Sports Day

I think it is important to mention this event, purely for the craziness of it. On the Thursday and Friday of my 3rd week we had the (poorly named) Sports Day. So this meant that nothing was done in the build up as everyone had preparation to do for it and most things take precedence over academia over here. I missed the Thursday as i was in Lamphun, the provincial town, to get my work permit which was surprisingly straightforward. Anyway Friday comes around and i head down to the football field for 7.30am in the fog which was a bad idea. I still havent adapted to thai time. This basically means that nothing starts on time and so it wasnt for another half hour or so that anything started on this day. First thing i am told is i am a judge of some sort which is news to me. So i get dragged to the table and sat down. Then a parade comes through the gate of the school and goes in front of our little table. This is the opening ceremony of te sports day which is odd as this is the second day. While this is happening i am told im supposed to be judging a description of each part of the parade in english. this is difficult as only half of the descriptions are in english and those i cant hear over the music. I should also point out at this stage that the school is split into colours or teams for the day and all this was decided a while back. the teams then compete against each other for the day and prepare everything without teacher help. I also have a colour but i dont have to compete (thank god) as the teachers are exempt. Im green, which im pleased about (being irish obviously).

Anyway back to the parade. This is a menagerie of colour with each group having a unique theme. If you look at the pictures on facebook you will see one of them was called "wizardland" which presumably has something to do with thai kids fascination with all things world of warcraft et al. I also enjoyed the marching band's rendition of 'smoke on the water'! So the kids have designed all this themselves which is pretty impressive but it gets better. Next up is the dancing. Firstly the younger kids perform their aerobic routine to some music and they finish on the ground in an impression of the olympic rings. Pretty good but then the primary school steps up and do their aerobic routine. All i could think of was how the teachers managed to get the kids to do any kind of choreography at such a young age. This bizzarelly finishes with Ronan Keating blaring out of the soundsystem (it was a medley of songs) to my complete surprise and mild disgust. Next each of the colours send out their dance troupe who are basically cheerleaders for the day. The green group demanded i get in a picture with them so i sat through a series of pictures with a gang of teenage girls all dressed up (hence why i am not smiling in my own one). Which was obviously a great challenge for me ;) Anyway the teams all put on good shows with a small bit of thai dancing in some but mostly they did their own thing. All by themselves i think.

Once the dancing is over i get told that i have to judge the shelters and cheering. I had no idea how to do this so i went and got lunch then wandered around near the shelters with the marking sheet and pen looking very obviously like a judge. The kids picked up on this and basically a heap of them from each group got up and with a few drums and bongos basically went nuts on the grass in front of their shelters. All kinds of dancing and jumping around were part of the mayhem though one group had choreographed routines which was cool. So i gave marks for the more enthususiastic gangs and the crazy looking shelters and that was my judging over for the day.

Most of the sports on this day was races so that got a bit old after an hour or so. I found out that all the others had been held the previous day which i was a bit unhappy about. I'd been looking forward to watching the takraw and badminton. The day kid of petered out bar the odd call for me to present prizes to race winners...." Teacher alan will present the next prize....Teacher alan....where is teacher alan?" This was followed by me bemusedly showing up wondering why someone was bellowing my name into a mike and being handed some certificates to hand out to kids on a podium. Oh and get my pic taken.....again.

The next day i got a bus to chiang mai again and spent the night getting drunk with Pez and Cindy as we all needed to unwind. Oh and i saw some more waterfalls.....

Teaching in thailand

I have now been teaching here in Li for 3 weeks and with that wealth of experience behind me i will try and give a taste of what i have found teaching to be like over here. To recap I am teaching English, Math and Science. The English is only for 5 hours a week and that is to Matayom 4 (fourth year of secondary school) and the other 9 hours is spent equally between Math and Science to Matayom 1 (first years). The M1 kids have as good if not better English than some of the M4 kids but i suppose they need to be good to get into the MEP. No point being there if you dont understand english! I guess im pretty lucky in that most of my students understand most of what i say some of the time.

Let's start with the English as that was the main thing that brought me over here. I thought that was all i would be teaching but in fact its more the other way around. M4 is broken up into different levels based on their academic ability. I have the top 4 classes, the very best one i have twice a week and the other 3 only once. Its very hard to get any kind of link between classes when you only have them once a week and even that isnt assured thanks to all the random days off or half days or what have you. I do have a basic outline of what im to teach M4 but after that its up to me. I began my first class by introducing myself and where i am from. They havent a clue where ireland is so this took longer than expected as i attempted to draw a map of europe on the board. I followed this up with a few sentences on the board with blanks in them such as "My favourite football team is....." and "In my free time i like to......" This gave me a chance to gauge their level of english and i finished with a game of Hangman (thai kids love hangman). I used this in each M4 class so that was the first week taken care of there! Basically what i found out is there a few enthusiastic kids and a lot of very quiet kids. Once i went in with a lesson plan and some whiteboard markers i felt ok and once i got into a flow i was fine (your lesson plan is your armour and your markers are your weapons!). If i go into class unprepared it all turns to mush so to have any hope of getting anything done i need a small bit of structure. Anyway i found English ok for the first few classes as i got my bearings and got a feel for each class to see what i could teach them and what was too easy/hard. They get a bit rowdier once they get used to you but i can still keep them under a bit of control by raising my voice calmly by increments. I havent yet gotten to full volume i dont think so thats a positive. It is very challenging to teach these kids (especially on a topic like the environment) when they have very little english. I need to have some kind of game or activity to hold their attention or they get bored and even then its hard to keep coming up with games all the time. The biggest problem i face is laziness because thai students cannot fail. I mean there is no mechanism in the thai education system for a kid to fail, there is only a low pass upwards. Therefore why should they try? I mean they will pass anyway so there is no incentive to work. This is just in class so homework is a complete waste of time. This is incredibly frustrating but its something i have to deal with.

Math and Science are different. For a start i have a book for each (the kids also have this book) and i have a fairly straightforward curriculum. This makes lesson planning a sight easier as i just follow the book and put my own twist on it. Also the kids know the stuff already having done it through thai and i am just giving them the english version. These classes are easy enough though i have the same thing with the games and activities. Essentially thai teachers lecture and the kids just memorise everything without understanding it. Im supposed to be the opposite and get them to understanding stuff rather than memorising it. I also have co-teachers for Math and Science, Goy for Math and Noon for Science (these are there nicknames as there regular names are tricky to pronounce). They are a big help both in preparing lessons and in controlling the class. They are Thai Math and Science teachers with good English and guide me as to what the kids can manage and what is difficult for them. Obviously the kids would never tell me this themselves as they are too shy. So i have a translator there if the kids are having particular trouble, often there is a thai translation at the end of each lesson. Between us we try and get the kids to learn something. I spend most of the class trying to explain things and trying to engage the kids in the material which i eventually get through sheer persistence (sometimes). Most of the time they look at me, then at the co-teacher for help and eventually the message gets across!

So for someone who hadnt taught a day in their life im probably not doing too bad, i think. Some days are better than others which is a combination of the material and my approach maybe working. If things dont work in one class then i just take a different approach in the next class. All in all its a pretty cushy number though. I have 14 hours of class a week and even then if you add a generous 1 hour prep for each class on top of that im still under 30 hours a week. I have to be in work from 8 till 4 every day so that adds up to a lot of free time!

Im sure i'll expand on this in a later entry but i wanted to give an insight into what it is like to teach over here from my perspective. Its not all pretty waterfalls and drinking but is still fun, or in thai: Sanook Sanook!

Thailand is:

• putting krab or ka at the end of every sentence. Example Sawat dee krab is hello for a guy, girls use ka.
• HOT! Choose between hot and wet or hot and dry.....
• smiles everywhere. Its just the way they are over here, always smiling.
• the wai. Clasp your hands in prayer at your chest, below your chin or to your forehead and bow. The higher the wai the more respect you pay to the person you are greeting.
• food everywhere. Anything and everything on sale. From snacks to dinner you can get whatever you want, pretty much whenever you want.
• meat on sticks. Its a game to guess what the meat is!
• Rice or noodles with every meal. Usually rice though. Oh and rice based desserts too.
• Everything in a plastic bag - rice, curry, cola all served in a plastic bag as a takeaway. If its a drink you do get a straw.
• Street vendors: Often difficult to tell what they are selling, especially the guys who cook it there and then as all you can see are a jumble of ingredients. "Can i have one of whatever it is you sell?" Response is blank stare.....
• eating at the side of the road. Some vendors will have plastic tables and chairs and you can eat the food hot off the pan.
• dinner for 20 or 30 baht. That's under a euro.
• rarely wearing shoes indoors. Its impolite
• never getting angry. Its impolite and you will lose face.
• bottled water unless you want some exotic disease of the tap water.
• different toilets. Faced with a hole in the ground, no paper and a tap and bowl to one side what would you do?
• fans and AC indoors at all times. See HOT!
• not using the letters L, S, X, OR V. There are no plurals in thai, their l's sound like r's and vise versa and their v's sound like w's. X is just alien to them.
• stressing all of the above letters now that you hear them not being used.
• mosquito repellent. Your new aftershave for night time.
• tuk-tuk - a 3 wheel bike that can seat anything from 1 passenger to x passengers depending on how inventive the driver is feeling. If you get one in Bangkok try not to breathe in.....
• songthaew - a cheap taxi,its basically a covered pick up truck with two benches on the bed.
• pick up trucks. If you dont have a motorcycle then you buy one of these. Why buy a 5 seater car when you can fit at least 10 people and a million bananas on the back of this?
• motorcycle. If you cant afford a pick up you get one of these. helmet optional.
• weaving all over the road while driving. They do indicate though, most of the time.
• spicy - you dont know the meaning of the word till you try some of this stuff. dodge the chillies.
• chillies - on everything and i mean everything.
• hello teacher/ good morning teacher at all times of day followed by giggling.
• eggs all over the place in food especially but can be a dessert also.
• maybe - do we have class today? / will the students show up today? / will they do anything if they do show up?
• mai pen rai - translates roughly as "Ah well....." Applies daily
• blank faces. the regular response to any question in english.
• cheap - pretty much everything is cheap. See dinner for under a euro!
• mosquitos are everywhere after dark and you will get bitten if you arent wearing repellent.
• colours, bright colours everywhere. Pink is the king's colour.
• monarchy. just dont say anything and you may avoid being arrested.
• crap music and lots of it.
• crap tv and lots of it (not that ive seen too much, just from watchign in other people's places).
• random days off or half days. They seem to decide on the spot sometimes.
• not showing up to things on time. Its not unusual to wait for at least a half hour plus. Can range from small to big events as well. See mai pen rai.....
• no dairy - hard to get milk, very hard to get butter and i havent seen cheese yet.
• thai massage - getting brutalised by someone who uses mostley their bony forearms and hands. But still pretty relaxing.
• beer - not great and in the greater scheme of things not all that cheap either. 660ml bottle will usually go for about 100 baht in a bar.
• whiskey - ok and a good kick.
• fruit - often weird. Example: their bananas are small and chewy....
• Buddhist temples or wats all over the place.
• thai language is unique. it has its very own alphabet and there are five tones. This means that while you think you may be asking to buy something you could be insulting that person's mother or something...
• ultimately crazy but good fun!!

I'm sure i will find more stuff to add as the months go on so expect another version! Also i didnt put this in any particular order, just as it came to me so dont try reading too much into the layout.

Prison massage and Doi Suthep

One of the guys (Brian) put a message on facebook saying he was going to be in Chiang Mai if anyone cared to join him. This was music to my ears as i was bored stiff in my little town so for the second weekend in a row i went to Chiang Mai. This time i was going to attempt it on my own, emboldened from having been there with someone who knew what to do. Unfortunately i found out that there is no transport after 4pm to CM so that ruled out going Friday evening. This offered the thrilling prospect of getting up for the bus on Saturday morning for either 6, 7, 8, or 9am. Great...... So i manage this (barely) and step outside of my room into a cool blanket of fog. As i walk towards the main st to hail down the passing bus, several people walk by me. We all looked at each other the other person was crazy. This is mainly because im in a Tshirt and shorts and they are all wrapped up as if its below zero! The fog was already starting to burn off even at 7am so i was damned if i was goin to wrap up for the sake of a half hour. And lo and behold within an hour i was sweating away on the bus on my way to CM! Thai people have no tolerance for cold as they so rarely experience it so i think the 'cold' season is going to be a disappointment to me. I may at some point need a jumper....maybe.... and all the thai people will be wearing layers.

Anyway by the time i reach CM its a bloody scorcher. I book into a hostel and meet up with Brian and Nancy. They announce we are going for a thai massage in a women's prison. Now i had been looking forward to my first thai massage but i hadnt thought it would be in a prison. I went along anyway and was pleasantly surprised. We arrived in and asked for a full thai massage. We were then handed a set of 'one size fits all' trouosers and shirt and told to change. we store our gear in lockers provided and head to the massage room. We are asked to lie down on a mattress on the ground ( with a cup of green tea to relax us) and the massage begins. Now for those of you oblivious to what a thai massage entails (as i was going in) it is basically all the muscles in your legs, arms, neck, shoulders and back getting stretched and massaged by your masseuse who uses her hands, forearms, elbows and knees. you get manipulated into all sorts of weird shapes and stretches and you get very close to your masseuse in an entirely non sexual way. When she is using her elbow to cut the blood flow from the main artery in your leg (basically where your groin meets your upper leg) then you see there is nothing sexual involved! They stop the blood flow before working on your limbs which i asume makes the massage easier or better. feels weird though. Anyway i'll leave some of the rest as a surprise ( It certainly was to me) but suffice to say we were all happy with our decision afterwards. We were all alongside each other and mine was the first to start so the other two got a sneak preview of each part before it happened to them. We all had a good laugh though. we got some lunch afterwards and headed for Dio Suthep!

Doi Suthep is a mountain next to CM and is a popular tourist attraction. We got a songthaew to the top and visited the wat there. To do this you must climb the stair of 300 steps. We had a wander around and looked at the various Buddha statues and temples but the best bit is the view. You can see right down over CM and it was a truly impressive sight. A cloudless day meant it was untarnished as well. After this we tried to figure out what to do next. An enterprising songthaew driver spotted our indecision and approached us with a map. We decided to head to a waterfall before returning to the city. This a beautiful sight and a good way to wind the day down. We began climbing the various levels of it (there are 8 and we saw 3) before we got tired and returned to our waiting songthaew. we were disappointed we didnt have swimming gear as it looked like a nice cold shower!

After returning to CM and freshening up we met Cindy for dinner. The menu was a great source of entertainment as their spelling and phrasing was dodgy at best. On a placard outside it stated “It Foods, Taste Great!!”. No idea what they were looking to try with this statement but we thought it was hilarious. Anyway the food was good and the staff were friendly so all in all was a nice meal. After this we made our way to the “walking street’ or night bazaar. This is a closed off road where you can buy whatever you want. It was at least a mile long and we spent a lot of time there (along with a bit of money). I spent the most on a few presents and bits and pieces for myself and still spent less than 1000 baht or 20 euros. So while it felt like a lot at the time it really wasn’t. That’s the thing about Thailand, I’m getting used to the money and spending large amounts of it feels strange but when I convert it back it really isn’t that much. Anyway after a pleasant evenings shopping we head back to our hostels to offload our gear and meet up with Pez for some drinks. He introduces us to a workmate of his and pretty soon we are whisked away to Mandalay nightclub. In here we get some drinks and by drinks I mean a bottle of whiskey and some mixers. After the second bottle my memory gets a little hazy although I do remember being in the bathroom at one point and there was attendants there to massage your shoulders… The next day I bus it back to Li for another week’s work…

End of Week One

So at this point ive been a week here in Wiangjedee Wittaya school in Li. I had about 16 hours of classes but this is open to change i believe. I am here primarily to teach Math and Science to the Mini English Program(MEP) which is a class of about 31 kids at Matayom 1 level. This is the first year of Secondary school for Thai kids. I have English with them as well but i think my coordinator wants to take over this, its not really clear. MEP students have paid extra to be taught subjects through English such as Math and Science. I have English with Matayom 4 for a few hours also but i have 4 different classes and only have the strongest class for 2 periods a week while the other 3 i have only once a week. All in all its been an ok week. Once ive done my preparation the teaching aspect is ok and my coordinator and co-teachers seem happy with my approach. Basically i am in work from 8am till 4pm each day but some days i only have one or two periods. These days drag as there is so little to do besides sit on the computer surfing the net.

Teaching Math and Science through English is not the struggle i thought it would be. With there being a set curriculum i feel pretty happy starting each class off as i have a set idea of what i want to do. English can be a bit more vague as there isnt anything clear to teach. SO far my only complaint is the lack of things to do in the evenings. With nothing to do i usually chill in my rooms after work before going looking for dinner in the village. This usually entails walking to the market and trying to pick out something that is not too spicy. A game of spot the chillies! This wil often set me back 30 baht (less than a euro) for my entire meal. So that is the main positive about this country! After wards i have not much else to do except maybe buy a few bits and pieces in the shop like snacks and fruit at the market. I then either hit an internet cafe or head home and read and listen to music. i picked up a few second hand books in Chiang Mai last weekend so if i keep going back i should be able to keep a steady supply going.

Im usually in bed for around 9.30 or so. I have great intentions to start jogging or something after school but the problem with this is it gets dark around 6 so once i lie down i find it difficult to get up before it gets dark. Also most of the stalls and shops in the town close around 7 so i havent really seen the town of Li in full daylight yet with everything open. Hopefully i will be getting a tv soon and some english channels so i can use it in the evenings. I think i can get a sports channel and a movies channel so that should help me wile away the evenings. heading back to Chiang Mai at the weekend cos im so bored here....

A typical day in Li

6am: Security open the gate beside my house with a loud screech and a bang. Roll over.

7am: Alarm goes off, get up hit snooze, fall back to sleep.

7.10: Alarm goes off. Turn off and get up. Turn on kettle thing (electric pot jar) and electric shower. Grab towel and have shower.

7.20: Slightly more awake after shower, make coffee, eat something.

7.25: School blares crap music out of tannoy. This continues till 8am.

7.55: Leave house and head for work. Kids rush to assembly where they sing the national anthem and raise the Thai flag, some announcements also made. All in thai so i stop going after a week.

8am: Sign in and head for MEP room. Hop on the net and check emails.

8.30: First period starts. I only have this one on fridays so i usually stay on the internet or plan a lesson.

9.20-11: Maybe have class, try to teach Math/English/Science to Thai kids who giggle a lot. Ask a question and get blank looks in response.

11am: Lunch time. Head down to canteen and get a meal for about 15 baht. Lots of "hello teacher" and "good morning teacher" on the way there and back. Oh and lots of giggling of course.

11.50-4pm: Same as before lunch. Maybe have class, usually plan lessons when not teaching. Spend a lot of time on the internet. Occasionally dragged in front of a class to speak. I stay in the MEP room all day as that is where the internet is. Classes run all day in there so sometimes i get called to participate in the class.

4pm: Hometime! Sign out at front desk. "good morning teacher" + giggles.

4.05: Arrive home and flake out on bed. Read and relax, shower and change.

6pm: Go in search of dinner at the market or the few vendors around the corner from the school.

6.30: After dinner just wander around for a bit, maybe hit the internet cafe (in which all the kids play WoW style games).

8pm: Arrive back home and listen to music for a bit while reading.

9.30: Shower and bed time!

So far this is my routine but hopefully i will get a tv soon so less wandering around in the evenings and more sitting around watching crap tv!

Loy Kathrong in Chiang Mai

Its Friday and the end of a camp the MEP kids were doing. I spend the working day helping them to make presentations along with some of the other teachers. This gets them more used to my presence and voice and gradually become less scared of me (because im such a threatening figure). After all this is done and i have changed out of my workclothes i meet up with Reya and Goy who are bringing me to Chiang Mai for the weekend. First of all though we are staying in Goy's parents house for the night before heading on to CM in the morning. Its roughly halfway between Li and CM and i forget the name. Now her parents dont have great english but the dad is delighted to meet me and is constantly practising the few bits of english he has. They welcome me and show me around their home. Its quite a humble little place except for the 32" flat screen tv and the giant pickup truck. Oh and the snooker table.... They seem pretty content anyway.

The highlight of the stay for me is the crazy cat they have, called Suthee (or something to that effect). This cat had no fear and would attack anything that moved or was stationary so...anything. I try to pet him and he chews on my hand, i walk around and he attacks my feet. All in all good clean fun as he doesnt really have sharp teeth or claws so it wasnt sore. So while everyone else is babbling away in thai and doing their own thing im tormenting the cat. After a while we go outside and let some lanterns off in the garden. This is some kind of ritual to ward off spirits and you are supposed to make a wish as you release it. You light the candle at the bottom of the bag and wait till the lantern fills with hot air, then release and it floats away. Ive had a few discussions about what happens when the candle goes out but we dont know.

After this we go for some food but along the way we stop to look at the local parade. This consists of several small villages together parading through them all with their kathrongs that are going to be in a competition. Each village makes a special large one and there is a competition for the best. After watching this we get some food and then venture down to the fair where the parade ended. We sit down and watch a few things on the stage before letting off a lantern with the rest of the crowd. This was really pretty watching all the lanterns going up together. Soon after this we head home and i sleep like a log, its been a long week.

Up for 7am with the two girls we head off for Chiang Mai. The reason we are up so early is because Goy is working so myslef and Reya have the day to ourselves. I arrange to meet the two gang off the programme who i met in Bangkok and who are working in CM later in the day but first we head off to the guesthouse and nap for an hour. Reya is Filipino and has been working in Li for 3 years and knows CM pretty well so she leads us to a cheap (180 baht a night) but nice hostel. She shows me the bookstores where i stock up on some reading materials (english naturally). I get a call from Pez to say he has something to do so cant meet us till the evening so now we have a few hours free to do whatever. Reya is quite laidback so not really forthcoming with exciting ideas and i know nothing about what is here so we are at a bit of a loss really. Then i decide i want to get speakers for my creative so i can listen to music in my room and she brings me to a massive shopping centre (or mall for the americans) and i pick up a cool set for less than 1000 baht. We wander around here for the day and get tired so as the afternoon drags on we decide to go back to the hostel and relax for a bit before we meet Pez and Cindy later for food and drinks.

We meet Pez for dinner a while later and get Italian as i was craving western food. Just as we are finishing we get a call from Cindy who meets us near the Tha Pae gate (where we are and a lot of western style shops, hostels and restaurants are located). Now we go to a rooftop bar which is a bizarre little place. Situated looking down on the square beside the gate it is a hippy looking joint with no seats and tiny tables. The idea is that you sit on cushions on the floor at your tables. We have a few relaxing Leos here and head back down to the square to let off a lantern. Pez and Cindy hadnt done this yet so were excited to try it. Afterwards we head for the Ping river and float a few Kathrongs which is the main part of the festival. All of this, by the way, is with the sound of fireworks being let off left, right and centre around us. They love them over here and they are constantly being let off. Down by the river was the worst as we had people right beside us letting off screaming things. We head back to the gate slightly deafened for a nightcap before going our separate ways.

The next day i wander around a bit again before catching a 3 hour bus ride back to Li. Overall CM is a lovely city with a nice mix of Thai and Western culture without being as crazy as BKK. It helps that it is much smaller of course. There is plenty to do and see as i learn when wandering around and i think i will be back soon to do more of the touristy things but for now it was nice to have a relaxing weekend!