Something clicked

This past week has been a pretty amazing week for me. It started off awfully because my Monday classes went horribly… “it sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays.” The thing with teaching is that it’s not the students fault when the class goes bad, it’s the teachers fault. So when all my classes flopped and my M1 students were running around rabid, as much as I wanted to blame the students, I knew it was my own failure as a teacher and so I was pretty hard on myself. I was so stressed out that after school I skipped playing sports with the kids and went home right away and went for a run. I put on my headphones, the first time I’ve worn headphones on a run here in Thailand, and took off. I ran as hard as I could and farther than I have ever gone. I was in the middle of no where far from anyone and was glad. I guess the stress of living and teaching in a foreign culture had finally caught up with me and so I just needed to be alone. I sat looking out over a rice field at the mountains in Laos and regrouped myself by praying/meditating.

Since that point on I have had the best week I have ever had teaching and I’ve just been high on life. Something just clicked with my lesson planning and it made all the difference in the world. My M1 students actually sat down, took notes, and participated instead of running around, playing musical chairs when I wrote something on the board, or hopping out the window to go hang out. But more importantly, the students and I had fun together in class and they actually learned something. I have promised myself that I will never become that awful boring teacher that everyone one has had who made you hate school. I have promised myself that I will be the best teacher that I can and that my students will always enjoy learning in my class. I know that’s setting the standard pretty high but I remember having a few teachers who could do that, and they really had an impact on my life. I was never a studious student but there were some teachers who could make you want to learn. I want to have that same type of impact on all the kids that I teach.

Up until this week though, I was questioning whether I was able to do that. But now, there’s no doubt in my mind that I can become the teacher that I have promised myself that I would be, it is just going to take a lot of work. And the best part is that I had so much fun! All the positive energy from my classes has stayed with me all day/ all week. It’s an amazing feeling to get that type of enjoyment out of your job and it has made it worth all the hard work/ challenges that I have had to over come to be here in Thailand, in the middle of no where in my little rice farming village.

Just another "normal" week

Last week was a pretty normal week for me. When I say “normal” though, I mean I, unexpectedly, only taught 9 out of my 20 class periods due to another sports day. A full week of teaching is not a normal thing here in rural Thailand. Something will always pop up at the last minute and change any plans you had made. But that’s ok because it’s Thailand! You just have to be able to sit back, relax, and go with the flow… no matter how slow that flow is.

Last Wednesday was the first “normal” day of the week for me. The director of WorldTeach was coming to my school to do a teaching observation. I was really nervous about this teaching observation, but in order for her to observe me teaching, I needed to have some students to teach.  But no students came, and when I went to find them I was told that they were setting up for sports day.

That afternoon at lunch, I was told that the soccer team had a scrimmage, and since I was asked to help coach, I wanted to go (I don’t think I was asked to coach because of good coaching skills, but more so they can claim that they have “an international coach”) When I asked “when the scrimmage was?” They told me to go change because they were leaving in 10 minutes… so I did and there for only taught 1 out of 4 classes that day. The next day, I showed up for my first two classes, but my students did not. At lunch time I was told that I did not have to teach that day because the students were setting up for sports day, haha that would have been nice to know earlier, and so I could just “lelax” (they pronounce most “R”s like “L”s so he meant “relax”).

Sports Day is sort of a misleading term considering it was only one soccer match against another school. But they were making out like this game was the World Cup. They spent days setting up/ cleaning up, building bleachers out of bamboo poles, practicing cheers, actually having soccer practice(first I’ve seen since I’ve been here, usually they just playing full sided games), and what would a game be with out a trophy ,”big enough for the Champions League,” as my director said it. And he wasn’t kidding they bought a huge trophy that cost as much as two months salary for me… again where the money comes from and how it can be allocated towards something like that??? I don’t know.

I was pretty excited when Friday finally rolled around. The students from both schools had a parade thru town with marching bands, girls dressed up in traditional Thai outfits, girls dressed up in tootoos/ dolled up with a ton of make up(not sure why), and four male students dressed in traditional Thai carrying a decorated platform with the trophy on top.

so the thai people, especially where i am, dress very conservatively  but for some reason for any type of parade/celebration they are allowed to dress 'sexy' as they would say. i guess its like halloween in the US and how girls use it as an excuse to dress slutty but here its just more frequent

can you guess what they are supposed to be?

'oh so beautiful' is what they say when describing their outfits...?

the primary school kids watching the parade go by

the principle giving the team a motivation speach

It was a fun event and the game was really good. We were down by one, tied it, went down again, and tied it again, and then the game ended. And yes I mean it ended… haha what the hell, no winner? So I grabbed the microphone and said “After all that damn work, after all the hype about how we must win that trophy, you’re going to tell me that no one wins?!?! Not even over time, PKs, or hell I’ll flip a coin to determine a winner.” Haha so I didn’t really say that but I wanted to. They didn’t even think twice about it, not a disappointed look on any of the players. I guess it’s just part of their mai pen rai attitude or something. Mai pen rai, just smile and go with the flow.

the teams sharing the trophy

This past weekend was also my birthday and it was a great one. All of the volunteers, plus a few other friends, met up in NKP for a sunset booze cruise. It was my first boat ride on the Mekong and an hour cruise only set us back 50 baht (about a $1.65). After the cruise we all went out to dinner and then out for a few drinks. The best part about the night was that we all got hotel rooms for the night and… the hotel had Hot Water!!! It felt sooo good to wake up and have a hot shower for once. In fact, it felt so good that I was probably in there for 30 minutes haha. It was a great weekend with great friends.

the sun setting behing the catholic church

This weekend should be an interesting one. Saturday is Teacher Sport day and I am getting dressed up in a traditional Thai outfit for the parade… just another “normal” day here in Thailand.

me and my pii chai and pii sao

more disney world on crack

Mai pen Rai

Chang/ Benja’mao’

Benja"mao"

'

the infamous "lao kao" or rice whiskey that the locals love to drink
basically their equivalent to everclear...

So my pi sao (big sister) came up with a new nick name for me tonight. She asked me if I was going to get drunk at the teacher party tomorrow night and so I said "nit noy" (little bit). On a side note, at the last teacher party on new years my pi chai got really drunk, he says it only happens once a year, and he couldn't find his room key. So when I went to use the "hawg nam" (bathroom) at 6 in the morning, pi chai was passed out in the hallway fully dressed curled up in a ball... it was hilarious, man I wish I got a picture. Anyways pi sao referred to that story joking around saying that she thinks I am going to get "mao" (drunk, pronounced like Yao Ming but with an 'm' instead of 'Y') like pi chai did. So she started calling me "Benja'mao'! Benja'mao'!" We all cracked up and I have a feeling this nick name is going to stick with me for a while.

Bear Grylls' white whale...Phu Kradung

Sorry the internet is acting funny so pictures will be put up latter.

So the past month or so has been a little bit crazy at school. It is now January and I don’t think we have had a full week of classes since mid November. It seems like there is always some sort of festival going on that they need to get ready for and what better free labor supply than a school full of teenagers who must obey anything you tell them to do. Anyways I wont get that right now but there never seems to be Friday classes. Because of this weird phenomena and a couple scheduling errors, I have not taught my M6 students( my seniors) to this day two months after being here teaching. Haha only in Thailand… mai pen rai

Last week was an especially short week. I had no classes Monday afternoon because of the Christmas gift exchange party. Every student in school brought a gift and put it into the pot labeled with a number. Then each student came up and picked a number out of a hat, found the gift with the same number, and that was the gift that they got.  It was a fun little party for the kids with games and a student band playing a few songs.

are we in Disney World? whats up with these costumes

We didn’t have class on Thursday because of Sports Day which is pretty much like what we call field day. The difference is that the school is divided up into three teams and for a month they compete against each other in various sports after school everyday. Then Sports Day is the championship matches for each sport and at the end of the day trophies are handed out.

this was my team, the pink team

all the primary students watching the parade go by

oh Tom... awesome gloves, this is why you are one of my favorites

they don't have a track, so they made one

me and some of my hoodlum M1 students

Thursday night was the teachers new years party. I was so excited for this because it was the first party with all of the teachers, most other schools have had multiple parties, and the food is always amazing. And sure enough the food was superb, the whisky and beer was free, and of coarse the karaoke was blaring. The other teachers have been talking about this party for weeks and how I was required to sing a song. I tried to weasel my way out but it was hopeless. They handed me the mike and so I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that I was at The Mangy Moose with the Mad River crew singing along to James and Stackhouse singing “Country Roads.”
The next day I was on the road bright and early heading to Loei to eventually meet up with Peter, Rita, Sarah, Jackie, and Heather at Phu Kradung National Park where the biggest mountain in our area is located. They were a day ahead of me because I did not want to miss sports day and the party so I was traveling alone. I hung out in Loei for new years eve and stayed in a fantastic guesthouse for $6 a night.

the Sugar Guesthouse in Loei

Saturday morning  I was up at 3:45 AM to catch the first bus to Phu Kradung. I get there around 6 AM and sure enough the park didn’t open till 8 AM… mai pen rai. Being a holiday weekend, the park was packed. I guess it is the same as trying to go skiing over Christmas where everyone has the same days off.

I was pumped to finally get on the mountain. I had been itching to get out in the wilderness for the past three months. I was all geared up ready to go out into the wild with my hiking boots on, my name brand apparel, my big hiking pack and Bear Grylls as my wing man. But… this is Thailand, their idea of hiking and camping isn’t exactly the same as ours, as I would soon find out.

As I headed up the steep trail, I was a bit confused. “Am I on the right trail?” I thought to m

there were hundreds of porters carrying peoples gear up to the top

yself, “Are these people going the same place I am going?” Many of the people that I was passing were wearing flip flops, girl’s sandals, work cloths, and or they were carrying babies, dragging toddlers, smoking cigarettes, over weight, old or all of the above… and none of them had much more than a purse and many didn’t even have water bottles! To explain some of that last statement, just look at these guys and what’s along the trail.

So those pictures explain the lack of gear but how do these people make it to the top in flip flops, carrying babies… at the end of the day I came to the conclusion that it must just be their mai pen rai view towards life. Don’t have nice hiking boots, whatever. You’re 64 years old and over weight, no problem. You only have one leg, you are asthmatic, and you are carrying triplets, no worries… the guy next to you is probably doing the same. No one is in a rush to get to the top. When you get to the top, you get to the top. Much different than many western attitudes towards hiking of always having a ton of gear and you must make good time. It was kind of refreshing/ entertaining to see the / mai pen rai attitude applied to hiking.

I make it up the strenuous 4 miles to the top of the plateau and then to the campground right at 3 hours… I was told by many Thais that it would take 5-8 hours to complete and I guess it would I was hiking Thai style haha. I got to the camp ground, and there were fields full of nothing but rows of tents. We think there were probably 5-8 thousand people up there camping that weekend. And its not exactly what I would call camping. Yes, you sleep in a tent, but there are convenience stores, souvenir shops, rows of restaurants/ food stalls, bathrooms/ showers, and a visitor center. So when my friends told me that they did not want to spend another night up there (remember they were a day ahead of me), I was not very disappointed. I was in it more for the hike anyways. 

notice the old wrinkly hand sticking out. this guy was prob in his 90s and i guess
he wanted to see one more sun rise. we were not sure if it was a round trip ticket or not haha 

On the way down, we passed something really cool/ would only happen here in Thailand and it just reinforces how strong the family bond is here.

We stopped at one of the rest areas and got some fresh watermelon, "full of good vittamins" as Bear would say. Then we relaxed at this overlook and ate our watermelon. Then we kept going down to begin our long journey home.

Christmas in Thailand

Merry Christmas! I was going to do a full blog about my first Christmas in Thailand but I couldn't say it any better than my good friend Peter did in his blog... peterinpeterout.blogspot.com. So check it out and feel free to read some more of his blogs because he is an amazing writer and has some really good photos up too. I will post another blog tomorrow about my new years weekend so check back in soon.

Mai pen Rai

Ben