Buddhist Presence

Last weekend was a long weekend and because the organization I was going to get information from for the project was closed because of Mothers Day, I decided to take in some of Thailand and go to Krabi and Railay. I had a great time there getting to know a lot of Thai people. A few of which were actually from Nakhon, the city I am based. Two of these people, (they own the rock climbing company) came to visit their family this weekend. We all went to the Buddhist temple for a huge festival with the traditional shadow puppet shows that are famous here in Nakhon, baby elephants, tons of food and shopping. I have never seen so many monks in my life. I have also never seen people spend so much money on religious things. Growing up in a Christian family, I am accustomed to the preacher asking for love offerings during the service or taking your tithe. Here, the entire temple is based entirely off donations. They had booths set up where you can buy a roof tile. Each roof tile was blessed with incense and a special bracelet made of white string. It amazes me how many people purchased one tile. It seems in the states, if a religious organization wants something, they have to practically beg for your money and put you in a guilt trip, condemning you. While the Buddhist here have the right idea. They raise money by selling practical things so that you can be involved. They have a museum at the temple, it has tons of old Asian relics and weapons, “donate” 20 baht (less than $1 USD) and you can look around to your hearts content. They have a market in the temple, and festivals all the time where the public can sell their goods for a small rental fee, and the whole city goes to mingle, donate money, eat amazing food, and if you feel so inclined, pray or get blessed. There is no set program telling them they must convert to Buddhism, but the meer presence of the temple being involved in the community, makes people more interested to learn. I wonder what would happen if churches back home followed this example.

Refugee Camp

I am having some trouble getting into the refugee camps. The bad news is, the TBBC (Thai Burma Border Consortum) wont allow it. They have too many requests that they decided they just wont let anyone in, because they cant trust everyone. The good news is, within one hour of my email to them, they replied with a list of contacts of people who could help me either with the information and interviews I need to bring back home for the curriculum, presentations and information for schools, and if they like what the project is, they might decide to bring me into the camps. They also gave me the contact for the Ministry of Education in a few specific camps, that if they think the project is of value (which they were pretty sure would happen) will bring me into the camp. So, let’s pray for #1, they will be as friendly and cooperative as the TBBC, #2, they will get me the information I need, #3, they will allow me into the camp to start up the transition program. #4 Safety, refugee camps along the Burmese border are DANGEROUS. If some of you are wondering why I am calling it Burma, that is the correct terminology here in order to not recognize the military government who has been causing the coup and longest running civil war in world history. For more information on Burmese Refugees, go here   http://www.tbbc.org/

Very First Weekend

I had a very busy weekend. Starting at having to go to the debate seminar and workshop with some students, from 8am-9pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday was 7 hours straight powerpoint university style lecture. We left after that, not staying for the whole thing. They can’t expect high schoolers, who are English language learners, to sit through that with university level vocabulary. We went back on Saturday morning and researched and debated, our students were so nervous that one even broke out in hives! To top it off, they split the teachers and students up in separate rooms and then made the high school students (we had from grade 8-12 there) up against  the Univerisity debate team who was going to compete in Germany at the International EU Debate Competition. Way to boost the students self esteem! After lunch we all decided that the students needed a break, they did a wonderful job and were very stressed out, so we all went to the beach instead of staying for more debates, wiping the look of sheer horror off of some of their faces and turning it into a smile. Sunday we decided the workshop was not student friendly and didn’t go back.

Instead on Sunday I went to the orphanage here in Nakhon. It is an all boys government orphanage that has the most beautiful grounds. Everything is very clean and they have grass and trees everywhere, a soccer field, basketball, you name it. It was the nicest orphanage I have ever been to, even having an assortment of fresh fruit and vegetables for the children to choose from at lunch, which is very hard to find here in Thailand, especially the vegetables. I started off in the pre school room but they had just gotten some new toy scooters. They were impossible to control. Then moved to the middle boys room. As soon as they saw two of us coming they ran to us and were so excited, “hello we go to English” They would say, showing off their skills as they took my hand and drapped it on his shoulder, leading me to the room they had their English books in. We played some number bingo and drew some pictures before going outside and playing Duck Duck Grey Duck. We try our hardest to have a structured English lesson that builds every week, but being in a foreign country, you need to be flexible. This was one of those days where the kids were so wound up there was nothing you could do but run around and play. These are the times that you learn that it isn’t always important to have a structured lesson from books, but a chaotic lesson of loving kindness. They might not remember all of the words and phrases we teach them in English, but I know for a fact they will remember the “farong” who came to visit them every week.

After the orphanage a couple of us did the tourist thing and went to one of the biggest temples in Southern Thailand. This Temple is so sacred, because many hundred years ago, monks from all over Thailand came here the same day of the same year without communicating to each other what they were doing. Now every year, they have a candlelight ceremony and march around with a bunch of white clothe at night carrying candles. We went into the Museum that holds many relics, weapons and pottery of past centuries, and also tons and tons of buddhas. I have never seen so much gold in my life. There were Buddha statues that were nearly as big as my house next to ones as small as my pinky toe. The monks aren’t very good Buddhist. They are constantly on their cell phones and smoking cigarettes. Technically they are not supposed to speak unless it a certain time of the day, (usually twenty minutes at morning and night). I guess even they can’t escape technology. There is also a market in the temple where you can buy jewelery, food, flowers, and herbs.

After the Temple they showed me Tesco, and I fell in love. Tesco is like a Super Wal Mart. They have Amercian clothes, American sizes, American Food, and everything you could ever need or want all at Thai prices. They had Philedalphia Cream Cheese, Block Cheddar, and tons and tons of fresh produce. They even had granola bars, ritz bitz cheese crackers, and you can buy in bulk.

The Price Mother's Pay

I’m running into some problems. They don’t take school seriously here. Class is cancelled all the time for one reason or another. This Thursday it is cancelled for Mothers Day (The Queens Birthday) and it is cancelled on Friday because it is the day after Mothers Day. We celebrated mothers day at school today too. A 3 hour long ceremony where the kids did dances, sang songs, and then every mother by grade sat on the stage in a chair while their child crawled on their knees across the stage, presented them with a gift, and bowed once into their mothers laps, and then once laying almost fully on the floor while kneeling in front of their mothers. This alone took over an hour.

Every Friday the elementary students have a morning meeting together with their thai teachers. The Farong (foreign) teachers stay behind and do work stuff. Well apparently Thai’s like to make the children feel very guilty for being born and being such a pain to their mothers. The Thai school gave the students a two hour lecture on how bad they were and how much their mother did for them in order to be here that they should be better people. The English Elementary program had a different idea to show how much pain they put their mothers through. At dinner on Friday night one of the first grade teachers told us that he came into his class after morning meeting and four-five kids were crying inconsolably. He assumed maybe their mothers were not going to be there for the ceremony, but hadn’t a clue why they would not stop crying. He sent them to the back of the room to calm down and started his math lesson. After finding out that his class was not the only one with inconsolable children, he asked one of the Thai teachers what happened to make the kids so hysterical. Some Thai head of something had the brilliant idea to show the dreaded birthing video to grades K-6 to give them a guilt trip. You know, the one they show in Jr. High and High School Health classes, yeah, they showed that to these little kids. No doubt there were some phone calls home.

Lady Boy

Thailand is the capitol of the world for a few things other than Human Trafficking; one of those is gender change surgery. They advertize it right on the outside of clinics everywhere. They have a lot of men here who want to be women, and they are extremely confident, walking around in high heels, growing their hair long or wearing wigs and tight dresses all max factored out (term I learned from the Brits here).  At the food festival the other night there was one performing onstage singing and dancing, after I left the other farongs told me that a few people went up and danced on the stage with the entertainment, and one man thought it was his girlfriend kissing his cheek in the crowd, only to find out later through a photograph that it was indeed a lady boy. Hilarious, but sad at the same time.

Today I was riding into town on a songtaew to catch a motorcycle taxi with a few students from my school when we saw one standing on the bridge in tight black booty shorts and bright pink lipstick. Standing there with nothing to do but smile and wave as if it were a parade. With a hand on his hip he winked and blew kisses. The boys that were in the songtaew with me exchanged glances of embarrassment, looking at me as if they hoped I didn’t see it.

to my 4 followers

hello! sorry I haven't been updating, I am trying to transfer all my thailand blogs to this one here. Easier to maintain. so there will be many updates a day now that I have some spare time, and also, I will be trying to edit and post some stellar pics of my adventure.

Bethany

Monk

Today after school I walked through some temples. I expected to feel peaceful as I walked along the well-groomed path lined with trees away from the traffic and pollution of the town. Instead it was an eerie feeling as I walked past monks who were sweeping the sidewalks.  My heart started to beat faster as I remember stories some of my Buddhist students used to tell me about the mysticism and how they would see things lurking in the night, and how they are terrified more often than not.

One monk looked at me with clouded eyes and a head that was wavering, “what a creepy man” I thought to myself. He looked as if he were drunk or high, yet that is not allowed in the life of a monk, and their actions and diets are monitored. I was more concerned about not getting lost as the trees got thicker and the path turned into dirt. I decided to turn around and go home. There were dogs everywhere, as with true Buddhist value, everything deserves a life, so they are well fed here. Even though almost every dog in Thailand has mange, not one is skin and bones, and they are even picky eaters. One dog snubbed his nose at me after sniffing my half eaten apple and refusing to eat it. I laughed; my dogs at home would love an apple. I walked past a giant Buddha made of solid gold and rubies in a place where some are so poor and desperate for money that they would sell their own child.

Looking back at it now, and remembering the times past students would talk to me about what to do because their mom talks to their dead grandmother, and in Buddhism that is completely normal, but it scared him to death, I realize this particular monk from before was most likely in tune with the same line as my old students grandmother as a dark cloud hovers above the temple.

I spoke with my previous student and some others from around here, they all said that monk was probably a practicing medium. Hmmmm……

God Save The Queen

Turns out many students from my school, and a few from my classes, live in my guesthouse. Because many students live far away, and their parents are wealthy, they opted to live in the guesthouse, where there are no rules, rather than in the dormitories, where there are rules. The thing is, myself and another teacher live in the guesthouse at the moment, and while the other teacher is very quiet and reserved, I am not. I got on one boys case the other day in class about slamming doors and running back and forth between rooms and since then, the house has been very quiet. Maybe I should stay here so they get some adult supervision.

The supervisors for the Dorms are any Thai single teacher. If you are single and Thai, you can either live with your family, or live in the dorms and take care of the students. Those are your only options.

I had planned on starting my work in Bangkok on this coming 4-day weekend. Going to take some interviews and work at Nightlight, creating some relationships with the workers in the red light district, as well as working with the rehabilitated victims. However, as it is the queen’s birthday that weekend, she has declared it a national holiday, which means every thing is closed, that includes Nightlight. If you stay open, regardless of your operation, it is considered disrespectful to the royal family, punishable by hard labor and prison. I’m hoping this doesn’t apply to hotels and restaurants, because I need to eat. I will have to wait til my next long weekend to go there. This weekend will be busy, with orphanage outreach in Nakhon and a debate seminar a few students of mine are enrolled in at the university. Apparently I am their coach since I have political science background and teach literature.

School V. Home

The students at school are very shy and giggly. A few brave ones come running up to me at various times of the day asking my name, saying goodmorning, and giving me a wai (putting their hands together and bowing as if in prayer). When I walk past the other teachers laugh and translate what the students are saying, they call me “super star.” They all want to touch my hair and “ohhh” and “ahh” and say it’s lovely. Which is funny because I haven’t even bothered to brush the afro mess of curls that the humidity created. I don’t even know why I bothered to bring a straightener or hair dryer.

I feel like I live in a college co-ed dorm. There are many students who stay at my guest house during the week because they live too far away to commute every morning. Mostly boys. They run up and down the halls and slam doors and play their guitars at random hours. No different than American teenage boys, except a teacher from their school lives in the room smack dab in the middle of it all.

The guest house is basically a hotel, I get a bed, a fridge, a tv and a bathroom. Hopefully I can get a motorcycle soon so that I can move out into a house. A house is not only more spacious and private, but also cheaper. And I wont feel like I am babysitting all the time.

Met a lot of Farong (foreigners) tonight at a popular restaurant. Meeting these people is a great way to find a bike and a house, which hopefully I will be blessed with soon. At the dinner there was a man who mentioned that a teacher who got really sick with gal stones has to go home to the states and has a brand new automatic motorcycle she just got two months ago that she needs to sell. She paid 45,000 baht and will sell it for 30-35,000 baht. Word on the street is that is an amazing deal for a new automatic. And automatic is the easiest to learn how to ride. I’m praying I have enough money to buy it so I can move out and have more chances to do my work here instead of being dependent on the motorcycle taxis or bus system with is long and unreliable.

Taught my first two classes today. I am shocked at how little English these students know, when it is supposed to be an English School. The problem is, a 50 percent is passing, and no student fails. If a student fails, the parents will pull them out, which means we don’t get the money. So what happens is, and this is typical of all thai schools, the students will be given extra work until they reach 50 percent. An 85 is considered an A-, so it is very lenient. If I knew I would pass and not have to learn or do any work, I wouldn’t pay attention either.

Cold Front

To say that Minnesota gets hot in the summer is an understatement. I remember working at the church missions yard sale and everyone was a sweaty mess, complaining, “it’s so hot!” as they wipe their brow. Well to give you an example of how humid it is here, I straightened my hair this morning, soaking it with humidity blocker and spray, by the end of the five-minute walk to school at 7:15 am my hair was curly and I felt like I had just gotten out of a pool.

I shadowed the teacher I would be replacing and met the people I would be sharing an office with. The lagoon and waterfalls are less than 20 minutes away. There are people who ride their elephant in town like it is their car, unaffected by the motorcycles whizzing past. If you want, the owner brings them to the park across the street from the school on Saturdays. Did I mention there are tigers at this “park” as well? Well, there are. And that forest where the lagoon is only 20 minutes away, a girl I met today went hiking there last weekend and heard growling in the forest late at night, and twigs breaking under the heavy weight of something large. She picked up some rocks and crashed them together over and over and sang at the top of her lungs until they couldn’t hear the “cat” anymore. This is where I’m gonna be based? What did I get myself into?