A Competition at School (9-25)

The excitement at school this week was a dance competition on Friday. This took place during the last two classes, which were cancelled. So, I missed Sound Lab with one class, which didn’t upset me at all. The competition was for elementary students, but all students attended. This really meant that most students ran around and played or hung out elsewhere with their friends. After the first twenty minutes, the only students watching the competition were others in the competing grades. 

Small groups from most of the classes danced to the same song. This took about 80 minutes. I got tired of listening to the song after the first few. The 5^th and 6^th grade students were fun to watch, as they did some more choreographed dances. The younger ones just sort of moved to the music.

With Pim and Bank who were the MCs.

This month I’ve been left on my own more often. In May, when the electric and water bills arrived and I asked Khun Kwan what to do with them, she told me to give them to her and Kru Oy would take care of them. So every month I give him the bills and the money and he pays them. This month when I gave her the electric bill and money, she told me to take it to the Seven (7-11 store) near my house. I didn’t know I could pay there. So now I pay the bills myself. I needed to have my teeth cleaned and asked Kru Oy about a dentist, since he had mentioned having seen a dentist last month. He thought for a bit and then pointed to the clinic and told me to go there. I hadn’t realized they have a dentist there. So, Thursday on the way home I stopped at the clinic to see the dentist. 45 minutes later I left with clean teeth. The line for the dentist is shorter than that for the doctor. Cost: 330 bahts (about $10).

I decided to get my hair cut again. After the last time, Khun Kwan had told me to call her the next time and she would take me to her hairdresser. But this month she is extremely busy preparing a “report” about her work. She works on it every day and has five huge binders full of papers so far, and she says she’s not finished yet. So, I went to the area where I know she goes and walked into the first place I came to. The woman spoke English fairly well, which surprised me. She turned out to be Pim’s mother. She lived and worked in Bahrain for eight years. She went there because she has an uncle who lives there. While she was there, her three daughters stayed with their grandmother here and she visited every two years. Four years ago she returned to be with her daughters and had daughter number four. Pim was pleased that I had had her mother cut my hair.

Entertainment on Saturday afternoon: I took a break from reading to have a snack. When I returned, I noticed a large black spot moving up the wall. This could only mean that ants were carrying something up the wall. A group of the fast-moving ants was moving a large flying insect up the wall. In addition to being fascinated by this, I was curious to see where they were taking it, as the only thing at the top of the wall is the ceiling. They went up the window screen on the metal piece where the two screens meet. At the top of the wall, they went around the corner, across the bottom of the soffit, around the corner, and up the soffit. Once they were on this section, a number of other ants came to join them and the group kept changing. It looked like they were sending relief. 

When they came to the ceiling, I was really interested to see where they would go. They took went to one of the places where the ceiling tile rests on the frame. Then they pushed the bee into the crack, which was smaller than the body. Now I know where the ants live. They are a recent addition to the house, and I’ve seen them on the table recently but didn’t know where they came from. I imagine there’s a colony of them above the ceiling.

Sunday we celebrated Khun Teamjan’s birthday, which is on Monday, because those of us in Ubon could go to the village on Sunday. Khun Somlan was to pick me up at 8:00 Sunday morning. At 8:45, Khun Dakom called to say that Khun Somlan had business and would come in about an hour. On the way to the village, we stopped at his sister’s house so he could visit his farm. I was given a drink and some peanuts and told to wait. He asked if I had a book; they know me well. I had taken a book because I thought it could be a long afternoon during which I would want something to do.

When we arrived at Khun Toy’s house in the village, women were starting to prepare lunch. Khun Toy told me I could walk around and checked to make sure I was OK about walking alone. Since I walked there for three years alone, this was not a problem. My first stop was Khun Kasemsri’s house. There I was surprised to see Aemmy, who was excited to see me because she had a lot to tell me. She finished her massage class and went with a friend to Singapore for a month. Then she had to leave because she didn’t have a work permit and they are very strict about following the rule not to work without a permit. After returning home, she went back to Singapore for a week to meet a man she had been “dating” online. He’s Liberian and has been working in Malaysia for two years at an importing company. He paid for her ticket to Singapore. She says he loves her very much and she thinks she loves him. She plans to go to Malaysia in mid-October to spend more time with him. She’s very excited. He sounds better than the last man she dated; so I hope this works for her if it’s what she wants.

After eating, I went to visit Khun Ying, who was very excited to see me. I do miss the village and the neighborhood and my friends there. I miss feeling like I belong in a community, which I don’t here. Khun Dakom mentioned again that he wants me to be here next year for Khun Toy’s retirement to take photos for her. He called me in the evening to tell me that again. I told him I want to be here, as I know this is a really important event in her life, and I want to be here for her. (I consider it to be like going to a wedding or graduation.) I just need to figure out what I will do between the end of school and September. I also reminded him that I want to bring Khun Toy with me to America. We need to keep talking about that, and I need to talk with Khun Teamjan to see if she is thinking about this trip, too.

While some people played cards, Khun Toy sat in the living room next to the baby’s cradle. I joined her so I could read. After a while, she put on a video the school had made—a short story about a boy without parents. The boy acting the part was in one of my classes last year and several of the teachers had parts. It was fun to watch. Then she showed a DVD made from photos of our Ti Lo Su trip two years ago.

When the baby started to cry, she hushed her, rocked the cradle more, and gave her a bottle but did not pick her up. This still fascinates me. Then Adin came into the room and picked up his daughter. After a few minutes, he changed her diaper. Afterwards, Khun Toy picked her up and carried her outside.

When we left, there was a brief moment when Khun Somlan went to the driver’s side of the truck. He was clearly drunk and I’d been told that Khun Toy, his wife, would drive home. When they asked who I wanted to drive (I think they were joking with me, but I wasn’t 100% sure what was happening.), I said I’d take a bus if he was driving, which made them all laugh. Khun Somlan very willingly went to the back seat. Once we were on the road, he was asleep in two minutes. I know this happens often and I hope she drives home other times, not only because I was with them.

On the way out of the village, we stopped at Khun Teamjan’s house to drop off a table they had brought. Her son and daughter-in-law were there; so I got to see them briefly. I miss that family and having them in my life on a regular basis. I’m sure the granddaughter doesn’t recognize me anymore, since she is so young.

Routine Life (9-19)

(Flower photos to show that I do enjoy bits and pieces of beauty on my way to school.)

Life has been pretty routine the last two weeks. Nothing special going on. Just school, and nothing special is happening there at the moment. We were supposed to have English Camp on Friday, but that was postponed until October. We think it will be in October but are waiting for Sister Viphaporn’s final approval of the plans.

Two weeks ago I submitted a letter to request that more of the expenses for our work permit and visa be paid, since the contract states that “the employer will pay all reasonable expenses” and they gave us only 5000 of the almost 9000 bahts that obtaining the documents cost. The additional expenses were especially hard for Kate and Lovely because they send a lot of their salary home to their parents, and the extent of the additional expenses was a big surprise. I gave the letter to Sister Viphaporn in person and talked to her about the situation. She said she would talk to Sister Anne. That took another week, since they were busy with other official work. Thursday she told us that the other teachers should give her a list of their expenses so we can be given more money. In the meantime, Tony took up the cause, becoming a little crazier about it every day. He finally decided that he had to be male and aggressive, and wrote a blunt, angry-sounding letter saying that the school is in breach of contract and citing some law. He was rather angry about the whole situation and the amount of time it was taking to get a response. Of course, he said he wasn’t angry. I suggested he wait until we knew what Sister Viphaporn was going to tell us at the end of the day, since she had called to tell me that she had news for us, but he was unwilling to do that and left his letter on her desk. When he didn’t get a response by early afternoon, he became crazy about it. He stayed home Thursday and Friday. I didn’t know if that was why, but I knew he needed some time away. He called Saturday to thank me for contacting him and to say he had become irrational but is OK now. It was good to know he has gotten through this and his sense of humor is back.

Sunday was our day to go to the hospital to get our cholesterol medication. I had planned with Khun Dakom and Khun Toy to go to the village Saturday afternoon and then to the hospital with them on Sunday. This plan was changed because Khun Teamjan and Khun Suwit were going to a birthday party for their friend on Saturday and Sunday. I wondered if Khun Dakom and Khun Toy didn’t go because they had to take me to the hospital. That could have waited a week, but I didn’t have a say in the decision. They picked me up at 7:00 Sunday morning. Khun Toy had gone upstairs while we were waiting to have our blood taken to get numbers for us to be in line to see the doctor. We were numbers 25-27 and waited 2.5 hours to see her. After seeing the doctor, we went to the pharmacy and got our numbers, we were numbers 250, 251, and 257, and they were on 170. We waited over two more hours to get our medicine. I found myself missing Walgreens where you take in your prescription that is good for a year and get it filled in fifteen minutes. While we were waiting, a woman talked to Khun Dakom about wanting me to teach her daughters English. Another man also joined the discussion. Both took my phone numbers. I’m not desperate to have more students, but it would be OK if they followed the other group. We left the hospital just after 1:00. Since I had anticipated the waiting, I had a book with me. Khun Toy had not planned ahead; so we went out for a walk and she bought a magazine. She finished her magazine and I finished my book. The first stop after leaving the hospital was the Chinese duck restaurant for duck noodle soup, one of my favorite lunches. That almost makes the day worthwhile.

My post-Peace Corps insurance changed providers this month. We’ll see how the new providers take care of the prescription claim. The old ones paid for the whole cost in June. They must prorate the cost and reimburse based on what the U.S. cost would be, as they paid the whole amount I paid. This was still considerably less than they would reimburse after the co-pay in the U.S. ($45 here compared to about $120 there). After I figured that out, I submitted the expenses for the dog bite to see what they will do. I wasn’t going to bother with that, since it was less than the $500 deductible, but if it’s prorated, maybe they’ll pay something.

When I talked with Sister Viphaporn, she asked about the 8^th grade classes. The one is still a problem, especially on Monday morning after the weekend and before they are back in the routine of school. She said she will ask Sister Angie about taking that class next term, but she may not want to because she had them last year and knows they are difficult. I have mixed feelings about the possibility of dropping them, as I do like some of the students and know they are improving, but, unfortunately, they are very few in that class. I also know they would be disappointed to not have me as their teacher. One girl who has been one of the constant chatters has moved herself away from the group of girls. I had moved her a couple times and last week she moved herself and actually tried to do some of the work on her own. My not teaching them would free Sister Toom from the responsibility of going to class with me so the students behave; then she could do her other work.

When I turned in the record and grade books at the end of August, I copied the grades instead of writing them in the official books and included a note stating that they can change any grades they want to and I write what I am told to write. (This is my result of last month’s comment that some of my grades were not high enough.) This is my compromise position: I will change grades and write what I am told to, but I won’t change them on my own. I have a problem with giving good grades to students who literally do nothing and turn in papers that have no answers or only a couple answers and with those who do nothing but copy from their friends so they have good answers and get a good grade. I don’t mind giving good grades to those who do try even if their answers are not always correct. Now, when they are working, I initial their work if they are doing it themselves so I know who has tried on their own and who has worked in class and can give them credit for this when I do grades. I got the books back on Monday with no changed grades or comments; so I recorded the grades in the official books.

I’ve been a bit unmotivated at school. I’m pretty much ready for the next couple weeks, and then it will be the term break. So I took a book with me to read during free time Thursday and Friday. This turned out to be a good thing because the Internet server was down for two days because of the rainstorms. And down again on Monday—who knows why.

Rain has been especially plentiful the last few weeks. For a while, we had downpours daily. Now they are every couple days. My back “yard” area has been flooded from water overflowing the drainage ditch. I have had several inches of water to walk through to go out the gate. When I think it will rain before I get home, I’ve been talking a songtaew instead of walking. If it has rained a lot during the night and the streets will be flooded, I take a songtaew in the morning. It’s nice to have that option.

One day last week I went to Big C after school to buy a few items I needed. Especially urgent was lubricant, as the lock on the gate had become so rusted that it was difficult to close. I decided to treat myself to KFC for dinner, which I’ve not done before. I did enjoy the chicken breast. After I finished, the man at the next table spoke to me and asked if I speak English. He’s Australian and has a girl friend/partner here. He’s in his 30’s and works for three months in Australia and then comes here for six months. He’s been doing this for two years, since he met the young woman online. She does not work and just had their baby—a son. He was eating out because she was still in the hospital.

Kru Oy got a new car a couple weeks ago. It’s a big SUV, a man’s vehicle. It took me about ten days to remember what those big cars that are not 4-wheel-drive are called. I’ve never been good about car names. Khun Kwan doesn’t like the new car; she likes small cars.

Khun Yindee’s husband will have heart bypass surgery next week. I would like to be more supportive for her, but I know she has many friends and a lot of family who are taking care of her and him. So there really isn’t anything I can do.

Happy Birthday (9-3)

Last Saturday the school had Parents’ Conferences. We had heard that they were happening but had not been told that we were expected to participate until Sister Viphaporn told us at 4:45 on Friday. Kate wore jeans because “No one told me what to wear.” “No one told me” is usually my line; so it was a little surprising to hear it from her. Sister Viphaporn told us that we would be introduced and parents would be invited to sign up for special classes with us. We were not asked if we wanted to teach special classes.

On Saturday, about 150 people—parents and students—came on Saturday. These were the attending families of the 1069 students, not a great turn out. Homeroom teachers and special teachers, including us, were introduced. Then the three sisters talked for two hours. Then parents went to classrooms. It was really more like a parents’ meeting than what I know as parents’ conferences. I could see that no one was going to be interested in special classes that day. Kate and Lovely would like to teach a special class for some extra money. Since each student pays 500 bahts a month, it is a good way for teachers to earn extra money even after the school takes 15%. Tony and I really felt like we were on display. It seemed that the purpose of our being there was to show off the foreign teachers that they parents pay for.

Last Friday I had my last rabies injection. Thursday the scab on the wound came off when the nurse cleaned it, and the doctor dismissed me from daily dressing and cleaning. I was able to walk at my normal pace by the end of last week and felt good in general. So, that saga is over.

My neighbor took me to see the owner of the dog to talk to her about the money. I asked him to help because his English is good and I wanted someone who could interpret well enough for her to understand what the effects of the bite were and why it cost so much. She was not happy to see me and told him that the dog will bite me again. He had me sit in the car and talk out the window. She says she is very poor and has no money. He couldn’t tell if she is really poor or is saying that so she doesn’t have to give me any more money. The balance is 4000 bahts (about $120). I had decided that I would split this with her. She tried to negotiate to pay 1000, but I stuck with 2000. He had her sign a paper stating that she will give me 1000 in ten days and another 1000 at the beginning of October. I think I’ll let her pay only 1000 bahts more in the end. What I really wanted was for her to understand that  I know she has this obligation and that she has it even though I am a foreigner; it’s the principle, not the money. I learned that it is not only customary for the dog owner to pay expenses related to a bite, it is the law. She’s lucky that the school insurance paid 5000 bahts. I wonder what she would do if the dog had bitten someone who is poor and could not pay the expenses. Total cost: 11,250 bahts (about $370)

Khun Kwan told me that the special class would stop at the end of August because Bitoy will go to aerobics class every evening. I was disappointed, as the girls are doing well and it’s one of the few things I really enjoy. Then she asked if I would teach on Saturday, which turned out to be Saturday and Sunday. She also said the class will be at my house instead of hers. I think this is because she likes to sleep late on the weekends and is not up at 9:00 when we have class. She wanted two hours each day, but I said that’s too long. After meeting with them the first day, I was correct. It’s hard to keep their attention after an hour. They are ten years old, and, since there are only three of them, they do quite a lot in 60 or 90 minutes. The girls agreed that 90 minutes is enough. Since we’re meeting at my house in the morning, the class no longer includes a meal. That’s really OK, as I like having my own food for dinner and I like more vegetables than Khun Kwan provides.

Khun Yindee called me Saturday morning to tell me the bad news that she and her husband would not be able to take me to dinner for my birthday as they had been planning to do. (I hadn’t yet been informed of this plan.) The really bad news, though, was that Khun Greandach had a heart attack Friday night and was in Intensive Care at the hospital. I hope it wasn’t a really bad heart attack.

Khun Toy called me in the morning to tell me that we would have lunch together. We went to the place where they took me for karaoke after the dog bite. I thought this was an interesting choice. We were the only people there, and a long table was set up for us. The girls went with us and had their own table and food. Khun Kwan and Kru Oy came. Khun Teamjan and Khun Somlan joined us later. Khun Adin and his friend and Khun Joy and her friend also came.

The big surprise was when Khun Joy and a woman who works at the place left and came back with a British man. It was like having my own foreigner for the day. It was nice to have someone to speak English with. He is here meeting the young woman to see if he wants to have her as a partner. They met online and this is their first time to talk to and see each other. He is 50; she is 31 and has a 3-year-old son. She doesn’t speak English other than a few words. He has been here only four days and is missing being able to speak English fluently. One thing he would like to do is make a difference in someone’s life. If he stays with her, he can certainly do that. With his money, she can have a nice house and send her son to a better preschool, among other benefits. He would plan to be in England working for a few months and then come here for a couple months. He has vacationed in tourist towns before and likes Thai “girls.” He likes their honesty and values and way of life. It was interesting chatting with him. I know she’ll do all she can to keep him; whether the relationship works will be up to him.

After eating, the karaoke began. And we danced. After a couple hours, it was time for cake. They had two small cakes. The candles were numbers: 183. Khun Teamjan explained that that was for the total of our—mine, hers, and Khun Toy’s—ages, since we all have birthdays this month and this was a party for all of us. Then there was more karaoke and dancing. We were there for four hours. It was good fun.

On the way home, I had Khun Dakom take me to the branch bank my friends had told me about the other day. It’s near Big C and is open evenings and weekends.  He dropped me off and let me take care of myself because it was Saturday and that whole area was extremely busy and there was no parking. I hadn’t thought about that when I asked to go. So, I finally have an ATM card. (When I had tried to get one before, I was told to go back when I have a work permit.) The young woman helping me could speak enough English to say the necessary words to tell me what to do: signature, four numbers PIN, deposit how much? She noticed that it’s my birthday and said “It’s your birthday. Happy Birthday,” which was sweet.