Done Teaching....

So Friday was my last day of teaching!  And I'm really not sure how I feel about this.  Rather than the relief I expected, knowing my parents and a full month of traveling were finally here, I don't really feel anything...
It's really strange honestly.  I half think that this was such a transformative experience, I am not really processing the fact that I am done, and I am saying goodbye to so many precious students.  I feel very emotionally flat, which I dislike.  Anyways, my parents are coming TOMORROW, and I leave Kalasin for good on October 1.  I think this is the most well-earned vacation I will experience haha.  Can't wait to see the rents!!!!!

A Somewhat Awkward Moment in the Classroon

So the semester wouldn't be complete without me looking like an idiot at least once.  Oh wait that's me every class, fortunately my students enjoy me looking like an idiot so there is usually a lot of laughing and joviality (not a word).  Yesterday I was not so lucky.
Let me set the scene- It was HOT.  Like 95 degrees and 90 % humidity, so you are practically swimming.  I don't know what it was in particular abouy yesterday but I was sweating more than I have ever sweat.  I'm talking gallons, I'm talking the sweat has seeped through my entire shirt, I'm talking my entire body was slick and moist as an gulf oil spill.  I'm talking the bra I have worn all semester that is literally disentegrating and has collected all my chest sweat every single day and then fermented, is radiating the most rancid odors from the heat and newest liter of sweat.  It was a struggle, I must say.
Anyways, this was my third class of the day, and I was so dehydrated I was lightheaded, and my brain struggled to form thoughts.  Fortunately I recalled the basic structure of my lesson plan and we went ahead as planned.  Part of the lesson required them to copy a paragraph and I was walking around the class making sure every one was doing this.  Near the back of the class, I round a desk corner and somehow my dasterdly shoe gets caught in the foot of a chair.  And kinda got like really stuck.  And I almost fell over.  And the classroom was so silent you could hear a pin drop so the scraping of the chair and my scuffling feet, and my utterance of the word "JESUS" as I struggled to save myself from the floor was emphasized tenfold.  And I hadn't taught this class in a few weeks and they clearly felt shy around me so as this happenned, they all turned around and stared at me uncomfortably and then returned to their copying.  It was a truly awkward experience I must say!
The end.

Next week is my last week teaching here at Anukoolnaree, so during every class this week, I have been letting my students know.  Just now, a boy comes up and says "after go to America, when you come back to Thailand?" And it just about broke my heart.  I cannot say it enough, these kids are the most genuine sweet amazing human beings and I am so so sad to say goodbye :( To console them, I have been writing my name on the board and telling them to find me on facebook.

Sad News

Sad news today- I was taking role in my second class of the day, and I come to a boy's name and there was no response.  I assumed he was absent, but the students started saying "RIP" "He is dead" but giggling amf laughing as they said it.  I figured they were just being jokesters and continued on down the role sheet.
Later that day, I was scrolling through facebook and I saw a student's post with a few funeral like photos and the words RIP and 1/12 (the class number) and I realized the students were telling the truth.  I asked one of my Thai coworkers and he confirmed the the facts :(.  Apparently his nickname was Beet and he had been in a car accident last Saturday and had been on life support until yesterday.
I never thought I would say that one of my students passed away but I suppose the chances increase with 1200 of them.  The fact that no one had formally told me, and the students were laughing about it made it all just very casual and weird.  I also feel bad that unless I saw a photo, I would not be able to remember who the boy was.  It is such a shame that his life came to such an early end.

The cryptic facebook post

Lil Satans

There are about four of my Matyom 1 classes that are complete nightmares.  Individually, each student is the sweetest thing, but when 50 are combined, they unite into one deafening and untameable beast.
I had such a class yesterday afternoon, 1/8.  My lesson was extremely basic, we were just going to learn some new vocabulary, do some choral drilling and then a worksheet.
I began the lesson as I had with every other class this week, and it was an utter cacophony.  The spacing of the desks splits the class into thirds, and the third on the right is entirely made up of boys.  They are literally unamanageable.  Everything I tried simply did not work.  I finally got fed up and kicked about 15 of them out.  They all laughed and and thought this whole thing was a big joke.  Every classroom has two doors, one near the front and one near the back.  Of course they are all run down, and do not properly shut.  So the moment the boys were out one door, they were running back in through the other door.  In this kind of situation, I have absolutely no control.  My voice is drowned out, every ounce of energy I put in is deflected and flies out the window.
Now I had had issues but never this many students being so disrespectful.  So I grabbed the ring leader by his tiny little shoulders and brought him down to my office, where I found P' Ai, one of the most senior teachers.  I told her that they were being completely disrespectful and he was the worst of them, screaming and shaking his butt in my face.  Woooowee she layed into him with unabashed anger.  After a few minutes of scolding, we all walked back up to the class, where she called up every single boy to the front.  She had the girls point out which boys were not involved and she slowly wittled down the pile to about 5 (there were definitely more involved but I wasn't going to stir the pot anymore).  She yelled at them some more, and had them literally prostrate themselves at my feet.  They all bowed 3 times, like the full forhead to the ground kind of bow reserved for kings and priests.
After that, I thanked her and she left.  Thinking this encounter should have shaken them up, I began telling them how they need to respect me and when I ask them to be quiet, that they must do it.  And what do ya know, as I was saying this, i was interupted with "teacha, teacha!" And I said **** it, this is a lost cause.  Fortunately most of them completed the worksheet, even the little hellions causing the main ruckus.
One of my coworkers who had heard the scolding, told me that P 'Ai had asked for the boy's parent's phone number, and he told them they had moved to Bangkok to find work and it all made so much sense. That little boy just wants love and attention from his parents, which he is clearly not getting, and seeks it out at school.
This is a reality for many students.  Isaan is the poorest region in Thailand, and many people cannot make a living here.  A majority of the sex workers in Bangkok come from North Eastern Thailand.  I have a lot of empathy for that little turd, but he must learn that there are other ways to release his frustration, and being difficult during class is negative for everyone involved.

Pai

Ps i should have published this post about a month ago.

Soooooo all my device screens broke within 2 weeks of eachother and all I am left with is 5 inch phone screen, which although is very nice, ain't the funnest to type on.  I will try to write as much as I can, but there will inevetably be more typos and a finite amount of patience available.

So on Wednesday a few weeks ago, it was the queens's birthday(which decides when mothers day is) and all of Thailand took the day off.  Shelby, Becky and I thought hell, let's take the rest of that week off and go to Pai!  Every single person we had met raved about Pai, and we figured this was the perfect opportunity to go. 

Unfortunately we had just taken time off to go down south and really did not want to deal with the process of asking for time off, receiving disapproving responses, and filling out a request form.  So we decided to use our sick days........ I felt so morally wrong doing this, but I am telling you, the school is a joke.  If you read my previous blog post, you would have read the countless times the school has shown they simply do not care, which in turn has nurtured the same attitude within me. 

We departed Tuesday night and took 12 hour busride up to Chiang Mai.  Because we arrived so early in the morning, we decided to treat ourselves to some legitimate Mexican food at Miguel's!!!!!!! It was nice. 

Around 10:30 we boarded mini bus for the 3 hour journey through the mountains to Pai.  Golly gumdrops it was a twisty one!!!! I don't easily get car sick, and even I was feeling it.

We stayed at Spicy Pai, a hostel of bamboo and leaf huts built WITHIN the rice paddies.  It was so cool!!!! All the beds had a mosquito net so you slept in this cozy personal cocoon, and I was lucky enough to have one of the resident hostel cats sleep with me and take up 75% of the bed. 

On out first full day we took a cooking class!  I chose to make Pad See Ew, Panaang Curry, Clear soup, and bananas in coconut milk.  It was great, and I will definitely cooking a Thai feast when I am back, everyone is invited. After that, we rented mopeds and scooted around the valley, visiting two incredible waterfalls, and running into some elephants along the way.  The first waterfall was pretty cool, there were some natural slides and pools, and quite a few tourists.  We almost didn't visit the second one, and just happened to pass the road leading to it on our way back Pai, but I am so glad we did!

This waterfall was so magical.  There were theories that it was initially a cavern and the top caved in, creating this incredible cathedral like space.  There was such a strong energy.  The sheer amount of water generated a powerful wind that blew across the pool, the water was so warm, and when one looked up, the sun shown through the foliage like a glowing green mosaic.  I truly felt connected to the universe there.  As we were leaving, we saw a sign indicating a viewpoint 20 kilometers further.  We almost decided to do it, but the sun was beginning to set and we figured we'd save it for tomorrow.  And thank the Lord above we did.

The next day we got off to a late start having had a sumptuous western breakfast.  Before heading to the lookout, we stopped by this canyon formation.  It was honestly like a microscopic Grand Canyon, minus the grand.  The soil was red gooey clay, and deep canyons had been carved from water (I'm guessing? There was no actual signage).  Anyways, a good time, but nothing to dedicate more than a few sentences in a blog post about.  

We continued onwards to the mythical viewpoint.  After we had passed the waterfall from the day before, things got... muddy.  The road kinda just dissolved into small canyons and rivulets of water.  As most of you know, it is Rainy Season in Thailand, and it was no exception up in Pai.  While it wasn't raining at the moment, we could see angry dark clouds looming in the distance, and we wondered how that would affect our mopeding, and the answer was probably in a negative way.  Shelby and Becky decided that this wasn't their idea of fun and turned around before the journey got too harrowing.  The rest of our group (siblings Danielle and Calvin from Georgia, and Californians Zach and Austin) continued onwards and upwards, quite literally, for the road's incline increased drastically.  What flipping fantastic time!!!!!!! Zach and Austin were in these itty bitty road bikes, and the siblings and I were both captaining the goofiest mopeds known to man, affectionally called by the manufacturer (blanking on who that is, so sue me) "Scoopi".  Although the road bikes had more power, the tires had absolutely no traction, and the boys were slip slidin all over the place.  I must say, for what my lil Scoopi was designed for, she did surprisingly well! (Apparently it was a she).  There were a few moments when, I got my noble steed stuck in the mud, and in trying to get myself out of such a predicament, gunned it a little too hard and almost drove into another group of tourists pursuing the same quest (brag moment- soon after, they gave up, and we persisted).
I wish I had more photo documentation of the road.  Just imagine a very very steep, muddy roadlike structure in the heart of the Thai jungle.  We finally reached what appeared to be the top and the road forked.  Again, minimal signage, so we used our explorer instincts and took the high road, in that we followed the one that had a steeper ascent.  At this point, the bikes could not handle it, so we parked them and trudged onwards by foot.  Not realizing what a journey would be embarking on that day, I wore my knock off Havainna flip flops.  So I ditched the flops and trudged through the mud barefoot.  To many of you, this sounds unpleasant, but it was my heaven.  I feel most connected to nature, and most beautiful, when I am wearing some flowy articles of clothing, barefoot in the wilderness.  During this trek, we encountered a herd of skittish bovine, that I obviously tried to pet and who obviously wanted nothing to do with me.  At around that point we were like "well jimeny crickes where the hell is this lookout??"  And then we never found it and turned around to swim at the waterfall.  The descent was just as fun and I definitely used some of the things I'd learned from mountain biking (and also made me miss it more than the devil himself).  We made it safely back down in half the time it took to get up.  But yea, that was THE FUNNEST.

The next day, Becky, Shelby and I hiked the 1,000s of stairs up to this massive white Buddha that can be seen from almost every angle in the Pai valley.  Every time you look into the mountains, you see his white brilliance contrasting so beautifully with the dark green forest behind him.  As you can imagine, the view was fabulous, so we lingered for a good while.

The rest of our time in Pai was spent socializing with other hostel goers, eating the dankest of foods, and SHOPPING.  Friends, family, Pai has suchhhhhh good shopping because they sell things that are made in Pai, at a very cheap price.  I kinda went to town........... and it was great.  I got some gifts for the homeland, two dresses, 3 hand dyed shirts in the prettiest colors, an anklet, another shirt, some earings, and a few used books that surely did not have the prices of used books.

I suppose I could go into more detail about Pai, but I think I covered the interesting stuff slash I am over typing on this phone.  So here are some photos!

Our hostel

Kitty cat!

Cooking class kitchen

Banana blossoms with tiny bananas!

What I chose to cook

Pad See Ew ingredients

Making Panang Curry Paste!

Final paste

They call it an ear mushroom

Final products, clear soup, panang curry, pad see ew, bananas in coconut milk

I'm cool

Coffe in a bag in a bag in another bag.

Elephant selfie

Moped selfie

Brisge to the most incredible waterfall

Waterfall

Pai canyon

A random platter of mushrooms on the side of the road

This bike struggled

Cows

Where is the viewpoint

Strange flower

Dork alert

Chiquita banana!

The white speck in the hills is the white Buddha

Bun bunz

He was too precious

I did laundry last night and the gol darn machine malfunctioned, so the final spin which dries out all the clothes did not happen.
As you know its is humid as hell in Thailand and clothes take forever to dry.  As you also know, clothes that remain damp smell utterly putrid.  So, in an effort to avoid this I hung all my clothes in my room and made sure to leave the fan on all night and through the day while I was at work.

I get home from school today and what do you know the fan has been turned off.  Like they actually entered my place and fiddle around.... what the heck???? That is like totally not allowed in the US.  I suppose the moral of the story is, I am not in America anymore and the things people do here never fail to baffle me.

Random Weekend Teaching Moment

Last week, my Thai friend Ginny asked me to help out a fellow Thai teacher with some student activity that coming Saturday.  As per usual, that was all the information I recieved, but I figured why not!  I am not doing anything on Saturday, they will pay me, and I can hang out with precious Thai students.

8:45 on Saturday rolls around, and Ginny picks me up and drives me to this cafe chain, the Amazon Cafe, where I meet the teacher, Brian.  Apparently he was alotting each student 100 baht and they were two go buy food and drinka and have a party, and we would assess them through conversation.  The students slowly trickle in.  The final group is made up of 10 students, ranging from 13 to 16.  At that point, Brian hands me the money and that is the last bit of involvment he has for the rest of the day!  He and 2 other teachers literally plunked down at a nearby table clearly indicating that they would not be participating.

So I thought, alrighty!  Free reign!  What shall we do??  First we went around and introduced ourselves and how old we were, and our birthdays ( which I happened to share with one of the students!)  Next it was time for our 7/11 shopping spree!

We took 7 by storm and the kids bought all the unhealthy things available.  Chips, cake, soda, candy, overly sweetened sea weed.... and we headed backto the cafe for our "party".  Side note- the AMOUNT of trash created by this lil rendevouz was so outrageous.  I'd say at least 4 plastic bags filled with more plastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  OH MY GODDDDDDDDD.  Okay sorry, rant over.

We played a few word games, charades, and then, as the fun activity wore off, I designed a scavenger hunt for them which took up the last hour.  When they had photographed all items on the list, time was almost up and I was unwittingly given the task of giving them grades?  I thought Brian wpuld be doing that but his lack of engagement imdicated that nope it was up to me!  Which is totally fine, I was just surprised he trusted me to provide the final judging, I was actually flattered.

So, I got the student list, asked them a few final questions about the day and assessed them based on involvment in the activities, ability to understand my questions, and whether or not they responded with some ease and confidence.

Being that they were all sweethearts, I didn't have it in me to give anyone below an A-.  Also Brian's son was in the class so I felt slightly strange about that (he got an A-).

But yea!  That was the day in a nutshell!  I think we all had fun times, and I really appeciated the freedom and ultimately authority I was given to work with these kids.  And initially I thought I was gooing to be paid 500 baht which was pretty bad, I was pleasantly surprised when he handed me 1500 baht!  Wooooo.  As easy at could have been for me to stay in my bed all of Saturday, I am so glad I got involved and connected with all these folks.

Later that week, a friend who works at Brian's school, messaged me and told me that Brian was very impressed with my performance and that I was "an easy going lady" haha.  Sounds good to me!

Only a portion of the trash

I'm a bohemoth!!!!!!