Tuesday's Schedule

5:00am get up for the day
7:00am Head to temple to bring food for Monks
 7:15am Have Breakfast
 7:20am Finish up some lesson planning for the day
 8:00am walk to school (1 minute away)
 8:15am School begins with opening ceremony
 ~~8:30am – 1:30pm teaching
 6:30-7:30pm Tutoring siblings (high school)

My main English co-teacher, Ann! She teaches English from grade 4-6 (p.4-6). We practice English and eat lunch together. She’s been a great support system throughout my planning process!

 

First Day of School

Went off without a hitch! I wasn’t nervous – perhaps because I had no expectations coming (except that things could change). In the morning, all the students gather in front of the school for a morning service and announcements. Afterwards, I met with my co-teacher. She teaches English from grades 4-6. It was great to know that I had a co-partner involved in this process. I loosely created a lesson plan with the expectations that I would have to mold each lesson plan based on my observations. Today, I taught grade 6-4. I’m still attempting to gage the amount of English that they know, so we started with week days. Some classes had a better grasp than others, and I molded more on the practice section with others. Overall, great day! However, it’s not over. I have to tutor my high school aged host brothers in an hour or so.

Before we start off.

We had the Welcome party with all the volunteers and the host families! I'm not nervous for my first day! I'm feeling a sense of just taking every thing in.

Host family "blessing" ceremony. Parents blessed us before our teaching begins tomorrow

THE FOOD!!! It's sticky rice dyed with flowers! Makes for a sweet Thai dessert

Lost in Translation pt. 2

After this morning’s interaction, things were on the up side. When my dad, and two brothers left, it was just my mom and me. I reassured her (in thai) about how she felt. As I was washing the dishes, I noticed beautiful lotus flowers. She ushered for her to teach me how to fold them in a certain way. As we sat in the living room, folding flowers there was a bond being created. It was a really beautiful sight. I again was reconfirmed that language was never a barrier for us. (finished product below). We’re heading out of town to give these flowers to family.

Lost in Translation

I had an unearthing experience this morning. Usually, my little brother speaks as an intermediate with my mom and me since her English is at a insufficient level. So as I came down to eat breakfast with my mom, she was sitting and watching me. She typed a phrase into Google translate, that roughly spit a broken English phrase of “I’m afraid that you disappointed in me.” I was confused and I tried my best to understand. From my earlier language learning days, I knew that Google translate was not the best for direct translation because it often forgets key conjugations. I tried to use my translator to ask what she was afraid of, but her body language motioned that she wasn’t afraid of anything. She then called another host dad who spoke to me on the phone and said that my host mom was sad because she doesn’t know English and felt I wasn’t getting an enriching experience. I assured the other host dad that it was completely ok. After the phone conversation she started to cry. I felt so terrible. I comforted her and told her it was OK (then also, proceeding to cry), but it was still tough to see her in that position. Even without a lack of language, there are many things that the human body can signal to show love and appreciation. Albeit, it has only been two days, I may have fallen short in showing appreciation. My first day was great – I exchanged gifts to all my family members, went on a motorbike with my mom round our town, and ended the day with watching football with the family. The second day I was so beat, I went to my room with the intention of coming down later and completely passed out. Perhaps it was this second day? Rationally thinking, I think that these issues have nothing to do with me but more of my mom’s confidence in her English skills. I hope over the next months, we are able to arrive to a mutual understanding that we can express ourselves in other ways than language. I hope that my family and I can co-exist in a functional fashion and only time will tell.

Host Family Day 1

Yesterday, was my full first day with meeting my host family. So far, it’s been insightful, overwhelming and exciting at times. We first arrived in Phichit earlier in the afternoon yesterday and met with key people in the program (country coordinators, host families, community members, etc.). We then waited for our host families to pick us up and take use back to our new homes. After getting into my room, my mee (thai for mom) and I drove on her motobike and met with the mayor of our town about my work in this community and any questions that I would have. We then took a drive around and sat by a lake & fed catfish, drove through some temples, visited my paw (thai for dad)’s chicken farm. It was so a good introduction. My paw and I just watched a football game (Thailand vs. Taipei) and I went up to sleep. Yesterday, I was able to visit my school and introduce myself to the teachers and students. (by the way: there is an overdue post about intentions, goals and impressions being a TOEFL teacher in another language as an American and an African. I’ll get to that in another post, but I digress). Today is the morning of the 3rd day, and I hope it goes well. It has been a bit difficult with my mee because she feels a bit shy because of her lack of english but I,also suffer from a lack of thai. A funny moment occured when we both pulled out our dictionary help guides. She had her thai – to english and I had my english– to thai. I hope that we both gain something from this experience and that it is a mutually beneficial transaction.

Now You Know

The other volunteers have arrived! It has made for quite an adventurous day!

06.7.15

Marketplace • Ventured out to a local floating market a bit off the beaten path. One more week in Bangkok till I start working in Phichit and I’m loving it so far

Hello Bangkok

____
Pictures so far:

 

Land of Smile

I’ve arrived in Thailand. To say the least I am humbled and grateful for this experience. There have been moments where I just think to my self, “I know that was you God!” Getting from the airport wasn’t a bad experience. I’m grateful that I live in DC, therefore Bangkok’s train system was a lot less intimidating. Once I knew where my hostel was, I was able to locate the nearest stop. I used google maps to walk from the hostel to the metro stop and was there in 9 minutes or so. It’s cool so far. The hostel that I’m staying at is new and in a quiet part of Bangkok. If I wanted to, I could visit the crazy nightlife of Khao San Road or head to Silom, but in the other hand, I could easily retreat back to my quiet neighborhood of Ari :). I meet my host family in two weeks, and I getting very excited. I hope they like the gifts that I got them. I tried my best to show how much love and appreciation I have for them hosting me.

Getting There

Currently at the airport, waiting for my flight to depart. In assessing my emotions, it seems that I’ve set my expectation bar so low that I’m at a zero. Usually, my motto is to have zero expectations and then everything will be a surprise. I am arriving a whole two weeks earlier than my program because I wanted to get the time to explore the city of Bangkok prior to heading up north. I had also planned to meet another participant/volunteer but plans got fumbled. So maybe that’s why I’m not as excited. haha It’ll be a good time. Flight gets off @ 10:30pm, then we stop at Abu Dhabi, then we can head to Bangkok :)