6:00am - Even though my alarm is set for 7, the rooster crows at 6 which causes all the birds living in the tree outside my guesthouse to start their morning....and I'm up.
7:30am - I head to the school on my bike (with a basket...yeah, that's right.) through the crazy traffic (on the left side of the road). There are bikes (seating 4), cars (seating 8), trucks (holding 40+ people, chickens, building supplies...) all in a 2 lane street where there can be up to 4 lanes of organized chaos. I arrive at the school to get some unreal breakfast. So far it's been samosas and coconut rice...way better then anything Kellog's has to offer.
8:00am - I will be teaching math and English so this week I have been gathering curriculum, resources and shadowing the teachers that I will be replacing. The students are great, they actually want to learn...weird. I've never encountered anything like this before. They are eager to share and dialog about most anything. I start teaching full time on Monday, which is really exciting. I think we are going to start with A LOT of SFS games to try and learn their names. Most student's names are 3-4 separate words...no short forms. Good thing I'm great at learning names...During the middle of the day it is crazy hot so things are very chill.
4:00pm - school is done for the day...and by 5 it's cooled down enough to get outside and play some sports. The students cleared a field to play caneball (also called Tawkraw) which is Thailand's national sport. It is intense. It's basically the same rules as volleyball but only using the parts of your body that you can use for soccer. We play 3 on 3 with a wicker ball. The kids are crazy good...My goal is to be able to compete with these showoffs.
6:00pm - If I am at the school then I can have dinner but otherwise I can get dinner and a beer in town for about $1-2. I am staying an amazing guesthouse and most people there are up for doing dinner and enjoying the cool Thai nights.
The experience so far has been unreal - it's had it's ups and downs but overall I'm stoked to be here.
This sounds unreal Greg. I'm also amazed at their eagerness to learn; something virtually unheard of here! You'll be able to do amazing things with these students. Good luck learning all their names my friend. SFS will most definitely come in handy for that. And with Tawkraw!
ReplyDelete$2 Dinner and beer - awesome. haha
Cheers!!
Hey! I hope the teaching goes well!
ReplyDeleteI would suggest only doing name games for 2 ays...then give them a HUGE EXAM:P
assert your domincancy greg.
Hope its all well:):):)
and i totally know about the 100 people in the back of a truck. it makes me so nervous!!