East Meets West

Foreign Language Departmnet with the principle
In west and east costumes

I never thought that in Thailand I would be asked to dress as a cowgirl to represent the “west.” Let me explain. For weeks my school has been preparing for a two-day cultural exhibition titled, “East meets West.” Essentially, this was going to be two days celebrating Chinese and Western cultures. The Foreign Language Department (English and Chinese) took charge and was in a frenzy holding auditions for singing, speaking, dancing and other such things for the students to get involved in these two days.

Cowgirl sandwiched between Chinese!

Selling drinks

The school knows that I used to sing in an a cappella group back in America and they had me help judge the singing competitions as well as other things. Basically, this was a chance to miss class and get to hear the students attempt to sing songs in English (some of them were pretty good as well!) I was also told that the foreign language department would be dressing up in order to display the different cultures, one day in Chinese garb and one day in “Western” garb. For Chinese, I was given a red t-shirt with some Chinese symbols on it and was told that Chinese colors were red and black and I should wear that. For the “west” there was a picture of Madonna hung up in the office wearing Jeans, flannel, cowboy boots, cowboy hat, holster and gun. I was told, “this is what you should wear.” All I’m thinking is, wow I can’t believe I didn’t pack flannel for Thailand! For two day at school the English and Chinese Departments at school were decked out in a combination of Chinese and cowboy style clothing.

Cowboys and Cowgirls for the day

"festival grounds"

After weeks and weeks of preparing “East meets West” finally arrived at Benchama. The canteen area was filled with different booths of food, art, toys, drinks and more (reminded me of a little festival). I got there early (and brought my class I was supposed to be teaching period 1) to check out the scene and help out. I soon found myself behind the drink station supervising the students collecting money and giving out much needed drinks on the hot day. Decked out in my cowgirl uniform I was busy all morning until the singing and dancing began. The first day was dedicated to Chinese culture and there were students singing and dancing to Chinese themed songs. Some of their costumes were great as well!

Me and my M-4 student who sang really well!

Chinese costumes

Singing my heart out

The next day, it was time to celebrate Western Culture. The same booths were set up, and once again I was asked to supervise the drink station. It was fun working with the students and getting involved in the whole mix. Midday the western singing and dancing took place. Students got up and performed to Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Michael Buble and other typical American songs. And then, I got to sing! I got up in front of everyone and sang my heart out to a Billy Joel Song,  “New York State of Mind.” I figured I should sing something about America, and what better song than a Jazz piece longing for New York! (plus it sounded good with my voiceJ. Singing was a lot of fun, and my students were all supportive and cheered their farang “western” teacher on! (For the next few days in class my students kept coming up to me ‘teacha! New York! Sing’).

Judging the cowboy costume contest

After the singing and dancing there was a cowboy costume contest which Jay, Steve and I were asked to help judge. The costumes were great (some ladyboys as well) and it was cool to see the students get so involved and excited about everything.

Students selling food

Me with some of my M-2 students!

East Meets West was a ton of fun! However, as soon as it came, it was over and it was back to normal activities in school… whatever normal means here at Benchama. 

It's a small world after all

Okay.. so I’m certainly falling behind on my blog posts (which I think is a good thing. .means I’m busy!) but I will eventually get everything I’ve done posted on here… it just may be a little delayed. (Such as this post)

Khao Takiab

A few weekends ago there was a long weekend for mother’s day and I decided to check out a new place I haven’t been to yet, Hua Hin. Hua Hin is on the eastern shore of the tail part of Thailand (but not too far south).

The second I got to Hua Hin, I already knew I liked it. Not only was there a beach town feel because of the shore nearby, but I was surrounded by mountains! The more I got to learn about Hua Hin the more I liked it. The scenery was great, the people were great and the town was pretty modern yet still maintained a strong Thai culture.

Me and Theresa almost at the top!

Passing by a GIANT Buddha

The view from one side of the mountain

Driving around Hua Hin

After I arrived, I met up with a girl who teaches English in Hua Hin, and she brought me back to her house and I got settled in. That night we hit up the famous Hua Hin night markets and walked around a bit before stopping at a Mexican restaurant. “Mexican food made by real Mexicans” was how they advertised themselves. I didn’t actually eat any food, but I did have some tasty margaritas and met  a bunch of other English teachers from all over. This one teacher from Oregon had been on the same Israel program as me except two years earlier. We hit it off immediately talking about travel and Israel, and obviously had to discuss whether we knew any mutual people and sure enough, not only did we know some mutual people.. she  had met my sister a few years back! I was completely amazed that here I was in Thailand, in the middle of a random city, at a random Mexican restaurant, and who do I meet? Someone who knows my sister. The world can be feel extremely small at times.

There were bells surrounding the temples and the Thais
went around banging each and every one of them

Finally made it up to the temple

The next day, the girl I stayed with took me around Hua Hin and we checked out some sites. First we went to this small mountain that had a temple on it called Khao Takiab. This was a cool little trip because we drove past all these fisherman villages  to get there. The temple itself was nice, and there was a lot to look around and see on the mountain. It wasn’t a big hike, but the view from the top was stunning and overlooked the beach. Also, the mountain was full of monkeys! (After Lopburi though, I wasn’t as scared anymore!)

Artists Village

Some huts outside artists village

After Khao Takiab we drove over to this little thespian gathering called “artist’s village” a little outside the center of town. This place was full of painters and artists hanging around doing their artwork, displaying and selling it. The main reason we went was to see Theresa's friend's band play there. The band was fun and they did a mix between American classics and some Thai tunes and they even did some Louis Armstrong. The drummer (who was Thai) did the most amazing vocal impression of Louis Armstrong, and I never thought I would see a Thai person sing like that! The artist’s village was a cute little set up and it was amazing to see artists, some famous some not, all over the place painting, glass blowing and doing their artwork.

Overlooking Hua Hin- If you look towards the right.. the little hill on the water in the back is Khao Takiab
(where we had hiked earlier in the day)

Overlooking the mountains!

Climbing up Khao Takiab

After Artist’s Village my host took me to one more spot as the last site seeing activity for the day. We drove through the mountains and headed up to this overlook where we climbed some rocks and got to see all of Hua Hin from above.. the beach.. the mountains.. the houses.. everything. It was amazing (and of course there were monkeys up there as well). We headed back, exhausted from a day full of adventures and met up with some people before going out later that night. The next day I said goodbye to my friends and headed back to Chachoengsao, promising that I would return to visit Hua HIn again.