First Semester Moments

While most schools in America are still getting into the swing of a new school year, most schools in Thailand have already wrapped up the first semester and are gearing up for the second. It seems like it wasn't that long ago, I was standing in a meeting room with all of the school directors from the sub-district, nervously introducing myself and presenting the Peace Corps framework with proposed activities for the year. I anticipated that maybe one or two may not have interest in me and my proposal or may not be able to accommodate me, but it was a flood of a relief to receive their unanimous approval, enthusiasm, and willingness to have me and to incorporate me into the schools and their various schedules. 

Moving forward, I was nervous about meeting the students, wondering how they would respond to me, and whether or not they would like me. I don't think I've ever been so anxious about the approval of others or how much they liked me, or if they liked me at all, especially not about the opinion of children. In my previous experiences, I typically dealt with children in serious and even messy situations and being in my presence did not necessarily translate into a fun or smiley event. I'd gotten used to that role, but this time around, I'm playing a different role, which is quite the opposite, and I wasn't sure if or how I could pull it off. 

So, it's been several months since this anxious lady showed up in the schools, riding a bike, lessons in hand, claiming not to be a teacher, and speaking broken Thai. If anything, the students seemed intrigued, and it wasn't long before I realized that my anxieties were all in vain. They asked their questions, I taught my lessons, we had our fun, we certainly had our moments, and we all made it through a pretty non-catastrophic first semester. The first quarter of my service, in the books, and I have a really good feeling about what is to come. Without repeating anything that has been mentioned in previous posts, here are ten very random, yet very memorable moments of my first semester.

Teachable moments... Out of the mouths of babes...

1. Are you really from America? Americans are pretty and have pretty white skin. You have black skin, but you're pretty. (So, everyone knows that Americans have white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. And I obviously have none of that, so I understand their confusion. Students have some familiarity with black race since there are Cameroonian teachers in the villages, but until now, children have been lost on the concept of African-Americans or Blacks in America. Adults, however, are at least familiar with Barack and Michelle Obama, and to a lesser extent, Beyoncé and Michael Jackson. Cultural Note: Thais in general have an obsession and fascination with white skin. Every skin product, from body wash to deodorant, has whitening agents because apparently white skin is pretty skin. Darker skin is symbolic of lower socioeconomic status, specifically of farm worker, even though some Thais are naturally darker than others.)
    
2. You and Mr. C should get married. You both speak English, and you're both black. (Mr. C is a Cameroonian man, the foreign English teacher for my village. He's also very nice. As if speaking English and being black aren't reasons enough for marriage.)
    
3. Please teach us to do our hair like yours. (This said while playing with and sniffing at my braided hair during a break. The thing with homogeneity is that "my hair is different" only leads to more bafflement and questions.) 
    
4. Teacher, do you have Ebola? (This said quite innocently while holding my hand walking to lunch. My guess is that she made the association after watching some news coverage.)
5. Why are you so tall? You're tall like a man. (Simple answer, because my father is tall. Yes, I'm taller than all of the female teachers in the school. Probably taller than every female in the village, daresay country (just kidding, I know I'm not). So they don't realize that 170cm or 5'7" isn't necessarily tall-like-a-man standards in most non-Asian countries.)

 

Teachable moments don't always happen in the classroom

Moments that make me wonder why I let these kiddos have any breaks... But really, sometimes the breaks are more for me than for them...

6. After spending ten minutes of their five minute break running to the vendor to purchase then eat salty and spicy treats, I finally get the students somewhat settled down. Three students immediately request a water break because their mouths are supposedly burning from the spicy snacks. I try to offer them my unopened bottle of 'teacher water' but they decline and try to sneak out of the classroom door. I decide to continue the lesson from the doorway, then out of the blue, a student frantically points to the back of the room "Teacher look, look..." I turn my head "...elephant!" I turn my head back in time to see two rascals jumping out the window...
   
   
   
7. Students have a five minute water/bathroom break. Three minutes in, a student returns to the class crying, "What's wrong?" he shows me a patch in his head that wasn't there before the break. "Who did that?" Cue in two students following behind, one with scissors in hand and the other explaining that the boy's hair was too long and needed to be cut. Ummm... How is this okay? I turn to the victim "Do you want us to go to the principal/director?" as expected, he refuses. Okay. I turn to the other students and ask "Are you a barber? Is this a barber shop? Yes, you're in school, yes, you're a student. What did you come to school to do? Yes, you came here to learn, not to cut hair. Very good." They wrote in Thai ten times, then in English five times, 'I am a student, I am not a barber. I will learn, I will not cut hair." The next week's lesson was about occupations. Interestingly, the victim, who was sporting a new haircut, was the only one who wants to be a barber when he grows up.

Little Rascals

 

Water Break

 Awkward Moments

8. The question is frequently asked "Why don't you eat pork or seafood?" and when I say that it's because of my religion, I usually get a nod in response, or a chuckle and a joke along the lines of not being able to eat anything delicious because of my religion. The custodian at one of my schools took the conversation even further. "Why? What is your religion? Are you Muslim?" I explained to him that I am a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, and that some aspects of my religion are similar to Islam. He proceeded to debate me, "But the other foreign teacher is a Christian and he eats everything." I explained that there are different groups of Christians, and that all Christians don't do all the same things, but we study the Bible which instructs us not to eat certain foods. At this point I remember that my Bible app has Thai translations, so I showed him the chapter (Leviticus 11) that lists unclean foods. I smile as he reads on and nods his head in understanding/acceptance, then he smiles at me and says "Well, here it says you can eat insects." Really? He returned my phone and I changed the language back to English. Sure enough. Well... Americans don't eat insects.
    
9. During a community meeting, I noticed that one of my school directors had some documents in a book, upon second glance, I realized that the book was Black Beauty. He is quite literate in English and often insists that we speak in English, our conversations usually include him spelling out words when he is unsure of the pronunciation. That being the case, I wasn't too surprised to see him with an English book. I commented to him that it was a good book, a classic which used to be very popular in America.  I asked him where I can find English books around here. He told me that they are not very common, but he recently found this one at a little store in the neighboring province. He asked me if I wanted to read it, and without thinking, I told him that I've read it a few times before. He said "Oh, okay" and the expression on his face before he walked away made me wonder if he brought (or bought?) the book specifically for me. 
   

   

   Literary School Director

Moments away from school

10.  My host cousin invited me to participate in an English camp at his school in a nearby village. It was great to be in a different environment, meeting and working with new teachers and students, I even got to work with Miss E (Cameroonian teacher in my district who does my hair). We taught some fun English songs to the whole group of about fifty students, and when the students separated into smaller groups, I co-facilitated the Question Words station. I had a really great time and got some lesson ideas that I was able to take back to my schools.

Ms. E and I teaching Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Teaching question words to a small group with my host cousin and one of his coteachers.

There are a few more away from school moments, but since I'm already at ten, I'll just share pictures...

Sometimes I get to visit other volunteers on long weekends. And sometimes we get to pig out at non-Thai restaurants.

Once in awhile, I get to be the shortest person in the group.

 

Amanda's site is famous for dinosaurs



Love in a hopeless place?

Andrew's site is famous for it's historical ruins

 

Beautiful park

Goofing around

Just having a goofy good time.



Burritos and Burgers in Bangkok with Amanda.

 

Pineapple Fried Rice in Bangkok with Katherine.
I made an exception to my "No Thai food in Bangkok" rule

  

This was actually the dish I ate at my Going-to-Thailand dinner at a Thai restaurant in Miami

My whole break has been spent hub
doing desk work, preparing for the upcoming semester, and hanging out with coworkers.
It's gotten pretty comfortable, but I am ready to get back out there!

This is actually the last week of my break, I've regrouped, and I'm ready to return. The break is three weeks long, quite similar to the Christmas/Winter/Holiday break in America (then the summer equivalent takes place from March to May). Semester 2.0 is right ahead, and I anticipate many more memorable moments to come!