Rainy Day Ramblings...

Yesterday was Teacher’s Day in Thailand, a holiday that entitled all teachers to the day off. The news that we had it off was given to us only last Friday, weird that it was such little notice. But here I am on Thursday back at school, excited because my work load tapers off after Wednesdays. It’s a chilly and clouded over morning, I woke up at 6:30 to my alarm thinking I had set it for much earlier because it was so dark out. The past week or so has actually been quite hot, most afternoons the temperatures reach at least 90, if not higher. I looked forward to sleeping in, which didn’t happen and I woke up around 8. I fought the heat and peddled into town, stopping by the post office to send out my parents train tickets and a few cards that have been written for a few weeks waiting to be sent out. We had lunch with our boss, she took us to a noodle soup shop and a friend of hers we ran into bought all our lunches. His daughter is a teacher and he wanted to show his respect to the profession. It was something that really made me smile, someone who doesn’t know our boss all that well, or the three of us foreign teachers at all, just wanted to do something nice.
The routine of getting back to school has been an easier transition than I thought it would be. Days are spent lesson planning and executing them. Classes are still about the same. I have most of them that I adore and can have fun with, enjoying their high energy levels and excitement for learning. There are still the few that make me a little crazy, however. One last week I had to get help with. The behavior of some boys is just terrible, about 15 of them come to class 20 minutes late. The class can actually get things accomplished without them, with the lesson progressing along fine. Then they storm in and disrupt the entire class, and it turns into a younger version of Dangerous Minds. I called my boss and asked her to come and talk to this class last week, I just can’t bring myself to struggle through fifty minutes of discipline when there are actually students that want to learn. It’s just a difficult situation having fifty students in a class no matter what their age or level of learning. So Achanee came to class and talked to them, warning them to straighten up or she‘ll talk to their parents. We’ll see how long it lasts this time… One of my more outspoken and disruptive students lives near me in my neighborhood, and after seeing me running one night has quieted considerably. They have a fear of their parents getting called in to school. At a meeting last week with the English Department, I have found that even the Thai teachers are having a really hard time with most students behavior. It’s not only the foreign teachers that are struggling through classes, and a surprising announcement came that the school might think of getting rid of foreign teachers altogether. My job was promised to not be in danger, as I‘m under contract for another semester. It wouldn’t happen immediately, either, but they will be evaluating more seriously student behavior throughout the school and, in Thai time, make a decision about it.
I’ve been running a lot more lately, and trying to keep up with a routine of it. The past year or so I started slacking terribly on staying in shape and working out. I blamed it on being too busy or having too hectic of a work and school schedule, spending days in classes and nights slinging stir fry, but in reality had just gotten lazy. I must admit it is much easier to run when I am done with school every day by 5 and have the evening open. Runs don’t actually take place until after 6 when the sun is going down and the heat has subsided. I get a great view when I wait until the sun is setting, as well. All this running I have been doing I decided to put to good use, I have a goal of running a half marathon when I get back to the States. I’ve had this goal for a long time, actually, but am more serious about it now than before. So I’ll keep up the running and start a training program in a few months. My mom mentioned running it with me, which would be awesome, and maybe I can get my sister to do it, too. I’m looking at the Columbus Half Marathon in the fall. Now that I’ve made this goal public I can’t back out on it… haha.
Sawatdee kah!