Celebrations & Frustrations

Monks receive gifts from students and teachers

Happy Birthday Mae La Noi Daroonsik!

It really happened! Mae La Noi Daroonsik has made it to the ripe old age of 39! And of course it wouldn’t be right if the school didn’t host a day long celebration in honor of its birthday – so I think you have a pretty good idea of how I spent this past Sunday.

The day started bright and early at 5:30 AM with a race beginning at the school and winding its way through town and back. I wish I could tell you how long the route actually was, but I’m still unsure and have gotten answers ranging from 3 to 12 kilometers when I asked my teacher friends… so I guess the world may never know. All students in Mattayom 1, 2, and 4 were required to participate, as well as all new teachers and anyone else was welcomed to join in. We started with a brief warm-up and what I can only assume was a pump up speech from the director and then we were off! At first I was afraid that everyone would actually be running the entirety of the race, but I soon found out that was not the case, as students and teachers alike all started walking after only a few hundred meters. Participants were more focused on simply completing the race than caring about how fast they did so. The route meandered through some parts of town I had not yet seen, which was a real treat as the views were absolutely stunning and shrouded with early morning mists.

After we completed the race, and had a quick shower, everyone met in front of Building 3 for a Buddhist ceremony to pay respect to nine visiting monks. Students and teachers formed a large circle and gave the monks gifts of food and drink as the visitors circled around to each person. The celebration then moved into the gym where the monks blessed the school through a lengthy chant. After this it was time to hand out awards for the top finishers of that morning’s race and I was surprised to hear my name called for being the 2nd Place finisher among the participating teachers! I received a certificate and a fancy blue jersey as an award for my achievement. The ceremony concluded with around 100 students receiving scholarships of varying amounts and for various reasons. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty exciting (and completely exhausting) day!

Around 100 students received scholarships

A view along the race route

My snazzy certificate for finishing in 2nd Place

Everything Isn’t Always Perfect

Looking back on previous blog posts and the stories I’ve been telling my friends and family, I’ve realized that I’ve made out my experience here to be practically perfect. And while it has been absolutely incredible and adjusting to life here has been leagues easier than I had anticipated, it’s not always easy.

My primary frustration since moving to Thailand has been learning to deal with almost regular schedule changes to the school week and student and teacher absences. At the start of this semester I was given the responsibility to plan three of my courses and I happily and enthusiastically drew out lessons plans for the whole semester. Big mistake. I underestimated how flexible I would need to be in order to accommodate the various holidays, celebrations, tests, assemblies, and other interferences that would impact my teaching schedule. I’ve also showed up to class a few times to find only a handful of students present, which leads to making a game time decision of continuing with the lesson as planned or coming up with a new idea on the spot.

While it hasn’t been easy adjusting to the constantly changing schedule of each school day, it has forced me to become very good at thinking on my feet and appearing confident in what I’m doing even though sometimes I have no idea where I’m going with a lesson. And as each week passes it gets easier and easier and I’ve become more proactive and determined in finding out about schedule changes ahead of time. I may still not be flexible enough to touch my toes, but I am now flexible enough to walk into a classroom with one perfectly planned lesson and immediately switch to a new idea at the drop of a hat.

Saying Yes is Exhausting

Another important lesson I’ve learned since being here is this: It’s okay to say “no.”

Whenever I go to a new place I always want to involve myself and participate in as many ways as possible and coming to Thailand has been no different. One of the ways I encourage myself to be involved is to say “yes” to most everything that is asked of me within my own abilities. For example, when a teacher friend asked me if I wanted to help teach students Christmas songs of course I said yes. Or when I got asked to go to a coffee festival in a nearby village, a seemingly short time commitment which in reality consumed 7 hours of my day, of course I said yes again. Coming here as an outsider, I think it’s important to be active and present within the community so that they can see that I care and also so that I can grow to know the people here even better.

At the same time, I’ve also come to realize that I don’t always have to say yes to everything. My “just say yes” attitude led to me to teaching 3 extra classes and 2 extra clubs over these past two days, as well as attending a Catholic church service here in town and teaching the congregation “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” While I don’t regret volunteering for these extra additions to my daily routine, I am far more exhausted than I usually am on a Tuesday evening and I’m quite behind in lesson planning for a couple of my classes. I’ve made a promise to myself that in the future I will be more realistic with what I can and cannot take on in addition to my already busy daily responsibilities. Although let’s be honest… old habits die hard.

Until next time!