This was teachers’ work week at the new school: Marieniramon School. Now that I am not with Peace Corps, I can mention names. Peace Corps security policy is that we cannot mention our exact location in public places. I had planned to go to Vietnam with Khun Tuk but cancelled that trip, forfeiting the one-way ticket that had been purchased. I thought she was going with her sister; so it would be OK to not go, as she had someone to travel with. It turned out to be her children who were going with her, but she was not alone. Had she been alone, I would have gone with her. I was sorry to cancel, as it would have been fun to go with her and her children, but it was good that I was here to settle in a bit before school starts next week.
Teachers started working Monday, but I joined them Tuesday, as I was in Bangkok on Monday. Sister Viphaporn had forgotten that and called to see where I was. Tuesday morning there was a teachers’ meeting at 9:00. I left home at 8:30, thinking it would take about 30 minutes to walk there. Since I hadn’t unpacked and hadn’t thought to keep the map Khun Dakom had given me to show me the back streets to walk on to get there, I walked on the main street. After half an hour, I wasn’t at the bus station, which is near the school; so I asked a woman where the bus station is. She understood some English and we chatted a bit and I told her I was going to the school. She knew the school and pointed ahead and told me to turn right at the bus station, which is what I knew. So I walked on. Khun Dakom called to see where I was, as Khun Tang had called him. I told him where I was, thinking he would tell me if I was in a wrong place, and that I was hurrying. After a while, I thought I should be there; so I asked again and the man pointed ahead. On I went. I would see a place I recognized having seen before; so I kept thinking it should be just a few more minutes away and that my Thai friends had underestimated the distance from my house and that I was going to have to figure out another way to get to school, as I wasn’t walking that far every day. Khun Kuan called to see where I was, as Khun Tang had called her. I told her the big store I could see, but I know her English is limited and she probably didn’t understand. Then I asked another person who pointed ahead, and on I went. After about 75 minutes, I got to a place I was positive was wrong. I wasn’t sure what to do, as I didn’t want to walk all the way back to a place I could easily identify for someone to come to get me and I didn’t know the address of where I was. I asked a woman where the bus station is and she told me to talk to the woman in the shop nearby. That woman understood me and pointed back the other way and told me which bus to take. A few minutes later the minibus came and I was off to the bus station. While riding, I remembered that we had learned in Pre-Service Training to always ask at least three people for directions because they always tell you something, as it is more important to help than to be accurate. I also realized that the people in the middle who pointed ahead may not have understood and just pointed the direction I was going. On the way to the bus station, I realized my error in walking; I had gone straight when I should have followed the first curve to the right. Doing that, it really is about a 30-minute walk.
I finally arrived at the school over two hours after leaving home. Everyone was happy to see me. My little misadventure was the topic of several conversations that day and the next.
When we new teachers introduced ourselves to the staff, we were given a jasmine garland. I missed the group introduction and had to do mine alone. I put the garland on the spirit house at my house.
Tuesday evening Khun Teamjan picked me up to visit Khun Toy in the hospital. She had had kidney stones broken up with laser surgery. After visiting her, we went to Khun Samlon’s daughter’s home for dinner.
Wednesday I walked to school in 30 minutes. The two new Filipino teachers and I talked with Sister Viphaporn in the morning. All English teachers teach English, science English, and math English. The latter two are also taught in Thai; so students get the content in their native language, which is good. Sister agreed to let me not teach grade 7 and 8 math, as I really don’t know that subject and would not feel competent or comfortable teaching it. The teacher who is on vacation now and will teach part-time will teach math to grades 7 and 8 and I will teach it to grades 5 and 6. I will still teach English and science English to grades 7 and 8. At least with science, I can learn a little and focus on vocabulary and simple content. Then we met with subject teachers to plan the topics of the semester. Following the Thai curriculum, there are five topics for grade 7 and seven topics for grade 8 in the first term. The Thai books are full of print, no pictures most of the time. There’s too much content for teachers to really teach it; so they will be lecturing and presenting the information, not really teaching it in ways that students will really learn.
I ate lunch at a food shop across from the school. Somtom cost 25 bahts instead of the 10 I paid in the village. Welcome to the city.
After school, I went to Khun Kuan’s house to visit Khun Toy and have dinner. She stayed there to rest before going home and to school. I asked Khun Tang to draw me a map of how to get there. She did, and then she drove me. After dinner, we went to get my passport photos taken for my visa application. We drove downtown along the road I walked on Tuesday; so we got to relive and laugh about that adventure. They were impressed with how far I had walked. When they drove me home, they went slowly and showed me how to walk on the small roads.
Thursday and Friday teachers went to a seminar about School Self Assessment Report. The other school was doing that over the break. Thursday there was a meeting for parents of new students that we new teachers were to attend, since we didn’t go to the seminar. It was interesting to observe the difference in the attendees from those who attended meetings at the village schools. Parents came to this meeting; grandmothers came to the others.
After the meeting, a photo was taken with students modeling their uniforms, Sister Viphaporn, and a few teachers.
In the early afternoon, we were told we could go home. I walked past Khun Kuan’s house to see if Khun Toy was still there. Their car was gone; so I didn’t stop. But someone saw me and Khun Kuan called to me. I went in for a few minutes. She gave me a huge bag of vegetables to cook for dinner. They were already chopped and ready to cook. She was going to ride me home but had no keys for her motorcycle. So she rode on a small bicycle while I walked to the end of the street. By this time, I felt like I had a pretty good idea and could do it. Five minutes later, I heard my name. Khun Kuan was there on a motorcycle; she had borrowed her friend’s so she could take me home.
Friday I walked to school the back way on the small roads. Just after I got out of the local neighborhood, there was Khun Kuan on her motorcycle to take me to school. She told me to go to her house after school so she could take me home. Her school starts in two weeks; so she’s free now. The Filipino teachers weren’t there on Friday. My agenda was going with Khun Tang to the government office to see about my visa. They could not help and said we have to go to the immigration office. Later Sister Viphaporn said she had called someone in Nong Khai who will help her/us when we go to the office in Muktahan next week. I hung out in the library the rest of the day, using the Internet for personal work, including purchasing plane tickets to the U.S. at the end of the month. It was good that I did that, as some of the flights had only about 12 seats left. I wanted to pay in dollars, as the credit card charged about 7% to change money the last time I did this. The price was in dollars on the travel site, but when it hooked up with Delta to make the booking, it showed up in bahts. I had tried a few places and this always happened. If I were going the other way (Chicago to Bangkok and back), the price is in dollars. I guess they figure that, if you’re starting in Bangkok, you want to pay in Thai money. Oh, well.
I also spent some time gathering information and ideas for teaching the first science units. It will be a challenge to get to feeling comfortable enough with the material to teach it and to think of ways to make it accessible to students in English. Khun Aof invited me to go to lunch with her. I wasn’t going to but then I thought I should be sociable, since we won’t have time to go out for lunch after school starts. She also offered to take me home. But, when the time to leave came, she was upstairs and Khun Tang was ready to drive me. So, so far I’ve walked home one day and haven’t walked on the back roads yet. Next week.
Some things don’t change. We have no schedule for our classes yet, and they start on Monday. When I asked Khun Tang on Friday, she said we’ll get it Monday morning because the teacher preparing it is at the seminar. I haven’t had a tour of the school. I did walk upstairs to see where the classrooms are, but they were closed because the teachers were at the seminar. I was given some English textbooks to look at, but I’m not sure if I’m to use them as resources or choose a book for students to use.
Since I’m no longer with Peace Corps, I have no restriction on motorcycle riding. I could refuse to ride, especially since there are no helmets, but that isn’t something people do. It would be refusing help from people who want to help and take care of me, and that’s not a good thing. So, I’m riding and getting used to it. I have now ridden twice as often as I had in my life previously (two times). People have been good about driving slowly and carefully and making sure I’m OK.
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