Well it's been a while. I'm sitting in the English Department at school right now making like 5 thousand photocopies for Ajan Rampai, so it feels like a pretty good time to blog.
School in Thailand is great and so different from Canada, plus my first day was a huuuge kick start! I arrived in the cute little uniform with my host father, later joined by my second host father and they were introducing me to the school teachers. We walked outside to a stage in front of like 4 thousand kids (actual student population) and then my host father leans over to me and says, "you are going to introduce yourself and talk about yourself for a bit to these people". So that was QUITE the surprise, and by some miracle I even spoke a little Thai in that much-shorter-than-expected speech. And they even gave me a bouquet :)
Other than that initial terror of speaking to all of them, school is actually really great; both the students and teachers are incredibly kind and welcoming. For the first week, students were always looking at me and waving at me and would giggle shyly every time I waved or smiled back. The younger girls would ask for photos with me, nominating the braver ones to do the talking. One time I was sitting in the office and a girl shyly wedged the window open and handed me a box of chocolates! Everyone was so sweet to me. I was introduced to at least 200 students that week, and remember probably like 10 names.
After that, I started to join actual classes and make actual friends, which was very nice haha. The classes are sooo awesome! My counsellor, Ajan Rampai, arranges for me to have more hands-on classes, which is great! I could actually write a whole post on Ajan Rampai because she is so awesome and motherly to me. At 7:30-8:30 every morning, I have Lam Thai (Thai dance). It is so hard even though we have to start at like kindergarten level for me, but everyone is so patient and excited to teach me. This is usually my favourite part of the day, and watching the other students dance is wonderful. Then there are various classes scheduled throughout the week (it's not a daily schedule). I just recently had my first Lanna Food class (local food). We made crispy pork - it was delicious and so much fun to make! I'm going to try to remember these recipes. Banana Leaf Folding is really interesting and I love how they have a class for it! My clumsy fingers are not used to the tiny folds at all, but again all the students and the teacher are very patient haha. The finished products look so intricate and beautiful! I am also taking French sort of as a TA because French is very difficult here. The teacher doesn't speak Thai and uses English to explain things, so the students are learning this third language (with a completely different grammar system than their own), IN their second language which is not fluent. So I try to help explain things and teach them songs and tricks to remember things. I haven't actually joined the gardening class, but have been there many times for events such as harvesting rice or lettuce. The gardening teacher is also REALLY good - he has won many awards from all over the country and all the students love him. Other interesting classes: soon I will also join Woodworking and PingPong, in a few hours will have my first Thai Dessert class, and next semester there will be Fencing and Takraw.
The actual atmosphere of the school is really different than Canada. The whole Thai culture seems to be based in community and mutual respect. Because this is so accepted, there is a much more relaxed system of rules regarding things like punctuality, but students rarely break these rules anyway because they know it's important to show up. Rules regarding respect however, are highly important, such as waiing before a teacher or spirit house, taking your shoes off before entering the school, and (in the more traditional classes such as Lam Thai) sitting in the polite way (legs folded to the right).
Lunch!! Ahh it's delicious and 18 baht (little more than 50cents) for the whole thing. There are about 15 counters to choose from, each having like 10 different options, yet the lines are still huge. The "basic choice" is noodles or rice, but there is also fruit, fruit shakes, somtam (papaya salad), shishkabobs, and lots of other things. I'm slowly adding more spices to mine haha. A bottle of water is only 6 baht (20 cents).
There are often random school events I find out about the day of (everything is so relaxed - it's so nice!). I'm usually supposed to take part in these, and find the pictures on the school website a few hours later. Check it out for more frequent photos: http://www.sby.ac.th/
The constant attention is still kind of uncomfortable, but I'm getting used to it; everyone is so happy and enthusiastic it's hard not to be as well. It's really exhausting though, and when I get home at around 5, sleep is the only thing on my mind.
Side note! Have I mentioned our house is completely surrounded my giant, green mountains often coated in a thin layer of mist. It is so beautiful and so Asian - just standing by the window for an hour is breathtaking.
Anneke
