Working for the weekend.

In the spirit of this blog maybe helping future farang teachers, I will try to post little updates as often as I can be bothered. Here's one now...
I went to Phuket this weekend, very nice. I missed my first flight Friday night due to my crazy, senile old cab driver who yelled at me, drove in circles and (I'm 90% sure) defecated himself on the THREE HOUR cab ride from one end of Bangkok to the other! Everytime I get out of a cab in this city I think it is the scariest cab ride I've ever had (Mardi Gras in St. Louis excluded)
Thai people are very Thai-centric. They are sort of oblivious to anything that is not directly related to themselves. Its kind of annoying and makes for very scary walking/riding anywhere in Thailand. Sabai- sabai is getting pretty old...
The weather says its 91 degrees right now, but I'm actually cool and wore a sweater most of the day. Yikes.
I am itchy. I don't know if its dry skin, or all the mesquito bites or the water or what, but I am itchy none the less.
Patong makes me sad. I bought a shirt that I love tho, and may only be appreciated by people who have spent any amount of time here. On the back it says "No I do not want a f*&%ing tuk tuk, massage or a suit, thank you very much." There is thai on the front. One would think it says the same thing, but it probably says "I am Farang, ask me if I need a tuk tuk, massage or a suit."
All for now, will check back soon.
* Love*

Love Bangkok, hate teaching. Is it February yet???

So, a much- awaited update! Sorry for the delay, its been a busy couple of weeks. As you can see from the previous post, the night I left was mighty hectic! Took the second class bus, which scared me at first but it really wasn’t bad and I took a couple of drammamine so I slept though it basically. Arrived in Bangkok and was shuffled to my new apartment in Bangyai, which is about 20 min northwest of the city. Its actually pretty nice. New construction studio, fairly large- by Thai standards- and its clean, which is also a novelty.  Unfortunatley, after I signed the lease (in Thai), I found out that my school is about an hour away! And that I have to be picked up by the school bus on the main road at 7 am, which means leaving my house by 6 am every day. Me. Miss morning sunshine. Great. Then I found out about my school. It is in the Auyettea Province, in a little town called Lat Bua Luang. I have 620 Matayom 1-6, which is roughly high school, age 12-20. I teach 18 separate classes, only 6 of which I see twice a week, the rest only once. So, people, 620 divided by 18 is….about 34. That’s the average tho, some classes have 20, 25 or so while some have up to 45! 45 teenagers who don’t speak my language and I don’t speak theirs. One word- YIKES! Some classes are great and know a ton, some are dumber than rocks, only not as quiet. They are absolutely out of control and act like I don’t exist when I’m up there teaching. They make me nuts. Really, really nuts. I thought I couldn’t control or get through to my RFK kids (no offense, kids!), but at least that had an idea of what the words coming out of my mouth mean. Its really, really, really hard. I must say that I felt prepared for teaching before I started teaching and now I have no clue, none whatsoever.  Its exhausting and overwhelming and frustrating and I don’t like it.  Period. The people are sweet, many of the kids are so cute and sweet and friendly. But I don’t like teaching. That being said, I will not quit. I will look for another job, but I will not quit, I will not go home. I will perservre!

Now, some observations:

1.     Thai people are obsessed with being white. They have all these whitening products here. Regular brands like in the U.S. make “white beauty” or “whitening” lines. Can you imagine the outrage if Olay marketed their white beauty products in the U.S.?  So anything I buy- soap, body lotion, deodorant- I have to inspect thouroly to be sure that its not bleach or something. Inspect because its all in Thai! And if or when or while the whitening stuff doesn’t work, they just cake their faces in white powder! Like, baby powder. Boys and girls, teachers, merchants, everyone. My kids had a powder fight in class the other day, and got Teacher. Yeah.

2.     So, because of the white obsession, I am like a rock star at school. They can barely speak English but they can say “Teacher Beautiful!” constantly. In class, in the hallways. When I’m walking in the hallways- the school is open air-  I hear from across the school “Good morning, Teacher!” shouted by multiple children from all around me. Its nuts.

3.     Thai females giggle. A lot. It’s making me mental.

4.     Not knowing the language is one thing in Phuket- tourist town- but here, in the (not so) quiet suburbs is really, really hard. Just to get food is a great challenge and takes a ton of mental energy. I am tired all the time. And learning Thai is nearly impossible. Even when I say Thai things- like the names of places or thank you- exactly like I hear them, no one knows what I’m saying. It sucks.

5.     Living alone, being alone, with no one who speaks your language, is a lot lonelier than I was expecting. Now if you know me well, you know that for me to put that in print takes a lot. I hate to be weak, I prefer to suffer in silence as they say. I always put up a front, so when I’m telling you that sometimes I am crippleingly lonely, just imagine what it is actually like.

6.     Kho san road in Bangkok had def made it into the top 3 coolest places I have ever been. It is nuts. Something everyone must try once.

7.     It. Is. Hot. In. Bangkok. And this is the cool season.

Anyway, I’m sure there’s more I mean to write, just a little wiped out right now. I will try to be on this a bit more. Miss everybody.

*Love*

From October 30th

So it’s been a long couple of weeks. I am writing this right now from a restaurant outside the Phuket bus station. I had a couple of jobs fall through and I was told at my lunch break during teaching practice today that I had to be in Bangkok by tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Yikes! I was planning on a couple more days at least in Phuket so it was quite the shock. I had to run home, pack and get to getting. Kind of disappointing, I was planning on one last blow out with the crew, but sabai sabai as the Thai’s say. I could only get a second-class ticket, so that should be interesting for my 13-hour bus ride! I have no idea where I’m going or where I’ll be teaching or if I’ll know any one around me or where I’ll live…you get the idea.  It’s a bit nerve racking and I’m def doing the wallow in self-pity thing right now. I’ll get over it I’m sure. I’m trying to trust in the process of my life and believe that everything happens for a reason. My last few days in Phuket have been great. I have faith, that’s what I keep telling myself. Fear and faith. So I don’t know when I’ll get to post this, but I know all of you who are reading it are pulling for me, so I appreciate that. That’s all for now, this is not helping the self-pity thing at all. Love and miss you all, more than you know, I’m sure.  More details to follow, for you and me.

*Love*