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.