Although it is 2547 here in Thailand (you add 543 years to our current year), the weather here feels just like home in Hawai'i, hot and humid so you need a couple showers a day, rainy at times (actually it's downpouring right now), and yes, the mosquitos still love my sweet blood here, even on the other side of the world.
Some things are even more familiar, like the 7-11 stores on nearly every block, and having cable TV with CNN to keep me up to date on the Olympics and news, ESPN, Thai MTV, and HBO to watch movies, is very nice. What's also nice is having air condition (I'm spoiled really, because I've never lived with air condition, not even in Hawai'i.)
The people are so generous and kind and helpful here. For a young American who looks Thai, but doesn't speak a word of it, people are more than willing to drive me places, help me learn the language, and show me where bathroom is (after I held it for so long until I could figure out how to ask).
At the school, there is definitely a hierarchy, and the teachers of the English Program are treated better than the Thai teachers, which is strange. Yesterday, at an assembly, four young boys hauled a couch from the principal's office to the next building so that the principal and his wife could sit to view the performances. Jill and I (the EP teachers) always sit next to them. Yesterday, a local news stations came to interview Jill on how she feels about Mother's Day, the Queen's birthday, and celebrating it at the school. They make sure we have everything we need, that the air condition in the room suits us well, and they even gave me extra hangers, laundry baskets, and new sheets for the bed. Someone is also going to drive me to the Big C (like a K-mart) to get groceries and things tonight.
Today is the Queen's Birthday, a national holiday on August 12th. The entire school staff is going to Pra Pathom Chedi (the biggest chedi - or Buddhist temple - in the world) in our town to celebrate. We are all wearing uniform shirts (which all the teachers had to buy, but not us, the foreign teachers), and we will probably be in the rain, since it is pouring out now.
I will probably be taking over for Jill and teaching full time the week after next, as she prepares to leave to go back to the states. Soon, after that, Christy will join me from Seattle and team teach with me. I will take this next week to make sure I have all the plans ready and learn everything I need from Jill before she leaves. The parents are very eager and supportive (they pay about 3 times as much for their children to be in the English Program.) and want their children to be fluent in English as well as Thai. There are actually more resources here than I had previously imagined. With a white board, a building that is only a year and a half old, brand new teacher desks in another room, workbooks for each child for every discipline, and a full-time Thai teaching assistant (who also teaches Thai language, history, and culture to the children), the program is well under way. Much of this was due to Jill's hard work, preparation, and organization, as she was directed to start this program with only a week's notice back in May. For a first year teacher, she's done a lot already to get this program started, and the parents and administration are very happy. Hopefully I will be able to continue what she has started.
There are 7 children, 5 boys and 2 girls, currently in the EP. All Thai people go by their nicknames, as their Thai names are too long. Game, Mint, Phu ("Pooh"), Pop, Prael, Mon, and Jun range in ages from 6 to 8 years old. All of them have had English schooling before, and some get extra tutoring now. There are a couple of squirrely ones, but with a lot of fun personalities. We all eat together at lunch, family style, and enjoy a homecooked meal of about 4 - 5 Thai dishes and rice.
Living on campus is nice, as I am only a walk past a couple of buildings away from my classroom, but I have got to work on my Thai speaking. One of the teachers that Jill hangs out with is here a lot on the weekends, but she doesn't know any English, and I do not know Thai yet, so that would make hanging out hard.
Tomorrow, I will head with some staff members to Chonburi province to watch some of our students from the school compete in an academic competition.
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