10-24-13 through 11-1-13 A Blur of Insane Days

     Wow, let’s just say when I walked into my classroom the first day, the first graders were angels! I wanted to tell the other teachers that they are just perfect and that everyone I had heard might just have been wrong... Let me clarify though. They are always angels in the morning, but as the day goes on, their behavior breaks down and barely anything works on them. They become insane. Praising good students, staring at them for over a few minutes, shouting. Seriously, I tried all of those. I even attempted to clap patterns and turn off the lights. NOTHING. I rewarded good students with stickers and let them go outside early for break. The wild students in my class paid no attention whatsoever. Even when the classroom was empty except for them, they chose to continue running after each other, punching and kicking their friends.

     Now, when the Thai teacher stands up front and calls their attention, they suddenly become perfect little angels again. On Friday, October 25th, only my second day in the classroom, I almost cried. (It seems like I want to cry a lot, but this was from complete hopelessness as I watched them transform in mere seconds.) I was shocked at how little of an effect I seemed to have on them.

      To explain my teaching situation, I am another new teacher in this first grade classroom, 1D. Our school, located in Muang Thong Thani, literally 3 blocks from my place, is a Catholic school named St. Francis Xavier. To locals, it is just St. Fran, pronounced “fron.” To taxi drivers, it is rongrien farang (foreign/western person school). 

      There are two sides to this school, the English Program (EP) side and the Thai side. The Thai side has Thai teachers that teach every subject almost the entire day, except for a period or two when students take an English class taught by foreign teachers. My friend from the ATI program is doing that. On the other hand, the EP students see the foreign teachers for 3 to 4 periods per day to learn Science, Math, English Comprehension and Skills, and Health. Thai is taught to them once a day, although they have other computer/gym non-core academic lessons in Thai. I teach on this side.

10/26/13 to 10/27/13 My Journey to the Beautiful Countryside of Thailand

10/26/13

     Because my friend had visited me in Muang Thong Thani, cleaned my apartment, AND taken 3 separate very long bus rides (Thai people tend to say they know places, even if they don’t, so the bus ride was very extensive as they headed who knows where. Anywhere but the correct destination, apparently), I decided to visit in return. It’s funny because even though my friend speaks Thai very well and fluently, when they didn’t understand, they would look at me as if for clarification. I, of course, stood there cluelessly, blinking at them. It seems like I do that a lot, but I don’t think that’s a new thing. Even in Chicago, I would stare at ceilings and blink a lot, I think lol. 

      In any case, I took a bus (again, these “buses” are vans) to Mo Chit because the last time I took one, I took it to Victory Monument, and this time, my friend said I could take either or. Wanting to learn more on my own, I went to Mo Chit. Unfortunately, there was no bus station there. I ran downstairs to some station where I assumed I’d be able to ask for directions. The security guard, once he noticed I was speaking English at him, just chose to ignore me, which was fantastic. A guy who had been walking behind me walked past, but when he heard me asking for directions, he turned back and asked me where I wanted to go. 

     Not understanding my terrible attempts at saying Hankha, Chainat, the guy took out his iPad and asked me to type it out. When he saw that I actually meant a place that was about 3 hours away, he said, “Wow!” and proceeded to ask directions for me. He was very sweet, taking me back upstairs even though he had been on his way to a mall. Actually, he told me he thought I was looking for a shopping mall too. Nont (that’s his name) took me to a bus station via city bus, and I offered to pay him back with some baht or a meal, but he refused everything I tried to give him. 

10-22-13 to 10-25-13 Since Moving In

     Sorry for not updating, but now, because I’m getting ready to work, it’s not all fun and games anymore (unfortunately). Here are some things that have been going on though--teaching will be in an entirely different post because it completely stresses me out and I don’t want to talk about that just yet.

10/22/13

     So, with Gina, I headed to Bangkok on a failed mission to visit a friend. At least I enjoyed a weird salty orange juice drink... Anyway, Gina thinks we reached Rama 3, but I have reason to believe we never made it there.  However, the place we stopped at had an Italian restaurant which looked pretty snazzy, with its endless stream of cars entering and leaving the parking lot, live music, beer, and completely full house of 2 floors. Gina and I couldn’t even find a place to sit! We wandered around a bit, and then, really exhausted, decided to just call it a night and split a cab home. It was actually hilarious because we had taken some buses all the way out for at least half an hour, ventured onto city buses, did virtually nothing, and then turned right around to go home. 

     It was pleasant though; we were able to explore the transit system a little and when we returned, I visited her little neighborhood. Because I don’t drink beer, I watched her drink her beer lol, and she bought me those steamed peanuts that I love from home. It made me nostalgic because my mom would sometimes bring those home from the store. Here in Thailand, though, it seems like they’re sold by Indian guys and a bag is only 20 baht = $0.67! Great prices and good food. Gotta love Thailand! :)

10-21-13 Looking Up

     Before you read, there are a few things you should keep in mind for this post. There are random thoughts that pop up in my head, and with no rhyme or reason, they’re all just thrown here. I made my best attempt to label each section (Shopping, Negative Things, Lazy Info About Impact, and Random Bad Things About My School). As you can tell, they’re not really related to each other at all. But it’s 4 AM here, so you’ll have to cut me some slack.

Shopping

     Today, I went and met a fellow colleague and new friend by the Amazon Cafe in our area. This only came about because Pook (the HiValue representative that we have in case of anything and who also connects us to our school) texted me while I was in the Central Mall yesterday and I texted back telling that I was afraid and having a lot of trouble. 

10-20-13 Second Day Living Alone

     I feel like ever since I’ve come to Thailand, I’ve been living in increments of time. I waited for a bus for 45 minutes. I waited for my photos for 5 half-hour periods. I wait for my internet to start working for several quarter-hours before I finally throw my hands up.

     Anyway, I’ve been sitting in my hallway for most of the day, which is pretty sad, even for me. Actually, I woke up around noon, waited for the internet for a few hours, and then headed out to grab lunch. My pork and rice only cost 35 baht (a little over $1) and I ate by myself for once in seemingly a long time. I still had random tears filling my eyes every once in a while, but I think I’m adjusting. Slowly but surely, right?