Elephants and Appreciation

Last Thursday was Thailand’s national Teacher Appreciation day. We participated in a very touching ceremony. In Thailand, the career hierarchy is such that teachers rank just below monks. Teachers are respected and revered for all that they do in society. So every year in June, the students appreciate them. We met in the hall which is just a covered multipurpose area where the students go for gym and prayer. All 800 students sat in the hall. They sat by grade level and gender and sang and recited prayers and words of appreciation to the most experienced teachers. The students made offerings to Buddha and presented the teachers with gorgeous flower bouquets. The school recognized me and the other foreign teachers with a beautiful bouquet. Following the Buddhist offerings and recognition of specific teachers, all teachers sat down in front of the children. When their grade level was called they ran to the teachers, bowed in front of them and gave them flowers that they had picked and wrapped in banana leaves. It was truly amazing. They were on their hands and knees bowing before us with their heads literally touching the ground. It is a sign of thanks and honor that I have never witnessed in the States. Obviously, I did not feel deserving, but I was very touched.

Flowers for their teachers

Two of my students, Tor and Manoon

On Saturday we went Elephant riding. AMAZING! There are apparently only three elephants left in the area that we are able to ride, the four of us rode two of them. We drove about 30 minutes east of our city to a national park. We met our guides and climbed onto the Elephants. We did this by getting above them on a small hill and stepping onto their heads (this disturbed me greatly) and into a small bench attached to their backs. Then we were on our way. It was kind of a bumpy ride…if the bumps were really large and regular. Each step the elephant took lifted or dropped us a lot. But you got used to his stride quickly. Most of the ride (which lasted about an hour) we were on a relatively narrow road. At one point the elephants were walking by putting one foot directly in front of the other (because the path was so narrow). To add to this, they were always walking to the edge of the path and eating. Initially, we were kind of scared, but you get used to all this.

When you are on flat ground it is a wonderfully relaxing ride. The forests are beautiful. Not a whole lot in the way of mammal or bird life, but tons of cool insects and sun blocking trees and foliage. But when we were going downhill, we were pretty certain we would fall off the elephant. The bench we are seated on (obviously) leans forward when the elephant goes down a steep hill (of which there were many). We had to lean completely back and hold on for dear life…it made it all very exciting. All in all it was a really awesome time. We rode the elephants with their trainers sitting on their shoulders and it was amazing all the things they had taught them. They directed them either left or right by nudging them behind the ears (the same way a horse rider might use spurs or reins). When there was a large branch (or even a tree!!!) in our way, they directed the elephants to move them and they listened with no problem. The one thing the trainers could not control was the elephants urge to eat, but we didn’t mind that.

Our elephants-Edwin (left) and Horton the Old Faithful (right). Obviously those are names we came up with. The chains around his neck connected to his foot so they could not run.

The elephant dropping his head so we could get on

The way the bench connected to the elephant so that it did not actually flip when they go downhill.

Stopping for a bite to eat

Amazing eyes

Me holding the chains

Hung nam u ti nai kaa?

The title of this blog means “where is the bathroom” in Thai. I titled it that because this blog entry is going to be all about the logistics of my life in Nan. It’s a lot of information, so I sectioned it.

Nan
Nan is in the North of Thailand, population approx. 24,000. The streets do not have names, at least none that we’re aware of. People get around by bike, motorbike, car, or trucks with seats in the back. There are three markets that take place on weekdays. There is a morning market where they sell fruit, rice, friend chicken, flowers, and incense, and two evening markets. At one evening market they sell raw fish and fruits and at the other they sell typical Thai foods, like noodle soups and pad thai. There are seven 7-11 stores in Nan, but they don’t really sell much that is American, except a few kinds of chips and coke-flavored slurpees. Shops on the streets sell everything from bootleg DVDs (mostly in Thai) and handbags and flip flops to pizza and the Nan equivalent of a smoothie (nam sum). This week I started searching to find muy Thai (a Thai style of martial arts) lessons but have yet to find any.

Your average street in Nan, and a bike with an especially plush seat.

My bedroom, note the sink is outside of the bathroom.

My home
I live in an apartment complex with 7 apartments. My apartment has 3 rooms-a bedroom (the size of a small American bedroom), a bathroom (the size of an American closet), and a very small room in the front (about the size of an American bathroom) which currently holds my shoes and not much else. I live next door to the other girls I teach with (Helena, who graduated from Marist college in NY, Kathy, who graduated from Rutgers, and Kelly, who graduated from Vanderbilt with her masters.) Below and next door to us live high school students, who, in Thailand (or at least Nan), move away from their families to go to high school because the schools are far away. Next door on the other side lives the aunt of our landlady. Most people between the ages of 12 and 60 ride motorbikes. We ride bicycles that have been used by the foreign teachers at our school for the past few years.

Our apartment from the outside

andthe flower in the pond in front of our apartment

My school
I teach at Bandon Srisermkasikorn school. I teach grades 5/1 and 6/1. There are also 5/2-5/5 and 6/2-6/5 students, they are less advanced. My students call me Ajarn Karen, pronounced ajaahn. I have a desk in the English room, where I sit in between classes, but I do not have my own classroom. I travel between the two classes teaching English, as do all the English teachers. When I enter the classroom all the students stand up and greet me with “Hello Ajarn Karen. How are you today?” I respond and ask how they are. Then I have to tell them to sit down. Sometimes I forget and end up starting class with them standing. When class ends, they all stand and say thank you and see you tomorrow. It’s very cute, I will upload a video. I have a co teacher when I am in class. In both my 6th and 5th grade class my co teachers speak enough English to translate whenever there is a huge language barrier. Typically, however, they do not do very much. My biggest problems in class are students not being on task because they did not understand the assignment or directions. Oftentimes it takes a lot of explaining. Typically in class we practice pronunciation, speaking, and vocabulary. I can focus on writing with the more advanced students. Yesterday I taught my students a song/rap about the Three Billy Goats Gruff. It took them a while to be able to say the lyrics quickly, but they really enjoyed it. I hope to teach them dance moves soon.

Money
1 US dollar is equivalent to about 31 Thai baht. We will get paid for the first time on the 30th. We get paid 24,000 baht on the last day of each month, which is more than most teachers make at our school. Our rent is 2,500 baht. The average meal of noodles or rice is 25 baht. Smoothies or coke are 10 or 15 baht. A bottle of water (none of the water in Nan is drinkable, the Thai people do not drink it) is about 5 baht (which is less than a quarter!!). If we want non Thai food (like pizza, pasta, or hamburgers) it will cost more than 100 baht. Laundry (we don’t have washers or dryers) is 50-100 baht per load.

Noodle soup. The balls are pork, pretty tasty but a ton of sodium.Thai people eat by picking food up with the chopsticks and placing it onto the spoon. I’ve become very good at it.

A typical day
I wake up between 6 and 6:30 and am ready to go by 7:15. We ride our bikes to school, it’s about a 3 min ride away. It takes us an extra 5 minutes to get into the school because all the little kids stop us to say hello and give us high 5. We are supposed to be at school by 7:30. We sign in and then get breakfast of either sticky rice with egg custard and coconut milk or fried dough. At around 8 the English room fills with the sounds of young Thai children singing songs. They have a song for the King of Thailand, a song for Buddha, and a song for the school. Class begins at 9 am. I teach 3-4 hours a day (and I have one day where I only teach 2) for a total of 16 hours a week. In between classes we lesson plan, or write blogs, or play solitare, or practice speaking English with some of the students, whatever we desire. We leave school at 4 pm, unless of course they are spraying for mosquitoes because there have been cases of dengue fever and our classes are cancelled (which happened on Friday). After school we run errands-post office, laundry, internet café, etc. We usually get dinner around 6 or 7, we might bike to the night market, or the restaurant down the street from us, or try somewhere that’s been recommended to us. After dinner we might get nam sum and relax outside our apartment. I usually go to sleep around 11. I hope to add Thai lessons once a week, and muy thai lessons to the routine soon.


I think that covers most of the details. More blogs to come soon.

Welcoming you to Nan

(Me at my desk in the English room on my first day of class)







Thailand is an amazingly beautiful place with, so far, amazingly friendly people. I am living in a three-room apartment next door to the other three teachers I came here with, and we are getting along great We live in Nan, a small city in the North of Thailand. We all teach English at the same school where I’m blessed to have the most advanced students, the oldest ones and the ones whose families pay extra for them to have eight hours (rather than 1 hour) of English instruction a week. The kids are awesome. There are a few trouble makers and last week I had to call a few of them out for passing notes and throwing a ball in class, but in general they are very excited to be learning English. I think the most initially striking things about the kids are their nicknames (chu len in Thai). Their given names are quite complicated and difficult to pronounce. But we call them by their nicknames and in my two classes I have a Name, Benz, Bell, Book, Bible, Poop-Pup, Arm, Or, Yo, You, Milk, Mild, Mill, and a Prince. Their nicknames are given to them by their families, some have meaning in Thai, but most don’t.



The three other teachers and I are four of very few westerners, or farang, that live in Nan. When we walk through school or through town we get lots of smiles, stares, and yells. My boss hinted (as I introduced myself to the entire school) that I might be the first black person to step foot in Nan. One of the students pinched my skin and said “black?” Another student asked if have had my hair braided since I was a baby. One of the kindergarten students walked up to me and stared blankly at me. She then shook my hand, whispered to an older student in Thai and continued to stare. It was cute, despite the oddness of it all. The man who cooks the most spectacular pad thai at the night market that we frequent asked me if I was from Africa and in general most people do not assume that I am from the United States.

On Saturday we took a tour of northern Thai culture. We visited several waterfalls, saw traditional weaving and Thai houses, went to two Buddhist temples (and rang the gongs!!!!), stopped at a fruit market, bought rattan woven chairs, and visited a cave (pictures below). Our guide also taught us a ton of useful phrases. In the coming months we hope to spend a few days in the jungle camping out, go white water rafting and kayaking, spend the day elephant riding, and visit the major cities near Nan (and by near, I mean a 6 hour bus ride away, rather than an 11 hour ride).

I hope to be able to share with everyone all the things I’m learning about life as I spend time in Thailand. The first major revelation that I had is that I am blessed with an amazing group of friends, both from home and school. One of my fellow teachers could tell by just looking at the pictures I have with me, that my friends are unusually great. And as I listen to my new friends tell stories about their friends at home I realize (with no offense to them) that my friends are a very special group, that most people are never lucky enough to have.



Until next time…Sawatdee kaa







These are Buddha statues that were in the cave that we traveled to. Every year the entire town of Nan (pop. about 20,000) visits the cave to worship.

This is one of the doors of the temple we visited. I don't know if anyone actually prays there still, but it's beautiful.



























This is the Nan river.
















Below are rice planters. They cover their entire body to protect themsevles from the sun. We passed by the homes of several of these planters. They are traditional Thai homes with tin roofs and modest furniture. Strangely enough, most of them have very large flatscreen televisions.
Very large spiders (the bigger one, larger than my hand) that we saw in the cave. NOT poisonous.