First Day of School

Aha! I survived my first day in a Thai public school. The day began with morning assembly, where all the students (almost 3,000) stood in grade levels outside on/ next to the field, while various Thai teachers and the Director spoke on a microphone from a stage. They then introduced their new foreign English teachers (Howard, Jacqueline and I) to the entire school. They gave us each flower bouquets with a huge, warm welcome. We then each introduced ourselves on the microphone, repeating our names, where we are from, and what levels we are teaching. The morning assembly lasted for about 1/2 hour. And what an amazingly warm welcome it was! We are the first native English speaker foreign teachers they have had in a long time (except for some volunteers from time to time). Because of this, I think the school as a whole is extra excited about having us three there, making the experience all that much more incredible in the 'Land of Smiles'.

The 2 cons of the day: the intense heat and my Monday schedule. My Monday schedule is rough, but after that, the rest of the week will be a breeze, so I hope! I am teaching two different grade levels - Mattayom 1 and Mattayom 4, which are the equivalent to Grade 7 and Grade 10 (12 and 16 year olds). I have about 50 students (yes, 50!!) in each class, which I see only once a week, if that. Today, and every Monday, I have 5 classes (4 Tuesday - Thursday, and 3 on Friday). My morning began at 8:30 am with Mattayom 1 (M-1). It was 1/4 -- meaning, M-1, section 4. The mattayom levels are all divided into sections (for example, I have 1/1 thru 1/12). Supposedly, the lower numbered sections are the best students, thus sections 8-12 tend to be the worst academically. But, this is really quite irrelevant, as the sections are based on a total academic score of all subjects, with no indication of their English speaking/ listening ability. In fact, as a reflection on today, I was not able to tell too much of a difference between my M-1s and M-4s.

Anyway, my first class was awesome! The classroom is set up with low tables, so the students remove their shoes and sit on the floor, and the classroom has whiteboards - which, I've now discovered is 'key' to a perfect classroom. Since it is the first week, and I have no grasp beforehand of their English speaking/ listening abilities, my lesson plans for both M-1s and M-4s all week are basically the same - "Introductions - Getting to Know You". I had bought a small, green, bouncy ball the other day to use in class - which has worked out perfectly. It is kind of like the 'talking stick' in camp. As students entered the classroom, I would throw one the ball and say "Good morning!" If they responded with silence, I would motion for them to throw the ball back to me, and then throw it to them again, or another student, until I got a "Good morning" response out of them. I then elevated this exercise to introductory conversation, such as "How are you?", "What is your name/ nickname?", "My name/ nickname is __". For my M-4s (or at least one of the M-4 sections), I was able to elevate this one step further to "How old are you?", "What is her nickname?", "How old is your friend?".

I then proceeded with having each student come up according to their number for the dual purposes of introducing themselves to me and the class (especially the M-1s, as this is their first grade level leaving Prattayom - lower school), and to write up my register. We are not given a list of names in the class, but rather an attendance sheet. Each student is given a number, which he/she goes by for the rest of the semester(s). However, on a side note, this number can easily be changed if a student drops out or a new student arrives. Instead of giving a new student the next highest sequential number, they are thrown in, sometimes at random, sometimes due to gender. The male students have the lower numbers, and the girls have the higher numbers. So, I began by calling out "Number 1...!", and had that student come write their nickname (which is much easier to write in my register and to pronounce) on the board, and then introduce themselves at the front of the classroom. Of course, with each class, there were some 'absent' numbers. As you can imagine, this takes up almost the entire 50 minute period.

I then had a 50 minute break, for which I returned to my desk in the Foreign Language Department, and wrote some notes about how the class went. At 10:20, I had to walk over to Buidling 1 (from 4) to teach 4/4 (M-4, section 4) with a back-to-back 1/6 (M-1, 6) straight after at 11:10. By the way, all the classrooms are in Thai, so just finding my rooms on the first day involved a lot of symbol matching and asking students walking by (who really just giggled when I asked if I had the right room number). However, the building/ room number system is pretty clear to follow. So for room 422, it means that the class is in Building 4, 2nd floor, room #2. Room 142 is in Building 1, 4th floor, room #2.

After my 1/6 class, I headed to lunch at the canteen, and then straight after had another back-to-back double class in Building 3, teaching 4/1 (at 1:00 pm) and 1/3 (at 1:50 pm). I arrived at my room at 1:00 pm for 4/1, and by 1:10, no students had arrived. When they do arrive, they arrive together, as the section travels to their various classes together. I called the department head, Ms. Bpun (sp?), and informed her that I was farely sure I was in the right room, but my class had not arrived. She said they were on their way. 1:25 pm, I called Ms. Bpun again to notify her that the class was still not here, but it was OK, as I had my next class next door, so I would just wait. My 4/1 class finally showed up at 1:30 pm - with just enough time for me to get the register filled in.

A note on the previous paragraph: we were warned during orientation that this would be common. In fact, just as common is a class not ever showing up at all, due to possibly some festival, school activity, etc. that we would have no way of knowing about. I still do not know why my class showed up 1/2 hour late, though I suspect they were held back to finish a lesson in another class, and asking (as mom knows, this is similar to Korea) will get you nowhere! Because we were forewarned and because this is Thailand (T-I-T), one just learns to go with the flow and do what you can. Another note about this, if you noticed from my class start times, is that the students have no break between classes. So they may have to go from Building 1 to Building 4, and may have been kept late by the teacher before, in which case they may not show up to my class until 15 minutes or more past the scheduled start time. T-I-T!!!

I confiscated my first cell phone today! I noticed two students leaning over their desks chatting away, so as I continued to talk to the class, I walked over and surprised them! I took the cell phone, motioned and informed the class that this is not allowed, and then pretended to make an international call! I said, "Oh! A cell phone, thank you! This is for me? Can I make a call? I will call my parents in America..." And the little boy got off his seat, wai'ed me and said "Sorry, teacher". I then returned the phone.

Oh, the heat, the heat, the heat! None of the classrooms are air-conditioned - come on, T-I-T! But, in addition, for most of the rooms all I had were a couple of ceiling fans that barely moved a fly when they spun around. Even with the windows and door open, I could not catch a single breeze! And what made the sweating even worse is the chalk! Chalk flying everywhere! This is why I've decided I hate chalk. Every room, except for Room 422 (which 3 of my 4 classes are in tomorrow :o) ) had only chalkboards. So, as I'm sweating away, I'm also wiping my sweat away with chalky hands! Plus, the chalk in some of the classrooms was so minimal that it would turn to powder after a few words on the board. The heat is something I am hoping to get used to - or will have to! Plus, I like to move around in my class, keeping the students in the back just as active.

So, overall, it was a very exciting day! I can't stop replaying it over in my mind. And with tomorrow's easier schedule and having had a day under by belt, I feel like tomorrow can only get better! I will have to look into buying a little fan that can sit on my shoulder - lol! I've posted some photos below of some of my classrooms...

Thank you for reading all of this crazy rambling!

School Grounds (before the first day, so no students)

Hallway in Building 4 (Foreign Language Dept.)

Looking out on Building 3

Classroom Ceiling Fans


One of my classrooms

Our Office

From L to R: PiNuy, an English teacher, Film, a student teacher of Japanese, and Bee, the only Japanese teacher (22 years old!)

Movie in Sri Racha

Allie and I went to a movie (X-men origins: Wolverine) last night at Robinson's shopping mall in Sri Racha (about a 5 minute walk from my apt.!). A couple interesting notes: When we bought the movie ticket, you had to choose your seats on the computer screen. The movie showtime was for 7:25, and the ticket lady would not let us in until 7:20. They also took our shopping bags from us and gave us a locker number. At the beginning of every movie in Thailand, they play the national anthem along with a 'music video' of sorts to the national anthem on the screen. The music video is really corny and consists of Thai people all getting together on a Bangkok street to move a truck, which was in the way of the camera viewing a huge picture of the King. It consists of basically how great the King is. During the anthem, everyone in the theater must stand up. T-I-T. Oh, and everyone waited until the last credit rolled to leave the theatre.

T-I-T

T-I-T stands for "This Is Thailand". Anytime something goes wrong, or something doesn't happen the way it is supposed to, or something just doesn't make sense, we all say "T-I-T", meaning anything goes... I just wanted to explain this, as I expect to use it a lot in my future blogs. Eric, the director of MediaKids human resources taught it to us during orientation.

It's what I had to say to myself while waiting on the ferry to Ko Samet for over an hour, when it was supposed to leave at 7 pm. It's what I said every 10 minutes in Pattaya. It's what I said when one bus one way charges 50 baht, and the same bus the other way charges 150 baht. It's what we (especially Allie and Liz) say whenever they are charged a higher price because they are 'farang' - westerners, white people. It's what we say when a 1 1/2 hour trip turns into 3 hours. Etc., etc., etc...

Ronald McDonald doing the Wai (in Sri Racha's Department Store)

Pattaya

Oh crazy Pattaya. If you haven't heard of this infamous "sin city" or "vegas of Thailand", then I'll tell you how it began: it is the original tourist site of Thailand, and started off as a fishing village. US GIs in the 1950s went down there for some R&R, and so began the sex tourist capital city of the world. Allie and I went there for a night, and met up with Liza from South Africa who is in our MediaKids program (she had been in Pattaya for her holiday with her teaching mate Denise), to check out the craziness of Pattaya - which no doubt, would blow anyone's mind!! It is jaw-dropping, that is, all the prostitution and maffia-run sex bars, and hotels that are really brothels, the nakedness, the complete anything goes capitol. Yes, there are also beaches and water activities (diving, kayaking, snorkelling, etc.), but at around 11 PM, the city comes alive with in your face prostitution and sex. When Allie and I first got there, we could not stop staring at all the blatant white men with Thai girlfriends. Most of the men are English and Russian. It is as if every dirty old man from all corners of the world gathers here in Pattaya. It is so unreal. One can either go to Walking Street, which is famous for its go-go bars, or to "Boyztown" which is famous for the lady-boys - which is a pretty trendy thing in Thailand - that is, boys dressing up as ladies. As soon as the sun goes down, when you walk down any street in central Pattaya - you see hundreds upon hundreds of Thai girls lined up in front of bars, calling at you, dancing, putting on shows. When you enter a bar, there are signs that tell you what the "bar fine" is - which really means how much a girl is for the night/ 24 hours. Most men buy girls for a whole 24 hrs, in which they must pay for everything, like food and shopping, and some even buy for a week. The girls walk around with numbers attached to their hip, and that is how men buy the girl, by telling the barlady which number they prefer. And so it continues, but I'll stop here and save you the uncomfortableness - if you want to know more - e-mail me!

At a certain point in the night, we could no longer take it, and so Allie and I got an open trailer at 4:30 am back to my apt. in Sriracha... which is about 20 minutes from Pattaya. Liza and Denise left the next morning to their teaching location, which is in the middle of the jungle up north... hence why they spent a week in Pattaya.

Ko Samet

I know it's been awhile - but I've been relaxing on the beautiful white, powdery, sandy beaches of Ko Samet. It is a small island about 2 hours south of my home city - Sri Racha. Once I got to Ban Phe, I then took a 45 minute boat ride over to the small island. I must've gotten the last boat over, as it was around 7 pm and they loaded more than I ever thought would be possible onto the boat. It seemed like I was on the 7-Eleven supply boat, and the men were throwing beer bottle boxes down from the top of a truck to men standing and catching them on the boat bottom. Then it also seemed that some lady was moving to the island, because she pulled up after the supply truck was done, and started throwing her boxes to the men. She loaded up furniture, carpets, dogs, grandparents, and even her motorcycle - which they had to pull out a plank for. I got photos of this in my kodak album - which I shared with everyone.

Friends from the program -- Allie and Liz -- took a boat from a different pier, so I met up with them once I got onto the island, around 8:00 pm. They met Duncan, a British boy who was traveling throughout SE Asia.. and he found Naga Bungalows for us... best deal, we think, on the island! Allie, Liz and I shared one bungalow, one king size bed, and shared washrooms for all the bungalow.

In addition to long lazy days on the beach, lots of swimming (the water is very warm), and late nights, we also went scuba diving and kayaking! Because we three were at all different levels of diving, and I hadn't actually been diving since 2004, we had to start with the review course. I must dive within the next 6 months or I'll have to take the review course again... but no worries there. Anyway, we had booked our dive trip with Ploy Diving from an independent agent in the main part of the island, who took a deposit from us. They were to pick us up from Naga at 10 am in the next morning, but never showed. Instead, a guy from Samet Resorts showed up, and we stopped him, asking him if he was there for us. He said, no but that they had diving operations too, and better, and so took us on a nice chartered boat to the other side of the island - Ao Prao - to Ao Prao resorts. There we met Mong and Tum - our diving instructors. Who knows whatever happened to Ploy, but it worked out either way, and they only had us pay the remaining part of the fee (which was significantly less for me because I'm certified). We still don't know why Samet Resorts ever even showed up at Naga and why Ploy didn't, but we got to dive nonetheless and got free boat rides and an included lunch at the 5 star resort of Ao Prao. Because the visibility was not that great, they allowed us to first do the review course in the pool, and then we had lunch, and they took us back to our part of the island. They picked us up the next morning, in hopes of a better tide and visibility, and we went diving to a coral reef close to the shore. The visibility was still only about 3 m, which is not good, and there wasn't too much to see. However, I was just as happy with the fact that I got my review course done and I got to go diving, in whatever circumstances. Next time will be better, and I can go deep diving in better waters. The visibility is out of our control anyway. It was Allie's first time diving - so she was very nervous, but afterwards, she couldn't stop smiling. There are some awesome and famous diving sights down further south, which no doubt I will go visit at a later date.

After 5 days, we left the beautiful island, as the rainy season really started to hit. Allie and I took the ferry back to ban phe, then an open trailer from Ban phe to Rayong and then a public bus back to my city - Sri Racha.

I will definitely be back, as it is a great weekender island. In fact, it is very popular among Bangkokians for weekend trips - a lot of families and couples. So, for anyone coming to visit - we will definitely go back. Next time, I would like to do a hike down to the southern tip of Ko Samet.

Divers

Beautiful Ao Prao Beach

Lunch on Koh Samet

Sri Racha

I will no longer be teaching in Chaiyaphum... the school wanted a "Western looking person..." so... I got switched to Sri Racha!!! This is a much sought after location, and so I am very lucky, despite the reason behind it. Sound familiar? It is the home city of Sriracha sauce. Look it up online! It will make you jealous... or more motivated to buy a ticket and visit me.

Some sites I have seen/ done so far:

Weekend market, malls, Wat Arun, Wat Prakeo (Emerald Buddha) and Grand Palace, Wat Pho (reclining Buddha), Siam Discovery Museum, Dusit Palace Park, The Royal Elephant National Museum, Dusit National Zoo, World War II and JEATH Museum, Katchanaburi Province, Floating Market, Elephant Riding, Tiger Temple (pet multiple tigers!), Th Khao San, Royal Barges Museum, Bridge over River Kwai, Chao Praya River long-tail boat tour, Victory Monument, Democracy Monument, Thammasat University, and a lot of neighborhood walking...

Wat Pho - Reclining Buddha

Above: Monks at Wat Arun

Below: Floating Market

Below: Tiger Temple

Preserved White Elephant Skin?!?! (Dusit Palace Park)

After 6 days in Thailand...

I am beat, and orientation doesn't begin until tomorrow. My flight was long, and the layover was scary... don't think I'll fly Air India with a Mumbai layover again. After arriving in Mumbai, I followed everyone else as we walked in line to some unknown airport destination passing multiple airport workers randomly checking our itineraries and passports. Eventually, one pulled me to the side, led me into a small room with only fans to combat the hot Indian heat, and then took my passport and itinerary, told me to sit and walked away. I tried to go after him, but he kept motioning for me to sit down. I went to speak with the lady at the ticket counter desk and she also informed me to just sit. After approaching her for the third or fourth time, she finally explained to me that he went to go get my boarding ticket and should be back shortly. However, I then informed her that my flight was leaving in about 20 minutes! She asked if it would be okay that my luggage went out on the next flight, because they were having trouble finding it. I said, "No! I go where my luggage goes..." So, she told me again to sit and wait. After nervously sitting on the edge of the seat, I asked two American women, who were 2 of the 15 people in the room, where they were traveling to and from and if they knew if this was normal. They were coming from a 2 week vacation in Thailand and returning home to Delaware. They confirmed that their passports were also taken, but returned along with the boarding ticket. They had befriended one of the girls in the room, a 17 year old Phillipino girl who, along with the 13 other Phillipino girls in the room, were headed to U.A.E. to be 'food servers' for an 'agency'. Their flights were paid for, but to return the payment, they were informed that they wouldn't be paid for the first two months. The other American women and I discussed how this seemed like a pretty cliche human trafficking story... quite sad, and made me even more nervous about what I was doing in this room. About 40 minutes after arriving, the man finally returned with my passport, itinerary and a boarding ticket. He then informed me that I had to leave my purse and carry-on bags in the room and go with him to identify my luggage. After a lot of questioning, all I got out of him was that this was for "security purposes"... and so all I had left to do was trust this different way of doing things... so, I left my bags with the American women, and followed the man. As we walked, I asked him if they do this for every international transfer passenger, and he said "yes"!! (I'd like some input on this from anyone else that has internationally transferred through India) After about 5 security checkpoints, we arrived at the outside luggage terminal, where he pointed to my luggage and I nodded my head. We headed back to the room, I picked up my carry-on bags and then he led me to my gate. The plane was almost finished boarding... and so, about 4 hours later, I arrived in Thailand at around 5 am...