Christmas time in Bangkok!

This Christmas was my first being completely distanced from my family. I never thought I was overly excited for the Christmas season, but I was pretty homesick this year for family traditions, carols on the radio, and the community "glow". Thankfully, Bangkok decked itself out for expats and visiting farangs, and my students made working on Christmas day a celebration and not a chore. My boyfriend's family also worked extra hard to bring the Christmas cheer. So while I very much missed my friends and family back home, I did have a great 2014 Christmas. :)

Outside of the Lumphini MRT train exit

A huge Snoopy plus his pack of miniature snoopies

Finally strung up some of my snowflakes from the previous posts! Bf's family
bought a little tree which we adorned with paper, lights, and popcorn strings.

Candles :)

Christmas dinner: pomegranates, apples, red pepper in oregano and balsamic, trail mix, dal, rice, chicken, wine, and more!

We invited some family friends over for dessert

A sweet student gave me cookies and a picture-holder :)

Day 13

• Sometimes grading can make you feel really insecure as a teacher. For my Prathom 6 test, I dictated sentences using the unit vocabulary. Scanning a student's sentence, I came across the word that was supposed to be "aquarium". Student spelled it "aqmeat". Holy s***, is my pronunciation really that bad?!
• Next page, same student: "panrm buam" for "paddle boats".  Alright, clearly she didn't study and needs some listening and spelling help.  

• When a student who never raises his hand and always talks to his friend gets a near-perfect test grade:  O.o    ....Are they always talking about the lesson? I'm definitely going to chastise them less....
   
• Students spelled "palace" as "palass". I laughed. I am a child.
  

Day 3

11.12.14. <------British style

Day 3 of teaching at a Thai govt. school

• My class "began" and all of the students were MIA for 15 minutes. But, this is never cause for worry. This is simply Thai- time.
  
• Seized the opportunity to mark myself as the "cool" teacher. Girls were jumping in the hallway, trying to hit a metal classroom sign above the door, failing. As I walked nearer, I raised an eyebrow, jumped, and hit it. It was very satisfying and all the kids cheered.
• Students tried to toll me by writing what I resume was swear words when I prompted them for their English nicknames. Kids think they are so sneaky, so I casually emphasized I'd be checking with the Thai teacher to make sure my pronunciation was correct. They said, "No, no teacher, no need..." but I didn't budge. When I made a motion to go check, the white-out flew across the page. Low and behold, new nicknames. Honestly, I love their mischievousness. 
• Planning for a lesson, I come across this gem:
  
  
  It's supposed to be a helpful picture to explain the meaning of a word. Guesses from my fluent, but non-native English speaking boyfriend included: pizza, bread, scroll, slate bread (?), and a bed. I don't think I would have guessed the answer, either: sleeping bag.

Animal Paper Snowflakes

I was really unimpressed by some of my random shaped snowflakes,
so I decided I'd attempt a few animal snowflakes. Google images failed me,
so I penciled out a few ideas. Pretty happy with the results :)

 Bear/Panda Design:

On left, my first sketch. On right, my final sketch

I messed up and hole-punched in the wrong place. The
result was a generic bear snowflake with a pretty center.
I did not cut out anything below the jaw of the bear.

My next panda bear design-with a heart theme
below the face of the panda.

I drew in the muzzle to help me with ratios, but
you don't cut it out. I hole punched the
eye-mask of the panda to give me a starting point.

End result before unfolding

I thought this snowflake turned out creepy, so
I gave it a red background

Swan Flower:

This was my first design, which didn't work out. See below
for improved design.

This is the design I eventually went with. I reshaped the tail
so the center of the snowflake would be more interesting. 

Final product! I asked my boyfriend
what he saw in the design, and he said "flower". When I
shook my head, he paused and said, "ovaries".

*Note: It's important not to cut a length of the top
of the swan head or else the edges won't be connected,
like in this case (see top left and center). I'd suggest leaving
it connected so it's less flimsy.

Fire-breathing Dragon:

Sorry if this is difficult to see. I was using
recycled paper. Look below for clarity.

It's really important to leave some space on
the right for the fold-otherwise it will
be too flimsy. I would give the tail a sharper
point, too, to make the center crisper.

Flipped-over view.

Not really sure why two of the dragon heads don't have flames.
But this is still my favorite design. It would also be really easy
to adapt this and make a bat/batman snowflake :)

Paper Snowflake Merriment

Bangkok's already decked-out for Christmas.

Feeling in the spirit, I thought I'd make just one snowflake...I've done at least 9 now.

I'm not in love with all of the final products, but it's fun nonetheless!
Below are the shapes-snowflakes. See my other post for animal-snowflakes.

Flyin in the Sky:

Started with a random design. Forgot to take a picture of triangle
design,but you can gather it from the folds.  Reminds me
of birds for some reason.

Alternate view

 Chalice:

Chose too detailed a design for my dull
scissors. I think I'll try this again with a
little less busy-ness.

Not great at sticking to the lines...

I think if the cuts were smoother, this would be
a lot more appealing. I like the outer edges, but
the inside shapes need an overhaul.

Popped Bubbles:  

I was really excited for this design, but I need
better scissors to make it work.

Too much paper material, esp near the center. Asymmetric
bottom didn't work very well.

Lava Lamp:

Fun here, but too flimsy a product.

I really like this design, but it needs more paper or it will
rip. The largest "blob" in the design needs to be downsized.

Arrow:

Easy to cut!

I would make the tie-shape a little larger.

Hired!

        So,  I was hired yesterday to teach English to fifth and sixth grade Thai students at a government school in Bangkok. I teach four classes a day, two at fifth grade and two at sixth. The students also learn math and science in English. These classes are taught by very capable Filipino teachers. I'm guessing that the students get at least 2 hours of English exposure every day. That said, English is their second language, so there are often mishaps and challenges.
        I start my day no later than 5:30, because I have about an hour commute if I don't take a taxi. I have to be at school by 7:00. The general area is really nice, with many restaurants, but thankfully a bit outside of the city centers. The school itself is about a 15 minute walk from the BTS, or a 2 minute motorcycle taxi ride.
        My first impressions of the school are favorable. I've decided to go by Teacher S since my first name is a bit complicated. The students have English nicknames, and some of them are a bit silly. I'll post later on that. Lunch is provided for about 200 baht/month (roughly 8 USD), and the food is delicious. My teaching day ends at 16:30, and I'm home by around 17:30.

 

MK in Central Rama 3, Bangkok

So one of my favorite things about Bangkok is the plethora of delicious, cheap international food. From street food to restaurants, there are so many options.

These photos are from MK, a Thai restaurant chain that capitalizes on suki- boiling vegetables and meats instead of frying them. It is often compared to both the Japanese shabu shabu and the Chinese steamboat dishes.

It's large-group friendly because at the table, there are large pots of broth where you boil your selected foods. This allows you to experiment and be adventurous and suit the tastes of whoever is with you. We had a group of 6, with some vegetarians and non-vegetarians, so we just separated the food into 2 pots. We also ordered specialty dishes that aren't boiled. Here's what we chose!

tofu, 2 types of mushrooms, corn, carrots, etc

You can choose which boiled items to put in your bowl,
allowing for different flavor combinations.

Roast duck w/ cucumber and ginger. Delicious.

shrimp dim sum

shrimp and pork dim sum

We didn't order this, but I was amused.

I really enjoyed the food here, and at about 10 USD a person, I'm definitely coming back!

CELTA Confessions

Week 3 of CELTA....

1.
One of my favorite elementary students from the last two weeks said hi to me in the hallway. I asked him if he liked the new teachers. He said, "Yes, they are very good, very good at teaching." I was happy but jealous.

2.
Tried not to, but laughed loudly when one of our female students wrote a fellow teacher two questions:
1. Do you have a girlfriend? 2. How many girlfriends do you have?

3.
Felt a sharp pang when one of our female students (35) said the question "What is your biggest dream?" was the most difficult one because she had so many big dreams as a child and now thinks they are impossible.

4.
When I guess the age of my Asian students, I am at least 10 years off. Sometimes 15! "Oh, her? I think she's 28." "Dude, she's 40." O.O

5.
Craved the partying that's happening on Friday. It's Monday, and I normally don't drink. Oh Celta...

6.
Wondering when I'm going to make a mistake and say shop-ping like the students. Two of 5 teachers so far...

7.
My instructor told us she'd be back in five minutes. She isn't. We're ready to mutiny.

8.
I hate the overhead but my board writing is so scratchy my instructor "suggested" using it. I thought my handwriting would have improved since third grade, but it didn't. Damn.

Half Way There-CELTA

Seems like I can only catch up on blogging on the weekend. So here are some highlights from my week! 

Milestones

21/10/14
Heard my first thundercrack in Bangkok. A friend was teaching the lesson, and the rest of us nearly jumped out of our seats when the thundercrack hit. The lights flickered, we nervously laughed, and the students just grinned at us, surely thinking in all of their L1s, "Noobs."

21/10/14
Taught my third lesson. Much better outcomes-improved on all of my mistakes from the first two lessons. I incorporated a lot more games and pair work, as my elementary students are mostly visual- kinesthetic learners. However, their primary aim is to improve their speaking skills. Many of them are uncomfortable about making speaking mistakes while talking to the teacher, so I gave them paired activities.  Of course, also had some new criteria to improve on. I still struggled to give clear directions without talking at length. I realized I'm enjoying CELTA so much because it is so challenging to constantly self-monitor and stop yourself from repeating teaching habits you've witnessed for more than ten years. In this sense, I count myself lucky that I don't have teaching experience.

22/10/14
Never thought I'd come to this, but as of this date, I'm a convert to skirts and dresses. The humidity is so damn oppressive (and it's mild at this point of the year) that wearing pants means you feel sticky all day. As much as I dislike the expectation that women should be wearing skirts/dresses, I reconsider and come to the conclusion men have it worse. They are expected to wear long pants, a long-sleeved dress shirt and a tie. (The most oppressive and ridiculous dress expectation know to man, as my Australian coworker said.)


23/10/14
Divali! Had a great night celebrating Divali, an Indian holdiay, with bf's family after I came home from IH.  As is customary, they cleaned the house until it was spotless, and everyone showered. We lit some diyas (candles) inside and outside the house. Then I helped bf's Mum create a rangoli outside of the door on the tile floor. She was a little bit embarrassed because she thought it looked childish (not very intricate) but I thought it was beautiful. We used water-color paints, and her neighbors used dyed rice. I asked why they chose different mediums, and she explained that she didn't want to waste the rice, and that the rice designs, which take a few hours to create, are often destroyed by careless tenants walking past on the stairs. After we were finished with the rangoli, we went inside to change. For Divali, you dress up to look your best.

Painting our rangoli

Finished rangoli

Neighbors' rice rangoli

There are many interpretations of Divali, but the one that was explained to me by my bf's Mum, as they are Hindu, is that it is a celebration of the return of Rama after he returns from 14 years of exile. I asked her to explain it, but she laughed and said it was a long story, so she gave me a children's comic instead. But the rangoli and the diyas are to welcome Rama and celebrate his return and the larger triumphs of good over evil. Afterwords, she helped me dress up in a beautiful pink and green sari. We took some pictures, and then we said some prayers and thanks to Ganesha, who is known as the remover of obstacles, and is worshiped for his valor and wisdom. One of the stages of this was to tie on a friendship bracelet. It struck me that the pairing of the humbleness and celebration was very similar to what I've seen and experienced around Christmas and especially Easter. After the prayers, we ate some delicious food that bf's Mum had prepared.

Offerings for Ganesha

Sweet potato patty with chickpeas and tamarind sauce and yogurt
and vada with coconut chutney

24/10/14
Switched from elementary students to intermediate students. I'm really going to miss my elementary students. It was so fun to pick up on their group dynamics and individual personalities. They were also a bit of jokesters, much more so than the intermediate students. But I'm sure I'll learn to appreciate the intermediate students soon. My next lesson with them is on Tuesday.

24/10/14
 Had my first tequila shot! Celta crew went to a nearby pub to decompress and celebrate passing the half-way mark. One of the women ordered a round of shots on the house, figured it was a great time to try one. I used the chaser at the end, but I didn't need to. I thought it would be a lot more difficult to chug and was surprised that I was able to handle it. Now I understand, though, when people say it goes straight to your head. Everyone was finally laughing, letting go of all the stress from the last two weeks. Had a great time getting to know more of my CELTA mates. During the course, we're always stressing about the next lesson, about how our lesson went, about the hordes of new information we have to apply every day. Before the bar, hadn't actually gotten to know them much as individuals. But I'd already had half a glass of wine and hadn't had dinner, so I played it safe and called my bf to come pick me up.

CELTA-first week done!

I've completed the first week of my CELTA course. I was warned that it would be too time consuming for a temporary job/sight-seeing, and it has lived up to its claim. So that's why I don't have too many pictures of Bangkok at the moment. But I have accomplished a few things, like....

My First Lesson!
           Taught my first lesson on Wednesday, day three of the course. It went pretty terribly, but I did manage to "pass". I was teaching a reading lesson, but as most of the learners are taking the course to improve their speaking skills, I was supposed to get them talking about the material. We do that by staging a "lead in" story/anecdote/question, etc. So, I asked, "Who has a job?" as my first question of the lesson. It took me about two seconds after the fact to remember that on Monday, when we'd interviewed our students, I'd learned none of them had jobs. As I watched all of them become uncomfortable because of the question, a small voice inside me muttered, "None of them have jobs because they are all refugees or asylum seekers, you idiot." Clearly, I had not thought through my questions when planning the lesson. It was hard to recover from that gaff, but despite the students not speaking much at all, the lesson went over all right. I stumbled over giving clear, short directions for the activities, but they understood.


Taking Pictures of Food

Sweet potato patties and paneer (middle)

pumpkin soup

Bean noodles (boonsen) with phanang curry (Thai)

Building Rapport with My Learners
       I have an interesting mix of students. Though I'm learning to teach in Bangkok, only one of my students is Thai. Four of my students are Pakistani, two are Japanese, one is Somali, one is Sri Lankan, and one is Chinese. This makes the class special, because the students are less likely to speak in their L1 (native language). Managed to crack a few lame jokes, and made a point of using their names and smiling more while I taught.

Upset stomach and homesickness....
    Solution? Coconut milk (settles the stomach) and making pizza! Bf's Dad recently traveled to Europe for business, and brought back some delicious cheeses. The pizza didn't taste like American pizza at all, but it did help. As did the glass of wine we had with it ;)

Guess this cheese?

Fresh!

Initial Impressions-Welcome to Bangkok!

 
I've been in Bangkok for 3 days. To be honest, I haven't explored much at all. Been working on my pre-class CELTA task, which takes about 20 hours to complete. But I have managed to explore a little.


Location:

       I'm currently living in the Lumphini region of Bangkok. If you want to find it in the image, follow the bottom of the blue line to the right four squares. It's easily accessible by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA). To get to my CELTA course at the International House, I take the MRTA one stop west to Si Lom.  I'll be moving to a different region after I finish my CELTA course and get hired for my first teaching job (sometime in November).
      

Lumphini seems to be a pretty well-off area. A few embassies are near-by, and I've seen a number of farangs/ex-pats walking the narrow sidewalks. There is a huge park nearby (Lumphini Park), but I haven't been to it yet. Went to a smaller one yesterday. I'm staying in an apartment complex which is about 5 minutes from the MRTA. It has a nice pool, but I haven't had any time to swim, yet.

Food
       In a bit of an interesting situation, because so far, I've only had one Thai meal. Today, I went with bf and his friend to Central Lat Phrao mall (on the MRTA) and we had some Thai food there. I was told not to order anything that had the word "spicy" in it, which was a good call. The non-spicy food made me tear-up. I'm trying to gradually build up my spicy food tolerance. Anyway, it contained seafood (shrimp, octopus, identified squishy things) and pork and rice noodles, and it was delicious. I'll try to take photos next time. When we went to the local park, bf's Mum was really nice and bought us all young-coconuts to drink and eat. About 10 baht each, which is about 40cents US. 
Otherwise have been eating bf's mum's (South) Indian cooking. Also failed to take photos of that. Woops. Morning glory (spinach) and snake gourd, and round gourd, lentil soup, Thai tom kha (spicy mushroom soup).


Adjusting
       I was really worried about the horrendous time change difference (11 hours), but I seem to be doing pretty well with it. I made sure to try to sleep on Bangkok time on my two 9 hour flights and 6 hour layover from New York to Moscow to Bangkok.  I've been waking up around 4-6 AM and passing out by 7pm. Which is actually pretty nice, because by 8 AM it is knarly humid outside. That said, I ran a slight fever yesterday [no worries, Mum :) ], so it seems the heat/humidity combo is getting to me a bit.