The Daily Commute

I haven't really explained much about what a "typical" day looks like for me at my schools. This however is hard to define because each day seems so far from typical and there isn't really a normal either. This is how my day is suppose to look and on rare occasion turns out. My ride to school comes from either Pi Khem (Wang Yang days) and Pi Tok (PlaPak Noi days) who are married and work at both of my schools as the computer teacher (although computer are rarely used at Wang Yang ) and Pi Tok as the 5th grade teacher. Anyways Pi Khem picks me up at 8:20 in front of the highschool gates, this usually ends up being 8:30-40ish though due to "Bai Tueyyyy, sorry late No gas, No minute on phone, or some other morning errand" On PlaPak Noi days I bike to Pi Tok's house now because she was always late due to "Shampoo hair". Everyday she tells me that she wakes up at 4am and verry very work hard, which just confuses me on why she is late if she is up at 4 and doesn't get me till 8:30 haha. Her house is only down the street and I'm not exactly sure how this cuts out time to get to school and its a little bit of a hassle to load all my teaching materials on my bike but oh welll. Sometimes my favorite part of the day (besides my students of course!) is my commute out to PlaPak Noi.

It is only a few kilometers away but its out to the poorest part of the village through the "forest" as Pi Tok calls it which is actually rice fields that many of my student's parents own and work in all day. As we drive or sometimes motorbike to school ( with me side saddling on the back of the motorbike and grasping onto my teaching supplies) we pass our usual obstacles which include chicken with a trail of chicks. I always catch Pi Tok glancing in her mirror to see if she hit any of them sometimes saying "no die". Dogs who don't budge from their comfortable resting spots. And my favorite the hurd of water bufflo which we serve through on the motorbike. When passing the buffalo Pi Tok always exclaims, "many many cow" this has also been a marker on how late we are to school of where the cow are in their hurding journey. I arrive at school usually with only 15-20 minutes to arrange my materials for the next 4 hours of teaching different lessons. While I'm getting ready my students are doing morning assembly, cleaning the school, and gardening

(I'm going to do another post of the typical thai student day). My classes start quickly and I

do my first 3 hours, grades 3-6, have an hour lunch then my last hour of my Kinder,1,2. I usually have an hour and a half after my lessons are over to play with my kinder through 2 graders, hang or create any necessary material or help my students with their garden. Around 3:30-4 students are dismissed and I'm on my way home exhausted!

Lately I've been thinking about what my "daily commute" was before I went on my journey to Thailand. I was living at home with my parents working 40 hours a week at a place with a horrible work environment, and my least part of the day dealing with the jammed packed traffic from all the corporations in the silicon valley. People cutting me off or speeding illegally down the carpool line just to get a minute ahead of the next person and I slowly inch along highway. I'm not going to say Thailand's roads are any safer than the US since there are absolutely no traffic laws here and many drunk drivers but the main difference is people aren't stressed when they drive. There could be a motorbike going the wrong way while a car in the opposite direction is trying to pass someone but the driver doesn't seemed phased at all and somehow knows that they'll all fit by each other at once. My commute is peaceful and also exciting as we interact with wildlife and smile at the elderly lounging in front of their houses. Everytime I'm overwhelmed,homesick, or frusterated with the culture I always think back of what my life would probably be like if I stayed in the states this year and what my morning commute was like there and I realize how grateful I am.

Alright this post is starting to stray to different topics but I'm excited for the next few days of Christmas activities that I'm going to be doing at my schools, a school field trip on friday to Nong Khai and for our Christmas Party that is being held at fellow volunteer Rita's house this weekend complete with Secret Santas and a White elephant gift exchange! Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!