wanderlusty

Teacher Maris with important message.

I know I have let down my cult following in New York.  (Hi guys!)  But it has been a tumultuous past couple weeks or so.

We finally finished our English program, and now we have a week off to prepare for 20 hrs of Thai.  On our last teaching day, Brock had the opportunity to teach kindergarten… they were the most precious things I have seen in a long time.  As soon as we walked in every young pair of eyes looked at us excitedly.  He started off with a game of Hangman and built up so much childish excited tension in the room I thought it was about to explode.  They were up out of their seats – jumping and gasping – when the letter was incorrect, – screaming and smiling – when someone guessed it right.  As a teacher you try to give everyone a fair chance at answering, so I couldn’t help but burst out in laughter when the other teacher Matt, called on a child in the front corner. “What letter did you want?” A look of absolute certainty.  The kind of moment when you realize you have the correct answer and no one else has a clue.  The child brings his hand down and stand up.  ”X.” He proclaims in front of all the other students proudly.  I lost it.  It was so damn endearing.  The rest of the lesson was a whirlwind of children and little hands raising in the air.

We hiked Tiger Cave.  You can check Brock’s blog for pics.

Two days ago our motorbike was stolen.  The Thai noon suddenly became that much hotter when I realized I might be buying a brand new bike for someone else.  Long story short, my Thai girl friend Chun, came to the rescue to talk to the police and everything eventually was sorted.  Two boys were found with our bike taking the wheels off.  Luckily we only had to replace the wheels.  But the wheels were expensive for us nonetheless.

The best part of the past couple weeks was hunting for shellfish with my friend Chun.  She is 28 with a 2 year old Alexander.  She is married to another person in the English class Matt.  She speaks hardly any English and we always have a good laugh when one of us says something and the other person just stares for 5 seconds in utter confusion.  I like her alot.   We walked out on the land where the tide had receded from and walked through the muddy sand stopping to check out starfish, sea worms, crabs, etc.  I ended up having a good eye for the particular shell we were hunting for and picked up about 25 or so.  Whenever you pick them up they have a little claw will shoot out from the opening and try to gut you like a knight would with a sword. Its a spastic movement that definitely keeps you aware of  the tiny weapon.  It was peaceful walking around the inside-out beach.  Finding little creatures left in the tide pools.  Watching inhabited shells glide  s-l-o-w-l-y .  We were unable to cook them that day, but she promised to take me out again and show me.  We ended up eating at a restaurant that serves them by coincidence, and they had a rather normal taste.  The look of them – once pulled out of the shell – is an entirely different story.  It wasn’t something I would want to sit and stare at.

Been keeping busy with books, beach, and markets. Brock is always on a never-ending quest to download more American movies and tv shows.  Here I am in Thailand, watching COPS.  Like it was any other night of my life in Tennessee.  And it still is endlessly entertaining.  I wonder if the Thais would like it…?

Mid Day Pineapple stop.

There are little moments living abroad that make you smile.  Especially when it comes to how English is used and the various names of restaurants, institutions, etc.  Apparently a very popular theme for a business of educational nature is incorporating the word ‘brain’ into your company’s name.  Here in Krabi we have a ‘Golden Brain’ and ‘Smart Brain’.  I smile every time I pass by.

I woke up not in the mood to teach.  It was obvious it was going to rain.  Probably all day.  Ugh fine, lets go to the market and get the banana muffins I like and maybe it will light a spark.  Oh little bag of 4 muffins, you remind me of my mother’s banana bread she used to make. With the line of 3-4 pecans on top.   However, when I think of that… it is always, immediately, surely as the wind does blow, followed by the memory of biting into a thick slice and tasting a huge nugget of baking powder that decided it would not mix in with the rest of the crew.  Banana bliss… followed by powdery salty sour.  My mother never hears the end of it.

My class has just eaten lunch, and they are feeling the heat of the day, and just want to go home.  I understand, I do too.  Can’t you see that?  One girl in the back does not.  She is the ringleader of heathens.  The class is becoming boisterous.  Thai is being flug across the room from one student to another like paper airplanes.  And suddenly my room is full of them and I should be covering my eyes because everyone knows I can’t speak the language so I better just stay away. It was the first time I felt frustration as a teacher.  And was sure I would be experiencing it again.  I did my best to keep the class in order, but walked away feeling defeated.  I would have to do something different next time.  I spent a while thinking of what that might be.

Low tide. Creature hunting.

I taught a new lesson and our class was dismissed early.  The weather was nice so we packed up for the beach.  I was determined to find a yoga studio in Ao Nang.  Our bike sliced it’s way through the mountains and jungle and soon the emerald beach was on the horizon.

I was thinking to myself as I was walking into the water if anyone else in the world was as happy as I was at that moment.  If anyone else in the world had a job that made you feel like you were making a little difference, and allowed you to spend your afternoons floating in the ocean and feeling the current slowly trying to pull you out to sea.

I needed this.  I needed the beach today.  I needed to just lay in the sun.

We walked through the seaside town together.  ’We have Indian food! Good deal!’  ’Need a suit?  We have Armani, special price for you’, ‘Oh this? Its 300 baht… oh wait!  No… what can you afford to give me?  200?  Ok ok deal.’  We lazily walked along the shops occasionally stopping to give some little token a closer look, or to be politely hassled by some street hustler.

The sun is setting and the tide has receded to reveal tide pools and oceanic creatures.  We walk along and stop to watch a snail, or hermit crab, make it’s way to wherever those things make their way.  And stare in amazement at the tiny trail they are leaving behind in the sand.  I look across the entire beach and realize that I didn’t just stumble upon one or two… but thousands are moving somewhere.  And some are just burying themselves in the sand, hiding, from what?  Beautiful shells… all moving somewhere.  And the broken ones, a shipwrecked home?

I find a sea worm AND a clam and play with them both.  I pick up the clam and its white tongue searches to find just what has caused the sand and water to disappear.  I put him back down and he continues to search for something in the sand.

Motorcycle ride back.  Its getting dark and the headlight of the bike illuminates the silhouette of Brock driving.  The cool wind in my face feels too perfect to put the face shield down, and I’m smelling incense, smoke from bonfires, and then nothing but clean fresh air.  I hear the jungle alive with insects and frogs.  I close my eyes and can’t believe the day I just had.

“Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now. Live it, feel it, cling to it. I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted.” -Sylvia Plath

Yesterday was my very first experience in front of a classroom.  We have been in the midst of our TEFL training for about a week and a half now, and it was time to get some real world experience.  We had studied our lesson plans, laminated our visual aids, bought some spiffy new teachery clothes, and headed out first thing in the morning.

So we walked in. Kids are running around all over the school during their pre-school recess time.  I caught quite a few curious glances and giggles. We just stood around for a while in the main entrance and just watched all the kids play and scurry off to class.  Some kids were carrying backpacks as big as they were and it was cute to see a group of 2-3 of them all walking together.

So we make our way to the classrooms, take a seat, our English friend Matt is up first.  He has taught before and it shows.  Brock and I both take down lots of notes watching him.  I am already nervous about going and I have another two hours before it is going to happen.  Brock goes next and also does a good job.  Ok so my turn.

Hello class!  My name is Teacher Maris!  In unison, “Hello Teacher!”  You may sit down class.  In unison, “Thank you teacher!”

Ok wow, what an introduction.  All eyes are on me eager to see what is this farang (foreigner) is going to do next.  How am I possibly going to fill up this entire hour??!!  Ok calm down, just start talking.  So I start with a game of hangman… and the word was…”America!  That is where I am from!  America is a COUNTRY.”  And we’re off!  My lesson consisted of countries, landmarks, and using understanding the words have & have not.  I walked around and tried to give every child a chance to speak to me in English, and some of them were confident and could repeat relatively well.  Others would stand up, look up at me with this ‘deer in the headlights’ look and barely whisper..’yes, i haav bin du thailand..’  Some of the children that didn’t get it on the first try I encouraged to keep going.  If they were having trouble with a word, I would whisper along side them and correct them when I needed.  Once we got through it once, I said ,”Ok one more time” and they usually would do alot better and it seemed to build up their confidence a bit.  Once the lesson was underway I hardly needed to look at the clock.  Everything was going smoothly and quicker than I anticipated.

As soon as I was done I asked Brock, ‘ok how did I do?’  He said I was great! That boosted my confidence.  I’m really teaching, AND I seem to be fairly good at this.  The kids seem to like me, I had control of the class and kept everyone quiet and attentive, and they were all learning what I set out to teach!  SUCCESS!

Practicing English!

Brock helping some kids on the wordsearch during his class.

My whole class, like 44 kids!

http://www.vimeo.com/6410304  <–  go here to watch a short clip from class!

Ok so do I WANT to teach at a school?  I’m not sure yet.  There is no air conditioning and the schedule and lesson plans can be grueling I’ve heard.  I would like to look into an English program at one of the resorts.  Apparently they give you a free place to stay, free meals, and laundry + salary to live in the hotel and teach the employees English everyday.  Sounds nice huh?  Brock and I are looking into it.

The next couple weeks consist of 2 teaching classes a week, so we have a couple more lessons to come up with.  Its been fun though honestly.  Seeing the kids makes all the difference.

Ok so teaching ASIDE… I have eaten a few new things!  I’m still surviving on watermelon shakes don’t worry.  But I have a new found love for boiled peanuts!  Also, tried some weird neon green-skinned fruit that tastes kind of like a bland pear that they put a sugar/salt/and pepper mixture on.  Umm.. not so good.  Not terrible, just not good.  I’ve had cooked rice & coconut domes, the idea sounds alot better than the actual dome.  The rice gelatin doesn’t cook all the way through so the middle is like a weird bland gooey thing.  Ooh!  We also found these waffles they sell at the morning market, but they are cooked fresh with corn and coconut shavings inside!  They are pretty delish.  Fried bananas, sweet potatoes, and anything else you can possibly fry they do it here.  We went to the night market last night and saw fried maggots, crickets, beetles, and god knows what else.  That was the first time I’ve seen any insects prepared for eating.  And oddly enough… not too many people were lined up at that stall.  Brock tried to convince me to eat one, but I just wasn’t ready.  Maybe I could have done a little tiny cricket… but I swear some of these bugs were the biggest locusts you have ever seen.  And the idea of crunching down on something that huge… and feeling those weird hairy legs…ugh!  No thanks!

Oh, I also picked up these cute new towels!

You can't escape Asian design!