School Has Begun!

Hello all! I know it has been a little while since me (or Joe) have posted. All last week I was involved in "orientation" at the school that I am now teaching at. It was a very interesting week, to say the least. The school which I am teaching at is one of the largest in Thailand. There are over 7000 students ranging from 2 years old to 18 years old. The campus is huge and really nice (however I am still figuring out my way around). I am teaching Mathayom 2 (which is the American equivalent of 8th grade) and today was my first day of actually teaching Real Live Students! After being successfully "oriented", which involved a lot of madness -- singing silly songs, doing funny dances, and spending 8 hours a day in chairs meant for kindergarteners (kindergarten being the only room available to accomodate all of us), we were finally released into the madness of the Thai school system.

The school itself is a traditional Thai school, meaning that every subject is taught in Thai except for (obviously) English. I teach approximately four classes everyday. Three of these classes are not airconditioned in an open air classroom with three fans and over 50 students. Needless to say, a little overwhelming! For these classes I have a Thai co-teacher who helps me out. Today involved a lot of introductions and somehow managing to get the kids into groups. Their eyes light up when I tell them that I am from New York City (easier than doing the whole shpeel - 'well i was born here, and then I moved here, and then I moved here, etc.').

The one other class that I teach is a godsend (ie, smaller and airconditioned). They are "my" official class and I have them all to myself all year! Basically, their parents pay extra for them to have A/C classrooms and a full-time English teacher. After teaching two of the 50 student classes this morning (and sweating a lot) when I finally made it to this class, it was such a relief, and we had so much fun. I am very excited about being with them all year! They are adorable and seem like a great group.

In Thailand, everyone has a nickname. Therefore, when learning students names, a teacher basically just has to remember their nickname. However, some of these nicknames are just ridiculous. First we have the norm, your "Pui"s and "Nan"s and this ranges to (I swear these are two of my students) "Dump" and "Fiber". A fellow teacher was telling me that her kindergarteners have even more absurd nicknames, one of them being "Website". I will be sure to keep you all posted on Dump's progress this year...


In other news, Thailand is great. Everyday I take a songtaew home from work, which is basically a red pick up truck with two benches in the back. It costs about 50 cents and you just tell them where you want to go and if they are going in that direction, they will take you. Joe and I have also found a great vegetarian place right by the school (and conveniently right between my school and Joe's TEFL course) and you can get an amazing and filling meal there for less than a dollar. What seemed like a piddly salary at first is starting to seem like a small fortune by Thai standards. Worried about the US economy? Move to Thailand! We are living well...

We will post more pictures soon (the apartment, our neighborhood, maybe even our two neighborhood brothels...)

Take care!