Hi Again,
Monday 12th morning we loaded up
onto the bus for a long 3-hour bus ride to Rayong. Here we were welcomed very
nicely to Rayong and met all our Directors (principles). After some words,
introducing us and gifts there were photos. The idea of Thais loving photos was
not properly shown until now. I felt like a fish in a fish bowl of people
staring and taking photos. It’s a bit unnerving sometimes but I have learnt
that if I just keep a smile on my face then they will be happy, as everyone
here is so nice and willing to help. I think that they stare to see if our
expression changes and if it does then they will try help. For example right
now as I write this blog one teacher from the school came to me and said “Anna
are you OK, you aren’t smiling, do you need a banana or water to make you
happy” shows that even when concentrating we need to smile.
Monday night was probably the most
challenging for Jaime and I as we were taken by school van to our apartment. It
took about 1 hour at driving on average 120kmh to get us to our destination and
by the time we arrived it was pitch black so we couldn’t see a thing and had no
idea where we were. We got into our apartment and the lady who picked us up
only know hello in English so sign language came in handy as she pointed to
light switches and the air con remote and then left. Jaime and I were initially
really taken aback as we had no food, nowhere to cook food, a fridge but nothing
in it, no water and no toilet paper.
On a side note that is one thing I’ve found
out about Thailand. They never and I mean NEVER have toilet paper. If you plan
on coming here make sure you always have a roll of toilet paper in your
handbag, you don’t want to be caught out.
After unzipping our bags haven decided to
unpack, sleep and see what happens tomorrow this older man came knocking on our
door. His name is Rudi and is here with his wife Lorraine from Christchurch.
They both teach at our school and are semi retired. They helped us out so much
and we are so grateful to them, hearing the English language when we are so
overwhelmed is such a great relief. Rudi has been teaching 35 years back in
Christchurch and is here at Pluak Daeng to teach as a Chemistry teacher, they
gave us some water and toilet paper and invited us to breakfast the next day.
Having relaxed a little thanks to the
comfort of Rudi and Lorraine, Jaime and I were able to finish unpacking and
have a long awaited sleep.
When Tuesday 13th arrived Jaime
and I walked to school with Rudi which is literally a 3 minute walk and we were
introduced to the whole 1700 students at morning assembly. Tuesday was a little uneventful as we talked
with the director, met so many people that I struggle to remember names we have
a P’Nut, P’Nuk and a P’Nong just to name a few and observed some classes. This
observing wasn’t really observing though as my teacher P’Chan was getting me to
dictate to the students and they repeat after me, which ended in me taking the
lesson. Another friendly face we were happy to see was an American named Nikki
who has a business major and decided to come here for 6months to teach. Nikki
was able to tell us great news about how there is actually a bus that heads to
Rayong so we aren’t as deserted as we thought. Just as I thought I’d be able to
sit and soak in everything I had done P’Chan saw me took me by the hand and
took me into her class again and asked me to do the same thing which was a lot
of fun though very unexpected.
All the teachers here are so friendly and
were very willing to take Jaime and I to the supermarket after school where we
could get cups, plates, cutlery, toilet paper and food. Our closest supermarket
is 30 min walk, one way, so we are trying to buy in bulk when possible.
This leads me to today. Wednesday 14th. Up bright and early ready for class though my
first class didn’t start until 9.20am. The biggest struggle I’ve found since
being here is the communication. Even in an English class the teachers struggle
to communicate with us and so we were both expecting different things
throughout the lesson but somehow made it work.
I had to explain words to the teacher in ‘simple’ English for her to
them translate to the students. Words like qualification, responsibility,
frightened, journalist and creativity. It’s not easy to explain responsibility
without using the word responsible but simple enough for the teacher to understand
herself. The biggest challenge for me was the word frightened, in Thai the word
meaning frightened and excited is the same word just different feelings. I
spent 10 minutes explaining to my teacher that excited means happy e.g. schools
out yay I’m happy/excited while frightened means afraid or scared e.g. there is
a bug I’m scared/frightened. I hope she understood it, that’s one thing I’ll
never know.
There are still so many questions Jaime and
I are trying to sort out but our Director is very protective of us, explaining
to us how to cross a road that had 3 cars a minute driving on it. We know he’s
being nice and it’s the Thai culture to protect students and guests but he
didn’t want us having a pushbike in case we biked into a pot whole (he must think
we are clumsy).
Just before I end this essay (haha sorry)
Jaime and I are heading with Nikki and her flat mate Fawn (or maybe it’s
Phone), who is a Chinese teacher at this school, to the local markets tonight
so that will be interesting.
One more note is that I’m surprised by the
words I understand like suwaee = beautiful, aroy = delicious, di = good, lhor = handsome, tingtong = crazy… all these
words I’m picking up when people are saying them, makes me smile because I know
the words.
See you later
Anna xx
No comments:
Post a Comment