Pasa Thai and Pasa Angrit

Hello again! It is nice to be on a computer not so much because I am ON the computer but because being on the computer means I am on break! Whoo hoo. So I wanted to start by telling you all that I had a horrible scare the other day. After lunch with the kroo (teachers) and Rong Rian Tah Yaek (Tah Yaek School) I started to feel hot and my skin was beginning to take on that sensation where the slightest rub of clothing hurt. So I went home and took my temperature. It was 103. So I text the Peace Corps Medical Officer to find out later that the reason he didn't return my text was because he was in Indonesia scoping out the place and determining whether it will be a suitable location for Peace Corps. Anyway, I was scared. I have quite a bit of mosquito bites and though Malaria is not common out here, Dengue (break bone fever) is. So I was terrified, not only because I've never had a temperature that high but also because I was afraid I might have dengue and because I couldn't communicate with my family about what was happening. I took some medicine and attempted to sleep but because the walls are wood slats, it seemed as if all the people talking outside, all the dogs running, and chickens bawking were inside my room. So I didn't sleep but instead just lay on my hard bed. When I did finally wake up the next morning, my temperature was 97. I don't know what happened....thankfully I was ok the next morning because we all went to Pangsida National Park for sports day! In other disease news. I got a blister from my shoes and it got infected so my whole ankle is swollen and red and my shoe doesn't fit but eh, mai ben rai :) It's all good.

In other news more on the exciting side, I find out where I will be placed within two weeks and then I get to go visit that location for a couple of days. I am so excited. Next week we get to go to the beach for an aids conference which I am not as much excited for. Picture one is all of us eating lunch at Antons house for the ceremony I told you about last post. Picture two is a woman at the Talat selling polomai. Who can guess what polomai is?? Speaking of pasa Thai, we did a mock interview with the language coordinator the other day which went very well. It is amazing how much I have learned. I was able to carry on a conversation for a good amount of time and my ajaan says that I am at the intermediate low level which is already passed the level at which I am supposed to be in order to be sworn in. Yay. It's just exciting to see how much more I get to learn. So I say that I was able to carry on a conversation with my the language coordinator but that is with both of us speaking only the words I have learned. When it comes to speaking at home or trying to communicate with my co-teacher, it is much much much more difficult. Speaking of my co-teacher. I have received quite a few comments about the Peace Corps in Thailand and whether our arrival was wanted or was it more of a push from the American government onto the Royal Thai government. Well, what I can tell you is that two representatives from the Ministry of Education came and spoke to our group. They both made it abundantly clear that they not only needed our help but desperately wanted it. We were given two articles written and posted in a Bangkok newspaper about how much they needed farangs to teach english - people who actually spoke the language instead of the method they operate under currently. I wish I could show you all the English classroom they have here. The school I work at has 130 some students and though I'm not sure how many teachers, they are missing a couple to teach 3rd and 4th grade. One teacher is responsible for teaching all subjects to each grade. So there are basically several Thai teachers teaching English who don't even know how to answer how are you when asked. So yes, the Ministry of Education wants us here and after working with the teachers at Tah Yaek, I see the teachers want us here too. Now of course, you never really know what goes on at the government level. The fact is that the Peace Corps has been in Thailand for 45 years so it does make me question the amount of impact the Peace Corps had on the RTG and their implementations of change. I would venture to guess that had the Peace Corps never been here, the RTG would not have made the changes within the education system they did but is this a bad thing?? I don't think so. The Peace Corps is very sensitive to culture and while they train us how to teach within a student centered classroom, they also teach us about the Thai culture. They teach us to maintaining what Thailand stands for while at the same time integrating a new teaching style. It is feasible to make learning more integrative and sanuk for the students while leaving every bit of who they are in tact. We have this idea that Thais are very quiet and live by the standard of saving face which is true but my god do they relish in the sight of energetic games and making mistakes. I say the teachers want us here but the kids want us here 10 fold more. When Bekah and I go into the library to lesson plan, they follow us with smiles on their faces and watch us from the door. When we close the door they run around to the other side of the building to watch us from the window. Every house I pass all the way from school to my house is a kid yelling Sadie. I'm not sure if they wanted to learn english before we got there but I can tell you that since we got there, they want to learn. They want to know the next time we will be teaching, the next thing they are going to learn. Some of the kids who live in my neighborhood who also go to school at Tah Yaek bike home with me and one day one of the kids asked me "how much" and pointed to my bike. I didn't know how to communicate that I had no idea, that the Peace Corps graciously gave it to me so I tured my head to him to say "mai sap" but then realized that the kid who asked me (Beer, one of my favorite kids) is also in my class and we had just taught them how to ask how much something cost. I almost fell of my bike with excitement at not only his application but his attempt to try to speak outside of class. Ok, so I'm a better bike rider than that but my god, this is good stuff.

So, in closing, if Thailand doesn't kill me, it will make me really very strangely sick, I am learning a lot of pasa Thai, teaching a lot of pasa Angrit, and in response to some comments from last post, still not drinking Chang and swear I never will. Love to all.