Tag: Xploreasia

Triple the Butterflies

On By rrainefioreIn Teaching, Thailand, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Earlier this week, Pat came to me and told me we needed to tutor a student to help him get ready for an English competition in two weeks.  So now one free period a day for the next two weeks is taken up doing this.  I’m exhausted thinking about it, but how do you say no to that?  We met with him on Friday.  Still, I feel bad for him as he didn’t have any more notice than we did and the school he will be competing at has known for over a month.  He has to do an impromptu speech on any number of subjects he might draw from a hat.  It’s not very impromptu as they have given us the subjects and most kids just memorize all the possible speeches they might have to do.  The speech is 5 minutes.  I’d have trouble talking for 5 minutes on any of the subjects….  The other category is storytelling and a girl is doing that one.  She was memorizing an Aesop’s fable.  I read over it and it was grammatically wrong.  Ugh, Thailand.

I’m caught up on lesson planning for this week and one ahead for next week.  I was hoping to a whole week ahead, but I had some engineering work available so I worked on that most of the weekend.  It pays better.  I think I can get everything done for next week before the weekend.  I’m going to Chaing Mai next weekend.  One of my friends from Colorado is on vacation and will be there.  It will be nice to play tourist for the weekend.  Plus I will get to try my hand at catching a bus on the side of the highway late in the day on Friday.  I’ve only left in the morning.  Fingers crossed.

I did another reading lesson for Fai on Friday night.  She really doesn’t want to do this for more than a half hour.  I can’t blame her.  She’s in kindergarten, drawing and coloring is far more fun than reading.  But I did learn how to tell the difference between a girl dragon and a boy dragon.  The girl dragon has a bow on her head.  Similar for boy and girl cars – the girl car has the bling.  Just in case you were wondering.

My sink has decided to pull away from the wall and looks like it might fall at any moment.  I was told maybe someone would come look at it on Saturday.  I stayed home most of the day and no one came.  I gave up and went to get a massage in the afternoon.  I got there and the guy was in and no other people.  I’ve been lucky lately.  Well, he’s been working on me for a month now and I’m still just as tight.  I think he decided he’d had enough of it.  He got out the oil (traditional Thai massage doesn’t use oil) and dug so deep into my lats that I thought he might snap my spine.  Then he went to town on my calves.  It was so painful and even though I cried, he didn’t let up.  He did ask if I was ok.  He was going to work the knots out of my calves no matter what.  I could barely walk last night and it’s still difficult when I first stand up today.  I almost fell just getting out of be this morning.  Then he worked on my diaphragm and psoas.  I’ve never had Thai massage that worked on those muscles directly.  OMG those were tight.  As painful as it was, I found it fascinating to watch him basically go “ok no more fooling around, we are going get down to business”.  I also feel even more confident that he knows what he’s doing (not that I didn’t already), but knowing that the back of the hips won’t relax if the calves and the psoas are tight…..  I think that maybe the shoes I’ve been wearing to work are part of the problem.  They don’t have a huge high heel, but they have a heel.  They are very comfortable so I don’t notice they are making my calves tight.  Then add on top of that that I’m not loving my job and that stress probably gets transferred to my calves and is getting stuck in there.  Some teachers wear slippers in the classroom.  I have slippers.  I’m going to try wearing them this week and see what happens.

I had a conversation this weekend with Xploreasia about the whole agent issue and I feel much better after that.  Also, they will help me find a job somewhere else next semester if I want.  I don’t think I want to teach anymore, but if I haven’t figured something else out, I’ll see what options they may have and decide then.

I don’t want to say it out loud in case I jinx it, but the weather was comfortable all weekend.  Between the cooler weather and the butterflies, I’m a fan of the rainy season.  Now we have orange butterflies too.  Triple the butterflies!  They are so pretty, but it does make for quite painful motorbike riding.  I did find a very large dead yellow centepede under my table in the kitchen.  I saw it, shuttered, sprayed it with bug spray just in case and decided to deal with it tomorrow.  It seems like a task for the daylight hours.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

 

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One of my advanced classes and one of the math teachers
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mosquitoes 😦
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The girl dragon has a bow
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The girl car has bling, although the boy car has hearts and flowers?

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On By rrainefioreIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I really like the feel of Chaing Mai and I could see myself living here for a while.  I keep thinking back to my meeting with the placement person at Xploreasia and wondering why when I told her I wanted to live in Chaing Mai, she said “No you don’t”.  I remember liking this city when I was here in 2006.  It’s gotten busier and waaaaaaay more touristy, but I like it.  I think I would have liked being placed here.  I think I had an idea in my head before moving to Thailand and it was to experience living in a different culture, but to also be an xpat doing xpat things.  But, in Sam Ngao, I don’t feel like an xpat.  I feel like that odd, tall foreign woman.  Just wandering around Chaing Mai I realize, this is what I pictured in my head before coming here.  I wonder if I would like living here or I just think so because it seems to match the picture I had in my head.

I went to the 3D Art Museum with Annalise and a girl she met on the train.  So there are a ton of photos from that.  A lot of them came out kinda blurry, but I posted some of the fun ones below anyway.

Tonight we went to a dance and dinner show at the Chaing Mai Old City Cultural District.  It was a pretty evening.  The dancing went on a little longer than I would have liked, but the food and the atmosphere were both great.  They had traditional Thai dancing as well as traditional Hill Tribe dancing.  The dresses for most of the Thai dancing were so beautiful.  The dances were all pretty slow and included movement of the feet and arms, but little else.  It was fascinating to see how little the heads moved.  Their smiles all looked fake and there was no change of expression through out the dance.  It was as if their heads were not part of them or they were vacant.  It looked like they were dolls.  I found this fascinating and disturbing all at the same time.  The hill tribe dances were similar except there was no smiling which made them look bored.  I wonder what this cultural thing is where the head is not present.

I’d like to write more, but I can barely stay awake.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

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To Chaing Mai

On By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

So school is over and I plan to travel for the next two months.  My first stop is Chaing Mai.  This is the second largest city in Thailand and I remember when I was here in 2006 I love it.  This is the town I asked to be placed in, but was told “you don’t want to live there”.  By car, Chaing Mai is probably 3 hours from Sam Ngao, but by bus, longer.

So, my instructions for travel were to come to the school at 7:30 and get on a bus.  A certain student would meet me there to tell me which bus to get on.  Then that bus would take me to Baa tan cuen which is the bust stop on the side of the highway.  I then had to walk past the police box and find the lady that sells bus tickets.  Then get on the bus to Chaing Mai.  Well, that sounds like a solid plan.  What could go wrong?

I showed up at school at 7:30 towing a suitcase and answered “Teacher, where you go?” about 15 times.  The student showed up and pointed to a bus.  She walked over to it with me and said something to the driver.  15 minutes later, the bus took off with me and a monk.  It drove so slow I could have walked faster, but considering I had a suitcase and no real time agenda, who cares?  It drove through both villages and picked up a few people along the way.  It dropped me off at Baa tan cuen.  I looked up and directly in front of me was a lady sitting at a tiny table (on the side of the highway).  I said “bus to Chaing Mai?”.  She made a phone call, told me 9:30 and I paid her.  At 9:25 she said “Chaing Mai” and motioned me and two other people to stand near the median.  A minute later she grabbed my suitcase, said “Chaing Mai”, and took my suitcase 20 feet down the median.  We followed her.  The bus came at 9:30 and took me to Chaing Mai.  I can’t imagine any of that going smoothly in the US.

Tonight I met Rob who lives in Chaing Mai and Annaliese for dinner.  They were both in my TESOL class.  Some of Rob’s coworkers joined us.  I had pizza and it tasted like pizza and it was wonderful.  Another teacher, Adi, and her mother joined us later.  Let vacation begin!

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

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They named a motorbike after me
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No, wait for the bus over here
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Waiting in the median for a bus
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Baa tan cuen
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Ticket sales center (table)
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My cute hotel in Chaing Mai
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Itty Bitty Hotel pool

Last Practice Teaching Day

On By rrainefioreIn Teaching, Thailand, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today was the last practice teaching day.  We taught 4 classes by ourselves and observed 2 of our classmates teaching.   I had 9-12 year olds.  It wasn’t the mayhem of the first day we taught, but classroom management is still difficult for me.  They liked repeating the words as I taught them.  They knew a lot of the words I brought to teach.  They can’t put words into a sentence to save their lives though.  They lost interest at that point.  About half of every class was attentive, but I could never quite get the whole class engaged.  Some of the classes weren’t too bad and some were so out of control. The two classes I observed seemed to have the same issues I did – paper airplanes, cell phones, paper guns, glue, stealing things, hitting each other, talking instead of listening, leaving the classroom, drawing other things, talking to their friends…..

Tomorrow is our test and then at 6:00am on Saturday, I leave for my new home in North Thailand.  I start teaching on Monday.  It’s all too fast.  I don’t even feel ready for the test much less the move and teaching high schoolers who probably  have a low proficiency of English.  It should make for some interesting blogs though.

I don’t have pictures from today, but I have a couple that are interesting:

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

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The polite way to greet people is with a wai – Even Ronald knows how to wai.
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This is a little market that is nicely decorated and Thais go here just to take pictures in front for the novelty of it.  So, we thought we’d join in and take a picture too.
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No dryers = laundry living room

 

Drum Roll……

On By rrainefioreIn Teaching, Thailand, Uncategorized2 Comments

Today I got my placement.  I will be leaving Saturday morning and I start teaching for real on Monday!  Eeeeeeek.  Who’s idea was this?  I’m going to North Thailand.  I will be in a rural town named Sam Ngao teaching high school age.  I will have classes of 40 to 50 kids – whoa.  I will be signing a year contract.  It’s mountainous and supposedly very beautiful.  Since it’s near Myanmar and many hill tribe areas, it will be a cultural mix influenced by Burma, hill tribes and Thai.  I will have traditional Thai accommodations which I think means I will have a squat toilet and probably won’t have hot water.  I should have wifi and air conditioning in at least one room.  We’ll see.

I will be the first Western teacher in the town.  The town is so excited to be getting a Western teacher that they are already painting a house for me.  I’m not quite sure what that will look like, but it sounds like a big deal.  I will be paid 30,000 baht per month which is standard for a Western teacher.  Plus they are paying for my accommodation which is a bonus.  Western teachers get paid a lot more than Thai teachers.  The Thai teachers may teach English reading and grammar, but they want us to teach speaking so that they have the correct pronunciations.  Usually, the school can’t afford the Western teacher’s salary so the parents pay to make up the difference.

I was hoping for a small town or rural.  I was hoping for either the mountains or the beach.  I’m excited and terrified at the same time.  I look forward to a slower paced lifestyle and being part of a smaller town where I will be immersed in the different culture.  It’s scary, but this sounds exactly like what I asked the universe for.  Now, if  only, I can get better at lesson plans and teaching.  I need to step up my Thai language learning too.

I did a google search and found pictures of mountain bikers so some sort of bike race took place there or near there.  There are also pictures of a large dam.  It’s near the largest lake in Thailand and near a river.  I can’t quite tell, but I think most of the pictures I found are of the District and not the Town, but still……  Stay tuned and I’ll add pictures when I get there.

https://www.google.co.th/maps/place/Sam+Ngao,+Sam+Ngao+District,+Tak/@17.2005956,98.9653405,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x30dc2e6b49525fcd:0x40346c5fa8bd0d0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Ngao_District

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

 

 

Kindergartners Part 2

On By rrainefioreIn Teaching, Thailand, UncategorizedLeave a comment

We taught kindergartners (4 and 5 year olds) today.  We only did two classes, but wow what a difference from middle school.  They are so cute.  They just want your constant attention.  I found it difficult to have enough activities for them to stay engaged.  I also find the Thai punishment system a little difficult to handle too.  They still hit them with a cane.  In one of our classes when it got a bit rowdy their regular Thai teacher came in to hit some of them.  The other thing that is hard to see is how many have such bad teeth, already, at this age.  There is sugar everywhere here.

We taught in pairs again.  In two days we teach again and on our own.  Last week, I didn’t realize we could take pictures so today I took more:

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

 

Placement still Unknown

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I don’t know what my placement is yet, but I’ve been told that it will probably be in North Thailand (physically looks more like central), rural, and high school.  Of course, everything here is subject to change at the last minute so who knows?  I love the idea of a rural school as I would love to see what that is like and I won’t have any choice but to be immersed in the culture and my community.  After the demon day with middle school aged kids, high school sounds wonderful.  Of course, I’d love a nice resort beach town or island, but I can do the scuba and beach thing on vacation.  I’ll keep you posted!

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

Speed Up

On By rrainefioreIn Teaching, Thailand, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today we discussed our experiences teaching yesterday.  Wow, some of the stories I heard from others topped mine.  There were kids fighting, lighting things on fire, and kids making shanks out of razor blades.  What?

We found out today that they have placement for all of us, but only a few people found out what their placement is.  I still don’t know mine.  Hopefully I will know tomorrow.  We are supposed to have two more weeks of TESOL class, but found out today that some of us will be leaving next week for our placements.  Oh crap.  I’m not ready.

We had homework again tonight.  It took us about 3 hours to create our lesson plan for tomorrow.  I feel like when I get to my school, all I will be doing is teaching, creating lesson plans and sleeping.

I discovered the most wonderful drink tonight.  Taro Milk.

I didn’t take very many pictures today and they have nothing to do with what I’ve written above.  But, here they are anyway.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

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Ice Delivery Truck
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Omelet over Rice (of course)
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Mochi Balls (ice cream inside mochi)

OMFG

On By rrainefioreIn Teaching, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Wow.  I got up this morning and didn’t feel nervous about my first day teaching.  I didn’t feel excited either.  I have no doubt I can do this.  We were supposed to teach 6 middle school classes – the same English lesson plan.  We are teaching in pairs which is part of why I didn’t feel nervous.  This won’t be our final school.  It’s just one day and it will be good practice.  School starts with all the kids in lines per their age/grade in the front yard of the school.  They had a band which I was quite impressed with.  They were better than any middle school band I’ve ever heard.  They raised the flag, did the national anthem, and then sang a bunch of other songs.  Then a couple teachers spoke to the group.  I teared up a few times as it started to hit home that I would be doing this every day in the very near future.

Then we were told that since the assembly went so quickly that we would do 4 classes before lunch instead of 3.  We went to our first class.  They did ok with the vocabulary words, but putting them into sentences didn’t go as smoothly.  They were not too interested in learning English.  We had some fun games for them to play.  There are a few students who are the top students and this was easy for them and then there were kids at the opposite end of the spectrum.  It was so difficult to keep their attention.  One second, you had it, the next was total chaos.  Each class was the same – some learning, but more time spent trying to get their attention.

After, 3 classes, they left for lunch even though we had been told 4 classes before lunch.  Then they told us 2 classes after lunch.  Apparently, nothing ever goes as planned or as you are told it will go.  I want to learn to go with the flow of life?  Ok, here it is.  I felt ok at lunch and felt like two more classes would be ok, but I can’t say I was having fun or enjoying myself.  So far, this is not my idea of a fun job.  It’s just the first day and I know that where I get placed in the future may be very different.

We got back and there were only a few kids in our class.  They told us no more class for the day.  Huh?  Then the teachers told us our grade was done for the day so I went and watched another teacher pair.  They seemed to be having similar issues to what we had.  Then our last class of the day – mayhem.  They didn’t get the opening activity we did.  They were all over the classroom.  Half of them participated.  The other half didn’t. Everything we did to get their attention failed.  Then a half hour in, they started packing up their bags and putting their chairs on their desks, telling us class was over when it wasn’t.  I felt completely useless.  Another one of the teacher pairs ran in and helped us corral them, but it was difficult even after that.  Total chaos.

It was hot and we have to wear pretty conservative clothes.  It wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated, but I was soaked by the end of the day and sooooo ready for a cold shower.  Still, this is “winter” so come June, whoa.

If I end up with a class like this, I feel I won’t last a week in my job.  Some of the other teachers commented that they had fun today.  I didn’t think today was horrible, but I didn’t find it fun either.  Do I need to re evaluate my idea of fun?  What did I expect?  What do I wish it was like instead?  I expected this, but not quite as unruly.  I’m not judging myself.  I did my best and my best didn’t quite cut it so I have some work to do learning classroom management.  I realize I wouldn’t want to sit in language classes all day either.  I think what I want is to teach those that want to learn.  I feel like they won’t retain or use anything they learned today which feels a bit like a waste of time.  Of course this day was as much for our learning as theirs.  I learned I need to work on classroom management.  I feel this isn’t the job for me, but I’m here and this is what I’m doing so I might as well learn something.  I feel that I’ve come a long way with self judgments as I don’t feel an emotional charge to how the day went.  I am a bit nervous about going off to some school by myself in the very near future.  Wish I had more pictures to share, but that was one thing too many for me.  I’m sure there will be more in the future.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore

 

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