I have been here nearly a month now so I figured it was time for another post. I had a hard time writing this one because I have been doing so much every single week, with new experiences that I want to tell you all about. 

The School

So far I love my job at the school. I really got thrown into the deep end as soon as I got here but when it comes to teaching I have found that I prefer it that way. It was never going to be an easy job to get used to so lets just start already and let the challenges come. I have been teaching first graders English for 2 and a half weeks now and I love it. Starting to get the hang of it as well. It has been tough because I had no idea what kind of ability they would have in the subject. So I had some pretty big failures of lessons at first with A LOT of blank stares comin back at me. But I was expecting these kinds of things to happen at first with so little info on my class. It happens and ya work with what ya got. I have about 200 first graders that I see and they are NUTS. Very funny but SUPER hyper active. my loud voice is all that is saving me at this point with my management. I get loud and the 50 kids in the class may not understand what I am saying but they know they don't want to keep misbehaving. 

There has been one pretty difficult part to the job and it's a big downer of a topic, so I don't want to dwell on it long, but it's something I wanted to include here, especially for all my teacher friends back home. They still hit the students here. It is very uncomfortable and hard to watch. It is like a spanking and the kids are not phased by it at all but it is something I will NOT be able to adjust and get used to. It's a part of their culture and I am a guest in their school. I am still having a great experience teaching Thai children and I know that I will be attached to this school in no time. I am most excited about the field practice we have scheduled for the busy tourism season. Myself and the other English teachers will be taking students to The Bridge Over the River Kwai so they can practice using their English with real native speaking people in the real world. I can't wait for this and I am counting down the days.  

First Grade Hallway. 4 first grade classes with a total of 200 hundred students

Thai marching group

Practicing our english songs for an upcoming program

Kanchanaburi Province

The town that I am living in is called Kanchanaburi. The population is about 50,000 and is considered a smaller town. I really enjoy the town so far. It's a cool river town located in the mountains and attracts a lot of hippy backpackers. It's also a hot spot for people who want to get away from the craziness of Bangkok. It's cheap and since it's a bigger tourist destination it's a bit westernized. We are in the slow season for travel and tourism though so I only see Thai people right now. I almost never see another Farang (white westerner as the Thais have dubbed us) around the town. This brings a lot of attention on  that has been hard to get used to. At school and around town at the markets and restaurants I get LOTS of stares. Hard to not notice all the gawking at you but I don't really blame them. I am weird and I look very different. I am the first white male to EVER teach at my school so I can understand the reaction I suppose. People approach me at the market and always want to talk to me about my height. Everyone always does the same thing too. They come and stand right next to me, gesture about the height difference with their hands, and then make some kind of shocked sound like "WHOA!" or "AI YAI YAIEEE!" (not sure how to spell these sounds) I get this on the daily. No joke. 

It's extremely beautiful here though. Waterfalls and mountains everywhere. I took a trip to Erawan Nationals Park where there is a 7 tiered waterfall. Pretty cool stuff. 

Srinagarindra Dam 

Erawan Waterfalls at Erawan National Park

 

I think I will close with a few photos of the challenges of being tall here. Bathroom door is surprising low. My first two days in my place I thought I was going to be concussed I hit my head so often. School is also not a safe place for me to let my guard down. If I don't pay attention I'll break my nose in the hallway. 

Ok so here goes another teaching trip abroad. I know this a bit behind schedule but you will have to forgive me. Things have been NUTS and I have been pretty busy with training, moving, and settling into a new place.

27 painful hours after I left Minneapolis I finally arrived in Bangkok. So exhausted and overwhelmed by everything. The city is HUGE and crazy. I have been to large cities before but they all pale in comparison to the business of Bangkok. My cab driver seemed like he had a death wish on the way to my hotel but as it turns out everyone seems to drive pretty carelessly in this city. Got myself a good nights sleep and I was ready to hit the town and explore. I asked the front desk of my hotel where would be a good place to go and they recommended downtown Siam. So I jumped on a Skytrain and went to check it out. Pretty cool stuff. Enormous buildings and shopping malls everywhere. It felt just like home so it was maybe not the best first Thai outing for me but I still had a week so wasn't to worried.

An Idea of the traffic in Bangkok

The next day I had to report to a new hotel for orientation. I was pretty excited and nervous for this. I was ready to meet people and hopefully find other teachers that lived in/ near my town to hang out with. I checked in and immediately joined a group of people to go explore Bangkok with. We took a train into the city (our hotel was almost in suburb territory) and decided to try and find Khaosan Road. Touristy area near the river with lots to do. On our way we cut through China Town. I know, still not a whole lot of Thai stuff in my life but that will come, promise. China Town was very interesting though. It was market that never seemed to end, with streets so narrow you had to walk in a single file line. We had to keep on our toes because as it turned out motorcycles would zoom down these narrow, people jammed streets, and we were just expected to jump out of the way! 

China Town

That night we went to Khaosan Road. This is a big "Farang" or Westerner street for night life. Bars everywhere with cheap Thai beer. So we bar hopped for a while and then called it an early night since orientation was starting tomorrow. Had to be awake and with it for the first day after all. 

Khaosan Road 

Orientation was great. I learned a lot about Thai culture and the Thai school system. I wish I had learned more about how to teach English as a second language but it's been fine so far! The program included a few "cultural outings" which was great because they took us to some of the biggest tourist sites in Bangkok. First we went to the Grand Royal Palace. The palace was enormous, amazing, and soooooo different from any kind of castle or palace I have seen before. It was here that I first experienced what it was like to be a celebrity. People kept approaching me to have their photo's taken with me, which of course I was awkward about. I always agreed but looked obviously uncomfortable most of the time. 

My 15 minutes of fame...

A few shots of the palace 

That night we then attended a classic Thai theater performance. Could not take any pictures there sadly but it was pretty interesting. It was completely in Thai (obviously) so it was a bit hard to follow. Cool to experience none the less. The next day our training in Bangkok had come to an end. We bussed out to Kanchanaburi (the town I am living in) for the last two days of our training. Such a cool town. Very relaxed little river town in the mountains. I am pretty pumped to be living here. It was here that we went on an elephant ride! This was maybe one of the highlights of the week for me. Riding an elephant isn't something that happens everyday after all. Or at least in America it doesn't happen everyday. 

The elephant camp

After the elephant excursion we took a float trip down The River Kwai on bamboo rafts where we got a chance to swim and cool off from ride in the sun. With our long day not over yet we then boarded the bus again and went to see the historic Bridge Over The River Kwai. This is a very dark part of the history of the town and an important thing to visit. 

Bridge Over The Rive Kwai

The night/ orientation came to a close with a dinner on a barge that was pulled up and down the river. Awesome views. Dance party ensued. Gangman Style was played roughly every 30-45 minutes. Karaoke happened. It was a blast and a GREAT way to end the first week we had together. Now it's off to meet our school coordinators and head to our placements! Finally getting to see where we will live and what our towns will be like. Can't wait! More to come. Lovin Thailand a ton so far.