Loi Krathong

I remember as a child watching Mulan, and being amazed, even through cartoon, with the beauty of the scene where the city celebrates with fireworks. I always wanted to see something like that, something as bright and colourful. Last night I attended the Thai Loi Krathong festival, and saw such beauty.

To explain the festival is quite simple. Loi means to float, and a Krathong is a little floating vessel made out of banana leaves and decorated with hair, flowers, incense sticks and candles. The people make their Krathongs a few days before, and the children make them in school, and then on night of the full moon in November they all go to the local lake and float their Krathong out onto the water. This is done to ask forgiveness to the water spirits for any pollution humans have caused over the past year.

The night is also a chance for locals to mix together, have a chat, and enjoy some nice food. There is a temple located beside Rattanaburi lake near me, and throughout the night the local people took the time to go in with their family and pray in the temple. Its nice to see that amid all the bustle of the people around the lake chatting and the music blaring on the speakers, that there is quiet and peace somewhere. Also the smell of the incense mixed with the candles from the Krathongs and the cooking around was fantastic. There was also a firework show during the night, and I have to say, the Thai's know how to do fireworks. These were so well timed, and had such amazing colours. I am rarely impressed by fireworks in real life, but I could have watched that show all night.

For me personally, although the Krathongs were beautiful, and their glow as they all floated together into the middle of the dark lake was stunning, I found the lanterns to be the best aspect to the night. Around the lake, after floating their Krathong, the people light large paper lanterns and set them up into the sky. Its so pretty to see dozens of these orange lights float off so quietly into the dark, and with the backdrop of the full moon in a clear sky behind them, well, its perfect really.

A Perfect Storm

I hadnt planned on writing a blog tonight, but after what I have witnessed in the last half an hour I feel I have to write it down before I have forgotten how incredible it was.

I was sitting eating my dinner in our little kitchen, having a chat with my housemate, when we were all shook (house and all) by a fairly sizeable clap of thunder. Thunder in this part of the world is not unusual, and we both had an idea this was on its way, as in Thailand you can feel the humidity build over a number of hours before a rain storm. But this was something we could never have imagined.

We decided to head up to balcony on our second story to see if there was any lightening, and what we were greeted with can only be described as a magnificent display of the sheer force of nature. The rain started light as it usually is this time of year, but suddenly the heavens opened and we were being completely lashed on, the little roof above the balcony providing little shelter from what can only be described at torrents of water. But we simply couldnt care, as the lightening that was filling the black sky in front and over us with the most magnificent light was something we couldnt take our eyes off. It started off as sheet lightening, but we soon saw that as the storm moved across the sky that it was in fact fork lightening just hidden behind the clouds. Accompanied by rolls of thunder that you could feel through the soles of your feet as it rattled the ground you stood on, the lightening lit up the entire sky, so bright and clear you could see colours such as pink and yellow in the light. The flashes of light gave us momentary picture-like images of the drops of rain that fell from the roof over us, with a backdrop of the tall coconut and mango trees in the fields at the back of our house.

All I kept thinking was how perfect it seemed. The air was light and clear, the rain was slightly warm and refreshing, and there were no buildings or anything of human making between us and the show of light in the sky. And as quickly as it arrived, it was over. The clouds quietly rolled on over us, leaving behind the clearest sky filled with stars and a nearly full illuminating moon. Everything has now resumed to its usual peaceful self, with only a cool breeze and damp grass as a sign that anything out of the ordinary occurred.  It was, without a doubt, one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed.

Sporting a Smile

Sports day at home was a day during primary school which I dreaded. I cant run fast, I have no hand eye coordination when it comes to the egg and spoon race, and I cant kick a ball into a goal if I was standing 5 feet from it .... ok that last bit is a bit of an exaggeration .... maybe 10 feet.

But here, even if you cannot play a single sport, its the greatest fun. There are over 2500 children in this school, and they are all spread between five 'houses', and there are children from M1 to M6 in each house. Every house has teams for each sport and each child represents their house in races etc. The atmosphere and support for your house is what makes this week so fantastic. The children all get involved in going to the matches in their colours with their pom poms and their cheer leaders and shouting for their fellow housemates. As a teacher who comes from an education system in Ireland based on discipline and exams, to see the children so enthusiastic and happy about their school and their teachers is amazing.

All the teachers get involved too, with each teacher being allocated a house and they wear the colour of that house for the few days.I am orange this week (not the most flattering shade I might just add), but my kids are  so funny. I got the greatest kick out of them this week. They are so free with their expressions here, which means LOTS of screaming, jumping around, and shaking everything they have the minute the drums start (the marching band drummers seem to carry those things everywhere with them!).Their stamina also shocks me, with their energy never dimming even a slight bit despite the heat. I stood out in the heat for about 10 minutes today and I felt baked and drained. They even had a parade through the town at half 8 this morning, and all the children attended, ready and enthusiastic, and walked the length of the town (about 25 minute walk) back to the school holding banners, flags, and some dressed in very uncomfortable looking traditional Thai dresses. I was very cheeky and hitched a ride on the back of a motorcycle with a young Chinese teacher who communicates to me through a series of grunts and pointing. I still got my lift back though. I figure that in itself was a successful start to the morning. The kids went on to race each other and play football and dance the whole day, even when many of their fellow students were fainting around them with the heat (the guys with the stretcher got their exercise today anyway). Most Irish kids would have mitched off and gone home or off to the local shopping centre.

But no, here these kids love this week, and I have to say so far I have loved it too. I have gotten to chat with the kids and get to know them more, and I even got my M5s (17 years old) to style me a lovely french plait and teach me some Thai words. I have one day left tomorrow which sees me put on the denims and shirt for a cowboy themed party. No doubt there will be more to blog about. The endless stream of Thai experiences continues.

Sawatdiikha.

The Elephant Experience

There generally isnt much to do around this part of the world. Surin Thailand is a pretty rural farming based area, and is pretty far of the tourist track. But once a year the city of Surin hosts an elephant festival in the hope of bringing in some extra business. So, off we all went to Surin this weekend with the hope of experiencing some Thai festivities.

I hate to complain, because up to this point I have been so thrilled with my Thai experience, but this was a complete disappointment. The town was exactly the same as usual bar a few more western faces who arrived, like us, in search of some excitement. What they found was one show once a day (300 -1000 baht a ticket) which consisted of elephants performing tricks such as playing football and tricks with hoops, and also a number of elephants on the street giving elephant rides. Personally, I love elephants and think they are such beautiful and intelligent creatures, but after this weekend I am sure of one thing. They are not meant to be performers. I didn't go to the show as I felt that I didn't want to give my money to support the mistreatment of these animals in the name of 'entertainment'. They are trained by Thai people who retain control of the elephant by keeping a sharp sickle to the temples of the elephants, and they are not afraid to use it as I unfortunately witnessed on the streets. Some of them were chained around their neck and feet. As you walk down the street you are approached by every elephant owner and offered to pay 20 baht (50cent) to feed the elephant who trudged behind him. Personally, it wasnt my cup of tea.

Although, waiting for friends outside the train station yesterday evening, I found a bit of enjoyment in the whole situation. Being a place popular with tourists, outside the train station was a base for the elephant rides. I was sitting on the steps texting, and looked up to get the fright of my life. I found myself greeted by an enormous elephant trunk in my face. An elephant whose owner had wandered to the side to have a cigarette had found her way over to me, and decided to make friends. She had a good sniff and gave me a few taps, and I got up to give her a rub. It was quite an experience, as one does not really comprehend the size of the these animals until they 'tap' you with their trunks and nearly send you flying. After a few minutes the owner then came over to us, explained to me that she is 3 years old, and is just pregnant. He encouraged me to give her a rub, offered to take a picture of me with her with my camera, and surprisingly didn't badger me for any money or try to offer me to feed her, unlike many others in the area. He seemed to really love this elephant, and she seemed to be treated relatively well in comparison to others around.

To get up close and personal with these animals is quite incredible, and is something that I will remember for the rest of my life, although that memory is tainted by the knowledge of the conditions of these animals and their treatment. In short, I wouldn't give my recommendation to this 'festival'. I would recommend instead to see these animals in a proper and well run sanctuary, of which there are a number in Thailand. Elephants are incredible creatures, but, in my opinion, they are better somewhere they belong rather than doing tricks in an arena and giving rides down streets.

Sawatdiikha.

Braving Reality

While being in Thailand there is a sense of being in a bubble. You leave the bustling Western world, full of its deadlines and traffic, and find yourself in this calm haven where the most stressful thing in your life is spicy food and the odd delinquent in your class. There is a sense of being protected from the world, a sense of 'this is pretty perfect'. But sometimes, even here, the reality of the world you left behind can seep in. Bad things can still happen to you, and how you react to them being so far from home leaves you with a very clear view of the type of person that you are.

We all have fears leaving, and I know at the minute there are a number of prospective TEFL teachers reading this blog, and I am sure you all have concerns with leaving your family. One of the popular concerns is 'what if something happens to someone I love and I am so far from them'. I didnt give this one much thought to be honest; partially as a result of other concerns such as food and fear of flying, and partially because I didn't want to scare myself into not going. Well earlier this week, a young cousin of mine died, and I was forced to face every expat's worst nightmare; being away from home during a family disaster. I of course am devastated, but I didnt come here to tell you about all that.

I came here to tell you that if you want to come here, to go anywhere, do not let fear stop you. I have chosen not to return home, and this decision was encouraged by my family.Yes its been a nightmare coping with this so far from home, but I have learnt a lot about how strong I am, and how resolved I am about being here. Fear should never be something that stops you making a life for yourself, and bad things will always happen in life, whether you are sitting on a beach in Thailand, or an office in Dublin. Go out there, grab life and the risks that come with that action, and live it. We only get one chance at things, as corny as that sounds, and letting the fear of possibilities stop you will be the your greatest regret. Bad things will happen while you are here, and there will be weeks where you think of abandoning ship in the middle of the night and getting on the first plane home. But running doesnt fix the bad thing, or make it go away. It just means that you face it in another time zone. So come, travel, live, and face the bad and the scary. You will find that at the end of it all you are stronger, and your appreciation for your family is at an all time high. Life is there to be lived, not feared. Take it from someone who faced the fear and survived it.

Sawatdiikha.

The Friday Feeling

Having always worked weekends the whole way through college, I have never experienced the Friday feeling until now. Today, Friday 9th of November, I finished my first full week as a teacher. Overall, I am very pleased. I didnt loose any children, or have any injuries as a result of them running around like a wound up toy. I managed to keep them all in the classroom, I had about 70% of their attention, and I didn't make a complete arse of myself. I think for the minute, I can be proud of that.

Although, today didnt go so well. I suppose in every job there are parts of it that test you, and today my last class was my test. A 5th year class, who should have a decent enough grasp of English, who didnt know the words 'brother' or 'sister'. Even after 10 minutes of drawing out stick figures of my family with their titles (a have suddenly acquired a big brother named Mark by the way, in case any of you haven't met him yet), they still hadnt grasped the concept. Not to mention the fact that they answered all my questions in Thai bar yes and no, and spoke to each other every time I addressed them. Talk about banging my head against a brick wall. So, I came out pretty disheartened. Even now I am at a loss as to what to do with them, and angry that they have gotten to this stage in school without knowing the basics you learn in the first class of a new language. I have been in Thailand a month and I think I know more Thai than they do English.

So I arrived home feeling pretty rubbish, made myself some Irish tea and sat down in a grumpy mood to transcribe 900 student names into my roll book. It was at the point where I was about the chuck the whole lot across the room with frustration at the amount of tippex I was using (Thai names in English are reaaaallllly difficult to transcribe) when there was suddenly a teacher at my door. A group of teachers were preparing to lay out harvested rice on blue plastic on the path, and they were coming to show me how it is done. A few minutes later, one of the young male teachers who I sat in rooms with a few times in the last week arrived, and suddenly all the teachers were offering him to do jobs for me, such as randomly pump the tyres on my bike. To cut a long story short, I found myself 'set up' with this poor young guy by the older teachers who were getting serious fun out of seeing this guy squirm. I ended up sitting on the front porch, the two of us sharing a chocolate bar, a big bottle of water, and talking in sign language for an hour and a half before pure awkwardness at lack of conversation forced him to help me fill in my roll sheet. Turns out its handy to have someone around who can read Thai names. The older teachers were truly thrilled by this, and are completely convinced that they have done miraculous work for this poor bachelor dude (who looked truly mortified as he could understand what they were saying) and this lonely little white girl (who spent her whole time laughing at the entire situation)

Lesson learned today; don't ever think that moods will last in Thailand. The people here always find a way to bring you back to that Friday feeling.

Sawatdiikha.

Waiing Away the Day

I wonder will I ever get used to being bowed to. Its quite unnerving to have every person that passes you press their hands together and bow their heads. I feel slightly like the that woman in 'The King and I', except without the oversized dress and the desire to constantly bounce/run around in it. In Thailand this gesture is called waiing, and if you happen to find yourself as a teacher in Thailand every student will do this to you. And I mean EVERY student. I try to acknowledge their wai by saying 'hello' or 'good morning/afternoon' but this usually brings on a fit of the giggles as teachers do not usually respond to the students like this. They giggle here for everything. They giggle if they are nervous, excited, happy, worried, surprised, or even annoyed. Confrontation is something that does not exist here. Don't get me wrong, people give out, just not to the person who has rattled them.

Anyway, my first week of proper teaching is going as well as can be expected. I had a slight disaster on Monday where I found myself a little lost in a class trying to explain simple concepts only to be confronted with the dreaded 'what the hell is she on about' look, but I am going to put that down to Monday laziness on both mine and the students' parts and move on. Yesterday and today have been what can only described as a complete success. Most of my students are turning up (school here is like college, sometimes you just don't bother going), and they seem to like me. My 5th years spent a good bit of time today asking me my age and then thinking I was a teenager because I know all the songs they like and the movies they watch. They are only 4 years younger than me, some even less, but my answer to their questions was 'too old to say, I will get embarrassed!' They understand embarrassment and the desire to not lose face here. Its very important.

Also, I have discovered way of tapping into students' enthusiasm in the classroom, and this is through competition. Nothing could have made my day better than the buzz in the classroom when there is a heated race to get to the end of the line in Chinese Whispers (just 'Whispers' here, no need to cause an awkward situation for myself trying to explain that one). Every kid loved it, whether 12 or 17 and it fits my job description of 'Speaking Listening Instructor' down to a tee.

I must admit though, its challenging. Some kids cannot grasp the simplest of things, such as 'what is your name', and there is only so simple a explanation you can give to a 17 year old without being patronising. It can be very frustrating, as my job is to basically talk really slowly and simply all the time. That takes a lot of mental energy. Thats not including discipline (I have had a few who have pushed me, but the 'dont you dare try that' look seems to be having the desired effect), or keeping them constantly active in some way, or satisfying their insatiable desire to show me every bit of work they do and get it ticked. Its hard work, but I am loving it so far. Hopefully that feeling lasts.

Sawatdiikha.

ps, on a side note, I must thank my Mother for her Irish Mammy Care Package containing knorr pasta sachets and instant mash. The simple things that keep us expats happy :-)

Accepting the bizarre Thai style

For the last two days (Thursday and Friday), the school has been in camp mode. I knew that this was going to happen, but I think the scale of the camp out shocked me a little. For the two days, about 1000 students were camped out on the school grounds. They were fed, entertained, and supervised by a small number of teachers in the school. The kids seem to have a complete blast, and it gave us time to wander around, get our faces known, chat to a few teachers, and most importantly chat to the students in English. Although I think what we noticed most about the camp was how bizarre and different things are here compared to the strict school structure at home

I don't know whether its because we have a very limited grasp of the language and we simply didn't understand the point of everything, but the last two days were the most confusing I have had so far in this country. Simple things confused us, like the first night the children took part in a candle ceremony. They came into the school hall, lit their candles on the way in from a line of teachers who were holding candles. They then placed the candles in a lovely big bowl of sand with lotus flowers in it, and it looked really beautiful in the dark. But then they all sat down, had a random thing where some of them ran to the top of the group, giggled something into the microphone, then went and got a packet of biscuits, and ran back down to their place in the group. Then it moved onto a chair being placed in the middle of the stage, an Thai English teacher came out dressed in a nice Thai dress, said about 4 words, sat down and people took photos with her like she was a celebrity, and then the children just got up and left. 

The next night, we went to a camp fire at the boys camp, where a 50 year old male teacher dressed like a boy scout (they all had uniforms of different sorts depending on what group they worked with) talked into the mike for about half an hour while the children chatted between themselves, only breaking conversation for the odd high pitched 'I see a celebrity' scream. The reason for the scream? Your guess is as good as mine. Then, after the lighting of the fire, there was a quick performance of a Thai wooden xylophone-like instrument  (have to say, that was pretty impressive), followed by a period of time where the teachers would say something for a few minutes into the mike, then play a little snippet of music where some of the children would jump up, dance like a cross between a rag doll and a background dancer for Britney for about 20 seconds, and then as quick as lightening jump back down to their sitting position on the ground. Then came the ladyboy show (which is EXTREMELY popular with the young girls, you wouldn't hear this amount of screaming at a Bieber concert) which consisted of 15 year old boys, with incredible legs and the ability to walk in 6 inch heels in a field better than I would on tarmac, strutting around with handbags saying the odd word and enjoying the screams of the fans. All this was done to entertain the teachers, students, and the director of the school, who thought the whole thing was hilarious. Myself and Saadia just spent the whole time looking at each other saying 'do you know what's going on'?

Not finding an answer, we decided to accept the bizarre. If you can't beat them. or in this case understand them, may as well join them. 

A Wander Off The Tourist Path

So far in my adventures here I have mostly experienced what many would call the 'tourist' end of things, i.e. the markets, shopping, new food, thai dancing, hotels, temples. But the other day, I saw what I suppose I came to Thailand to discover and learn about. Reality. I didnt come here in search of temples or dancing, as good as they are. I came here to see another way of living, to experience a new world through the people who have grown up here. What I did on Monday belongs to that search for reality. I thought about whether to put it in the blog, but I realised that to leave it out would be choosing what parts of reality I want to see, and that's not what I came here for.

After school on Monday, one of the teachers rang us and asked us to join her as she went to a nearby village to run a few errands. Accompanied by her elderly mother (a lovely smiley little thai woman without a word of English but speaks to us even though she knows we dont understand anything) we headed into the remotest area of Thailand I have encountered. The teacher explained to us that this was a farming village, and most of the people here are very poor. She also explained that many of the younger working generation have moved to places like America and Ireland, and they send money back home to their families for food and also, in many cases, to build a proper house. Most of the old houses still stand. They are simply raised houses on stilts to avoid flooding which often occurs, and they are usually one room, about the size of two average sitting rooms. The family of maybe 4 or 5, sometimes more depending in whether grandparents are living there too, live in the one room. They usually all sit outside though, and only use inside for cooking or sleeping, as the weather is usually good.

After dropping off the teacher's mother at her friends house (where they all stuck their head into the car to see the westerners and our lack of tan) we headed off to talk to a family. The girls in the family, twins, are incredibly smart, but they lack the money to go to university. Their family has recently gotten a house, which consists of one main room with two small storage rooms, built for them by the government, as their previous one was unfit for habitation. The teacher was meeting them to discuss their options for the future and their education. As I sat and watched these girls, who are so polite and bright, I couldnt help but think of how I took for granted my entry into University. My parent's attitude was 'education is a must and will always be provided for'. I worked through college, and I started to realise how lucky I was to have that job to get through University. Part time jobs here are non existent. Most people either work full time with their career, in shops or food stalls, or on a farm. I started to really see how the west can be seen as the land of opportunity. I know now its gone to pot economically, but we still take for granted so much. Simple things like our own rooms and our own beds, privacy, nice clothes, nice food, and the opportunity to do so much compared to others in the world. Although I didn't understand what the girls were saying, I could see in their eyes the disappointment of the reality that the likelihood of them getting out of that village and to university is very slim. Sitting there, I felt privileged to have had the ease of the decision to leave Ireland and find another life for myself.

I am not going to suggest any solutions to what I saw the other day, this is not a political rant. This is simply reality, one which we all must face and understand. It had to be included in this blog, because without it, my telling of Thailand would not be real.