Sorry it has been so long, life has been moving at an incredible pace. Orientation finished this past Saturday and Sunday the 1st of November we all moved to our teaching sites. I am now a proud resident of Wang Ga Sae High School, and am working on settling in the best I can. I live with three other Thai teachers, two of whom are married, and they are very sweet and take very good care of me. My roommates already call me their sister and go out of their way to make me feel at home. We communicate through a variety of hand motions, smiles and limited words in both Thai and English, yet somehow it works! Every night at dinner we point to things and they teach me how to say it in Thai, and then I teach them in English.
I feel like a child all over again, I am re-learning how to do almost everything. Besides learning to communicate again I am learning to live with a squat toilet, my legs will be AMAZING after this year! All the toilets are bucket flush, toilet paper is non-existent and you must wear special shoes in the bathroom…I am going to crack this toilet culture and write a book about it so that no foreigner will ever feel this confused again, there is so much to know! I also am taking bucket showers which are surprisingly nice, even if it is cold; it wakes me up much more than coffee. I am learning to adapt to roosters cock-a-doodle-doing outside my window at all hours, though it is a hard noise to ignore! Cows are used as giant lawnmowers here, moving from place to place keeping the grass short, even the soccer fields!
I have been eating food that is very spicy but I am always told “No! Is not spicy!” so I am learning that that means “very spicy for foreigner, delicious for Thai”. I have tried some of the dishes they say “Oh this spicy” and feel like I have burns on my tongue! Needless to say, bland food is not really an option here. Last night I had my most delicious treat yet since arriving in Thailand however, sweet potatoes cooked in sugar and then served in coconut milk, aroi mak ma! (Very delicious)
My students are all very sweet but VERY shy, trying to get them to speak to me is difficult; it will take a lot of work to get them comfortable with me. Thai’s, as a people, are very worried about “losing face” so I have been trying to teach the kids that it is OK to make mistakes, mostly I do this by to trying to speak to them in Thai, which always makes them laugh and come out of their shells enough try and speak the English words I am trying to teach. The English the students know is very limited and they are being taught from text books that are far too advanced, so it’s hard for me to figure out where to start with them so I am starting with the basics for everyone, worst comes to worst it is review for some. I try to be confident and enthusiastic at every turn to help them but it is exhausting! I am usually in bed by 9pm here. OK I must head to my next class, I will try to write more regularly now that I am settled and have a set schedule. I promise pictures with the next post too!
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