Tornados and Farts

I am going to start with this picture as a tribute to my brother. He just graduated from high school and I am so proud of him - not so much because I think high school is a terribly hard task but because I just love him so much and am proud of anything he does. This picture is for him because he told me once that he wanted to travel to other countries and take pictures of the not-so-common sports that the natives play. I thought that was such a fantastic idea and as I have no intention of stealing that idea, this home made checkers board simply made me think of him.

In the states, I hated crickets - granted, far less than I currently hate ants, dogs, chickens, and those obnoxious flying bugs that I have to fight with for shower space after it rains - but the crickets seemed to be more of a disturbance to the otherwise quiet and peaceful night. I've discovered that the crickets here in Thailand now mean something completely different - and I don't necessarily mean different in the sense that they are now edible and, supposedly, delicious - but that they now are a representation of silence to me. I realized this last night has I layed down to write in my journal. I didn't hear people, cars, barking dogs, or incomprehensible Thai music. Just silence.....and crickets. I was taken back by the novelty of this sense of silence for me. It was then my 14th hour of being awake and my world was finally slowing down. Even my runs, which I cherish as my release from the day, are still filled with noise: saying hello every other two minutes, telling people that I'm going back home, or though it is quite obvious what I am doing, responding to the question: "What are you doing?". But the noise does not only flood externally. Even more so, my mind is a constant Niagara Falls of thought ranging from "what the hell am I doing in Thailand" to "go Sadie, go, don't stop". The constant urging to keep pushing applies to my running of course but even more so I (the random picture is of one of my students who was displaying the word monkey) find myself applying those words to my work in Thailand. I have been placed within a tornado of a school system. It is, to put it bluntly, a wreck - but of course, to be fair, it is a wreck by American standards. I say that because I sincerely want to leave room for the cultural differences but then I realize, and am thankful to remember, that someone else thinks it needs improvement or else I wouldn't be here. Let me just tell you a little bit about my frustrations. Teachers don't teach. Ok, thats not entirely fair; they teach sitting at their desk listening to the students rotely read from their books. But even that is hard to come by as most teachers will sleep, read, or take an eating break during class. Classes never start on time. During one blastedly hot day at the high school my co-teacher and I were sitting in the classroom waiting, eagerly mind you, for the students to come. 10 minutes had passed so I, as politely as I could, asked where the students were. She replied that they were downstairs getting their hair cut. Indeed they were and consequently the lesson planned for an hour was cut down to half an hour. I could go on and on and on.......an on but I won't because I have to pay to use this computer and I don't want to bitch forever.

A PCV and I were talking about the job we have ahead of us. She shared that she was discouraged when her co-teacher told her to "stop being so serious" after wanting to sit down (this picture is of Liow and myself riding to the market to go watch the fish. He and I shared a seat and laughed the whole way as he asked me if I liked to eat farts) and lesson plan. Surely, we can take a page from the Thai book in terms of slowing down but oh how much we wish we could tell her back "but education is serious! Stop being so careless!" As I said we feel as if we are in the midst of a tornado, finding stable ground seems an impossible feat but we remind ourselves of the countless number of people we have randomly met in Thailand who, after hearing that we work for the Peace Corps, have exclaimed that they were taught by a PCV years ago and were changed by the experience. The kids are our stronghold - they are the flying cows caught within the same tornado that we can grab ahold of :) Ok, so a tornado analogy isn't exactly fitting here in Thailand...and it isn't the best analogy to begin with but there ya go.

This picture is of one of my high school classes. There are 40 students, 25 desks, and a room small enough for some Americans to consider a bedroom. I'm sure you all can grasp the innate difficulties imbeded within that statement.

In really exciting news however, I went on my first trip with the Kabinburi Bike Group and it was awesome! There were some serious bikers and some that went solely because they had nothing else to do. We rode 60 kilo (about 30 miles) to Gang Hin Pung where we ate sticky rice and som tam. Some of us then went mountain biking further up stream. It was so dense and dark in some places that I had to put my camera on night flash otherwise the pictures simply wouldn't come out. The trail was more so a hiking trail than biking trail and most of our time was spent getting on and off our bikes to carry it across rivers or over impassible jutting rocks but it was an absolute blast. The picture is of one of the kids that I met on the trip whose name I can't remember :) Now that I have a camera I need a place to store them online...does anyone have any ideas? Amy, what was the site you kept all of your Germany pictures? Ok, all for now :)

Picture update

So I bought a camera. A nice camera at that - and I feel both extremely guilty about the purchase and extremely happy. I never made large purchases like this in the States so making one in Thailand, where I wasn't even expecting to see ice, leaves me feeling undeserving....but I am happy that I now get to share pictures from my life with you all! The picture to the left is where I get to run every day. A couple of weeks ago I needed to go to school and instead of being picked up by someone, I needed to get there by myself. I wasn't entirely sure which roads through my village led to the school but as I was exploring the area, I found this forest and an incredible expanse of green fields. I feel like I have written about this somewhere so excuse me if it was through a previous blog. I was told not to come this way though because "it is dangerous". Why is it dangerous? I asked "because there are bad men that drink whiskey" they replied. Me: But you are drinking whiskey right now (and in fact everyone drinks whiskey at every opportunity they get) Them: Oh it is dangerous because of the dogs. Me: The dogs in the village chase me more than the dogs over there. Them: Staring at me "it is dangerous over there, don't go". Needless to say, I still run over there. The next picture is at one of my schools. This is the school that is in my village - Baan Kok Udom. I love being here. I get such an amazing feeling when I walk into the building. I WANT to come to school to work and to be with the people. This was on one day I just came to do some lesson planning. It started to pour just before I wanted to leave so I waited for a while until it passed and decided for a photo op instead. While I am on the topic of school - I have spent the last week and a half lesson planning with my co-teachers. Here is the list of what we have actually planned: Let me just say that if this were the United States, our lack of planning would not fly. It is quite a challenge for me to not have an organized plan, but this is through my own choice. I have so many ideas of what to do in the classroom -l esson plans, games, songs, classroom organizational tips - but I don't want to just tell the teacher my ideas. I want them to, at least in part, come from her. So I hang out. We talk about what we think about the curriculm and how we should start the school year. I throw out questions in an attempt to get my co-teachers to think about other ideas but if they don't necessarily get to my idea, thats ok. For example, I think it would be a really good idea to start of the year with some sort of syllabus so that the students have a wide angle lens at what the school year is going to kind of look like. The problem here is that there is absolutely no concept of a syllabus. There is absolutely no collection of strategy teaching from previous years. So in addition to it being impossible on the teachers part to come up with a syllabus, it is impossible for me to even help come up with a syllabus because there really isn't even a curriculum. It is all so scattered and brain boggling. On the first day of school there will be no teaching - not because of our lack of plan but because in Thailand the students are required to do the maintance of the school alongside the teachers. Most of the classrooms, with three days before school starts, are not anywhere near ready - but that's ok because the first day is designated to clean and organize which the students must help with. Students are also required to clean and sweep the grounds of the school as well. At the school I worked at in Sakeo, classes were cancelled because things needed to be cleaned. Anyway, enough of that. The above picture is of one of the bathrooms at Kok Udom. The next picture is of me and some of the kids in the village. The little boy that I am holding is just about the cutest kid I have ever met in my entire life. He has the biggest smile on his face all the time and asks me question after question - most of the time they are repeats from previous days but it is adorible nonetheless. This was taken the day I got my camera. They love taking pictures and were thrilled at the idea. I really wish I could tell you their names but I can't. Thai's all have extremely long and difficult names to pronounce so all are given a chu len (literally name play - nickname) at birth as well. If I can't remember their one syllable nicknames, I don't think I'm ever going to remember their full names either!! Whenever I meet someone and tell them I live in Moo 9 (which is the village number) they always respond with "Oh, there are many children there!" My god are there ever! I don't think I could be placed in any better village. I have such a great opportunity to continue learning after school for the students if they want and also to be connected to the families of the students as well. Apparrantly, divorce is a very prominent problem here and it seems, similarly as in the States, any support the children can get is needed. I have so many ideas of things to do in my village outside of school and I look forward to the progression of things in general to initiate my ideas. This next picture is one of the garden I made in my backyard. Not only am I a teacher and a community worker but also "dichan ben chow suan" (a farmer!) I planted cucumbers, tomatoes, papaya, and green beans (which are just about the best vegetable here in Thailand!) I made this garden about a week ago and already (thanks to the constantly pouring rain) all have already begun to show leaves. the green beans are already about an inch tall. I had a fun experience making this garden though. One neigher comes up to my fence and though it is obvious what Im doing she asks "what are you doing?" I tell her I'm making a garden and that I'm planting these things. She said "Oh no you shouldn't do that. If you bend down you are never going to get back up because you will have a sore back". I told her I was young and that I won't get a sore back but even if I do, its ok, I'm just planting for fun anyway - I have nothing else to do today. She responded "Oh no, you shouldn't be planting. The manwees (gnat like bugs) are going to eat everything all up". I told her that if the manwees eat everything all up, its ok, I'm just planting for fun. I have nothing else to do anyway. Then she says "Oh no, you shouldn't be doing that. you should be sleeping or reading. that is much more fun" I told her sometimes, smiled and then walked away. In a couple of weeks, I'll bring her some of my green beans. The next picture is at a wedding that I went to a couple of days ago. I had no idea who the people were - I just get dragged to these things. Thai weddings are all the same - well, I should say, all large Thai events are all the same. A large stage is set up, a singer and dancers, and a catering group is hired. The dancers dress up in very non riap roy clothing and dance in a style more reminiscent of MTV rather than traditional Thai dancing. The music is ridiculously loud and obnoxious and the food is served in the same fashion - Chinese family style where appetizers are served first and rice served last. Without fail the appetizers include some form of egg, typically boiled, some sort of port, usually hot dog type blobs, some other strange things that I choose not to eat, and peanuts. We are given a spoon, a bowl, and chop sticks. In this picture I am eating a peanut with chop sticks. The girl next to me is named Bao. She is the daughter of the landlord and the one that I mentioned in a previous blog. I said that she was 27.......yah, she 17. I don't know how I mixed up "sip jet" and "yee sip jet" She could pass for 27 though don't you think? The wedding ended up being quite a frustrating night, as many Thai events end up being. Thai events become a place to drink and pretty much everyone partakes in drinking whiskey. I was told many times by men that I was going home with them which is very frustrating but I can simply say no and walk away but the drunk women pose more of a frustration simply because it is appropriate for them to touch me. So they will grab my arm and pull me where they want me and constantly talk in my face. This is a strange place to end but it is almost dark and I need to get on home so I hope that everyone is well!!

Fruit Roll Ups

Hey everyone :) So, I thought that I should sit down for at least a minute and get something out to you because one, well, my last blog was kind of scary!!! and two because I've been having a great time and I want to let you all know. I started working with my co-teacher which has been fun - for a lot of reasons I suppose - but mostly because it is a challenge. But we work very well together and though we haven't made a lot of progress, we have made some, and I see good things for our class. The only problem is we don't have any time to plan!! We'll see. Tomorrow I am getting some people together to help me start a garden in my backyard and today I am going to make the Thai version of a fruit roll up. I had one that was made out of mango but I am going to make mine out of mango, pineapple, and banana....mmmmmmm, delicious. Ok, well, I have a lot to do so I'm going to have to end here. Write to me people!