That Phanom and Rua Fi

Hi Everyone,

So once again this blog is a little out dated bc I have not had access to the internet but mai bpen rai. 

Its almost time for me to head out on my own to begin teaching at my school. On Thursday our school directors will come and pick us up and will take us to our new homes. We have no idea what they have planned for us when we get there but we will begin teaching on Monday…

This past week has been a pretty eventful week. Our teaching practicum began last Wednesday. The practicum is a 6 day period where we each teach for an hour/day.  My group had the older high school kids, 10^th-12^th grades. We were at first told that the class would have nearly 45 students, but only about 10 showed up.

Last day of practicum 

Boy was I nervous that first class. I probably have the least amount of teaching experience out of our group so I had no idea what to expect that first day in a classroom. I was worried that it was going to be like getting thrown into a bloody pool of hungry sharks.

I prepared as much as I could but I still felt like I was stepping onto a strange planet. Luckily I was not the first teacher of the day, I had the second class. But my turn came soon enough and the next thing I knew, I was in front of the class attempting to teach. I started out fumbling around and talking a mile a minute. And then this sweet little 10^th grade student raised her hand and said “teechar, yu speek mor slow.” So I laughed it off and took a deep breath and tried again.

The rest of the lesson went ok, but the most important thing about that lesson was that it was now over. I made it! I survived!  All my students are still alive and no limbs were lost. I got a lot of the first day jitters out of the way and learned a lot about what not to do. But coming out of that first day I had a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of confidence. I felt like I was going to be able to teach and that I was going to enjoy teaching once I worked out some bugs.

My class Thursday and Friday went well and I really enjoyed the classes. Today my class went ok, but I will just take every class that doesn’t go as well as a learning experience. I do not have any more classes to teach so I am finished with my practicum and ready to get thrown into my real classes.

Thai dancers from all of the schools in front of the temple

This past weekend was a much needed fun weekend. Early Saturday morning we all piled into a couple of trucks and drove about 45 minutes to That Phanom where a very famous Buddhist Temple is located. There was a big ceremony celebrating the monks coming out of a 3 month retreat. Everyone gathered around the entrance of the temple where an incredible center piece/decoration was located. I would guess that about 300 to 400 Thai dancers paraded into the court yard and danced in unison. The dancers were from many different local high schools. Once all the dancers were assembled, the monks said some prayers and the ceremony continued on. The dancers cleared the area and then came out one school at a time to perform a dance for the crowd. The dancers were all beautifully dressed up in traditional Thai outfits.

Monks chanting a prayer 

A close up on the Thai dancers while praying

Fireboat in the day a week before the festival

After That Phanom, we all headed up to Nakhon Phanom where the Rua Fi  (Fireboat) festival was going on. It was a really cool festival. The river walk was filled with endless food stands/ drink stands/ games/ merchandise and had a big parade go by. Once it got dark everyone headed to the rivers edge to watch the Fireboats float down the river. The Fireboats themselves are these huge floats made out of bamboo that are probably about 100 to 150 and about 30 to 40 feet wide. All the boats were though was a big bamboo frame with used cans filled with gasoline laid out in an intricate design.

Fireboat

They would some how light every can and then would drag the Fireboat out to the middle of the river and let it float down the river past everyone watching.  Every float would set off fireworks but each had a unique design. The festival is held at this time of the year because it is when a full moon is occurring. Luckily it was a clear night so the moon was out and about.

After the Fireboats we all headed out together and got to kick back and hang out together for the first time all orientation, atleast it was the first time we didn’t have a class or something early the next morning. It was a fun night and I was very intrigued by how similar Thai twenty somethings are to American twenty somethings.

A Fireboat with the full moon and fireworks

Lunch at Mr Narong's beautiful house

The next day we had a lunch with the newly retired, head of the entire school district, Mr. Narong. He was the person who first got WorldTeach to come to the area. He had all of us over to his gorgeous home where he served us an amazing meal and of coarse some beer… beer was the last thing most of us wanted but mai pen rai. Mr Narong was a really cool guy. He gave off this persona that you couldn’t help  want to be best friends with the guy. He seemed so laid back and chill and was just unbelievably generous. One of us commented about liking his traditional Thai shirt and so he said that he was going to get all of us one. And sure enough the next day, today, Mr Narong brings by a shirt for everyone. Also  he brought by a video and slide show from the lunch… just the nicest guy.

Mr Narong, Zach, Rita and myself

After lunch some of the ladies who lived there or were friends or what ever, started dancing and made us join them. My dancing is getting better but still not good, more like just a little less embarrassing than before. They loved us trying to do Thai dances and its one of those times that you just have to cut loose and go with the flow… mai pen rai.

Everything is going great, I feel great, I am having a lot of fun, and I am excited to see how teaching goes. I think I am going to really enjoy teaching. We depart on Thursday to go to our schools and so we are leaving our little English speaking comfort bubble. That’s when its going to get challenging, but I like new challenges and I am actually looking forward to the complete cultural immersion. 

Thanks for reading. Hopefully I will get caught up to date with these blogs. Until next time.

Mai bpen rai

Ben

...just because this guy is awesome!

I think I am going to like Thailand

            This blog is about a week old. I won’t typically post long blogs like these everyday but maybe once a week or every other week. I am still trying to catch up so bare with me because I will be posting this weeks blog soon.

 Thai culture is very laid back kind of like Jamaica. Just like how Jamaicans have their saying: “no worries,” Thai’s have their own saying: “mai pen ria.” “This expression represents a cultural value in Thailand. Namely, the belief that we should not worry about what we cannot change, but simply accept it and carry on.” Instead of saying your welcome or when something doesn’t go according to plan, being the laid back culture that they are they will just say “mai pen rai.” It’s almost a way of life or better stated, an attitude towards life… I don’t think I’ll have a problem fitting in being the laid back Ben that I’ve always been. 

I’m still doing great and loving Thailand. It finally stopped raining toward the end of the first week. We are kind of missing the rain because now it’s so hot and humid. The worst part is that its not even the hot season and we are all melting away.  If anyone wants to send me a care package make sure you send an AC unit too. The good news is that the cool season is about to start so I will be able to get acclimated to the heat for a few months before it really gets hot.

I have been very, very impressed with WorldTeach(WT) and our in country directors. It’s amazing how quickly WT has become a part of this community and the relationships that WT has developed in just over a year. The community really appreciates what we are trying to do and are doing everything they can to make it as easy for us. Our director Jess (the director from last year is still here but only thru orientation) is pretty much fluent in Thai and has spent a lot of time here in Thailand. Her experience and advice has been invaluable. Orientation is very well organized and put together. It is demanding, but we need it to be demanding because we are getting a ton of pertinent info. We are in class pretty much 6 days a week from 9 to 5. The other days are not days off but have been more like field trips.

Thursday was a half day of class and then we got to go see our schools that we will be teaching in and we got to see our living situation. For time sake, we split up into groups composed of people who had schools that were near each other. I am near Peter, Zach and Rita and so we were grouped together. We went around to our schools and we were all so excited to see where we are going to be for the next year. After seeing two schools, it was finally my turn to see mine. I was not sure what to expect at all but as we drove up my jaw dropped. It is this big gorgeous school up on a beautifully landscaped hill. You can see for miles and miles around. Then I saw something that I was not expecting at all, especially since Thailand is so flat and the hill the school is on is pretty much the only hill around, I could see the mountains in Laos! Does that just suit me or what? The actual school is a big 3 story building that holds almost 400 students. It is a high school, but it is equivalent to our 7^th grade thru 12^th grade. Mr. Tiiaow Chin is another English teacher at the high school. He speaks English very well and will be my advisor/go to man when ever I need something during school. He gave me a quick tour of the school, showed me my desk in the teacher’s office, and showed me my classroom. I will be in the same classroom for every class which is nice bc I can make that my home and arrange it however I want. I am also excited because they said I am going to get to help coach some soccer. Coaching should be a lot of fun and a good way to break the ice with some of my students. After the school tour I met my future roommates. They are a young married couple whose names are Dohn and Yhuut. Dohn is a physics teacher at the same school where I will teach. He speaks decent English and so that is very comforting.  Dohn and Yhuut will look out for me and so I will become their naawng chaai, or little brother. He showed me our house which is pretty nice for Thai standards. My room is pretty small but I have my own fridge. So all in all, I am very exited and pleased with my placement and I can’t wait to meet my students.

On Sunday we got to take a trip into Nakhon Phanom (NKP) which was about a 30 min ride on a sueng tao (a truck with two benches in the back). The city was really cool with a to of things going on everyday. There are multiple daily markets to go to and to see that have just about any thing you could need. It is also a river front city so I got to see the Mekong River for the first time. Laos is just on the other side of the river and so we could see the mountains a lot closer and they are beautiful… I can’t wait to go hiking in them.

The trip to our schools and to NKP  were our two big trips so far. The other days like I said have just been class days, but are still fun. My Thai is slowly coming along and luckily it is a fairly simple language. The food is still delicious and I am getting more and more use to it. The fruit here though is incredible, and you know how I love fresh fruit. The pineapple, already one of my favorites, is insanely good. Never have I had something so delectable. On that note my stomach has been perfectly fine and I feel great. Thai meals are really well balanced and nothing is processed so I will have a very healthy diet while I am here.  The internet is still spotty at this school so I haven’t been able to start this blog until now, but I kind of like it that way though. I wanted to get away from all the technology and modern day conveniences. Anyways thanks for reading and I will hopefully get this weeks blog posted soon so I can finally be caught up.

Mai pen rai

The first view of Wang Gra Sae High School!

A view from the entrance of my school. Those mountains are in Laos about 30 miles away... unbelievably beautiful

Zach, Peter and I on the back of a sawng tao after our first trip to Nakhon Phanom City

My future home. On my right in the yellow is Mr Cho Chan, the English teacher who will be helping me out this year. On my left in the blue is one of my future roomates Dohn 

The Journey Begins

Sawadee Khrap (Hello) everyone.

Thanks for reading my blog. I am a little nervous because this is my first blog and I have no idea what I am supposed to say. I have never been a good writer and so I don’t expect to all of a sudden be become one now. So if there are a lot of grammar errors, you will just have to ignore them. If you know me you would expect them any how and would wonder who I paid to write for me if there weren’t any grammar errors.

This blog is going to be about my time here in Thailand as a WorldTeach volunteer. All this started about three years ago when I first got the urge to go abroad and serve. It was just a matter of finding the right program before it finally happened. Once I decided to go with WorldTeach, it was only a matter of fund raising enough to cover my volunteer program fee. Through the love and generosity of all my family and friends, I was able to raise the entire amount. I was even able to raise a little bit extra that will go to buying school supplies for the high school that I will be teaching at for the next year.

 After I did all of the fundraising, I moved back to Richmond from Jackson Hole, Wy. Sadly, I was only home for a week before I had to hop on a plane to LA where I met up with the other twelve volunteers. They were all as excited as I was and were just as unprepared. We instantly became great friends and at 1:15 AM on October 1^st, 2010, we began our journey to Thailand.

I know this blog is way too long, but I have not been able to get onto the internet so I have had to combine a couple of blogs. After this first blog, all others will be much shorter. Anyways we landed in Thailand on Saturday around noon after almost 20 hours on a plane (which doesn’t include the whole day of travel just to get to LA). At this point we are all so excited to finally be in Thailand, but… we knew we were not done traveling yet. We still had a ten hour cramped van ride to the host school where we will be for the month during our orientation. We finally get there just after midnight and immediately head to bed after meeting our program director Jesica.  

Sunday was a pretty laid back day. We got to go to the market which was pretty cool .  It looked exactly like a market you would see on the travel channel. Everyone was staring and pointing at as while saying farrong (white foreigner)! It was really funny. I bought a couple of snacks and was shocked at how cheap everything is here. Pla Plak is the town we are in for the first month. It is a small town but with plenty of cool little restaurants. Each restaurant has its own specialty dish or two and that’s all they serve. So everyone needs to be in the mood for the same thing if you want to go out to eat together.

Everyone in the group is awesome. We get along so well and all we do is laugh. I don't think I could have asked for a better group of people. We are all around the same age, except for Peter who is 50. I came into this program thinking that I was totally unprepared. I thought everyone else would have been studying Thai for months, and would have already been to Thailand multiple times. But I was wrong. I actually knew more Thai than most and only two people had been to Thailand. I was so relieved that we were all on the same page.

Monday was a long long day of all classroom work, but I really enjoy it. I am really excited to learn Thai because I actually get to apply it, unlike French. Learning about their culture is fascinating, but learning how to teach is going to be hard. Lunch on Monday was so good. We went to this out door restaurant, most restaurants here are, but this one felt like it should have been on a white sandy beach. It was a big grass hut with beautiful flora. The food was fantastic. I am making sure to force myself to try everything no matter what it looks like or smells like because you never know what it’s going to taste like.

 Tuesday was another long day. We had our usual class then lunch but then we were supposed to meet our school principle, but mine didn't show up. The Engish teacher from my school came instead. He was really nice and he is going to be taking care of me when I'm at my school. There was a long meeting with all the principles and then they had a party for us at their open air auditorium. They fed us these remarkable dishes family style so we got to try a little bit of everything. At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like the food or not but I keep trying all types of new food. I am beginning to like the food more and more every meal.

 After dinner they did this string tying ceremony which was intriguing. Then, they had a show for us with the traditional Thai dancers. The music was really cool and the dancers were entertaining. Then they made everyone get up and dance including all the volunteers... even me. Can you imagine me doing a Thai dance? Well it wasn't pretty. They made a big circle so people could dance in the middle,  and then they made me do it… It was ugly, very ugly, but I survived, and it was actually really fun.

Even though it had only been two days, it felt more like two weeks. It  rained everyday pretty much all day for the first couple of days that we were here. It didn’t bother me because I was enjoying myself thoroughly and having too much fun to worry about it. I am so happy here, its overwhelming. Too many new things to do, to try, and to learn. The people here are overwhelmingly nice. They love us, appreciate us, and want us here so they are doing everything they can to make us feel at home.

This year is off to a great start. I can’t wait t see what lies ahead!

.

Mai Pen Rai

Ben

Our first group pic some where along our 12 hour van ride from Bangkok to Pla Plak

Our first cultural experience at a small open market

We are helping the agriculture class harvest some rice

One of the many delicious local restaurants... all are really cool b/c they all are open air

The local police chief named Rambo singing some karaoke. take note of the sign in the back, the top says "welcome WorldTeach Volunteers..."

String tying ceremony. that center piece in the back ground is made with all banana leaves

And yes... someone snuck a picture of me dancing...blackmail