New Address

I was just informed that we have a new address at my apartment building!

Apartment 504
680/46 Na- Muang Road
Nai- Muang
Muang
Khon Kaen
40000
Thailand

I love Thailand...

But sometimes, I strongly dislike Asia.

From the time we were little my mom taught us to not say "hate."  She said that hate is a very strong word and she didn't like us using it. Instead we should say "don't care for."  So, I never cared for fruit.  Garvey never cared for vegetables.  And there were plenty of times we really didn't care for each other.

I think my mom's rule was a good one.  I don't allow my students to say hate.  We say "don't like."  But in my relationship with Asia, I say, "strongly dislike."

Thailand is wonderful.  I know that it will never rain because it isn't the rainy season.  I know that there will always be fresh fruit stands littering the streets on the way home from the fitness center (I have to be careful not to say gym... it is an inappropriate word for a girl's private parts and I have already received too many strange looks by making that mistake!).  I know that 4 out of 5 days a week my students will bring me food in the morning.  I know that the night market will always be filled with endless options of delicious food and knock offs.  But Thailand is part of Asia, and therefore, has many Asian tendencies.  This is where dislike comes in.

There are always hundreds of people everywhere I go.  There are people bumping into me at the night market, grocery store, movie theater, the new plaza, and the hallways of school.  There are nights when I want to eat McDonald's, simply because I can't deal with the Asian-ness of the markets.

I am told that I look "very sexy" anytime my shoulders are showing.  Come on!  It's 105 degrees out there, can't I wear a tank top?!

The Thai teachers and assistants are constantly poking and prodding me telling me I look slender or very big, depending on the day.

I am always being guided.  Anytime I walk with someone, they grab my elbow and waist, and lead me.  How annoying.

I am always being fed.  Even when I'm not hungry!  Teachers leave me sticky rice, students give me cookies.  It's always something.  And it is rude to say no.  So of course I am looking very big!

And then there is the staring.  I'm white.  Very white.  And people stare.  Constantly.  Traffic literally stops as I drive by.  Koreana likes that part of it.  She says "people are so busy staring that they forget to drive and cut us off!  This is great!  We are never going to get into an accident."  But not only am I white, I happen to have lots and lots of freckles.  And with the intense sun, my freckles multiply.  My students now call me polka dotted.

The crowds can be frustrating and the guiding is annoying, but it is Thailand.  This is just life here.  And at the end of the day, I really do love it.  I just prefer the days that are less "Asian."

A day at the Ag Fail.

For those of you confused, join the club.  I was informed on a Wednesday that we would be going to the Ag Fail on Friday as a field trip. Well, hmm...  It sounded like I didn't have much of a choice.  And a fail?  Great!  I have never been to a fail before.  Time out.  L and R.  Fair.  We are going to the fair.

I arrived to school before 7 am Friday morning, ready to go.  The problem was, my students weren't ready.  Although they were told to arrive at 6:30, I only had 2 students.  Time in Thailand is always seen as a suggestion.  When told to arrive at 6:30 am for a 7 am departure, only half of my students were at school by 8.  As the single bus shuttled 180 students between our school and the fair at the university, I waited for my class.  By 9:30 we finally arrived.  And the temperature was already over 100 degrees.

We spent the first part of the day taking a tour of the gardens and animal stalls.  Two of the university students acted as our tour guides.  I was the herder.  I gently guided the students along, so as not to be distracted by the shiny displays and tables of toys for sale.

After only two hours, we were all exhausted.  Lunch wasn't ready, but it was time for a break.  My students crowded around me, begging to buy mice.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  If I heard it once, I heard it ten thousand times.  "Teachahhhh Meaghan, can I buy mouse?"  "No.  It is, can I buy a mouse.  Say it.  Can I buy a mouse?"  "Teachahh Meaghan, can I buy a mouse?"  Oh shoot.  Now what?  They are saying the sentence correctly.  Now I have to give them an answer.  "We'll see.  Eat your lunch first."  Phew.  That was close.  Hopefully they will forget and become lured by the ringing bell from the nearby ice cream man.

My students did not forget.  Teacher Lawan and I were forced to spend over an hour buying mice.  Gun Gun bought himself a hamster rat.  Now, I honestly have no idea if that is the name of the animal, but it's what he kept calling it, so I'm going to take his word.  For my students that didn't have enough money to buy mice, Teacher Lawan paid for them.  I was shocked.  She spent over 500 baht buying mice!  But little did I know, she had a plan.  She told our students that if they did not sit quietly with the mice, they would die.  What a genius idea.

Our students were calm.  After our escapade at the mouse stall, they all sat quietly, watching their mice.  Teacher Lawan and I had peace.  And it was wonderful.  Anytime a student began to run around with his cardboard box, she told him his mouse would die.  Terrible, I know.  But desperate times call for desperate measures.  At one point Gun Gun asked if his hamster rat was dead yet.  Teacher Lawan simply said, "almost."  I couldn't help but laugh as he very carefully sat back down.

I helped the students to write the names of the mice on their boxes.  We had Ben 10, Marshmallow, Ice Cream, Crown, Gru, and a variety of others.  But my favorite was when Ton-kla came up and asked me to write the name on his box.  I asked him what name he wanted.  He said, "Kevin."  Well, how about that.  My student is naming a mouse after my father.  Not quite.  I quickly found out that Kevin is a character in Ben 10.  Of course he is.

The pictures, from top to bottom, are:
1. Uefa unsure of whether or not she really wants to pet that animal... whatever it may be.
2. The students loving the piglets.
3. The students loving their cell phones.
4. Yuki making the face that T. Paul so kindly taught my entire class.
5. Gun Gun, or Gum Gum as we call him.
6. Ton-kla with Kevin in a box.

Motorbikin'

Life has been pretty busy out here. I have been preparing finals, negotiating contracts and tutoring. But most importantly, I bought a motorbike! I was going to rent. Then, I was going to buy a used one from a friend. Then, I was going to rent again. And then I got sick of the game, and I bought a brand spankin new bike!

The bike is beautiful! It officially has 300 kilometers on it and it has been a ton of fun! The picture is Koreana and me being "super Asian."  We are wearing our dorky matching helmets, Koreana is riding side saddle, and we are wearing our uniform shirts. Welcome to my life!