Back to School

School is finally back in session! The break completely flew by, once again. It's so nice be be back at site, and Zack and I are hunkering down in our community for awhile. We were so busy over the school break that it feels good to know we're going to be in one place for awhile. Even though I'm off to a much better start this school year compared to last year, the start of school comes with many little frustrations that I hadn't considered in quite a while.

Technically school started last week, but I was in Bangkok having my wisdom teeth extracted. It was a relief since they had been giving me a lot of trouble for awhile, but it was still a far from enjoyable experience. The first week of school usually consists of the students coming to school and just cleaning, so fortunately I didn't miss anything too important. Between all of the meetings and git-ja-gam pii-set (special activities) going on this week, we only had one actual day of school. Today is Thursday and I am "working from home" because everyone is at a meeting in the city for the next two days. I'm grateful that I don't have to go to the meeting because I can actually be much more productive from home. I'm planning on dedicating the next four days to getting our teaching materials organized and creating more materials for upcoming lessons. I'm grateful that I have the time to do this now since there was no opportunity for me to do it over the break. Funny how things work out sometimes...Anyway, my whole point is that after expecting to be back in full-swing, my co-teachers and I only had one day of actual teaching this week. At least this year (compared to last year) I am a little more prepared for the inconsistencies and interruptions.

Also on my agenda today is a visit from Eye, one of my favorite little buddies. Eye is a seven-year-old who lives a few houses away. She's also one of my students. She came by last night at around 8:30 when she was biking past our house on "errands" for her family. I asked her if she was afraid to bike alone at night and she told me "no," as she explained that everyone around here looks out for one another. After that comment, it was funny when she responded that she thought my plans for staying home today and working alone sounded "scary." It was then that she asked if she could come and visit. At some point I need to post a picture or video of Eye so that everyone can understand how special this little girl is. She has more patience and understanding when she talks with me than any other Thai person I have ever met. She'll come over to me just to hold my hand or wrap her arms around me. She's thoughtful and loving and has a spark in her eyes that just melts my heart.

It's interactions and relationships like this that make me so grateful to be done traveling around for awhile, grateful to be home. People here are so kind and caring. Yesterday evening Zack and I took a walk together on the dirt roads behind our house that wrap through the rice fields, along the irrigation canals. We admired how clear the mountains in the distance are this time of year as the rains start to come. As we passed one of the tiny shack houses on the opposite side of the canal we were walking along, an older woman called out, telling us she had mangoes for us. She was on the other side of the canal though, so we were pretty confused regarding how we were supposed to go about meeting her. As we continued our walk and started to head back towards our house, she pulled up from behind us on her motorcycle, and sure enough, was carrying a huge bucket of ripe mangoes in her motorcycle basket. She made sure we'd be able to carry them home alright before turning around and heading back to her house. Thailand and the Thai people have been so good to us, and it's becoming very real that our time here will eventually come to an end.

Another school year is underway, and we are determined to make the most of it!

This is Poy, one of my many
adorable new first grade students.

Days of the Week

                Time is perceived so differently here. Whether it’s a weekday or a weekend, our village wakes up at the same time, does the same daily activities, and goes to bed at the same time. In America, I was in a habit of extremes. During the “work week,” I’d stay up late if I had to get work done for the next day, then wake up to an alarm because I was too tired to wake up on my own. By the end of a typical week I’d be exhausted and try to make up for it by sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday (sometimes waking up at times that I’m too embarrassed to write here). Anyway, it seemed normal to use the weekends as “catch-up” days, days to sleep in and move at my own pace.

                So, back to Thailand. Like I said, whether it’s a weekend or a weekday, our community makes very little distinction. Why would they? Most of the work here can’t get put on hold two days out of the week. So at 6:00 am at the latest, the loudspeakers will still go off, the roosters will still crow, the banging at the tin place across the street will still start, the motorcycles without mufflers will still speed past, and everyday village life will go on.

                At first it really annoyed me. Don’t they understand it’s the weekend? How am I supposed to get caught up on sleep with all of this noise? Oh my gosh, is that somebody yelling my name? Why do they think it’s okay to come over at 7:00 in the morning? Now they’re opening our gate? Really?? Now they’re tapping on the window…You can’t be serious. Okay I guess it’s time to get up! “Bpap diao!” (“Just a moment!”) Why don’t they have any boundaries? It’s the weekend for crying out loud! This is probably the most extreme example that I have, but it demonstrates my point well.

                Then school started and this perception about days of the week was challenged once again. At 10:00 on a Saturday night, my co-teacher messaged me on Facebook. (This will teach me to be on Facebook in the evenings!) The conversation went something like this:

                                Joy: Come to school tomorrow.

                                Laura: Sunday?

                                Joy: Yes, tomorrow.

                                Laura: What time?

                                Joy: 8:00

                                Laura: Why?

                                Joy: first day of school

                                Laura: Isn’t it the weekend? I’m confused…

                                Joy: It seems like that, but it’s not.

                                Laura: So the students go to school tomorrow?

                                Joy: Yes…

                The conversation then ended with a happy face from Joy followed by reassurances not to worry, that it’s “not serious.” Many of you back home who know me well (Mom, especially) will be happy to know that Thailand is making me much less serious. Joy constantly reminds me that I don’t have to be serious, and it’s starting to sink in more and more and time goes on.

                Anyway…the first day of full-blown school was on a Sunday. I felt completely robbed of my weekend. It felt like such an injustice that I would be required to give up my Sunday at such late notice and have to work instead. My next surprise came when later on the next day, my other co-teacher informed me that for the entire month of November we would be teaching on Saturdays too. At first I balked a little bit. Again, weekend mentality. But once I got over the initial feelings of unfairness, I realized that I could look at it as an opportunity to just be able to teach more. I’ve tried to explain in previous posts that our teaching schedule is pretty inconsistent. Some days I go to school to find that there is an event taking place that day and that normal classes are canceled. Sometimes I get Facebook messages at 10:00 Saturday night telling me to come to school in the morning. Either way, it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen on any given day.

                This month has been really busy. I’ve been teaching regularly with both of my co-teachers and am even getting an extra day every week to teach (see, not serious!). I’m pretty sure I'll be grateful for it when our teaching becomes more limited, which I’ve heard will be even more common this term than it was last term.

                I’m also starting to learn to balance my concept of “the weekend” a little bit more. It’s Sunday and I was awake by 6:30 without an alarm (just a loudspeaker down the street!). Waking up at 6:30 on a Sunday and actually getting up because I wanted to get up was unheard of before I came to Thailand. I’m getting better at not stressing out if I have to do something last minute that I didn’t expect or anticipate. I’m learning to just smile and nod and go with the flow as much as I can, and it actually feels good to not be so serious.

And just to have at least one picture...

Our 8th graders earned a popcorn/music party for their
great behavior! (Learning English is the best!)

Project Update

For those of you who are curious about what I have been up to these past couple of months….

Bpratom 1 (First Grade)

                School officially started on May 14^th. On Monday through Thursday I am at my school from around 7:30 in the morning until 5:00 or 5:30 in the evening. I teach two hours before lunch and two hours after lunch. I have two co-teachers, one who teaches bpratom (primary) and one who teaches matayom (secondary). I help teach both of the first grade classes, both sixth grade classes, and both eight grade classes. Each class has about twenty children average, which is paw-dii (a good amount)! I really like that all of the classes I teach have two groups, because I am able to lead the first group (while  my co-teacher provides support) then my co-teacher leads the second group (while I provide support). It gives me the opportunity to model new teaching strategies during the first class then allows my co-teachers the opportunity to try to lead and implement some of the strategies with the second group.

Matayom 2 (Eighth Grade)

                I am grateful to have two co-teachers who are really supportive and try to humor me by giving my crazy ideas a try. They are also both really great about devoting time each week to planning our lessons together and brainstorming ideas. Communication is difficult at times, but with each passing day their English improves and my Thai improves (I think!) as well. Even though we were warned in PST, I am still blown away by how much our teaching is interrupted. It’s not unusual to be called in for a meeting with the principal right in the middle of teaching a class. Classes aren’t held on scouts (boy and girl scouts) days, and Thailand seems to have a lot more national holidays than America does. (Including substitute holidays, which give us an additional weekday off if the holiday happens to fall on a weekend…) There are also trainings held during the week that my co-teachers like to attend sometimes.

When teachers are not at school, generally class just isn’t held. When this happens, the students are often just left in the room by themselves. Some of them try to work and learn independently, but for the most part they just socialize with one another. I have had to set my boundaries early on that in order for me to teach, my co-teacher must be present. It’s really difficult for me to do because I would much rather be teaching than sitting at a desk, but I have to keep in perspective that my main goal in my community is to focus on the sustainability of through working with a counterpart rather than independently. The Peace Corps staff has encouraged us (TCCS volunteers) to set these boundaries so that we do not fall into becoming a substitute teacher. Even though this could potentially help students short-term, it would miss the point of our program, which is to work closely with Thai teachers to make a larger long-term impact that will continue to benefit students long after we leave. For more information about my (and Zack's) program goals, click HERE.

A session on healthy relationships

Helping with camps also takes me away from my site/school sometimes. Zack and I have been really fortunate to be able to attend and help facilitate several English camps, a life skills camp (Zack only, see post titled “Teacher Zack”)  as well as one sex education camp. One of the English camps was for school principals (see post titled “Picture Update”) and the other most recent one was for the entire teacher staff at the school of one of the principals who attended the English camp for principals. We’ve learned so much from these experiences that we hope to be able to apply here in our own community. Helping at these camps has also given us the opportunity to travel a little bit on the weekends and observe other volunteers at their sights. It’s been a really good experience and has allowed us little breaks here and there when we are feeling overwhelmed and just need to get away for a little bit.

Zack facilitating an activity at a local school

To give more of an update on Zack, he is working really hard trying to visit all of the schools in our tambon regularly. He works with teachers at the schools to facilitate English and life skills activities, but it is difficult to find the time to truly collaborate with all of these teachers. He recently connected with a music teacher at my school who seems like a really great potential counterpart. Zack is excited to be able to engage youth in our community through music and have music be a regular part of his life again. Not having music as a part of his daily routine has been really difficult.

Stay tuned for updates on our new rental house that we just moved into! After nearly six months of living with host families, Zack and are a beyond excited to finally have our very own place!

Click HERE for the Sex Education Camp pictures.

Click HERE for pictures of my first weeks of teaching, Zack working at the local schools, and the teacher English camp we helped with.