The (In)sanity of Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Next week will be a crazy week of midterm exams. I am responsible for grading nearly 270 students based on oral presentations. This week has been crazy trying to help them prepare. Next week will be even more insane.

Just to be clear however, my sanity is not really a concern; it’s just a figure of speech. I’ve been running –my emotional and mental medicine if you will. Yesterday, I ran at night for the first time since I have been in Chiang Rai. Don’t worry mom and dad, I live at a fenced-in boarding school that is monitored by security guards. The stars were amazing, the music playing on my Ipod was wakening, and my optimism in life was refreshed. It’s amazing what such a simple activity, one foot in front of the other, can do for the human spirit.

Christmas is on Thursday! I miss my family very much. My Christmas plans include a trip to Myanmar, thanks to the kind heart of P’Tuang, to shop for cheap DVDs and red wine for the holidays. Next Friday I head to Bangkok to meet Kali –so excited! Karen, Caryn, Kate, and Zoe will also make the trip to Bangkok so we can celebrate New Year’s Eve together.

Happy holidays indeed!

Back to Doitung

Yesterday, two Israeli school administrators came to visit and observe PCC. In addition, two administrators from Mahidol School near Bangkok came to PCC. Today, P’Wan (one of the directors at my school), P’Al (a teacher in the English Dept), the three Americans (Kirsten, Alicia, and myself), and the four guests traveled to Doitung. We visited the temple, the flower gardens, and the palace. Some years ago, the King’s mother started the Doitung project. In the mountains near Chiang Rai, opium was being produced, exported, and consumed. The King’s mother created an amazing place where hill tribe people now maintain gardens, produce viable crops, make clothing, and produce other handicrafts. The palace at Doitung is the most exquisite log cabin, of Thai-Swiss influence, imaginable. Absolutely stunning –a cabin in the mountains so beautiful it would have brought my father to tears.

[photo (form left): me, Kirsten, Alicia, P'Wan]

[photo: my roommates and I at Doitung gardens]

[photo: clanking the bells again]

[photo: stray dog enjoying the sunlight]

[photo: outside of the King's mother's cabin at Doitung]

[photo: view from the balcony (off the living room) in the palace]

Camping

The second weekend in December I went camping with five Thai teachers and the Chinese teacher from PCC at Doitung (the mountains near Chiang Rai). P’Al and P’Man first took Hong, the Chinese teacher about my age, and I to Wat Rong Kun, the “White Temple.”

[photo (from left): Hong, P'Al, me, P'Man]

Camping was awesome. It was bitter cold, but very fun indeed!

[photo: P'Pai (left) and P'Dtone (right) ready for a good time]

In the morning we went up the mountain a bit further to the temple (which I now know was built sometime around 700AD –before the history of our country wow!). I rang 103 bells. And, when I say I rang them, I mean that I clanked them with a short stick as customary. And, when I say 103 bells, I mean that I lost count quickly.

You know those paintings where all you see are shades of blue. Perfectly distinguishable shades of blue, yet faintly determinable outlines of mountains –that’s what I saw. The photograph is a mere joke as an attempt to capture the beauty witnessed by my naked eye.

Chiang Mai Weekend Trip

December 5th was the King’s Birthday and also Father’s Day in Thailand. I was in Chiang Mai with Kate, Karen, and Caryn, weaving up Doi Su Tep Mountain in the back of a utility vehicle. When we got to the top, some 4500 meters from what we considered to be the bottom, we strapped on the chest guard, knee pads, helmet, and elbow pads they provided us. Karen later described us as the colorfully mismatched and raggedy-looking Mighty Ducks crew from the first movie (perhaps a reference that can only be appreciated by a few).

[photo: at the top of the mountain; pre-gear]

[photo: "ducks fly together"]

Three hours of downhill biking later, bruised, sweaty, and happy, I sat contemplating the sheer exhilaration of my first mountain biking experience. The first hill left me with the terrifying yet fleeting thought that maybe we had signed up for something other than a beginners course. Yikes! It was so intense and so hard not to give into the fear of falling. Most of the terrain was so grooved-out and rocky it was like biking downhill on a balance beam with pebbles on it. Our guide said this: “Choose your path…and then know that it’s your path to take.” His advice to be proactive and in control of my own safety and experience helped me let go of the fear. I let go, and the adrenaline took over.

[photo: after biking; lunch and contemplation]


One of the other guides at the company particularly enjoyed speaking in English with the four of us. Nooh, his nickname, was such a great soul to meet. The five of us went for dinner, drinks, and good conversation on a river bank in Chiang Mai that evening.

[photo: after biking; Me, Caryn, Karen, Kate colorful and smiling]