1. ...you break a serious sweat trying to make a rubber band ball. (Side note: it's harder than you'd think.)
2. ...you go to 7-Eleven three separate times in one day.
3. ...your students get sent home early due to political demonstration a few blocks away.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Things I Miss About America
This too hopes to be a continuous post.
1. Pandora. Internet Radio.
2. D.E.B.s (Delicious Espresso Beverages).
3. Hulu
4. Netflix
5. Clean air
6. English
7. Having a kitchen
Day-to-day Thailand Hilarities
This post endeavors to chronicle some of the everyday absurdities that I encounter.
1. Students in 6/7 designed jackets for their class which include a sort of crest/emblem which portrays a Panda (symbol of China and 6/7 students study Chinese language) riding a DINOSAUR. Specifically, a T-Rex.
2. A large, billboard size, poster reproduction of Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" at our school is mislabeled "Creation of God," thus being wrong on three levels: first, it is the incorrect title for the painting; second, it is an incorrect description of the event depicted; and third, it is fundamentally contrary to one of the essential beliefs of judeo-christian monotheism. Well done, St. Gabriel's College, a Catholic high school, well done.
3. There is a painting of Santa Claus in the Staff Canteen for absolutely no reason.
4. There is a sign in every bathroom stall of the women's teacher "toilet" reminding users, "Do not step up to the toilet," complete with accompanying cartoon of what not to do.
1. Students in 6/7 designed jackets for their class which include a sort of crest/emblem which portrays a Panda (symbol of China and 6/7 students study Chinese language) riding a DINOSAUR. Specifically, a T-Rex.
2. A large, billboard size, poster reproduction of Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" at our school is mislabeled "Creation of God," thus being wrong on three levels: first, it is the incorrect title for the painting; second, it is an incorrect description of the event depicted; and third, it is fundamentally contrary to one of the essential beliefs of judeo-christian monotheism. Well done, St. Gabriel's College, a Catholic high school, well done.
3. There is a painting of Santa Claus in the Staff Canteen for absolutely no reason.
4. There is a sign in every bathroom stall of the women's teacher "toilet" reminding users, "Do not step up to the toilet," complete with accompanying cartoon of what not to do.
The Worst Blogger Ever
That's me. I'm the worst blogger ever. I had actually completely forgotten about this until I was casually in Zurich for the afternoon and Aunt Kim asked if I was planning to start it up again. So here I am, giving it the ol' college try. (I give it maybe a month...)
I made my triumphant return to Thailand Sunday afternoon. It was hot. It's still hot.
It's nice to be back though. Weird. Things are still strange but now equally familiar, and that makes for an interesting effect.
When I finally managed to haul the way too much stuff I brought back with me up to my room, I discovered that in my absence a new resident had installed himself and pooped throughout the room. This squatter, my gecko friend, is not particularly threatening, however he is quite quick, a bit untidy (I refer you to the previous poop comment), and given to making sporadic, obnoxious sounds in the night. Thus, he had to go. But as I had a strong desire to make absolutely no physical contact with my reptilian friend and he is an agile creature, my only course of action was to scare him into the bathroom and shut the door after him, leaving him only the options of living out his life there or escaping via the cracked window or the piping shaft. After remaining for awhile, he seemed to have left by late Monday. But lo and behold! He made a triumphant return last night, taking advantage of my having left the bathroom door ajar during the day and reentering my bedroom proper. I have left him to his own devices today while I'm at work and hope that he is wise enough to depart because if I see him again tonight...well, tonight we wage war.
On a less close-encounters-of-the-lizard-kind note, my first full day back in Thailand was marked by a classic St. Gabe's meeting. During this meeting, I found out the following:
1) I have 7 classes per week--a hilariously light schedule;
2) I don't have Bence this year :(, but I do only teach M6 which means all of the same students from last year :)
AND
3) The returning American teachers and a few select newbies will be "going on tour" to the St. Gabriel's Foundation schools throughout many Thai provinces to help proctor a practice English oral exam which is to be administered officially by Trinity College (in the UK) sometime in January. This is to say, for 9 weeks of an at most 16 week semester, we will not be teaching; we will not even be in Bangkok most weekdays. Hilarious!
Speaking of the noobs, the most recent influx of recent Loyola grads arrived late Tuesday night and on Wednesday I helped with their orientation process--assigning their timetables, explaining various projects to which they will be party, showing them around the school, taking them to the bank, etc. They seem a nice group so far, but one can never really tell this early on. It's kind of bizarre to watch what was basically our experience last year from an outside perspective; it's funny for me to watch them figure things out, ask questions, acclimatize, acculturate, and get used to the ways of St. Gabe's. Today (Thursday), was their first Staff Canteen lunch and it was funny to see how many of them went for the innocuous omelet option in lieu of the spicy minced pork (the actual dish of the day) or who ate only a bit of it. Granted I'm generalizing some, this is not true of all of them, but it's just funny to see what is essentially I and my friends this time last year.
I had my first classes today; 6/7 and 6/3. I got a copy of the book about two minutes before my first class and still taught the first lesson. If this were a tweet, this is where I'd #ClassicStGabes and #Imapro. The kids were pretty decently well behaved today, one can only hope it remains this way, but that is unlikely. Nevertheless, I'm reminded that I really love these little jerks and I'm glad to be back.
...except for the heat and humidity.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
A Little Late...
Sorry. It’s been over three weeks now since last I wrote, so I will try to summate more than expound in my description of my life overseas.
The end of the week in which I last wrote was excessively frustrating. They took a full day to give us the exams they wanted corrected, so with three days left I began my work. I had to correct the grammar and reorder the answer choices for the English in English (that’s actually the name of the class I teach) midterm exams for M4, M5, and M6. Well it turns out that M5 had three different versions of the midterm, so three tests to fix became five. Not only that, but we were given all the midterms in hardcopy which meant we had to retype the entirety of each, formatting and adding in similar graphics to those included in the tests. Some exams weren’t typed to begin with but were partially written and partially derived from photocopied passages and questions contained in other books. That is to say they were physically cut from photocopies, pasted on to the exam sheet, and then recopied for a one sheet thickness. Now, as the world’s slowest typist, I was both aggravated by the incredible pointlessness of the task we were given and by my being selected to do it—I may be arguably a good choice for grammar corrections, but I am the worst possible choice for typed transcription. I got more and more annoyed as I struggled through irritating formatting things and the simple process of typing that which was on another sheet of paper (I still need to look at the keyboard with some frequency when I type), and as I continued to contemplate how those tests which were previously typed existed in electronic copy somewhere, so I really needn’t be doing what I was doing. So, when I finally got to the page of Miss Dee’s test where she had glued half (not all, but merely the first half) of a paragraph upside down while the other half was attached properly. The effect was visually confusing and motivationally disabling. At that point I committed to full fledge apathy. And while the work got finished on time (thanks to some help from others), I was in a grouchy mood all Christmas Eve eve…at least until my Christmas cookies finally arrived in the mail (thanks again, Mom!)!
The last day of school, Christmas Eve, was hilarious. The students were supposed to have class the first half of the day and then classroom parties in the latter. Well, basically none of the teachers taught so the earliest part of the morning was spent preparing the parties and the rest of the day having them. This entailed decorating their classrooms and then having a ton of food and eating it all. Many classrooms played music as well. M5 room 2 went above and beyond all the rest. They turned their classroom into a veritable dance club, moving desks and benches, blacking out windows and doors, providing colored lighting of their own, and blasting dance mixes through an amp. It was hysterical! The kids got so sweaty dancing (it was a little gross), abut they had tons of fun and they kept trying to kidnap teachers and get them to dance. It was definitely an experience!
That same night, I hopped a flight (well, two) to Lisbon to meet up with my family in Sintra, Portugal for Delcher Family Christmas in Portugal. (I continue to call it DFCP despite the Delchers being far outnumbered by the collective Patterson/Owens and significant others contingent because I like to think we’re just that important.) Because Emily’s parents gifted her a flight for Christmas, she decided to join us as a last minute addition to our trip. This meant: first, that she and I spent the first few days in a b&b rather than the house providing us more heat, breakfast brownies, and cockatoo entertainment (I kid you not); and second, that I didn’t have to spend New Year’s entirely by myself in Lisbon. DFCP was awesome!! Portugal is beautiful and there were many cool sights to be seen, but more importantly I got to see my own immediate family and some of my extended family whom I hadn’t seen in awhile. It was also great to meet Lou and her mom, Jill while spending time with Ivy who none of us have seen for any considerable length of time in almost a decade. Much fun, hilarity, bonding, and so much loudness ensued! For pictures, see Facebook.
After coming back from Portugal, things have been somewhat busy with Dictations, marking Formative exams, and planning tutoring/period 9 lessons. I’m still getting asked to do ridiculous things from time to time; the best one yet is that I was literally called off the street yesterday by Miss Pat who then proceeded to ask me to go to Chiang Mai to do something for the foundation on my day off. I told her I already made plans to go to Singapore and my flight doesn’t get back until 2pm that day. She then, in typical Miss Pat, fashion called someone and found out that the flight is at 3 something so Ashley and I can go in her mind. We will see about this. Stay tuned…
The end of the week in which I last wrote was excessively frustrating. They took a full day to give us the exams they wanted corrected, so with three days left I began my work. I had to correct the grammar and reorder the answer choices for the English in English (that’s actually the name of the class I teach) midterm exams for M4, M5, and M6. Well it turns out that M5 had three different versions of the midterm, so three tests to fix became five. Not only that, but we were given all the midterms in hardcopy which meant we had to retype the entirety of each, formatting and adding in similar graphics to those included in the tests. Some exams weren’t typed to begin with but were partially written and partially derived from photocopied passages and questions contained in other books. That is to say they were physically cut from photocopies, pasted on to the exam sheet, and then recopied for a one sheet thickness. Now, as the world’s slowest typist, I was both aggravated by the incredible pointlessness of the task we were given and by my being selected to do it—I may be arguably a good choice for grammar corrections, but I am the worst possible choice for typed transcription. I got more and more annoyed as I struggled through irritating formatting things and the simple process of typing that which was on another sheet of paper (I still need to look at the keyboard with some frequency when I type), and as I continued to contemplate how those tests which were previously typed existed in electronic copy somewhere, so I really needn’t be doing what I was doing. So, when I finally got to the page of Miss Dee’s test where she had glued half (not all, but merely the first half) of a paragraph upside down while the other half was attached properly. The effect was visually confusing and motivationally disabling. At that point I committed to full fledge apathy. And while the work got finished on time (thanks to some help from others), I was in a grouchy mood all Christmas Eve eve…at least until my Christmas cookies finally arrived in the mail (thanks again, Mom!)!
The last day of school, Christmas Eve, was hilarious. The students were supposed to have class the first half of the day and then classroom parties in the latter. Well, basically none of the teachers taught so the earliest part of the morning was spent preparing the parties and the rest of the day having them. This entailed decorating their classrooms and then having a ton of food and eating it all. Many classrooms played music as well. M5 room 2 went above and beyond all the rest. They turned their classroom into a veritable dance club, moving desks and benches, blacking out windows and doors, providing colored lighting of their own, and blasting dance mixes through an amp. It was hysterical! The kids got so sweaty dancing (it was a little gross), abut they had tons of fun and they kept trying to kidnap teachers and get them to dance. It was definitely an experience!
That same night, I hopped a flight (well, two) to Lisbon to meet up with my family in Sintra, Portugal for Delcher Family Christmas in Portugal. (I continue to call it DFCP despite the Delchers being far outnumbered by the collective Patterson/Owens and significant others contingent because I like to think we’re just that important.) Because Emily’s parents gifted her a flight for Christmas, she decided to join us as a last minute addition to our trip. This meant: first, that she and I spent the first few days in a b&b rather than the house providing us more heat, breakfast brownies, and cockatoo entertainment (I kid you not); and second, that I didn’t have to spend New Year’s entirely by myself in Lisbon. DFCP was awesome!! Portugal is beautiful and there were many cool sights to be seen, but more importantly I got to see my own immediate family and some of my extended family whom I hadn’t seen in awhile. It was also great to meet Lou and her mom, Jill while spending time with Ivy who none of us have seen for any considerable length of time in almost a decade. Much fun, hilarity, bonding, and so much loudness ensued! For pictures, see Facebook.
After coming back from Portugal, things have been somewhat busy with Dictations, marking Formative exams, and planning tutoring/period 9 lessons. I’m still getting asked to do ridiculous things from time to time; the best one yet is that I was literally called off the street yesterday by Miss Pat who then proceeded to ask me to go to Chiang Mai to do something for the foundation on my day off. I told her I already made plans to go to Singapore and my flight doesn’t get back until 2pm that day. She then, in typical Miss Pat, fashion called someone and found out that the flight is at 3 something so Ashley and I can go in her mind. We will see about this. Stay tuned…
Monday, December 19, 2011
A Day in the Life
Week two of being back in school (and my being back in the blogosphere) and much is going on. Due to the delayed start, school is extended to 4pm everyday and 5pm if you teach the extra period (which I do twice a week). Monday through Thursday I also tutor from 7-8 (7-9 on Thursday) but as it is far away I have to leave by 6:30. This makes for an awkward 1 to 2.5 hours in which I must finish any planning of my lessons and eat dinner. I usually come home from tutoring ready to go right to sleep, but I also have to find time to do grading and planning for my regular classes, grading of the student journals, and other various chores/errands. Additionally, we have had class on Saturdays in December (again to make up for missed time) and all this week and last we have had to come in a half hour early to work in order to do reading aloud tests with the students for an hour each morning.
So, my schedule is a bit hectic to begin with, but because I’m awesome (I only surmise this is the reason), I have had to miss classes—and more importantly my free planning periods—to record vocabulary lists or write up memos, letters, etc. for Miss Pat. Yesterday and today, Ashley and I do not have to go to Read Alouds but instead are giving dictation tests to the Secondary 5 and 6 students (my students). Apparently this is a largeish portion of their grade. Basically we read a list of 25 vocabulary words and the students write them down, give the Thai translation, and group every 5 into a subject category. For me this is kind of fun and a nice change up from the monotony of Read Alouds.
Also in the category of extra work I am made to do is exam correction. Supposedly, starting today, I, and a handful of other teachers, will be reading and editing the Formulative and Mid-Term exams. This means I will be missing my classes through Friday which is a shame because I’ve actually been teaching a lot this semester.
That, in a nutshell, is my day to day life these days. Now onto things of special note that occurred in the last week: I had my first class with my new Period 9 class, Primary 1 or first grade. They are adorable!! I have had them twice now and they’re great. They were so much better behaved than I was anticipating and than the third graders I had initially were. Also, some of them are very, very smart. I love my new class.
I also acquired new tutees on Thursday nights. I have three new Vajiravudh students who will not be leaving for New Zealand in January like all of my other tutees. They are in M3 or 9th grade and they are a pretty funny group. They’re fairly willing to talk, but less willing to write or do other “work” than my other tutees. But I like them a bunch so far and they remind me of my old Period 8 M3-ers at St. Gabe’s whom I no longer have.
Hilarity ensued this week when I had two really fabulous moments of both dazzling my M6 students with my knowledge of Thai language (of which I think they assumed I had absolutely none) and of bonding with them. The first was in 6/1. My teacher had stepped out of the room briefly and I was doing the vocabulary exercise with the class who was being decently behaved; only talking some. Then I was interrupted by a few students in the back corner causing a bit of a ruckus, shouting “Teachaa!! Teachaa! He farted!” and pointing—while smiling broadly—at their friend. I turn from the board, look their way, and hit them with a “Kai tot?,” a phrase I learned from my very mature neighbor who took it upon himself to learn only the most sophisticated phrases in Thai and which means “Who farted?” I think “awed and inspired” accurately sums up how the students felt about my employment of this phrase. They laughed heartily while simultaneously being very impressed. A quality bonding moment.
In 6/7 that same day, I had started the class alone because Miss Pimjai had to run an errand and she wasn’t sure she’d make it back in time. This is not too bad because 6/7 is always a small class and as it was Saturday, there were several absentees. Anyway, I get class started and everything is going fine and then Miss Pimjai returns to the usual chorus of “Krou PimJAI!” (This class loves to joke around with my coteacher, but as it is in Thai I don’t often have more than a vague idea what about.) A student said something about “krou farang” which I know to be me (“foreign teacher”) and Miss Pimjai said something back also about me. Then a student said both “krou farang” and “soi,” then Miss Pimjai said “krou farang,” some words, “soi,” some words, and “na ka?” to which another student responded with “krou farang” and “soi mak.” At this point I interjected with a laugh and an “I know what you’re saying!” (The exclamation because I was excited to understand). They had been saying I was “soi” meaning “beautiful” and “soi mak,” “very beautiful.” To this I gave a small curtsey and said “Thanks, guys!” and then moved on with the lesson.
Later in the lesson, the vocabulary word was “delicate” which I told them was a synonym of “fragile.” Miss Pimjai then began to explain in Thai that while “delicate” means “fragile” it can be used otherwise. She asked the students (as far as I could gather from context and the use of “Miss Jennifer” and “delicate”) what “delicate” means if it were used to describe someone like me in terms of frame or build. (Side note: I have never in my life been described as delicate and I think it might be among the more hilariously inaccurate descriptions of me ever.) One student day, rather enthusiastically declared “Sexy!” which was again hilarious. Miss Pimjai then corrected him saying it meant “slim.”
But a big thanks goes out to 6/7 for really inflating my ego on Saturday! It was hysterical and I loved it.
The last matter of note from this week was our John Mary Christmas celebration held on Sunday. We residents of John Mary (the American teachers) had set up a Secret Santa gift exchange. On Sunday, our only day off, many of us went to Chatuchak or Khao San or Central World to shop. We then reconvened in the evening to exchange. Despite some initial worries from some of us about others, it worked out so well! Everyone did a great job shopping and picked perfect gifts for their Secret Santa. I had had Stoll and since I’m around Stoll a fair amount, I got her all things she said she needed/wanted plus an ice cream bar she loves and a random cute dress for kicks. It was most successful! Connor had me and he gave me cash designated for a dance class at Rumperee (a studio in Bangkok where I have taken one ballet class before)! It was perfect! I was so surprised because I don’t know Connor very well, but he knew I like dance and looked up studios in Bangkok and how much classes were and gave me the “gift certificate” of sorts. I was so happy! We all laughed a lot together and took a group photo. It was a great time.
Now I really need to stop writing this and get ready for another busy day. I’m very much looking forward to Portugal at the end of this week!! Though, at the same time, it seems so unreal that Christmas is nearly here.
So, my schedule is a bit hectic to begin with, but because I’m awesome (I only surmise this is the reason), I have had to miss classes—and more importantly my free planning periods—to record vocabulary lists or write up memos, letters, etc. for Miss Pat. Yesterday and today, Ashley and I do not have to go to Read Alouds but instead are giving dictation tests to the Secondary 5 and 6 students (my students). Apparently this is a largeish portion of their grade. Basically we read a list of 25 vocabulary words and the students write them down, give the Thai translation, and group every 5 into a subject category. For me this is kind of fun and a nice change up from the monotony of Read Alouds.
Also in the category of extra work I am made to do is exam correction. Supposedly, starting today, I, and a handful of other teachers, will be reading and editing the Formulative and Mid-Term exams. This means I will be missing my classes through Friday which is a shame because I’ve actually been teaching a lot this semester.
That, in a nutshell, is my day to day life these days. Now onto things of special note that occurred in the last week: I had my first class with my new Period 9 class, Primary 1 or first grade. They are adorable!! I have had them twice now and they’re great. They were so much better behaved than I was anticipating and than the third graders I had initially were. Also, some of them are very, very smart. I love my new class.
I also acquired new tutees on Thursday nights. I have three new Vajiravudh students who will not be leaving for New Zealand in January like all of my other tutees. They are in M3 or 9th grade and they are a pretty funny group. They’re fairly willing to talk, but less willing to write or do other “work” than my other tutees. But I like them a bunch so far and they remind me of my old Period 8 M3-ers at St. Gabe’s whom I no longer have.
Hilarity ensued this week when I had two really fabulous moments of both dazzling my M6 students with my knowledge of Thai language (of which I think they assumed I had absolutely none) and of bonding with them. The first was in 6/1. My teacher had stepped out of the room briefly and I was doing the vocabulary exercise with the class who was being decently behaved; only talking some. Then I was interrupted by a few students in the back corner causing a bit of a ruckus, shouting “Teachaa!! Teachaa! He farted!” and pointing—while smiling broadly—at their friend. I turn from the board, look their way, and hit them with a “Kai tot?,” a phrase I learned from my very mature neighbor who took it upon himself to learn only the most sophisticated phrases in Thai and which means “Who farted?” I think “awed and inspired” accurately sums up how the students felt about my employment of this phrase. They laughed heartily while simultaneously being very impressed. A quality bonding moment.
In 6/7 that same day, I had started the class alone because Miss Pimjai had to run an errand and she wasn’t sure she’d make it back in time. This is not too bad because 6/7 is always a small class and as it was Saturday, there were several absentees. Anyway, I get class started and everything is going fine and then Miss Pimjai returns to the usual chorus of “Krou PimJAI!” (This class loves to joke around with my coteacher, but as it is in Thai I don’t often have more than a vague idea what about.) A student said something about “krou farang” which I know to be me (“foreign teacher”) and Miss Pimjai said something back also about me. Then a student said both “krou farang” and “soi,” then Miss Pimjai said “krou farang,” some words, “soi,” some words, and “na ka?” to which another student responded with “krou farang” and “soi mak.” At this point I interjected with a laugh and an “I know what you’re saying!” (The exclamation because I was excited to understand). They had been saying I was “soi” meaning “beautiful” and “soi mak,” “very beautiful.” To this I gave a small curtsey and said “Thanks, guys!” and then moved on with the lesson.
Later in the lesson, the vocabulary word was “delicate” which I told them was a synonym of “fragile.” Miss Pimjai then began to explain in Thai that while “delicate” means “fragile” it can be used otherwise. She asked the students (as far as I could gather from context and the use of “Miss Jennifer” and “delicate”) what “delicate” means if it were used to describe someone like me in terms of frame or build. (Side note: I have never in my life been described as delicate and I think it might be among the more hilariously inaccurate descriptions of me ever.) One student day, rather enthusiastically declared “Sexy!” which was again hilarious. Miss Pimjai then corrected him saying it meant “slim.”
But a big thanks goes out to 6/7 for really inflating my ego on Saturday! It was hysterical and I loved it.
The last matter of note from this week was our John Mary Christmas celebration held on Sunday. We residents of John Mary (the American teachers) had set up a Secret Santa gift exchange. On Sunday, our only day off, many of us went to Chatuchak or Khao San or Central World to shop. We then reconvened in the evening to exchange. Despite some initial worries from some of us about others, it worked out so well! Everyone did a great job shopping and picked perfect gifts for their Secret Santa. I had had Stoll and since I’m around Stoll a fair amount, I got her all things she said she needed/wanted plus an ice cream bar she loves and a random cute dress for kicks. It was most successful! Connor had me and he gave me cash designated for a dance class at Rumperee (a studio in Bangkok where I have taken one ballet class before)! It was perfect! I was so surprised because I don’t know Connor very well, but he knew I like dance and looked up studios in Bangkok and how much classes were and gave me the “gift certificate” of sorts. I was so happy! We all laughed a lot together and took a group photo. It was a great time.
Now I really need to stop writing this and get ready for another busy day. I’m very much looking forward to Portugal at the end of this week!! Though, at the same time, it seems so unreal that Christmas is nearly here.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Oh My God, We're Back Again...
Let’s try this again; shall we? I’ve been back in Bangkok almost exactly a week now and things are already hilarious and stressful and everything they were before, and I would love to tell you all about them!
I would not even begin to try to recapitulate everything that happened between when I last blogged sometime in July and now as that would be a daunting task which would comprise the longest blog post of all time, one which I have less desire to write than you would have to read. Nevertheless, allow me to briefly fill you in on the last few months:
The term closed back in September. While the students took their finals, we foreign teachers were tasked with writing a semester’s worth of lesson plans in English for the St. Gabriel’s Foundation. This involved two weeks of sitting in a large board room doing much cutting and pasting (as I had both Grammar and Writing for M5 and M6 and they were given to fairly consistent lesson structures with only a change in the subject matter covered) and even more sporcle quizzes. What we did most, however, (at least in my case) was eat. Here at St. Gabriel’s, extra work is sometimes rewarded monetarily, but always rewarded with food…and in excess. The basic feeding schedule for this all day everyday project was as follows: 7am – 9:30am breakfast consisting of peanut butter toast, bananas, and yogurt; 9:30am morning snack consisting usually of some sort of cake-like pastry, but sometimes mayonnaise and ketchup covered mini hotdogs wrapped in a slice of white bread; 10:40am lunch consisting of a buffet of rice, soup, sometimes noodles, and either chicken and vegetables or waterfall pork with a fruit of some kind for dessert; 1:30 or 2pm afternoon snack which was something reminiscent of morning snack but more likely to involve meat; and on certain special days, 3:30pm dinner of pizza, garlic bread, and wings from Pizza Company. Needless to say, I gained approximately 20lbs in those two weeks.
October then consisted of my planned travel to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. About half of the photos are on facebook and I will put the rest up soon. All three countries were beautiful and definitely worth spending more time in than I was able.
November was when we were supposed to begin school again, but due to impending and occurring flooding in Bangkok, the reopening of school was pushed back, initially for two weeks. So arriving in Bangkok from Laos on the morning of the 29th of October, I booked a flight that afternoon and departed at 1am that night for the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave! That’s right; I went home for Halloween (for which I was completely jetlagged) and with the intention of instituting a faux Thanksgiving. I really wanted some time to relax after all the traveling I had done and to spend with my family. Also, winter is my favorite season and I knew I was going to miss the cold, so I went home for fall which was the closest to it I could get.
It turns out the flooding was more severe than originally anticipated, so I was able to stay home into the beginning of December! This was good because it gave me the chance to see a lot of my friends (some more than once), have TWO Thanksgivings, and do nothing for about a month. What was not good about the length of time home was that I began to get used to it, and leaving to come back to Bangkok was harder than it would have been had I left after two weeks.
On December 5th, Thailand’s Father’s Day and 84th birthday of the great Rama IX, King of Thailand, and longest reigning monarch EVER (I kid you not), I arrived back in Bangkok. My flight got in a bit later than planned, but between baggage claim (my bags had to be the last among thousands of bags as it seems the people aboard my flight took it upon themselves to check all the tiniest mini suitcases and random cardboard boxes of stuff) and the line to wait for a taxi (no BTS after midnight), I wasn’t back in my room until close to 2 am. I did, nevertheless, enjoy the ride back to John Mary because much of the part of the city in which I live was lit up for the holiday much like Christmas here; it was fabulous!
The next day was the start of school and I remember very little of it because I was so tired the whole day. After nearly falling asleep at my desk during the last period when I had a free period, I went straight back to my room after school and promptly fell asleep around 4 pm. The whole week basically consisted of me going to sleep before 6pm and waking up at around 3am ready to start my day. By the second day of work, I was already being asked to write signs to pass on messages about things we would have to do, create grading rubrics, and teach Miss Pat yoga (this last I have yet to do and I’m hoping if I don’t inquire further it will just go away). By Friday, I was back to the fabulous compliments characteristic of Thailand from Miss Pat who said I looked beautiful, to Miss Pimjai who said my outfit was cute, to Bence who said I’d make a good teacher in the U.S.
Over the weekend, I did a lot of cleaning and organizing and planning. We had a “Christmas Tree Lighting” in the common area where we each hung up a handmade ornament and then plugged in our mini plastic Christmas tree. We also set up Secret Santa which should be fun, but there is not much time for gift purchasing as we are exchanging this coming weekend because some people are leaving for break early. In fact when I did attempt to make purchases at Chatuchuk on Sunday with Emily and Amanda, we cut our trip short after Emily’s wallet was stolen out of her purse. Nothing like a pickpocket to say “Welcome back to Thailand! You’re still a farang.”
Yesterday, another holiday from regular school, I began tutoring again in the evening. It was my most awkward tutee and a painful hour. He just nods excessively to indicate understanding when he doesn’t understand, he is a bit antsy, he won’t look me in the eye, and he mumbles. Maybe it’s just because he is a 7th grade boy who goes to an all boys boarding school but doesn’t like it because he’d rather be at home with his mom and I am a twenty something American lady who is trying to read him stories that are both too easy and too difficult or his level. Anyway, most of my tutoring students will leave for New Zealand in January with the exception of a group of three new students whom I will meet on Thursday, so I will have more free time then. Tonight I have to tutor the triplets, so I need to go prepare something for them now.
Oh! Lastly, my period 8 class, which was basically five 9th graders whom I loved and who loved me, was changed. Starting tomorrow I will be teaching 1st graders I have yet to meet who are likely to be adorable but crazy and not particularly comprehending of the English language. Oh, Thailand, why does nothing ever make any sense…
I would not even begin to try to recapitulate everything that happened between when I last blogged sometime in July and now as that would be a daunting task which would comprise the longest blog post of all time, one which I have less desire to write than you would have to read. Nevertheless, allow me to briefly fill you in on the last few months:
The term closed back in September. While the students took their finals, we foreign teachers were tasked with writing a semester’s worth of lesson plans in English for the St. Gabriel’s Foundation. This involved two weeks of sitting in a large board room doing much cutting and pasting (as I had both Grammar and Writing for M5 and M6 and they were given to fairly consistent lesson structures with only a change in the subject matter covered) and even more sporcle quizzes. What we did most, however, (at least in my case) was eat. Here at St. Gabriel’s, extra work is sometimes rewarded monetarily, but always rewarded with food…and in excess. The basic feeding schedule for this all day everyday project was as follows: 7am – 9:30am breakfast consisting of peanut butter toast, bananas, and yogurt; 9:30am morning snack consisting usually of some sort of cake-like pastry, but sometimes mayonnaise and ketchup covered mini hotdogs wrapped in a slice of white bread; 10:40am lunch consisting of a buffet of rice, soup, sometimes noodles, and either chicken and vegetables or waterfall pork with a fruit of some kind for dessert; 1:30 or 2pm afternoon snack which was something reminiscent of morning snack but more likely to involve meat; and on certain special days, 3:30pm dinner of pizza, garlic bread, and wings from Pizza Company. Needless to say, I gained approximately 20lbs in those two weeks.
October then consisted of my planned travel to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. About half of the photos are on facebook and I will put the rest up soon. All three countries were beautiful and definitely worth spending more time in than I was able.
November was when we were supposed to begin school again, but due to impending and occurring flooding in Bangkok, the reopening of school was pushed back, initially for two weeks. So arriving in Bangkok from Laos on the morning of the 29th of October, I booked a flight that afternoon and departed at 1am that night for the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave! That’s right; I went home for Halloween (for which I was completely jetlagged) and with the intention of instituting a faux Thanksgiving. I really wanted some time to relax after all the traveling I had done and to spend with my family. Also, winter is my favorite season and I knew I was going to miss the cold, so I went home for fall which was the closest to it I could get.
It turns out the flooding was more severe than originally anticipated, so I was able to stay home into the beginning of December! This was good because it gave me the chance to see a lot of my friends (some more than once), have TWO Thanksgivings, and do nothing for about a month. What was not good about the length of time home was that I began to get used to it, and leaving to come back to Bangkok was harder than it would have been had I left after two weeks.
On December 5th, Thailand’s Father’s Day and 84th birthday of the great Rama IX, King of Thailand, and longest reigning monarch EVER (I kid you not), I arrived back in Bangkok. My flight got in a bit later than planned, but between baggage claim (my bags had to be the last among thousands of bags as it seems the people aboard my flight took it upon themselves to check all the tiniest mini suitcases and random cardboard boxes of stuff) and the line to wait for a taxi (no BTS after midnight), I wasn’t back in my room until close to 2 am. I did, nevertheless, enjoy the ride back to John Mary because much of the part of the city in which I live was lit up for the holiday much like Christmas here; it was fabulous!
The next day was the start of school and I remember very little of it because I was so tired the whole day. After nearly falling asleep at my desk during the last period when I had a free period, I went straight back to my room after school and promptly fell asleep around 4 pm. The whole week basically consisted of me going to sleep before 6pm and waking up at around 3am ready to start my day. By the second day of work, I was already being asked to write signs to pass on messages about things we would have to do, create grading rubrics, and teach Miss Pat yoga (this last I have yet to do and I’m hoping if I don’t inquire further it will just go away). By Friday, I was back to the fabulous compliments characteristic of Thailand from Miss Pat who said I looked beautiful, to Miss Pimjai who said my outfit was cute, to Bence who said I’d make a good teacher in the U.S.
Over the weekend, I did a lot of cleaning and organizing and planning. We had a “Christmas Tree Lighting” in the common area where we each hung up a handmade ornament and then plugged in our mini plastic Christmas tree. We also set up Secret Santa which should be fun, but there is not much time for gift purchasing as we are exchanging this coming weekend because some people are leaving for break early. In fact when I did attempt to make purchases at Chatuchuk on Sunday with Emily and Amanda, we cut our trip short after Emily’s wallet was stolen out of her purse. Nothing like a pickpocket to say “Welcome back to Thailand! You’re still a farang.”
Yesterday, another holiday from regular school, I began tutoring again in the evening. It was my most awkward tutee and a painful hour. He just nods excessively to indicate understanding when he doesn’t understand, he is a bit antsy, he won’t look me in the eye, and he mumbles. Maybe it’s just because he is a 7th grade boy who goes to an all boys boarding school but doesn’t like it because he’d rather be at home with his mom and I am a twenty something American lady who is trying to read him stories that are both too easy and too difficult or his level. Anyway, most of my tutoring students will leave for New Zealand in January with the exception of a group of three new students whom I will meet on Thursday, so I will have more free time then. Tonight I have to tutor the triplets, so I need to go prepare something for them now.
Oh! Lastly, my period 8 class, which was basically five 9th graders whom I loved and who loved me, was changed. Starting tomorrow I will be teaching 1st graders I have yet to meet who are likely to be adorable but crazy and not particularly comprehending of the English language. Oh, Thailand, why does nothing ever make any sense…
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