On Friday, I went to the school by myself for the first time. I understood that I was going to be meeting with Kru Pecht, the English teacher there. I had gone the day before to meet her and observe one of the other volunteers teach a class. Thursday was teacher appreciation day, so the schedule was quite out of wack. But even so, they still waited for all the students to arrive before they started the ceremony. Some of them were very late, so all the children waited more or less patiently on the cement ground while the teachers wandered around or sat in chairs. When the ceremony was over, we went back to class. It seemed much more informal than in the States, with students even occasionally coming in and out. But they paid attention and seemed interested in the lesson.

    When I arrived the next day, They were all lined up on the soccer field. First we sang the national anthem, then some students came forward and said something, I had to introduce myself (and the English teacher promptly quizzed them on where I was from, how old I was, ect), then they had to run around the soccer field a couple of times. After that, they assembled under the school on the pavement for mediation. This lasted quite a while, and I was surprised at how well they all did—even the preschoolers stayed relatively quiet and still.

    This was not the case later on. I was shown upstairs and told to teach a class of first graders. !!!!!!!!!!!!! No lesson plan, okeeeeaaay. Alphabet! They knew the song, but not really the letters. So we practiced spelling words with vowels and played a couple of games I improvised. Not too shabby, but still.

    Then I was shown in to a room filled with different ages, looked like a class of kindergarteners with their older siblings helping. I was told to help them with their worksheets. A couple times I tried to start a lesson, but very few listened to me, I guess this was not supposed to be class time. This was a pretty crazy two hours, with kids running in and out, sometimes doing their work, but mostly goofing off. I found out later that two teachers had a meeting that morning, so no one was left to watch their classes. The school is very open, so the other teachers could keep tabs on the children, but they were left to entertain themselves, except for me.

    Then we had lunch. They get an hour for lunch here, which is amazing. The students get their food cafeteria-style and then have to wash up themselves. Wouldn’t that be the day. The teachers eat together, and they were very nice about sharing the things they brought in addition to the meal. Some of the fruits were even grown in their gardens.

After the bus picked me and the other volunteers up, we went back to the office. I needed to do some work, but, unfortunately, the power was out in the office. So Saranda, a Swiss volunteer staying in the same house as me, and I went in to town and did some school shopping and to a coffee shop to use their internet.

    When we were finished, we decided to attempt to get to the beach. This proved more difficult than we thought. We imagined we could just approach one of the many trucks with covered benches in the back and ask if they were going to Ao Nang, but we were redirected to a bus stop. After we finally found it, we managed to get on the right bus and find the beach. The area around the beach was much more touristy, with hotels and restaurants and junk shops. The beach itself was fairly small, but still with great views. It wasn’t the most enjoyable experience though because it was so windy and because I still had my insanely-heavy back-pack to carry around. All in all, I was ready to go home in time for the last boat.

     On Saturday and Sunday, I attended a conference for teachers. The first presenter was from a neighboring university who was lecturing on inductive language teaching. At first I was very excited because she was presenting in English. But then she and I realized that the Thai teachers couldn’t understand her. She then used a mixture of Thai and English. When I talked to her at lunch, she was shocked that I was going to just be presenting in English without a translator. One of the workers from Projects Abroad was with me on Saturday, which was very nice because he introduced me and told me what was going on. But Sunday was his day off, so I would be on my own.

     For my presentation, I was supposed to talk about how to plan a lesson using the new book they just received. Unfortunately, they gave me the wrong book, so I had to change my presentation. At least the new book was easier, but I still wasn’t sure how much the 150 teachers were going to understand. I would have to just speak slowly and hope for the best. When I arrived Sunday morning, Kru Pecht, the teacher who I’m working under at the school, told me to start with a song. I didn’t know any songs, so we did Rocky Top. They thought I was funny. Then we launched in to the presentation. I tried to include several interactive games, which sort of worked. Occasionally, I had one of the teachers translate for me, and that helped. I wasn’t sure how much they were getting, but at the end everyone said I did well, just to talk slower. Huh. I thought I was. If I’d talk any slower, I’d sound like a caveman. Oh well, I did what I could. They did seem to like the lesson plan, so maybe next week I can do more with that.

     Tomorrow, I’m going on a long-boat island ride! Hope it’s nice weather!

Finally, I was able to visit the schools today! It was a perfect day to begin because it was teacher appreciation day. They go all out for this, with a ceremony and presentation of beautiful flower arrangements for the teachers. The school I was at today was very well organized and the students seemed willing and anxious to learn. Tomorrow, I am going to the same school to observe the Thai teacher teach a lesson in English (today I got to help one of the volunteers). Then on Saturday and Sunday, I'm attending a conference for teachers in Krabi. There will probably be around 200 teachers there. The first day, everything will be in Thai. The second day, I have to give a 3 hour workshop on how to use their new textbook! Please pray!!

 The "assembly room" below the school building

 The Buddhist shrine and the teacher seating

 Presenting the flowers and bowing to the shrine and teachers

Krabi in the rain

Exploring . . .

     Today, I didn't have to be at the office until 1:30, so I decided to explore. Didn't have much luck with that. First, I thought I'd explore the island, Kho Klang, where I'm staying. It's a small Muslim community, very few shops. It's mostly a bunch of houses and some farm land and pastures for what I guess were water buffalo. Though, they weren't exactly in a pasture. They were just roaming around and ended up in a soccer field. One got it's horns stuck in a goal. I was looking for the part of the island May had shown me yesterday, where I could do my laundry and buy a few groceries. Must have been a turn I missed, for while I saw lots of houses and gardens and goats and cats and people who either smiled and tried to talk to me in English or looked at me like I was an alien (which I am), I never found that shop. Oh well, I've since found out I can probably do it at the house I'm staying at.

     Then I decided I'd explore Krabi. In order to get there, I have to take a long boat, which costs about two dollars. They recognize me at the docks now, and I have one particular older man who always helps me either find a boat or take me himself. If there are other people on the boat with me, I only have to pay about 50 cents. Once I got in to town, I thought I'd find the Buddhist temple. I walked in the direction I thought was the temple, but it turned out to be the road to the beach. I got really lost, I mean, I did lots of prayer walking (which usually went something like this: God, please bless that school and all the teachers and students. Help them be able to find You in their studies. And God, it's really hot. Where am I? Can you please help me get back where I should be?) I was never worried, but I did start to get a few funny looks. I was obviously pretty far from where most of the tourists were wont to travel. Finally, I took a happy turn and ended up at a coffee shop I had been before. While it wasn't exactly what I had been expecting, I did get to see more where the ordinary people lived. May told me she actually lives in a hotel because the regular apartments are so expensive here. She has to eat out all the time, which is hard for her because she likes to cook. I certainly didn't see many houses or apartments or anything. Mostly just shops and workshops.

My lunch today, after I found my way back to the touristy area. This lovely arrangement cost me about $5.

Tourists by sculptures of crabs . . . in Krabi.
     This afternoon, I met with the placement coordinator about what I'll be working on. Tomorrow and Friday, I'll be in a school. I have been warned that they conduct their classes quite differently here. The maximum class size is 45 students! I think most classes around here are smaller, in fact one teacher I met today said she only had 16 in her class. But still. Some of the volunteers told me that there is no discipline in the classes, that the teachers can barely speak English, and that the kids are pretty wild. Apparently, the only classroom management they use is hitting the kids. Not sure how I'll handle that.
This weekend, I'll be attending a workshop for teachers at a local hotel. It should be an experience, because most of it will be in Thai. Apparently I'M the only one presenting in English. On Sunday, I have to prepare a 3 hour workshop for the teachers using their textbook. Yikes! I'm studying the text now, and it shouldn't be too bad, but please pray! There could be as many as 250 people there! And many don't speak English that well!
    I have another workshop to do the following weekend, but we don't know much about it yet. Probably will have to present again though. Next week, I'll be in the schools and working on adding to the curriculum that Projects Abroad has developed. My last week here I should be helping to implement it, possibly even teaching.
     I am very glad to get the details of my placement, it sounds like it will be a great deal of work, but I hope enjoyable. I'm a bit disappointed that I won't be able to travel with the other volunteers on the weekend. I'll have two days off a week still though, so I might try to book a tour with a hotel on my own. There are lots of other foreign tourists here, so maybe I'll make a friend. One of the other volunteers mentioned traveling my last weekend here, and thankfully I'm off that weekend, so I should be able to go. Exciting times. As long as I don't get lost.

1. First meal
2. View over Krabi
3. Bedroom
4. My Krabi
5. May, my guide on boat from my village.

Long intro to Thailand

     I arrived in Bangkok at 7:30 am, and my next plane didn’t leave until 2 pm, so my first experience with Thailand was a prolonged stay at the airport. That was alright with me, I was so glad to just be one plane ride away from my final destination, and in my final country! The airport in Bangkok was very pleasant, quite different from the one in Qatar. While I have no complaints with the airline, the flight attendants were polite and the food was fair for planes, the airport had an oppressive air. It was brand new, and gorgeous. But it felt empty. There was a train shuttle that wasn’t finished yet I suppose, for it sat eerily empty. We were scuttled along through massive hallways with marble or granite (I can’t tell the difference) pillars and impossibly high ceilings, hardly seeing anyone else except airport ushers. Then we came to a kind of crossroads, which looked like a main plaza in a mall, with high-end shops and escalators. In the center was a humungous teddy bear, probably a couple of stories high, underneath what looked like a gargantuan salon-hair-dryer. No explanation.

     Bangkok was much more welcoming. There were high windows so you could see out on the airport and the surrounding environs (you couldn’t see Bangkok proper from there) and pleasant little shops and cafes on the lower floors. I had my first taste of Thai food here, first two meals here. The first was at a little coffee shop, modeled after Starbucks (they had one of those two, filled with tourists. I tried “Thai iced tea with milk” and some sweet bread with an even sweeter dipping sauce. I thought maybe it was sweet for the tourists, but it seemed excessive even by American standards. Later, I spotted a sort of plaza with a garden in it, so I went to walk through it. It had well tended tropical plants with some kind of shrine, Buddhist I think, in the center. To the side, there were model golden long boats. Protruding at random intervals were poles least a story high with golden birds of some kind at the top.      

     To one side of this garden was a little cafeteria. I went in, thinking I could get more authentic food here. It looked like the place were the airport workers commonly ate. I had no clue what to do, and they didn’t speak much English, but finally they made me to understand I was supposed to buy coupons and then pick out what I wanted from the array of choices and pay with the coupons. I played the dumb tourist and got them to give me what I guess they thought I would like the best, chicken with bean sprouts and some kind of fried thing. I thought it was a dumpling, but it turned out to be a boiled egg. Then I tried some iced coffee, and that was when I realized that the sweet wasn’t for the tourists.

     When I finally arrived in Krabi, I was greeted by the Projects Abroad employee, May. She took me to the office in the back of a truck that had been covered and had benches in it, apparently the “bus” of the area. This one was owned by Projects abroad and would come pick me and any other volunteers up everyday to take us to our school. I was surprised by how un-touristy the town looked, I didn’t see any shops or hotels that looked like they catered just to tourists. At the office, she introduced me to two other Projects Abroad workers, one of which would be helping me get ready to work in the schools. After picking up some documents, we headed to meet my host family.

     I’m staying on an island right across from the town, entirely populated by Muslims. You get to it by taking a little long boat across the bay. The pilot sang as he motored us across and didn’t complain about hauling my big old suitcase across. It is very quiet, only a few little shops and a Mosque and a couple of restaurants. There are no roads, just something like a wide sidewalk that people ride their motorcycles on. The houses are all unique: some of them are entirely raised on flats, some of them are grounded with tile floors and large front porches, some a mixture of both. There are many different colors with lots of flowers planted around. They are fairly well spaced apart and some have landscaping around them. The house I’m staying at has a mixture of raised and tiled floors. There is a large shaded porch with a tile fish pound out front, then a lower floor where I and the other volunteer sleep, then a raised kitchen and family quarters. I have my own room and bathroom. The bathroom is quite unlike anything else I’ve ever experience. No hole for a toilet, I’m very glad to say, but you flush by pouring water down the toilet. There is no separate shower, the little room is tiled and off to the side is a shower head you can take off the wall to use. Only cold water, but that’s just fine because it’s so humid and sticky here. Very clean and not at all unpleasant. I have a double bed which is very comfortable and a bookshelf and wardrobe.

     The family is very welcoming. The mother cooks for us and she showed me how to wash dishes and the like. She even lets me play with her adorable baby. She also has three other children, two of them grown, and one older elementary school girl. The father works in town and probably speaks the best English.

     Last night, the girl taught me a card game to help me stay awake, something kind of like war, and she taught me to count to three in Thai (Nun, Song, Sam, I think) and thank you. I got to meet the other volunteer staying there, Trevor, an undergrad from the states. He arrived on Thursday but has already had the chance to go on a jungle tour and to visit a beach. He filled me in on the way the project will work.

     Today, May is taking me around town and getting me settled. I got up early with Trevor to have breakfast and get used to the schedule. I’m not experiencing jet lag too badly, yet. We had a delicious breakfast of some kind of fried eggs with a sweet dough and a kind of fried bread. I also had a cup of coffee, sweet of course.

Meds

     Apparently, travel medication is not exactly easy to come by these days. First, I had to go to my general  practitioner. She recommended Malaria tablets, Hep A, and a tetanus booster. The Malaria was fairly easy to come by, she just called in a prescription for me (pictured above). My insurance even paid for it.   What they didn't tell me was that the insurance would only let me fill 30 at a time. So after some confusion, I finally got all I needed. A bit confused how they expect me to keep it at 70 F, as my apt isn't even that cool in the summer. I use the windows until it starts scraping 90 F. 

     Next up were the shots. After checking the CDC, I also saw that I should probably get a Typhoid shot. I called my local Health dept, but they said I'd better go some place else. Very nice, just not helpful. After calling around, it turned out that the Little Clinic in Kroger was my best choice. So after a couple of mis-tries (lines too long, out of the shot I needed, ect) I finally got my Tetanus, Hep A, and even Whooping cough done (came with one of them, can't remember which). But the Hep A was kind of just an exercise in finger crossing, since it requires two doses, six months apart. As I didn't find out for sure I was going till late Feb, that wasn't really an option. I'll get the second dose when I get back. 

     With just one medication to go, I thought I was going to have to drive to the Farragut Little Clinic to get the Typhoid. Apparently I misunderstood, they could prescribe the pill form with the live virus for me. Wish I had known this before, I could've got it the first time or even asked my PA to prescribe it. Now, I was faced with finding a pharmacy that would actually fill it within the week. I took it to the Walgreens near me and they looked at me, and looked at their computer screens, and looked anything but hopeful. "Come back tomorrow," they said. I did. "Come back again, tomorrow." I was running out of tomorrows. Finally, the third tomorrow, they had it. I took it home and read the label: "Take every other day for 4 days one hour before eating." I could do that tomorrow. I left it in my 85 F apt over night, and then took it in the morning. But after I opened up the package, took out the bottle, and, confusedly, took a box out of the bottle, I read "keep refrigerated." Really? They couldn't put that on the outer bag??? It also read, "take 1 hr before eating or 2-3 hrs after." Good gravy. 

    To top it all, I left it at the apt. Guess I'll be going back tomorrow. At least I left it in the fridge. 

Prayer requests as I go:

Flights: It will take me over 23 hours of flight time, not to mention long layovers and time-zone shifts. I hate flying.

Health: I'm still trying to get my typhoid prescription filled, apparently that's not something pharmacies usually keep; I also didn't know about my trip until it was too late to get more than the first Hep A shot (there are two, 6 months apart). 

Accommodations: I'm excited to stay with a host family instead of in a hotel or volunteer quarters, but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to communicate with them. I also hope I can be culturally sensitive while still showing God's love. 

Work: Not entirely sure what I'll be doing, only that the school I'll be at needs help with their phonics instruction. I've never taught phonics, but I have some marvelous elementary school teacher friends (Erica and Nicole) who have helped me a ton, so I feel a bit better after research under their guidance. Hoping I can still take the books I want to bring with only a 44 lb allowance. 

Politics: The military did take over the government, but so far it's been peaceful. There is a 10pm - 5am curfew, but they're trying to get it lifted in the touristy areas, which is where I'll be. There are so many expats living in Krabi that I'm not worried, but I do pray for the peace of the nation. 

And, I really hate flying. And talking to strangers, especially when anything needs fixing. Ugh. This is my cheesy motto from one of my favorite cheesy books though: "Step follows step, hope follows courage, set your face towards danger, set your heart on victory." 

Thanks for praying everyone! 

Ps. I will do my best to do weekly updates, but I'm not really sure how much access I'll have to internet.