Author: Ella Russell

It’s been a minute since I’ve blogged! 26 days to be exact, but you already knew that. I’m definitely in the swing of things now. I have my routine. I have my restaurant spots. I go to the coffeehouse and the gym most days. I do my laundry at the same place every week. I recognize lots of people. I say hello to ladies from the market dropping their kids off at school.

I end up spending a lot of time alone. That may be a problem for a lot of people but I like my time alone, it’s a good way to learn about yourself. I’ve always been good at spending time with myself. I’ve never been embarrassed to go out to eat or do things alone. It’s fun doing things alone (especially here) because 1) I can do whatever I want to do 2) I get to just think and listen to music 2) I meet so many random people. There are constantly Thai people trying to talk to me simply because I’m not Thai. They want to know my story, why I’m here. I’ve learned to ALWAYS stop and talk to people waving me over on the street, I’ve met a lot of great people that way.

It’s funny though, I think most Americans would never consider doing that in the States. I remember being back home and assuming whenever a random person came up to talk to me that they wanted something. Coming to Thailand that was something to get used to, that people wanted to just talk to me. I love how open everyone feels in this country about talking to people they do not know, smiling and saying “Sawatdii Kap” at passersby. It feels so much more natural to connect with the people around you just by simply acknowledging them instead of keeping your head down and pretending you don’t see them. Even as one of three foreigners living in Bang Pa In, I still feel like I belong because people say hello to me and smile. It just makes you feel good! I’m going to start doing that when I go back to the northeast.

Matt and I hang out on our roof all the time (the roof and the proximity to school are the two great things about my house; living without Wi-Fi and A/C does not bother me anymore). I’ll look out over the landscape and think, how did I get here? Even though sometimes I get caught up in the moment (tough day at school/stuck in a routine), choosing to live and teach in Thailand was the best decision of my life.

A brief anecdote: I was riding my motorbike the other day when a terrible driver cut me off in his van. Like the New Jersey driver I am, I immediately got pissed off and began spouting curses. Then I thought for a second: I’m in a random town in Thailand on my motorbike that I’ve become accustomed to riding everywhere. I have my own motorbike. That’s pretty crazy. I never rode a motorbike until a few months ago and now I get upset with bad drivers!
Like I said, I have my routine. Sometimes I forget where I am and think of my routine as just my routine. Whenever I get to this point I have to stop and remind myself of where I am and what I’m doing. It seems routine to ride my motorbike to a school with no running water to teach kids math and science in Thailand? What?! I’m pretty lucky to be able to experience things like this to such an extent that they become normal.

I try to do at least one new thing a day, as small as taking a different street home or trying a new food, which sometimes leads to a new adventure. Here are just a few of those adventures:

On Saturday an old man walking down the street said “how are you?” to me in English. I responded and he pointed to a bench, telling me to sit down with him. I decided why not, I had nowhere to be. Immediately he started telling me his life story. He was in the Thai marine corps and had travelled around much of the world. For that reason, along with working with Americans in a variety of jobs, his English was quite good. He could speak fluently, but spoke so fast and with a thick accent that it was difficult to understand what he was saying. But he knew exactly what I was saying. We even discussed ISIS and religion. It was interesting to get his perspective, as a Thai person with Thai ideals and Buddhist beliefs, of the United States and the West as a whole. He told me I should consider teaching in Chanthaburi just a few hours from Bang Pa In and close to Ko Chang, a beautiful Thai island. He said I could buy gems so inexpensively and sell them in the states for a huge profit. He said he and I could even team up to do this! Sounds like a pretty good idea, who knows, maybe I will! He even gave me his phone number and told me to call him when I had some time off from school and he would take me there.

Loy Krathong
I knew nothing of the holiday called Loy Krathong until the day it arrived. It translates directly to floating lantern and that’s exactly what you do that night. Everyone makes lanterns out of banana tree stalks, banana leaves, and flowers and floats them down the river. Teacher Meaw and Teacher Boy showed me how to make a krathong and our incredibly nice neighbor P Tiang showed Matt, Hardus, and me how to make one as well. That night our school had a huge festival for the holiday and we lit our krathongs and sent them down the river. I’ve heard you can put pieces of hair, nail clippings, and money in the krathong for *good luck*. Maybe next time.

I’ve been given a few different explanations for the significance of the holiday. One is that we are apologizing to the water since we pollute it, which is funny because floating hundreds of krathongs down the river is not helping. The one I like best is that it is a time to repent for our sins, ask for forgiveness and start fresh. We send our problems, sins, and worries down the river with our krathong and can continue living freely. Kind of like Yom Kippur!

Thanksgiving
This was my second Thanksgiving away from home (Junior Year in Prague was the first). It was great to be able to spend the weekend in Korat with new friends I made on my TESOL course. It was just as weird to be away this time, but I began to appreciate Thanksgiving in a different light.

For one, I am thankful to have so many amazing memories of this day. I am thankful to have so many people at home that I miss and wish I could be with- that is a blessing. I also appreciate the opportunity to do something like this. I taught about Thanksgiving and the kids had no idea what I was talking about, but I showed them pictures of my family and talked about the importance of giving thanks.

Korea!

After more than two months with no Tess I finally got to see her! I took two days off of school (accidentally: I thought we had off Friday LOL) and got to spend a good amount of time in Seoul with Tess and her mom, Sheryl. We did a lot of touring around (Namsan Tower overlooking all of Seoul and the Korean production of Les Mis were highlights), but it was just really great to be with them. I’m going back to Korea for New Years and in March with Brian to travel around. Maybe check out Mongolia or Japan too? Who knows.

Last week Matt, Stephen (my friend/teacher from Ghana), and I decided it was finally time to explore the other side of the river in BPI- something we had never done before (because we’re lazy I guess?). We took the ten-baht ferry across the river and could not believe how much was on the other side. We felt silly for waiting so long to get over there. We thought it was a small island but there were roads that continued on for miles with a gorgeous landscape on both sides.

Thursday night I went to Tesco to pick up a couple things and saw they had small fake Christmas trees and Santa hats. So now we have a Christmas tree in our living room with lights that Matt bought on it! On the way back I stopped at my regular spot for dinner and said I’ll have whatever the guy I saw sitting down was having. He told me to sit down with him and we ended up hitting it off. He insisted that he pay for my meal and he told me to come back for lunch the following day and order Geng Som (which I found out the next day that he had paid for as well!). He also insisted that I take a picture on his motorbike (same as Warren’s!). Since then I’ve been to my restaurant spot almost everyday for lunch and have not ordered; the wonderful woman brings me something I wouldn’t have known to order otherwise, and it’s always delicious. She’s caught on that I just want to try new things. She also loves that I like spicy food!

The most important part: FOOD PICTURES

MONKEYS

Last weekend I felt that I’d done so much travel recently that I didn’t want to travel far. I almost just stayed in BPI for the weekend. On a whim I found three cities on the map of Thailand that were relatively close. I went to the train station in BPI and asked the ticket vendor which city was best, and he told me Lopburi. So I got up bright and early Saturday and went there! I had heard of the huge sunflower field (which apparently is not blooming right now), but besides that I knew nothing about the town. I had no plans there and decided to just walk around. It didn’t take long to find Khmer temple ruins with monkeys everywhere! It was 150 baht for foreigners but I told the ticket vendor (in broken Thai) that I am a teacher nearby and she let me in for free!
side note: It’s so humbling how much Thai people respect teachers. Once people know I’m a teacher, they stop calling me by my name and call me “Teacher”.

 The ruins were covered with monkeys- macaques to be specific. I started to take pictures of them and two jumped on my shoulders! I was petrified at first but pretty quickly relaxed and played with them. They kept trying to steal my glasses and chew on my earphones and shoelaces, it was the funniest thing. One of them stole a keychain off my backpack! I told the tour guide who was walking with me that a monkey bit me on my arm but he said not to worry, only a few had diseases. Good to know sir.

My favorite part was when a monkey held my finger with his entire hand- that’s the first animal other than a human whose hand I’ve held. Pretty cool feeling. 

I also got my first Thai massage in Lopburi! I knew it was “deep tissue” but I didn’t really know what that meant. It hurt. A lot. I think every pressure point on my body was poked and prodded. I was very uncomfortable until my male masseuse flipped me on my stomach to work on my back. He whispered “it’s OK” in my ear and after that I knew everything would be alright.

Bang Sai

One of my wonderful neighbors (P Tiang) makes these incredible miniature models of food (that look surprisingly realistic). She told me I have to go see the Royal Folk Art Museum in Bang Sai to some beautiful Thai arts and crafts. I took the twenty-five minute motorbike ride on Sunday to check it out. After a few detours (Ayutthaya Resort where I was kindly escorted around the whole property and a temple that had EIGHT Porsches in the parking lot. That’s the first time I’ve seen ANY Porsches in Thailand) I explored this enormous property of mini-villages with different buildings for all kinds of crafts from glass-working to basket-weaving to sculpture. Beautiful stuff!

Oh right, I’m teaching in Thailand.
P1 has been amazing as always- I see them 8 times a week so I know them very well. Most students are successfully ordering numbers greatest to smallest and counting forward and backward by 2s, 5s, and 10s. I realized I only have two more Science chapters to teach for the entire term so I’ve been going very slowly. I taught the 5 senses the past two weeks. After going over each sense probably 300 times, I brought in different foods so we could do seeing, smelling, and tasting tests. I got apples, limes, Oreos, and chips. The kids freaked out when they saw I had Oreos and chips; holding those over their heads was an easy way to get them to focus! The funniest test was the taste test for limes: of course I wasn’t going to make anyone eat limes, and once I held them up for students to taste no one wanted to (understandably, because they’re limes). Eventually one student took a piece of lime and suddenly the whole class had to try the lime. It was hilarious to watch a bunch of six year-olds’ faces pucker from the acidity.

I’ve been teaching multiplication and division to P2 and P3. It’s been tough attempting to get these students to grasp these subjects when only using English. I try to use as few words as possible and be mostly visual. I can tell some of the students are learning but I can also tell some of the students are struggling. It’s difficult to focus on the struggling students because I can only spend so much time making sure they understand what we’ve learned. I also need to make sure the class as a whole is learning new material. It’s a difficult thing to balance the needs of the struggling and advanced students while also managing the classroom. I can only sit with one student individually for so long before the whole class erupts in disarray.

It’s tough to make lessons fun and engaging when you’re teaching the same kids everyday. You can only plan ahead so much, because you never know how far the class will actually get on a given lesson. I’ve lesson planned for the entire week, sometimes to end up getting through what I had planned for two lessons. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, it just shows that the kids generally move at a slower pace than I expect (a combination of understanding little English and not having a solid mathematics base). For the kids who get it it’s obvious and exciting; they’re constantly shouting out answers and trying to help their peers understand. Which helps me out a lot. I have a student in my P3 class who is incredibly intelligent- she’s always at least a step ahead of the class. I’ll assign a page in the workbook and she’ll finish it before I’ve finished explaining it. So I’ve started to give her more difficult problems to try and challenge her. We haven’t even learned 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication in class and she’s solving 3-digit by 3-digit problems with ease.

Up until this week I’ve had a lot of difficulty teaching my P2 class. The class has been especially difficult to teach simply because they do not listen if there’s no Thai teacher in the room. For whatever reason, P2 is the only class where a few students have created a misbehaving atmosphere that even the good students observe. Whatever chaos is created in my classroom, the minute a Thai teacher walks in, the room becomes quiet and orderly. Thai students have a respect for Thai teachers that they do not give to Farang teachers. Whether that is because they are also Thai or because they use force (Thai teachers are constantly hitting students with rulers or their hands), I’m not sure. Still, I do what I can and I can’t control the rest. I do my best to help the kids learn and try to make it as fun as possible. I guess that’s all you can ask for, right?

I realize it’s OK that it’s taking  awhile to grasp multiplication and division. It’s just as important that they are learning some English from me. And are having fun which I think they are. I know they like me, I constantly shell out high fives and words of encouragement. I’ve already been sick a couple times (kids not washing their hands at school, duh), so I started giving out ‘elbow fives’ to avoid touching students’ hands. For whatever reason students have recently decided they want to hug me. Sometimes I’ll let them hang off my arms as I swing them around. A girl thought she was being funny in my P1 class so I pretended to throw her out the window. The whole class cracked up.

That’s it for now. Talk soon.

Can you ever have too many pictures of monkeys?

BANGKOK! (amiright?)

I was there for the weekend. It’s just an hour van ride from BPI (Bang Pa In just in case you forgot my acronym) so an easy weekend trip that I’m sure I’ll take a lot. I’ve heard a lot about the city but I had no idea what to expect, other than not to expect anything. I’ve heard it is nothing like the rest of Thailand and that is completely true. It is a major city with an up-to-date (and surprisingly CLEAN) rail system (two actually; BTS aka skytrain and MRT below-ground).

Many farangs know Bangkok for the legendary Khao San Road, the crazy party street you could compare to Bourbon Street in New Orleans (+Laughing Gas and huge fried bugs for 100 baht each). At the very least everyone is just as drunk as on Bourbon. We saw 4 fights (I grabbed a traffic cone from a woman’s outstretched arms right before she hit another woman with it). We stayed in a hostel just five minutes from Khao San which was cool because we really got to experience what it’s all about without hearing the noise from the street all night.
*Something that I do not understand: you can buy a beer in a bar on Khao San for 110-120 baht, on the street for 90-100 baht, or you can just go into one of the many 7-11’s ON KHAO SAN and buy one for 56 baht (which you can walk around with and take anywhere anyway). THINK, PEOPLE.

I woke up Saturday morning to banging drums and loud screams outside my window. I quickly dressed and went outside to investigate and found there was a huge parade going on (I still don’t know why). All my friends were still asleep, but I decided to join in on the fun and danced with some old ladies in the parade.

They decided I needed to be soaked and doused in baby powder, so that’s what they did. It was 10 AM and they were already drinking, so of course I accepted their unknown alcohol given to me out of plastic bags! *Don’t worry Grammy, I was careful!* Eventually my friends woke up and saw this bizarre spectacle of loud music, constantly exploding long strings of firecrackers, and a grand finale dragon fight.

Art Box: Western food, finally! This weekly music, food, and art festival feels like something you’d go to in New York. I had an awesome cheeseburger from a FOOD CART (I miss those). The bun was black and I don’t want to know why, but it tasted delicious nonetheless. The music and art were solid too, but I was focused on the food.

It was really fun exploring for the weekend. Doing touristy stuff is always great (there’s a reason touristy stuff is touristy: because it’s awesome) but just walking around aimlessly is a cool way to get to know an area. I think I walked ten miles a day when I was in Korea; what else was I going to do when Tess was in school? I could walk around Bangkok every weekend and STILL not see all of it. It’s huge! I’d love to stay in a different area next time and experience some other things Bangkok has to offer. It’s such a cool place and each area proves to be unique and exciting in its own way.

NOW TO BEING A TEACHER
Monday: The week started off slow; I had just come back from a great weekend with my friends in Bangkok. I did not feel like teaching six classes on Monday with no break. And I did not feel like teaching math to students who could barely understand me. And of course, the internet and projector did not work in the computer room. I was just feeling really negative about my situation.

I planned on going to the science room to do fun experiments to help my P 3/1 class visualize volume but the room was locked, and no one seemed to know (or care) who might have the key. So instead I started going over some stuff about volume we had already gone over SO MUCH. I would ask questions and a lot of students reacted as if we were learning the information for the first time. At first I got very frustrated by this. I started thinking, really? Have I taught you nothing? Am I a bad teacher? Is there any point in trying to teach you at all? But as I’ve been thinking about it more, I’ve begun to realize that a lot of what we as English teachers teach is not directly absorbed by the students, and that’s OK. I can’t expect 30 8 year-olds who are just beginning to learn English to understand word problems using volume and capacity! I can expect that my constant use of English in their presence, and insisting they use English with me, will help improve their fluency and confidence using the language. And whatever material they do actually learn is an added bonus.

On a less serious note, there was at least a little comic relief Monday; in my second class of the day I sat on some cubbies as my P 1/1 class finished a worksheet and the cubbies broke. All the students laughed and it was funny. Mai pen rai.

Tuesday: Tuesday started off a little better. I had my P 3/1 class but their teacher was nowhere to be found (who knows why?). All they wanted to do was “play game.” I said screw teaching them about volume and gave them the option of dinosaurs or superheroes. They picked superheroes, so we made superhero masks all class. I started drawing cartoons of a man and a hotdog (which I draw all the time) and one girl (Gam) loved it. I told her she could draw cartoons if she wanted to, and she ended up copying mine. I think that’s the proudest I’ve ever been in my entire life.

In P 1/1 math we are learning about volume but at a much more basic level than P 3/1. I started by teaching “full,” “empty,” and “half full.” To portray this in a less-boring way, I found a little pink cup in my office (probably dirty) and filled it with water. I said “full” and showed the class, asking each student to repeat the word “full.” I then drank all the water in the cup (which the kids thought was hilarious) and turned the cup upside down, saying “empty.”
I’ve already been teaching multiplication to my P 2/2 class for a week and I wanted some clever ways to help the students learn. I looked around the internet and found an idea for a “multiplication wheel” on Pinterest and decided to go for it with my class. This idea is so much more difficult than it looks (and it looks pretty difficult!). Trying to explain to 30 7-year olds in a foreign language that they must make 6 lines and 12 circles, and then color in each circle a different color was near impossible. Then trying to get across the idea that this wheel can actually be used to help understand multiplication was actually impossible. Although some students had to start over a few times (realizing we weren’t just drawing Spiderman’s web), by the end of class Friday almost every student finished! We will focus on actually using the multiplication clock next week.

*I have to interject on my own blog to mention that two Thai men just sat down at my table in the coffeehouse where I write this blog post from. We spoke “Thainglish” (if you will) to each other for a few minutes and it turns out they’ve spent time in New York City since they’re in the seafood business! It’s also worth noting that there’s a guy sitting at a table close to me that has one long pinky nail; I don’t know what it is, but I’ve seen countless Thai men with nine average length fingernails and ONE long pinky nail.

Wednesday: I woke up covered in sweat and soon found out we had no electricity (or water because the pump in my house is hooked up to electricity). It turned out the whole town had no electricity. Luckily within a couple hours power came back on. I asked around and apparently that happens quite often, no one is sure why and just like most other problems I’ve encountered in BPI (like the fact that we DON’T HAVE RUNNING WATER AT SCHOOL), no one really cares. I can feel myself getting sick, it couldn’t be from constantly giving high fives to 100 little kids who don’t wash their hands, could it?
I can’t forget about Science Project class! This week I was slightly more prepared than making superhero masks on the spot; I looked up a youtube video of how to make super-cool paper airplanes that fly fast. My whole life I’ve always only been able to make the simple, bogus kinds that barely go anywhere. I found one on YouTube that was not too tough to make and showed my class.

I had never seen my students get quiet and listen so quickly; as soon as I walked in the classroom (paper airplane and paper in hand) they knew exactly what was going on. I demonstrated how to make the airplane step by step and the kids LOVED it (I just feel bad for their Thai teacher who had to deal with them throwing paper airplanes all day).

I started going to the market in BPI where the bus station is located and its a pretty happening place. I have a routine of going there to get a snack: usually som tom (spicy papaya salad) and kanun (jackfruit: the best fruit in the world and an uncanny resemblance to Juicy Fruit gum).

On Wednesday I saw a couple people I know there: a lady who works at one of my regular restaurant spots and a lady who works at Tavorn Park, the coffeehouse I go to every single day and is where I am writing this blog post from right now. The restaurant lady and I began talking (in the little, broken Thai I know, but am working on!) about me being a teacher and what I have been up to. A vendor must have overheard us because she stopped me and smiled, giving me free beef jerky and sticky rice!
She must’ve been excited to hear that I was a teacher and actually living in BPI, not just visiting. I’m not a big dried beef guy but that jerky was amazing; it was so sweet and flavorful. It would be weird to compare the taste to pancakes with syrup but that’s what it tasted like.

Travis was nice enough to give me his remaining  Tavorn Park gym membership since he moved to Ayutthaya and I’ve been using it a lot. Going to the gym has become a part of my routine, along with going to the market and the coffeehouse to study Thai, blog, and simply enjoy the A/C and wifi (Lesson planning? I don’t think so). I have never been considered a very strong guy, but at Tavorn I max out the bench press. I guess Thai people don’t lift much? 
On my walk back from the gym Wednesday a man waved to me and yelled something. I decided to go over to him and we began talking. It turned out that he lives just a few houses down from me at the Church. I immediately assumed he was trying to recruit me, but even after saying that I’m Jewish he still invited me inside and his whole family was incredible friendly and welcoming. He told me the Church houses a family of Christian Burmese refugees and they have been living in Thailand for two years. As soon as I walked in I was greeted by one of my P 1/1 students, PangPorn! It was so funny and unexpected to walk into the church (which is really just the bottom level of an apartment building) and see her standing there with a glass of water for me, saying “Teacher!” It only got more exciting from there- my roommate, Matt (who also plays the drums), had told me he knew there was a drum set in this church but he had never gone inside to play it. We talked about figuring out some way to play it (great timing, right?). I asked the Burmese people about the drums and if anyone plays them, and they told me to go ahead and play right then! So I fixed up the set and jammed for twenty minutes as they watched and recorded! It was (a little peculiar, but) awesome! They were all so nice to welcome me into their space and told me to come by to jam any time and bring my friends. I will definitely go back there soon.

NOTICE: IF YOU’RE IN THAILAND AND YOU PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, COME STAY AT MY HOUSE IN BANG PA IN AND JAM AT GRACE CHURCH!

Thursday and Friday: Both really easy days at school, only 3 and 2 classes respectively. I won’t waste your time reading about anything I did, besides playing music for my Friday classes. I make a big deal about Friday and the weekend and always play at least one song that we all sing and dance to. Today it was “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa. For whatever reason, all my kids know that song and love it almost as much as “Let It Go.”

No big plans for the weekend besides explore my area a little more. And a going away party Saturday night at our place for Hardus- he got a job in Hat Yai  (all are welcome).

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Every morning I wake to the sound of one bird outside my window. I am positive that it is always the same bird, and I am positive that it is making this noise simply to keep me awake. I want to describe the noise this one bird makes outside my window, but I don’t think I can do it justice. It makes a quiet “hoot,” but of a sort that I’ve never heard before. It is almost like an Owl’s “hoot,” but a little softer and can only be heard when Luke is trying to sleep. I think it gathers energy from my attempts to sleep. It gets happier when I lay awake trying to ignore it but ultimately succumb to the power of its hoot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I guess waking up to the devil bird is part of the routine I’ve become accustomed to. I wake up (earlier than I plan on), take a quick shower, and eat an apple, a carrot, and a yogurt (Why this combination? I don’t really have an answer for you.). I leave for school on my motorbike with Matt on the back (he hasn’t rented one yet) ~2 minutes before we have to be there and sign in just in time for assembly. Then the day of class begins. Thursdays and Fridays it barely feels like I’m working; I teach a couple classes then go home, eat lunch, and hang around (usually at Tavorn Park coffee house where I’ve become a regular) until I have to sign out at 3:30. Not a bad deal!

YOU-KNOW-WHAT
This entire week there has been a big pile of (pardon my French) *dog shit* in the middle of the school. No one seems to care. I almost included a picture but I thought you could use your imagination. On Monday it was in tact, but students slowly started stepping on it and tracking it everywhere until the whole school smelled like a toilet (kind of a weak comparison I know, give me a break OK?). On Tuesday someone decided, hey, why pick it up when I could just dump sand on top of it? So since Tuesday the remains of the big pile of you-know-what have been sitting in the middle of school, covered in sand. Dog shit-1, Thailand-0.

COMPUTER CLASS
Besides leaving fecal matter to be tracked throughout the school, Watchumpon is a funny place. There are smart boards and projectors in many of the classrooms but no one knows how to use them. Instead of figuring it out, we just don’t use them. They’re just sitting there looking nice and using up the school’s budget. I taught computers to my P 1/1 class on Monday again. I had the *perfect idea* to have the students create powerpoints about dinosaurs with pictures and words to describe them. Displaying an example on the projector would be so helpful for the kids, but of course the projector did not work. The English Director always says not to be too serious, so I guess I should just work with what I’m given. Mai pen rai, right? Besides the fact that there was no working projector to demonstrate how to create a powerpoint, trying to teach 6 year-olds how to use computers IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE is near impossible. Creating powerpoints with 6 year-olds will be easy! Great idea, Luke! It’s so simple, Luke! Why would I think that would work? The students do not know how to use computers at all. But oh well, most of the students were able to make a pretty awesome title page.

LUKE = SUN
In my P 1/1 class we are learning about the different plants and their parts. I asked the class to draw a picture with plants and label everything. I drew an example on the board and I wrote my name in the top right-hand corner indicating that they should write their name there as well. When I collected the drawings I noticed that most of them labeled the sun as “Luke.” Now my whole class thinks the sun is called “Luke” and I don’t think I’ll correct them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUPERHERO SCIENCE PROJECT
Wednesdays in my P 1/1 science class I am supposed to come up with some kind of science project to do with the students. This is a great idea and Kaija (science camp teacher extraordinaire) gave me some awesome experiments to try. As excited as I am to see how kids react when we blow up balloons using vinegar and baking soda or put mentos in a bottle of coke, I completely forgot to bring in materials for an experiment this Wednesday. Instead I told the students to make superhero masks. And they LOVED it. They drew and colored elaborate creations and came back Friday with masks they cut out and attached string to! I love how my students take this kind of stuff to the next level, they just get into it because why not.

LEARNING IS FUN!
I’m definitely in the swing of teaching now. I have a routine and feel confident walking into the classroom. I know most of my kids, but I’m still trying to make the lessons engaging and fun. I teach directly out of the textbook for math and science, so I have to be creative to incorporate interactive activities. I started new units this week (P 1/1: mass, P 2/1: multiplication, P 3/1: volume) and I’ve been trying to make the classes more interactive then just teaching them a few things and asking them to do a page in the workbook (which is what happens all too often). I’ve continued to make up silly songs at random times and have started playing more games. Even if the games seem ridiculous, the kids LOVE them. Whenever half of the class is pinned against the other, the students go ballistic. Bonus points if they get to slap the board! I decided that I’m going to play music to start every class on Fridays to celebrate the weekend, and today I played “Let It Go” from Frozen. The students freaked out. Even the students that know zero English know the words to “Let It Go.”

Without thinking, I’ve found myself using too many words in class and see blank stares from many students. These 6-9 year-olds for the most part are just beginning to learn English and I’ve noticed that when I speak too much it just makes them shut down and not even try to listen to what I’m saying. I’ve begun to focus more on matching simple words with clear actions, and talking SLOWLY. The school told my agent that the kids love me and have a great time learning in my classes, but that I talk way too fast. Which is completely true. I realized that as a child (or anyone really) it would be hard to pay attention to someone speaking solely in a foreign language you are just beginning to learn.

CONSTANT KINDNESS
I cannot get over how nice Thai people are. Like unnecessarily nice. Here are just a few examples:
1) On my way back from my teaching agency in Ayutthaya I stopped at a market not far from my house and I happened to see another teacher from Watchumpon there. She was so glad to see me and walked around the whole market with me, showing me what I should try and even gave me some of the food she had already bought! She told me to get a banana leaf that was stuffed with fish curry and it was delicious; I would’ve never thought to try it if she didn’t tell me to.
2) I was walking home from TESCO last night to get half-price produce and cooked food (which they sell 7PM-close and it’s the best deal) and stopped into one of my regular restaurant spots to get some sticky rice (kao niow) to go along with the 7 baht curry I just bought. The lady thought I could use some more food so she gave me 2 free chicken on a sticks (they’re sooooo good)! Thank you!
3) Today I was sitting on the ground outside my school video chatting my parents during my first period off. A lady came up to me and spoke to me in Thai, and then proceeded to take me to a building that she opened up and turned on the lights and fans just so I could video chat in comfort! She even gave me a glass of water! That was so unnecessary but amazing!

I realize I never discussed my “adventure” to Chaiyaphum:

Getting to Chaiyaphum last Friday proved to be more of an adventure than I expected. I was under the impression it was a simple van ride to Mochit Station in Bangkok (just an hour from me) and then a 3-4 hour bus from there. I quickly learned in BPI (the new nickname I have for Bang Pa In which Tess doesn’t like) that there is no direct bus to Mochit. I took a 45-minute bus to Rangsit, and another half-hour bus to Mochit. A nice Thai lady told me that I took a van to Mochit BTS station, not Mochit Bus Station. She advised me to take a motorcycle taxi to Mochit Bus Station (my first experience on a MoTaxi). I got to the station just in time to make the 2PM VIP bus (288 baht for a big comfy seat, personal TV with all the Thai movies you could ask for, a weird waffle with raisins, a water bottle, and a small blanket. It was surprisingly enjoyable though). I got on a bus I thought would be 3-4 hours long and did not find out until 5PM that the bus ride would be longer. We finally pulled into Chaiyaphum at 7:30. I made it! I’m too tired to write about what I actually did in Chaiyaphum (and I think I wrote enough), but it was great to see a bunch of my friends and compare stories from the first week of teaching.

I bid you adieu with a little food porn:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heading to Bangkok for the weekend. Hopefully I’ll find the spice that’s going to blow my mind…

I just finished my first week of teaching. Whoever said not to have any expectations was so right. School is already very different than I imagined- not necessarily in a bad way. I teach A LOT: Mondays I teach six classes and Tuesdays and Wednesdays I teach five. Thursday and Friday are much easier (three and two). My school is only a three minute motorbike ride from my house so I get to go home for lunch. That may not sound like a big deal but it makes the day so much more manageable. The directors are pretty lax as far as dress code is concerned; I wear an unbuttoned short sleeve button down everyday, except on Wednesdays (sports day!) when I wear sneakers and a t-shirt.

Lesson planning is not as big a part of my day-to-day as I thought it would be; I teach directly out of a textbook for math and science so there is only so much room for creativity and fun (especially for math). I try to make it as engaging as possible by making up songs and games, but it’s really hard to be creative and fun when teaching 6-9 year olds the difference between a spring scale and a balance scale and how many hectograms equal one kilogram. I only see three classes (P 1/1, P2/2 P 3/3) but I see them at least once a day. I see P 1/1 2-3 times a day for math, science, and computers (I found out just before my first computers class that “com” stands for computers and not “communicative english” like I was previously told). For my first computers class I had each student open a word document and type whatever they could. I demonstrated by typing “My name is Teacher Luke. I am from America. I love dogs!” I gave them some time to write anything they wanted, and then I remembered they were 6 years old. I think I’ll come up with something a little more basic for next week’s class!

One thing that I find hilarious is how every single student is trained to begin each lesson by standing up and saying (although usually not understanding) “Good Morning Teacher Luke” and after I respond and ask them “How are you?” they all respond with “I am fine, thank you. And you?” Really? The best word the Thai teachers could teach these kids is fine? Is every student really just fine? Not ‘well’ or even ‘great’? I always respond with “I am great” and am hoping it will catch on, but who knows.

P 1/1 is my youngest class (6-7 year-olds) and they are amazing. Every single student is so focused and excited for my class. In my science class with them I taught about animals with legs, tails, and wings and made up a song that got the kids moving and was a fun way to help them remember the material (feel free to use it LOL). I had the tune of “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath in my head while making it up.

HISSSSSSSSSS (while dancing like a snake) x2
I am a snake! x2
I have one tail! x2
I have no legs! x2
HISSSSSSSSSS
GRRRRRRRRRR (while dancing like a lion) x2
I am a lion! x2
I have one tail! x2
I have four legs! x2
GRRRRRRRRRR
TWEET, TWEET, TWEET, TWEET (while dancing like a bird) x2
I am a bird! x2
I have two wings! x2
I have two legs! x2
TWEET, TWEET, TWEET, TWEET

Creative song, huh (not)? As far as I’m concerned the jury is still out on whether birds have tails so I didn’t even go there.

I have great relationships with the students in my classes- I walk into the classroom and they cheer, “Teacher!” and all come up to give me high fives. I don’t think they’ve ever seen a nose like mine before. They constantly come up to me and make some type of big nose gesture. Not in a rude way, they’re just astounded by how big my nose is! No Thai person has a huge (aristocratic) bump on their nose like I do.

On Halloween I was in Ayutthaya with some other teachers on a street called “Soy Farang” (Foreigner Street) and an owner of one of the bars pulled me aside and said I had a huge nose and she wanted to get a nose job to have a nose like mine. I had never heard that in my life, but I’ll take it!

I’ve started to see the lightbulb go off in some of my students’ eyes and it’s the coolest thing. I can’t believe I’m getting through to them! Overall it’s been a solid first week. My roommates are both back (Matt from Connecticut and Hardus from South Africa) and they are really cool guys. They’ve been in Thailand for a year and in Bang Pa In for one term already so they’ve been showing me the ropes.

Here are some other thing’s I’ll note before signing off:

• I’ve been to Ayutthaya a number of times already but I don’t think I’ll drive back late at night anymore- the streets are covered with wild stray dogs that love to chase motorbikes. One dog got up to speed with my bike and my heart stopped. It was one of the scariest things in my entire life.
• There’s a restaurant right next door to our house and I eat there everyday, the ladies who own it are so nice. Wednesday was P Buay’s birthday and she gave me a free drink! She has also been helping me learn Thai while I answer questions she has about English. 
• There are countless foods to try here, and I love trying new foods. I had been wondering since I arrived in Chiang Mai what those pink eggs are that I see everywhere and wouldn’t have tried them if Travis didn’t tell me what they are. These eggs are boiled in a broth until they turn pink on the outside and smell like horse urine. The Thai name for these eggs (Kai Iow Ma) literally translates to horse urine. The inside is black and gelatinous and looks gross but is so flavorful and delicious.

• I have not yet hit my spice limit, so I’m still looking for that! I hope the restaurants aren’t going easy on me just because I’m a farang (they probably are)! When I ask for sai ped ped, I mean it!
• In the ruins of Wat Mahathat in Ayutthaya there’s a Buddha head that was once part of a statue but then fell off and was engulfed by the roots of a tree. Now it is permanently situated in this tree and it’s awesome. I went and saw it on Halloween. 
• The best sunsets are in Bang Pa In

I’m off to Chaiyaphum for the weekend to meet up with some teacher friends and compare notes on the first week. Peace.

Things have changed pretty dramatically here. I write this from the one coffee shop in Bang Pa In with wifi (there’s no wifi in my house). I had a little time after completing my TESOL course in Chiang Mai so a few friends and I went to Chiang Rai Friday morning. We had a great couple days exploring the area on motorbikes and meeting lots of friends of Michelle (our TESOL teacher who taught in that area). Chiang Rai seemed like the median between Chiang Mai and Pai in the mountainous area it’s in, population, and size. On Sunday night I said goodbye to everyone and took a 12 hour overnight bus to Bangkok and then a 1.5 hour van ride to Bang Pa In. Although I was dreading the ride it was surprisingly comfortable and went by very fast; I slept most of the time. Travis, my agent’s assistant who had my job last semester, picked me up at the station on his Hello Kitty scooter. He took us back to our house (more like a multi-floor apartment) where I chose the room with windows opposed to the one with air conditioning (I made sure to immediately buy a fan from the next door restaurant owner’s brother who gave me a “special price”).  There’s a big Jewish star outside my door it’s so bizarre. I have yet to meet a Jewish Thai person.

After settling in for a bit I decided to explore the area. I quickly realized that whoever told Google that there were 73,630 people living in Bang Pa In was surely mistaken. I think there are maybe 5,000 people in my town. I walked around the grounds of a
Buddhist school and on the way back to my house I decided to make a detour through a small market. As I walked through I heard someone say “how are you?” in English. I came back to see who spoke in English and was invited to sit down by a group of Thai people talking and drinking Hong Thong (Thai Whiskey) at 10 am. We barely understood each other but I spoke what Thai I knew and they spoke what English they knew, and we taught each other some words. They kept giving me whiskey and random food from different plates and asked me if I wanted to “sing song.” I had no idea what they meant so I said sure, and they took me by motorbike to their friend’s restaurant. Before I knew it there was American  music blasting throughout the restaurant and they told me to get up and sing. My tone-deafness must not translate to Thai ears because the whole time I sang “Baby You Can Drive My Car” by The Beatles they were clapping their hands and shreaking. One song wasn’t enough so I sang “A Day In the Life,” “Killer Queen,”  “I Love Rock and Roll,” and some American songs I had never heard before. Every time I would sit down another person would grab me and have me dance or sing or meet another one of their friends, I felt kind of like a circus monkey! I also could not believe how much they were drinking- three big bottles of whiskey  were finished between six people during the five hours I was with them! They also wouldn’t let me stop drinking, and besides constantly filling my glass they would go as far as pushing the bottom of the glass over my mouth to force me to drink. They also gave me free food at the restaurant which was awesome. As much as I felt paraded around, I truly felt like they liked me and wanted to look after me. The man who spoke the best English (and happened to be in the Thai Air Force for 30 years) said that they all loved me and wanted to care of me while I am here. I had only met them a few hours earlier and they already felt that way, it was unbelievable. I gave them my phone number and I’m sure I will see them again soon. People here are very nice and although it is scary being alone and far from people, things will be OK. I also have three friends (Chuck, Lauren, and Loh) teaching in Ayutthaya which is only a  25-30 minute ride away.

Tuesday morning I went to the school I will teach at (Watchumpon) and met some of the faculty. I planned to demonstrate an English lesson I had already planned in my TESOL course in front of the Principle and English directors. Once I got there they told me to do a science lesson since I will be teaching math and science. I opened the Pratom 1 Science coursebook and decided to teach about animals with and without legs and tails. The whole “mai pen rai” attitude of go with the flow was pretty apparent here. I figured it out on the spot and the lesson wasn’t too bad! I made up a song at the end of class about “Mr. Snake” having a tail and no legs that didn’t rhyme at all (like usual) but was fun enough to keep everyone engaged.

I went to Ayutthaya to go over some administrative stuff at my agent’s office but had all day, so I decided to explore on the motorbike I just rented (1500 baht a month, I can dig it). Ayutthaya is a pretty cool city, it’s an island separated by three rivers. They must’ve built way too many temples when Ayutthaya was the capital because there are ruins everywhere. It’s pretty awesome.

I rode around for a few hours and heard some drums and gongs being hit nearby so I investigated. Turns out the music was coming from a Buddhist temple and one of the monks told me to come and join their prayer session. They haulted the session just so they could get to know a little bit about me and how I happened upon this temple. Everyone in the congregation was so welcoming and appreciative that I wanted to be there and experience what they were doing. Living in Thailand for only one month I am not yet fluent in Thai, so he told me to sit cross-legged, close my eyes, and breathe deeply through my nose while everyone chanted in Thai. Right before I left one of the monks gave me a slip of paper with the Temple’s information and told me to come back whenever I wanted. I’ve never done something like this in the states but I wonder if it would’ve been as well received.

And Tess booked her flight to Thailand! I could not be more excited for January 15!

Sorry for rambling, I’ll stop writing now. Here are some pictures of Chiang Rai.

The highly anticipated English camp is now behind me. I have officially taught a class! Let me explain:

My TESOL course is taught at a local Thai school in Chiang Mai by a hilarious British woman named Michelle. For the last two days of Thai school, we all separated and taught the Thai students English. We spent all week creating, practicing, and refining lesson plans and were thrown into classrooms to teach students from 3 years old all the way to 16 years old. I taught Kindergarten 1 and 2 (3-5 year-olds) with two of my classmates, Lauren and Sarah, on Thursday and Pratham 1 and 2 (6-8 year-olds) on Friday.

Kindergarten 1 and 2

What a fun time- these kids have so much energy! Luckily my teaching style is very energetic, goofy, and loud so the kids responded well. Michelle told us to teach the students English words for actions. There could not be a more perfect topic for crazy little children. We decided to have lots of physical activity involved in our lesson to make it really fun so we started with a game of “freeze dance.” We played “Twist and Shout” and the children danced until the music stopped, when they would fall to the ground and giggle with excitement. We could’ve played this game for the entire hour, the kids could not get enough of it! Of course we had to teach them something, so we went over flashcards with monkeys performing our five vocabulary words: “dance, jump, run, walk, and stop.” Between each word we would perform the action while saying the word repeatedly, having the children copy us to help them associate each action with its meaning. For example, I would say “jump!” and they would jump as high as they could until Lauren or Sarah would yell “stop!”

By this time the kids were amped up so we slowed the pace of the class with a worksheet: trace the vocabulary word and color in the picture of the action next to that word. For how loud and excited the children had just been, I could not believe how happy they were to sit on the floor and color for an extended period of time; it was a much-needed breather. After the children had colored their brains out, we formed a conga line/ choo-choo train. As the “conductor” at the front of the line, I would call out a word and everyone would perform that action as we slowly moved around the classroom and eventually the playground outside.

The children loved the high energy activities and it was surprisingly easy to get them to focus. Although the day was exhausting it was amazing to see how much the children had actually learned. At the end of the day we quizzed them on all the action words and they remembered four out of five of them! It was incredible to witness how important repetition and word association are while learning!

Pratham 1 and 2

I could not imagine how different this would be from kindergarten. As soon as I stepped in the classroom it was obvious that I needed some more complex tactics to get their attention on their last day of school. Even though these children were only a couple years older, they were much more rambunctious and distracted in the classroom. I quickly learned how as a teacher you must be ready to think on your feet and change your lesson plan to better suit the children you’re teaching. I went in with a concise lesson plan about healthy and unhealthy foods that worked well in practice but was not fully absorbed by the children the way I had hoped. I ended up clapping, playing interactive games, and randomly breaking out into song often to grab the attention of the students. I also made up a song a couple days earlier that seemed to engage the students at the beginning of each lesson:

Sung to the tune of the military cadence “I don’t know what I’ve been told” while marching in place:

I like eating healthy food! (students repeat)

It tastes good and makes me strong! (students repeat)

I like eating cookies too! (students repeat)

But they are not good for me! (students repeat)

Pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza! (students repeat)

Everybody loves pizza! (students repeat)

This song is so simple and ridiculous but did the job of grabbing the students’ attention.

As each lesson progressed I figured out which parts of my lessons worked, which didn’t, and how to best connect with the students. It was also becoming easier to control the students. There was one boy named Doi who I was told to watch out for who Michelle said “ran the school.” He was known to freely roam the school grounds and never listen to teachers. Even though he walked around eating fried chicken for half the class, I was excited that I got him to sit quietly, raise his hand, and participate in a few activities! Even though I’ve only taught classes for two days, I feel much more confident that I will be able to successfully teach English at a Thai school.

Stay tuned to hear about my school placement and trips to the Elephant Nature Park, Sticky Waterfalls, and Pai!

The past 9 days have been a blur. Since arriving at Hotel Noppakao (my home until 10/24) last Saturday I’ve seen and done so much and spent a lot of time with some incredible people. It feels like just yesterday I tried to enter the driver’s side door when getting picked up at the Chiang Mai airport (apparently Thais drive on the opposite side of the road!). Luckily between Thai language and TESOL classes there is time set aside to experience some of the magnificent things Chiang Mai has to offer. I don’t know what I expected from this city but it keeps surprising me.

FOR ONE (that’s “neung” in Thai): The food scene is real (and so is Thai Tummy). I don’t know about you but I am all about food. And I eat whatever looks the most wild and undiscovered. As soon as I made my way through the narrow streets with speeding scooterists (that’s a word now) and no sidewalks, I entered the Mecca (too soon?) that is Thai street food. With no disappointment. Vendor after vendor presented different meats, curries, and surprises at prices in Thai baht that are equivalent to less than one USD (currently 1 USD=36.4 baht). After getting the fan-favorite pad thai (which I learned was only brought to Thailand as an imitation of Western food), I had to try the whole squid on a stick. As every other meal I’ve had here, it did not disappoint (CAUTION: If you eat food here, you will get Thai Tummy. All you can do is pray the nearest toilet is within 50 feet.)

Thais love spicy food (as you can tell, much of my life is centered around food). Although I’ve had some practice and tend to think I have a pretty high tolerance, spicy food here is not like spicy food in the States. I’m trying to get my tolerance up to the level of an average Thai person so I always ask for my food “ped mak maak” which means “very spicy.” Although I haven’t gone a day without sweating profusely out of my eyeballs, I think it is working.

The saying “mai pen rai” could not be more apparent in everyday Thai life. I have only been here 9 days and have already noticed this easygoing “whatever will be, will be” attitude. Specifically when using a songthaew- a glorified red truck turned into a taxi with a hood over the bed and two long benches inside. My first full day in Thailand, a bunch of people I had literally just met and I decided to go on a hike. We got in a songthaew and after a few minutes we asked the driver if he knew where he was and he shrugged his shoulders. After he stopped once to have a casual conversation with another songthaew driver and stopped again to pee on the side of the road, it was clear he had no idea where he was going. I guess he figured he would drive aimlessly until we told him to stop? So we hopped out of the cab and figured it out (even though we walked 3+ miles just to get to the beginning of the hike, it ended up being a great day). We even found this beautiful lake called Huey Tueng Tao Lake with bungalows on the water where small kitchens serve food. The water was oddly warm though. 

They can’t get enough gold here- especially in the temples. The most well-known temple is Doi Suthep which my whole group visited last week. We hiked the 309 steps (sounds like more than it is) to get to the top and were rewarded with a beautiful view of Chiang Mai and more gold than I had ever seen. At Doi Suthep EVERYTHING is gold (unless it’s green or red). Like all Thai temples you must enter without shoes and do not think about greeting a monk before dropping the Wai (respectful Thai bow) while being lower to the ground than he is.

You can’t be a Farang (Westerner) in Thailand and NOT get a pair of Elephant pants. They are amazing and extremely comfortable, even though I am 98% sure no Thai person has ever worn a pair. You can even haggle for a pair at one of the many markets for 100 baht or less.

RESPECT THE KING. He is the man.

Durian, on the other hand, is disgusting and I do not know why it is a delicacy. If you can get over the smell of rotten eggs, it tastes like mushy mango with a garlic after taste.

I can now say I have trained in Muay Thai (once) AND been to a Muay Thai fight. Last Tuesday we went to Bangarang Gym a half hour outside of Chiang Mai and realized how out of shape we all are. We did countless sprints, a CrossFit circuit, and intensely practiced every combination of punching and kicking with the trainers. As we punched their pads they would hit back quite hard to give the impression we were actually punching with some “oomph”. They know how to make Farangs feel good! A few days later some of us went to a Muay Thai fight. Of course we had to bet on a fight. And naturally we picked the underdog named “Mawin.” We picked the sketchiest booky with a black fanny pack and 1-inch long thumb nails and quickly lost 100 baht each.

That’s all for now, folks. I’ll write again soon about my first lesson plan and food (my main focus in life). On Thursday and Friday I will teach English lessons to Thai children at an English camp. That should be interesting. Below are a few pictures of my newest friends- some of the most adventurous, fascinating, and like-minded people I have ever met. Eventually I will go through all of them, but I am tired and need to do something about these Durian burps I keep having.