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Me and Cartoon
How cute is she??! Kung's cousin's baby!!Note to my lovely readers!!! I have written this blog over a number of days, so the time references are slightly all over the place!! Happy reading :o)
I have now been here for three weeks. I can't make my mind up if it feels like more or less than that!!
One thing I do know is that I am starting to feel settled, getting my head around this little town, and the fact that its where I'll be living for the next year.
The pictures in this blog are all actually from my friend's camara and all from her brother's wedding I got to attend last weekend. I would love to add more pictures of the school, town and things, but unfortunately my camara has died a death!! SO, next weekend I will get a new one, and then my next blog will be full of pictures!! Well, just realised that my camara isn't quite dead, got it half working, so added a few more pics, yes, I'm bored waiting for Champs League Final!!!
I'll try and go through things chronologically, but knowing me, I'll end up off tangent in many places!
My first week at work As
explained in my last Thailand blog, my first week at work was a short one, only four days, after we got the Monday off because of the hours we did at the weekend for the parent's days. Infact, have worked three weeks, and all three will have been Tues-Friday weeks, the other two because of public holidays, a common occurance here, and something I'm sure I will get used to!!
This week was split down the middle. Tuesday and Wednesday were all about myself and the three Team Teachers (Thai Teachers who will work alongside us in the classroom to help with translation, classroom management and modelling) getting our barings with our new working environment and the company.
We did the usual contract stuff, got issued uniforms, told the do's and dont's and learnt about the Fun Language Philosophy and teaching styles. We spent sometime looking at the different lesson elements, watched a videoed lesson but didn't go into anything in too much depth.
The more I learnt about the teaching, the more excited I became! Can I see myself running around for a year singing, dancing and getting a lot of use out of a big
plastic sqeeky hammer?! Yes, I can!!!
We also spent time looking around the school, meeting teachers, and acquainting ourselves with both the local shops and the AMAZING food the dinner ladies churn out everyday. Its real Thai grub, cooked to perfection and clearly with love, and you can so taste it!! Even now after three weeks, i have only had one lunch I wouldnt put in the scrummy bracket, and that's only cos it was overflowing with coconut, and that's not to my personal taste. Otherwise, its been amazing, varied and mmmmmm. Yes I'm enjoying work, but that still doesnt stop lunchtime being out and out my fav time of day!
The last two days of the week were spent teacher training. Basically fifty of the teaching staff at the school were put through 2 days of fun language training to increase their awareness of what we do and in the hope some of them may implement some of our ideas in their lessons, and that all of them would realise we are approachable and want to help out wherever we can.
The training was led by Bobby (the main man in Lopburi) and Kate (the main
My kind of offering!!
I love the way one of the things offered is a couple of bottles of beer! trainer from Bangkok). I really enjoyed it. It was my job to help out at different points in the presentation but mainly to circulate between the four teams we put the teachers in and help them out with tasks and just get to know them a little better, as well as learning more about our courses from the presentations given.
I was so impressed at the attitude the teachers gave to this training, they got involved, were attentive, interested and really enjoyed themselves. I think back to my own teachers, and could I imagine any of them (well maybe a certain freaky tight wearing geography teacher would have been up for it, but she's a special case) getting stuck in at a hands on training session that required them to run around, play chinese whispers, jump up and down, play hospital beds, sing songs etc etc. Well just no, I couldnt!!!
Even though most of the teachers have very little English, the majority were so keen to have a go and improve. if the kids are as eager as their teachers, i'll be well happy!
At the end of Friday's session, we gave each teacher their attendence
certificate, and out came the cameras and we were asked for posing pictures, it was so cute! And it made me realise how highly my role in this school is going to be regarded. Well, I'll make a pledge now, that I hope I do the school proud :o)
The Wedding Weekend After my first week at work, I expected to spend the weekend relaxing and doing a little more exploring and finding my feet. I never imagined I'd be going to a wedding party! But that's exactly how I spent it, after I got a really kind invitation from Kung, one of the TT's at work... When she first invited me to her brothers wedding party, and said she would come pick me up at 7 on Saturday, I didn't realise she meant 7AM!!
So, after an early start, we were on our way, popped in at her house first which is just a couple of Km's up the road, and I was suprised to be met by a load of people eating brekkie and on the beer already, now this is the way to start wedding celebrations!! We transferred into another van, and travelled for about
thirty minutes to reach the bride's sisters home, where the ceremony was being held.
There was huge sun canopy stretching right across the road, tables set up, the band setting up and the caterers running around all over the place. So Kung took me onto the next street, where a group of woman were preparing an offering for the bride's family from the grooms. Now, this is such a refreshing change after the woman being the one having to give the money to the man in India!!
Hung around here for a while, being introduced to people, and feeling very bizarre, its gonna take alongtime to get used to this constant language barrier, but there was a lot of smiling going on, and it seemed Kung was enjoying having a 'farang' (white person) to show off to everyone!!
Soon it was time for us all to parade to the house where the ceremony would take place. The groom led the parade, with the ladies carrying the offering behind.
Once we reached the house, all the food was laid out inside and then we all took our seats at the tables outside. I was sat on a
table with the Aunties and Uncles, and one of the Aunties made it her job to ensure I had a constant stream of food (which was all delicious!) and a full glass (of pop only!) for the whole time, bless her!!
I would love to tell you all about the ceremony, but bizarrely that all went on inside while we weer all eating outside, but I do have Kung's photos on here of some of it.
The guests got involved tying bands around the bride and groom's wrists, which if they keep on for three days, bring them good luck. As the guests took it in turns to tie on the bands, they also gave envelopes containing money for good luck, and were presented with a gift in return.
After this, the 'entertainment' began. Now this was the most bizarre wedding entertainment I have ever seen!! I did take photos, to show you all how random it was, but it wasnt until I got home I realised my camara wasn't working, gutted!! Basically 5 whores on stage, wearing pretty much nothing, bumping and grinding and singing bad bad karaoke. Now, no one else even batted an eyelid,
so this must be common entertainment practice here, well, I guess it is what Thailand is famous for, but come on, at a wedding party??!
Spent some time inside with Kung her cousins and some of the little kids, how cute is Cartoon??! The fat lil girl with me in the photos, and yes, that really is her name. Well, kind of. Every Thai person has a full name, but they then all have a nickname too, chosen by their parents when they are first born just like the full name. Now, some of these are very bizarre, but it does kind of work!!
So by oneish it was all over, the clearing up had begun and all the guests had gone. This is when Kung said we'd be going soon, after the 'bedroom ceremony' and did I want to go and watch? Now, in Britian, I don't think I'd want to be anywhere near the bedroom after the guests had all gone home, so was reasonably reluctant to go and 'watch'! But when we got upstairs, I soon realised it wasn't going to be half as pornographic as the dancers had been! It was really cute actually,
first the brides parents knelt with the couple and wished them well, talked about things she had done in the past to make them proud, welcomed the groom to the family and talked about their futures together (all in Thai obviously, but so Kung tell's me!) bless, they made the bride cry, it was really sweet. Then the groom's parents do the same. This is folowed with a prayer, and then the couple are left in peace!
Was the strangest wedding I have ever been to, but I am so chuffed I got an invite, and definately made me feel like I was in Thailand!!
Spent the rest of the weekend buying furniture, rearranging my room and working out the buses! Oh and watching football, and united winning the league, yeah baby!!!! :D
Week two of training My second week was four days again, this time we got the Monday off to make up for the two half days we worked the weekend before. Tues, Weds and Thurs were spent training, going through the games and songs we will use in class, practicing them and talking about how we would adapt them for different ages or for
different language focuses.
We also spent some time looking at grammar, and I proved to the TT's, that just because I speak English, doesn't mean I can explain why we say the things we do, 'Because it sounds right like that' was a popular answer to their questions! As well as my poor attempts to enlighten them on the finer points of English grammar, we also did some Thai practice for me. Now, in the past I have never really found language learning to come naturally to me, is Thai any different? NO!!! I am rubbish! But persistant! One of my more funny mistakes was getting no 'mai' and egg 'kai' confused, and answering one of Bobby's questions quite proudly eith Kai, when of course I meant 'no', now this has led to a running office egg joke. What can I say, i like to bring entertainment to people at work!!
The biggest issue so far I have come across with my Thai quest, is the 'Ng' sound so popular in this blooming language. My poor mouth that has become so very accustomed to dulcite Yorkshire tones, is finding this sound to be an acrobatic impossibility. N no
matter how many times I'm told its 'sing' without the 'si', I'm not getting it!! I can attempt it, and sound like I'm choking on my tongue, but so far that's it!!! I will persist, I will succeed, I will!!!!
OK, back on topic...... (I told you this was a long one!!)
Friday was an interesting day this week. It started with a ceremony in the morning, where all new teachers at the school, us included, had to present some fruit to be blessed. This was all laid out on a table in the grounds, and we all sat around it as the ceremony commenced. A little like the wedding, I would like to tell you more about what happened, but as it was all in Thai, I missed most of the meaning! It included a lot of music, insence, chanting, prayer and then us all being tied with one long piece of string, that we all had to hold onto to connect us while everyone chanted a prayer 4 times over, once to the North, South, East and West. Now, from where I was standing this just looked like Buddha having a laugh and wanting to entangle
Sin Sod
Traditional for the grooms family to give money to the brides a large group of people in a piece of string, but anyway!! After an hour or so, the ceremony was done, so we all had to go and take fruit from the table that wasn't our own, and eat it for a lucky year. So now, Mr. Banana, I am counting on you to ensure I have a fab year!!!
After lunch, the day's events for new teachers continued. This time, we had to all meet in the hall to give presentations to the other teachers about who we are, so that they could welcome us. Now, we had been told this was a quick thing, so were dismayed when we walked in and looked at the presentation slide up, full of Thai writing, but the one part I did understand was the 13.30 - 16.00. Nooooooooo!! Two and half hours sat in a room while people droned on in a language I can't understand, no no!!
It did have its highlights. Like when one male teacher was giving his introduction, and the whole room started almost weeing themselves with laughter. It turns out that he had given one of his reasons as wanting to join the school
The offerings
Presents from the grooms family to the brides as wanting to find out whether or not another of the male staff was actually male or female. I mean, the guy in question is a proper fairy, but the fact this was an official school thing and he could get away with saying that was mind boggling!! But, it was explained to me afterwards that here, people are honest, brutally honest, but they are also accepting and accommodating to others, and everything said is said to your face, and without malice. I think this is a lesson that should be learned everywhere, a great way to view others.
The second highlight was when Ao, and new English teacher stood up and 'For the Fun Language Team' did her speech in English first. Now, as the level of spoken English here is low, even with English teachers (they are employed to focus on grammar rules and writing practice) this took a lot of balls. And I could have kissed her, after an hour of not understanding a word, it was SO nice to hear a little English, bless her. Needless to say we all gave her a standing ovation when she finished, and she left the stage beaming!!
When it was finally our turn on stage, we did the usual thing, we spoke and Vow translated for us. We had to tell them why we were here, so I chose the three obvious, weather, food and people! So true though!!! Also thanked the school, Khru Wharm (the principal) and all the staff, both of the school and Fun Language for making me feel so welcome. Now normally when your told you have to make a speech, you proceed to script a load of bull crap, but this time, I really meant it!! (Yeah I know I keep going on about how great this place is, but it's true!!)
As soon as we'd finished Bobby made the decision we wouldn't go in and listen to the last hour, thank you Bobby! So we went back up to our office to continue training.
The final part of the special school day was a 'cocktail party' in the gym. Now, OK, the cocktails entailed a choice of sprite, coke or red or green fanta, so probably not REALLY a cocktail party, but it was still great!! All the teachers sat around drinking pop and eating lovely finger foods, everything
from pork satay, wantons, rice cakes, jelly and tons more I couldn't indentify, while the long serving teachers were presented with awards from the principals mum (the school has been a family business for years, and her parents and other family members had been in for the whole day) and then, the principals mum, broke into song on stage in front of all the teachers. Priceless!! This country is Karaoke obsessed!! It got better, as the principal herself took to the stage, and then the teachers took it in turns, when one guy stood up and dedicated a song to The Fun Language team (how cool is it to be loved like this!!) Bobby sees that this is a good time for us to do a runner, as if the Karaoke machine has English listings, time would be limited before it was 'our turn' to sing!! So after thanking the principal and her family, we made a quick exit!!
What a day though, very random, but it was so nice to see how valued the staff are at the school, and how we are being accepted so readily into their little family!!
I had a pretty low key
Tying on bands
All the guests tie a white string around the wrists of bride and groom, and they wear them for three days for luck weekend. Continued my exploring, did some more shopping to get my place more homely, but spent a lot of time chilling out, reading and trying to learn some Thai, ha!!
By the time Tuesday came round, I was all refreshed and ready for another working week.
Week Three - Cutting, Sticking, Laminating.............. Well, once again the week began on Tuesday. Got to the office to find the four TT's (now that Op has joined the team!) and Vow. No Bobby, and we weren't to see him until Friday, because he was in Bangkok on the hunt for friends for me!! Well no, its a little more serious than that, with us starting teaching in under a week, he needed teachers, and fast so they could be trained and ready to go.
We spent the week 'getting everything going' to use one of my Mum and Dad's favourite phrases!! We laminated over 2000 flash cards, we cut out, stuck together and laminated game cards we'll use in lessons, we watched some more videoed lessons, we wrote out over 1000 names for the name tags, then put the tags into the badge holders, we carried boxes of supplies up
Cartoon
Awwwwww!! to the office and did all the nitty gritty things to start getting everything organised. I have included some pics from this week of the name tags, the office, and of the principals dog!
Later in the day we met her other three as well, and their names are scrambled egg, fried egg, boiled egg and dolly. They bought dolly already named, but they have named the other three, this lady has a serious sense of humour!!
I think this is plenty long enough already, so I won't go into massive amounts of details of how we cut and stuck and everything else!! But I will say its fab having the kids in the school, and they are gorgeous! Some of them are so so tiny (the preschool starts at 2, but they all wear little uniforms, its adorable!) And, from a distance they seem very well behaved as well, but I'll let you know what they are really like after I have taught them!
One significant event of this week was Vow moving into my apartment building, so now I have a Thai speaking friend to explore the area with, which makes things SO much easier!!
Kung's Uncle Singing
Any excuse, and they'll turn it into Karaoke!! Oh, and as you can see from the pictures, I bought a cooking stove, so now I have just been out and bought meat and veggies n allsorts, very excited about cooking a proper dinner!! Yay!!!!!
And, THE most significant event, United becoming the champions of Europe. I wasn't really in a fit state to work on THurs after only an hours sleep, but it was all worth it to watch that, even if I was falling asleep from midway through the second half!! (it finished at about 4.30 here, and then they had to get their trophy, and I had to stop buzzing, so sleep was somewhat lacking!)
So here I am, my fourth weekend in my new home. Still exploring, still finding my feet, still having occasional wobbles and missing my beautiful children and life in Goa, but I am so positive about what this year will bring. I feel like I've found a proper job, with proper responsibilities, challenges and purpose. I do feel a little out of my depth with how different it all is from anything else I've done, but hey, if you don't stretch yourself, you'll never get
anywhere in life. And that's exactly what I want to do, get somewhere, be somebody, make a difference. And I have the chance to do that now, so I'm gonna give it my all, and I'm gonna have a great time doing it :o)
Love you all, miss you all, wish I could transport you all here, cos I sure aren't up for coming home, not when the adventure is just beginning!!!
Take Care
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Julia
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Loving Your Work!!
Great to hear how you're getting on, Kate. Sounds brilliant, can't wait to hear how it goes when you start with the kids. Love the wedding details - what is it with you and weddings?!! Keep up the good work, looking forward to the next instalment. love Julia xx