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 Therefore, it may seem out-of-date.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.

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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.