Golden Triangle!

Us in front of the famous Golden Triangle. I only live one hour south of here! We are standing in Thailand, to the left is Burma and to the right is Laos...

Visiting Tribal Villages - Not sure if I would call this that authentic...

Last Sunday, we decided to take a tour to get a feel for the northern region. One of the stops was a visit to three tribal villages. I know this sounds really exotic, but probably the most authentic part of the entire experience was nearly being run over by two bulls chasing each other. No joke, we were crossing a dirt path, I was in the middle of the road when out of nowhere two HUGE bulls were racing each other headed straight in my direction. I just stood there in a state of shock... it took a few seconds to process the serious consequences of what would happen to me if I didn't move. I finally got out of there just in time! Our hearts were pounding. Our guide thought it was hilarious (Thais laugh at everything!), this was definitely not funny though.
After that initial wake up call (this happened at 9 AM), the rest of the visit felt extremely staged. We visited three villages that were all within a 2 minute walking distance from each other. It felt artificial, contrived, and actually reminded me of Epcot center in Disney World.

Below are some pictures of some of the villages we visited.


We typically arrived in a village, and the people would put on a show for us.

Tourists visit these villages and expect to see untouched culture. However, these people were clearly putting on a show for us in a desperate attempt to preserve what is left of their customs. Is the culture solely existing for us tourists to walk around and examine these people as though they were animals? I seriously felt like we were visiting a zoo and it felt really wrong every time I took a picture.

The two girls below belong to the tribe of the "Long Necks." The girl looked miserable with her rings around her neck.

I thought the picture below was interesting. A woman from the Long Neck village helping her daughter with English homework - I guess that despite their seeming authenticity, globalization is hitting even these people.

We definitely wound up in a sort of tourist trap. Apparently some hill tribes remain isolated from the hordes of tourists, and seeing them can be quite an experience. I would love to see them if I can, but have mixed feelings about it. As soon as too many tourists invade the villages, the visit loses its authenticity and quickly becomes a Disney World-esque experience.

Thank God I'm in Thailand! Seriously....

Everything fell into place for me to come to Thailand last summer. My decision to come here was mostly personal. I had been wanting to do something "extreme" like this for a long time. Last June, I found myself in a situation with zero attachments - nothing was holding me back to pick up and move to Thailand. I knew that if I didn't grab onto this opportunity, it might never happen again. Call it what you want, "soul searching," or whatever, I think this was the best and smartest decision I could have ever made and I have absolutely NO regrets.
I felt things at my old job were not going well, the economy was definitely not helping the situation, and with the way things were running there, I had little faith that it would weather the storm especially after things got really bad in September (after I had already left). Yet, I didn't expect it to get so bad so quickly. I just found out 6o of my ex-colleagues and dear friends were laid off today (or yesterday). The person who replaced me when I left was laid off too. Thank God I am in Thailand! I am not making much, but I have heard little about the state of the economy here, granted I don't understand any Thai... I am sad for my friends who worked so hard and who are now unemployed, but I have faith they will think out of the box and figure out the next move. The people I worked with were passionate and driven, so I have no fear that despite the difficult situation, my friends will be more than ok.
The internet has been working, so I have been spending much of my free time here at school reading article after article, one more depressing than the next, yet all glimmer with Obama hope. I have to admit, from across the world, it really didn't hit me how bad the situation was until I heard from my good friend and ex -colleague this morning about what happened.
So that being said, yes my decision to come here was mostly personal, but I realize that was probably the smartest thing I could have done - sorry I don't mean to pat myself on the back, but it's true. Maybe I should stay in Thailand for longer than 6 months!?

Cool season has arrived!

From one day to the next, the weather has turned. Just a few days ago, I was sweating buckets in my sleep alone (attractive I know). Jen and I had to leave all the doors and windows open at night to not die of heat. Suddenly, the weather has cooled. I now sleep in my hoodie and long pyjama pants and wake up freezing still. Once the Sun comes up, it's warm. This is actually idyllic weather, reminds me of San Francisco during the warm season.
We had been showering in an authentic Thai-style shower, which consisted of pouring buckets of freezing cold water over our bodies. This was doable as long as I was dying of heat, but when the weather turned, we started to beg our coordinator to fix the hot water and pressure, which he finally has! I never realized what a luxury it was to have hot water. The water is warm, not hot, but it will do!

On another note, that rooster's crows have lost their charm (especially when he starts at 4 in the morning and doesn't stop til my alarm goes off) - I think I might have to shoot him soon.

Week One At School - The Amazing Thai Sense of Organization and a bit on Education

Week one is over, finally. This was a long boring week. I have never so anxiously wanted to work before! We arrived at school, and our coordinator/head of the English department told us we would hold off teaching for x amount of time, because they had to get our schedules ready. I was ok with that for the first day. He took us around the school etc. The internet is spotty, but when it works, time flies (it was completely out the last 2 days, yikes).
By the second day, the schedules were ready, but we were still told to simply sit in the teacher lounge for the whole day, because he needed to confirm these schedules with our fellow Thai English teacher colleagues the next day at the faculty meeting. Another day of sitting anxiously trying to get the internet to work. The following day, I was a ball of energy after hearing that Obama had won, and all I wanted to do was do something! We had to sit through the faculty meeting in Thai, which I was ok with for about the first 45 minutes, but when it just kept going on and seemed like it would never end, I really thought I was going to lose face. Important side note: one must NEVER lose face in Thailand or else.... I thought I could handle that, just plaster a fake smile constantly, that should do the trick... But if anyone knows me, I can be pretty transparent sometimes, and at 4:30PM on Wednesday after finding out that Obama had won and after spending the entire day sitting in the teacher lounge, I nearly lost it! He finally introduced us to our Thai colleagues and after that happened, I just closed my bag and said, ok thank you, see you tomorrow. Our coordinator awkwardly looked at us: You gooo....? Anyway, it seems that anytime I think I've made a huge faux pas here, it's actually fine. Thais are pretty relaxed and we are just as looney to them as the may sometimes seem to us (no, I honestly don't think that they are looney, just have a very way of doing things, but I certainly think that sometimes they think we are), so I think they just blame weird things on cultural difference.
The next day, we were told to observe the classes and at this point I didn't want to start teaching on Thursday because it would throw off the my week plans. Of course, some of the teachers absolutely did not understand what it meant to observe... So we wound up sort of teaching anyway...!
I sat in on the fabulous "Engrish" teacher who came to meet me in Bangkok . She was teaching a class on Religion... Umm, what? These children can't even introduce themselves and they are teaching them a class on religion in an English class? She wrote belief BELIEFF on the board and for Buddhism she wrote "people born again after die." I really feel like I cannot go wrong here! No matter what I do , it will be god sent compared to what the teachers are doing.
It is ingrained in the students' heads to be submissive to their teachers. They are not allowed to ask questions, because this would make the teachers look bad. So many students have no idea what is going on. Teachers just stand up in front of a class of 45, with a microphone usually, have the book open and just read from it in Thai. One of the teachers was teaching about the passive voice. Why are we teaching about the passive voice when one of the teachers in the department cannot even spell belief correctly?! I used to use the passive voice in my essays a lot, and my English teachers always corrected it telling me it was a very French sentence construction.
We often find ourselves having major misunderstandings with certain teachers, but we roll with it - we have to ! And it's usually just funny. It's all about have a sense of humor. I mean, our colleagues truly are so kind. They are really excited for us to be here, and I try to speak to them as much as I can, but it typically ends in awkward smiling silence :)
I'm really excited now to teach. I can't wait to get in there and try and have some fun with these children. Some of them are really adorable. One boy came to talk to me yesterday and he actually speaks better English than the teachers AND he is learning French. I find this absolutely remarkable after seeing how antiquated and terrible the education system is here!
Another thing, I find that Thais always want to make you happy. Perhaps this is manipulative of us, but when I phrase a question in a certain way, many times I can get what you want out of it. Yesterday, we had a phenomenal luncheon with the department at a hotel where they very sweetly welcomed us. The hotel was only a 5-minute walk from our house. Even though we knew quite well that we were supposed to go back to school afterwards, we managed to politely ask if we were required to go back to school when our house was so close. Act dumb I guess, ha.
This is definitely a whole new world, and I didn't expect to be so excited about teaching, but I feel that there is so much work to be done, I feel that no matter what I do, it will help!

Obamania in Thailand

We found out about Obama's victory on Wednesday Nov 5th. Thank God the internet worked more or less. Jen and I were glued to the internet anxiously awaiting any news. Finally my mother called at around 11AM and told me he won. I almost cried! I mean, I had a feeling he would win, but I still felt like it was a dream come true. I was in the middle of the school courtyard under the beating sun, I felt so far from it all! I was so emotional and wanted to celebrate, but I couldn't - I had to sit quiety in the teacher lounge! I kept trying to bring it up with my fellow Thai colleagues, but no one could really communicate with me. I told a class, " This is a big day today for America, we have a new president, do you know who?" and they all yelled out: "Obama!" Later on in the faculty lounge, the teachers turned the TV on and every channel was discussing the news... in Thai of course. Thais here seem to know who he is, but don't know anything about his platform or rather his family. Family is very important here "Yes, I know Obama, but I don't know his family!" We asked if they knew who Palin was and one teacher said " Beatiful!" And I said, "very stupid!" (yes I speak pigeon English to the Thai English teachers), and that got them laughing! My coordinator was the only person who expressed anything of substance - he said Thais were 50/50 on Obama, as some feel he is against free trade, which would in turn hurt Thailand. Anyway, I think my Thai colleagues were amused by my excitement about Obama's victory. We went out for some drinks in our little town to celebrate. Ah, after a long week of frustration (next entry), this definitely made my week!

3rd batch!

Every morning at the school, the children line up for some speeches , and to be honest I have no idea what else since I don't understand a word of Thai !

Thais seem to love giving out awards. Yesterday, we were required to sit in on one of the lengthy staff meetings (where again we had no idea what was being said), and where awards were being given out.

They proceeded to introduce us as the new foreign teachers. I stood up near stage and just smiled stupidly while the principal just spoke about me in Thai, she could have been saying I was a stripper for all I know! I was then told to give a little speech, where I just said a few words. They had no idea what I said of course.

The door to the English deparment... shouldn't the sign be in English?

With Jen in Chiang Mai a few dyas before started to teach.

My room...