The World Through A Newbie's Eyes: 11-26-13 to 11-28-13 Uniforms, Mangoes, and Other Random Stuff

This entry was finished on 11/28/13, so I’m speaking from the future sometimes. The events occurred on 11/26/13 though.

I finally purchased two school uniforms because I have issues with my clothing--probably more than a person of my age should... My maxi skirts get in the way, so I’m constantly tripping over them or my students are stepping on them, and I just can’t move very quickly in such long skirts! My tops are also a little too casual and I always have to adjust them, unless I want to keep purchasing more. Actually, the other day, one of my students pulled on my cardigan, which also yanked down my top a little, but I saved myself very gracefully (or so I hope).

But anyway, another school-wide hush hush implementation (yes, it is purposeful) I wish to not partake in is the separation and segregation among the staff. I really do not support the injustice of how Thai and Filipino teachers are forced to wear uniforms while the other foreign teachers can wear whatever they choose. Also, I want to use up some of my future money for clothes I’ll wear outside that are more of my normal style. In other words, I want shorter, prettier dresses that I can wear after school and on the weekends. Haha, sometimes I can be such a girl! I miss my dress closet from home so much, even though I rarely wore them.

Posing like one of my students in the field trip photo :D

I actually rarely see my students outside of school, so I think I’m totally fine with that choice. The people selling food that I always walk past see me in my bum clothes, shorts, and teacher clothes anyway, depending on the time of day. I almost feel like I can change my personality with how I dress, or perhaps their perception of me! I’m still sorta guy-ish though...even in my skirts, I stalk around in all my manly ways.

I wore my uniform for the first day today and the students immediately noticed. They also were very quick to tell me how beautiful I was, as did the teachers. It made me laugh, but now people keep mistaking me for a Thai teacher!

Meaily, one of my sweet students, kept telling me, “Teacher! You are beau-ti-ful! I like the suit!” (Oh my goodness, she is one of the most adorable students I’ve ever had. Also, she sometimes grabs my hand and likes to rub her cheek on it lol) She did draw out the syllables of “beautiful” and I did try to tell her my suit was in fact a uniform, but she forgot later on.

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My neighbor gave me some wonton-like foods and a dinner of noodles from one of the malls, Siam Paragon. I think I should visit that place just for the food; it seems like there’s a great variety and it’s more restaurant-ish than the local food stands I’ve been seeing.

Mr. Gecko is living under my fridge after it felt its warmth and was hiding inside my paper which was on the floor... When I saw something come skittering out, I thought it was a giant cockroach, but that it was not (THANK GOODNESS). It came out from under the fridge to peek at me a few times. The next day, it moved to hide behind my clothes closet. He’s too elusive! How will I ever catch him? I really hope he doesn’t die. :( I left out some water for him at night in some plastic spoons and during the next day, just in case...

I went to my friend Gill’s birthday party at an Irish pub across from Impact. I enjoyed a very expensive dinner of fish n’ chips, but I think I really needed that. I really miss home and some of the food I normally buy can be a little plain... I’m not sure. It must mostly be because I miss having such a mix of different cuisine back at home, and being restricted to only one is very difficult for me. Where are mah wings? My tacos? My pho?!
My neighbor, after returning from his event, knocked on my door to check when I got home from my party, since he had invited me originally. He’s getting disturbingly stalkerish. Also, he knocked on my door 3 times just to give me a mango. At the same time, he was asking me if I was awake on facebook. CREEPY. I finally replied after 15 minutes, telling him I had fallen asleep, and he apologized since I looked like I really had just woken up and gave me the mango.
On a different note, I enjoyed the mango very much on the 18th! :) MMmmmmMMMMmm :D
My voice is really going away, so I looked for simple and natural home remedies. I should gargle salt water and drink tea with honey and lemon. Because I couldn’t read Thai though, I picked up a tube (looks like our lotion tubes!) and randomly walked up to someone in 7-11, thrust it in her face, and went like “Honey?!” which made my friend burst out laughing. I started laughing too because it WAS pretty abrupt.
I think the gecko’s coming to drink water :) The spoons were drained when I came back, and unless water evaporates that quickly, it’s got to be him!
On 11/28/13 I went on a field trip with the kids to a museum. The museum was a very interesting place to be! I have some pictures... also, toward the end, we walked into the giant auditorium, and they were playing a video that concentrated on an alligator-like dinosaur. That dinosaur killed many species, and the video just kept on going. First, it killed an elephant, then it killed some monkeys, and then it also murdered some fish. But that wasn’t all. The video showed the blood oozing into the water and spreading. Beautiful. I’m sure little kids need to see that.
Anyway, that night, (remember, my voice is going away), I ate spicy stuff like the intelligent person I am, and that probably caused my voice to be even more hoarse! That’s not the point of this bullet point fact though. I actually asked for my som tam to be spicy, but they put so many peppers in it, at some point, I was crying, my nose was running, and my ears wouldn’t pop because of the pressure. It was crazy but super delicious though!
I also had that extremely spicy som tam with purple sticky rice. I have found a new favorite sticky rice!!! (The way that I ate it was just with my salad--it wasn’t sweet or anything--and it is very similar in appearance to normal wild rice.) Yum! That’s something I’ll probably miss when I come back home. I don’t know if people in Chicago actually make a lot of purple sticky rice.
By the way, 11/28/13 is also Thanksgiving. This made me think a lot about my family and being home. Before, I used to miss everyone and everything because of how different it is here in Thailand. Now, though, I miss it all because I feel left out of celebrating the normal traditions. The students, even though they love listening to how America is different from Thailand, don’t understand (not that I would expect them to unless they could experience it), and that made me miss being home even more. It isn’t about the food, although I could go for a pumpkin pie and some taffy apples, but much more about the atmosphere, the tradition of being around our kitchen table, the leftovers, and even the crazy Black Friday lines we put ourselves through. I mean, seriously, Cyber Monday is the same... just easier! :)

So you know those mini-buses I keep taking? Those are also the kids' school buses.

We were all separated into these mini-buses.

Cha-aim, Aum, Ou (the student I was posing like!), and my Thai teacher (she's so cute!)

Teacher Naritsara

There were a ton of the buses!

Poor kids. We were the first ones there and the last ones to enter our field trip place.

They were just sitting outside waiting for all the other students in the sweltering heat.

I believe some building that holds important documents.

I liked the view from the steps, as we all stood there next to our poor, sweating students.

We visited the National Geological Museum. Think dinosaurs!

Like that one.

This was one of the first rooms we visited. It was pretty cool! The

solar system actually rotated above our heads. Sadly, we rushed from

room to room. I don't even know how much the students actually

gleaned from this field trip.

A room with a giant screen! The visuals were amazing. Just wish I understood Thai.

We also went into another room that shook us, so that was pretty fun too!

I supervised Ou. Aungkrit asked me what that bone sticking out of the dinosaur

was. I couldn't answer him, but I decided to take a picture of it.

Only one dinosaur was working, but I thought this room was pretty amazing too!

It was a habitat for dinosaurs, so the students could see a whole bunch of

dinosaurs in different areas.

I think this one was broken.

ROAR!

Swimming, anyone?

What cafeteria? My students ate on the floor in lines. Poor things!!! :(

Later on, they brought in a pretty realistic dinosaur, except it had man legs coming out of it :P

Still thought it looked cool though and they acted really well :)

And just to keep track of my exercising...:

-11/27/13: Jogged for about 20 minutes and then biked for about 15 minutes (so much easier than jogging!)

-11/28/13: Happy Thanksgiving! Went to the gym and biked for 35 minutes... 13 kilometers. I should really learn kilos in weight and kilometers in distance--I always have no idea how much I’ll be charged for fruits and also how far I need to travel. :(

By the way, the Thai teachers seem to be talking to me a bit more after I started wearing the uniform. I feel like it’s because I took away one separation and they almost know it’s my intention. I’m glad, but I still need to grow as a teacher! This week, the little students became little monsters again! >.<

And from the previous entry, here are the carnival pictures: