I know I just updated this a few days ago, but this week has been action-packed and I already have so much more to update ya'll on...
So I'm pretty sure it took the first month at site for everyone to warm up to me and understand why the "forang" (foreigner) is actually here. Now that most everyone understands my purpose, they are no longer shy to ask me for help. This week was the first week that I finally started teaching. Monday was my first class at the SAO (where I work). I taught English from 4:30 to 5:30 to about 10 people. My counterpart has also been advertising this class to everyone we talk to so I think next week's class will have grown in size. On Tuesdays, I teach one of the local kids in my village from 6-7 pm at my house. Apparently his parents are friends with one of the people at my work so that is how this got set up. I teach for free since the Peace Corps won't allow us to profit from any of this, so in return for me teaching English his mom said she would help me with my Thai, which I feel is a great exchange. They also bring me food each class because I live alone and apparently have no idea how to fend for myself, but it is delicious so I don't argue with her :) Then on Wednesdays every week I will be teaching at one of the local schools for an hour from 2:30 to 3:30. The Paw Aw (head of the school) originally wanted me to teach a group of 80 students, but I obviously put my foot down and said that I would draw the line at 20. He was definitely trying to take advantage, which I have learned from the Peace Corps is not acceptable, haha. Then to finish off the week, I teach yoga to a group of health volunteers at the village health station on Friday from 10-11 am. This is obviously the most interesting of the classes that I teach, seeing how I have never been a yoga teacher and have only been to about 10 yoga classes in my life.
This was my first week for each of these classes and overall, it was amazing! The SAO class on Monday is a little boring and difficult becuase the level of English varies dramatically with each person. Teaching at the school was a BLAST!!! We played a game for most of the hour dealing with the names of the body parts. I drew two bodies on the whiteboard and then taped little pieces of paper with body part names written on each one next to the bodies. I then split the class into two groups so they could compete against each other. I gave each kid a number and then would call out a body part and a number and the two kids from each team would compete to see who could match the right name with the body part the fastest and then sit back down. The kids loved it!!! I gave candy to the winning team, which clearly upped the intensity.
Yoga was also a lot more fun than expected. I was a little nervous going into this, which is understandable from the lack of knowledge on my part. I looked up the positions online beforehand at the office and then practiced it once at home before the class. I understood each pose, but actually demostrating them was a little more challenging. The women were great though and just had fun with it. In fact, so many women showed up that I had to give two classes. They also want to continue the class and do it again next week, which is definitely promising. Usually Thais tend to flake out and classes don't last very long. It is still the first week though, so we'll see. I did meet some new friends from the class though. One lady even invited me to a monk party today. She showed up at my house this morning around 9, and hour before she said she would be there. I hurried to get ready so that I could go to this party and dance in the street to a Thai marching band for about 2.5 hours. These parties can be fun, but I have been to so many that I've lost count, and after awhile they start to get old. The songs are usually the same and everyone tries to pull the "forang" up infront of to dance, while the other 40-50 people watch. Being the live entertainment of the party is only fun if you have some liquid courage to help you out...aka liquor! Being sober at 9 in the morning and forced to dance for multiple hours in the hot hot sun starts to lose its appeal after awhile. It was fun though and I was able to meet quite a few more people from my village that I had yet to meet. It was good IRBing I suppose (intentional relationship building). They want me to come back tonight for the dinner and performance, aka ladyboys singing and dancing on stage to tacky Thai music. I'm not sure if I will go. I hope it rains and then I will just blame it on that, I do have to ride my bike there, haha :)
All in all, this week was fabulous and I have finally starting helping my community! They are definitely small steps, but in the right direction...
Friday 22 May 2009
Sunday 17 May 2009
The Big Transition!
So this past week has been a little more than hectic, to say the least. It marked the first month at site, which not only means that I can start travelling away from site on the weekends but it also mean that I am finally moving out of my homestay and into my very own house. You can probably imagine how exciting this is for me as well as the rest of the volunteers, being at site for a straight month without leaving your village is definitely a little overwhelming.
I was planning on moving out of my house on Friday, May 8th. For some reason I thought this was a great idea even though the following morning I would be leaving very early to spend a 3 day weekend in Bangkok, partying with about 30 volunteers. Before I moved in on Friday, I wanted to make sure that my house was ready so that I didn't get there and find everything was a mess. I asked the people at my work if we could stop by and make sure all of the furniture I had requested was there and the man who was previously living there had moved completely out. So it's Wednesday, two days before I move in, and I stop by the house at 4pm with the janitor at my work because everyone else was busy. We show up and are greeted by three little Thai children as well as the man who was living there....oh wait, I mean who are still living there. Yes, their shit is still everywhere and I am supposed to move in in two days! I am a little overwhelmed/upset but clearly try to hide it. He says it's not fully ready but the furniture is there and I can take a tour to see it. I find about three pieces of new furniture along with a food closet that is old, used, dusty and broken. Mind you, I am paying this man four times what he is requesting for rent and what I wanted in return was for the house to be fully furnished. After I left and went home, I immediately called a fellow volunteer to complain and then felt much better. I then called the only lady at my work who slightly speaks speaks English and tried to explain to her the situation.
The next day at work I am sitting at the computer and overhear P Aw (the lady who I spoke with the previous day) bitching out the man on the phone. She was doing this infront of the entire office and was not being shy about it, it was slightly awkward as I'm sure you could imagine. That day, Thursday, I went to the market and bought a bunch of appliances and some furniture for my house as I was assured that the house would definitely be ready.
The next day was Friday, the day I was going to move into my very own house. I get up around 6 am to pack all of my stuff and get ready to leave around 8 with one of the workers/janitor/handyman at my office. As I'm leaving my host mom and dad say they want to come help me move in during the morning and then go to work in the sugarcane fields in the afternoon. So we all head to my future rental house. My parents get there before me and as I step out of the truck the look on my host mom's face was priceless! It was a look of shock and slight disgust. She then proceeds to ask me how and why I am going to live here as well as why the heck I am paying this man four times the original asking price for this dump! We all take a quick walk through to see what works and what doesn't as well as to see just how much work and cleaning we have to do. The house was awful! It was filthy, the lights didn't work and the it was clear that he bought the cheapest possible furniture so that he could meet the requirements on my list of requests. I immediately began cleaning the bathroom, which I would not even think of using before scrubbing it top to bottom. At this point, I am on my hands and knees with a tiny scrub brush going to work on this bathroom and absolutely dripping sweat...to the point that I look like I just took a shower. Then, the Nayoke walks in. He is my boss and the head person at my office. Coincidentally, he also has a look of disgust on his face and asks me why I want to live here.
After much discussion with my family, the Nyoke and many of the neighbors, we realize that the houses on this side of the street are small and only worth 1,000 baht a month, whereas the houses across the street are 3,000 baht, but much bigger and with AC! At this point I am very disappointed and frustrated with my situation. If I knew any of this, especially the prices and that there were four vacant houses on the bigger side of the street, I clearly would not have settled for this house. The Nyoke continues to tell me about these big beautiful houses but that he can't do anything since I have already agreed to this house and that I didn't work with him in the beginning, I worked with the P Aw, the lady who slightly speaks English. After much conversation and a few calls to P Aw to try and have her explain how I'm feeling, we decide to go look at the vacant houses across the street. Unfortunately, two of them wouldn't work and one was out of my price range because of the amenities it came with. Then we came to last house, which is directly across the street from my orginal rental house, and it is PERFECT!!! Conveniently, the owner is also a good friend of the Nyoke. We looked around the house and see that one bedroom has AC and it is already furnished. The owner very easily and happily agrees to let me live there for two years and pay 3,700 baht a month, including water and electricity bills! I am more than excited at this point!!! I am so happy and relieved that I am not stuck with the shit hole and that I am going to live in a beautiful and CLEAN house! So we stand around for a bit chit chatting and I begin to woder if this is actually happening. You have to realize that all of this is happening in Thai, no one speaks English. It was not only confusing and frustrating, but extremely exhausting as well. They kept saying yeah, sure sure, but didn't do anything to start moving my stuff in. So I go across the street and slowly start to carry the little things that I could across the street to the new house, hoping they would get the hint and start helping me. By the end of the day I had all my stuff moved in, with the thanks of about 10 people who showed up to help me even though they weren't asked to. My host dad hooked up my sink and washing machine and the women helped me with my bedroom and kitchen. Everyone was SOOOO amazing and I couldn't ask for a group of nicer people. This definitely made me realize just how nice Thais are and happy that these are the people I will be working with for the next two years.
I had everything mostly moved in by the end of the day on Friday and was able to sleep in a nice and spacious bedroom that night, which was, dare I say, actually cold because of the air conditioning that I have. The following day I headed to Bangkok early in the morning. I am an hour and a half van ride to bangkok, which costs 120 Baht ($4). I met up with all of the volunteers and ended up having two days of complete fun and debauchery, which was exactly what we all needed. Being at site for an entire month with no other forangs (Americans/foreigners) while being on your best behavior 24/7 in order to make a good first impression can really pent up alot of energy and stress. Don't worry though, we were more than able to release it that weekend in Bangkok and now we are all feeling much better at site :)
I am back at site now and have been living in my house for about a week. I did a complete Spring cleaning yesterday and love how clean my house is. I took all of the furniture out on the patio and completely scrubbed and mopped the entire house. I am very happy with my new house, and even though it can be lonely at times, it is well worth it. I have also began eating food that I want and not the food which I am given and am forced to eat. I eat when I'm actually hungry and eat food that does not consist of rice, it's lovely!
Other than that, not much else is new. Actually, this week I am starting two classes here in my village. I am teaching an English class at my office every Monday for the people I work with, as well as a yoga class at the health station on Thursday. Yes, I said yoga. Most of you are probably wondering why I am doing this, and that is a great question. The health volunteers said they need to exercise more and somehow that translated to me teaching them yoga once a week. It was either that or aerobics, which clearly takes way too much coordination on my part. It should be really interesting and I will definitely update ya'll on how that goes.
That's all for now, I need to stop spending so much time on the internet and use this time to be productive....like teaching myself Thai! :)
Love!
I was planning on moving out of my house on Friday, May 8th. For some reason I thought this was a great idea even though the following morning I would be leaving very early to spend a 3 day weekend in Bangkok, partying with about 30 volunteers. Before I moved in on Friday, I wanted to make sure that my house was ready so that I didn't get there and find everything was a mess. I asked the people at my work if we could stop by and make sure all of the furniture I had requested was there and the man who was previously living there had moved completely out. So it's Wednesday, two days before I move in, and I stop by the house at 4pm with the janitor at my work because everyone else was busy. We show up and are greeted by three little Thai children as well as the man who was living there....oh wait, I mean who are still living there. Yes, their shit is still everywhere and I am supposed to move in in two days! I am a little overwhelmed/upset but clearly try to hide it. He says it's not fully ready but the furniture is there and I can take a tour to see it. I find about three pieces of new furniture along with a food closet that is old, used, dusty and broken. Mind you, I am paying this man four times what he is requesting for rent and what I wanted in return was for the house to be fully furnished. After I left and went home, I immediately called a fellow volunteer to complain and then felt much better. I then called the only lady at my work who slightly speaks speaks English and tried to explain to her the situation.
The next day at work I am sitting at the computer and overhear P Aw (the lady who I spoke with the previous day) bitching out the man on the phone. She was doing this infront of the entire office and was not being shy about it, it was slightly awkward as I'm sure you could imagine. That day, Thursday, I went to the market and bought a bunch of appliances and some furniture for my house as I was assured that the house would definitely be ready.
The next day was Friday, the day I was going to move into my very own house. I get up around 6 am to pack all of my stuff and get ready to leave around 8 with one of the workers/janitor/handyman at my office. As I'm leaving my host mom and dad say they want to come help me move in during the morning and then go to work in the sugarcane fields in the afternoon. So we all head to my future rental house. My parents get there before me and as I step out of the truck the look on my host mom's face was priceless! It was a look of shock and slight disgust. She then proceeds to ask me how and why I am going to live here as well as why the heck I am paying this man four times the original asking price for this dump! We all take a quick walk through to see what works and what doesn't as well as to see just how much work and cleaning we have to do. The house was awful! It was filthy, the lights didn't work and the it was clear that he bought the cheapest possible furniture so that he could meet the requirements on my list of requests. I immediately began cleaning the bathroom, which I would not even think of using before scrubbing it top to bottom. At this point, I am on my hands and knees with a tiny scrub brush going to work on this bathroom and absolutely dripping sweat...to the point that I look like I just took a shower. Then, the Nayoke walks in. He is my boss and the head person at my office. Coincidentally, he also has a look of disgust on his face and asks me why I want to live here.
After much discussion with my family, the Nyoke and many of the neighbors, we realize that the houses on this side of the street are small and only worth 1,000 baht a month, whereas the houses across the street are 3,000 baht, but much bigger and with AC! At this point I am very disappointed and frustrated with my situation. If I knew any of this, especially the prices and that there were four vacant houses on the bigger side of the street, I clearly would not have settled for this house. The Nyoke continues to tell me about these big beautiful houses but that he can't do anything since I have already agreed to this house and that I didn't work with him in the beginning, I worked with the P Aw, the lady who slightly speaks English. After much conversation and a few calls to P Aw to try and have her explain how I'm feeling, we decide to go look at the vacant houses across the street. Unfortunately, two of them wouldn't work and one was out of my price range because of the amenities it came with. Then we came to last house, which is directly across the street from my orginal rental house, and it is PERFECT!!! Conveniently, the owner is also a good friend of the Nyoke. We looked around the house and see that one bedroom has AC and it is already furnished. The owner very easily and happily agrees to let me live there for two years and pay 3,700 baht a month, including water and electricity bills! I am more than excited at this point!!! I am so happy and relieved that I am not stuck with the shit hole and that I am going to live in a beautiful and CLEAN house! So we stand around for a bit chit chatting and I begin to woder if this is actually happening. You have to realize that all of this is happening in Thai, no one speaks English. It was not only confusing and frustrating, but extremely exhausting as well. They kept saying yeah, sure sure, but didn't do anything to start moving my stuff in. So I go across the street and slowly start to carry the little things that I could across the street to the new house, hoping they would get the hint and start helping me. By the end of the day I had all my stuff moved in, with the thanks of about 10 people who showed up to help me even though they weren't asked to. My host dad hooked up my sink and washing machine and the women helped me with my bedroom and kitchen. Everyone was SOOOO amazing and I couldn't ask for a group of nicer people. This definitely made me realize just how nice Thais are and happy that these are the people I will be working with for the next two years.
I had everything mostly moved in by the end of the day on Friday and was able to sleep in a nice and spacious bedroom that night, which was, dare I say, actually cold because of the air conditioning that I have. The following day I headed to Bangkok early in the morning. I am an hour and a half van ride to bangkok, which costs 120 Baht ($4). I met up with all of the volunteers and ended up having two days of complete fun and debauchery, which was exactly what we all needed. Being at site for an entire month with no other forangs (Americans/foreigners) while being on your best behavior 24/7 in order to make a good first impression can really pent up alot of energy and stress. Don't worry though, we were more than able to release it that weekend in Bangkok and now we are all feeling much better at site :)
I am back at site now and have been living in my house for about a week. I did a complete Spring cleaning yesterday and love how clean my house is. I took all of the furniture out on the patio and completely scrubbed and mopped the entire house. I am very happy with my new house, and even though it can be lonely at times, it is well worth it. I have also began eating food that I want and not the food which I am given and am forced to eat. I eat when I'm actually hungry and eat food that does not consist of rice, it's lovely!
Other than that, not much else is new. Actually, this week I am starting two classes here in my village. I am teaching an English class at my office every Monday for the people I work with, as well as a yoga class at the health station on Thursday. Yes, I said yoga. Most of you are probably wondering why I am doing this, and that is a great question. The health volunteers said they need to exercise more and somehow that translated to me teaching them yoga once a week. It was either that or aerobics, which clearly takes way too much coordination on my part. It should be really interesting and I will definitely update ya'll on how that goes.
That's all for now, I need to stop spending so much time on the internet and use this time to be productive....like teaching myself Thai! :)
Love!
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