The first week

So before we begin with the flashbacks to a better time, we begin with super fun (probably quite dull) real life news that is; drum roll please... I got a job! It’s only a temp job but there is a possibility of staying on after the contract ends and it’s just a few minutes’ walk up the canal. Yup. Up the canal! Love saying that. Today I graduated. Finally! Was a good day and had a lot of fun and I’m glad it’s all over. Don’t get me wrong I had a blast, but it was a lot of hard work.


So today’s blog is about the first week of school. It’s a mix of teaching, fun stuff and side projects as well as a new roomy who couldn’t stop talking about how much she doesn’t like to share with people. Fun times ahead. So this blog really takes us from Tuesday to Friday morning of the first week.

So I get some help with the teaching and I have my lessons plans based on what they already know and the school wants us to teach. With the oldest group we go for basic ‘I like’ and ‘I do not like’ sentences. With the middle group we did some words and the youngest group we did shapes. This was what most of the first week was geared towards with the teaching, expanding and reinforcing these basic things with a variety of games and activities that help with this. I enjoyed the teaching but looking back now and re-reading the diaries I was defiantly held back a bit by there being another volunteer there. It wasn’t specifically who it was, I think if I was working and teaching with anyone else I would look back and say the same thing. With someone always there to fall back on I was never really going to have (as said in friends) ‘the fear’. Though for the first week at least I was happy with this and it was probably needed while I still found my feet.

After a couple of days the other volunteer (Vanessa) moved into the room with me. She had been staying with one of the teachers, but after some discussion it was decided that I looked to sad on my own (no idea why) and needed more company. So on the day she moved in the room was split in half, one of the three beds removed and a divider put up. A new fan was brought in, as well as a kettle and a fridge. Finally it was all cleaned completely by two of the students. The nights varied, mostly ended up eating at the local places, though some nights we were taken further away from the village into the town and ate at proper restaurants.

We spent the week designing a board on the wall. And by we, I really mean Vanessa dictated and I just agreed. I’ve never really done anything that a display before and I was happy to go along with it. It all seemed like good ideas. It wasn’t actually put up until the next week, so I’ll talk about it in that blog.

Foundation day. Fun day. Got up in the morning as normal, but at around 8am we come out and there is a pick-up truck style cab in the playground and all of the 5/6 boys are getting in. We were off on a trip. We went to another school where there were big events to celebrate the foundation of Thailand. While everything was still being set up we were invited into the office of the director. Several other directors and other teachers were there and we talked and read over a speech written in English that was actually very good. We were brought tea and cake-biscuit things and the woman bringing them was bowing to us. Not in the Japanese style bow and return bow, but in a ‘need to keep my head lower than yours the entire time I’m in the same room as you’ kind of way. It was actually uncomfortable, especially considering I’m not a real teacher and all that kind of malarkey. We spoke with an English teacher for a while, who taught me some new phrases. Then we watched a giant play, performed by students from the school. I’ll post links to the pictures at the bottom of this. But they were fighting each other with real swords, throwing each other across concrete pavements and it all looked insane! It was also all in Thai and I don’t really know anything about Thai history other then they were never colonised. I thought that the rough looking people who had kidnapped, murdered and at one point raped these women who seemed to be just happily working in a paddy field were the baddies... right? Then the well dressed totally badass looking stealthy ninja dudes who tried to rescue the prisoners were the goodies... right? Well the fighting went on for a good ten fifteen minutes with the ninjas getting picked off slowly until there were just two or three left. With a final hurrah they were all killed off. The winners were the bad guys. I was confused. I thought more ninjas would come and avenge everyone. But nope. It was the end and we went back to the school. On the way back we stopped off at a restaurant on stilts and ate the most amazing rice.

Check out the photo's at;
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=263416&id=620438469&l=16a606d7eb