http://princeton.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040409&l=18f18&id=1100413
Here is a link to pictures Annie took of some karaoke Thai-style last weekend. For our first night of karaoke we really did it up as we went to the Sofitel (the expensive and very nice hotel downtown KK). It is something like 1000 Baht to rent out your very own karaoke room-we had 10 or so people though. There is rarely karaoke in front of strangers because you always rent out a room for you and your friends. Meredith, Annie, Liz and I went with some of Annie’s coworkers.
It was a really fun time and Annie has some crazy coworkers. There was a mix of farang and Thai Ajarn so there was a mix of songs. We had wars, Thais vs. Farang, where we would try to sing a better song in our native tongue. The Thais took home the trophy but it’s pretty unfair when the American songs were not sung by the real performer and did not have the original music video. Imagine singing Britney Spears “Hit Me Baby One More Time” with a fixed picture of a high school hallway and gym. Or a Backstreet Boys video replaced by various shots of a Disney World parade. WHAT!?
I knew the night was coming to an end when we started singing Thai songs. Eventually we stopped trying to say every word and would just try to say the right last word on the screen. Even that was pretty tough. I think we’re in need of some major Thai classes.
In other news:
-Liz was asked by a man on a street to pose for his Thai Bridal Shop advertisements. A question to ponder: Would you say yes?
Thai women tend to wear whitening cream so their skin looks lighter (the objective is to have pale skin like ours). Do white women as models in an Asian country perpetuate an ideal standard of beauty?
-I am penny pinching as it’s the end of the month yet I don’t expect a paycheck for at least a couple of weeks. I am trying not to take money out of my savings because I want it for traveling, not my day to day living expenses!
-Annie and Joey both came down with some colds this week.
-I way overpacked since many things I was told I NEEDED to bring was not quite true. I went to Tesco-Lotus, which is Britain’s answer to Wal-Mart, and there was anything I could ever want!
-Any cartoon character is cool here. Think Hello Kitty.
-The sketchy older white men who have Thai wives/girlfriends/sleeping partners are now called Patricks by us. They are all too common and I am afraid I am creating a poor image of all older white men in Thailand. Yes, it could be love. I remain skeptical though. Especially with Bangkok’s sex tourism industry creeping into all of Thailand.
-Went to a movie theater with Jordan and Joey. If you get there early enough you can choose the language of the film. We watched “Dreamgirls” on the big screen in our own private movie theater. There is seating for 10 and the seats our comfortable chairs and couches. So much better than our usual movie on a laptop screen!
I miss:
-road trips for concerts
-Minnesota
-my kitties
-Des Moines (you can laugh)
-my record player
-everyone at Montessori Children’s Center
-phone calls!
-sweatpants
-cooking
-Law and Order
-fireworks next week
-Earth Week stress (Alcyn, am I going crazy?!)
-my car
-having a yard
I love:
-Milk Bars
-the rainy season
-motorbikes
-the vegetarian options
-the kids playing on our street
-the animals on our street
-summer clothes
-the students who want to learn
-walking all over
-the energy of freshman
-the constant opportunity to travel
-reading and watching movies
-time for myself
-trying to explain my life to you
-figuring out the songthaew system
-not knowing the date
-forgetting where I am
Friday, June 29, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Sweating it Out
Today was the first day of teaching in my non-air-conditioned rooms where I was ONLY sweating from my armpits. This may seem absurd to you but then you have probably not taught in non-air-conditioned rooms when it is 100 degrees plus 90% humidity. The Thai summer is starting to waver and the cool season is starting. I laughed when past PiAers told me that 60 degrees F will be freezing and I believe them as I got goosebumps this morning (it was around 80 degrees). The body amazingly adapts and I am very grateful!
Yesterday I had to walk my laundry to the laundry place (most people don't have washers in their houses so we bring our laundry to other people, who wash them and hang dry them outside, and then the next day I can pick it up). The laundry place is maybe a 10 minute walk away which I thought wasn't bad since it was overcast and not scorching hot. It was a nice walk, even with my three plastic bags full of laundry, but when I returned to my house I realized how sweaty I was and I had barely noticed. It is perfectly normal for your armpits to be wet, your back to have sweat creases in your shirt that maybe trickle down to the top of your skirt, your forehead to be wet and you don't notice because it always is, your chest glistens....and the worst one, if you cross your legs for longer than 30 seconds they will start to sweat where they are touching each other. Can you imagine? This is my everyday life and it's not really a big deal. I definately sweat more than the Thais so I hope that is a sign that my body will continue to sweat.
If you think it's getting hot in Minnesota or Iowa think of the same temperature being the cool season here.
Yesterday I had to walk my laundry to the laundry place (most people don't have washers in their houses so we bring our laundry to other people, who wash them and hang dry them outside, and then the next day I can pick it up). The laundry place is maybe a 10 minute walk away which I thought wasn't bad since it was overcast and not scorching hot. It was a nice walk, even with my three plastic bags full of laundry, but when I returned to my house I realized how sweaty I was and I had barely noticed. It is perfectly normal for your armpits to be wet, your back to have sweat creases in your shirt that maybe trickle down to the top of your skirt, your forehead to be wet and you don't notice because it always is, your chest glistens....and the worst one, if you cross your legs for longer than 30 seconds they will start to sweat where they are touching each other. Can you imagine? This is my everyday life and it's not really a big deal. I definately sweat more than the Thais so I hope that is a sign that my body will continue to sweat.
If you think it's getting hot in Minnesota or Iowa think of the same temperature being the cool season here.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Bangkok
The Picture Story: http://drake.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11470&l=362da&id=512610984
The Long Story:
About lunch time on Friday Meredith found out her friend (who is traveling Thailand and Singapore) was going to be in Bangkok for the weekend. This started our planning of weekending in Bangkok because why not! We hopped on the 11pm bus to Bangkok which was so plush. This was a first class bus but we had no idea! At the bus station we just started walking up to different windows until someone understood and had a bus leaving for Bangkok in a few hours. For a little under $10 USD (329 Baht) we got water (hot commodity), a little snack, and towels to use as blankets. I will have to say that everyone should use towels as blankets because they keep the heat in more. We slept off and on all night and arrived in Bangkok around 4:30am. So what do you do at a bus terminal in BKK at 4:30am. We didn't even know where we were and we expected that once we were in BKK everyone would speak English. Haha...not when you arrive at the bus terminal that serves the Northeast. People were very helpful but our Thai phrasebook wasn't being very helpful and no one knew enough English (time number 728 that I wished to start Thai lessons that second). We figured it out and had a taxi take us to the shopping district of BKK. We got dropped off in Siam Square at about 6:30am and had the whole square to ourselves. We sat down on a curb and looked through our guidebook (thanks Judy!) to find a place to eat breakfast. We decided to try this vegetarian restaurant that the guidebook said was the best restaurant in Thailand. From the map I finger measured and it only looked about a mile walk. Not bad in the early morning. Well, as always, finger measuring is not a good idea. Maybe an hour and a half later we got to the restaurant. It was great to get to see so much of the city by walking and it helped us get our bearings. Carrying our packs was getting pretty hot even though the day was overcast. We saw a lot and most of the pictures are from this walk.
The restaurant was very yummy and we started seeing other foreigners so we figured we were near a place we could stay. We found Khaosan Road which is known as the backpacker haven of BKK. There is just one road, maybe a couple of blocks, of shopping and guesthouses. We easily found a place to stay for the night so we could get rid of our packs! We shopped around Khaosan Road for a few hours because there is so much to shop for. The clothing is so cheap (for the dollar) and so trendy. Lots of pirated movies and music. Anything you could want to buy for yourself or as a souveiner was on that street. Very overwhelming. I ended up buying some CDs, a t-shirt and a bracelet. The t-shirt was the best purchase as it was designed by a Thai artist who owns the shop. Her shirts were all so neat and we had such a hard time deciding which shirt we wanted. It even has a little tag on the outside of the shirt saying it was made on Khaosan Road. Very cool.
We eventually made our way up to the famous Weekend Market in Northern BKK. We took the bus which was a little crazy trying to figure out which bus and it which direction. We just made one mistake so that's pretty good. The market was insane. There was so many shops and people that it was very hard to even stop and look at something. Luckily Meredith had some sense of direction in the maze because she got us out of there when it was time to go and meet her friend back at Siam Square.
Back on the bus which is an experience in itself. I have never seen such old ladies running to catch a bus. And I mean literally running because the bus pulls up and people are waiting all around the bus stop. You must then rush to get on that bus because it will not wait for you. We saw a bus keep moving as some elderly people were trying to hurry to catch it. They did get on it but it seems like the buses would just as easily leave you, yet I never saw anyone miss it. Then you are all on and the driver floors on the gas, we're looking out the window hoping we'll miss the motorbike right next to us and somehow we do. Some of the buses have wooden planks for floors and someone who walks around collecting people money (of course with big heels, who knows how she could balance when I felt like I was gripping on until my knuckles were white!). So great to take the bus because we got to see a lot yet of course a taxi would have gotten us there quicker and may have felt safer although it probably wasn't.
The bad news of the trip was that we never met up with Meredith's friend. We could only email each other as he didn't have a phone and the meeting spot was mixed up (two different ice cream shops in the same area but not close enough) and no internet cafes to get in touch with each other. It was too bad but we were still happy we went to BKK. Siam Square was much different at night as it is one of the most happening places in BKK. People were everywhere and it looked totally different than it did at 6:30 in the morning!
That night we got some delicious Italian food and found a bar with a live band doing covers of English and some Spanish songs. It was a good relaxing evening as we were both tired and dragged ourselves to sleep at midnight.
The next morning we boarded the bus to go to the bus terminal and then a bus back home to KK. The bus back home was awful compared to our bus to BKK. We didn't know that there were different buses that went between the cities so when we walked into the bus terminal and someone understood where we wanted to go and could get us on the next bus (which happened to be leaving right then) we were happy. We actually thought we got a better deal on the same kind of bus because it was 60 baht less. To our surprise this bus was no first-class bus. This one didn't have a bathroom which I was freaking out about and many of you can understand such I have such a small Grandma bladder. Luckily they waited for us to use the bathroom at the terminal (a whole other blog will include thai toilets). Well this bus is not the kind where you really need a ticket. Seems like every person on the side of the road would be picked up and taken wherever he/she wanted to go. WHAT! People were sitting in the aisles, people were sitting in the space by our feet (we were in the first seat so there was room but we wanted to stretch out and then we had to beware of our feet offending someone, as Meredith unintentionally did right away! Who knew that while her feet were outstretched and she was looking out the window that the money taker would sit right next to our feet, start counting the money and turn right into her foot. Huge cultural faux pas that he was not very nice about!). It was ok and just an annoying bus ride after we had been on the best of the best and just wanted to get home.
But then this man got on in some small town who was incredibly annoying. He didn't speak English, kept trying to talk to us in Thai, kept trying to touch Meredith's knee (we don't know why other than he really had a thing for her), he would stare at Meredith, talk to the man sitting next to him obviously about us because he was just pointing at us. I thought it was pretty uncomfortable since I am used to being treated with so much respect from my male co-workers at KKU. I didn't know how to say "stop" in Thai either and it's really not ok to say something like that but eventually I just started telling him "no" in a polite way (which translates in English to "not yes please"). We were pretty happy when he got off.
All in all, a great weekend trip to get a taste of BKK. It's a nice place to visit and I really love the atmosphere of a city with so much to do. But for our salary it's pretty expensive. A great place to experience a city so unlike KK. I'm so happy Meredith was down for such a crazy weekend of traveling because this is exactly how I want to spend my time in Thailand when I'm not teaching.
The Long Story:
About lunch time on Friday Meredith found out her friend (who is traveling Thailand and Singapore) was going to be in Bangkok for the weekend. This started our planning of weekending in Bangkok because why not! We hopped on the 11pm bus to Bangkok which was so plush. This was a first class bus but we had no idea! At the bus station we just started walking up to different windows until someone understood and had a bus leaving for Bangkok in a few hours. For a little under $10 USD (329 Baht) we got water (hot commodity), a little snack, and towels to use as blankets. I will have to say that everyone should use towels as blankets because they keep the heat in more. We slept off and on all night and arrived in Bangkok around 4:30am. So what do you do at a bus terminal in BKK at 4:30am. We didn't even know where we were and we expected that once we were in BKK everyone would speak English. Haha...not when you arrive at the bus terminal that serves the Northeast. People were very helpful but our Thai phrasebook wasn't being very helpful and no one knew enough English (time number 728 that I wished to start Thai lessons that second). We figured it out and had a taxi take us to the shopping district of BKK. We got dropped off in Siam Square at about 6:30am and had the whole square to ourselves. We sat down on a curb and looked through our guidebook (thanks Judy!) to find a place to eat breakfast. We decided to try this vegetarian restaurant that the guidebook said was the best restaurant in Thailand. From the map I finger measured and it only looked about a mile walk. Not bad in the early morning. Well, as always, finger measuring is not a good idea. Maybe an hour and a half later we got to the restaurant. It was great to get to see so much of the city by walking and it helped us get our bearings. Carrying our packs was getting pretty hot even though the day was overcast. We saw a lot and most of the pictures are from this walk.
The restaurant was very yummy and we started seeing other foreigners so we figured we were near a place we could stay. We found Khaosan Road which is known as the backpacker haven of BKK. There is just one road, maybe a couple of blocks, of shopping and guesthouses. We easily found a place to stay for the night so we could get rid of our packs! We shopped around Khaosan Road for a few hours because there is so much to shop for. The clothing is so cheap (for the dollar) and so trendy. Lots of pirated movies and music. Anything you could want to buy for yourself or as a souveiner was on that street. Very overwhelming. I ended up buying some CDs, a t-shirt and a bracelet. The t-shirt was the best purchase as it was designed by a Thai artist who owns the shop. Her shirts were all so neat and we had such a hard time deciding which shirt we wanted. It even has a little tag on the outside of the shirt saying it was made on Khaosan Road. Very cool.
We eventually made our way up to the famous Weekend Market in Northern BKK. We took the bus which was a little crazy trying to figure out which bus and it which direction. We just made one mistake so that's pretty good. The market was insane. There was so many shops and people that it was very hard to even stop and look at something. Luckily Meredith had some sense of direction in the maze because she got us out of there when it was time to go and meet her friend back at Siam Square.
Back on the bus which is an experience in itself. I have never seen such old ladies running to catch a bus. And I mean literally running because the bus pulls up and people are waiting all around the bus stop. You must then rush to get on that bus because it will not wait for you. We saw a bus keep moving as some elderly people were trying to hurry to catch it. They did get on it but it seems like the buses would just as easily leave you, yet I never saw anyone miss it. Then you are all on and the driver floors on the gas, we're looking out the window hoping we'll miss the motorbike right next to us and somehow we do. Some of the buses have wooden planks for floors and someone who walks around collecting people money (of course with big heels, who knows how she could balance when I felt like I was gripping on until my knuckles were white!). So great to take the bus because we got to see a lot yet of course a taxi would have gotten us there quicker and may have felt safer although it probably wasn't.
The bad news of the trip was that we never met up with Meredith's friend. We could only email each other as he didn't have a phone and the meeting spot was mixed up (two different ice cream shops in the same area but not close enough) and no internet cafes to get in touch with each other. It was too bad but we were still happy we went to BKK. Siam Square was much different at night as it is one of the most happening places in BKK. People were everywhere and it looked totally different than it did at 6:30 in the morning!
That night we got some delicious Italian food and found a bar with a live band doing covers of English and some Spanish songs. It was a good relaxing evening as we were both tired and dragged ourselves to sleep at midnight.
The next morning we boarded the bus to go to the bus terminal and then a bus back home to KK. The bus back home was awful compared to our bus to BKK. We didn't know that there were different buses that went between the cities so when we walked into the bus terminal and someone understood where we wanted to go and could get us on the next bus (which happened to be leaving right then) we were happy. We actually thought we got a better deal on the same kind of bus because it was 60 baht less. To our surprise this bus was no first-class bus. This one didn't have a bathroom which I was freaking out about and many of you can understand such I have such a small Grandma bladder. Luckily they waited for us to use the bathroom at the terminal (a whole other blog will include thai toilets). Well this bus is not the kind where you really need a ticket. Seems like every person on the side of the road would be picked up and taken wherever he/she wanted to go. WHAT! People were sitting in the aisles, people were sitting in the space by our feet (we were in the first seat so there was room but we wanted to stretch out and then we had to beware of our feet offending someone, as Meredith unintentionally did right away! Who knew that while her feet were outstretched and she was looking out the window that the money taker would sit right next to our feet, start counting the money and turn right into her foot. Huge cultural faux pas that he was not very nice about!). It was ok and just an annoying bus ride after we had been on the best of the best and just wanted to get home.
But then this man got on in some small town who was incredibly annoying. He didn't speak English, kept trying to talk to us in Thai, kept trying to touch Meredith's knee (we don't know why other than he really had a thing for her), he would stare at Meredith, talk to the man sitting next to him obviously about us because he was just pointing at us. I thought it was pretty uncomfortable since I am used to being treated with so much respect from my male co-workers at KKU. I didn't know how to say "stop" in Thai either and it's really not ok to say something like that but eventually I just started telling him "no" in a polite way (which translates in English to "not yes please"). We were pretty happy when he got off.
All in all, a great weekend trip to get a taste of BKK. It's a nice place to visit and I really love the atmosphere of a city with so much to do. But for our salary it's pretty expensive. A great place to experience a city so unlike KK. I'm so happy Meredith was down for such a crazy weekend of traveling because this is exactly how I want to spend my time in Thailand when I'm not teaching.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Pictures
http://drake.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10761&l=d1479&id=512610984
These are pictures of my house, neighborhood and also some of KKU. Remember to click on the first photo and then you can see the captions and the slide show (thanks Jordan).
These are pictures of my house, neighborhood and also some of KKU. Remember to click on the first photo and then you can see the captions and the slide show (thanks Jordan).
Sunday, June 10, 2007
A Visit to Isaan Countryside
http://drake.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10297&l=ab4d9&id=512610984
http://drake.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10337&l=f89b4&id=512610984
Both of these will link to a village visit I did yesterday (June 9th). I went with a British teacher at my faculty (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) and his wife who is Thai and is from this village. I did more describing within the photos so click on the first photo and the captions are below it. It was a really great experience to get to see Isaan outside of Khon Kaen.
http://drake.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10337&l=f89b4&id=512610984
Both of these will link to a village visit I did yesterday (June 9th). I went with a British teacher at my faculty (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) and his wife who is Thai and is from this village. I did more describing within the photos so click on the first photo and the captions are below it. It was a really great experience to get to see Isaan outside of Khon Kaen.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Life as a Teacher
So, that last post was really long. Thank you if you made it through! Like I said before, it's so hard to know what to include and what not to include, especially in the beginning when EVERYTHING is new. If you have specific questions please just email me and let me know; I will be happy to have some guidance.
I have just one more class left to teach this week, but it is Friday afternoon from 1-2pm. That time is not conduicive to long weekends I imagined in other places so I am going to see if I can change my schedule a little bit. Keep your fingers crossed.
So far, the hardest part about teaching is managing the time. Some things will go quickly, other things slowly, and it also changes with each class. I am teaching three different classes, 105, 106 and 107. The numbers tell me what their majors are. Then the classes are split up into sections based on the students English level. Since I am a native English speaker I get all sections that include the top English students in their majors. It sounds like it should be fairly easy for them to understand me but it is not. 106 is medical and dental students--they are very advanced and I can do a lot with these students because they understand what I am saying. They are the most outgoing and talkative in class. 107 is science and technology students--they are quieter, less sure of their English speaking ability and when we do speaking activities they like to write down what they want to say first. I'm not sure if I should let them but this first week I allowed them to hold onto some vices. There will be other times where they will have to speak in English, without writing it down. 105 is students who are majoring in another foreign language (not English). Most are majoring in Japanese, Chinese, German, or French. Their levels seems to be right in between the levels of 106 and 107. With any class, there are some students who can understand much better. Some students have been foreign exchange students in America (mostly the midwest too, so they know where Minnesota is!) and their English is much more advanced although they still struggle more than I expected. All in all, there is some variety in classes and at other times I am teaching similar material. 106 and 107 has the same book but 107 covers 1 less chapter for the midterm and final exam. 105 has a different books which is nice to spice things up a little bit. For both 106 and 107 I teach two sections right in a row and it is hard to do a class for an hour and a half and then walk to the next room and do an identical lesson for another hour and a half. Tuesday/Thursdays with 107 the rooms are also not air conditioned...just to make it that much harder! So I feel very tired from the heat and teaching on those days--which is today! So all in all, I have 15 hours of class time but since I have some classes with the same book and sections that have similar abilities I do not have to plan lessons very every single class. it's nice so I have time to write in this blog for all of you special people.
I have pretty much avoided all spicy foods--which is more like Joey orders and tells me things that are not spicy. I have tried some of his spicy dishes but it does not taste good enough to withstand more sweating and watering eyes. I have had many good meals. It's hard for fresh food to be bad and the only thing I would say is that some dishes taste sorta bland...yes I know, I should be putting hot sauce or something on it. I always have the choice to top my meal with: fish sauce, vinegar and sugar. I haven't ventured into any of those yet. Last night Joey and I stopped at a fruit market near our house. The fruit was hit or miss...we got quite a few rotton fruits which was too bad. I ate a delicious mangosteen, something called a sala, and something else. Sorry for the lack of names but I don't know if names would help anyways. There are baby bananas waiting for me at home so I'm hungry to try them. At the stand we were asking what a certain fruit was and the lady grabbed one, peeled off the skin and gave it to us to try. Red flags were going off in my mind but I figured I better just get over it. It was delicious and I am not sick! I'm trying not to have Western standards and even though I do not feel I have high cleanliness standards (Kyle can attest to that) it still makes you think when you see ants crawling near your plate or someone finds a bug in the food. Thais say "maibpen dry" which means no problem. Which it really isn't a problem. you get used to it and things really are very clean...but of course not every place is.
Today was the first day I took the song thaew into work. I took it in with my neighbor Carl and it was fairly easy and only took 15 minutes longer than taking the motorbike. I am going to start doing this on some days depending on Joey's schedule and how it matches mine. The song thaew took me to neighborhoods I had not seen before so it is nice to get to have some different scenery. Not that I have seen much of KK at all but it's nice to see something different on the way to work. On the song thaew I got some stares from people but I think I have already gotten used to it. I will see a group of college students look at me, say something to their friend, and then they all turn around to look at me. I wish I knew what they were saying. Supposedly, Thai men like American women because they think we are easy. It's an interesting feeling to think that perhaps the reason they are looking at me is in hopes that I am easy!
Off to home. I am riding the song thaew back home with Carl and having dinner on my own. Jordan and Joey are celebrating their wedding anniversary tonight. I plan to listen to some Thai and relax in my humble abode. Sawatdee kaa
I have just one more class left to teach this week, but it is Friday afternoon from 1-2pm. That time is not conduicive to long weekends I imagined in other places so I am going to see if I can change my schedule a little bit. Keep your fingers crossed.
So far, the hardest part about teaching is managing the time. Some things will go quickly, other things slowly, and it also changes with each class. I am teaching three different classes, 105, 106 and 107. The numbers tell me what their majors are. Then the classes are split up into sections based on the students English level. Since I am a native English speaker I get all sections that include the top English students in their majors. It sounds like it should be fairly easy for them to understand me but it is not. 106 is medical and dental students--they are very advanced and I can do a lot with these students because they understand what I am saying. They are the most outgoing and talkative in class. 107 is science and technology students--they are quieter, less sure of their English speaking ability and when we do speaking activities they like to write down what they want to say first. I'm not sure if I should let them but this first week I allowed them to hold onto some vices. There will be other times where they will have to speak in English, without writing it down. 105 is students who are majoring in another foreign language (not English). Most are majoring in Japanese, Chinese, German, or French. Their levels seems to be right in between the levels of 106 and 107. With any class, there are some students who can understand much better. Some students have been foreign exchange students in America (mostly the midwest too, so they know where Minnesota is!) and their English is much more advanced although they still struggle more than I expected. All in all, there is some variety in classes and at other times I am teaching similar material. 106 and 107 has the same book but 107 covers 1 less chapter for the midterm and final exam. 105 has a different books which is nice to spice things up a little bit. For both 106 and 107 I teach two sections right in a row and it is hard to do a class for an hour and a half and then walk to the next room and do an identical lesson for another hour and a half. Tuesday/Thursdays with 107 the rooms are also not air conditioned...just to make it that much harder! So I feel very tired from the heat and teaching on those days--which is today! So all in all, I have 15 hours of class time but since I have some classes with the same book and sections that have similar abilities I do not have to plan lessons very every single class. it's nice so I have time to write in this blog for all of you special people.
I have pretty much avoided all spicy foods--which is more like Joey orders and tells me things that are not spicy. I have tried some of his spicy dishes but it does not taste good enough to withstand more sweating and watering eyes. I have had many good meals. It's hard for fresh food to be bad and the only thing I would say is that some dishes taste sorta bland...yes I know, I should be putting hot sauce or something on it. I always have the choice to top my meal with: fish sauce, vinegar and sugar. I haven't ventured into any of those yet. Last night Joey and I stopped at a fruit market near our house. The fruit was hit or miss...we got quite a few rotton fruits which was too bad. I ate a delicious mangosteen, something called a sala, and something else. Sorry for the lack of names but I don't know if names would help anyways. There are baby bananas waiting for me at home so I'm hungry to try them. At the stand we were asking what a certain fruit was and the lady grabbed one, peeled off the skin and gave it to us to try. Red flags were going off in my mind but I figured I better just get over it. It was delicious and I am not sick! I'm trying not to have Western standards and even though I do not feel I have high cleanliness standards (Kyle can attest to that) it still makes you think when you see ants crawling near your plate or someone finds a bug in the food. Thais say "maibpen dry" which means no problem. Which it really isn't a problem. you get used to it and things really are very clean...but of course not every place is.
Today was the first day I took the song thaew into work. I took it in with my neighbor Carl and it was fairly easy and only took 15 minutes longer than taking the motorbike. I am going to start doing this on some days depending on Joey's schedule and how it matches mine. The song thaew took me to neighborhoods I had not seen before so it is nice to get to have some different scenery. Not that I have seen much of KK at all but it's nice to see something different on the way to work. On the song thaew I got some stares from people but I think I have already gotten used to it. I will see a group of college students look at me, say something to their friend, and then they all turn around to look at me. I wish I knew what they were saying. Supposedly, Thai men like American women because they think we are easy. It's an interesting feeling to think that perhaps the reason they are looking at me is in hopes that I am easy!
Off to home. I am riding the song thaew back home with Carl and having dinner on my own. Jordan and Joey are celebrating their wedding anniversary tonight. I plan to listen to some Thai and relax in my humble abode. Sawatdee kaa
Monday, June 4, 2007
36 Hours in Khon Kaen
Sawatdee kaaaa!
I was just talking with my housemates (Joey and Jordan) about how hard it is to write a blog when it is your everyday life. And yes I know I just got here but it seems so normal already. I will try to do some good explaining though.
So I got here just fine-no late flights, no lost baggage and they served me some excellent vegetarian meals. I probably slept about 4 hours total from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. It's hard to get comfortable in airplanes and airports. My neck pillow allowed me to get the four hours! I watched a lot of movies that I would never chose to watch but I was too tired to read and not be able to fall asleep so a few romantic comedies were watched on the way to Tokyo. I even teared up at one-probably more at the feeling of leaving people I am connected with for so long (or so short depending on how I look at it). I got into Bangkok at 11:55pm on Saturday the 2nd. Collected all of my baggage and carted it to a taxi, which took me to the domestic airport. I made friends with a man from Texas who was vacationing in Udon Thani (another small town in the Northeast). He watched my things while I tried to make phone calls, go to the bathroom, and while I slept sprawled out on my bags and the uncomfortable chairs. Again, thank you neck pillow for adding some comfort. The next morning I flew out to Khon Kaen (KK) which is about 45 minute flight or 6 hour bus ride.
Joey and Pin picked me up in a car at the airport early that morning and took me back to the apartment. I met Jordan but then she went to work-she has Monday and Tuesdays off but works Wed.-Sun. I unpacked and talked with Joey until it was time for us to go to Khon Kaen University (KKU), where we both are English professors (I am called Ajarn Mara, Ajarn has more respect than teacher). Joey drove me on his motorbike so I got that over really quickly. I figured if I actually saw how people drive I would be more scared so I just got on the back (with my big and safe helmet)! It was good and Joey is a safe and smart driver. There is a reason to the driving madness and I am starting to understand it. They do drive on the left side of the rode and that messes me up still. We got to campus and I was introduced to many people. It was hard to know what to do-since we are all English teachers I didn't know if I should say sawatdee kaa or hello, shake their hands or wai (which is the thai greeting-pronounced why, put your hands together like a prayer by your face and bow your face below your hands). I was sorta quiet which was mostly because I wasn't sure what to do but luckily everyone knew I had just arrived so they assumed I was tired. And I was and am exhausted when I stop to think about it! Luckily I had some syllabi on my desk for my classes along with my class schedule. I teach three different classes but they are all introduction English classes for freshman. I have students who will be doctors, dentists, engineers, and one class that has many different majors. Two classes use the same book which will be nice for planning except the classes are at different levels. The medical and dentistry students understood and spoke the best but they tend to be the top students anyways. I have 15 teaching hours which is nice. I will have plenty of time to do my own thing.
I went with Joey to get his haircut. He chopped off his long curly locks for short hair and as he accurately called it "thai hair". The hair stylist just kept chopping, straightened his hair, cut some more...I couldn't watch because I found it hilarious. It turned out but a very small example of language barriers and cultural hairstyles! Joey, Jordan and I went out to eat with Carl at a restaurant near our apartments. I have learned that there are many restaurants in KK but it is hard to find a)a restaurant with English, everything is written in Thai characters which I find difficult to even recognize one word b)a restaurant that is vegetarian-Joey and Jordan know the veggie restaurants but it actually does limit you here becuase the notheast is known to use a lot of meat in their meals. So far I like the food and even tonight at dinner I felt like one of the dishes was bland because there was not spice! What a funny feeling.
So my first class was today (June 4th) at 9am. Joey and I hopped on the motorbike at 8am. I did nothing really to prepare except figure out what icebreaker I would use. I was not feeling nervous at all which was good and sorta surprising. Just going in there as a teacher and knowing they are so respectful relaxes me compared to a college presentation. I had the medical students first. They laughed as I read through names since I said so many wrong! I'm happy I at least looked at some learn Thai books so I know a little bit about the sounds letters make but I know nothing about tones and Thai has 5 distinct tones that are very important. My icebreaker for all of my classes was having them write 4 words or less to describe themselves. Then i taped this sheet to their backs and we roamed the room asking each other our names, reading the other person's back and asking them quesitons about what they had written. Some examples..."very handsome and funny"(from the seemingly class clown), "I love to love", "all boys are mine", "loves to sing", "homesick", "I love KKU", "smiling is my life", "cartoons are my life"....you get the idea. It was very fun to see what they all wrote about themselves. It was very hard to say their names correctly but they usually did correct me which was good. I want to be sure to create a classroom where they feel comfortable asking questions and using their English. So anyways, the icebreaker went very well and I did not have to remind them to use English too many times. Many times I did have to encourage people to meet new classmates, especially boys and girls meeting each other. In one class there was literally all the boys on one side the room not talking and all the girls on the other side being very talkative! Some gender stereotypes coming true.
The various majors class (105) told me I was speaking too fast. I thought I was already speaking slowly! Joey.....told......me......I.......should.......speak.....like.....this. AAAHHHH! Goodbye fast paced life-unless i'm on a motorbike.
I bought a cell phone today so I am uber connected with anyone in Thailand. But for all of you back home, you should download Skype so I can hear your voice. Let me know if you have questions because already I am so used to some things that it seems obvious or not a big deal to mention. Oh yes, and it is hot. Truly, no one is outside for long periods of time and there are lots of fans and shade to help deal with it. People will ride motorbikes while holding an umbrella to block the sun! So far no rain but everyone seems to think it's coming. Like Minnesota, talking about the weather is very popular.
Tomorrow I have two classes of engineering students from 9am-10:30 and then 10:30-noon. That will be a long day since it is the same class back to back. Nice to not have to worry about preparing a lesson in these two days, but on Wednesday i get to start right in.
I will take some pictures and write more later in the week. I hope this was a good overview though! Annie (another PiAer) will be here on Thursday and Meredith comes this weekend so that will be exciting.
All in all things have been very good. Joey and Jordan are very patient to me asking quesitons and tagging along all the time. I am waiting for culture shock. So far I am been pretty mellow. everything is new but I am not uncontrollably excited. It is just overwhelming so I am taking it all in rather than meeting this head on and tackling new adventures on my own. Soon I will have to venture out on my own. It will be good but hard! I need to sign up for Thai classes soon because I am already frustrated with no ability to communicate at restaurants and shops.
Talk to you all later. Sawatdee kaa (hello and goodbye are the same for those of you who noticed)
Mara
The People:
Joey-my housemate, married to Jordan, went to school at Indiana University, calls Chicago home, taught in Miami, was an organic farmer, also in the Princeton in Asia program and started teaching at KKU last October
Jordan-my other housemate, married to Joey, went to school at Indiana University, from Valparaiso, Indiana, was in Teach For America in Miami, said to be a natural teacher, vegetarian, teaches English to little kids at a private school in KK.
Karl-our neighbor who also teaches English at KKU. He has lived here ?six years or so I think. Family lives in California. Lives next door to us. Taught me how to ride the song taew.
Bow-my officemate at KKU. We share an office and she is the assistant to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She answers many of my random questions and speaks English very well. She graduated from KKU and has her Masters from a Bangkok school.
Pin-part time English teacher at KKU. She is very shy and did not want to speak in English to me when I came so she told Joey to tell me she does not speak English!
Annie-Another PiA fellow, from LA area but went to boarding school out east for high school and just graduated from Princeton. She majored in religion. She is living with Meredith in a VERY nice townhouse!
Meredith-Another PiA fellow from Philly area. Graduated from Princteon with an English major. I stayed with her at orientation. She has already gotten sick here! Uh oh...
I was just talking with my housemates (Joey and Jordan) about how hard it is to write a blog when it is your everyday life. And yes I know I just got here but it seems so normal already. I will try to do some good explaining though.
So I got here just fine-no late flights, no lost baggage and they served me some excellent vegetarian meals. I probably slept about 4 hours total from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. It's hard to get comfortable in airplanes and airports. My neck pillow allowed me to get the four hours! I watched a lot of movies that I would never chose to watch but I was too tired to read and not be able to fall asleep so a few romantic comedies were watched on the way to Tokyo. I even teared up at one-probably more at the feeling of leaving people I am connected with for so long (or so short depending on how I look at it). I got into Bangkok at 11:55pm on Saturday the 2nd. Collected all of my baggage and carted it to a taxi, which took me to the domestic airport. I made friends with a man from Texas who was vacationing in Udon Thani (another small town in the Northeast). He watched my things while I tried to make phone calls, go to the bathroom, and while I slept sprawled out on my bags and the uncomfortable chairs. Again, thank you neck pillow for adding some comfort. The next morning I flew out to Khon Kaen (KK) which is about 45 minute flight or 6 hour bus ride.
Joey and Pin picked me up in a car at the airport early that morning and took me back to the apartment. I met Jordan but then she went to work-she has Monday and Tuesdays off but works Wed.-Sun. I unpacked and talked with Joey until it was time for us to go to Khon Kaen University (KKU), where we both are English professors (I am called Ajarn Mara, Ajarn has more respect than teacher). Joey drove me on his motorbike so I got that over really quickly. I figured if I actually saw how people drive I would be more scared so I just got on the back (with my big and safe helmet)! It was good and Joey is a safe and smart driver. There is a reason to the driving madness and I am starting to understand it. They do drive on the left side of the rode and that messes me up still. We got to campus and I was introduced to many people. It was hard to know what to do-since we are all English teachers I didn't know if I should say sawatdee kaa or hello, shake their hands or wai (which is the thai greeting-pronounced why, put your hands together like a prayer by your face and bow your face below your hands). I was sorta quiet which was mostly because I wasn't sure what to do but luckily everyone knew I had just arrived so they assumed I was tired. And I was and am exhausted when I stop to think about it! Luckily I had some syllabi on my desk for my classes along with my class schedule. I teach three different classes but they are all introduction English classes for freshman. I have students who will be doctors, dentists, engineers, and one class that has many different majors. Two classes use the same book which will be nice for planning except the classes are at different levels. The medical and dentistry students understood and spoke the best but they tend to be the top students anyways. I have 15 teaching hours which is nice. I will have plenty of time to do my own thing.
I went with Joey to get his haircut. He chopped off his long curly locks for short hair and as he accurately called it "thai hair". The hair stylist just kept chopping, straightened his hair, cut some more...I couldn't watch because I found it hilarious. It turned out but a very small example of language barriers and cultural hairstyles! Joey, Jordan and I went out to eat with Carl at a restaurant near our apartments. I have learned that there are many restaurants in KK but it is hard to find a)a restaurant with English, everything is written in Thai characters which I find difficult to even recognize one word b)a restaurant that is vegetarian-Joey and Jordan know the veggie restaurants but it actually does limit you here becuase the notheast is known to use a lot of meat in their meals. So far I like the food and even tonight at dinner I felt like one of the dishes was bland because there was not spice! What a funny feeling.
So my first class was today (June 4th) at 9am. Joey and I hopped on the motorbike at 8am. I did nothing really to prepare except figure out what icebreaker I would use. I was not feeling nervous at all which was good and sorta surprising. Just going in there as a teacher and knowing they are so respectful relaxes me compared to a college presentation. I had the medical students first. They laughed as I read through names since I said so many wrong! I'm happy I at least looked at some learn Thai books so I know a little bit about the sounds letters make but I know nothing about tones and Thai has 5 distinct tones that are very important. My icebreaker for all of my classes was having them write 4 words or less to describe themselves. Then i taped this sheet to their backs and we roamed the room asking each other our names, reading the other person's back and asking them quesitons about what they had written. Some examples..."very handsome and funny"(from the seemingly class clown), "I love to love", "all boys are mine", "loves to sing", "homesick", "I love KKU", "smiling is my life", "cartoons are my life"....you get the idea. It was very fun to see what they all wrote about themselves. It was very hard to say their names correctly but they usually did correct me which was good. I want to be sure to create a classroom where they feel comfortable asking questions and using their English. So anyways, the icebreaker went very well and I did not have to remind them to use English too many times. Many times I did have to encourage people to meet new classmates, especially boys and girls meeting each other. In one class there was literally all the boys on one side the room not talking and all the girls on the other side being very talkative! Some gender stereotypes coming true.
The various majors class (105) told me I was speaking too fast. I thought I was already speaking slowly! Joey.....told......me......I.......should.......speak.....like.....this. AAAHHHH! Goodbye fast paced life-unless i'm on a motorbike.
I bought a cell phone today so I am uber connected with anyone in Thailand. But for all of you back home, you should download Skype so I can hear your voice. Let me know if you have questions because already I am so used to some things that it seems obvious or not a big deal to mention. Oh yes, and it is hot. Truly, no one is outside for long periods of time and there are lots of fans and shade to help deal with it. People will ride motorbikes while holding an umbrella to block the sun! So far no rain but everyone seems to think it's coming. Like Minnesota, talking about the weather is very popular.
Tomorrow I have two classes of engineering students from 9am-10:30 and then 10:30-noon. That will be a long day since it is the same class back to back. Nice to not have to worry about preparing a lesson in these two days, but on Wednesday i get to start right in.
I will take some pictures and write more later in the week. I hope this was a good overview though! Annie (another PiAer) will be here on Thursday and Meredith comes this weekend so that will be exciting.
All in all things have been very good. Joey and Jordan are very patient to me asking quesitons and tagging along all the time. I am waiting for culture shock. So far I am been pretty mellow. everything is new but I am not uncontrollably excited. It is just overwhelming so I am taking it all in rather than meeting this head on and tackling new adventures on my own. Soon I will have to venture out on my own. It will be good but hard! I need to sign up for Thai classes soon because I am already frustrated with no ability to communicate at restaurants and shops.
Talk to you all later. Sawatdee kaa (hello and goodbye are the same for those of you who noticed)
Mara
The People:
Joey-my housemate, married to Jordan, went to school at Indiana University, calls Chicago home, taught in Miami, was an organic farmer, also in the Princeton in Asia program and started teaching at KKU last October
Jordan-my other housemate, married to Joey, went to school at Indiana University, from Valparaiso, Indiana, was in Teach For America in Miami, said to be a natural teacher, vegetarian, teaches English to little kids at a private school in KK.
Karl-our neighbor who also teaches English at KKU. He has lived here ?six years or so I think. Family lives in California. Lives next door to us. Taught me how to ride the song taew.
Bow-my officemate at KKU. We share an office and she is the assistant to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She answers many of my random questions and speaks English very well. She graduated from KKU and has her Masters from a Bangkok school.
Pin-part time English teacher at KKU. She is very shy and did not want to speak in English to me when I came so she told Joey to tell me she does not speak English!
Annie-Another PiA fellow, from LA area but went to boarding school out east for high school and just graduated from Princeton. She majored in religion. She is living with Meredith in a VERY nice townhouse!
Meredith-Another PiA fellow from Philly area. Graduated from Princteon with an English major. I stayed with her at orientation. She has already gotten sick here! Uh oh...
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