After my exhausting hot shopping experience at the weekend market, I decided to take a tuk tuk from the metro station to the hostel instead of walking an extra 10 minutes. After a horrible night's sleep on the train from Chiang Mai, walking around outside in a crowded market looking at things I can't afford right now just was not my idea of fun. After being around people constantly for 3 weeks, suddenly knowing nobody in a city as huge as Bangkok can be a little overwhelming. I was feeling pretty homesick, when the tuk tuk driver asked me where I was from.
"Texas", I proudly but tiredly said.
"Really? I lived in Bastrop, Texas for four years!"
"Uh?" Obviously that threw me through a loop.
"Yeah, I worked at a Thai restaurant. I loved it there."
So I guess it goes to show that there's a little piece of Texas everywhere you go, even in Bangkok.
15 August 2010
07 August 2010
Seongnam, South Korea
An update on where I will actually be living for the next year:
Last week, I started looking for jobs in Thailand and Taiwan, because my recruiter said my application for the Gyeongbuk province was declined (he didn't see why it would, but that tends to be my luck lately). I had 3 interviews to schedule and I was feeling pretty good about staying in this awesome country. But then...Alas, an email from Henry came with a contract for me to sign! I will be teaching in Seongnam, which is just south east of Seoul. I'm so excited I finally have a job lined up, and that it is close to Seoul. Alex and Jodi will be in Daegu which is in south central Korea, so we will be about 3 hours away. Natalie and Charlie are going to be in the north east corner, so I'll be fairly close to them as well for weekend trips. And Brad and Kyle are a little east of Daegu, so I'm guessing I'll be about 4 hours away from them. Justin is still waiting to hear something from Henry, but there's a good chance he'll be in or near Seoul, so that will be awesome. Lots of great weekend trips will be planned to the various places throughout SK!
I also don't have to be there until September 2nd, so getting my visa in Bangkok is no longer an issue as far as timing goes. Right now I'm thinking I'll go to Bangkok with everybody else right after to get my visa out of the way, and then after they leave for SK (they are in a different program so their orientation is very soon), I am going to head down south and beach bum for a week or so.
Last week, I started looking for jobs in Thailand and Taiwan, because my recruiter said my application for the Gyeongbuk province was declined (he didn't see why it would, but that tends to be my luck lately). I had 3 interviews to schedule and I was feeling pretty good about staying in this awesome country. But then...Alas, an email from Henry came with a contract for me to sign! I will be teaching in Seongnam, which is just south east of Seoul. I'm so excited I finally have a job lined up, and that it is close to Seoul. Alex and Jodi will be in Daegu which is in south central Korea, so we will be about 3 hours away. Natalie and Charlie are going to be in the north east corner, so I'll be fairly close to them as well for weekend trips. And Brad and Kyle are a little east of Daegu, so I'm guessing I'll be about 4 hours away from them. Justin is still waiting to hear something from Henry, but there's a good chance he'll be in or near Seoul, so that will be awesome. Lots of great weekend trips will be planned to the various places throughout SK!
I also don't have to be there until September 2nd, so getting my visa in Bangkok is no longer an issue as far as timing goes. Right now I'm thinking I'll go to Bangkok with everybody else right after to get my visa out of the way, and then after they leave for SK (they are in a different program so their orientation is very soon), I am going to head down south and beach bum for a week or so.
"Hello class, my name is Teacher Rachel"
I finished my first three lessons of teaching practice at a nearby monk school. I liked it, and am glad to get the first time in front of a class room feeling out of the way...although I'm certain I'll have it again in South Korea. :)
There are 16 of us in the course, so we all cram into 2 song-taus (Thai taxis-red trucks that have benches in the back and a cover over them) and ride for about 30 minutes to the monk school. Its a very small school and has one of the most beautiful temples I've seen in Chiang Mai. Its surrounded by woods, and its so peacefully quiet. The school building is all concrete floors, white walls, huge open windows (no screens and no way to ever close them), dogs walking through the building like they own place, and all these cute monks walking around barefoot in their orange outfits. In Thailand you always take your shoes off before you enter a room (hair dresser, internet cafe, school), so we get to teach barefoot.
We are split into three rooms, and teach 30-35 minute lessons back to back. Even after 5 teachers' lessons with different topics, these kids are still so well behaved! I'm sure it will be a rude awakening when I start a government school. But even though they are monks, there are still desk drawings of girls and other normal boy things. In Thailand, almost every boy is a monk at some point in their life. It is their choice usually, and they can be a monk for a week, a month, a year, or the rest of their lives.
The first lesson I taught was a Young Learners Lesson about musical instruments. We learned piano, guitar, and drums. We then learned to say I play the piano, I strum the guitar, and I pound on the drums. I did fairly well and didn't miss any major steps. The second day I taught a Basic Lesson about jobs. This one did not go as well, but the students never knew I messed up the order. Yesterday I taught another Basic Lesson about electronics, and I felt it was much better. Even though I taught late in the day after they had sat through three other teachers with the same lesson model, they were very attentive and stayed with me the whole time. Everybody says I have that teacher look, but I still need to work on smiling more. Hopefully that will come with time when I'm less nervous.
There are 16 of us in the course, so we all cram into 2 song-taus (Thai taxis-red trucks that have benches in the back and a cover over them) and ride for about 30 minutes to the monk school. Its a very small school and has one of the most beautiful temples I've seen in Chiang Mai. Its surrounded by woods, and its so peacefully quiet. The school building is all concrete floors, white walls, huge open windows (no screens and no way to ever close them), dogs walking through the building like they own place, and all these cute monks walking around barefoot in their orange outfits. In Thailand you always take your shoes off before you enter a room (hair dresser, internet cafe, school), so we get to teach barefoot.
We are split into three rooms, and teach 30-35 minute lessons back to back. Even after 5 teachers' lessons with different topics, these kids are still so well behaved! I'm sure it will be a rude awakening when I start a government school. But even though they are monks, there are still desk drawings of girls and other normal boy things. In Thailand, almost every boy is a monk at some point in their life. It is their choice usually, and they can be a monk for a week, a month, a year, or the rest of their lives.
The first lesson I taught was a Young Learners Lesson about musical instruments. We learned piano, guitar, and drums. We then learned to say I play the piano, I strum the guitar, and I pound on the drums. I did fairly well and didn't miss any major steps. The second day I taught a Basic Lesson about jobs. This one did not go as well, but the students never knew I messed up the order. Yesterday I taught another Basic Lesson about electronics, and I felt it was much better. Even though I taught late in the day after they had sat through three other teachers with the same lesson model, they were very attentive and stayed with me the whole time. Everybody says I have that teacher look, but I still need to work on smiling more. Hopefully that will come with time when I'm less nervous.
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