A very "turkey-less" day in Thailand

Today was my first PAY DAY…I feel rich with all these 1,000 bahts…if only it was the baht was the same as the U.S. Dollar….

Last Sunday, November 21, 2010 marked the first full moon of the 12th lunar month otherwise known as Loi Krathong. This festival is celebrated all throughout Thailand. The festival of Loi Krathong thanks the river goddess for providing life to the fields and forests and asks for forgiveness for the polluting ways of humans (Lonely Planet).  Some of the students made some very beautiful Krathongs, or handmade boats made from banana leaves and decorated with flowers, and brought them to school on the Friday before the festival. Katie, her dad, Gan, and I joined some of the other teachers in Bang Plama for a special dinner that was being held. There were about a dozen women dressed in the Thai traditional costumes representing schools and organizations. People bought green and pink colored necklaces to represent an amount of money that was being donated and then gave to the women as they stood on stage. They played the Loi Krathong Festival song and a group of people went on stage to dance. Katie, Gan, and I joined after observing how the dance was done. It was rather simple, a slow skip while you circle the stage and move your hands in a funky way; it was fun! After dinner and a little dancing, we went to the river to light our Krathongs and sent them floating down the river.

During Thanksgiving week, I taught my students about the Traditional food items American’s eat on Thanksgiving. The whole time I was wishing I would be able to eat stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pecan pie on Thursday. It was interesting when I showed a picture of the turkey, all the students were convinced it was a chicken. They scream, “chicken…chicken”. I say “no, no….turkey, turkey”. I suppose there is a strong resemblance. The closest Thanksgiving food I ate on Thursday was the mashed potatoes we bought from KFC. Other than that, it was rice, chicken, and vegetables along with some wantons for an appetizer and pineapple for dessert. Even though it was a “turkey-less” turkey day and I wasn’t put in my yearly food coma, it was a fun Thanksgiving. Nothing compares to being home with family and friends eating the Traditional Thanksgiving dinner though.

Saturday, I was a judge for the “Towards World Class Education” competition. I judged web based projects, majority of which were science based. A few of the presentations were very impressive. One that really peaked my interest was the “mini air-conditioner”. The team even brought in the model for display. It was a mini fan that was hooked up with cords to a Styrofoam cooler filled with ice and water. Something I could really use in my apartment! It got to be a rather long day though. I judged twenty presentations, having to ask each team a few questions based on their presentation.

After the competition was over, I got on a van to Bangkok and met Jenna and Liz at Siam Center to see most recent Harry Potter movie at the iMax. For having read only the first book and not seeing any of the movies, I actually thought it was very good! Being in Siam Center really made me feel like it was the weekend after Thanksgiving and Christmas is soon approaching with all the decorations. It is now Monday, and my feeling of Christmas approaching has passed. It must be the weather and lack of decorations at school and in my apartment. It’s time to look into buying a Christmas tree!  

Ko Samet!

I definitely need to remember to be thankful for a washing machine on Thanksgiving. I just finished hand washing my laundry, hurrying to get it done before the sun sets and the mosquitos attack. Just one of the other joys of living in Thailand; although waking up to a beautiful sunrise over the flooded rice fields that look like a lake make it worth it! For dinner I made the usual rice, fried egg, ketchup, and chili powder. And yes, it is good! This morning I was told I would go to a different school to help judge part of an English Contest, similar to the one Katie and I helped with last week. Gan, the Chinese teacher at my school also came. I was talking with her and said if I ever travel to China I will definitely have to stay in contact with her via Facebook. She then said she won’t be able to be on Facebook in China because China blocks the website along with YouTube and some others…..I’ll have to just keep in touch via email then.  When we arrived at the school, I went to one of the computer labs. The school seemed much nicer than the school I am teaching at; at least technology wise. I learned that I would be a judge in a science presentation contest. I heard the word science and thought, “Oh boy….this is not one of my favorite or better subjects. I hope that doesn’t affect me being a judge.” It ended up being fine; there were four different presentations all of which presented each judge with a print out of the material being presented. There were two schools competing in the contest. The one school was much better than the other school. After the competition, a teacher from the school who lost started arguing with me in English about why I thought it was fair to not allow the students to listen and watch their competitors’ presentations. I told him what I thought and that it really was not up to me to make any rules. I definitely was caught off guard and thought he was rather rude…. But “Mai Pen Rai” as a Thai person would say.

This past weekend, Katie and I met a few other teachers in Bangkok to head to the island of Ko Samet. We took a bus to the town where we would catch a ferry early Saturday morning. The hostel we stayed at Friday night had delicious hamburgers! It was nice to have American food, but the only reason I ordered a hamburger was because they weren’t serving any Thai traditional food at the time we ordered. Surprisingly, I haven’t been craving much American food yet; still enjoying all the different tastes of Thailand. We woke up early to catch the ferry for Ko Samet. The day consisted of relaxing on the beach, swimming in the Gulf of Thailand, eating mangos, and listening to a group of very intoxicated Thai men sing while dancing in the water….quite entertaining.  For lunch, I had papaya salad with “nid noi” spice, meaning a little spice. Well I don’t think they understood what I said….it was extremely spicy! Probably one of the spiciest meals I’ve eaten so far.

Later in the afternoon, we took a sunset and snorkel cruise around the island. We stopped at two different locations to snorkel. Unfortunately, the water wasn’t very clear where we snorkeled so there was not much to see. We were also taken to see a fish farm that contained very exotic fish; large grouper, a snapper turtle, and fish with leopard print scales. It was really cool!

Our night adventure began with a delicious pad Thai (American style filled with ketchup) and a few Leo’s of course, while we watched the fire shows on the beach. They were incredible! The remainder of the night was a blast including body paint, lighting a lantern off in to the night sky, dancing, cuddling with a half dozen adorable puppies on the beach, learning how to DJ, and pizza. 

Unfortunately, Sunday came too quickly. Our bus ride from Ban Phe to Bangkok was the last thing from comfortable. The air conditioning barely worked, every seat was full, the sun was blaring in to the bus, and for some reason the bus was only going what seemed like 40 mph on the highway. About two plus hours into the trip the bus turned off the highway on to a less busy road and all of a sudden broke down. We could hear what little AC there was shut off completely and when the driver tried to open the doors they would not open. Immediately, I start to panic a little, trying to keep it to myself. Everyone probably felt the same way…there was no way we could stay on that bus with no air. It was a claustrophobic feeling. Thoughts were spinning through my mind of what would happen if they couldn’t open the doors; someone would have to break a window or the door or something. The doors opened actually rather quickly, thank goodness. We were able to get off the bus.  Apparently, the bus ran out of gas and they were running on low gas the whole time they were driving. That explains some things....but doesn’t make much sense why they wouldn’t have just filled up before leaving. “Mai pen rai” We finally made it home safely, after a long day of travelling. it was worth it for the day on Ko Samet!

Now I know how celebrities feel....

I didn’t think it would be possible to have any more students’ stare at us “farang” teachers aka foreign…until today, the day after I helped represent Bang Plama in the Opening Ceremony of the 3^rd Year of the Suphanburi Games.

I am writing this blog post, Wednesday, November 10, 2010, the day after Katie and I were dressed like Royalty, in the Thai traditional costume. At school today every student and teacher smiled as they made sure they told us how beautiful we looked in our costumes the night before. I felt very honored and special.

Monday afternoon we went to Suphanburi stadium to practice for the big show on Tuesday. We were able to watch some of the opening acts, including many of the girl students at our school dancing in one of the main performances. We also heard the Suphanburi Band, which was unbelievable considering their age group, ranging from 12 to 18 year olds. They reminded me a little bit of the Badger band. After of an hour or two of just watching, Katie and I were finally introduced to what we would be doing the day of the event. We would be part of the “parade” of Suphanburi’s districts’ athletes and sponsors, holding up a sign representing Bang Plama. We practiced walking on the track across the stands, around the first corner, and on to the grass one time and that was it....it took maybe ten minutes. Needless to say, as I left the stadium, I was still unsure as to what I could expect for tomorrow’s opening ceremony. 

Tuesday, the day of the ceremony, was a pretty relaxed day considering I did not have to teach any of my classes but an exciting day too! Katie and I went to the beauty shop around noon, where her, I, and 18 other students would be getting ready. The three lady boys were hard at work all day. They began at 9:00 a.m. finished the 18 students by 2:30. I attentively watched as one lady boy put foundation, blush, eye shadow, fake eyelashes, and lip stick on a student and as another lady boy teased a student’s hair, and as another helped complete the look with putting the costume together with jewelry and accessories.  The girls looked beautiful when they were finished. Then it came to be our turn….the “farangs”.  Katie’s hair was first, while I had my make-up done. I quick glance over and see Katie’s teased hair. Wow! And she thought her hair wasn’t going to tease….I thought the exact same thing, but little did I know I was also in for a surprise. The finished product for both our hair and face I thought was pretty good. I definitely have never had so much make-up on in my life. I loved the fake eyelashes. The lipstick was a little out there, but I guess I’m just not used to wearing any. The fake hairpiece, crown, and flowers added a lot to the look of my hair-do. The lady boys were quite excited about our final look, or I should say “their” finished product. We made sure to thank them and told them we would take many pictures for them to use as future advertising.

Getting in the van was a little difficult considering my hair piece, crown, and heels, but I managed. We arrived at the stadium just in time around 4:00 p.m.  I don’t mean to sound conceited, but the second we stepped out of the van I could feel all the “stares”.  We walked in an air conditioned room reserved for people who were part of the opening ceremony. The stadium was quite full already, but nothing was going on yet. Katie was brave enough to attempt to use the restroom in our costumes. As I was waiting outside with Toon, a group of younger girls who were also in the opening ceremonies came up to me and asked to take my picture. The flashes kept coming, until all of a sudden all the girls rush over to the stairs and start screaming like they’ve just seen Justin Beiber. Little did I know, Gun, a popular teen idol in Thailand would be performing at the ceremonies and he was entering the building hence all the screaming. We then went outside where other performers were waiting, and saw some of the students from our school along with Bang Plama’s representatives. The student’s also went crazy with pictures of Katie and I. I was getting very warm standing outside, so Toon decided to take us back to the air conditioned room.  As we made our way back into the building, there was more Beiber screaming….Gun was making his way in to the room we were headed for. I think because of our “royalty” look we were easily granted access in to the police guarded room. Coincidently, our lady boy friends happened to be right there. They grabbed Katie and I’s signs to help us make our way through the crowd in order to get in to the room.  They most likely just did that to be able to see Gun since he was in the room taking pictures with a few of the other performers.  That’s ok though…I would have too if it was someone that I could relate to. The Thai girls who saw us go in to the room were probably thinking, “Ungrateful Americans. You are in the room with Gun and all you care about is your water and air conditioning…” He performed a few minutes after we were in the room. We were able to see his performance pretty close up. He was actually pretty good!

It finally became time to line up outside, stand and wait until it was our turn to parade into the stadium. While we waited, I met the Mayor of Bang Plama along with some of the other Bang Plama sponsors. As I stood holding Bang Plama’s motto sign, a lot of people came to take pictures.  I felt like Santa Claus having children line up to sit on his lap except in my case it was just to take a picture. 

We were the last district to walk in the parade so it was a lot of waiting. But it finally became time. Katie was in the front, holding the Bang Plama district sign followed by a man in the military holding the Bang Plama flag. I followed the group of sponsors and behind me were students holding each Bang Plama motto and Bang Plama’s athletes. We started to walk. As we were approaching the track with all the lights, I could tell I wasn’t walking fast enough. The problem was my outfit. The skirt didn’t allow for my legs to make very long strides. Right before I stepped on the track, Toon was there saying, “faster, faster”.  I quickly picked up my pace. My focus was on smiling, holding the sign high and straight, and walking on that fourth line; until it came time to find where the stairs began I turned the sign so it faced the crowd but more specifically the ex-President.  We were told to look at him and smile until we saw the next set of stairs, then we turn the sign forward. The entire time I am walking across the track, I keep thinking to myself ….”What am I doing? This is crazy. Just keeping smiling.” I make it to the grass and feel a sigh of relief. I made it! I didn’t trip! As I stand on the field in the middle of the stadium, I look around me and see thousands of people in the stands along with hundreds standing next to me on the field. Behind us are people in the stands holding signs that form different pictures; one in particular being a picture of the King. The Thai National Anthem is sung and the fireworks begin. In between fireworks, a man and a woman on a tight-rope “fly” across the field to grab the torch that was lite by the ex-President. They begin to “fly” back to the opposite side to light the torch that sits on the top of the stands.  As they reach the middle of the field, fireworks shoot off and fly into the torch, making it look like it came from the torch they were holding. More fireworks blow up near the torch as a burst of flames ignite it. The choreography of the fireworks was incredible. I have never seen anything like it! It was amazing! After the grand finale of the fireworks, and the ceremony as well, people in the stands began to clear out and the pictures began. We probably stood on the field for almost an hour taking picture after picture with the other students dressed up along with our school’s director, vice-director, mayor of Bang Plama, and many others. After a while, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to wipe the smile off my face. It began to hurt.  We finally headed back to school, traffic was bad and the school was even busier it seemed with all the students and their parents. We got back in to our teaching clothes and ate dinner at the school. Toon told us the Mayor was very pleased with the job we did and with our appearance and “beauty” that he would like us to attend the closing ceremony as well. She said everyone was talking about how beautiful we looked and that Bang Plama was the “talk” of the night. I feel so honored and special to not only be asked again, but to have been asked in the beginning and have a part in such an incredible event. I had no idea the Suphanburi Games were going to put on such an extraordinary ceremony. I felt like I was part of the Olympics.  I am so grateful to be able to be a part of such an unforgettable experience!

Longtail Boat Races

I just got back from the Bangplama Longtail Boat races with Toon, Gawan (Toon’s 8 year old daughter), Katie, and Gan, the Chinese teacher at our school. Along with the races, there was a market and fair rides. Longtail boat races are similar to rowing in the U.S. The announcer sounded like an auctioneer, speaking extremely fast.

Some of the students from the school have been practicing all week for their cheer performance at the races. I’ve been hearing them practice and finally got to see them perform the real thing. Each student wore one white glove while they sang and did hand gestures, very much like Michael Jackson.  The whole event was fun to watch! We walked around the market and tasted a variety of delicious Thai snacks. I had one of my Matiem 2 students find me. He tagged along by our side for a while. Even though he is probably only thirteen years old I can already tell he is a “lady boy”. I had a feeling when I saw him in class that he might be, but seeing him outside of class with eyeliner, lipgloss, and dressed in pink I didn’t have any more doubts. When I said, “He is a student in my class”, Toon quickly corrected me to say, “She”.

Back to the beginning of the week…… My first “real” week of teaching went well. There were a few times when my co-teacher was not in the room with me. Those students were so naughty compared to those who had the co-teacher in the room with me.  I don’t know what to do…how to control them. One student wrote something small on the board in Thai….if only I knew what it had said. Another student body slammed a classmate in the front of the room, literally body slammed him. They have so much energy! The only time I could keep them under control was when it was time to play a game…instead of using up their energy on one another, they used it towards screaming and running around the room during the game   A few of my classes were cancelled due to practicing for the races and the Suphanburi Games which begin November 9^th. Little did Katie and I knew the Games would be such a big deal, not only for the school but for her and I as well. Thursday after lunch Toon came up to us and said “Let’s go…We are going to get you a costume. You will participate in the Opening Ceremony for the Suphanburi Games by representing our school”. We hopped in her mini green car with another teacher and drove to a beauty shop nearby in Bangplama. We walked in and immediately had the attention of three “lady boys”. They handed me a long purple skirt with very beautifully detailed gems on it and told me to put it on. After I was fitted completed, I had the look of a princess with a Traditional Thai costume, crown, jewelry, and even a fake hair piece bun. Toon told me this type of costume is usually only worn by Royalty. I am so excited for Tuesday to come. We will go back to the salon to have hair and make up done for us on Tuesday before the Ceremony.

Wednesday we decided to make a trip into Suphanburi for dinner and a Tesco run. We took the bus in to town, and began walking….before words could come out of my mouth to stop Katie, we hear some Thai workers scream no – no – no….Katie just stepped in wet cement!! The workers were laughing with us….thank goodness it wasn’t too bad; her footprints may be there forever but that’s ok. We ate dinner with some of the other teachers. I had a delicious Pad Seu; similar to Pad Thai but with a different type of noodle and more fresh vegetables. I think it was the same night that Katie nearly got attacked by the stray dogs that live on campus. She was outside using the internet while I was in the apartment. All of a sudden, I hear the dogs bark viciously. Immediately thinking about her outside, I get a phone call from Katie. She’s standing on the table because the dogs all of a sudden ran up to her and began to bark. She was able to get away fine….we think something may have startled the dogs and they were protecting their puppies which were hidden close by where she was sitting. A little scary though….

Things are looking up

This post goes back to about a week and a half ago…before teaching began.

After two nights of not so great sleep, we decided to head in to Bangkok and stay with Sam, Katie’s roommate during orientation. Surprisingly, the trip wasn’t too difficult. We grabbed a mini-van right off the highway and just said….”Bangkok?” the driver shook his head yes. There were just enough seats for Katie and I. The drive was about an hour and 10 minutes. It was sooo nice to be back in Bangkok! Ahhh….City life! We hung out with Sam and Megan for the night and enjoyed the cleanliness of their apartment. Friday, we decided we would go talk to Phil with OEG. After we finally found their office, which is in this amazing high rise downtown Bangkok, we were able to discuss our living situation with Phil and another Thai coordinator.  I felt a lot better after talking with them.

We remained in the building to enjoy an iced coffee and air conditioning; all of a sudden we hear some type of alarm going off. For the first few minutes, no one was really reacting. Then we saw people with OEG, they were on the 9^th floor. So we decided to follow them and see what was up. It was a fire drill. How strange, what are the chances a high rise office building performs their once a year fire drill the day we are there.

As we were walking to catch a bus, we walked by the US Embassy. We took a few pictures and kept walking. Well as we approached the second building for the embassy, maybe four or five security officers stopped us and with the little English they spoke tried to tell us to delete the photos we took. They also asked for our passports to make copies…good thing I had a copy of my passport with me. Kinda strange/creepy but everything was ok. Just remember no pictures of the US Embassy!

We found the van we needed to take back to Bang Plama with no problem. Getting out of Bangkok however took some time; there was a lot of traffic. I was a little nervous in the van, the driver was pretty crazy. I was especially nervous after seeing our first accident in Thailand. It was a minivan tipped over to the side….

So of course, we weren’t dropped off at the school, instead ended up getting dropped off at Tesco Lotus, did some shopping and took a tuk-tuk home. It was a tight squeeze with our groceries, but we made it work!

I wrote this post on Wednesday, October 27^th, half way through the school week after  meeting 5 sections of my students.  Monday, was a National Holiday in Thailand and most schools did not begin classes until Tuesday. Toon told us the school’s director decided the students have already had three weeks of vacation, so they can come to school on Monday. Little did I know the students would mainly be there on Monday to help clean each classroom. Monday after school, Toon and two other teachers came over to our apartment to help us set up the new beds that the school had gotten for us. I did not expect such a nice gesture! Toon expressed her concern to Katie and I that the school wants us to be happy here, especially with our living arrangements; because we will have more problems with our students. I hope she was being sarcastic when talking about the students. We also found out a western toilet will be installed in our bathroom as well. I was Skyping with Dylan at the time when Toon told us the good news; he later told me he hadn’t seen my eyes light up that much since I’ve been here. Probably because it was a complete surprise that they are getting us a “western toilet”. I definitely did not expect that!

Tuesday was our first day of what was supposed to be observing classes, rather our co-teachers made us “introduce ourselves” for the whole period. I was at a loss of words during one of my sections; that is when I wish I would have thought of Hang Man! Instead, it came to mind today and ended up working out great! It’s a great game to play to kill time and to get an idea of the students’ English level.  Plus most of the students really get in to it. I even had students come up with their own words and play with the class. We had good time!

Halloween weekend was spent in Bangkok with a group of teachers. We had a great time swapping stories of teaching and our students. Saturday I visited the weekend market and the Wat of the Leaning Buddha. Wat means temple in Thai. I shouldn’t forget to mention my crazy moped ride Saturday morning. I was a little nervous; especially when the driver starts driving on the sidewalk and jumping curbs…..and I thought Illinois drivers were bad. Nothing I’ve seen in the U.S. compares to the way Thai people drive.  A group of girls and I went to the top of a sky rise in downtown Bangkok for drinks. It was a rooftop restaurant bar called Vertigo. Absolutely amazing!!! The view was incredible!!

After that we had delicious pad Thai at a street vendor, had guacamole and free margaritas at a Mexican restaurant with amazing Halloween decorations, and rode around town in a tuk-tuk with 9 people! It was a fun night!! I guess you could say we dressed up as “Americans” for Halloween.

Sunday, Katie and I stopped at Bang Plama’s weekend mini-market filled with a variety of meats, fruits, vegetables, and clothing. Some of the more interesting things for sale included pig’s heads and live frogs.