Random Observations and Occurrences

I have been working on this blog post for quite some time now. Therefore, it may seem out-of-date. These are in no particular order, but like the title describes, they are random observations and occurrences during my time thus far in Thailand.

Stray dogs: There are perhaps six or seven stray dogs that are regulars on our street in Bangkok. At Chulalongkorn University, where we study during the day, there are another fifteen or so local strays that claim the campus. I’m not entirely sure why there is such a giant population of stray dogs in Bangkok. However, the stray dogs are something I will never forget about being here.

Yellow shirts: In Thailand, there is a specific color used to represent each day of the week. The current King was born on a Monday. Monday is represented by the color yellow. Every Monday you will find the streets glowing with yellow polo shirts embroidered with the King’s symbol.

Government protests: Not really sure what I can say at this point. They are happening in and around the Government House in Bangkok. The protests are serious and at some points dangerous. I am learning more about the history of Thai politics and the nature of these protests through lectures at Chulalongkorn University. I may go into details of what I have learned in another blog post, but for now, just know that I am safe.

Tuk Tuks: The other evening, Kate and I hopped in a tuk tuk for what felt like the last time in our lives. Without hesitation, the driver swerved into on-coming traffic during rush hour in Bangkok. Thank god we’re alive, ha! Bangkok traffic is an almost indescribable monster. I just found out that people actually refer to motorcycles as mosquitoes because they weave in and out of traffic making their own lanes.

Meeting Nick: I wasn’t feeling much like myself one afternoon, so I decided to treat myself to some sushi. I went to this great Japanese restaurant near the dorm. During my meal, I was working on my lesson plan for the next morning, when an older Thai man walked up to my table. He said he wanted to know what meal I had ordered because I appeared to be enjoying it (I had ordered salmon sashimi on rice and seaweed—and it was FANTASTIC). He then asked me a few questions about why I was in Thailand, and I learned that he had lived in Vermont while in high school during our short conversation. At the end of the meal, I was waiting on the check which I expected to total something close to 400 baht (a bit more pricey than my typical street-food dinner costing 30-40 baht). Next thing I knew, this same Thai man came up again to my table to tell me that he took the liberty to pay my bill. He asked if he could sit and chat for a minute and of course I agreed. He told me that people he met in America had been so great to him that he wanted to give back. We talked about Thailand, about teaching, about U.S. economy, U.S. politics, and the upcoming election. I walked home with a smile, I walked home with admiration, realizing (yet again) how unboundedly generous Thai people can be. A week later, I had dinner again with Nick in order to learn more about him and his story. Apparently he loves to golf and has run his family’s business for over three decades or so. Again, kawp khun ka. Thank you Nick, thank you Thailand, and thank you wonderful people who inhabit this beautiful country.

Drinking juice from plastic bags: So, imagine thin plastic bags about the size of sandwich baggies but the consistency of grocery bags with small handles. These bags are seen in the hands of locals, filled with ice, juice or coffee, with a colorful straw leaning toward their mouths. Plastic bags instead of plastic cups? This is very interesting, but not entirely confusing –the bags are made from less plastic and most likely a cheaper alternative.

Kids in pajamas, siting on the back of motorcycles, late at night at the street vendors: ummm, ok.

Cheerleaders practicing everywhere: Dancing, singing, and cheerleading seem to be very popular here.

Running around National Stadium: My running routine around National Stadium during my time in Bangkok has provided some of the greatest reminders of faith and love in humanity. Feet to the pavement, running for my health and mental clarity, I find the beautiful reminder of faith presented in the smiling face and wave of a young Thai child. I don’t run away from things or past things, I run to see things more clearly. Running face to the wind (well, actually there is no breeze in Bangkok) helps me realize that the world is the backdrop which reinforces our faith in everything that exists in and around us.

Some Photographic Reminders of Time Well Spent

Last weekend, I went on another trip to Ko Samed, this time with the entire Fulbright group. The weekend was great, yet sad at the same time realizing that come Monday I would be saying goodbye to some new friends. We laid out on the beach, ate delicious food, had a few cocktails, practiced our Thai, played card games, and all-around enjoyed another incredible weekend in Thailand.

This is where we slept for two nights. Simply Thailand.

This is where we ate breakfast.

A view from the cafe where we played card games for a few hours.

Kate in contemplation.

We are in a small boat that picked us up on the beach and awaiting to board the ferry back to the mainland.

--------------------------------------------------------------
The previous week, while in Bangkok: Kate, Caryn, Ahna, and I visited the Grand Palace and Wat Arun (Wat means temple in Thai). It was a really great afternoon and provided for some of the most artistic photos I have taken thus far on this trip.

I miss everyone and hope that the people I love (you know who you are) are as happy as humanly possible.

Chook dii ka! Sawatdii ka.

Greetings from Chiang Rai

This morning I woke up around 7:00am. One hour later I was introducing myself to the 800 students here at Princess Chulabhorn's College (PCC) in Chiang Rai. The morning ceremony included the National Anthem, some prayers, a message from the Director (temp) and introductions from the three new American teachers (this of course includes me). I had been practicing my introduction in Thai for a couple days, so I believe it went really well. This morning I even called P'Tip at the last minute and she gave me another useful phrase to use. At the end of the ceremony they presented us each with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and then we took photos.

My introduction sounded something like this:

Sawatdii ka khun kruu la nak re-an. De-chan cheu Paige, nam sagoon Battcher. Mah jahk America, rat Kentucky ka. Dii jai tee mah bpen kruu pasa ung-grit tee nee ka. Touk kon na-rak. Rusik dtuun dten maak ka. Kawp khun ka.

Translation:

Hello teachers and students. My name is Paige, last name Battcher. I am from America, from the state of Kentucky. It is a pleasure to be a teacher of english here. Everyone is lovely (this statement provided for a lot of smiles and laughter). I am feeling very excited. Thank you.

Today was my first full day of teaching. It went really well. I had three lessons today, each fifty minutes in duration. For the first lesson with these new students, I repeated many lesson plan ideas I had used at Mahatputtaram Girls School in Bangkok, and simply spent the full class period introducing myself. For what seems like a selfish topic, to spend nearly all of one class period talking about myself, I believe the students are genuinely interested in learning about me.

PCC is a co-ed boarding school with more than 800 students. The school provides education for students grades M1 through M6. This is secondary school and is equivalent to 7th grade through 12th grade in the U.S. I have the pleasure of teaching M1 (7th grade) and M4 (10th grade) students. The campus at PCC is beautiful. There is a library, the main school building, plenty of sports facilities and fields, a cafeteria, dorms for the students, and houses for the faculty including the house I am living in. The walk to dinner every night, which is provided for the students and offered to me, is a quick two or three minute walk. Along the way, beyond the rice fields and gardens, is the most beautiful skyline of mountains I have seen in a long time.

The last period each day finishes at 3:20pm. After that, students hangout in and around the school and dorms. Around 4:30pm most students participate in a sport of their choice. I have been told I can participate in any of the many sports (yay!). Tomorrow, a group of M3 students has invited me to go running in the afternoon. As for today, I am headed to Yoga with some of the female students in the girl's dorm. It will be led by my mentor teacher, P' Taw, here at the school!

Until next time. Remember to smile.

This Is What It's All About

I have heard the words spoken to me a few times already these last few days –kruu and ajahn, both of which mean teacher in Thai. Teacher, who me? Seeing as how I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Finance, I never foresaw this incredible opportunity to teach children in Thailand. Each day is a new day as I stand in front of dozens of Thai students showing them my enthusiasm to help them learn the language I grew up speaking. So, I’m a teacher. This is new to me, but appreciated, anticipated, and prepared for (to the best of my ability).
My first week of teaching has been eventful, a learning experience, and a great beginning to my job as a Teacher here in Thailand.

We are teaching at a local secondary school, Mahaprattaram Girl’s school, in Bangkok for five days before moving to our provinces throughout Thailand. Since the school is all-girls, and most of the ETAs will be teaching coed classrooms, the staff at TUSEF, asked the school to combine with two local boys schools. The students are grades M1 through M3 which is roughly 7th-9th grade, about 12-15 year olds. The ten ETAs, including myself, have been paired up teach five different classrooms. I am paired with Brad, a smart, optimistic, and laid-back guy from West Virginia, who will be the only other Fulbrighter to teach in the same province as me (Chiang Rai). We take turns teaching for 50 minutes each on a lesson of our choice. We (the ten Fulbright ETAs) have been creating our own lesson plans to teach the students. The amount of freedom we have been given is utterly incredible.

Wednesday, the first day of teaching: I found myself in front of 35 Thai students. I spent nearly all of lesson describing myself. I had each student fill out a card with their Thai names, phonetic names, and nicknames. I then drew names and called on the students to ask me questions about my family and my background. After that we played hot potato so I could learn a bit about them (it was exciting for me to incorporate music into the classroom), where I asked them the same questions they posed to me (the questions were listed on the whiteboard). After that, I gave the students numbers in order to split them into groups. Growing up I never attended an all-girls school, so I found myself amused by how adorably awkward it was for these teenagers to mix genders having always studied in the absence of one another. After a few minutes of minimal communication, rather, nervous staring at one another, the groups actually began to work on the assignment. I had given each group a cut-out picture of one of my family members, complete with a brief description of that person’s name and hobbies, as well as giant postcards that I had created. Each group then wrote a postcard to my family members –they turned out really great. At the end of the lesson, I played a competitive game with the students, called “Splat”, requiring the students to race to the board, beat their opponent, and splat (slap) the whiteboard near the correct answer –they were really enthusiastic because points were involved.

Thursday, the second day of teaching: I taught a lesson on greetings. At the beginning of my lecture, I had the class divide themselves into pairs, and had them complete a worksheet I had prepared. The worksheet was simply the lyrics to Hello, Goodbye by The Beatles with a few blanks for the students to listen to the song and fill in. After playing the song twice, each pair was able to successfully complete the worksheet. As music filled the classroom, the students became more and more enthusiastic. So, I decided to be adventurous. I split the classroom into two halves, the “hello” side, and the “goodbye” side. I played the song a third time and had each side wave and chant their simple greeting (at the top of their lungs) each time they heard it in the song –the enthusiasm and smiles of the students helped prove the fact that experimenting with different lesson plan ideas is always welcome. The roaring hellos and goodbyes of my students caused a few of the directors at the school to peek into the back of the classroom, giving me an affirmative smile. After that I presented a short lesson on greetings. I had the students help me brainstorm the possible things you could say to greet someone: hello, hi, good morning, etc. The last suggestion I added to the board turned out to be the class favorite –Yo! What’s up?. They laughed and smiled, but mostly they repeated the phrase louder and more confidently than I had heard anything repeated thus far. For me I learned a great lesson about what it means to teach my language as a second language –make it fun, the enthusiasm will follow! Then I organized an activity which I called “Just Passing By”, which Brad (my partner in crime for this week’s teaching experience) accurately referred to as a “layup drill”, where students formed two lines coming toward the goal (the front of class actually). One line was for greetings. The other line was for partings such as PEACE!, a suggestion written on the board, and instructed to be said with an enthusiastic low tone that the guys really enjoyed. They came one by one to the front of class to speak their greeting or parting to another classmate. After they chose and said a certain greeting, for instance, then they moved to the end of the partings line and awaited their chance to recite an option from the partings list on the board (and vice versa).

Friday, the third day of teaching: I began the lesson with a lyrics worksheet again, this time the song was “I Feel Good” by James Brown. The lyrics in the song led into my lesson on emotions, feelings, and opposites believe it or not. Really, the part on opposites was just a great way to assess how much vocabulary the students already possess. The lesson on emotions was fairly concentrated, because I just wanted to get them to start thinking about expressing themselves in English. I had the students then divide themselves up into groups of six. The activity was to create skits, which were free to include drawings, and words. The only rule was that they were not allowed to say the particular emotion that was assigned to their group. The goal was to get the class to guess which emotion they were feeling. At first, Brad and I performed a skit for their entertainment, I mean demonstration. The skit was pretty silly, resulted in a few laughs, and ended with me sitting in a corner looking distraught at lunchtime after Brad had stolen my lunchbox. The students guessed it correctly –I was feeling hungry. I had prepared ahead of time all six emotion cards that I handed out to the students. I wanted to give the students some structure/direction, so I gave them some situations which they were free to use or work off of. Here are a few examples of what the cards said: 1) We feel tired…because we stayed up at a concert all night and had to get up early this morning, 2) We feel silly…because we told jokes in class and laughed with our friends, 3) We feel angry… because we stepped in dog poop (I’m a nut I know, but the group of guys in the back of class really had fun with it). My favorite skit was actually the silly skit –who knew how universal slapstick humor really is? One of the boys held up a piece of colored paper as if he were a waiter, told the class, “this is a pie”, and then proceeded to slap it onto the face of his friend, who of course returned the favor with the sort of ridiculous aggression only little boys are comfortable with. It was indeed funny. I’m pretty sure at this point that the student knows I got a kick out of it. As I’m sitting in my dorm room now writing this, I realized that after Monday’s lesson, I got hit with my second imaginary pie in two days. I’m looking forward to seeing if this student will come up at the end of class tomorrow and throw a pie in my face again –luckily he doesn’t actually make contact with my face, but simply shows me the piece of paper first and then swings it toward my face as I pretend to be caught off guard. He then proceeds to wai, say sawatdee krup (goodbye in Thai), and leave with a clever smile on his face. I’m still laughing now thinking about how much it makes my day.

Tomorrow is the last day of teaching in Bangkok. Monday, Brad and I get on a plane headed for Chiang Rai, say goodbye to the rest of the group, and then say goodbye to each other. This weekend, the group is making plans to hangout on the beach in Ko Samet again, for a final hoorah before we fly north.

Our Trip to Ko Samed

Our trip to Ko Samet (also spelled Koh Samed, Ko Samed, Koh Samet, oh, who knows!) was AWESOME! It was beautiful. It was fun. Enough said really. Pictures speak louder than words anyway, so check out the video I put together when you have a few minutes to spare.




What an amazing world we are living in!



-----------------------------------------------------------------------



I actually just found a few entries in my journal that I wrote during my time on the island.


-Today I saw the moon shining through the clouds over a rainbow. I saw fire batons being twirled thru the air by local islanders. I saw stray dogs, boats, and a sunset.


-Bus ride & ferry: 500 baht. Room for the night: 500 baht. Dinner, drinks, dessert: 500 baht. Entrance to the island (it’s a National Park): 40 baht, down from 200 baht (foreigners fee) by showing our Chula ID –we are practically locals ha!


-Tonight I met a Dutch guy, named Robin, living in Thailand, working in Bangkok. We talked for about an hour. About a lot of things, but also talked about memories of Holland. He was from Rotterdam, about forty minutes by train from where I used to live in Den Haag, The Netherlands.


- I danced in the waves. I chilled on the beach, lounging on Thai pillows, drinking coke out of a sand bucket, listening to music with some great new friends (Fulbrighters).


-The day in Ko Samet was so great. We spend all day lounging on the beach on the most beautiful coastline I have ever seen. We “rented” an area with six lounge chairs, two small tables, a dog, and three large umbrellas! It was such a cozy little spot. I say “rented”, because we actually only paid 150 baht (about $6 USD) per person for the day –that included the chairs, two drinks or so, lunch, crystal-clear water, and more sun than any of us could handle. Yep, I’m peeling.


-Ferry @ 3:30pm, Bus @ 5:30pm, Taxi @ 9:30pm, Home @ 10:00pm.




(October 9, 2008)






Wishing the best to everyone,


Paige

Staying Happy and Healthy

Last night, we ran to Lumphini Park. Perhaps the video will show it best. I am very happy here, finding myself motivated to stay fit by my fellow Fulbrighters. Check out the video.

After running, we went to dinner with Pi Nan, our Thai langauge teacher. She said it was the first time she has ever gone to dinner with students. The food was great. The laughter at dinner was even better. Good times for sure.

The group

Ahna reacting to the tom yum (spicy thai soup) on fire!

LEFT: JR, Pi Nan RIGHT: Me, Chike, Brad

LEFT: Kate, Audra RIGHT: Ahna, Zoe, Karen

Homestay with a Thai Family

All of the Fulbrighters went last weekend to stay with local Thai families connected with the Bangkok Rotary Club. These families are incredible for opening their homes to us. The weekend was fantastic. I really felt welcomed into the family during my two-day homestay. As it worked out, my original homestay family had other obligations, and I ended up spending the weekend with the homestay family assigned to Audra. No worries at all, it was a fantastic experience.

I look back now, smiling about the many memories I accumulated in such a short stay with perfectly hospitable strangers. I was lucky enough to spend time with their kids, Gikko (age 10) and Pah (age 14). As you will see in many of the pictures, they were always good for a smile and a laugh. The parents I stayed with sent their children to an international school in Bangkok, where they speak in English on a daily basis --this helped them teach me Thai. The parents spoke great English in my opinion and were very easy going people. Audra and I enjoyed an exceptionally adventurous weekend as we travelled with the family back and forth from Bangkok to their home outside the city and back again.

Here's a brief recap:


FRIDAY
Friday evening we arrived at the house to put our stuff down. We went to the local fresh market near their house to pick up things for dinner. Dinner was delicious as Thai food usually is. For dessert was cow neow mah muang (mango sticky rice...I know it's your favorite mom, it's so much better in Thailand, potentially deadly), YUM. After dinner, we went this German-style brewery/concert hall for drinks and entertainment. The hall was so large. I would estimate there to have been nearly 300 or more people there that night, with room for more. The stage provided the bulk of the entertainment, with everything from American Idol type singing, dramatic dances, one of my favorite numbers from Chicago ("All that Jazz"), acoustic guitar. Nearly all of the talented performers were Thai, yet a surprising number of the performed songs were in English. It was such a great night.

SATURDAY
In the morning we went to a place called Sathira-Dhamastan, a local meditation center near their house. As I was getting dressed for the day, I realized that I had never before been to a 'meditation center', and began to wonder if I would be able to fit in, or more importantly, connect to the ideas they would be practicing. I came to Thailand knowing that I am interested in Buddhism and meditation, but nevertheless concerned with my own ability to jump right in and feel a true connection. I can't explain fully how incredible it was that Pi Pikul (our homestay mother) introduced me to such a wonderful atmosphere. The center is aesthetically beautiful, and spiritually comforting. The center is run by nuns (essentially woman monks in my book), and focuses around a particular theme, if you will --the love between mother and child, and all that is sacred in bring a child into this world. I do not have children yet, but I was moved, I was connected. The ceremony, in progress when we arrived, was of course in Thai, and was being shared with one or two hundred women and children. We sat in the back. At one point, everyone turned in their seats to face the back of the person in front of them. I followed suit, a bit confused at first, and then smiling ear to ear as I realized what was happening. Everyone was giving and receiving shoulder/back massages by the people directly around them, be it strangers or not.

What an incredible concept to share --the idea of unbridled community, and the willingness to physically care for your neighbor. As we came back to center, these English words scrolled across the projector screen:

"To be happy and content is to give and share with other people the essence of what can make this a more beautiful world."

Water for the tree.

Making clay fruit with children. Yeah, I'm a big kid.

Later that day, we enjoyed lunch, and then went to the Siam Museum. The museum covered an exceptionally interactive account for Thai history and the concept of "Thainess." The building itself, previous home to the Thai Department of Commerce, was also very impressive.

Outside of the museum.

That night, Pah, Audra, and I stayed up late watching a DVD of Andre Rieu's Wonderland Concert. It's very hard to describe what it was like, but definitely something I will never forget watching. It was a great night to end an equally great day.

SUNDAY
We drove into Bangkok to visit a newly opened art gallery, in the vicinity of were I am living actually. The art gallery was great. It was a lot of fun hanging out with Gikko and Pah, talking about the art work, and taking pictures of them goofing off with me. After the museum, we went to MBK across the street for a quick snack. Then, we said goodbye to the family when they dropped us off at our dorm, and promised to meet again at the end of our grant in March.

So, the weekend exceeded any expectations I may have had. I was even given my first Thai nickname (nicknames are very very popular here). Wanna hear it? PenPahk. That's the name my homestay father gave me, and the name the family called me last weekend. I have already shared it with Pi Nan and the rest of the Fulbrighters...everyone seems to like it. PenPahk --the literal translation is "Moon Face", but it means something along the lines of beautiful face.

Until next time,
เพจ

Our Trip to Ayutthaya

This past weekend, the Fulbrighters took a trip to Ayutthaya, one of the previous capital cities before the current capital of Bangkok. Thailand (Siam) enjoyed great prosperity during the Ayutthaya period. After 400 years of peace, war with the Burmese eventually destroyed the city, forcing rulers to relocate the capital of Thailand. For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_(city)

Kate, Karen and I.

Thai flags

A city ruined by war.

The face of Buddha, entangled in the tree.

At a local wat (temple).

Let me tell you about an experience beyond the photographs, beyond the temples, beyond the tourism. At 3:00pm we arrived at Baan Suan Guest House. It was a beautifully warm Thai-style guest house. I decided not to take a shower, as the others were doing (I’m a dirtbag, I know). Instead, I went downstairs to introduce myself to the owner of the house, Sumate, as I soon found out. Within the first ten minutes of meeting him, Sumate eagerly agreed to help me study my Thai language notes from class. After a few hours of learning Thai pronunciation, simple Thai language structural ideas, and getting to know my new Thai friend, the others gathered downstairs.

We went to a restaurant around the block called Malakor, meaning papaya in Thai –very suiting, considering that Sumate helped me review fruit vocabulary.

I left the restaurant before the others (eight Fulbrighters) and went back to the guest house. Sumate was there when I returned. We talked more about his job running a guest house, his Thai background (a native of Ayutthaya), and even about his seven year stay in Dallas, Texas. We talked about Fuilbright, American and Thai cultures, the current Thai protests, the meat-packing/shipping industry (connected to his experiences in TX), and of course Thai language. As the other Fulbrighters watched the movie ‘21’ in the living room, Sumate and I sat outside talking, learning, and laughing. As I went upstairs to sleep, I got a great feeling. I applied for this grant knowing why I wanted to come to Thailand –I am here to get to know the people and share a bit about myself. It makes me proud that I am here now, and truly living out my dreams –not as an individual journey but rather an inclusive one. It is through people, in my current case, through Thai people, that I hope to gain different perspectives, ideas, and motivations to challenge my own personal growth.

The next morning, five or six of the women in my group including myself decided to go biking. Each bike was only 50 THB for the day, very cheap by international standards. The bike ride was incredible. We circled around at least three-fourths of the city’s interior as sectioned off by the surrounding river(s).

Sumate and I

When we returned, Sumate was at the guest house with a gift for me. I couldn’t believe his generosity. The night before, we talked about my slight knowledge of the Thai alphabet (an alphabet which has 44 consonants and 21 vowels). When we returned from the bike ride, Sumate presented me with a gift of two posters, one of which showed the entire alphabet, the other showed the numbers in Thai script. When we were checking out of the guest house, the group was asking “how much do we owe you for the bikes.”—Sumate’s response was “Paige paid for the bikes.” I couldn’t believe my ears…I had not paid for the bikes, but Sumate was such an incredible person that he told the group I had covered the expense. Kate, in her own words, explained it best – he was saying that my friendship paid for it, that my willingness to share friendship with him paid for part of our experience in Ayutthaya. I will never forget meeting Sumate, and I will never forget my first long weekend in Thailand. It was a weekend of fun, adventure, and strengthening experiences. The strengthening came from the re-understanding of why I am here in Thailand. I am here for Fulbright, for myself, for my future, my family, for the Thai people, and for the kind of cultural exchange that creates happiness and peace for our world.

Gratitude

Thailand is incredible. The people here are amazingly generous. We, our group of ten ETAs (English Teaching Assistantship, Fulbright grantees) in Thailand, are being treated so well. I only hope that scholars who travel to the U.S. on exchange from Thailand encounter the same generosity that we have been shown. As I sit in lecture, enjoying the smoothies, coffee, tea, fruit, and Thai (kanom) snacks that they gave us, I can’t find the right words to describe how grateful I am. Kawp khun ka (thank you) a thousand times over!

Our Thai language teacher, Pi Nan, brought in snacks for our morning lecture as well. The morning lessons are incredibly sanuk (fun) for me. Chan chawp poot pasa thai (I like speaking Thai). Thanks to the free LearnThai podcasts (http://learn-thai-podcast.com/) on my Ipod, I have been learning random Thai phrases. This morning, I said “than a-haan yen kan” (let’s go to dinner). The unanticipated result of practicing my Thai phrases: won jan (Monday), Pi Nan, who was very pleased by the inadvertent invitation, and the entire group will go to dinner. This is very exciting to me! Not only will I enjoy great Thai food with our Thai teacher from Bangkok, but I will have an opportunity to speak more Thai on Monday night!

view of Bangkok, from our dorm room window

smiles in the classroom

Yesterday was my first real experience creating a lesson plan. We were split up into five groups, into pairs actually, to present our lessons to the class. Kate and I taught our lesson on “Describing Family and Friends.” We had a few fun activities, and a reading and writing exercise. We received lots of positive feedback, and great advice from our instructor Pi Bobby.

I had such a great time teaching and designing the lesson plan. I feel extremely lucky to be where I am. Teaching is exciting, fun, and rewarding. And, cultural exchange, which is particularly successful in the “Land of Smiles”, can produce the kind of social progression our world dreams of. I am in Thailand. I will be a teacher. I am experiencing cultural exchange. I am grateful.