After a morning of 4 back to back kindergarten classes last Wednesday, I stumbled over to our favorite house-restaurant close to school and I got just what I needed. I may have already mentioned that it is far more normal for people to eat out in Thailand than it is for them to cook a meal in their homes. It is so commonplace that most restaurants (and there are dozens on each block) just look like the downstairs of someone's home. "The Green Place" (our name for it) is one of those such establishments. The owner, Ah, and her family have been nothing but wonderful to all of us furongs since the day we first bombarded them with all of our service at one time. Some of us have gotten really close with Ah, even to the point of learning Thai with her and talking about our upcoming jobs.
Anyway, I think we were all feeling pretty beat and just overwhelmed when about 30-40 or us showed up, as usual, to eat at Ah's. When we arrived, we were greeted with an entire table filled with already prepared food. There was sticky rice and mangoes, bananas and lychee fruits, fried rice, egg rolls, cashew chicken, morning glory (a delicious vegetable meal), vegetable stir fry... and she and her husband and daughter were still going at their street kitchen. She told us, "This is for you! Because you're leaving tomorrow! Thank you for coming to eat here."
She didn't charge us a cent.
Talk about a nice farewell. The organization that we paid money to didn't even do that well!
The next day, which was our actual last day, she gripped my arm and with legitimate tears brimming in her eyes she said, "I love you. Come back to visit." I'm not ashamed to say that I broke down bawling. Immediately. It was like a switch was flipped and every emotion I'd ever suppressed in the last month fell on my head at once. This stranger loved me and I although I had known her only a week or two and we'd only shared a few broken conversations in our non-native languages and about a million smiles and laughs, I loved her back. How crazy is that? Loving isn't that complicated after all. She hugged me and we both laughed at how ridiculously sentimental we were being. I tried to pull it together on the walk back to school but it definitely took me several blocks.
Teaching at camp was a lot of fun but it was very exhausting. They told us it was not a fair representation of what we would be faced with at our placements because, for one, I won't even b teaching Prattom (grade school) or Aunubon (kindies), but more importantly because at camp we are the "substitute teachers" so the kids know that they can get away with a lot more with us one the one day that they see us. I hope, that the fun part carries over though.
And when will I be able to tell you about my own students and my first "real" teaching experiences? you ask. Well, as of 430 this morning I am "home" and I will go into school on Tuesday. Tomorrow is Monday and we will head over just to check everything out. We will even meet our first Thai teacher (this is a big deal because the Thai teachers are going to be our best friends and first points of contact here).
There was a slight change in plans however. Over 2 weeks ago, we were given our placement information. This means, we were told where we were going, who else was going with us, what grade levels we would be teaching, and even a little bit about the accommodation options we could expect. Needless to say, although I was pretty pumped about my placement, I'm glad I didn't waste a blog entry on elaborating on it to all of you great folks, since 2 days ago they told me I wouldn't go to the Northeast (Esan) after all. It's up north for me in Phrae Providence, Thailand! Which, to be honest, is the best that it could be. I got off the bus this morning (after a 9 hour trip) and I wasn't sweating bullets. I certainly wouldn't go as far as to say that I was cold (LORD knows, I'm not in Indiana), but maybe I would say that I wasn't melting. The lady who came to get us asked me if I was cold, "Nao?" she asked and even though I'd never heard the word before, I could tell by the way she was pretending to shiver and rub her arms what she was trying to ask me. I laughed and told her, "Mai nao! Chan chawp!"
Let me back up a little first though. We "graduated" from XploreAsia on Thursday, which could have meant that I did as well on the test as I thought I did... or it could have just meant that class participation and lesson planning were more heavily weighted than everything else combined and almost everyone passes anyway. From there, we (6 or us from Blue group and 4 from other groups) literally went straight to Bangkok for yet another orientation with our new agents. For those of you keeping track, that is the 3rd agent I have dealt with on my journey to the Thai classroom. Greenheart -> XploreAsia -> now, Mediakids. Maybe it was because my orientation with MediaKids was only a day and a half so I had no time to get grouchy with them (although changing my placement was a bit of a shock), maybe it was because they fed us, maybe it was because they paid for our transportation to Bangkok from Hua Hin, maybe it was because the staff is so outgoing and sweet, but whatever the reason, I feel like I've finally found my final fit as a MediaKid. I feel very confident with the type of support I am going to receive with them. Already, our consultant has set us up with everything and I think the rest will be smooth sailing. Only time will tell if my gratitude is well-placed, but something tells me I'm in the right place.
While on the topic of "good feelings" let me just say that my first nine hours in Phrae have been wonderful. There are 2 giant temples within walking distance and I found myself a nice little internet cafe to get some work done (I'm supposed to be making lesson plans instead of writing about my life haha). However, I was starting to worry that me and the other XploreAsia alumna that I came with would be the only English speakers besides the kids we taught. Everyone from the landlady who is very sweet and let me wash and dry my clothes for only 30 baht, to the shop owner who sold me a black skirt (only my second and that's all I can wear to school... oops), to the 7-Eleven attendants have only been able to rattle off a string of Thai at me. When I smile and laugh they do too so it's ok, but I had a moment when I was curious whether I'd ever hold an entire conversation in English with anyone beside my other English teacher friend.
That was until I walked into a place that said (in English) "Breakfast, Coffee, Café, Souvenirs & Gallery." That's the place for me, I thought! I walked in and started to make my way to the cashier when I heard a quiet, "Hello..." There, right before my eyes was a table filled with English teachers just like me! Five Americans and a Canadian! I was floored. We chatted for a few minutes and then they headed out. I even got invited to take a trip with a couple of them next weekend! Part of my genuinely feels like I'm cheating a little. I wanted to come to a rural place, right? I wanted to try to do this on my own and not depend on anyone, right? I wanted to force myself to learn Thai and get totally immersed in the Thai culture, right? However, they aren't at my school and having English-speaking friends will not prevent me from also making Thai friends. I'm just going to keep embarrassingly trying to speak Thai and waiing my butt off everywhere.
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