Surreal

Hello faithful readers, your sweet encouragement has been such an aid during this first week of classes. I have never been more thankful for a Friday evening, but I'm sure I will be saying that numerous times over the next coming weeks. How to describe teaching in Bangkok...firstly, there are two different aspects of the school at the palace - Prathom and Mattayom, I teach the latter which consists of 7th - 12th graders. I teach the equivalent of 8th, 9th, and 11th graders but their English levels are more consistent with US students at least 2 grades below. So far, my biggest trouble seems to be with my 9th graders and not even the boys, it's usually the girls... I'm not sure how to explain it but my boys are seemingly well behaved and try to be of help to me in the class.

The most frustrating thing about teaching there is that we are on our own to create all of our own lesson plans. We are given the books and told when the tests are but it is entirely up to us to create a curriculum and to know how we want to teach each class. For someone who never even stepped foot into an education classroom, I daresay that this has been the most challenging aspect. Luckily, I share 6 of my 9 classes with a wonderful girl from Sacramento named Angelica, our personalities clicked from the moment we met and there is hardly a moment where we are not together. The first couple of days were indeed the hardest but I am starting to warm to the students just as much as they are to me and I'm sure that within a month I will be gushing non stop about them.

In the same way, I hope that more of the teachers will begin to warm up to us. A few have reached out to us and it has been such a joy getting to know them. I don't know what I would have done without Chiraporn, Tip, Namtip, and Suttida...just to name a few. We are also graced with an elderly British man named Geoffrey who brings hilarity to our English office every morning with his dry wit and hilarious dance moves. Nevertheless, this all continues to seem so surreal to me...every morning when I leave the enclave of our English-speaking office, I step into a world where everything is so different and I always feel like I am in the wrong. I want to get to know the other teachers so Angelica and I are determined to meet some of the ones who are similar in age to us.

In other news, this weekend will be filled with trips to the vast weekend market in Southern Bangkok (the school has a very strict dress code and we have all been swapping shirts amongst ourselves to keep from getting in trouble). We are also having a dinner at the Person's - an American family, who graduated from Baylor, that has been in Bangkok for 17 years - they have invited all of the American teachers at the Palace school as well as the Baylor teachers that are elsewhere in Thailand. I daresay that it will be a fresh of breath air to have an easy conversation with those around me. But, I am enjoying learning some of the few Thai phrases that I have picked up from the wonderful woman named Sai who owns the convenience store on the 1st floor of the hotel... I'll leave you with the remainder of the pictures that I did not get to put up earlier.

Pop kan mai!
(See you later)

Star


Ronald McDonald is doing the "wai". Whenever you greet someone, especially elders, you "wai" them - you put your hands together and lower your head while saying 'Sawatdee kha' (kha if you are woman and krop if you are a man) which means hello.


The view from the Wat Saket temple...beautiful!


Part of the temple...there is so much architectural beauty in Bangkok...


The bells near the top of the Wat - that means temple


Trees on the grounds of the Wat


7-11! There are as many of these in BKK as there are Starbucks in America...at least 2 on every corner. You can get anything here and they are open 24 hours a day so they come in handy!


The traffic in BKK is as colorful as the city itself! Check out those taxis!

Bangkok Blues

Firstly, thanks a ton to those of you who always leave such wonderful comments, you really don't know how much they help me to make me feel better.

I'm sorry I have been so lax on the blogging but the last few days have been simply intense so I'll have to give brief synopses...

Things I've noticed about Bangkok:
- it initially smells like curry, then like curry and pollution at the same time... there really is no way to describe it other than seeing it for yourself
- the traffic is horrific! Think of NYC traffic but just a little bit more nuts and you have BKK (Bangkok)
- mosquito bites are a way of life - I have at least 5 bites on me at one time and I'm slowly learning to ignore them
- A/C is a luxury that I cannot afford, thank goodness for my trusty fan which I use to keep from sweating all over my sheets at night...
- the people are nice and mean at the same time
BKKers have a love affair with white skin (which I was warned about before I got there), but I have people that are really nice to me and then I've had the occasional schoolgirls literally jump out of my way when I'm approaching them - as if I am planning on eating them alive... at first it was bothersome but i'm slowly starting to ignore it.
This isn't just a problem on the streets but also at the school where I teach. I am the only Baylor student teaching the older kids (7th - 12th grade) and all 5 other students are teaching 1st - 6th grade, and I found out that is because the parents of the younger kids are extremely discriminatory against dark-skinned teachers. It hurts, but I've learned to put these feelings aside.

I've had a great time exploring BKK and there really is so much to see, I wish I had more time to detail things out but even though I just got back from school, I have to run out the door to get supplies for tomorrow. Nevertheless, tonight I will try to update the blog with my school adventures for which there is one word - horrible! But for now, I will entertain you with some pictures I've taken so far! Lots of love!



My little bedroom! It's a one room with the bed right there in the middle of the room and a dresser (not pictured), a little desk, a closet, and a bathroom (thankfully in another room!)



The view from one of my windows...BKK is extremely packed with tons and tons of buildings!


Another view from another set of windows...I love all of the green, but there is also a nasty, algae-filled pool down below those set of trees...but I chose to ignore that in this shot :)




Ahhh!!!! Aliens and one of them is giving birth!!! Not really, these are Rambutan! They are an awesome fruit and you eat them by squeezing that crazy looking shell till it pops open and then you nibble around the outside of the fleshy fruit part but you don't want to bite in because there's a big seed in the middle!

Well, that's all for now but I've got tons more where those came from but I have to have something to keep you reading this blog for! :)

Till next time!

I'm here!

Hey everyone,

I'm so glad to report that I landed at the Bangkok International Airport around 11:10 pm Friday, May 23rd. For those of you who are interested, the time difference between Bangkok and Houston is 12 hours - Bangkok is 12 hours ahead so right now it is 10:24 am on Saturday for me and 10:24 pm on Friday for you...freaky isn't it?? Last night was incredibly lonely, I won't lie. After all of the craziness that happened, I wish I would have had more time to spend with friends and family but I am searching for the silver lining instead. Today, I am off to explore Bangkok with another Baylor student named Christa who has been sweet enough to help me out yesterday and today. I miss you all dearly and I will add some more pictures and other news when I can use my own computer ( I am currently using Christa's because the internet in my room has not yet been set up). Please leave tons of comments because they make me feel super happy and not alone.

Love you all.

There must be a reason...

The past five days have been some of the most emotional and confusion-wracked days I have had in a while. I'm supposed to be in Bangkok right now...but I'm not...but thankfully I will be.

Thursday: I got a call from Professor Kay (the lady in charge of all of this) saying that the Thai Consulate in Houston could not process my visa there because I'm a permanent resident. This fault falls considerably on her for not getting these visas started until just a few days before we were supposed to leave, but she has been so helpful that I feel guilty saying that. She then continues to tell me that she is contact with Congressman Chet Edward's office and they are working to find a way to get my visa done in Houston. My whole morning is thrown into a state of turmoil - the road to Thailand had thus far been such a breeze that this situation had me wondering if Thailand is where I was supposed to be after all. During the afternoon, Professor Kay informed me that we would be able to get the Thai Embassy in Washington D.C. to expedite my visa. This now meant that I would have to run around Houston picking up various needed documents and money as well as meet the 7pm final drop off time at FedEx. Somehow, with great thanks to Christi and Tom, we managed to get it done and I sent it off...with a huge sigh of relief.

Friday: When I woke up, I wasn't too worried...we sent off the package and I figured everything was going to be fine. Well, I tried contacting the lady at the Thai Embassy and she never picked up. I called her into the afternoon and she still didn't...well now I'm freaking out because the embassy closes at 3pm our time and I haven't heard from her by 2pm. I call Prf. Kay who also calls the Congressman's office and she is finally able to reach her at 2:30pm. THE PACKAGE HAS NOT BEEN RECEIVED ... words to strike a blow to anyone who has shipped off a package marked overnight delivery that contains her passport and green card. After five minutes of being upset, we look up the tracking number and find out that the lady signed for it at 9:28 am! Aha, the package is under Tom's name because he's the one that paid for it so we take that information back to Prf. Kay who passes it along to the lady in Washington and we are informed that the lady will do my visa in a record 45 minutes. We receive a call an hour later saying that the passport has been put in the FedEx drop box (1 hour before their final pick-up) to be received by myself on Saturday (Happy graduation...) I go back to Waco and to sleep with a rested heart.

Saturday: It is my turn to utter the words "the package has not been received"...even worse, using the tracking number, we find that the package has not even been scanned into the system meaning that it was never picked up from the drop box. This is not good. I was supposed to be on a plane early Monday morning to Bangkok but there is now no way that I will be able to receive this visa by Monday. Many hours are spent talking to various Fed Ex people who try to assure us that the drop box was picked up or that perhaps the tracking number we wrote down was wrong...neither of these are possibly correct. Compounded with the frustration of this situation is the fact that today was graduation, I'm surrounded by friends and family who want to spend time with me and all I want to do is scream.

Sunday: FedEx does not pick up on Saturdays from drop boxes so I was not expecting happy news. Instead, today revolved around moving my flight back. We found out that since I got the ticket at a special rate ($830), the same ticket on the same flight is now $2000. The penalty fee for changing the date was a whopping $800...albeit a fraction of the price change, it was still an impossible fee for me. Upon explaining the situation, I was finally able to talk the lady down to a $400 penalty fee, but I still did not know where I was going to get it from. This is where I am so grateful for the Millays and the way that their family has embraced me over the past four years. Tom's dad offered to pay for it (even though he already paid for the initial $830 ticket), what a blessing. Dr. Mueller was able to talk them down to $370 but that was the absolute lowest they were willing to go. She then offered to put in $100 of her own money, which would alleviate Mr. Tom's financial contribution. The money was settled, I was assured that my package would get here at least by Tuesday...so everything seemed set. However, later that night Dr. Mueller called to inform me that there may no longer be a position at the palace school for me anymore due to me having to miss most of orientation...this was such an emotional blow to me especially having spent the whole day working out details of the flight. Why was this happening? What more was wanted from me? I could not understand. I kept this new twist to mostly myself and a few others because I did not want to further frustrate those who were intimately involved with the situation. I went to bed with a very heavy heart.

Monday: I was supposed to be on a plane leaving DFW at 8am...but there is nothing more to say about that. We spent the day checking the tracking number but to no avail...it had still not been scanned. We called the Fed Ex people numerous times to explain the gravity of the situation and we were told to wait - wait, wait, wait...I did not have the emotional energy to wait. Finally, to get away from the nonsense, I had dinner with Dan and it was there that I received the text message from Tom at 6:55pm, "Thank you God! It was picked up! To be delivered tomorrow!" Such a burden was lifted from my heart because the package would be here and there was no foul play involved. However, the happiness was still tinged with sorrow because I did not know the status of my teacher position. Dr. Mueller sent off a page and a half email to the school detailing how I was not at fault and how we were simply at the mercy of other forces. While hanging out with some friends at Crickets, I received the call from Prf. Kay... I still had a job. They were very sorry for the unfortunate things that had happened and wanted me to forward my itinerary to them so that they were would be someone there to pick me up when I arrived on Friday evening. Only after that conversation could I let out my first real breath of thankful relief since the past five days.

I'm not sure why everything happened like this - I know there is a reason here but maybe it is not one that I am supposed to understand till I finally get to Thailand. I've had the feeling for a long time now that there is something life-changing for me in Thailand and perhaps I had to go through the frustration, anger, sadness, and anxiety of trying to get there that would prepare me for whatever it is I'm supposed to realize while I'm there. I didn't put this blog up earlier because I did not want everyone to be as on edge as I was but I am so happy to report the situation resolved.

Thursday, Thailand or bust.

Countdown

...and so it begins...

It's been so long since I've entered my thoughts into a format such as this but it seems like it will be the easiest way to keep everyone updated with my life in Bangkok.

For those of you that are behind, I'm moving to Thailand on May 19th 2008 to teach English at the Chitralada Palace school in Bangkok. I'll be teaching 7th - 12th graders and I daresay that I'm very nervous about it.

Well, it's back to packing since I'm working with a very limited timeframe - I can't believe I have to graduate and say goodbye to my friends, family, and the US all within the next 5 days.

I will miss you all.