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.

Wan Wai Kruu (Teacher Appreciation Day)

Wan Wai Kruu (teacher appreciation day) is a tradition in Thailand in which students pay respect to their teachers. It takes place in every school, usually towards the beginning of the school year. Here are some photos to help share my experience. To see the entire album, please click HERE.

Each class made one large flower tray to present to the teachers.

Each student made his or her own "bouquet" of flowers,
incense and candles bundled together using a banana leaf.

the paw aw (school principal)

Representative from each class carried the class offerings
onto the stage and presented them to the teachers. 

 Once the students reached the stage, they shuffled across on their knees. 

Afterwards, every single student lined up to
present one teacher with a small offering. 

HERE is another link that further explains the Wan Wai Kruu tradition, as well as Wan Kruu (which is a different holiday held in January). It also explains the symbolism of the flower trays, which I found really interesting.

Already Halfway Through PST

 Click HERE for album

Our fifth week in Thailand was great! We’re already halfway through Pre-service Training! It has gone by ridiculously fast, but at the same time feels like we have been here so much longer than five weeks. This week we had our “mock” LPI (Language Proficiency Interview) to help us gauge how well we are progressing with language. At the end of training we will have our real test, which will consist of listening to and speaking Thai in a conversational format. I feel like I still have so far to go! We also had our “mid-term” evaluation this week to gauge our progress in general and our likelihood of qualifying for service. Zack and I both got really positive reviews, thank goodness! We are both still feeling really committed to being here, even though this morning I did wake up craving a Colorado hike.

Next week we find out where our permanent sites will be! I am SO excited for this next step. This whole experience is going to change a ton after PST is over, and I think that most of the trainees are anticipating the news of where we will be spending the next two years of our lives. This next week’s language training will be mainly devoted to training us how to buy bus tickets for our site visits. We will also be meeting our Thai counterparts very soon! I am really excited about this, but also really nervous.

One major development this week was that I started connecting even more with the children at my practicum school. On Wednesday, my host “cousin” biked to school with me and somehow (I’m not really sure how this happened) I was accompanied by about six more children on my journey  back to my house. The next day there were more, and by Friday we had about twelve. They love playing Frisbee with us (but the boys are always more excited to play with Zack) and showing us new games also.  Most days, the boys ended up playing sports (Frisbee, badminton, etc.) the majority of the time and the girls ended up talking together and playing games on (believe it or not) someone’s iphone. On Saturday, the children showed up spontaneously in the afternoon, but Zack and I were super busy doing laundry and didn’t have much time to play. Our host sister seemed to really enjoy having so many people over though!

On another note, it was really bittersweet leaving my practicum school on Friday. I felt like I formed a ton of relationships in a just a short amount of time and feel really connected with a lot of the people there. During morning assembly on Friday, the paw-aw (principal) presented me and the other volunteer doing practicum at that school with beautiful (enormous!) fruit baskets full of ripe mangoes, bananas, muffins and candied water chestnuts. They asked me to speak to the students in Thai, and my heart just about leapt out of my chest because I was so nervous. I did it though! And everyone seemed to understand me, which is a good sign.

Today we went to a nearby zoo/aquarium with our host family. It seemed like a really popular tourist destination and we even saw some other PCVs there. On the way, we saw some mountains for the first time! Granted, they looked more like hills in comparison to what we are used to in Colorado…but it was a nice change of scenery nonetheless. Be sure to check out the pictures of the zoo in the album!

One final story this week is just a testament to how great Peace Corps medical response has been during PST. On Wednesday, Zack woke up with a clogged ear. He tried a couple of remedies to fix it himself, but nothing worked. Late that afternoon he called the Peace Corps medical officer, and by that evening, he had been picked up from our house by Peace Corps staff, brought to a doctor to be diagnosed, brought to a clinic to have his ears suctioned out (I’m sure there’s a more technical term J) then brought home, safe and sound and hearing again. We both feel so fortunate that we are being so well-cared for!