This is what I am called, in class, by 50 new students every hour. They LOVE to yell TEACHER and even more so, they love pointing out my pale skin and curly hair. Never have I been stared at this much in my entire life. I mean, fair enough, Christine and I whizzing by on a motorbike is definitely a sight to see, but when you are one of 20 white people in a city, everything is amplified. But the students are so excited to learn, they want so desperately for me to give them a sticker or to write something on their paper that they are literally FALLING over me at my desk. Their entire school system is based on "perfection" so when I write GREAT! or something to that effect, they are downright giddy. Of course they are mocking me left and right, in Thai of course, but my skin is pretty strange looking (and shockingly this is the most tan I have ever been in my life). I am greeted by thousands of students a day, with big smiles and pointed fingers. 500 of the students are mine, and I really do adore them. They are so easy to make laugh, and though they scream and punch each other, they always let me get through the lesson and the gems in front make the ones in back a bit more tolerable. Our school is called Sriyapi and we have 3,500 kids who on some days where girl scout and boy scout outfits, or military and nursing ones.
The biggest downfall, is that there is no A/C so we are always sweating. However, each day gets a little cloudier and cooler so it is getting better. At the end of the day though, I get to race back to my ocean oasis called "The Cabana" by the Thais, and everything slips away with that perfect rhythm only the ocean can create. I take my shoes off and walk bare footed to the sand, and sink into the earth!!!
We just moved out of our old jungle abode and are now in a new and improved house that doesn't have two-foot long snakes or bed bugs like the last one. We really love it, and it even has a kitchen so we have been cooking Thai food in the evenings and watching wax drip from candles resting in beer bottles while we laugh at the crazy things our students did that day. We are all such teachers, boasting about favorite ones!!!!
So, as the rainy season approaches we all are taking a deep breath and exhaling the heat from our lungs so we can inhale the freshness of the falling water. We are going to try and embrace the rain and not let it hinder us in any way! I think ocean kayaking is on the itinerary for this weekend..........
More stories from the classroom soon ;-)
The biggest downfall, is that there is no A/C so we are always sweating. However, each day gets a little cloudier and cooler so it is getting better. At the end of the day though, I get to race back to my ocean oasis called "The Cabana" by the Thais, and everything slips away with that perfect rhythm only the ocean can create. I take my shoes off and walk bare footed to the sand, and sink into the earth!!!
We just moved out of our old jungle abode and are now in a new and improved house that doesn't have two-foot long snakes or bed bugs like the last one. We really love it, and it even has a kitchen so we have been cooking Thai food in the evenings and watching wax drip from candles resting in beer bottles while we laugh at the crazy things our students did that day. We are all such teachers, boasting about favorite ones!!!!
So, as the rainy season approaches we all are taking a deep breath and exhaling the heat from our lungs so we can inhale the freshness of the falling water. We are going to try and embrace the rain and not let it hinder us in any way! I think ocean kayaking is on the itinerary for this weekend..........
More stories from the classroom soon ;-)
