Day 1--one crier
Day 2--still one crier
Day 3--five criers plus vomit. Aaand we're back. ;)
Well, it was a more eventful day today. The first 2 days it was kindergarten only, with the rest of the students starting today. Oh, the lovely chaos. Actually, I do like it better with the extra energy. I was able to see my students from last year and got a lot of hugs and high-5s as a result. This was nice after having a few students who still scream when they see me because I look different. I guess I can't blame them, though. I have very little in common with your average Thai woman.
My students are still slowly warming up to me and learning to communicate with me. it will definitely be a long road ahead of us, but I do think we'll get there. Now to rest up for day 4!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
First day of school!
Well, today was my first day of school, and at the end of it, all I can say is: is it bedtime yet? Actually, yes, yes it is, because it's after 11 pm here and I have school in the morning, but before I succumb to the lure of slumber, here's a few thoughts about the day.
For those who don't know (or forgot), I'm teaching k1 this year, which means 3 year olds! I have 16 students and 2 Thai teachers, though I really only work with one of them. Kru Som has been an amazing asset, and essentially set up the entire room for me. All I had to do was so the bulletin board and lesson planning. It was a huge relief, especially when all the other teachers were scrambling to make their rooms nice. Ha ha! Of course, my one responsibility, the board, looks pretty pathetic at the moment because it wasn't even in my room until late Monday afternoon. School started Tuesday. Hmm. Oh well! It's probably a good thing, as I wouldn't want to overstimulate them anyway. Right now, I have a few things set up, and I plan to add to it as we move along. I also plan to be busy this weekend. We'll see if it actually happens.
As it is the first few days of school, we end our days early. Today and tomorrow, school ends at 12. On Thursday and Friday, it will end at 2 (as opposed to 3:40). This doesn't make a huge difference to me, though, as the kindergarten schedule is set up so that I am essentially done teaching by the time they go to lunch at 11. I have center time with them later, but that is mostly activities based, not learning.
My kids are very cute, just as I expected. out of the 14 students who came today, I only had 1 crier. He's very melodramatic, and I can already identify him by his cry! We'll see how many criers I have over the next few weeks. In my experience, it sometimes takes awhile before the kids realize that they're being left and that they are not okay with that. Here's hoping they don't get too bad!
Well, there's not much more to say. After teaching, i took a nap and then went down to Khao Sahn for some falafel, mango sticky rice, and a mani/pedi. Oh, the hardships of teaching overseas. ;) Goodnight!
For those who don't know (or forgot), I'm teaching k1 this year, which means 3 year olds! I have 16 students and 2 Thai teachers, though I really only work with one of them. Kru Som has been an amazing asset, and essentially set up the entire room for me. All I had to do was so the bulletin board and lesson planning. It was a huge relief, especially when all the other teachers were scrambling to make their rooms nice. Ha ha! Of course, my one responsibility, the board, looks pretty pathetic at the moment because it wasn't even in my room until late Monday afternoon. School started Tuesday. Hmm. Oh well! It's probably a good thing, as I wouldn't want to overstimulate them anyway. Right now, I have a few things set up, and I plan to add to it as we move along. I also plan to be busy this weekend. We'll see if it actually happens.
As it is the first few days of school, we end our days early. Today and tomorrow, school ends at 12. On Thursday and Friday, it will end at 2 (as opposed to 3:40). This doesn't make a huge difference to me, though, as the kindergarten schedule is set up so that I am essentially done teaching by the time they go to lunch at 11. I have center time with them later, but that is mostly activities based, not learning.
My kids are very cute, just as I expected. out of the 14 students who came today, I only had 1 crier. He's very melodramatic, and I can already identify him by his cry! We'll see how many criers I have over the next few weeks. In my experience, it sometimes takes awhile before the kids realize that they're being left and that they are not okay with that. Here's hoping they don't get too bad!
Well, there's not much more to say. After teaching, i took a nap and then went down to Khao Sahn for some falafel, mango sticky rice, and a mani/pedi. Oh, the hardships of teaching overseas. ;) Goodnight!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thoughts of Home...All Three of Them
Can I just start by saying how awesome it is to finally be warm again? It's wonderful. The whole time I was in the States, I was freezing. Except, of course, the few days I was in Georgia. The weather is actually really nice right now. It's not as hot as it was this time last year. It has also been raining, which seems a bit unusual, as monsoon season isn't supposed to be for another few months. I don't know why it surprises me, though, as the weather seems to be weird everywhere and unseasonably cool. Strange.
It’s election time here in Thailand! That means that there are posters lining the streets and trucks with loudspeakers troll up and down the streets. The posters are interesting in that half of them depict animals wearing business suits. Each animal means something in Thai culture. The water buffalo is warning voters to not allow stupid people into government. There are also dogs, monkeys, and a komodo dragon, which has a name synonymous with a very bad Thai word (which I can’t remember the translation for). I believe voting is sometime this week, but I’m not positive. Voting is about every 4 years, and they vote on everything, rather than the yearly elections in the States where it varies on what is being voted on.
In addition to the political posters that have sprung up, there has also been a lot of construction that has started while I was gone. Last year, they started work on the BTS (sky train) branching out to Nonthaburi. It will go close by to my school, and should be completed in about 3 years. If I’m still here when it’s done, getting around will be infinitely easier. It’s incredible how much progress they’ve made in the 2 months I was in the States. Also, they’ve completed an apartment building that they were working on last year. Coming home from the airport was interesting, as everything looked so different.
Work is also being done at my school. The administration building (where I lived last year on the top floor) has been mostly torn down to make a completely new front. It should be beautiful when it’s done, but in the meantime, there are trucks and dust and demolition. Offices have been shuffled all over campus, making it a bit difficult to find things at times. My curriculum, for example, is MIA, which makes it hard to do my lesson plans and year overview. All in all, it’s not too bad, though. Life is too short to let things outside your control fluster you. Adjust.
Yesterday was my first day back at my church, and it was good to reunite with friends. The service was incredible. The pastor is working through 1 Peter, and yesterday’s topic dealt with holiness. This seems to be a theme for me this year, as I was struggling with the concept of holiness just a few weeks ago as I prepared for the upcoming school year.
I have decided to do a year-long study on the character of God with my students to give them a base of knowledge so that they know who I am talking about when I say “God.” One characteristic I want to discuss is God’s holiness. Have you ever tried to explain to someone what holiness is? Now try to think about how to explain it to 3 year olds who do not have a firm understanding of English. You can see my struggle. What really stood out to me, however, was that God’s holiness is synonymous with His deity. The writers of the Bible did not have to prove His holiness. He is holiness. Period.
Anyway, Pastor David was talking about the fine balance between already being perfect and God continuing to work out that perfection in our lives. We are forgiven and are still being forgiven. As one of my professors called it, it’s the state of being “already and not yet.” We tend as imperfect humans to vacillate between being fixated on our sins and the despair that it produces, and our recognition of our status as children of God and the corresponding arrogance that can often arise. Pastor David called it the “Gospel balance” as we try to learn how to live being fully aware of our shortcomings while being confident in our Lord’s saving grace.
Something I really appreciated about the sermon was his inclusion of why we should be holy. This is important to me, as I can often get waylaid by my motivating factors. Intent is important to me, sometimes more so than the actions themselves. So the question remains, why should I struggle to be holy when it’s so difficult? Firstly, it is because we are reminded that this is not our true home. This world is not the truest reality. My citizenship is in Heaven, and I am a foreigner in this land. This is especially meaningful to me as I am living in a foreign land.
As you can imagine, and anyone who has spent considerable time in another country can vouch for, there are certain experiences that happen when you live in a different culture from the one you were raised in. People talk differently and have different methods to accomplish tasks. To survive, you have to learn how to communicate and adjust to the new way. You change your own actions and ways of expressing yourself. This is not to say that who you are changes, merely the outward expression of who you are. I’ll say something else, foreigners are obvious. It doesn’t matter how proficient I may become in the language, I will always be distinctly different because this is not my true home.
This is part of what Peter was saying when he admonished believers to be in the world but not of the world. We learn to communicate with people, adopting some of their mannerisms and customs, but it must not come at the expense of forgetting who we are. As a Christian, my only true home is in heaven where I will be with Jesus. My time here is merely a visitation.
Two aspects of holiness are being distinct and being different. Being different, or special, is something that God does in my life as He refines me. He is making me into a new creation. Being distinct, however, is something that I need to do. I have the choice to allow myself to blend in as another citizen of the world, or to allow God to make me clearly different in such a way that it is obvious to others that I don’t think the way that the world thinks.
Pastor David went on to say many other things, but unfortunately, the time has come for me to get back to work. School starts for me tomorrow, and there is much still to be done. I’m not sure how much of it will actually be accomplished, but that which is important will be done, and the rest will have to be finished later.
As always, prayers are much appreciated. Currently, prayers for my roommates are at the front of my mind. One roommate is in the States recovering from an infection contracted while healing from a surgery several months ago, and my other roommate found out the other day that she will be needing surgery soon. Hopefully this is not a trend, and I will not need surgery myself. Please also pray for the students who will be coming back to school this week. Pray that their hearts will be open to God’s love, and that the teachers will be bright lights in a dark country. Thanks for reading, and God bless!
It’s election time here in Thailand! That means that there are posters lining the streets and trucks with loudspeakers troll up and down the streets. The posters are interesting in that half of them depict animals wearing business suits. Each animal means something in Thai culture. The water buffalo is warning voters to not allow stupid people into government. There are also dogs, monkeys, and a komodo dragon, which has a name synonymous with a very bad Thai word (which I can’t remember the translation for). I believe voting is sometime this week, but I’m not positive. Voting is about every 4 years, and they vote on everything, rather than the yearly elections in the States where it varies on what is being voted on.
In addition to the political posters that have sprung up, there has also been a lot of construction that has started while I was gone. Last year, they started work on the BTS (sky train) branching out to Nonthaburi. It will go close by to my school, and should be completed in about 3 years. If I’m still here when it’s done, getting around will be infinitely easier. It’s incredible how much progress they’ve made in the 2 months I was in the States. Also, they’ve completed an apartment building that they were working on last year. Coming home from the airport was interesting, as everything looked so different.
Work is also being done at my school. The administration building (where I lived last year on the top floor) has been mostly torn down to make a completely new front. It should be beautiful when it’s done, but in the meantime, there are trucks and dust and demolition. Offices have been shuffled all over campus, making it a bit difficult to find things at times. My curriculum, for example, is MIA, which makes it hard to do my lesson plans and year overview. All in all, it’s not too bad, though. Life is too short to let things outside your control fluster you. Adjust.
Yesterday was my first day back at my church, and it was good to reunite with friends. The service was incredible. The pastor is working through 1 Peter, and yesterday’s topic dealt with holiness. This seems to be a theme for me this year, as I was struggling with the concept of holiness just a few weeks ago as I prepared for the upcoming school year.
I have decided to do a year-long study on the character of God with my students to give them a base of knowledge so that they know who I am talking about when I say “God.” One characteristic I want to discuss is God’s holiness. Have you ever tried to explain to someone what holiness is? Now try to think about how to explain it to 3 year olds who do not have a firm understanding of English. You can see my struggle. What really stood out to me, however, was that God’s holiness is synonymous with His deity. The writers of the Bible did not have to prove His holiness. He is holiness. Period.
Anyway, Pastor David was talking about the fine balance between already being perfect and God continuing to work out that perfection in our lives. We are forgiven and are still being forgiven. As one of my professors called it, it’s the state of being “already and not yet.” We tend as imperfect humans to vacillate between being fixated on our sins and the despair that it produces, and our recognition of our status as children of God and the corresponding arrogance that can often arise. Pastor David called it the “Gospel balance” as we try to learn how to live being fully aware of our shortcomings while being confident in our Lord’s saving grace.
Something I really appreciated about the sermon was his inclusion of why we should be holy. This is important to me, as I can often get waylaid by my motivating factors. Intent is important to me, sometimes more so than the actions themselves. So the question remains, why should I struggle to be holy when it’s so difficult? Firstly, it is because we are reminded that this is not our true home. This world is not the truest reality. My citizenship is in Heaven, and I am a foreigner in this land. This is especially meaningful to me as I am living in a foreign land.
As you can imagine, and anyone who has spent considerable time in another country can vouch for, there are certain experiences that happen when you live in a different culture from the one you were raised in. People talk differently and have different methods to accomplish tasks. To survive, you have to learn how to communicate and adjust to the new way. You change your own actions and ways of expressing yourself. This is not to say that who you are changes, merely the outward expression of who you are. I’ll say something else, foreigners are obvious. It doesn’t matter how proficient I may become in the language, I will always be distinctly different because this is not my true home.
This is part of what Peter was saying when he admonished believers to be in the world but not of the world. We learn to communicate with people, adopting some of their mannerisms and customs, but it must not come at the expense of forgetting who we are. As a Christian, my only true home is in heaven where I will be with Jesus. My time here is merely a visitation.
Two aspects of holiness are being distinct and being different. Being different, or special, is something that God does in my life as He refines me. He is making me into a new creation. Being distinct, however, is something that I need to do. I have the choice to allow myself to blend in as another citizen of the world, or to allow God to make me clearly different in such a way that it is obvious to others that I don’t think the way that the world thinks.
Pastor David went on to say many other things, but unfortunately, the time has come for me to get back to work. School starts for me tomorrow, and there is much still to be done. I’m not sure how much of it will actually be accomplished, but that which is important will be done, and the rest will have to be finished later.
As always, prayers are much appreciated. Currently, prayers for my roommates are at the front of my mind. One roommate is in the States recovering from an infection contracted while healing from a surgery several months ago, and my other roommate found out the other day that she will be needing surgery soon. Hopefully this is not a trend, and I will not need surgery myself. Please also pray for the students who will be coming back to school this week. Pray that their hearts will be open to God’s love, and that the teachers will be bright lights in a dark country. Thanks for reading, and God bless!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Hello to family and friends across the ocean! I made it safely back to Thailand, though I did have a little excitement on the way. I had a scheduled 4 hour layover in Tokyo that turned into an 8 hour layover when they announced that there was a mechanical problem with the engine. Of course, they announced this after we had circled back to Tokyo after being in the air for an hour. With a broken engine. Fun times.
By the time I made it home from the airport, it was 4:30 in the morning, and orientation was set for 8:30. Needless to say, I was just a bit tired, but thankfully not too much due to the sleep I was able to get on the plane.
This year is definitely already different from last year. I have a new apartment with my roommates, and it’s much nicer than where we were staying before. Best points: no mosquitoes, no traffic noise, and praise the Lord no karaoke! My room is very cute, and I am already starting to feel settled in it. We also have a living room area that needs a lot of work, but I have a vision of it being great once it’s finished.
So far, I have only seen Thai friends who either work on campus or own shops down the soi, but I’ve been welcomed back pretty warmly. P Nee, especially has been missed. I get my coffee at her shop every morning, eat there at least once or twice a week, and she helps me with my Thai. I’m a slow learner, but she’s pretty patient with my stumbling to learn single phrases.
School starts on Tuesday, so I have been busy trying to get everything together. Fortunately, I don’t have a whole lot to do in my room because the awesome Kru Som has already set it up into center areas. The only thing I have left to do is the morning calendar area. One project that I’ve undertaken is creating alphabet cards to go on the top of my boards. They turned out very cute, if I may say so myself. I am finally getting my schedule today, so I can work on the actual lesson planning portion, which I’m very excited about.
A number of years ago, I had a conversation with someone about how we always have enough time for what is important to us. None of us have the luxury of saying that we do not have time for something. We do. All of us have the same number of hours in the day. No one gets more hours than anyone else (unless you fly east across the Pacific and cross the date line, of course!). Now, how people fill those hours differs greatly, and there are different levels of responsibility, but the truth remains that you will always have enough time for what you make a priority.
So here’s the point. I don’t like this truth. I want to be able to say that I just didn’t have enough time to do all that I wanted to do. It’s not true. What is true is that I placed other things as having more import. In my 2 months in the States, I was able to see many of my friends and spend some good quality time with my parents and my sister and her family. It was great. I also was able to finish a few projects hanging over my head, and run a few errands that needed to be accomplished. Were there things I did not do that I wanted to? Of course, but to be honest, it’s unlikely that I would get around to them if I’d been back longer simply because I did not make them important. Another few months probably would not change that.
I can’t really complain, though. I was able to two weddings, see who I needed to see, and spend at least some time with those I love. Those who made the time to see me saw me, and that spoke volumes.
Now to manage my time here in Thailand so that I’m prioritizing what needs to be prioritized. May this be another year glorifying to God.
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