Living, Learning, and Learning to Live

Wow! Another crazy week!

   Last week, Jess and I took a look at a friend’s apartment after we had dinner.  We met Caitlin at orientation and traveled with her on the train to Khon Kaen, she is in the same city but at a public school. After looking at her clean, lizard free, internet connected apartment, and mold free shower, Jess and I both realized that our apartment at Kong Thong wasn’t as nice as it could have been.  On Monday, I casually mentioned to our school coordinator that we were thinking of moving downtown to a different apartment building and she immediately looked into it.  Since it was the first of the month, she got us set up to look at an apartment in the same building as our friend at the lunch break and we both decided that day to go ahead and get our own apartments!  And we are still next door to eachother.  We moved in that evening and I honestly can say this is the best decision I’ve made yet in Thailand.  My apartment before was nice in that it was close to school and had AC, but honestly that was about it.  My new apartment has air conditioning, furnished with new furniture, dresser with mirrors and desk (only a fridge though, no microwave), TV that we don’t need to pay per month to have, cable, internet ALL THE TIME, porch, and clean and big bathroom.  Although I am much farther from school, I am right along the songtell path so getting to school is no hassle.  I am within walking distance of the HUGE mall (Central Plaza), numerous restaurants, many bars and the Khon Kaen weekend night life, the five star hotel with a gym and pool (I’ve been planning to join all week but hopefully finally will tomorrow), the night market that has many food choices for good prices (and the best Pad Thai I’ve had!!), and a smaller shopping area with a grocery store, starbucks, and various other places.  Oh, and of course a 7/11.  We are also just one block away from the city’s spirit house, which is a huge landmark and sometimes seems to have festivals and fun community events.  I’m much happier at my new apartment!  At the last one, I would often need to take a tuk-tuk to find something to do.  I didn’t realize it at the time but it’s kind of in the middle of no-where.  With my apartment now, I have so many more things to do and won’t have many opportunities to sit around bored watching Law and Order.  I’m hoping that joining the gym and being able to walk to the night market every night will help time pass faster.  Now that I am more in town (the heart of downtown actually), I can honestly say that I am genuinely enjoying it here! (pictures of my new place will come soon once I’m completely unpacked!)

  Teaching is going okay.  Our theme now is “Space and Sky”.  I taught all about the planets and the kids seem really intrigued.  There is a song that we have on a CD to help the kids remember the order of the planets, the kids love it but us teachers hate it.  I find myself singing it at home when I don’t even realize it.  Its one of those annoying songs you can’t get out of your head.  “I bought a MERCURY to visit friends on VENUS but how on EARTH will I ever get to MARS?” blah blah blah it drives me crazy, the song doesn’t even make any sense!  I know all of my kids names now which has made teaching a lot easier.  However, I have four “naughty boys” that refuse to listen to me.  Two of them are only half Thai so they know and understand English well.  I think all four are at the stage where they are testing the new teacher to see what they can get away with, but boy are they pestering!  They sure know how to push my buttons!  I’m planning to come in Monday refreshed from the weekend and ready to lay down the law.  After talking to a few teachers, I have realized that being more strict in the beginning is beneficial so they know that I mean business.  Later on, I can be fun and play with them, but after they respect and listen to me.  I have some really great kids in my class, and I absolutely adore all of the girls, but these same four boys have been absolutely driving me insane.  I just have to tell myself that it’ll be better as more time goes on.  I don’t know how you teachers do it!

Me and my Co-Teacher, Teacher Kookkai

   Our school week was only four days long this week.  Our school canceled class on Friday so all the teachers could go on a fieldtrip to a “world class” school to observe their teaching methods.  This school has some interesting concepts, like the children don't write until they are 6 and 7 years old, the school doesn't give any formal tests, no bells (to teach time management), the students all agree on what curriculum to be taught (collaboration with teachers and students on topics), focus a lot on self-esteem and confidence, and teachers use very quiet voices (never raising them or yelling so students learn they need to be quiet to hear).  To be honest, it seemed a little cult like.  Maybe that was because everything was in Thai, so us foreign teachers didn’t understand a word of what our guide said, what was going on in class, or the question and answer portion with the principal.  We did have another teacher there to translate but only got portions of it.  The campus was beautiful though!  It had huge outdoor play areas, play grounds,  and many things to explore and learn from outside.  One of my favorite things was parents bring a huge bundle of bananas and hang them in the tree in the play yard every week so kids and pick and eat the bananas when they are hungry.  They also showed us a video of how children learned how to cook.  They video began showing the children digging and looking for worms, then fishing with the worms, catching fish, cooking the fish, then making dinner, and eating it!  Even though I couldn’t understand the commentary, it was pretty cool to watch.  They are much more focused on hand-on learning rather than the traditional classroom style.  Although we left Khon Kaen at 4am (meaning I was up by 3am!!!), I’m glad I had the opportunity to go.

After the school, we went to see some ruins.  The other foreign teachers weren’t interested in seeing the ruins so they took a van back meaning Jess and I were the only foreign teachers on the bus. We went to the Prasat Phanom Rung ruins, “the Hindu religious sanctuary located on the top of the Phanom Rung mountain, an extinct volcano and constructed between 11^th – 12^th century AD.”  The school paid for our admission, Thai people 20 baht each and foreigners 100 baht each!  After exploring for an hour and many of the Thai teachers obsessing over taking pictures with us faragans (Teecha teecha!!  Pictcha!), we then headed back to Khon Kaen. 

   Anyone wonder what 50 Thai teachers do on a bus back from a fieldtrip?  They connect their laptop to the bus TV, turn the music on extremely loud, and sing karaoke! But not before stopping at a 7/11 for beer.  That’s right, the three hour bus ride back turned into a six hour trip with all the stops for beer, bathrooms, and dinner.  The songs they sang were all in Thai with Thai subtitles but they wouldn’t be satisfied until Jess and I sang a song.  They had a few English songs so Jess picked “Barbie Girl” and they just about had a fit, they loved it!!  Luckily, Jess did all of the singing because I’ve been fighting off a nasty cold and was not feeling too hot.  After waking up at 3am and being on the go since then, I wasn’t in the best mood.  The karaoke was fun at first, but after the first hour, I just wanted to get home, get into my bed, and sleep.  My cold was getting worse along with my patience.  Finally, we got home and after taking some Nyquil, I immediately passed out until 11am the next morning!  I never am able to sleep in, so this was a huge accomplishment for me. 

   Tomorrow (Sunday), I am planning to feel better (I have either a cold or some sort with a gross cough, or some hardcore allergies) and to finally join the gym and check out a market at the lake.  (Just to clarify, markets are just like farmers markets or like the food court at the fair.  People have carts and make food right there.  And there are people selling stuff, like a swap meet but most of clothing, shoes, or handmade crafts.  Everything is super cheap, much cheaper than the mall!)  They sure love markets here!  Maybe, just maybe, I’ll try something different from Pad Thai and rice.