A Benchama Tale

Before I update you on the forever craziness that endures in Thailand, I want to apologize for the delay in blogging. My interent in my apartment is, well… very slow. But I am dedicating this blog to taking a closer look into Benchama Rat Rungsarit (a.k.a. Ben 1) and what my job is like.

I get to school around 8 in the morning and for the first 40 minutes the students have an outside assembly where they pray, sing the national anthem and hear any important announcements for that day. The teachers are supposed to stand outside as well, but we usually end up hanging out in the office (better yet.. I drink my coffee and start waking up). Sometimes these assemblies run late into the first period, and I’ll be lucky if the students show up half way through.

Getting ready for the dance performances

Sometimes your students don’t show up to class at all and you’re waiting in class for fifteen minutes just to realize that no one told you that your class was on a field trip that day. Other times the boys don’t show up because they are at “army training” and the girls don’t show up because they are “getting haircuts.” Sometimes I just don’t know what is happening at all.

But.. on the good days I have an average of 36-46 kids in a classroom and I teach about 19 kids a week. I have a total of 562 students.. and I know all of their names.. just kidding. But I’m actually learning them pretty well. Taking roll at the beginning of every class is always an opportunity for the kids to crack up at my pronunciation of their names, which I truly am trying to get, but sometimes I just can’t hear the difference.

Overall the kids are very energetic and get excited about speaking. They love when I try to teach them how to pronounce words and letters and make them make a “th” sound or a “r” sound and they just crack up, which then makes me crack up. The periods are 50 minutes long and I usually plan out my lessons with ample time. Once in a while, I am completely off and I have lots of time left and I will usually play a game like telephone with the kids.

Me with some of my M-2 students! Aren't they cute?!

The students have a uniform. The girls aren’t allowed to have hair past a certain length, and overall everyone seems pretty conservative. Oh, and did I mention that at the beginning of each class when I walk in one students says, “Everybody please stand up” The students then all stand up and in unison say, “Good morning/afternoon teacher.” To which I reply, “Good morning. How are you?” Once again in unison, “I am fine teacher. Thank you and you?” I reply that I’m feeling good and tell them to sit down. To which they say, “Thank you teacher.” If I forget to tell them to sit, they will remain standing.. trust me I’ve done that before. At the end of the class they all stand up and in unison say, “Thank you teacher. See you again.” At first I was completely bewildered my this ceremony, but it has become second nature, and I forget to mention it earlier because it didn’t seem out of the ordinary anymore.

Some more of my students!

The reason I mention the students conservative nature is because last Monday was a complete turn-around at school. It was the celebration of the school’s birthday, which meant no classes but one big carnival. I was so impressed with how the students put together the celebration. There were carnivals, games, food and a fashion show.

Let me tell you about this fashion show for a minute. I don’t know if you are familiar with the ladyboy culture here in Thailand, but basically there are many ladyboys, or men that dress up as women. More often than not, you can’t tell that these “women” are actually men. In this fashion show, about 80 percent of the students participating were ladyboys. The costumes were so extravagant and handmade and the students, who normally have to wear a strict uniform, were literally cross-dressing during school.

Later on there was a stage set up for students to perform different dances to their favorite songs. There were some traditional Thai costumes and dancing, and then there were the ladyboys who danced to their favorite songs, mainly by Lady Gaga. It was absolutely hysterical and shocking that these kids who seem so conservative were so lively and expressed themselves in interesting ways.

My favorite Lady Gaga Performer

One of the many lovely contestants

Me with students getting ready to perform

One of the many interesting dance performances

Traditional Thai costumes for Thai dancing

The next day things were back to normal, not that normal here is normal by any American standards. The weirdest part is when I was in class the next day I was thinking, any of these students could have been ladyboys participicating in the show, and I just wouldn’t know. 

Welcome to the Jungle!

Our group

One national park wasn’t enough for me, I had to go see another one the weekend after Erawan national park. Jess and I planned to meet up with a couple of girls we met on orientation at Khao Yai National Park. This park, I believe was the first national park to be established in Thailand, and I’m pretty sure it is one of the biggest, with lots of animals roaming around wild. My friend Ashley, planned the whole trip so we all met up at this little guest house called “Bobby’s” that was run by this German dude, his Thai wife and his family.

BewarE! Elephant Crossing

It was at this little mom and pop shop that we ate, slept an even got set up with a guide to some trekking in a jungle. Our guide sort of reminded me of mogli from the jungle book. In fact, I’m pretty sure the jungle produced him. He was this little 5 foot, dark Thai man that seemed to be able to talk to the animals. He was so energetic and hilarious and when we were running after him in the jungle I kind of felt like Leonardo Dicaprio in the beach.. when he was running through the jungle.

Waterfall in "The Beach"

Speaking of The Beach, this particular national park had the waterfall that was featured in the movie (The one where they jump off the fall into the water…. Jess and I just re-watched the movie!). During our jungle trekking, we saw crocodiles, monkeys, gibbons, many types of bird, HUGE spiders—really huge, lots of different trees that are made for incense and perfume like Sandlewood and many butterflies. Unfortunately, the elephants and tigers I think were too deep in the jungle.

Our guide, Non, decided to take us to a “private waterfall” to go swimming. Of course he didn’t mention that there really wasn’t  a trail to get to it, and that we would be essentially mud sliding down in order to get there. It was kind of ridiculous watching everyone grab onto bamboo for dear life so as not to fall flat down in the mud, which is where everybody ended up.

Oh and did I mention, that we had to wear leech socks (very stylish I must say) to prevent leeches from leeching onto us and sucking blood. I must say when I saw a couple leeches on my socks I freaked out at first, but as the day progressed, it became second nature to just simply flick the leeches away.

Our monkeyman guide being Tarzan

Our monkeyman guide took as an interesting adventure, and got us home safely (of course on the way back we had to stop and get some special plants that would stop the bleeding from two huge leeches that got on him!)

Jungle Trekking

We said goodbye to our friends and headed back to Chachengsao to start another week of work. It’s already Friday, and I can’t believe another weekend here. I think I’m going to lay low this weekend and my friend Alyssa is going to come and hang out with me, so I’ll get to guide her around Chachengsao!

Monkeys, and fish and elephants.. oh my!

At the end of a market on the
Bang Pakong river in Chachengsao

The weeks seem to go by so quickly here. I can’t believe it’s already been a month, yet at the same time I feel like I’ve been here forever. I’m loving Chachengsao the more I get to know it. I’m finally in a routine at school, and have a blast teaching most of my classes. Today I got 46 students to yell out “Angelina Jolie” instead of “Angerina Jorie” when we were talking about famous American actors. I also got them to say “Vin Diesel” instead of “Win Dies.” Sometimes, it is hard not to laugh in class, when you have 46 students so excitedly yelling out things at you.

Jessica and Me batiking in Chachengsao!

Two weekends ago, my housemate Jessica and I decided to explore Chachengsao, and found ourselves stumbling upon this community group  doing art work. Jess, being an artist herself, wanted to stop in and see if we could get in on the project. We found that they were ‘batiking’ where you use wax to help and that it was a closed community group. However, a math teacher who works at our school recognized us and invited us to join their activity and we spent the day painting with the Chachengsao women. Afterwards we stumbled upon an interesting market and got a bite to eat on the water (at a restaurant that apparently the Thai princess herself had visited) and met some more farang (westerners) who were in our town. We found out that there were about 20 or so farang in Chachengsao, and its such a tight nit community that we started seeing them everywhere.

After exploring some more, I found a semi-American coffee shop (Thank god!) where I will easily be spending my Sunday mornings, reading English newspaper!

A whole other week of teaching went by and Jess and I met up with our friend Alyssa in Kanchanburi and trekked out to Erawan national park to do some hiking and camping. I must say, the hiking was unbelievable. We hiked up this seven tiered waterfall, where you can swim in pools at each tier. The further up you went, the more rigorous the hiking got and by the fifth- seventh tier.. it started looking pre-historic…I felt like I was coming out of the movie Jurassic Park. It was unbelievable how clear and beautiful the falls and the water was. There were also monkeys swinging in the trees above us, and fish that eat the dead skin off your feet in the pools (which was kind of creepy—even though people will pay money to go to these fish spas where fish will gnaw at you!).

The tent by the pavilion at our campsite

The camping spot was beautiful, and we rented a tent and sleeping bags. What seemed like a great idea, turned out to be.. well.. lets just say a little noisy. I swear there must have been five or six frogs that were right outside our tent making some mating calls all night, and that doesn’t even count the other creatures we heard. I stuffed my ipod in my ears, hoping to drown out the sounds, only to realize that the nature sounds were drowning out my music..oh well.

 

hiking back through the forest

Jess and Me hanging out under the waterfall (3rd tier)

the waterfall at the seventh tier

4th tier--me on the waterslide!

Finally made it to the top- the seventh tier!

We eventually made it back to Chachengsao to begin another week of work! 

Benchama Rat Rungsarit-- say that 5 times fast!

One of my M-4 classes

I’ve officially a whole week of teaching at my school Benchama Rat Rungsarit (or Benchama for short), with 19 classes a week. I teach 5 Mattium-2 classes (8^th grade) that meet twice a week and 9 Mattium-4 classes (10^th grade) that meet once a week. Overall, I am pretty impressed with the basic level of comprehension that most of my classes have. I of course am lucky and have four advanced classes (which means only 36 students and air conditioning in the classroom!). Otherwise, I have an average of 46 students in my classes and generally no air conditioning (I make sure to bring many tissues to wipe off the forever streaming sweat from my neck). My office is great though, I get my own desk, wireless internet and air conditioning. The office is like my sweet air conditioned haven when I have a break from classes.

There are 7 buildings on the whole campus, and I finally figured out where all my classes are and in what buildings. After attending Maryland with the huge campus, Benchama didn’t seem like a hard feat to make my way around campus (except that no one speaks English). Every morning the students (all 3500 +) line up for the national anthem, a prayer and announcements. We usually have to stand on the sides as well. The second day we were there (the first day it was pouring rain!—which is good luck) during the morning assembly the Foreign Language Department welcomed us all in front of the whole school with flowers and we had to introduce ourselves in the microphone in front of everyone—in Thai! It’s a good thing I know how to say “Sawadee kha. Chan Cheu Danielle Kha.”

There is an awesome market right across the street from the school, and during our free time all the other Thai teachers are eager to take us out shopping and show us around. This market has about anything and everything, and you can always bargain your way down!

Teaching here is completely different from what I have experienced as a teacher or a student. However, some things stay the same. For instance, I think in every single one of my classes there are always a group of studious girls in the front and noisy, rowdy boys in the back. Overall, the rowdiness can easily be harnessed into a positive energy, and I do love the energy that the students have. Every time I take roll and say their names, they just crack up and think the way I pronounce their names is absolutely hilarious (which I’m sure it is), and I too get a kick out of them. There are some classes that are more difficult than others, but I like to stay positive and when I’m in the energetic, fun classes I realize that I really do love teaching.

Other than that, I went to Koh Samed this past weekend, which is an island that is relatively close to Bangkok. The island was beautiful, the water warm and crystal clear, and the sand pure white. The hotel we stayed at was pretty much right on the beach so it was a beautiful spot, except that the speed boat that dropped us off pretty much made us jump out of the boat into the water, there was no actual port- oh well, mai pen rai.

On the beach at sunset

Fire show on the beach!

Koh Samed..Hat Sai Kaeo beach

On the ferry back to Bon Phe from Koh Samed
It was awesome to see one of Thailand’s Kohs (islands), and I am just more excited to see some in the future!

I made it to Chachoengsao!

I made it to Chachoengsao!

It’s funny how one week of orientation in Bangkok flew by so quickly, yet I feel like I’ve been in Thailand for quite a while. I was quite impressed with how orientation ran and some of the cool activities that they planned for us.

I met a ton of new people. It was definitely weird being surrounded by completely new faces, coming from a place where I was constantly surrounded by good friends. By the time orientation was over I was surprisingly sad to say goodbye to the friends that I had made in such a short time, and wished them good luck as we all spread out over the country into our respective cities.

Me right in front of the
entrance to the temple

Just a quick recap of some cool trips over orientation:

1- The Grand Palace/ The Temple of the Emerald Buddha

This place is just absolutely magnificent. I was blown away by all the buildings and structures surrounding the temple and the palace and the intricate details on every single piece of the structure. I mean the columns alone had the most detailed designs.

Inside the gates of the Grand Palace/
Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Such intricate architechture!

2- Traditional Thai puppet show

When you think puppet show, you may not be so impressed, but this was one of the coolest theatrical performances I have ever scene. There were three dancers/performers to every puppet- that’s how complex these puppets. The choreography, scenery and music were all great.

The Bride over the River Kwaai

3- The bridge over the River Kwaai (Kwaii means water buffalo in Thai)

Yes, this is the same bridge that was in the movie. This famous bridge, with train tracks along it, is still in use and we had to jump out on the platforms as to not get run over by the oncoming train.

The bridge..again

Me on the bridge

4- Elephant trekking and bamboo rafting! (In Konchonoburi)

This was by far my favorite! We paired up on started on a bench on the back of an elephant, while a guide was on the neck. Our guide even stopped to get some leaves and flowers and made us some interesting jungle hats to wear! He then hopped off and gave us a turn to ride on the neck. I eagerly jumped on the neck only to realize that our elephant started to wade in the water and thought it would be funny to take his trunk and splash us! Afterwards we floated down a nearby stream on these rafts made completely out of bamboo.

Elephant!

After hours of teacher training, basic Thai language classes, heading to Konchonoburi and back, we finally met our school coordinators and took the van and headed south to Chachoengsao, where I currently am typing away in my new residence.

I’ll post soon some more details about my town and school, but I’m off to bed now, because we don’t start teaching until Wednesday. So tomorrow, off to the Chonburi beach!

My attempt at a blog

Too many e-mail addresses to remember is what I was thinking before I left. With promises to friends, family, neighbors and who knows who else to keep in touch about all my travels, I knew I wouldn't be able to hold up my end..... so this is the result, my travel blog. So, thanks for all those who are visiting this, and I hope that you continue to do so!
This post is mainly an attempt to see how this works, and if anyone even follows it at all. But I will give a quick update of my first 30 hours since arriving in Bangkok.

It is hot. I think the second I got my bags and walked outside to grab a cab I already started sweating. I don't mean, "oh its hot lets sit by the pool," I mean tropics hot.. humid.. sweaty (although it seems to be that everyone native here doesn't sweat and it's just me with a red face and dripping everywhere). My cab driver tried to find the chabad house for me, and ultimately failed. He dropped me off on a street near where the street I was supposed to go and I had to walk in the million degree heat with too many bags for about two blocks (seemed more like a mile) but finally arrived.

My tuk-tuk!

After settling in and a MUCH needed shower, I decided to do some exploring. The place where the chabad is located is right off Khao San Road.. or most known as a backpacker's paradise. The streets surrounding the areas are loaded with restaurants, coffee shops, internet cafes, guest houses and tons and tons of vendors (selling really cool clothing too!). Truth is though, this area is so different from what most of Thailand is really like. It's more like an aggregate of backpackers from all over the world. Just walking through the streets I was able to hear numerous different languages spoken. There are so many people that its hard for it to really be an intimate experience and really meet people on a personal level.

Some houses on the canal

After sleeping almost the rest of the day and night (I hate jet lag!) I woke up this morning excited to see Bangkok outside of Khao San area. I took a tuk-tuk ( a little motorized taxi) to take a water boat taxi. Of course I got a little mixed up and ended up on this private boat that took me on an hour long tour of the canals. It was really cool to see the ins and outs of homes and the floating markets (it's really true what they say- it really is the Venice of the East!). After being dropped of and walking around some more I decided I needed some air conditioning and headed back to home base.

Lady selling bananas on the river

While Khao San is a very cool place, I am definitely excited to get to orientation and eventually settle into Chachoengsao where I can really live and learn about the culture- being that Khao San has a very different culture of its own.