When did I become mature/ responsible enough to be trusted with the education of 400 kids???? It's absurd! I have a desk in an office full of teachers. I eat lunch in the teacher's section. There is a separate bathroom for teachers. It's so strange to be on the other side of the education system. I'm just waiting for someone to look at me one day and realize that I have no idea what I'm doing and tell me to get out of the teacher's bathroom.
For some reason I had this crazy idea that teaching would be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong!!!!!
It takes all the strength I possess not to smack some of my students over the head sometimes. Although I may have been seduced by their adorable wai's (the traditional Thai greeting consisting of hands together at chest level and a bow), I am no longer fooled. Because I am a "farang" (foreigner) my students walk all over me. When a Thai teacher is around my students are little angels, but when it's just me the classroom is sheer chaos. At first I had this grand idea that my students would learn so much from me and truly excel at English, now I am lucky if I can keep them quietly coloring for 50 minutes. Try controlling a class of 30 to 40 screaming 7-9 year olds that don't understand a word you are saying. Needless to say it is nearly impossible and extremely exhausting!
Despite the difficulties, I am really enjoying teaching. Don't get me wrong, I don't think teaching is in my future, I just don't have the patience, but I am enjoying it for the time being. My kids are, for the most part, very sweet and lovable. At the end of each class they bombard me for hugs and high-fives and some have even asked me to sign their hands. I have been stopped many times in the street by my students screaming "Teacher Hannah, Teacher Hannah, Hello!" It is pretty adorable.
Something that never gets old in Thailand is hearing how beautiful I am. It's wonderful. Thai people are however very blunt and I have been asked/told some things that could make a grown woman cry (I haven't cried yet but they were pretty bad).
On my third day of class I was walking around the room checking on my student's work when a boy came up to me and put his hand on my stomach. "Baby, Baby?" he asked. A little girl grabbed his arm and looked at him sternly, advising him to stop asking, but he continued. "No baby" I said. He continued to ask for the remaining 30 minutes of class.
I guess compared to the tiny-boned women of Thailand I look pregnant.
One day later I was at the doctor for an eye infection. I sat down in his office and the doctor completely ignored my eye proclaiming, "your voice sounds terrible! Is your throat sore? You have horses!!!" I calmly explain to him that my voice has always sounded like this and that I am not sick and do not have horses but he would not believe me. I conceded and let him check my throat, obviously he found nothing. After his thorough, and unnecessary, examination of my throat he sighed. "You just have a man voice," he said and moved onto my eye.
So ladies and gentleman, I guess by Thai standards I am a pregnant man! Oh well!
When I am not being harassed by students at school or doctors outside of school, Alana and I have been doing some more exploring of our town, which just gets more interesting the more we explore. Neighborhoods of stilted-houses line the river and extend out in all directions. Sparkling temples pop up around every corner. Wonderful colors and smells erupt from the multitude of markets and street vendors. It's just wonderful
These beautiful stilted neighborhoods are slightly removed from the hustle and bustle of our town's main strip, lining the river. If Alana and I stand out in the center of town we most definitely are out of place in these small isolated neighborhoods. When we walk through them people come out of their homes and stare at us wondering what reason we could possibly have for being in their hood.
A few days ago Alana and I were running through one of these stilted neighborhoods. It was early evening and the local residents were sitting outside their homes and shops chatting with their neighbors. As we ran passed their conversations stopped and they all stared at us. People called to their neighbors, "farang, farang!" which means foreigners and soon the entire neighborhood was watching us pass. Out of nowhere throngs of children started running after us gigging. No matter where we are or what we are doing, Alana and I always seem to encounter swarms of giggling children, trying to give us high-fives, or packs of barking dogs. Both can be equally frightening!
So
life here is pretty amazing. Aside from the difficulties of teaching,
which I should have expected, things are great! The people continue to amaze me with their warmth and friendliness and this country continues to interest and amaze me. I am practicing my Thai,
which is going very slowly, but hopefully once my language skills are
better things will be a bit easier in the classroom and in life.
Many of you have been asking for pictures of my apartment so I caved in and took pictures (I cleaned up of course). Our apartment itself is nothing to speak of but it is located directly under this bridge of twisting and winding overpasses that lead to Bangkok it is beautiful.
Our beautiful view
My studio apartment with shower/toilet room and sink on the balcony!
Hope all is well across the ocean! Miss you oodles and oodles!
-Hannah
