An American Thanksgiving in Bangkok

This past weekend I had the fortunate opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with my Fulbright family in Bangkok. Fulbright flew us out on Wednesday, and many of us stayed an extra night and left on Sunday. We got to stay at the All Seasons Hotel (a nice change from our "houses" in the various provinces of Thailand), enjoy high-speed internet, hot showers, and an American breakfast with REAL, UNLIMITED AMOUNTS of COFFEE EVERY MORNING :-D. It was fabulous (although it should be noted that I have internet and hot water at my house here in Chiang Rai). We feasted on Western food each day as if it were our last day on earth. This also meant concluding each dinner with our routine trip to Swensens. Yummm.

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we spent the morning doing some community service at an elementary school on the outskirts of Bangkok. The students were absolutely adorable (spoke pretty good English for their age), and greeted us with a hula-hoop dance to a popular Thai song. We helped paint their recreation center and playground, and did some gardening. I chose to help paint since that activity was in the shady (it was wayy too hot to be out under the blazing sun doing some gardening). After painting, we had a delicious lunch (coconut ice cream included), and in the afternoon we read English books to the students.  It was nice to do some service work on Thanksgiving; I always used to talk about doing something similar back home, like volunteering at a soup kitchen during the holidays, but never got around to it.

For dinner, we were invited to the Vice President's house (VP of Fulbright-Thailand) for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I had been looking forward to this for weeks. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, Caesar salad, AND pumpkin pie! It was DIVINE! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, so I was SO happy to have Thanksgiving food ON Thanksgiving this year. I was also thankful that I got to spend the holiday with people that I love and care about: my Fulbright family! The other ETAs and I have become really close in such a short amount of time (we have truly become each others' support system here), and the Fulbright staff is phenomenal, they take such good care of us! So although I didn't get to spend the holiday at home in the States (and it was my first time being away from my family on Thanksgiving), I'm happy I had great people to celebrate with. Without my wonderful Fulbright family, or the American food, I think the day would have been really difficult to get through, because I would have been reminded of how far away from my family and friends I am. So, this year, I am thankful for the wonderful support system I have here in Thailand. I am thankful that I made my dream a reality; I wanted to go abroad and to teach English, and I did. I am thankful for the new friends I have made here. And, I am thankful for my family and friends back home who continue to support me, even though I am so far away.

Loy Krathong!

What a busy and FABULOUS weekend I just had!


This past weekend was Loy Krathong, a Thai festival that takes place on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month (usually in November). "Loy" means "to float" and "krathong" (pronounced kra-tong) refers to the lotus-shaped float made out of banana leaves that is lit and cast out on the river.  Loy Krathong is the festival of light (same name as Hanukkah but much different), and is one of the two most important festivals in Thailand.  It takes place at the end of the monsoon season, when the rivers are high, and the objective is to give thanks to nature, specifically the goddess of water. So, giving thanks to the goddess for providing us with water, as well as casting away sins for polluting the waterways. However, there is another legend about the origin of this festival that deals with Buddha and a connection to a Hindu festival that pays tribute to the god Vishnu, who meditates at the center of the ocean. 


Nowadays, Loy Krathong involves casting krathongs out on the river, and lighting lanterns, which then float up into the night sky. In addition, there is a "Ms. Krathong" beauty pageant, and a parade. Saturday night was the Loy Krathong festival at school.  This year's theme at PCCCR was "around the world" so each  Mathayom was dressed up in "traditional wear" from different countries. The other native English teachers and I got to dress up in traditional Thai clothes which was SO much fun. We even had the oldest girls help us with our hair and makeup! Here are some pictures:

Getting my hair done so that I can fit the headpieace on over it.

Hair done!

DO WE LOOK THAI??? :-D

Thaialnd's Next Top Model?? Yesssss

The English Department and the Director of our school

 The students also put on some performances/dances. They made all of the costumes themselves. Here are some of my students (I think the boys' risque dance performances were the most shocking for me!)

Here are my boys dancing in their underwear. Yes, they stripped down to their boxers. Onstage. I guess 16 year old boys are the same all over the world.

Ladyboys!!

Alexis and I with the giant (and heavy) krathong

Lighting lanterns

About to float my krathong

Thanksgiving Lesson

So as I mentioned in my previous post, this week I'm teaching my students about Thanksgiving. It's actually the first time I've used the word Pilgrim since elementary school.  After combing through dozens of Thanksgiving stories, I finally found a story about the first thanksgiving that wasn't too religious, too long or complicated, and didn't use too many big words.  I wanted to focus on the history of the holiday and it's focus on giving thanks, rather than just talk about all the good food Americans eat on the day. I didn't even talk about the Thanksgiving Day Parade, partially because Microsoft Office isn't working on my computer, so I wouldn't be able to show them pictures of the parade or of the yummy food, so just talking about either one would've have been boring.  So with my classes, I've had the students read the story out loud (each student reads two sentences aloud), and then we go over vocab that they might not know: plentiful harvest, feast, colonies, Pilgrims, Wampanoag (apparently the name of the Native American tribe who helped the Pilgrims out; I don't know, different stories mentioned different tribes), bountiful, tradition, etc. I write the definitions on the board so that they are more inclined to write it down in their notes. Then I "quiz" them on the story, to make sure they were paying attention and understand what the story says/what I'm saying to them. Then for homework, I have them write what they are thankful for. They have to list three things they own that they are thankful for, three people in their life, and three things they have access to in this country/three things about Thailand that they are thankful for, and explain why. Here are some of my favorite answers I've received so far:

"I am thankful for love because it makes me happy."
"I am thankful for scientists because they develop and change the world."
"I am thankful for my body that makes me be human."
"I am thankful for Leah who makes me realize everything I should be thankful for." - Hmm... cute, but I know he's just sucking up to me to get a good grade :-)
"I am thankful for my English teacher that helps improving my language skills".
"I am thankful for light bulbs so I can do my homework when it's dark."
"I am thankful for my brain, because it is efficiency and helps me to learn mysteries of this universe."

And lastly...


"However, only one person I have to thank is Jesus Christ, who blesses me and gives me my wonderful life." -This student studies English with missionaries on the weekends. Two students wrote something like this at the bottom of their paper. :-)

At least their answers put a smile on my face

Nicknames

So, as mentioned before, Thai people have nicknames because their full names are insanely long. And I mean LONG. For example, Warinthorn Rojanasakunpisuit, or Pattraporn Thanakulwattana. Also, they are difficult to pronounce, hence the need for nicknames. Here are some of the gems in my class (for great nicknames):

Padthai. Milk. Mild. Bonus. Fax. Midfield. Ford. G-d. Book (I have two of these). Eye (this is a popular one). Tent. Best. Palm. Print. Cartoon. Dream (also popular). Beam. Ten. Donut. Bow. Ice. Time. Mint (two in one class). Film.

However, all of these are said in a Thai accent. So fax becomes fak. Film becomes feem. Of course this makes sense. Did I mention that my students laugh at me when I pronounce their nickname wrong (this happens often as I don't naturally think to pronounce film as feem). I'll try my best to pronounce English words with a Thai accent in order to get their nicknames right, but if not, I'll just play the farang card.

Tedious Tasks

So I had to do laundry today, and boy was it a pain in the a**.  While there is a woman at school who does my laundry for me (for a fee) I have to wash my own underwear. By hand. Which meant that I had to get over my fear that handwashing doesn't clean clothes (I now have to have faith that it does).  In Bangkok, our dorm had washing machines in the lobby; although the dryer didn't work so we had to hang dry our clothes.  And I thought that was a hassle.  No, having to handwash ALL of my underwear plus some clothes that should also be handwashed took me TWO HOURS. UGH. And it's a process. You need two buckets, one with soapy water for scrubbing, and one with non-soapy water for ringing out and rinsing your clothes.  I think what makes this task so tedious is the actual scrubbing of the clothes; I need to get a washboard or something. Not fun at all.

On a lighter note, I will be teaching my students about Thanksgiving this week.  Thank goodness I get to have an American thanksgiving in Bangkok with the other fulbrighters AND an American thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Day at one of the homes of an embassy officer. YAY! This is a saving grace; otherwise teaching about Thanksgiving without actually being able to get Thanksgiving food would be extremely depressing.  I can't wait for turkey and stuffing!

Two Realizations

So I've realized two things:

1) My sweating problem manifests once I'm in the classroom.  Apparently, I sweat profusely when I am nervous. Great. All day I was fine, didn't sweat at all.  Then, as soon as I stepped into my classroom, in front of my 4/3 class at 1:40 this afternoon, the sweat came pouring, and I instantly became self-conscious. Wonderful.  Just one more thing I need to worry about.  Now if it were 100 degrees outside I would be less worried about it, but it's currently the cool season, which means there should be no reason as to why I am sweating.  Ugh, why do I have to have such an  abnormal body temperature?  Funny, but embarrassing.

2) I only like my advanced classes (5/1, 5/2, 4/1, 4/2).  The other classes will be the death of me.  Teaching 24 kids instead of 36  makes a HUGE difference, and it doesn't help that I am a newbie teacher and thus get super nervous every time I step in front of them  In the advanced classes (the 2's have math and science class in English, while  the 1's are like AP English) the students are attentive, interactive, and have a good command of the English language.  The students in my other classes seem to be out to get me.  Well not really, but they are definitely testing me and trying to see how much they can get away with.  Today I had to ask a student 3 times to put away the book he was reading in my class.  Ugh, I should've just taken it away from him to get my point across.

Other things that bother me so far:

--The students make fun of you when you pronounce their nickname wrong.  Mind you Thai is a tonal language, so one word pronounced differently can mean two completely different things; this means that when I'm mispronouncing their names I'm probably saying the word penis or something.  But it kind of hurts my feelings when I hear them mocking me or laughing; I mean, I am trying.  In my 1's and 2's classes I tried to make a joke of it, and make fun of myself too to make it funny, but they also weren't as mean about it either.  Alexis says I need to not take it so personally, but it's hard not to.

Ugghhh, so right now I'm just annoyed and a bit pissed off.

 I know things will get better and that this only my second week here. I can't expect everything to be so easy, right?  I'm trying to look at this positively and learn from in.  This means, that for my non-advanced classes I will have to try and make my classes more interactive in order to hold their attention. I'm teaching them about Thanksgiving next week, so that will be easy to turn into a fun lesson.

Chiang Rai Adventures

Okay, so I've FINALLY figured out how to post pictures on my blog! I had to download Picassa and use that as my photo-organizer program.  Whatever.

Anyway, this past weekend, the girls took me on a "scooter adventure" and we ended up taking some backroads through the foothills of the mountains of Chiang Rai.  We passed through lush green landscapes and rice paddies with little huts scattered throughout them.  Absolutely breathtaking, and definitely one of the images of Thailand I had in my mind before I got here.  Here are some photos:

 My new friends: Alexis, Jessie, and Kevin. Alexis is my roommate, Jessie also teaches at PCC and lives in town with her boyfriend Kevin

We stumbled upon a resort called "View of the Stars". This is the view

We also stumbled open a zoo

Rice fields

I am DEFINITELY not in Bangkok anymore...

Hello from Chiang Rai!

I arrived here on Monday, so I've been here for five days.  After waking up at 4:30am to say goodbye to everyone, I flew with my province buddies and arrived nice and early Monday morning.

Chiang Rai is definitely the complete opposite of Bangkok, but in a good way.  There is no traffic, and tons of lush, green landscape; mountains and rice fields galore, which is a nice and refreshing change from the smog and traffic congestion of BKK.  PCC is a beautiful campus with palm trees and ponds (it kinda looks like a resort) and everyone in the Foreign Languages Department is super nice!  The director of the school LOVES me; she has decided that I have "tan skin" and she LOVES it.  The other day Alexis, Jessie, and I were standing at morning assembly, and the director came over to compliment me on my tan skin and "poo pooed" Alexis and Jessie's skin color. Oh well. At least I have gotten them to accept that darker skin is just as beautiful as White skin.  At least I think I have.  Cultural Ambassador Job # 1 is completed!

Am I making friends?  Well I am one of three American English teachers here.  My housemate, Alexis, is from New Orleans, while Jessie (the other teacher) is from Idaho.  Jessie lives off-campus with her boyfriend.  Both are great, and both have been supremely helpful in terms of showing me around school, helping me get situated, etc.  Alexis has rented a scooter for two weeks, so free transportation for me! We go into town for dinner and to walk around; she took me on a nice ride around town to see everything.  We are thinking of renting one for a month at a time and splitting the cost, as it comes out to the best method of transportation to get to and from town.

So far the only negative thing about Chiang Rai and PCC is my new house.  If you could even call it a house.  I would say that the word "garage" or "shack" is a better description.  It's definitely as cold as a garage.  I didn't believe them when they said that Thailand has a cold season and that it gets cold up North. But it sure does!  I wake up freeezzzing every morning.  Granted it's only like 60 degrees, but when you're used to 95 degree weather in BKK, 60 feels like winter!  Did I mention that my house is legit just made out of cement and wood?  Yeah, it's real rustic.  Oh well, it seems to be the only downside to PCC, so I'm learning to live with it.  I'm trying to make my room as cozy and comfortable as possible, so that it will be a place I want to go home to at the end of the day.  I bought a rug, a full-length mirror, and new sheets (they gave us ugly brown plaid ones), and it already looks better than when I moved in!  All that's left is some wall decorations (wish I had my tapestries from Skidmore) and maybe a floor lamp.

I haven't done actual teaching yet.  This week I've just been introducing myself to my students.  They ask me questions about myself, NYC, and the U.S. and then I show them pictures of my family and friends.  All of  them looked extremely confused each time I showed them a picture of my mom, so I finally started to explain that my mom is White, my dad is Black, and that's how I am Brown.  A lightbulb goes off in their head and then they all go "oooohhhhh".  They mean well so it's cute.  So far my students seem like a good batch kids!