School, etc.

We’ve had a full week of teacher orientation/prep at school, so I have that much of a first impression. And so far so good! It’s a very small staff, so we’re getting to know each other quickly, and I like everyone I’ve met. I’m realizing the tremendous benefits to a small school. Collaboration is much easier. The other science teachers are constantly checking in with me to make sure I’ve got the right copy of the standards so we’re all on the same page. There’s a feeling that everyone has a stake. Nobody can hide in their classrooms or fade into the background. If you’re a hider or a fader, that’s bad news for you, but I like it. There’s also the common thread of being expats that we all have, which is very nice; everyone has traveled. It’s fascinating to hear stories of how schools run in the UK, South Africa, Japan, and so on.

The administration has said that they like to walk around the school and visit our classes, which I’ve always wished for, so hopefully they won’t be hiders or faders either! One of our two most immediate administrators is a very nice British gentleman who I would guess is about ten years younger than me. The other is a woman from Houston (and an Aggie!) with a Spanish accent so thick that “teaching” sounds like “dishing” and she’ll agree by saying “esssactly!” I think it is beautiful. It sounds like music. Physically, she looks like a woman who used to torment me when I taught in LA, but her personality couldn’t be more different. She is kind, funny and energetic, and I like her a lot. Both of them are new this year, and very open to suggestion. Naïve as it may sound, it feels like a good solid team. 

The building itself is fine. It’s only a few years old, but it doesn’t look very new. The AC in my classroom is currently not working, which makes me nervous—it was supposed to be fixed on Wednesday, and today I got notice that it’ll be next week. I’ve been trying to work in there, but after a while I start to feel like a baby left in a hot car. I’ve been able to get about an hour or two of work done in there before I’m soaking wet, cranky and sleepy. Right now the desks are covered with large scraps of colored paper for bulletin boards, and there are ants everywhere. I haven’t been in there when it wasn’t hot (well, it’s not blazing hot because it’s only been in the low 80s here lately, but it’s very humid and perfectly still) so the room does not feel like mine yet. It’s not a place I like to be.

My favorite part so far is that Nick is one classroom away from me (and the teacher between us is from Munich! Yes, I will be practicing my German as much as possible, surely annoying the crap out of him in the process—and confusing my brain which is trying to learn Thai), Sascha is one floor below us, and Sophie one floor below her. I already love being in the same school with the girls. The downside has been that they’ve had to come with us this week with nothing to do. They’ve learned their way around the school and made a couple of friends (other teachers’ kids), but they are bored, bickering, and in the way. There are only two more days of this, then we’re off on Wednesday, then school starts officially on Thursday. 

It’s all challenging, but it’s all good stuff. I have to keep reminding myself that this was exactly what I wanted—to shake up my routine. Of course it would be easier to be back in Woburn right now, not having to prepare anything because everything’s been in place for a decade, but this is much more… I don’t know if “fun” is the word, but it’s just… more.  

My schedule for this year is two things: really hard, and too good to be true. It’s a nice combination, I think. Really hard because I will be teaching four different subjects. But great because I’m given a ton of planning time, and each of the classes only meets four times a week. One of the classes is health and fitness, which I get to develop myself (this is the elective I mentioned before—they wanted health instead of the life lessons class I offered, which is fine). I found a great curriculum online for the health part, and the gym teacher wants to work with me to plan physical activity days. I am psyched!

I’m hiding as I write this, although hiding in plain sight in the teacher work room. I need to go back up to my class, which feels like it’s possessed by a heavy, sticky demon breathing its hot breath down my neck to “gehhhht ouuuuut.” Need to go be a brave little toaster. 

* * * * * * * * * *

I wrote that yesterday. Here is the "etc." part. 

Today is Saturday, so we took a little excursion. I decided to put together a video to collect the latest pictures, so it starts with a dinner that we had recently. Everything was so cheap that we thought the portions would be smaller, so we over-ordered. Then we had leftovers, and tried to explain to the waiters that we wanted to take them home. We thought something was up when they didn't take the plates, but they kept insisting they understood, and showed up with brand-new orders of what we'd had in takeout bags. Um... okay? We couldn't complain, because the food was so good, but we found out later that taking home leftovers just isn't a thing here. Aside from that one dinner, I've generally found portions to be smaller, and my body appreciates it.

I also took a picture of the standard restaurant napkins here in Thailand. They come in dispensers and are single-ply little tissues. We go through many of them! It's a minor nuisance. I didn't want to comment on it earlier, before I knew it was universal. They remind me of the "tissues" they had in my hospital room after having the girls. I'd be hormonal and sobbing over toast or something ridiculous, and trying to blow pints of snot into those little postage stamps. Thai restaurant napkins are responsible for cleaning up enthusiastic curry drool. It's not a small job.

One more completely random thing I haven't mentioned yet: both of the main grocery stores here smell like butter. They both have bakeries, and instead of the bread smell like in the States, they fill the whole store with a deep, intoxicating, sugary buttery smell. It is fabulous. Another random factoid: bananas are so common here that they don't even have them in the store. They're just sold on the roadside everywhere. The last ones I bought were some kind of very wrong variety, because they were hard and dry and not sweet at all. Good thing the whole bunch only cost a quarter. 

Back to today. We went to Chiang Rai's famous White Temple. I was gawking the whole time, even on the drive there. Pictures and videos don't do it justice. The detail! The tiny mirrors! However, it was hot and very crowded, so we didn't last long. Nick and I want to go back another time when they open at 6:30 am. 

We moved on to Singha Park, which has a trolley that takes you around to hang out with and feed giraffes & zebras (very open-air and humane), but we had to wait too long for the trolley after lunch. We got impatient and tired and went home to swim. We'll try the park another time.

Anyway, enjoy the video!