I can’t believe I’ve been here for two weeks already and that I only have two more weeks left in BKK! The latter is really sad. I’m really enjoying my time with the other ETAs, and right now I can’t imagine being shipped off to our various provinces and not being surrounded by each other 24/7. L I’m trying not to think about it, and on a positive note, thank goodness we have three more weekends here!
How is Thailand? Life is good! I’m truly loving every minute of my experiences so far. I used a squat toilet for the first time ever this past weekend and only managed to pee on myself juuuust a little bit J (that was for you, Victoria). It was surprisingly a lot easier than I suspected! Haha.
Our little group of 12 is really coming together, which is fabulous since we will be each others support system for the rest of the year. We went out last Friday, which served as some much-needed group bonding time. While half of us went to the Grand Palace together on Saturday, all of us went to Auyttaya on Sunday. Even though our trip was poorly planned on our part, it was great to all be together, which made the experience a lot better. Sometimes being in a larger group is comforting. We’ve definitely started to become a family. Last night we went out for Caitlin’s birthday. We had a great dinner, did some karaoke, which was a blast (I performed “The Boy is Mine” with Ari), and ended the night at Swensen’s for some ice cream. Food + Karaoke + Great Company = A Fab Night. The Karaoke was good practice, because not only do Thais love karaoke, but apparently as Americans we will be asked and expected to perform songs at people’s beck and call. Good thing I have an awful singing voice and that karaoke isn’t something I have much practice at. Oh well, I’ll just have to channel my inner-Beyonce and do the best that I can. I mean, with Beyonce on my side I can’t really fail.
The focus of class this week has been on lesson planning. Although I’m thankful to finally have class on this subject, I feel like it’s made me anxious and nervous about teaching. I only see my students once a week for a 50-minute period. And if my students are the ones traveling from classroom to classroom, apparently they are notorious for showing up late, because a) they have to travel and might be coming from a different building, and b) their previous teacher might have let them out late. Assuming that they are 10 minutes late to class, plus five minutes to get settled in, that leaves me with 45 minutes once a week to do a lesson. How am I supposed to be an effective teacher? I feel like I should have class three times a week. Another issue is my students themselves. If I have 50 kids in my class, with Thai names, which are notoriously long (I’m serious, every Thai individual has a nickname for this specific reason), with three to five classes, how am I going to learn 150-200 names, let alone build a relationship with them? The lecturers we have had have all said that learning all of your kids’ names will be virtually impossible. Great. Ugh, I’m so overwhelmed by this. The name thing doesn’t bother me as much as the time issue. I hope I’ll be able to be productive and use my time wisely and efficiently so that my students can get the most out of the time we have together.
On a happier note, here are some random facts about Thailand:
--Thailand is a monarchy, and it’s present King has been in rule for over 50 years. Crazy! But they all love him. Oh, and he was born in Boston, MA. Random.
--Thailand is one of the few countries where speaking badly about the royal family is a crime. Because of this, people don’t talk about the royal family openly.
--Thais don’t say “bless you” when someone sneezes because, as my Thai teacher jokingly stated, “they don’t believe in health.”
--Even when I try to speak in broken Thai, Thais willingly speak back in English, even though I don’t ask them too. This is kind of like a slap in the face, and it’s making it harder for me to practice my Thai L.
--Thai people always smile. It doesn’t matter if they are happy or sad, angry, or frustrated, they will smile. I guess that’s why it’s called the Land of Smiles.
--Their lotion has whitening cream in it. A common saying here is “Black is good, but White is better”. Yet it doesn’t have the discriminatory connotation that it would have in the U.S. I think what this means, is that it’s okay to naturally be dark, but that Thais do not strive to get tan or to get darker. Unlike in the U.S. where people go to tanning spas and lay out in the sun without sunblock to get a nice tan. I’m sure this has something to do with social status, as farmers who work in the rice paddies are naturally going to be darker than an office worker.
--I do get stared at (we all do). It’s funny, and sometime’s strange. Some days people point.
--As I’ve said countless times before, everything is super cheap here. The movie theater near our dorm is 60 Baht. That’s 2 dollars.
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