I don't remember how I described time as feeling in my first blog, but regardless, I am almost in shock that I am already into my fifth week of teaching. When I think about it, all the days and weeks just sort of meld together. But it's good. Classes are going, life is happening, ya know, sabet sabet (which I believe is like the thai equivalent to c'est la vie).
Lots of stuff is actually going on with the school right now. I didn't know it until recently, but the end of November and pretty much the ENTIRE month of December is riddled and crawling with....HOLIDAYS! During the last week of November, Thursday and Friday were Sports Day. It's sort of like field day (if you ever had that in Elementary school). There are no classes, and there are different activities and, you guessed it, sports to play. Each day starts off with some choreographed dancing and singing and routines and it's all very....thai. It's all really super thai. The kids had fun, though. And I was happy to have two days off from teaching, of course. But it doesn't stop there.
In December I don't think there is a single full week in the entire month. This week, the first week of December, is the week awaiting the King's Birthday. It's really interesting to me how much everyone here loves the king. It's not like in America where you have Fox News screaming at Obama, and everyone everywhere is arguing and fighting and slandering everyone in office (not that I blame it really, I hate every politician too. Oops). But because of his birthday we are not going to have classes on Friday, but instead have different activities as a school that I'm sure in some way honor him. And because his birthday is on a Saturday, we get Monday off. So there's that. Tuesday, class. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, no class, because of English Camp.
What is English Camp? What are these kids doing going to something called English Camp? To be honest I am still a little in the dark myself. English Camp is when all the IEP and LVT levels 1 and 3 get on busses and drive about two hours away to camping ground with lodges and housing. There will be different activities incorporating English, and some fun time to socialize and hang out. Basically, I was told by my British coworker that it's a chance to get the students out of their parents' hair for a couple days. The kids pay about 13 hundred bhat for the three day trip. Not only do the parents get a break from their kids, the school will make a pretty penny for taking all the kids away. And the teachers are there to do what we do every day in class: babysit.
Apparently quite a bit of drinking goes down at this thing, from both teachers and students. I don't know how much of the talk from the teachers is real and how much is joking, but I do know that the students are "allowed" to drink on this trip, even though I think we are supposed to discourage it. It'll be nothing less of exhausting, I can guarantee that much.
So next week only has one class. Then the week after that we finally have a full week of class. Which is lucky, because the week after that is for Midterm Exams. Now all these sports days, and birthdays, and english camps would be nothing but a pleasant break from having to always be in class, but then, of course, the fates make it a difficult bitch. After not having regular scheduled class for almost a month, I have to give these kids a midterm exam that is worth a decent part of their grade. Now I am already not expecting them to do well on it (well, they probably will because they will copy the one smart kid's test), but now I have to cram half the semester's lessons into a very small amount of time. My level one classes only meet once a week, and one of the classes, 1/7 E Group 1, only meets with me on Friday. Now if you've been counting, that's three fridays in a row I won't see them. I still have to give them the FIRST quiz that the other level one classes got almost two weeks ago. It's sort of a big mess. Having all these days off would be more relaxing and rewarding if it didn't screw up the entire work schedule for these kids. But hey, everyone here tells me to relax and not to worry about small stuff, so I'm going to put this in that category, and just not worry about it so much. I'll make the midterms easy so that they all have a fair shot. Although, that doesn't really matter because they will all copy the two or three smart kids in the class anyway. So in the end, everyone will pass, and everyone will be happy.
I just recently found this out, but the reason that the private schools (which is what I teach at) are not as prestigious as public government schools is because, unlike in America, private schools in Bangkok are for the students who dropped out of regular public school. So you drop out of regular school because you either didn't work hard enough, or were kicked out, so to finish your schooling, you go to a private vocational school (like a business school) to learn a specific trade (like English, or tourism, or computers) that will hopefully help you get a job. It's not like in America where the wealthier population pay for private schools because they're more specialized and prestigious. Here they pay for the private schools because they have to. Once I learned this my entire school made a lot more sense. And it also made perfect sense why these students pass at the end of every semester. Because, let's face it, they're the customers, and the customers are always right.
I am excited for English Camp though. I think it will be some great silly fun. The students know I play guitar, and my fellow teachers have asked me to bring it to play a song or two during our nighttime activities. I just found out the girls like a few Oasis songs. Considering the Western music they know, Oasis is like a godsend. I'd much rather play them some Oasis songs on guitar than Jason Mraz or...Michael Jackson or something.
Rock and roll music is not so big in Bangkok. Now I know there are a lot of places I have yet to see, and I have been told about a small underground music scene that exists, but for the most part it's just Eagles cover bands. Yeesh. Everyone here just wants to hear the old safe songs that they know and can sing along to. That, I do not dig. I want to start a band and play in bars, but I don't want to have to play covers to do it.
So what else what else what else. I had my first Thanksgiving away from home. While I missed my family terribly (awwwww) I still had a very nice night. I went to a pub on Sukhumvit 33, which is a slightly pricey and very western part of the city. Lots of English pubs that are just as expensive as the pubs in America. There I had a delicious Thanksgiving Buffet with my friend Andy and his girlfriend Bo. The food was great, and there was everything I could have wanted for the meal. Stuffing, ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, crispy potatoes, noodle salad, regular salad, chicken terrine, broccoli and cheese, more potatoes, ah, I am getting hungry just writing about it. I ate and ate and ate until I hated myself, like a true American. We went to a part of town I had never been to after dinner, Nana, to get some drinks and play pool. Nana is a fun part of town, and I'm glad I know how to get there now.
I have been using the BTS (skytrain) to get around more often. It's great, simple, and easy to use. The trains here are definitely nicer than the CTA. God, trains everywhere are nicer than the ones in Chicago. For as much as I like that city, it sure has the absolute worst public transportation ever. The only problem with using the BTS is that there are no stations within walking distance from my house, and no bus line appears to go to a nearby station, so the only way to use the skytrain is to take a taxi to a station. The whole idea for me to use the skytrain is to eliminate the charges a taxi brings, but it isn't quite that simple, huh.
Last weekend we went to a big bar/show/dinner/concert for a duel birthday celebration of two coworkers at the school. I took about two hundred and fifty thousand pictures from the night, and will load them for perhaps my next blog. It will be proof that I actually have friends! It was a fun night. It's just the tiniest bit hazy in my memory, but that's just more proof that it was a fun time.
I also went over to a wedding party at my Roger's apartment (my British coworker). It was fun because there were plenty of farangs. A farang is a slang term for a white person. I was called a farang before and didn't really know what it meant, but now i do. Farang actaully means guava fruit (guava seeds!). Since the inside of the fruit is white, they call us farangs. Hilarious right? It sort of makes sense...but the party was a lot of fun, I just ate more and more, and talked with plenty of brits and aussies who have traveled all over the world. I got some good advice on where to go when I travel to India. Roger is one of the coolest people I've met at the school.
Last week I hung out with another coworker, Jill, who also plays guitar. We hung out in her tiny little apartment and learned some old songs together that we plan on playing at English Camp. I guess she used to be in a cover band that would play at different bars around the city, and actually made some good money doing it. Like I said earlier, I don't really want to be in a cover band, but I'd still do it just for an excuse to play music. And if I can make money from doing it, well then, ya know, shit. Why not? Jill is another really cool coworker I am lucky to have. She's from the Philippines.
So this blog is getting a bit too long, isn't it? Maybe I should have broken it up, or written one last week so that this week's wouldn't be so long. Oh well.
Oh! I did yoga for the first time at California Wow. It was intense. I was more sore after that work out than I have been in a long time. It felt really good, even though it was ridiculously difficult. I plan on making it a weekly thing, because I really liked the way I felt when I finished. Well that will conclude this very long post. Hope everyone who's reading is doing well.
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