Catching Up

This post is a recap, since I'm a behind.

Both of my host parents are teachers. The schools they teach at cover the entire public education system. In the States, we have kindergarten, elementary school, junior high or middle school, and then high school, but these schools have children ranging from age 4 or 5 to about 16. It is age 16 when students graduate and go on to university. My father's school also provides university-level classes, so it has many university students who attend.

Things have been going great at the schools I'm teaching at. Sometimes, teaching is really hard when the teachers decide to leave the room and have me fend for myself and teach the students on my own. It's not the teaching itself that's difficult, but the fact that many students just will not listen no matter what. Those who do listen are so focused that they can tune out the sound of the others talking, which is good.

However, most of the time, the teachers already have a lesson plan, and I help them teach it. A lot of the time, my role involves teaching the students correct pronunciation, since I'm a native English speaker. At my father's school, one of the teachers has been teaching the students question formation and how to use the words "what," "why," "when," "who," "where," "how" etc. What she does is she has the students ask me a question and then I answer it. I also teach students vocabulary at both schools. I try to be as entertaining and hands-on as possible, so they'll be interested and remember things. For example--last week, I taught my favorite subject: body parts. This one is easy because (for most people), all of your body parts are there so you don't need to bring any teaching materials. For example, I would touch my face and say "this is your face." Then the students would repeat "face" back to me. I wrote write the names of the body parts on the board, and I would repeat the vocabulary many times. I had the students stand up and touch the body part that I told them to. They get really confused by the words "head," "hand," "ears," and "hair" because these words all sound very similar, especially to a Thai person. Speaking slowly is key. The students got really into it and laughed a lot, which is a sign of success.

The students are so adorable. Yesterday at my mother's school, there was this group of little girls eating popsicles outside the library. When I walked out, they all yelled at the same time, "Pii Chabaa sawatdee khâa!" (In Thai, "Pii" is the title you give an older sibling or someone older than you.) So I said "sawatdee khâa" back and said "aròy mái?" ("is it delicious?" referring to their popsicles) and they answered "aròy khâa!" in their little voices. So cute. That is what it's like every day at that school, as I'm walking from room to room or going to get lunch. I'm always greeted by students. Yesterday there was a funny little boy who would say "Pii Chabaa, sawatdee khráp" and put his hands on his head and walk really close to me.

My Thai is at the point where I can get around without a problem.  I know all the basic things, like asking how much something is at the market and bargaining for a better price, asking where the bathroom is, telling people how long I've been in Thailand when they ask me and what I'm doing here, asking if a store or a wat is open or closed, asking where I can find such and such, asking for directions, the days of the week, and having really basic conversations like "what are you going to do today/tomorrow?" or "I'm learning Thai." But that's about the extent of my knowledge. It's great to be able to get by, but I want to actually learn Thai. What's frustrating is that the people in this area don't speak Thai to each other in nonformal situations. They have their own local dialect called Kham Mueang, or Northern Thai, which is similar to Thai and yet very different at the same time. I swear, it's a different language entirely. For example, in Thai, you say mâi pen rai but in Northern Thai you say bà bpen yaang. When people speak to me, they use Thai, but the fact that I'm not being immersed in Thai every day is making it more difficult to learn. I've found some great websites though, and I'm going to listen to podcasts to hear more. Also, pretty much everything on television and on street signs is in Thai.

In the mean time, I've decided that I'm going to learn some Northern Thai. It is a charming language and when I speak even a few words of it, the locals laugh because I catch them by surprise, and because I sound funny. To say "hello" in Northern Thai, girls don't say sawatdee khaa, but sawatdee jâo! Aròy mâak ("very delicious") becomes lam te te. The word sanùk, meaning "fun," becomes mêuan. I think if I can learn enough basic vocabulary in Northern Thai, I might understand people better.

On a change of subject, this weekend I discovered something totally weird: mosquitoes bite me more when I use mosquito repellant. What the heck? In our group I'm the mosquito magnet, and I've spent a great deal of energy complaining and trying to find a solution. Erin said, "I'm pretty sure they live in you or something." I would not be surprised at all. On Friday, I realized that nothing I do keeps mosquitoes away. Nothing. The others in my group don't get bitten as much, but I tried three different kinds of mosquito repellant and they still would eat me alive. I was so frustrated. Then on Saturday, I put all three kinds of insect repellant on me and I got bitten all over my knees. But then, on Sunday, I hung out with the group all day and spent a lot of time outside, never putting DEET or citronella on me, but I don't think I got a single mosquito bite that day. So weird. So on Monday (yesterday) I decided to do the same thing. I do have bites, but only about two really tiny ones. Today I will try the same. I'm coming to the nonsensical conclusion that mosquitoes are more attracted to me when I have repellant on. So weird.

This weekend, my friends and I decided to stay at a hotel and check out the night life of Chiang Mai. As it so happens, this weekend was an atypical one, because it was voting weekend for the province mayors. Because of this, few bars were open, and the ones that were didn't serve alcohol. Not that I mind because I don't drink anyway, but a friend in our group was looking forward to it and what she wanted never materialized. It was disappointing because not a lot was going on in Chiang Mai this weekend, unless it was underground. We still went to a bar though and had fun, eating good food and listening to some local guitarists play some nice music. I was surprised to hear them play a song called If by one of my favorite bands, Bread. That was the last thing I expected to hear in Thailand. So awesome! So I gave them a tip, but I think they were confused and amused because you just don't tip people in Thailand. I don't care! They deserved one anyway.

That's the latest news for now. I'll be posting more later this week! Choog dee!