First Week Of School and Weekend in Bangkok

Last week was our first one teaching, yet it already feels like a lifetime has passed since then. We were picked up by our coordinator bright and early that Monday morning, with the expectation that we would be given a tour of campus and get some paperwork sorted before starting our classes on Tuesday.  When we arrived at school our first impression was that it was a lot bigger than either of us imagined. There are a total of 1400 students who go there, all in grades K-6th, making it by far the largest school in town. Most of the infrastructure is basic, but there are obviously a lot of buildings and facilities to host that many students, and most of the campus is very green and beautiful.



We know both from experience and tale that things in Thailand often change at a moments notice, and just after breakfast (we get breakfast and lunch free from school!) we got our first hint that things were not going to plan. That came in the form of us being paraded into classroom after classroom of bustling children without any direction about what we were supposed to do; introduce ourselves we figured. So in the first class we introduced ourselves to the the kids and semi-nervously told a bit about ourselves. For me at least the nervousness began to grow exponentially as I saw complete lack of recognition in the eyes of the students, and not long after signs of boredom and excessive fidgeting, all under the watchful eye of a few coordinators and instructors. After our introductions we both were like, "OK, see you kids later, nice to meet you", at which point our directors gestured for us to continue. Natalie and both looked at each other with not a small amount of desperation in our eyes, and started to walk around the classroom and introduce ourselves to the kids individually. I'm pretty sure at that point we were about to be fired on the spot! (Natalie's thinking-We did pretty much as good as anyone could do who has never been a teacher and has no idea of the level of English of the kids he/she is teaching. I think everyone was actually pretty impressed. I was certainly impressed with Graham, and felt confident in our contribution and care for the kids. But it was certainly more than a bit awkward. Ha!)

Thankfully with each class we got much better to the point where we were pretty confidant by the end of the week, and by doing call and response, and talking slowly and with vocabulary the kids could actually maybe comprehend, we think and hope they actually learned a few things!

We were introduced to many administrators and teachers, most of whom don't speak English very well or at all, with the obvious exception being our fellow English teachers: two Philippians, an Englishman, and a woman from Burma. (On a side note, we are taking the job over from a couple from New Zealand, so the poor kids really have a lot of accents to struggle with!) Everyone was extremely nice, and I am happy to report that I think we will get along really well with our coworkers.

Again, we still were under the impression that we would not be teaching until Tuesday, but at about 11 in the morning a Thai instructor came into the room we were at and told me that I was 5 minutes late for my class. I must not have been able to hide my shock, because Natalie (a born saint :) immediately offered to help me teach it. We were led to the classroom with no idea what grade level we would be instructing, where they were in their course work, or even if it was an English class for that matter (we found out we are teaching PE, Social Studies, Math, and Computers as well, although that is another story). Thank goodness that we can laugh about it now, but there were many awkward moments over the next hour as we learned to teach on the spot. Some things didn't work: for instance when we tried to teach about fruits and engage the kids in a sing along to the Raffi tune, I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas. As much as we tried to explain our goal, and repeat ourselves, Natalie and I were the only ones singing. We figured that we just needed to keep singing it though, so that the kids could learn it, however as the kids expressions became more and more pained for the embarrassment these foreigners were causing themselves, we finally decided to go with another strategy. (That was sooooo funny! Left my dignity at the door on that one. Or maybe in California for that matter.)

As I mentioned, the week was a lifetime in itself, and I won't go into much more detail except to say that each day got progressively better to the point that we were both feeling pretty darn confidant by the end of it.

We decided to celebrate the end of our first week by going to see Benny Benasi in Bangkok this weekend, and had an overall fantastic time seeing our friends there and even getting do do some Halloween partying, which we sadly figured we would be foregoing this year. The picture above is from that night. Additionally, if interested, please check out the pictures of our school and some of the kids that we posted HERE. And HERE you will find a little video of some of the flooding we encountered the prior weekend.

We miss you all a ton, and send much love!! We will update again soon!

And a quick summary from Natalie: There were some definite lows this week as I realized that here I will be working twice as hard for a 10th of the money I was earning in the states. A couple mornings when I woke up at 6:30 am to ride my bike to class and be there all day, I was wondering what in the world I was thinking when I decided to leave a great situation in a city that I love. But by the end of the week, particularly on Thursday, when we found a new route to ride our bikes to and from school, and were cruising past gorgeous farm houses, tropical forest, and sugarcane fields, waving hi to our students on their way home from school, I had an intense feeling of life and euphoria that I suppose was the type of moment that makes life worth living. You know, one of those moments like in a movie when you feel the wind blowing through your hair and you want to scream out of appreciation and excitement but then you realize that you are just a giant cheeseball and you aren't really in a movie but are super happy anyways and you still want to scream but think it might not be as cool as it feels inside. One of those moments. I had a series of those moments at the Benny Benassi concert. HE BLEW MY MIND HIS MUSIC WAS SO INCREDIBLE LIVE. We were in Bangkok with a super cool diverse crowd, having what we both agreed was one of our best nights ever. We kept looking at each other with our jaws dropped wondering how in the world the music was zapping our souls with so much energy and love when it was only made on a computer. Definitely a night I will remember forever and that I hope I will never forget the amazing happiness that I felt.  Other highlights include meeting and befriending an amazing couple from New Zealand who I know we will be great friends with (we already are actually!) and really getting to know a few incredible people in Bangkok, people we met at orientation but really fell for this weekend. And of course another night of partying for Halloween and some guilty, but painfully inexpensive and fashionable shopping at the largest market in the world. And a night in a super fancy hotel with an amazing balcony and view of Bangkok. And a couple crazy tuktuk rides and traditional Thai meals to welcome us to the school and Dan Chang. Overall it has been an insanely enriching, exciting and overall incredible week, and I continue to be thankful to be here having this experience, and have been especially thankful this week to meet some truly inspiring people (and children, but I will write more on that soon!)

We miss you and love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great day!