It's hard to believe that it has been about 4 months since the last blog post. I actually really enjoy writing a blog - it gives me time to reflect and internalize the lessons learned being a teacher. Life has been moving at a fast pace these past few months - so here's a time lapse of stories that stick out in my mind.
I am teaching math and science and so far things are going great. The school comes well equipped with science resources.
One of the coolest things we got to do was teach about static electricity using an old van-der graff generator that was in the science room. It didn’t work when I pulled it out of storage but yet again google proved to have all the answers. I typed in “how to fix a van der graff generator” thinking this was a longshot and found a website from a company that makes them with all the common problems they encounter...crazy.
As I demonstrated last year, teacher/student relationships are slightly different here: I had all the students stay over at my place for their first new years...probably will never get a job anywhere else in the world if that gets out...this weekend is the Queen’s birthday here (also Mother’s Day) and we asked the students if they wanted to do something special to celebrate the holiday:
They responded that they wanted to dance and watch scary movies...needless to say we watched a scary movie and had a “dance off” in my living room.
Chances of me getting another job...well I probably have a better chance of playing in the NBA at this point..
This is my first Thai rainy season which has definitely kept me on my toes.
Literally.
The street my house is one has no drainage. Boys come and go fishing on the street and show me their "prizes" before they head off to the next street. Small fish, eels, crabs...no big deal.
Rainy season forces everyone to adjust their lifestyle to the environment - something I rarely do when I am back in Canada: when it's hot, I turn on the AC; when it snows I put down salt. Now that it rains most days it is difficult to dry wet clothes, and keep the mold from creeping in the house. At school, there is a team effort to move all the clothes on the drying racks in and out of the sun during the day when the rain stops to get everything dry.
It has been tricky to play football with the students because our fields are flooded - and yes, we have tried and it was a lot of fun...hard to run when the mud sucks the shoes off your feet though...
Every Friday the two schools in our neighborhood join forces and run electives (run by teachers and staff to let the students try something different. Other teachers are running some great programs: Yoga, cooking, guitar, sewing, puzzles....myself, on the other hand, look for any opportunity to yell at kids and pump dance music so I run a fitness bootcamp elective. The only word that I can use to describe it is Hardcore. All of the classrooms are being used so we go outside and do fitness in the rain. By the end of the hour everyone is soaked and covered in mud.
We don't have a lot of resources so I try to do exercises that don't require a lot of set up or equipment so the students could do it themselves if they wanted to. Some of my favourites:
A tire pull with old tires
Ladder/ quickfeet drills using scraps of wood and rope
Shoulder exercises with textbooks
The last day is “the gauntlet” – a fitness obstacle course through the neighbourhood. Most unexpected obstacle: having street dogs chase you down – the students finished much faster than I expected.
Life is has been busy these last 3 months but I am constantly reminded that each day is a gift and there is a lot to be thankful for.
Next blog will not take 4 months to post...
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