A Little House On Stilts

Anubanphanatsuksalai School, Phanat Nikhom, Chon Buri - that is the name of my new school. Now, trying to say it is a little more difficult.

So I arrived at my school on Saturday, along with Tang (the Thai TEFL worker in charge of finding our positions and housing and getting everyone set up) at Sarah Collins, a British girl who will be teaching in my school with me. Over the last day or two I have come to really enjoy this place, though it is nothing that I expected. After years of traveling, I have become used to rapidly changing circumstances and realized that things generally turn out way better than you could have imagined.

Firstly, let me try to explain my accomodations. This will be difficult to do without pictures, which I will hopefully be able to upload sometime in the near future. Sarah and I are sharing a two bedroom "house." By Thai standards, the place is fine. Coming from a nice, comfortable (and might I say sturdy) hotel room directly across from a pristine beach, it is somewhat of a let down. But it is typical Thai, so I guess I have the opportunity to really experience how the Thai people live. And after a night, I must say that it is surpassing my expectations.

The house is on stilts, which is the typical architectural style out here. The whole thing is quite open and doesn't put much between you and the elements/bugs/nature. You walk into a living room of sorts, with just a small fridge and a TV that doesn't work. Then there are two bedrooms, which are (thankfully) somewhat enclosed and air-conditioned. The room will, I'm sure, become my haven when I've had too much heat, too many bugs, and just want to chill. The "bathroom" and the "kitchen" are downstairs. The "kitchen" isn't so much a kitchen, but a slab of concrete underneath the raised house, with a tiny stovetop that they had brought in for us and a table with all of our pots, pans and plates. I'm actually quite impressed with the heating ability of the stove. I had to heat a pan of water this morning in order to make coffee, and it started boiling remarkably fast. The "bathroom" is what I have come to expect from a Thai bathroom. At least I can stand up in the shower and flush the toilet. I'll just try to ignore the spiders and mosquitoes crawling and flying every which way. I think I can live here somewhat comfortably.

The teachers here and the staff have definitely made this place worth while. I was a little concerned after the first day when I had no idea what classes I was supposed to teach, had not seen my textbooks, and pretty much could not determine anything that was going on from the few words of English the vice-Principal was able to speak to me. But this morning, my "Thai teacher" came by to introduce herself, and I was also able to meet with Becky, the American manager of the English teachers at the school. My Thai teacher is actually the other teacher (who is Thai) who is teaching my class in my room. We pretty much split the subjects between us. She will teach Thai, Social studies that relates to Buddhism, Thai Sports, Scouts, etc. I will teach Science, Math, Social Studies, Health, art, Computers, and English. She is a fantastically nice woman who's English is pretty good (her sister has lived in Denver, Colorado for the past thirty years and she used to visit often) and I have a feeling she will be like a mother to me here.

After meeting the Thai teacher and getting some idea of what I should teach, I saw my classroom (which is great), picked up the textbooks, and had a chat with Becky. Becky is a forty-something ex-American lawyer who has been here for years and tells it like it is. She pretty much confirmed what I knew to be true of anywhere in Thailand already - that everything is a little confusing and people tell you ten different things about the same question. But she calmed my anxiety about my first lessons and assured me that I could call if I ever had a question about anything. She seems very friendly and outgoing, and I am sooo happy that she is here. Sarah and I will actually meet up with her for dinner tomorrow.

The rest of the day was spent jetting around Chonburi with the Vice Principal and my Thai teacher. The VP is finishing her doctoral degree and a University in Chonburi and had to speak with a Professor and asked Sarah and I if we wanted to join her. We really didn't have anything else to do, so agreed to go. We spent a great day looking around in a bookshop, grabbing some food, and going to a giant TESCO (that felt more like a Wal-MArt than a grocery store) where I got some supplies and the VP bought us a microwave.

Anyway, so I'm going to head back to check out my textbooks and try to create some good lesson plans. For all those who want to know, I don't have my address yet. I actualy had it in one of the manuals they gave us, but the VP took them back today (apparently she has to make copies), so hopefully I can send that info out to everyone soon.

My first classes are on Tuesday...two days...wish me luck!

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