กระแต

When we were kids, did we really think our teachers couldn't see us when we had our phones in our laps?  I mean, was that supposed to be sneaky?  We weren't even looking up at the teacher and it was obvious that we weren't paying attention... Oh man, you know what it is?  Haha (this is a natural progression piece, I'm just writing as I think) In high school, I don't think I even had a phone like these new fangled deals we have today.  Even if I did though, I hope I would have been a lot smarter about it.  Like, hands awkwardly fiddling under a sweatshirt on the table?  Really?  Is that the best you can do?   Whatcha got under there?  A kitten?  Or (and this might be my personal favorite) hiding the phone inside the desk at the very back part under sheets of paper and pens.  You honestly don't think I'm gonna come by and bust you, with your attention so focused downwards like that?  What other reason could you have for being so fascinated by the inside of your desk that your head is all twisted and bent on your neck?  That position can not be less uncomfortable than learning some English.  

Rant over.

Oh, nope.  Wait a minute.  Another wave is coming...  I'm staring right into your eyes and my hand is gesturing directly at your body, do you really think I'm talking to the person behind you?  Or the one behind ME?  And person behind you, STOP trying to help a buddy out, I'm clearly not talking to you so don't answer me.  How do you kids not know who I'm talking to?  I will not yield until the chosen one has chosen to respond so you might as well bite the bullet already so we can move on.

This past week, I taught 10 classes about social media.  The irony was not lost on me.  After just the first time I made my class repeat, "Did you like my status?" I had a sharp moment where I was floored that it had come to teaching narcissism in two languages.  I hate facebook, yet here I am teaching little Thai kids how to properly pronounce the social media website's name.  At least I got "Instagram" and "Snapchat" across to them as well.  Bottom line is that they are learning sentence structure and new words no matter what.  "Social Media" was the topic that my agency suggested to me, I'm probably going to finish out the unit but I was told that it wasn't totally required to use their material.  However, it is the world we live in and it's not necessarily all bad anyway.

Most of my classes are delightful, or if not delightful than at least manageable.  I feel like, if I get through the majority of my lesson plan I'm a success.  Really, they are all repeating after me and I'm being diligent about pronunciation, so what else is there that I can do?

However, just as there are good classes, some are just dreadful.  After one particularly terrible experience in which I didn't even get through 3/4 of the material because getting responses was worse than pulling teeth, I went back, defeated, to my office.  A Thai teacher friend of mine asked what was up and I told her such and such class was miserable.  She exchanged looks with another teacher and went, "Oh, you mean the ghost team!"  This class had literally received a reputation among the teachers for sleeping all the time and not participating in class. Great.  At least I knew it wasn't just me boring the daylights out of them.

Found out the other day that we'd been lied to and that the "wear whatever you want outside of school after only a month of mourning" was a little, well, freaking wrong.  It must have been merely premature, telling us that after only a week in the mourning biz, but nevertheless the black wearing is here to stay.  I'm afraid that the principle of the whole thing is really putting a damper on a lot of stuff and I know that sounds very petty and small-minded but no one has every told any of you reading this that they have to wear or do something in your free time that entirely shuts out your freedom of expression.  Dressing professionally at work or in a uniform at school is not the same as telling you, "Ok, for one year you have to walk around being SAD about the loss of something that you've only known to happy about for a few weeks."  I wear black wristbands that say, "I was born in the reign of King Buhmibol" in Thai, I wear black clothes and when I wear white or brown I still have my black ribbon on to show my continued loyalty.

As I was feeling down about this, a Thai teacher friend of mine told me that 100 years ago, it was white that people had to wear when the King died.  They also had to shave their heads, so... I guess things could be worse.

On Thursday, we had a marty (mini-party) to celebrate the new teachers (that's me!).  It was after school and we ate delicious Thai food in a private room at a restaurant and they had us introduce ourselves to the other Foreign Language staff.  We were sitting with a Japanese teacher who warned us that there would be obligatory Karaokeing for the new teachers.  At first I was HORRIFIED but I had actually come around to the idea and convinced myself that as long as the song was in English I was going to rock it... until we were reminded that the King was dead and there would be no singing after all.

That same night, my Thai teacher friend gave me a Thai nickname!  She gave me options but the one that stuck the best was "Kra tae" which means "Treeshrew!"  I think I just like the ridiculousness of the English translation.

Yesterday,  a friend of ours took us all around Phrae!  We saw some really, truly incredible sights.  Here is evidence...

In the Pha Nang Khoi Cave, there is an awesome shrine (if you haven't figured out by now, it is pretty common in Thailand to sprinkle a little Buddhism on nature).

"Spread a little Buddha..." (to the tune of Pippin).

Outside the cave!  We're all trying to make tiny hearts with our fingers but they didn't come out very nicely.  Throughout the entire walk in the cave, we just "blended" in with a group of Thai tourists who wanted photo after photo of the strange, random South/Westerners.  It was adorable, and one man even showed us what to d with the incense at the shrine.  It's not uncommon in Thailand but it was to me.  It was refreshing and nice, however, to be welcomed into an intimate group of people without any discussion or thought.  I like that about being here, it happens almost every day. 

It's P'Tan!  This is our friend who brought us on this great adventure!  Love her!

An outing would be a total loss without a dog, am I right?  Meet Bobo!!!!

Love at first lick.

Here we are at the Phae Mueang Phi National Park with some pretty famous and special rock formations.  I'm not sure why they are either of those things but they sure are pretty!  Phrae is basically known for these bad boys.

Please don't comment on my closed eyes.  I have a condition called Modelcerreojos in which photo anxiety and exposure to the bright, bright sun make it almost impossible for me to keep my eyes open when someone is taking a snapshot of me.  Selfies and I work so much better... I don't mention the fact that since I'm in charge when I notice that my eyes are closed I just delete the picture, thereby rejecting all acknowledgement of it's existence.

Looking good.  We're sweaty too, thank god you can't take a picture of a smell...

Awesome temple with a chatty monk who didn't seem to realize the whole time that none of us understands Thai except for our escort, who also seemed to forget that we needed some sort of interpretation.  It didn't matter, we figured it out.

This reminds me of the Secret Garden.  Shall we refer to it now as "The Secret Temple?"  Yea?  Good.

Another Phrae specialty called Khoa soi.  I have no idea how I've been here over 2 weeks having not yet tried this.  It will not be the last time though.  I've found my new "Pad thai."

So the eye thing... it's real, folks.  I'd appreciate it if everyone just ignored it.

Selfie=open eyes!

Just, LOOK at this temple.  It's the most beautiful one I've seen since I got here.  I can't get over how lovely it it.  The panoramic worked really well too!

Buddha.

This was right after we found out that mourning wasn't over on Monday... you can tell that one of us is better at hiding our frustration than the other, haha!