Day to Day Life: Making Thailand Home
Time seems to be moving so much more quickly these days. I feel like I blinked and the semester is over. These last two months have been amazingly wonderful and also filled with many challenges.
I'm not quite sure where to start. To be honest, this whole blogging thing feels a bit overwhelming. Like somehow I should be providing some entertainment in these words I write. It kinda takes the fun out of it when I place those expectations on myself.
So, I'll heed my Mom's advice (because really, are our Mom's every wrong?) and just write from my heart.
These last few weeks have flown by. There have been lots of laughs and in keepin' it real, lots of tears.
Teaching has been quite the experience. While I am bummed it is the end of the semester and I still could not tell you 99% of my students names, I can say that I know most of their sweet (if not mischievous) little faces. Naturally, I came here with the somewhat misguided belief that by the end of week one I would have all their names down. To be fair, I teach about 900 kids a week, and recently I realized that that is about one third of the school, so I'll cut myself some slack. Also, Thai names are no joke, so I am more likely to remember their student number:/
Back to teaching. While there are moments I think I may have imparted some nuggets of knowledge on these kids, they have probably taught me far more in these last two months. About patience, kindness, keeping a sense of humor, and not to fret the small stuff.
In an ideal world, I would walk into my classrooms, my students would all be in their seats, notebooks and pencils out, eager to learn (too much?!). I would teach my lesson and then casually roam the classroom, assisting each student as needed, while they completed their class work.
The real world for me, looks more like this. I walk into my classroom and more often than not, it is empty. Class has started, and far more times than I care to say, my class remains empty for upwards of ten minutes. Then, my students start to slowly drift in, chatting about....well I don't really know because they are talking in Thai. As the first students take their seats, I try to inquire where the other 45 students are and the response sound something like this "Canteen" "toilet" "absent". Now, at first this used to really frustrate me. In my self-righteous indignation, I would think "I have a lesson to teach you!" But what I have come to realize is, these are the moments they are teaching me. To slow down, and take advantage of what's in front of me.
I take these moments now to chat with the students that have arrived. And almost without fail, it is the same faces showing up *relatively* on time, and they are *somewhat* eager to learn, or at least not piss off the Teacher! So, we communicate as best we can, usually sharing laments about the heat and the AC that is likely on the fritz in the classroom. Or how much homework they have (I don't assign homework, so I wonder if this wins me some brownie points??), or if I'm lucky they are able to say what they did over the weekend or what sports they are playing.
Eventually, enough students show up that I deem it time to start class. Inevitably, I get started and what feels like as soon as I have my students attention, 10-15 more kids will come strolling in. I mentioned above I didn't yet know everyone's name, now do you understand why?! So, the students get situated and of course also need the handout, so we take some time passing those out again. All the while, I am redirecting the kids that are breaking out in song (not kidding), or the ones that start strumming on their guitar (also not joking), or the ones that are talking across the room with each other (and by talking, it really sounds like yelling but in looking at the kids, it's as if this is totally normal). This isn't mentioning the times I've had to say "please don't cut your hair in my class" (and yes, it did occur to me that they had no clue what I was saying, but I felt compelled to say it anyways in the hopes they might) or stopped teaching mid sentence because one girl was piercing another girls ear. I actually didn't stop that...I mean, it would just be mean to stop her mid puncture, so I just motioned to do whatever she was doing, quickly.
So, that has been my teaching experience. And while it sounds chaotic (because it is) I wouldn't trade it for anything. I think, perhaps, I needed a bit of this chaos, this comic relief in my life, because the months leading up to being here were anything but that. And now, at semesters end, I'd like to think of my classrooms as, structured chaos....if that makes any sense?? As exhausting as one class can be, there are many, many, many moments where I stop and take a step back to look at all the students. There are moments ( I promise) where they are all (ok most of them ) sitting, doing their work, and I do get to walk around and get to know a little about each of them. There are moments where they let me in on their jokes (even if it's a joke about me :/ !) and I get to laugh with them. That is when I feel like a Teacher. When I am laughing with my students, connecting over a joke, and somehow, magically, they go back to work and ask me a question, and praise God, I can answer the question. Those moments are gold.
I had no clue what to expect with teaching, and this is definitely not the experience that everyone else has. I have some friends that teach the same kids multiple times per week, have gotten to know their little charges, and classroom management seems to go a bit smoother. But I can't help but think, that I was meant to teach these 900 little souls, and in turn, they have also taught me...probably far more than my lessons ever taught them. But, I do hope that at least a few of them had a couple good laughs with me (hopefully not just as me!) and learned a little something from me too.
So that's teaching. But there's life outside the classroom.
I recently picked up a tutoring gig one evening a week. I really enjoy that for a few reasons. Most importantly, it gives me a chance to connect with a student, one on one. As exciting as teaching a class of 50-55 teens is, there is something quite refreshing about sitting with one student for an hour, and having a conversation (maybe that's a throw back to my love of therapy). Also, tutoring provides me with something else to do after class, besides what has become "the usual" which is, going to the gym and then the nightly task of finding something to eat.
In this way, the weeks really have flown by. I am typically out of my apartment by 7 am and don't return until 7:30 pm. By then, I have just enough energy to shower, watch a show (NCIS for inquiring minds...yes, I'm basically a little old lady with my choice in shows!), or read (currently reading How Yoga Works....highly recommend it, so many beautiful life lessons in it), or listen to a podcast (S-Town is what's on now and again, highly recommend!!).
What has been really special to me over the last several weeks is how much this has all started to feel like home. This routine that I have found, the people I share my day to day life with. It is all starting to feel "normal." I guess I was just worried that maybe life here never would. And although I still miss family and friends, it is nice to walk down my little street at the end of the day, and have it feel like home (for now 💓).
Once a month, my friends and I also make it a point to meet up in a new location in Thailand. Last time it was Chiang Mai, this past weekend, we met up down south, in Krabi.
I have truly met some wonderful people here, and I am someone that believes that everyone comes into my life for a reason. Well, these three girls have come in to my life, at least in part, to help me have fun, laugh until I cry, and share far too much coffee over heart filled conversations. And in Krabi, it was no different. It comes as no surprise to me, that I have found a group of girls that seem to share similar luck when it comes travel, adventure, and misadventure.
We made it to Krabi safe and sound. Kind of. One girl was dropped off on the side of the road at 10 pm. It became the rest of our mission to find her, only for us to be dropped off on the side of the road (not in her same location) and then of course, the torrential down pour started. After some walking, getting completely soaked, we found her. So, great, we are all together, except now we cant get a taxi to our destination 40 minutes away! The kindness of strangers here is no joke. Two men had pulled over to get out of the rain, only to assist us in securing transportation. In the form of a local policeman who was on duty, left his post, and drove us to our hostel. So that's how vacation started!
Saturday we were up early to catch the sunrise, only to have more torrential rain. Did I mention it's monsoon season here?! So needless to say, our vision of a beautiful sunrise, cocktails on the beach, and kayaking were dashed. Not to worry, we spent the day wandering the streets of Krabi, stopping at every coffee shop imaginable, drinking far too much coffee, and catching up on the previous month. We treated ourselves to a massage and then found a place with deals on wine, margaritas, and....French fries. It wasn't the day we envisioned, but it was pretty spectacular.
Sunday, we were up at it again early to catch a boat to a local island in hopes of laying out, kayaking, and a relaxing day at the beach. It all started out well. Until Robyn got trapped in the Starbucks bathroom for close to 20 minutes. Can't make this shit up. They had to remove the door handle to get her out. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. And of course, as soon as she was free, you guessed it, torrential downpour. Fortunately, the rain cleared up for us to enjoy a few hours at the beach before we all had to head home. Obviously, this trip will be repeated again, not in monsoon season!
That's about it for now:) My kids are all in finals next week, then we take them to English Camp for a weekend, and in less than three weeks, I fly back to the States! Little Danny Collins (who is 6' 4'' but will always be about 7 years old in my head 💓 ) is getting married and there's nowhere else in the world I would rather be, than watching him walk his bride down the isle. I always did want a little sister too :)
Sending love from Lat Krabang,
E
I'm not quite sure where to start. To be honest, this whole blogging thing feels a bit overwhelming. Like somehow I should be providing some entertainment in these words I write. It kinda takes the fun out of it when I place those expectations on myself.
So, I'll heed my Mom's advice (because really, are our Mom's every wrong?) and just write from my heart.
These last few weeks have flown by. There have been lots of laughs and in keepin' it real, lots of tears.
Teaching has been quite the experience. While I am bummed it is the end of the semester and I still could not tell you 99% of my students names, I can say that I know most of their sweet (if not mischievous) little faces. Naturally, I came here with the somewhat misguided belief that by the end of week one I would have all their names down. To be fair, I teach about 900 kids a week, and recently I realized that that is about one third of the school, so I'll cut myself some slack. Also, Thai names are no joke, so I am more likely to remember their student number:/
Back to teaching. While there are moments I think I may have imparted some nuggets of knowledge on these kids, they have probably taught me far more in these last two months. About patience, kindness, keeping a sense of humor, and not to fret the small stuff.
In an ideal world, I would walk into my classrooms, my students would all be in their seats, notebooks and pencils out, eager to learn (too much?!). I would teach my lesson and then casually roam the classroom, assisting each student as needed, while they completed their class work.
The real world for me, looks more like this. I walk into my classroom and more often than not, it is empty. Class has started, and far more times than I care to say, my class remains empty for upwards of ten minutes. Then, my students start to slowly drift in, chatting about....well I don't really know because they are talking in Thai. As the first students take their seats, I try to inquire where the other 45 students are and the response sound something like this "Canteen" "toilet" "absent". Now, at first this used to really frustrate me. In my self-righteous indignation, I would think "I have a lesson to teach you!" But what I have come to realize is, these are the moments they are teaching me. To slow down, and take advantage of what's in front of me.
I take these moments now to chat with the students that have arrived. And almost without fail, it is the same faces showing up *relatively* on time, and they are *somewhat* eager to learn, or at least not piss off the Teacher! So, we communicate as best we can, usually sharing laments about the heat and the AC that is likely on the fritz in the classroom. Or how much homework they have (I don't assign homework, so I wonder if this wins me some brownie points??), or if I'm lucky they are able to say what they did over the weekend or what sports they are playing.
Eventually, enough students show up that I deem it time to start class. Inevitably, I get started and what feels like as soon as I have my students attention, 10-15 more kids will come strolling in. I mentioned above I didn't yet know everyone's name, now do you understand why?! So, the students get situated and of course also need the handout, so we take some time passing those out again. All the while, I am redirecting the kids that are breaking out in song (not kidding), or the ones that start strumming on their guitar (also not joking), or the ones that are talking across the room with each other (and by talking, it really sounds like yelling but in looking at the kids, it's as if this is totally normal). This isn't mentioning the times I've had to say "please don't cut your hair in my class" (and yes, it did occur to me that they had no clue what I was saying, but I felt compelled to say it anyways in the hopes they might) or stopped teaching mid sentence because one girl was piercing another girls ear. I actually didn't stop that...I mean, it would just be mean to stop her mid puncture, so I just motioned to do whatever she was doing, quickly.
So, that has been my teaching experience. And while it sounds chaotic (because it is) I wouldn't trade it for anything. I think, perhaps, I needed a bit of this chaos, this comic relief in my life, because the months leading up to being here were anything but that. And now, at semesters end, I'd like to think of my classrooms as, structured chaos....if that makes any sense?? As exhausting as one class can be, there are many, many, many moments where I stop and take a step back to look at all the students. There are moments ( I promise) where they are all (ok most of them ) sitting, doing their work, and I do get to walk around and get to know a little about each of them. There are moments where they let me in on their jokes (even if it's a joke about me :/ !) and I get to laugh with them. That is when I feel like a Teacher. When I am laughing with my students, connecting over a joke, and somehow, magically, they go back to work and ask me a question, and praise God, I can answer the question. Those moments are gold.
I had no clue what to expect with teaching, and this is definitely not the experience that everyone else has. I have some friends that teach the same kids multiple times per week, have gotten to know their little charges, and classroom management seems to go a bit smoother. But I can't help but think, that I was meant to teach these 900 little souls, and in turn, they have also taught me...probably far more than my lessons ever taught them. But, I do hope that at least a few of them had a couple good laughs with me (hopefully not just as me!) and learned a little something from me too.
So that's teaching. But there's life outside the classroom.
I recently picked up a tutoring gig one evening a week. I really enjoy that for a few reasons. Most importantly, it gives me a chance to connect with a student, one on one. As exciting as teaching a class of 50-55 teens is, there is something quite refreshing about sitting with one student for an hour, and having a conversation (maybe that's a throw back to my love of therapy). Also, tutoring provides me with something else to do after class, besides what has become "the usual" which is, going to the gym and then the nightly task of finding something to eat.
In this way, the weeks really have flown by. I am typically out of my apartment by 7 am and don't return until 7:30 pm. By then, I have just enough energy to shower, watch a show (NCIS for inquiring minds...yes, I'm basically a little old lady with my choice in shows!), or read (currently reading How Yoga Works....highly recommend it, so many beautiful life lessons in it), or listen to a podcast (S-Town is what's on now and again, highly recommend!!).
What has been really special to me over the last several weeks is how much this has all started to feel like home. This routine that I have found, the people I share my day to day life with. It is all starting to feel "normal." I guess I was just worried that maybe life here never would. And although I still miss family and friends, it is nice to walk down my little street at the end of the day, and have it feel like home (for now 💓).
Once a month, my friends and I also make it a point to meet up in a new location in Thailand. Last time it was Chiang Mai, this past weekend, we met up down south, in Krabi.
I have truly met some wonderful people here, and I am someone that believes that everyone comes into my life for a reason. Well, these three girls have come in to my life, at least in part, to help me have fun, laugh until I cry, and share far too much coffee over heart filled conversations. And in Krabi, it was no different. It comes as no surprise to me, that I have found a group of girls that seem to share similar luck when it comes travel, adventure, and misadventure.
We made it to Krabi safe and sound. Kind of. One girl was dropped off on the side of the road at 10 pm. It became the rest of our mission to find her, only for us to be dropped off on the side of the road (not in her same location) and then of course, the torrential down pour started. After some walking, getting completely soaked, we found her. So, great, we are all together, except now we cant get a taxi to our destination 40 minutes away! The kindness of strangers here is no joke. Two men had pulled over to get out of the rain, only to assist us in securing transportation. In the form of a local policeman who was on duty, left his post, and drove us to our hostel. So that's how vacation started!
Saturday we were up early to catch the sunrise, only to have more torrential rain. Did I mention it's monsoon season here?! So needless to say, our vision of a beautiful sunrise, cocktails on the beach, and kayaking were dashed. Not to worry, we spent the day wandering the streets of Krabi, stopping at every coffee shop imaginable, drinking far too much coffee, and catching up on the previous month. We treated ourselves to a massage and then found a place with deals on wine, margaritas, and....French fries. It wasn't the day we envisioned, but it was pretty spectacular.
Sunday, we were up at it again early to catch a boat to a local island in hopes of laying out, kayaking, and a relaxing day at the beach. It all started out well. Until Robyn got trapped in the Starbucks bathroom for close to 20 minutes. Can't make this shit up. They had to remove the door handle to get her out. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. And of course, as soon as she was free, you guessed it, torrential downpour. Fortunately, the rain cleared up for us to enjoy a few hours at the beach before we all had to head home. Obviously, this trip will be repeated again, not in monsoon season!
That's about it for now:) My kids are all in finals next week, then we take them to English Camp for a weekend, and in less than three weeks, I fly back to the States! Little Danny Collins (who is 6' 4'' but will always be about 7 years old in my head 💓 ) is getting married and there's nowhere else in the world I would rather be, than watching him walk his bride down the isle. I always did want a little sister too :)
Sending love from Lat Krabang,
E
Got dolled up for a dinner in Krabi
The sun made a brief appearance. Krabi, we'll be back!
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