Popping the Bubble

Rewinding to last weekend, two very important Isan Holiday's were celebrated and it was an extarordinary weekend. On Saturday morning we left to WAT PHRA THAT PHANOM" (วัดพระธาตุพนม) where each year a festival is held in That Phanom to honor the temple and also the anniversary of King Rama V’s death . This is the most famous temple in the Isan Province and is ledgened to contain The Buddha's breast bone, and as such, it is one of the most important Theravada Buddhist structures in the region. For this event we witnessed over 300 highschool (including the highschool that I'm living at, PlaPak Witaya) Thai dancers preform traditional routines, they were gorgeous!

Along with watching the dancers we had a chance to tour the temple. Within the temple there are mutiple places to make merit. In the picture I'm lightening an ensence stick, say a prayer, then stick it in. part of this process is then sticking a gold piece of paper to the statue.

After celebrating at That Phanom, we headed over to Nakhaon Phanom to celebrate Fire Boat Festival, “rua fai.” Wikipedia describes it best as,

"Communities from the province build large scaffolding out of bamboo, which they put on boats and float down the river in the annual fire boat festival. Tin cans are filled with kerosene and stuffed with rags, then arranged on the scaffolding to form images of temples, the king, dragons, etc. At night the boats float down the Mekong river for the appreciation of spectators. Held one night a year, at the end of Buddhist lent."

For the festival we stayed at Pi Dtao’s house, who is hosting our volunteer Sara, and is a very small lady but contains more spunk than you can image. Her apartment sits right next to the indo-chin market and on the mekong river, prime location! In all the festival was amazing seeing these gigantic boats containing hundereds of lit candels float down the mekong on a full moon night.

On a different note, yesterday was our last day in orientation and our group split up and moved to our seperate villages. Since we have literially been living on top of each other this past month it was sad to see everybody off to their own villages and schools while my roommate, Amanda, and I stayed at home in PlaPak Wit. This is the start of a new adventure and the security of our English bubble is now gone. Starting Monday our formal teaching begins. Being the only volunteer at our schools and for most, the only english speaking person the language barrier and classroom experience begins. Yesterday after moving in, my co-teacher from Pla Pak Noi, Pi Med, invited me to the local womens aerobics class that is held every evening. Very happy about the invitation, I accepted, and experience my first class being 1 of 4 attendees. I was the youngest by at least 20 years but enjoyed the time to bond with my co-teacher and meet some of the other ladies in town. The aerobics was held outside with loud Thai electronic dance music played and consisted of some simple steps and hand motions. It was a little embarrassing doing this little dance number basically on the side of the main road but I tried to embrace it and have fun with the ladies.

I feel there is so much more to add about my house for the next year, my schools, and important people I've met but this post is already too long! After a long day in NKP of collecting school supplies for monday and other house essentials I'm ready for bed! Also since Thai people get up around 5:00am, roosters are crowing, dogs barking, children screaming, and rice trackors already on the road, there is no sleeping in!

Here is a picture of a little boy we saw in the back of a truck during the fireboat festival with his bottom sticking out and is how I'm feeling about now! too cute!

Thai Teaching

Today was our first day of Practicum Teaching before the start of the second semester. In typical Thai fashion our day got off to an usual start when we showed up at our school to find no one there. Confused, we called our field director, who then called the english director, and notified us that he had gotten the days mixed up. The Thai teachers were notified that we were at the shool and around 15 student ranging from 1st-6th grade trickled into the classroom around 40 minutes later than our scheduled start time. Originally, we were suppose to have 2 separate class (divided grades 1-3 and 4-6th) but since only 15 students showed we decided to combine our lesson plans with the other group and improvise a class.

Our class was a success and the students and volunteer teachers had a blast! We started out with teacher introductions, then moved on to have the students create name cards for their desks. After attempting to pronounce their names such as Euu and doondtaan, I know it'll be awhile till I get them all down. Having such a wide range of ages in one class the other group (Sarah, Peter, and Kerry) had planned an ABC activity singing Chicka Chicka Boom Boom with each student being in charge of raising a letter when it came up in the song. Next, Rita, from my planning group did a lesson on weather practicing vocabulary such as Sunny, Windy, Raining, and Cloudy. I was extremely impressed by the english knowledge of the students many already knowing the phonetics of the alphabet, colors, and weather. To end our lesson we played the infamous game of Duck Duck Goose (but changed the words to Down Down, Up: to aide their vocabulary) *Shown in video above . The students loved this game with one little boy laughing and smiling so much he could barely say the words.

Overall it was a great first intro day to teaching and has made me so excited for the beginning of school. The children are so wonderful and polite. For example as I placed a paper down on each child's desk for them to create a name tag they Wai (hangs together in lotus/prayer position) and huge smiles across their faces when they learned they would be using markers. The classroom materials are at a bare minimum and the black chaulk board almost crumbling and hard to read. I know being creative and having fun with teaching this next year will be key to a successful classroom!

Here are some of my students:

Thai Dance Lessons

This is our embarrassing first day of Thai Dance Lessons! I can say we definitely all improved by the end of the week!

Tid bits of Orientation

Most of our time in orientation this first month is spent learning Thai and completing the necessary lessons and coursework to receive our TEFL certification. However, we do get some breaks to do some fun activities and start to explore our surroundings.

On Sunday we had the chance to take our first big trip into the city, Nakhon Phanom. We all squeezed on to a Sang Tao. which translates as Two benchs, consisting of a pick-up truck with two benches in the back for passangers (pictured above with the boys hanging on the back!). In the city we got to visit the Fresh Market, Indo-China Market, a Temple, see the Mekong river and its view of the Lao Mtns in the background. Here are pictures from the fresh market:

On Tuesday we receive our first Thai dance lesson. We were first exposed to Thai dance at our welcome dinner party and it looked fairly simple to the untrained Westerner. We quickly learned that it is nearly impossible to look half as graceful. The class consisted of many laughs and a few simple moves learned.

One evening after class was over, I got a chance to play in a pick-up soccer game with a bunch of Thai high school boys and 3 of the male volunteers (Ben, Peter, and Zach). Since girls in Thailand never play soccer, I think it was quite a surprise to them to have a female player. Since it has been a few YEARS since I have even touch a soccer ball, I had to jump right back in to attempt to keep up. However it felt so good to play again and I was very impressed that they included and welcomed me into the game. Here is a group shot of us after the game!

Last night, we had the chance to walk down to the night market which I know I will be visiting frequently this next year. The market consisted of very yummy food and I tried an empanada type thing, waffle with something on it, and my favorite bubble tea! I'm slowly going to work myself up to the fried crickets. I also got lured into buying some Thai clothing, $1 shoes, and head wraps!

Adjusting to Thai Customs

After one week down in Thailand, we've come across many customs and "ways of life" that are very foreign and rather odd to the western frame of mind. Below is a list of a few of our adjustments that we are still trying to master:

1. Squatter toilets: Basically the nice version of a hole in the ground consisting of spots to place your feet and squat down into a bowl. This is followed by manually flushing with a bucket of water.

2. Shower: Going off the toilet situation, there is no separate area for the shower. Literally I've been showering next to a urinal. This also makes for a very wet bathroom. There is also no hot water which I'm slowly adjusting to when I take my 6:45am shower. Also note that some volunteers this year wont have any sort of shower head and will be using the traditionally bucket and water method.

3. Clothing: Being located in the Isan district of Thailand, they follow a more traditional conservative dress code. Women should typically always have their shoulders to knees covered (even walking to and from a shower). Even though we are in the "cool" season in Thailand this can be very warm! As far as teaching goes, dress should always be "rip roy" which is the Thai name for neat and tidy. Many women wear heels to work, even through the mud of the school campus, and neatly pressed suit to work. Always presenting oneself in a professional manner is important to Thai here even though there is so much poverty.

4. Wai: The Wai is how Thais greet each other and is an indicator of respect. Where you put your hands in the Wai indicates the amount of respect you are showing (palms together at chest= same level in heirarchy, palms between mouth and nose=higher and Forehead= for monks or king) Teachers never Wai students because there are "higher" level. You may receive a students Wai though by placing palms together at chest level.

5. The body: Different parts of the body have very distinct values the top of the head being the most important. This means you should NEVER touch someone on the head, it would be extremely rude and disrespectful. Opposing is the feet. Pointing the bottom of your feet at someone is also considered very rude. For many of us the way we sit has had to change making sure when we sit with our legs crossed or on the ground we aren't offending someone. Because feet are so dirty, even setting over someone else or for example a purse would be rude This value goes all the way to how you hang your clothes. On a clothes line you always hang your shirts higher than pants being in the middle and undergarments at the bottom.

6. The King: Being the most valued and important person in Thailand you will see the Kings picture EVERYWHERE. Golden arches are a common site across roads with the Kings picture. On tuesdays, everyone wears pink (even men) in honor of the King and wish him good health. If you were to be caught talking down on the King you would be imprisoned.

7. Men & Women: Thailand is extremely hierarchical. Hanging your clothes higher on a drying rack than the elder male in the household would be disrespectful. Men are also allowed to have several Wives. Many of the women know this but are forced to turn a blind eye. As far as showing affection women and men who aren't a couple should seldom to never touch. Placing a hand on a mens arm might send very mixed messages and others would probably think they are dating. On the other side women are very affectionate with each other holding hands and linking arms when walking. I experienced this when I met on of my co-teachers and send immediately started holding my hand as we walked to our welcoming party.

8. A few others: Taking shoes off when entering a room, eating food by using your fork to push food onto a spoon, stray dogs everywhere, cows in the roads, cell phone interruptions being okay even in the middle of class or at the dinner table, sitting in the back of pickup for taxis, little children (as young as 1 or 2) sitting front seat driving dirt bikes with parents behind, no toilet paper, blowing your nose being rude but picking it okay, ....

There are many more customs that I'm learning about and experiencing as I stumble my way through the culture trying my best not to offend or disrespect others. Once I'm out of my "english bubble" of orientation training I know the cultural adjustments will turn into more day to day living. So far I'm amazed at the country and the village of Pla Pak where I'll be living. The people in general seem to be amazed at the sight of a farang (white foreigner). Many blatantly stare at you walk down the street or whip out their cameras for a picture. My Thai is very very slowly improving and I'm starting to notice a few words when people talk and continually working on the Thai alphabet.

Today we went to the city to culturally observe and do some shopping. The picture above is some volunteers and myself visiting a wat (temple) and practicing the correct way to enter, wai, and exit when in the presence of buddha. I managed to upload a few pictures under photos but still trying to figure out a more efficient way.

Ovens, Microwaves, large stoves, freezers are rarely seen in Thailand. Here is a sneak peak of my kitchen...

Welcome to Thailand!

Hi! I'm here safe after a very long journey, around 44 hours! However it was a great bonding experience for the other volunteers and myself. Right now we are staying at the high school in Pla Pak while we complete our orientation training for the next month. All the girls sleep in one room on mats and the boys in the other. For orientation we have 2 hours of Thai Lessons in the morning followed by TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language) certification, and Thai culture. Our days have been quickly filled up. Learning Thai has been a challenge, espeacially the 5 different tones (middle, high, low, raising, falling) and the Thai letters. However our Thai teacher Ajarn O has been very pacient with us.

Some exciting events that have happened

* Joining the students in the rice field to help them harvast. We had a great opportunity to learn how to harvest rice with a sickle. It's a lot of work!

* Meeting our school principles. About two days ago we got to meet our principles and some of the Thai english teachers. We are were all very nervous to go to a formal event and attempt our Thai "hello" and "nice to meet you". After the high school through us a huge party complete with karaoke. One of my Thai teachers gave me a gift of a pillow sham and fitted sheet!

* String Tieing Ceremony. At the party they held a string tieing ceremony where they do a buddhist chant while a candle burns and after go around tieing springs around our wrist. Each string tied they wish you "good luck and happy".



I'll try to update again soon about my house that I got to go see and my Thai Roommate Pi Yok. Today we are going to visit our schools which I'm very excited about! Hope all is well back home! I apologize for misspellings this is my first time on a Thai keyboard and the cursor is very jumpy!

*Pictures will be added soon once my computer can connect to the internet!