Wattle Bottle

Post 10: Bpid Term Life
I have been at site for about three weeks now. After Songkran, I settled into my routine and explored my community more thoroughly. Most days, I wake up without anything structured to do. It is currently “bpid term” or summer break for schools, which means that I technically have nothing to do all day. But I have still managed to keep quite busy. Peace Corps has two projects here- TCCO and CBOD. TCCO stands for Teacher Collaboration and Community Outreach. This is my project, and it has three primary goals. Our main mission is to introduce a more progressive educational model into Thai schools. Thailand has a collectivist culture, like many Asian countries, which basically means that the “individual” is not valued as much as groups or families. In public schools (and I assume private), teachers stand in front of a classroom and have the students do rote memorization. There is very little fostering of creativity or independence, and curriculums are strictly based around the national tests.
As TCCO volunteers, we are English teachers, but teaching English as a Foreign Language is secondary to bringing student-centered learning techniques to the Thai classroom and training teachers to use them. Our technical training actually focused very little on TEFL, and far more on teacher development and student-centered learning. Student-centered learning means teaching in a manner that develops the student’s self-confidence, creativity, and individuality. Furthermore, it is a more sustainable way to teach, as the knowledge will stick better. As TCCO volunteers, we are never in the classroom alone. We are assigned co-teachers who we always teach with. Together, we make lesson plans involving participatory activities and task-based projects in an effort to empower the students. Furthermore, we incorporate cultural awareness and life skill lessons in with the English. Thai students have little to know knowledge of the wider world, many cannot even draw an accurate map of Thailand. We are here not only to educate them about American culture, but about other cultures in general. Also, many volunteers incorporate health or environmental education into their lessons, which I plan to do.
Working with our co-teachers is a big part of the project as well. The basic idea is that if we teach alone in the classroom, maybe 100 students total will benefit from our presence here. However if we work with and train teachers, they will go on to use more effective and progressive education techniques long after we are gone. It is more sustainable that way. Of course, another goal is to improve the English of our co-teachers and the students. All Thai students must study English but a majority of Thai English teachers cannot speak English. Finally, the third goal of the project is community outreach. TCCO volunteers are only required to spend 12 hours in the classroom a week (not including lesson planning time). The rest of the time, we are supposed to develop a secondary project on our own based on the needs and wants of the community and our own interests. The other project in Thailand, CBOD, do this full time. Rather than working with schools, their counterparts are in the SAO, or local government administration. They have no structured activities or assignments (like we go to school 4 days a week), and basically create their own jobs. Like I said, I got to site on April 9th and schools open May 13th. The first month (April 9th to May 9th), volunteers are prohibited from leaving site (a trip to the local Big C is acceptable), but schools are closed. CBOD volunteers are going to the SAOs, but TCCO volunteers have the month to do… whatever. We are supposed to use the time to plan curriculums and lessons with our co-teachers, settle into our houses, and get to know the community. Still, this leaves a fair amount of time to oneself.
I get bored very easily when I have nothing to do, so after Songkran ended, I made a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish in my first month: some had to do with teaching, some had to do with community integration, and some were personal. As a result, I usually have plenty to do. My site is very small, and during the day everybody is at work (most people go off to the fields), so it is very quiet. Usually I wake up and eat fruit and drink coffee on my porch. Every day is different, but involves a combination of TEFL review, attempting to teach myself to read Thai, exploring Wat Bot on my bicycle, doing things around my house, reading and writing. I go to the market in town everyday to buy things to eat and hang out with my neighbors. Laundry, as it is done by hand, takes forever, and my house always needs to be cleaned because if I don’t sweep, lizard poop accumulates, and if I don’t mop, ants attack everything. It feels a little strange for me to be so domestic (puttering around my house in a bandana with a mop and duster in hand), but I really like it. I like having space that only I am responsible for, that is mine. We all know I am not the neatest of people, but my house here is [almost] always clean and neat. And while exhausting, I enjoy doing laundry by hand. I like how simple everything is. I like that there are not machines to do things for me. Granted, laundry and dishes by hand is still a bit of a novelty, and after a year, I may be completely sick of it, but right now, I enjoy the work. Often, for lunch, I go to one of the many noodle stands. My favorite noodle stand is across the street from the wat and right on the river, so the view is beautiful. I went there one day with my neighbor, who ordered for me, and now every time I go, the noodle lady gives me the same thing, even when I specifically ask for something different. I also plant vegetables in my garden (we will see if they actually grow), work on art projects, write poems, and read.
A few days, I have been taken around the community to meet local leaders, policemen, health center staff etc…, and between that and exploring on my own, many people know my real name or my Thai name (Kam La), and I usually here it called out as I bike around. My neighbors always get mad at me for biking during the day, because Thai people think light skin is beautiful, and they say that I will get dark skin (piu dtam), and thus not be beautiful, if I am in the sun during the day. I have also been instructed to grow my hair out, because only children and old women have short hair. When I said that it is hot, they said that’s what ponytails are for. I guess I am growing my hair long again. Despite their admonitions of ptiu dtam, I love to explore on my bike and go to the market, because I always run into people I have met at one place or another, and if I never left my house, I would go stir crazy. I generally try to use the daytime to do “work”, which can be as simple as taking a walk and taking pictures, because I inevitably meet new people, explain who I am, and work on “community integration”. Then during the evenings, after exercising (more about that next time), I relax. I make dinner, lay in my hammock and read, write, or chat with other volunteers. Sometimes I blog, sometimes I organize pictures I took that day, sometimes I listen to music, and on weekends, I treat myself to watching one of the movies Ashley mailed me (thanks Ash!). It is a quiet life, and I fluctuate from feeling busy and like I have too much to do, with feeling restless and unsure of how to pass the time. But one way or another, I cannot just sit around or I will go nuts, and I think I have made good use of this month.
Post 11: Gam Lang Gai
Everyday little things happens I want to write down or share, but there are simply too many. However, some experiences or thoughts have been more meaningful or significant in my life here, and those are what I am going to write about here.
Two Sundays ago, the kids who have adopted me came over around 5 to go for a little bike ride. They took me to a park I did not know existed, near the Educational Supervisor office in town. The park is small, but beautiful. There is a small soccer field, a pond, beautiful flowers, a basketball court, playground, and a sidewalk around the edge of the park for jogging. One or two people were jogging, as it was 5 pm and not too hot, and women were showing up wearing exercise clothes. Apparently, everyday at 5:30, there is an aerobics class. Now, I enjoy exercise but aerobics is not really my thing. However, the women that arrived at the park were teachers from the school, shop owners, for staff at the SAO-good women in the community to know. I realized this could be a great way for me to meet more people in Wat Bot, and people who could help me with projects. It was difficult to keep a straight face during the class, as “aerobics” is a generous term and “energetic stepping” might be more appropriate, but it was fun. The instructors is overweight, which you know is a good sign, and the class has a few old men in it, who are adorable as they try to do the sassy steps.
At one of the Songkran events, I chatted for a while with a man who works at the SAO. I was very interested in going to the SAO, because they are the body that does local projects and community development, but my co-teachers had shown no signs of taking me. At aerobics, I saw him at the park. I told him I really wanted to come to the SAO and do introductions, so he said he would take me on Thursday. Thursday morning he picked me up, and I spent the morning chatting with local officials, learning about the community (as much as I could understand in Thai) and expressing my interest in working with them. They told me about projects they had already done, including dengue fever prevention, HIV/AIDS awareness, and an effort to improve waste management (Thai people just burn their trash…bad juju). I am going to follow up with this, and hopefully get involved in the work they do. The next day, there were multiple events because the SAO opened a new primary school, and they invited me to those. We prayed and ate in the morning, and then at night, this guy named WiChien who works at the SAO (who incidentally teaches the aerobics class on Thursdays and Fridays) picked me up to take me to the party at the school, which the entire community came to. I got to sit at the VIP table with the SAO staff, and they made me go on stage with them during the dedication ceremony, which felt a little strange as I had nothing to do with it.
Saturday, my co-teacher took me to the hospital and police station because Peace Corps needs their phone numbers. My co-teacher knows how much I enjoy bike riding, and how much I had been exploring the community on my own. We stopped at the house of her friend, “Mister John” who leads an informal local biking group. Every day at 5, a group of 3 to 8 people go for a 30 to 40k bike ride and I said I was interested in going. Later that afternoon, I went to the internet café, which is next to his house, and he said he was going to put a little air in my tires. I was in the internet café for about 2 hours, as I had some Peace Corps work to do online, and when I came out, he was still fixing my bike! He did a complete tune-up, fixing, wheels, change, tires, gears…everything. I was so grateful and brought him oranges and canome when I returned for the bike ride at 5 to say thank you. I was slightly concerned about not being able to keep up, as these people bike everyday and while I bike every day, it is not 40 km. But I was fine and it was thrilling to get out of the town and see more of my district. There are national parks near by and low rolling mountains in the distance. The countryside is also covered in farmland and orchards, which are beautiful to see. We returned about 2 hours later and I said I would go again the next day.
When I showed up the next day, there was a bigger group and Mr. John gave me biking gloves, and biking backpack, and a water bottle. Mister John’s biking friends are policemen, retired, or work at the SAO, and a lot of fun. Mister John’s daughter, “Feem” is 19, and goes on the rides occasionally too. She also came over the other day and helped me start my garden and translate my community map into Thai. The rides are tiring, but one of my favorite parts of the day. It feels liberating to get out of town and the province is so beautiful, it is exhilarating to see more of it. I love the exercise, and it has enabled me to make friends with more people here. Mr. John used to have a restaurant, so two nights ago my co-teacher went to their house for dinner and it was delicious. We played cards and I showed them how to shuffle. They said I should work in Las Vegas.
One day after the bike ride, I returned home to find a gigantic spider in my bathroom. Like really huge. I was terrified and hid in my bedroom for the rest of the night. The next day, I woke up early and went to Big C by myself ( I had a long shopping list and wanted to check out how to get there on the local buses) and then that night, was too scared to brush my teeth or take a shower. I hated the feeling of being unsafe in my own home. I knew I was being silly, but this thing was a monster and really stressing me out. Every time I left my bedroom, I would look everywhere for a huge spider and had trouble sleeping because I kept thinking it would attack me. I called another volunteer, Mike, who is very outdoorsy and used to go camping all the time, and he assured me these were normal spiders in Thailand and not dangerous. Still, it was massive, thick, and hairy. I took a deep breath and ventured into the bathroom, during a thorough check high and low before beginning my shower, and rotating constantly whilst bathing to make sure it wasn’t lurking somewhere.
The next day, I told my landlady and she laughed at me for being afraid of spiders, but not ghosts, but came over and did a thorough scan. The aforementioned spider has not yet resurfaced, and I am no longer as tense, but still check the bathroom every time before I go in. This upcoming weekend is the first weekend we are allowed to leave site, so most of the volunteers are meeting up in Bangkok. We are all staying at the same guest house, and I cannot wait for foreign food and wine and seeing my friends and speaking English. I have not spoken to a foreigner face to face in three weeks, and to be able to relax with friends again, and be myself, rather than the “farang”, will feel amazing. I love it at site, and I am having a wonderful time, but I am definitely restless and ready to blow off some steam and see my friends. I will bus down with another volunteer on Saturday morning and return on Monday, hopefully with some good stories!