Into my fourth week...

 I ended my second week and began my third just north of the city of Nakhon in a little beach town called Khanom. A fellow teacher decided this was where she wanted to celebrate her birthday, so on Friday afternoon, Meghan and I piled into another van and set off. It was the perfect little getaway. The beach was just covered in the most beautiful shells! Originally intending to stay one night, I packed my bag accordingly. But one wonderful night turned into two- the beach was spectacular and so was the company and the weather. And I am so glad I stayed. Because on the second day, as we were all lounging about the “resort”, I spotted the elusive pink dolphin just offshore! I shouted it out and everyone ran down to the beach- it was just a couple dolphins swimming together lazily, but we got to watch them until they rounded the corner and our view was finally obstructed by the rocks. Apparently, pink dolphins are a very rare occurrence just offshore like that- people I was with who have been living here for 9 years hadn’t seen one single dolphin until this outing! Such a special sight!

This sent me back to the classroom excited and refreshed, ready to start a new week. Because we did a name card activity and a birthday/zodiac activity the first week, I now have every student’s name memorized- if they have to learn mine (Meaghan had to practice it with them- when they first heard it, they thought it was “Teacher Elephant” and went into hysterics), I should know all of theirs by the end of the first week at the latest! Thai people have their formal first names, such as Chontiya, Warakorn, and Worawut, and then they have their nicknames, which is what everyone calls them by. So I have students in my class whose nicknames are Thai-based, like Engprai and Sai, and then I have students with English ones, like Milk, Drive, Boat, and King. It’s been a lot of fun helping them explore their names- most haven’t really thought about their English meaning, or why their parents/grandparents might have named them these English words. As much as I would like to say it isn’t, these classes are very much like many American middle school classrooms I’ve been in- kids growing up, exploring their identity, testing boundaries with authority and with each other. Meaghan and I had to stop our after-school enrichment program at one point last week because about 6 of the girls were in tears and some of the boys were sitting sulkily with their arms crossed over their chests, and instead make the lesson about emotions and friendship and teenage angst (although obviously we didn’t call it that).

We have also been having fun learning from each other- cultural differences, funny words, expressions, and mannerisms. Here’s an excellent example of that: Students at the school call everyone, male or female, “Sir.” Well, today I decided I had enough of that, and taught them about the word “Ma’am”, saying this is what you call females. I watched as huge grins came over many of the boys’ faces, and had them practice saying it. There were some giggles, but I thought nothing of it, until after class, when one of the students was kind enough to tell me that “Ma’am” sounds exactly like a very inappropriate Thai word. Aha. Another one is every time I express my frustration, I say, “Ay, ay, ay [insert whatever is frustrating me here]” and look up at the ceiling. They get a huge kick out of this, and I now catch them saying it to each other, or when they catch another student being out of line, they’ll say “Teacher! Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay! [insert name here] is making me ay, ay, ay, ay!” We’ve been learning about figurative language, and they think the expression, “Kick the bucket” is hilarious.

One thing I love is how excited they are to help me learn, too- we’ve started “Teach the teacher”, where they teach me one new Thai word/phrase they think is important for me to know every few days- not a lot is sticking to my brain, but it’s good practice for them to explain meanings in English, and a fun way for me to learn some Thai. Today, I asked one student to write down in Thai directions to give to the motorbike taxi so I could get home by myself, and then help me practice what to say to the driver. I ask them for help nearly every day, asking about food, what the Thai writing on my bottle of tea says, etc. They’re just such great kids, and I like them more and more every day.

My technology class seems to be going well enough. This week I started a unit on Wikis- I’m trying to teach them about the benefits of them by having the students create a class wiki of book reviews in Language Arts class for silent reading. Each student creates a page about the book they are reading, with the basics like the author, publishing date, setting, main characters, plot; and then they give the book a review, rating it with stars and commenting on why they would or would not recommend the book to others. The idea behind it is that when it comes time to pick out another book, they can use the wiki as a reference to help them select what they’d like to read next, add commentaries to existing reviews, edit other’s reviews, etc. And they’re getting to play around with wikis AND it crosses over into Language Arts! They actually seem really excited about it, so we’ll see how it goes. Here's a link if you want to check it out: NICS Book Reviews

The little, yet long and abundant wooden bridges.

Haad Yuan

This weekend will be my first weekend spent in my new home city- every weekend thus far has been spent away. I am pretty excited about it, even though I have been loving traveling around Southern Thailand. Last weekend was spent on the island of Phagnan, where I divided my time between two beaches: Haad Rin and Haad Yuan. Both were spectacular, but for different reasons. Haad Yuan was just a few little bungalow-style resorts, some along the beach and some along the rocks, with little wooden bridges connecting them and making them accessible. The water was excellent, and so was the weather, except on the day we left! THAT was definitely an adventure.

A journal entry from Haad Yuan

As we were eating at the little restaurant on the beach, Meaghan looked out at the high waves on the beach that was so calm the day before and said, “I’m scared of going out there." In order to get home, we HAD to go out there- catch a long tail to the main beach to get us to a song tao that would take us to the ferry that would take us to the van. I was naïve, thought about hopping over waves in a little boat, and said, “Not me! That’s going to be so much fun!” And so, with the wind picking up, the waves getting bigger, and the sky darkening, we loaded into the long-tail with about 6 other “ferongs” (foreigners). 

Let me tell you, I have NEVER contemplated my own mortality the way I did on that boat. The first few large waves were exciting, just as I had imagined- a roller coaster but free and nature-made!- but then, after about the fourth one, where our boat was literally PERPENDICULAR with the sea (friends who hadn’t left the beach yet said watching us inspired them to get a truck to the main beach instead, which is longer and quite treacherous itself), I began to think that a whole boat ride like that would kill me. Actually kill me. And I thought about this, about my life, and I pulled out a flimsy life jacket from a plastic garbage bag and strapped it around me like all the other terrified passengers were doing, knowing it probably wouldn’t keep me afloat, but that it might serve as padding against the rocks I could potentially be thrown up against in the rough sea. There were times when I clung to the unknown older gentleman next to me with every ounce of my being, completely and unconsciously, so that at the end of our journey on the boat, he patted my back and said, “I think you grew a little on this trek.” 

Haha, yes, Tom (his name, I found out once we disembarked and I thanked him for his services)- I think I did. 

And then I grew a little bit more when the monsoon hit the island, and we rode the song tao up and down windy, muddy and flooded one-lane roads at ridiculous speeds, clinging once again to something we had no control over as rain pelted our faces and backs. This ride, however, was still NOTHING compared to the boat.

The other night, as we recounted these events over drinks, one of our friends said, "You know, I think about how easy it is to die in this country and how many close calls I've had, and seriously, it's a miracle any foreigner ever makes it out of here alive!" And this is reason number 194 why I am not so sure a motorbike will come into my possession any time soon.

But it also made me stop and think about how much I work at "staying safe"- not getting hurt, not taking chances, and what opportunities I have missed at being able to FEEL and LEARN, or I create this padding around me, but I still fall down and get banged up anyway. Don't get me wrong- I like being safe (don't worry Mom and Dad!), I don't want to be unnecessarily frivolous always, but being made to let go... it's just made me think a little more about things is all. In the last month, I have taken more chances and let go so much more than I have in the past two years. And it just feels right.

My First Week

How I spent my first week... Railay Beach

I’m here! And I have just begun my second week in Thailand. I’m surviving! Actually, I think survive is the wrong word to use; it makes it sound like it’s been an ordeal, and that I have managed to sustain in spite of a difficult situation. Truth be told, while this IS a big event for me, it’s not like I am blazing any trails. I’m not the first person to have done this. And adjusting has been an adventure, but it hasn’t been difficult. Right now, I think I am in a state of constant awe. I am always developing and redeveloping my schemas each time I encounter something new or unfamiliar. And while I have been here only a short period of time, I already know… well, I think I know… that I am going to love it. I think I already do. 

Meaghan's butler. He greeted me at the door.

The day after arriving, we went to the school where I will be teaching in downtown Nakhon and met with the principal. Just to be clear, there were quite a few things that I either didn’t understand or failed to ask about what I will be doing and what the situation is. Sigh. Lessons learned! First, I thought I would begin teaching on January 6^th. However, school didn’t begin (they were on holiday) until January 10^th, so I ended up with almost a full week to prepare and get acquainted, which has been great. Also, I did not understand just how new the school is. I thought I would be teaching grades 7-12. However, NICS has been open less than a year, and because of this, 7^th grade is the only grade. There are only 43 students in the school, some who board here and some who live in the city with their families. In some ways, I am really excited about this, because I will get to be a part of the school’s formation. However, because it’s new for everyone, there are a lot of, er, kinks that need to be smoothed out. Next, this is a city school, and it is the mayor’s “pet project”, from what I understand, so he does the hiring and it’s really his vision that the school is being built from. His ultimate goal is to establish this as an international school that follows the International Baccalaureate Program, and hopes to do this in five years. I have a feeling, based on what I know about IB schools and what I have learned about the Thai culture with regards to time, that it may take a little bit longer.

Whatever the case may be, I am thrilled at this whole prospect. Monday I met with the mayor, who is a story on his own. I can’t get into it right now, but if we were talking movies/TV, think along the lines of “The Godfather”, “Sopranos”, etc. And for those of you that know me, you now know that because of this, I think my whole situation here is that much more intriguing! He likes to be involved in the hiring process and meet the new teachers before they actually begin teaching, so my meeting was with him, the principal, and the school director. It went very well.

So excited to receive my schedule, I had to take a photo!

So the next day, I began teaching! Right now, I’m just trying to set up a classroom community, get to know the students, and learn all of their names. So far, they just seem like a really great group of kids. This morning, my parents tried to Skype me while we were involved in a lesson, but since we were sharing about our families, I allowed the brief interruption, introduced my family to my students and vice versa. I think both sides got a kick out of it! In addition to my ELA classes, I am also teaching a technology class. At first, I was pretty lost- I know technology, I use technology, I incorporate it into my lessons, but how do I TEACH it??? And let’s be honest, I’m not the most technologically adept person on the planet. So what I have tentatively decided upon is a project, one per week, using some form of computer technology. It’s mainly groups and involves presentations as well… any thoughts? I could really use some input here. This week’s taken care of: a powerpoint presentation on a popular world sport- would you believe one of the choices was curling and nobody took it for their group!?! J From here, we’ll move to blogging, wikis, collecting and researching data, etc. But, any input would be stellar.

Just a herd of cattle in the middle of the city, crossing the street at night....

Outside of school, Meaghan has been showing me around the city on the back of her motorbike, whichwas scary at first but now it’s just fun!  Everyone I have met here tells me it’s the only way to get around, and that I should definitely get one, but I’m not completely sold on the idea just yet. We’ll see…

Safety First! Helmets are a must for us.

I have been brainstorming all the things I want to share with you in my blog, so be on the lookout for entries on the cuisine, social life, cultural norms, language barriers, teaching, travel and all my adventures/misadventures in those realms. Also, I'll be trying to get some pictures of the school, my classroom, etc. up on here sometime soon!