of them were able to come, I was so happy to have the seven that did.  For one, the whole ceremony and party would have been pretty overwhelming had I been alone.  But I loved sharing my home and family with all the other volunteers. We’re all in such different situations that I wondered what they would think of mine and what they would think of my family.  While I didn’t get a chance to get their opinions, Nit sure had some of friends.  Nit immediately wanted Zach to come back every weekend and be friends with my host brother, Cinto.  Cinto is 22 and incredibly shy (he won’t even say a word to me, and was sweating in the 5 minutes he made an appearance at the party).  Zach made one comment to him, and Nit was delighted and insisted he come visit often!  Zach is a superstar in Thailand.  He picks up languages in a jiffy, so his thai is half decent, not to mention the fact that all the girls swoon over him all the time.  Peter made quite an impression on her as well, and as soon as she heard he doesn’t have a thai “family” she wanted him to be her son.  When I informed her that she and Peter are the same age, she was disappointed but settled on being friends instead.  My host father, Loi, has not spoken one word of English the entire time I’ve been here, but wanted to impress my friends so much that he tried his best to tell them to “come back soon!”

The party went on all day long. 9 am – 9pm.  It was a long day, but very special.  Its been 3 days now, so I can finally cut the strings from my wrist and place them over my bed, and remove the banana leaf sculpture from my bedroom.  All of this tradition is to ensure that I have a happy and healthy stay in Thailand. 

To see pictures (and more of my house and students): 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068466&id=1326450028&l=068b9d4011

Back at school, things are going well.  My biggest frustration is attendance.  There’s a huge festival this weekend (Loy Kratong) that the students are preparing for.  That means only half the students in my classes actually show up.  I’m hoping it’s just because of this special occasion, but I don’t want to teach new material to only half the kids.  I’ve just been teaching lessons again with different activities, which has proven to be a really helpful refresher for the students that do come to class.

I’ve been relatively bored at school, with more free time than I know what to do with.  So I asked my Paaw Aaw if I could teach more.  Starting the next full week of school (who knows when that’ll be – hopefully soon), I’ll be seeing each of my classes 3 times a week instead of two.  This adds 6 hours to my schedule and he and other teachers were all concerned that I would be too busy.  I ensured him that I wanted more classes and that it would be good for the students.  Its still only 18 teaching hours a week and only 3 lessons to plan, but I’m grateful for more to do.  I was feeling that my time and energy wasn’t being used to its greatest potential, so I feel a lot better about that now.

My m.3 (9^th grade) class is my favorite.  I’ve never been one to pick favorites, but if I could end every day with my m.3’s it would just make my day.  I don’t know what it is about them, but they just seem to understand everything so much better than the other grades.  Activities go more smoothly, and in general, they just have so much more fun than the other classes.  They’re the only class that I saw twice the first week of school, and they asked me to be their advisor (still no idea what that entails) so maybe they’re just more invested in learning English.  I’ve also taken mini field trips with them to a fabric store, so I guess I’ve spent more time with these students outside of class too, which probably helps my rapport with them anyway.

Now its time for… Heather’s (Mis)Adventures in Thailand:

1. My family got a new washing machine.  Actual machines are few and far between in Thailand, so they had no idea how to use it. Guess who they asked?  Even though all the instructions were in Thai and the water hose is still manual they assumed I’d know exactly what to do.  Hilarity ensued.

2. I went to clip my fingernails out my window.  The clippers slipped and fell right into the pond. I was worried I’d have to turn into a nail-biter, but luckily Tesco pulled through and I found others.

3. Cinto had to use the family truck to deliver oil, so Nit and I had to take his motorbike home last night.  I was wearing a skirt. I was holding my purse. And my laptop. On the way, our dog, Pi, found us and started chasing us home and nipping at my heels. Interesting ride.

4. My computer cord broke this morning.  I was almost in tears with frustration and knowing it would be weeks before I could get a new one from the states.  I rely on my computer for everything, lesson planning, communicating with friends and family at home, multiple daily worldteach emails, entertainment, posting this blog, etc.  I was not happy.  When I showed Nit, we took a detour to a computer store in That Phanom on our way to school. About $5 and an hour later the cord was fixed, and I made it to school with plenty of time to spare before my first class. Mai Pen Rai prevailed today...of course now Nit basically buckles in my laptop whenever we get into the car hahahaha.

Next time: My trip to Surin for the Elephant Round-Up and Loy Kratong this weekend!

Na Khae Temple Trip and Daily Fun

Last Thursday and Friday I took a special trip to a mountain temple in the neighboring district of Na Khae.  I was really nervous about missing 2 days of school the very first week, but my host mom kept reassuring me it was OK.  On the drive their my host mom spent a lot of time on the phone with my Paaw Aaw, so of course I was thinking the worst, and she was explaining to him why I wasn’t at school, and he was mad, etc.  As we drive up the mountain though, who do I see?  ALL of my students!  Turns out it was a school trip, and I had no reason to be worried after all.  The scenery was absolutely gorgeous.  It sort of reminded me of my trip to Meteora in Greece in the way that they are both breathtaking worship sites teetering on the side of a mountain with beautiful views of the world below.

I was expecting a peaceful weekend of reflection and prayer…but that is exactly what did not happen.  After touring the temple a bit and unpacking, the students were ushered into a lecture hall where they were given a 6 hour presentation about the unrest in the south of Thailand.  The southern 3 provinces are Muslim and there is religious conflict because of it.  The hardest thing for me was trying to understand.  Obviously the presentation was in Thai, so I had to look at the pictures and ask very simple questions of the other teachers, without getting into any opinion things.  The pictures and video were extremely violent, and they showed images of Jihad and of September 11.  All of this led me to believe that this was an anti-Muslim presentation.  I asked one of the teachers if they were telling the students whether Muslims were good or bad, and she said, “They are bad. They are very violent and they want to take over our country for oil.”  To top it all of, in the middle of the presentation, the facilitators made the students do these army type squats that made most of them faint after only a few.  

I was incredibly uncomfortable through most of it, especially because I couldn’t understand the message the students were supposed to get or the purpose of it.  Not only that, but because of language restraints, I couldn’t tell them my views.  I’m certain they think that I think all Muslims are bad, especially because of the September 11 photos.  There is no way for me to communicate that that is most definitely not the case, and they wouldn’t be able to understand the reasons why I don’t bear that intolerance.  Hopefully once my students and I get more comfortable with each other I will be able to at the very least send them some sort of message that I did not agree with most of that presentation.  I thought strongly of getting up and walking out, but I didn’t know how that action would later reflect on me.  

There were some saving graces to the trip though, the scenery just being one of them.  After the presentation I wanted to walk to the top of the mountain to watch the sunset, but of course Nit wouldn’t let me go alone.  Rather than scrounge up another teacher, I told her I would take some students with me.  It was during their shower time and resting time before dinner, but I asked some of the students anyway, and a few came with me.  As other students figured out what was going on they followed, and even some students who had just gotten out of the shower threw their towels over their shoulders and climbed the mountain barefoot to see the sunset with me.  At this point I’d only had one class with them, but it was so special that they wanted to share that with me.  

Before heading to bed, I had a chance to chat for a while with Nit and one of the other young teachers at my school.  It was a great conversation and I found out a little more about the education system of Thailand, specifically how they do their special education.  Knowing that a lot of countries just kind of ignore students with learning disabilities, I was very pleased to find out that in Thailand, they include these students with the rest, and that I even have some special ed (LD as they are referred to here) students in some of my classes.  They also told me that in some of the bigger schools they make classes by students GPA, and only the top students have access to the better teachers, which they view as unfair too.  

I’ve really enjoyed all of my chats with Nit, and we are able to get into some pretty deep topics even with the limited vocabulary we share.  When we returned from the temple, we went to her rice farm and spent an hour or so sitting on the napping deck in the middle of the paddy and chatting about her kids and sharing about our lives at home.  

In all, I view Kut Chim as one of the better schools that I’ve heard about.  Most teachers actually teach during their classes, and the students only roam free a few periods a day as opposed to most at other schools.  My Paaw Aaw is incredibly involved, and even had a meeting with all the parents on the 2^nd day of school (during which I had to introduce myself of course).  I’ve even seen a few parents come in for meetings about their kids, which I’m pretty sure is unheard of at most Thai schools.

Now that I’ve done all the deep stuff, here’s a treat:  Heather’s Misadventures in Thailand:

1. I saw a scorpion in the middle of the night in the bathroom at the temple.  I watched it for a while, wondering what the heck I should do about it.  When it wandered into the shower, I locked it in there.  And then I shut the door of the bathroom too, but I was sleeping on the floor, so I worried about it all night.  I woke up alive though, so that’s good.
2. Nit had some students help move the dirt piles left over from construction of my house.  She paid them for it, but I insisted that I help make them dinner.  I made dinner outside and thought it was the long grass that was itchy around my ankles. Turns out mosquitoes were the culprit and now have bug bites for feet.  This of course comes after Peter gave me a mosquito net, so they were extra concerned about me and the bugs. Nit now comes to my house every morning and night and rubs some weird smelling Chinese cream on all my bug bites. It’s actually working.
3. The plastic covering was still on my mattress, but the sheets had been put on the bed when I moved in, so I thought there was some reason the plastic was still there.  I woke up every morning with the sheets sliding off and my skin stuck to the bed.  When I showed Nit, she started laughing hysterically and ripped the plastic off.  I guess she only kept it on so that I would know that it was new. 
4.  As part of one of my lessons, I took pictures of my students.  I didn’t remember though, that appearances are everything here in Thailand.  At the sight of my camera, out came mirrors, baby powder, and combs, and the students took about 20 minutes to do the whole thing, when I had planned for 2.

For pictures of Na Khae Temple:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069087&id=1326450028&l=28f088f212

And so it begins...

I started school in Thailand on Monday, and it was a great day!  I introduced myself correctly (I think) to the students, and didn’t commit too many thai faux pas – with the exception of not taking off my shoes when I went into my Paaw Aaw’s office…oops!  No one said anything, so I hope they didn’t notice.

Not knowing the ability of my students or my actual schedule, I didn’t prepare too much for the lessons I would teach. I knew I would introduce the rules and try to gauge their letter sense and sentence building with a game of Hangman.  I teach m.1 – m.6…the equivalent of grades 7-12.  The first class I taught was m.3 and it went really well.  The students also asked if I would be their advisor.  After not being able to figure out what that means in terms of responsibilities, I agreed anyway and received loud cheers of approval from the students.  I hope I didn’t get myself into something I cannot do because of time/language restraints. 

My other classes went just as well, and I enjoyed meeting all the teachers at my school.  The school is very small, so there are only about 10 teachers, only 6 of whom I have frequent contact with.  There are about 140 students, so class sizes aren’t too big considering Thai standards.  M.1- m.3 classes are larger, with probably 30 students. But after m.3, school is not mandatory so my m.5 class has only 9 students, and my m.6 has only 6 students, which will make these classes more intimate and probably allow me to do different things. 

I see each class twice a week, so I only teach 12 classes (for now, they’ve already added a 13^th which may or may not be permanent) a week.  Due to the relatively low English level of my students, I can teach the same lesson to all of the classes with only a few minor changes based on grade level.  This gives me A LOT of planning time.  For instance, this morning when I came to school I had 4 hours before teaching my first lesson.  Most of the other teachers have similar schedules, so many like to come to my desk and practice their English.  I showed them pictures from home, and they all tried to plan when they would come to the states for a visit!  Eventually, I’ll try to set up a time or two each week during school for English practice with the other teachers.  Also, I can bring my own computer to school and plan here, while chatting online to friends back home, or downloading a TV show I can then watch before going to bed.  There seems to be limited materials for me to use, as my students don’t have English workbooks and the teachers seem to bring their own paper to use in the printer and copier. 

So far, I have always had a Thai teacher in the room with me while I teach, as requested in our contracts.  This technically isn’t necessary, and I’m hoping they’ll eventually ease up.  Many of the teachers translate a lot of what I say to the students, which is helpful right now, but will probably hinder student learning in the long run.  That being said, the teachers are so eager to learn English I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to attend as many of my classes as they can. 

My Paaw Aaw is great.  He looks a little like the guy from the Dharma videos on LOST, so naturally I was a little scared of him at first.  But he’s a great guy.  He has his own office, but spends most of his time in the teacher’s room hanging out.  He brought me presents on the first day: a lighted Thailand paperweight, a beaded belt, and my personal favorite – 3 bright pink frilly curtains to cover up the beautiful wooden windows of my home. Such is life in Thailand.

For lunch each day, all the teachers contribute something, and we eat family style in the teacher’s room, Paaw Aaw included.  It is really nice, because it helps me get to know the other teachers better.  Yesterday we ate Som Tam, a spicy papaya salad which is a staple in the Isan diet.  The som tam I have had thus far has all been milder, but of course this one wasn’t.  My mouth was on fire! Luckily, there was plenty of fresh fish to wash it all down with.  The food here isn’t bad, and I’ve been successful at trying everything without getting sick, but I can sense myself getting sick of rice and soup.  Thankfully I can make my own breakfast, so the pb+j sandwiches help to even out all the other food I’ve been eating. 

Nit, my host mom, is great!  She is very friendly and so concerned with how I am doing.  She always asks me if I have good dreams and if there is anything that she can do for me.  My host father, Loi, is busy with his brothers finishing my bathroom, complete with a western toilet! I’m excited about that, even though I’ve gotten used to the whole squatting thing.  The men at home are also busy caulking all the gaps in the wood of my house to keep the bugs and geckos out.  So far neither has been a problem at all, but I appreciate their concern. 

Tomorrow through Saturday I will be going on some sort of Buddhist retreat (I think – translation about these plans were rough to say the least).  Nit brought me to Tesco to buy a lot of white clothes and she said we were going to be with nature, so this is my best guess about what is going on.  I’d communicated that I’d rather not be missing school, but I don’t have much choice in the matter.  That’s going to be the hardest thing to get used to – not having as much control over myself as I’m accustomed.  Someone says “go,” I go. Someone says “eat,” I eat.  It will be hard to get used to, but its also allowing me to have some truly unique experiences – the retreat this weekend is sure to be the same!

End of Orientation

Unfortunately, this entry will need to be brief.  A lot has happened in the past week, and in an effort to not bore you to tears, I’ll try to be as brief as possible while still including the most information.

Last weekend we went to That Phanom for a dance festival in the morning.  That Phanom is the largest temple in Nakhon Phanom province, and it is really impressive.  The 7 districts of Nakhon Phanom brought their dancers for a huge show in front of the temple, so there were probably 1000 thai dancers in unison there.

Thais like to combine their holidays, so on that same day there was also the Fireboat Festival back in NKP, the harvest festival, the end of the rainy season festival, the full moon festival, and the anniversary of the most famous king’s death. Last Saturday was certainly a party day.  And party we did.

We left That Phanom and headed straight to NKP to Pi Dtao’s house (right on the river, with a beautiful view from the roof deck).  Pi Dtao is Sarah’s host mother and a great friend to WorldTeach.  She invited all 15 of us to stay in her home that night, and she is also planning our trip to Surin for the elephant round-up coming up in a few weeks.

Speaking of elephants, I finally saw one in NKP that day!  They are usually brought around for festivals, which would explain why I also caught a glimpse of one parallel parked in between 2 cars in That Phanom as well.

NKP was bustling with activity, from riverfront makeshift markets, to parades, to a million street vendors selling dried squid and other questionable items (more on my recent culinary adventures in a bit).  We sprinted through an overwhelming carnival to get to one of the main streets in time to catch the end of the wax temple parade.  All the villages make elaborate temples out of wax and parade them through the streets.  To keep them from melting, they have people spraying the temples with water alongside the trucks.

After the parade, Rita and I decided to forgo nap/shopping time to go with Jes to her home to get more sleeping supplies. On the way we ran into Nell (that girl was the easiest person to find ever, she seemed to pop up everywhere….miss you Nell!) and went to her house instead to get more pillows and blankets to bring to Pi Dtao’s.  Nell was living with Pi Nok, one of the women who also work in the educational office in NKP.  Pi Nok is the sweetest woman, very easy to get along with and be comfortable with, especially as compared to the number of overbearing thai women we’ve been in contact with.  Now that Nell has moved back to the states, I’m so excited that Jes has decided to move into her room at Pi Nok’s, so we’ll be able to stay in touch with her.  Immediately upon entering her home, she hugged Rita and I as though we were family, which is rare in thai culture. 

After a while of calm at her house in the outskirts of the city, we headed back to the river to get ready for our night of fireboats and fun! After dinner at a restaurant named “Good Morning Vietnam” we searched for the perfect viewing spot on the riverfront to see the elaborately decorated boats aflame floating down the river.  It truly was a spectacular sight.  (For more info about the festival visit this website: http://www.north-by-north-east.com/articles/10_04_2.asp)

To see photos from both That Phanom and NKP festivals, see my album on facebook here (no need to be member of facebook): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067867&id=1326450028&l=d377cdf30d

After a night of partying away and dancing (gasp!) at the Duck Pub (who’s owner is very conveniently Rambo’s brother), we woke up early to get a start with errands for the day.  After wandering around the city and picking up necessary items, we headed to Mr. Narong’s house for lunch.  His home was beautiful and the food was amazing.  And of course there was thai dancing as well.  Someone took photos and video, which you can see here hahaha: http://www.krunarong.net/obec/index.php?mod=gallery_update&id_update=3&block=&path=web/gallery

Back at Pla Pak, we finished up the last few days of our practicum, which was a lot of fun and a great experience.  We were also there for Pla Pak Wit’s first day of school, so of course during their opening assembly we had to introduce ourselves in Thai. Yikes.

The PaawAaw of Pla Pak threw us a going away party on Wednesday night, which was a lot of fun. We were worried it would be like our welcoming party in which the whole community was invited.  Being our last night together, we wanted a smaller gathering…which was exactly what we got!  We all were able to fit at 4 tables and the only other attendees were teachers and staff that we were directly involved with. Karaoke and Thai dancing were a must!  The party ended early, so of course Rambo brought reinforcements and we had an after-party back at the school.

The next day I went to Gen’s home because my host family was traveling from China.  It was so nice to have my own room and be able to sleep in a real bed (rock hard, but real). Gen’s host mom is adorable and was so much fun.  She knew very little English but somehow we managed to make it work just fine.

When we visited Gen’s school on Friday, she got a huge surprise.  Her school had already started back up again and she was expected to teach her regular schedule starting that day. I found this awesome and hilarious because I got to sit back and watch, but I could tell Gen was a little nervous – but she handled the whole thing like a pro!

After school, my host mom, Nit, and her daughter, Bo, came to (I thought) pick me up, but we ended up only going out to dinner instead.  Nit had a test for her master’s degree the next day and arrived home late from China, so she didn’t want to take me to her home that night. Mai Pen Rai…we had fun at dinner and shopping.  Bo is 23 as well, and it was a lot of fun to be shown around by someone my age.  Unfortunately Bo has already moved back to Bangkok where she works, but I hope she visits home often so I can spend more time with her.

Upon finding out I would be picked up Saturday evening, we started to make plans to meet up with friends in NKP for the day.  So early Saturday morning, we headed to a saawng tao, and made our way into town.  We met a few other volunteers at Merengue, a great café where you can get “American” breakfasts aka ham and CHEESE sandwiches. We did a little shopping, went to Jes’s home to pick up our work permits, and enjoyed each other’s company as we are unsure of when we’ll see each other next.

Back at Gen’s home, I awaited Nit’s arrival and finally moving into my house.  It was late evening before I got there, but the whole family was around to have dinner on my porch and awkwardly hang out as I unpacked.  The house is beautiful and the amenities are even better.  My very own bathroom is not done yet, but should be within the next few days.  I have 2 full closets, one of which has a vanity-ish thing too.  A brand new fridge, fan, washing machine, and rice cooker round out the basics.  But the best part is that my bed and pillows aren’t rock hard. By no means can you sink into it, but you can press it down a millimeter or 2.

Last night Nit had a student stay in the house with me, which was also awkward, but it isn’t customary for anyone in Thailand to live alone.  I think I was able to communicate that it was fine to be by myself, and honestly, this house just isn’t big enough for 2 people.  Its just one room that the bed takes up half of. Regardless, this poor girl followed me everywhere, even to the bathroom when I got up in the middle of the night.

This morning, Nit had me come with her to her master’s degree class. She thought I’d be able to work in the library while she was in class, but the librarian’s dad was drunk or something and left the room locked.  So, what did I do for 3 hours instead?  Sat in class and listened to people speak Thai.  It wasn’t that bad, because no one actually paid any attention.  Everyone was having side conversations, passing around pictures from China, talking on their phones, or taking umpteen coffee breaks in the middle of people’s presentations.  It was definitely weird, but I was just passed from table to table, meeting Nit’s classmates and trying my best to politely refuse people wanting private English lessons or wanting to send their cousins/sisters/nieces to come live in my room with me. 

After class I was ready to get back home and work on organizing my space and preparing to teach tomorrow, but no.  Instead, we went to a party at a restaurant along the Mekong River for all the grad students.  Karaoke and Thai dancing were a given.  It was fun and everything, but I was not prepared for the whole thing, and I had so much going through my head that a party was the last place I wanted to be.  Thankfully, I think Nit could sense that I didn’t really want to be there, so she said, “Let’s go back to my home, and you take sleep” Somehow she knew exactly what I wanted/needed.  So here I am, freshly napped, unpacked, ready for tomorrow, and reminiscing about the last week with a beautiful view of my pond out the window.  My work in Thailand officially starts now, and I can’t wait for all that’s to come. 

Things I’ve learned in Thailand so far:

1.      Be careful what you compliment.  Peter said he liked Mr. Narong’s traditional shirt.  The next day 14 were delivered for us all to have.

2.      Be careful what you say.  One mention of ice cream or a snack or anything you might theoretically want, you’ll get, within only a matter of moments, whether you actually wanted it or not.

3.      Don’t ask what it is you’re eating.  It’s better to be left in the dark.  I know I’ve eaten fried crickets and squid. But the other stuff is a mystery.  It was probably liver and fish eyes, but I’m happy with just pretending that its not.

4.      Be rip-roi. Always. Rip-roi translates literally as finished, but in Thailand its used as a term for a put-together appearance.  You never know who you’re going to meet, whether or not you have to introduce yourself to hundreds of people, or what.  Better safe than sorry, so I leave the house wearing the nice stuff everyday. 

5.      Have toilet paper in your purse/pocket at all times.

 

Pictures:

All of Orientation (now including Farewell Party): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066924&id=1326450028&l=aed4d0e521

My New Home: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068466&id=1326450028&l=068b9d4011

NKP Scavenger Hunt and Day 1 of Teaching!

This past weekend we went into Nakhon Phanom again, but this time for a scavenger hunt.  Michelle, Amanda, and Zach were on my team and we were the Lemon team.  So of course, our first order of business was to get lemons at the Fresh Market. They actually don’t have lemons here, so we had to get the yellowest oranges we could find (which are actually green…hmmm).  For the scavenger hunt, we had to get pictures of about 20 items/places, and we wanted our lemons to be in each and every picture to help represent the team.  We also wanted to practice speaking with as many people as possible, so we wanted people to be in our pictures holding lemons too.  This caused quite a few hilarious moments throughout the day…especially with the Tuk Tuk drivers and the police-man.

The most memorable part of the day was when we went to the SP Hotel (the “official” hotel of WorldTeach visits to the city).  While we were there we figured it would be a good place to ask for directions to Jes’ office, which we knew was farther away and hard to get to.  The hotel owner couldn’t quite describe it to us, so he decided to drive us instead.  For those of who are worried at this point, ahem Mom, don’t be.  He was the owner, and asked us a bunch of questions about last year’s volunteers, so it was pretty legit.  When we got to the office, we were so close to the finish line that we decided to end our hunt there, even though there were still 3 things left to find. We’d also heard (incorrectly) from another team that we were in the last places.  Turns out we were actually the 2^nd team to arrive to Jes’ apartment and would have had time to finish before the last team arrived. The scavenger hunt was a really great way to learn the city and figure out where all the necessities are. In our last visit, we just followed other people around like ducklings and had no idea how to get from one place to the next. 

It was good we cut our hunt short though, because Nakhom Phanom was hopping!  Because of the Fire Boat Festival (Rua Fi) this weekend, there were vendors from all over Thailand setting up shop, and one of the roads was closed for a huge market/carnival.  We’ll be heading back to the city this weekend (this time overnight) for the festival. I’m really excited about it because Nakhon Phanom is known for this festival, so I know it will be a great time.  The PA of Pla Pak also arranged for us to go early Saturday morning to That Phanom (the largest city/temple that my placement is closest to) for a huge dance show where 300 groups will be performing.

Back home at Pla Pak, orientation is officially over.  Yesterday we finished our last Thai and TEFL classes. Today we had our first of six days of Practicum.  Local students have volunteered to come to our classes during their vacation to learn a little more English and meet all the new farang. There are five practicum groups, 2 for high school and 2 for elementary.  Amanda and I are working together in our classroom of 45 high school students.  High school here is 7-12 grade, so we have the younger group for 2 hours each day. 

Because its their vacation, we didn’t want to do anything too academic, so we’re focused on building vocabulary while teaching them about American culture.  Today we went over rules and had a scavenger hunt to try to get to know each other better.  After Amanda’s part of the lesson and seeing the extreme shyness of my students I was worried about how the scavenger hunt would go. They seemed to just give us blank stares a lot. After modeling a bunch of times, and in smaller groups they finally got it, and the game took off! I was so impressed and excited that I got them talking to each other and me in English (I sneaked a question that only applied to me and Amanda on their hunt). It was a lot of fun, and I’m excited to get back in the classroom tomorrow!

Camp Thailand

On Saturday we took a trip in Nakhom Phanom (the provincial city).  J, the volunteer doing a second year, wanted to go into the city early in the morning so he’d be able to be back in time to return to his village to take a field trip with his students. He offered to show the rest of us the city as long as we were willing to wake up early to catch the first saawng tao (meaning “two benches”…basically in the back of a pickup truck)  into town.  Knowing that we had places to be and activities to do with the groups’ plan later in the morning, most of us took him up on his offer.  

We had a group of 12 or so people, so when we got to the saawng tao stop and saw that it was already full, we were bummed that we would have to wait for the next one in a half hour.  Instead, however, we decided to play a little game called “How many people can you fit in a saawng tao?”  The driver jumped out of the cab and into the back of the truck and pulled out a 3^rd bench and put it into the middle of the two benches (now it should be called a saam tao).  We crammed in and tried to intertwine our knees with the local’s, much to their amusement. The boys, of course, were hanging out of the back of the truck.

We were dropped off in NKP near the Fresh Market, where, during my group’s cultural observation later in the day, we observed people selling eels, skinned frogs, live fish, bunches of chili peppers, waffles, shoes, clothing, jewelry….basically anything you wanted or needed, you could find it there.  

After a brief exploration of the fresh market we headed to the river walk, where we could look across the river to the beautiful mountains of Laos.  While it was a hot, humid, hazy day the mountains were more hidden, but we could still see their beauty.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  The mountains are more like steep, rocky plateaus that just jut out from the landscape.  And its crazy to think that if we wanted too we could just swim across to an entirely different country. Surprisingly, however, in order to get the required documentation to travel to Laos, we have to go to the embassy in Bangkok.  

We explored a temple on the river too, to practice everything we learned about wai-ing monks and entering a temple respectfully.  It was a gorgeous temple, with gold and red paint on the outside, which beautiful scenes painted on the walls of the inside.  Everything was just ornate and really fancy looking, especially compared to the poverty right outside the temple grounds.  We then went to the IndoChina market, which, like the fresh market, had anything you wanted (with the exception of food).  After wandering around there for a bit, the slow-pokes in the 2^nd group met up with us to buy phones and get lunch.  

It just so happened that we were in NKP for the Chinese University’s Vegetarian Food Festival (odd, I know, but I have very few details about it other than that) where they serve free food once a year.  It was delicious…they served som tam (spicy papaya salad – an Isan staple) and some other really great food.  The vegetarian dishes here are always really great, and the fake meat is waaaay better than the fake meat in the US. We have a few vegetarians in our group, so there is always a veggie option for dinner, and one night I swore there was meat in it, but it turned out to be a soy protein that was awesome.

After our lunch we split up into our cultural observation groups where we were to spend time observing a busy community spot.  On the way back to the fresh market, we stopped at Tesco Lotus (a Target-esque department store) to stock up on toiletries and other items we would need.  I got all my shower stuff, some school supplies, and 2 shirts for $25. Not bad. Included in my shower supplies was my new favorite product – baby powder.  For one, it was the most extensive baby powder display I have ever seen anywhere, and there were kinds with sunscreen, whitening agents (Thai’s covet white skin, so almost all their lotions and potions contain some sort of bleach or something), different scents, etc.  But I’ll admit my favorite kinds are the ones with menthol to give your skin a nice, cool, tingle; and Sweety Pink, a pink-tinted baby powder to use on your face to sop up the sweat.  It was cool-ish when we first got here, but its been in the high 90s – low 100s this week, so the baby powder is a necessity.

After we finished at Tesco, Jackie, Zach, and myself headed back to the Fresh Market, where all the women thought Jackie and I were Zach’s wives (polygamy and cheating is expected here). One of the things that we’ve gotten used to is being stared out a lot and being called “Farang!” (white foreigner) all the time.  We’re certainly a novelty here, and people are curious about who we are.  Word travels fast though, and most of the people knew that we were volunteer teachers and some even knew which school J had worked at last year without ever having met him before. We explored a bit more and met back with the whole group at the sawn tao stop, where on the ride home, I think we had more people on it than in the morning.  

Orientation:

We’ve sort of formed a little Camp Thailand here in Pla Pak.  We do everything together, so there’s zero alone time, and very rarely any one-on-one time with anyone else in the group.  While it could be expected for us to have formed cliques or have had some personality conflicts, that is not the case.  My mom asked who my best friend here is, and I can’t answer that.  I feel like we’re all equally close (maybe the boys are little bit closer because there are fewer of them sharing their bedroom).  After the first week, we had to start splitting up for lunch because 15 people at a time overwhelmed the tiny restaurants near the school.  Instead of forming regular groups and forming cliques, we decided to have a lottery for lunch groups, so everyone would eat with different people every day.  We have breakfast and dish duty lists each week and Thai study sessions at night.  Once we finish studying, we take the projector from our classroom to one of the bedrooms, hook up a computer, and watch TV.  The show of choice is season 1 of Modern Family.  After that, we’re all asleep by 10 to be ready for another day of TEFL, Thai, Culture and, this week, Thai Dance lessons.  

That’s right, we’ve been learning traditional Thai dance for the last few days for an hour after lunch.  It’s a lot of fun, but takes a lot of coordination.  Peter, the oldest of our group and our Thailand “dad” had a little crush on our teacher, so that made it even more entertaining. Ajarn Oh, our Thai teacher, came to dance with us to help translate.  She’s the most adorable woman and a great teacher (we’re picking up Thai even more quickly now!).

Another person who has become a wonderful part of our Thailand family is Kate, a volunteer from last year, who is staying through our orientation to receive her TEFL certification.  TEFL wasn’t a required part of her orientation, so she decided to stick around to get it with us….and I think she just wanted to stay in Thailand as long as possible.  She’s been a great resource throughout our TEFL classes and about anything else we may have questions about.  We’ve already made the suggestion that a few of us stay through next year’s orientation, because it definitely has made it easier with her here.

The last new member of our Thailand family is Rambo (his “Thai” nickname…chosen for obvious reasons), the policeman assigned to be our security.  I’m not sure if he always works in Pla Pak, or was hired specifically to watch over us (although I’m not sure we need it).  His wife has family in the states, so he lived in Georgia for a while and worked with the FBI.  Sometimes he explains that the embassy has hired him for us, but I’m not quite sure if that’s the case.  Regardless, you can’t escape the man, somehow, some way, he knows where we are at all times.  The first day we went to lunch as a group without any experienced veterans we were all excited to see if we could order for ourselves and figure it out on our own.  We walked there, and as soon as we sat down, Rambo strolls up and takes a seat with us and helps us order.  So much for our independence.  He also followed Peter, Zach, Ben, and Rita on their site visits last week, for no apparent reason. He’s living in the chemistry room here at the school so he can watch our every move.  Tonight at dinner we were wondering aloud when the stores closed because some people wanted ice cream, but we never made any decisions about it.  Twenty minutes later, Rambo strolls up with 20 ice cream cones for the whole group.  

It’s typical of Thai culture to be so hospitable, but I never imagined that we would be so well cared for at all times.  It seems as though all of our wants and needs are anticipated and taken care of in advance.  

So there you have it, an explanation of the daily life here at Camp Thailand.  We’re so comfortable here that I’ve become a little anxious about going to my placement in Goot Chim, but I know that I’ll be as well cared for there as well.

For those who want it, here’s my contact info:

Email: heatherjohns87@gmail.com

Skype: heatherjohns

Mailing Address:

Heather Johns
c/o Jesica McDonough, WorldTeach Field Director
Nakhomphanom Educational Service Area Office 1
Klangmuang Road Tambol Nongsang
Aamphoe Muang
Nakhomphanom Province
48000
Thailand

Cell phone (incoming calls are free for me, so if you call from skype it would be super cheap for both of us): 

(+66) 083-338-9018

Site Visits!!!

Things have continued to go really well here in Thailand.  Yesterday we went to the local hospital to get a “check-up” to prove our health for our work permit.  Basically all we had to do was wait for them to fill out a form and tell them we didn’t have any diseases, and then they listened to our hearts. Done.

Today was really exciting though.  We got to visit our schools and living quarters.  We went in groups of four so we could also see where the volunteers who are closest to us are.  We started out at Michelle’s high school, where they had water, coffee, and snacks waiting for us.  Her P.A. (principal) was hilarious and incredibly welcoming.  There were also 2 women who I think are English teachers at her school who traveled with us all day and very fluent in English.  They also brought us to Michelle’s house where she’ll be living with Kerry.  The house was in the middle of being renovated, but you can already tell that it will be very nice.

Kerry’s schools were next. The first of her elementary schools was teeny tiny with only about 50 students, but it seemed very sweet, and they had water waiting for us.  The next of her schools was quite an experience.  We pulled up to the school courtyard, where about 100 of her future students were waiting.  There was also a little stage area set up (it may have been just for this occasion, but it may have been permanent).  The P.A. there prepared a speech in English and read it to us. Then he asked us all to introduce ourselves and say something to the students, which is something we were all a little unprepared for, to say the least.  We spoke in English, but I decided to try my hand at “yin tii dii dai ru jak ka” which means “nice to meet you” and as soon as I said it everyone laughed…which I guess was expected.

On the way to Gen’s school we stopped to take pictures at Wat Ranunakon and for a 7-11 bathroom break (which was clutch considering all the water we’d been offered and needed to drink).  We also bought small things in order to break our big baht bills.  Apparently 7-11’s are the only places that allow bills over 100….and we’re all saddled with 500 and 1000 baht bills from when we exchanged money (fyi, 1000 baht is the equivalent of roughly $30 US).

Next up was Gen’s school. They had water waiting for us (begin to see a pattern here?).  We toured her school and the palatial home she’ll be living in with one of the teachers whose sons all moved away. 

Then we traveled into the boonies for my school.  Michelle, Kerry, and Gen were all located on one of the main roads, but we turned onto a tiny village road for me. There were only clapboard houses and maybe only one convenience store. On the way to the school we passed a lotus pond with a new little house on its edge and I knew it was mine.  My P.A. and Nit were there waiting to introduce me to the English teacher (who is 8 months pregnant) and give us all water.  We toured the school, which seemed very nice and very similar to the other schools we visited.  Next, we all (and by that I mean my P.A, Nit, the English Teacher, and some of the other teachers) went to visit my pond house.  It is very picturesque (I’ll get photos up as soon as possible).  It is sitting over a lotus pond (it isn’t even touching land and all. Right now you have to jump to get onto my very sizable furnished porch, but there was wood there that I think they were going to try to make a bridge with.  The home itself was pretty small and unfurnished, but I was told I’d have a bed, cabinets, a pantry, fridge, tv, and wireless internet.  I’m not sure how all that will fit into the house but alright.  There also wasn’t a bathroom in the house, but Jes had told me it was in construction when she went there.  I’m assuming it will be some sort of outside bathroom so I don’t have to go traipsing through Nit and Loi’s home in the middle of the night.  I think I’ll be very comfortable there and I’m excited to move in and get settled!

On the way back, we stopped at Michelle’s assistant PA’s home and drank more water and listened to a whole bunch of people speaking Thai (I don’t think I’ve ever drank so much water in 3 hours in my life).

I think it was only a ½ hour in the car from my placement to Pla Pak and only about 10 minutes between Kerry/Michelle and Gen and myself as well, which is promising for biking purposes between towns. J, a volunteer staying for a 2^nd year is in the area too and has experience biking between our towns and is drawing a map for us to be able to get to eachother.