Thai Times: One Week in Thailand

Sorry that I haven't written in a few days. I've been fairly busy with class and spending time with the other people on my program, especially since it has stopped raining in the afternoons. I've also been lazy about taking/uploading pictures, but as promised, I have some for this entry!

Okay, so I just realized that I completely forgot to tell about my experience going to the Big C, which is Thailand's version of Wal Mart. We took a giant van about 30 minutes to the Big C. It was only 40 baht each round trip ($1.50). It was nice to get out of the small town of Nai Harn and see how normal people in the area live and go shopping for their every day necessities as we would. We noticed many motorbikes on the road, many of which carried passengers with no helmets and entire families. This was shocking since our program leaders have told us how dangerous the bikes are because they are often not made well and can break down or explode at any time. Luckily, we were in a 15 person van and ruled the road, so we did not have to worry about any of the dangers a person on a motorbike faces.

We finally arrived at the Big C The Big C is not just one large Wal-Mart type store, but a complex that houses many different kiosks and stands, much like you would find inside a shopping mall. there are also restaurants such as KFC and a pizza place on the top floor. After spending an hour on the top floor buying groceries and cell phones, we made our way downstairs to the food court. we had to go down two levels of stalls filled to the brim of anything you could imagine. The Big C is certainly the definition of a "one stop shop."

A couple of days ago we had our practice teaching sessions. We were put into pairs and made a lesson plan for a class. I was given the topic of weather for young learners, which are 4-9 year olds. My group did a good job. The only thing we were not prepared for was that if we did not fill up the entire 25 allotted minutes, then we had to make up activities to entertain our "kids" until "class" was over. Though it was good practice, I feel as though a real class would have taken longer since the kids would not know the language. It is really tedious and annoying to not only teach people who know what a sun is, but to be the practice students, especially with such rudimentary language. One of my friends described the entire experience perfectly: it feels like we are all drones in a cult because of how many times we have to repeat words such as "red" in unison.

Yesterday was the first day of our two day Thai cultural class. Yesterday started out with a Thai language lesson. Thai is a tonal language, which means that the tone of the way you say a word changes the meaning of it. There are many different words, but a word can look the same to us when you write it down on paper, but depending on the tone, the words changes. We began the lesson by learning the 5 different tones that comprise the language, and then went on to learning words.I kind of gave up trying to learn the language when I found out that the only thing separating the phrases"I have a chicken" and "I am sick" are a different tone on the last word. I think my Thai will never exceed "hello" "thank you" and numbers.

The class also included a lesson on Thai manners. We began by learning three different bows used to address people. The most pronounced bow is for a monk. There are two others, one for addressing a boss, and another for addressing a collegue, which we will use to greet people while working in the school. The profession of a teacher is considered a high status in Thailand. Students will call us "anjan," which is even more respectful than the usual "Phi" used to respectfully address someone older.

Today marks the first week I have been in Thailand! It has been such a whirlwind and so exciting. Highlights include the incredible food (last night I had chicken curry with pineapple, which has been my favorite dish thus far), taking the teaching course, and meeting 27 new people. Since we have class on Saturday this week, we have Tomorrow and Monday off. There are 16 of us that are going to take the ferry to the island of Ko Phi Phi tomorrow morning and attend a full moon party that is being held there. I am excited to see another part of Thailand and to travel with such a great group of people. The only complaint I have thus far is that I am still not entirely sure where I will be teaching. There are 5 of us in a different placement program from everyone else, which will wait until we do our practice teaching in schools the third week of class to see which age group we teach best and which school we would do the best in. We know that we will all be fairly close to each other (1 hr away max) and that we are also about 30 min to 1.5 hours outside of Bangkok. Though this is a much better way of placing teachers in my opinion, I am frustrated knowing that everyone else in our program knows where and who they will be teaching, while me and some of my friends are left in the dark. Luckily, I am friends with everyone in this situation so I know I will be close to them. We will also be in a school with other English speaking teachers, so no matter what, none of us are alone, which gives me some ease of mind. As they taught us today in class, Thais just go with the flow. So I'm practicing being a Thai by being patient, going with the flow, and knowing that in the end everything will work out.

Buddhist temple near my hotel