7/2 Taylor Swift is an International Goddess

Almost 2 days of real teaching down, many many more to go! I am now
teaching grade 11 and absolutely loving it. The students are so much
more well behaved than grade 9 (agh I shudder at the memory of them)
and they are eager to learn. They can write and read quite well, but
their speaking is pretty poor. The biggest, underlying problem is that the
English teachers can barely speak themselves-and their pronunciation
is horrible. The students have been learning from them their entire
lives and so it's all they know-they don't even understand us when we
talk sometimes because they are so used to hearing things pronounced
improperly. So, my main goal is to work on their speaking and
pronunciation, which will be a challenge because the students are so
shy and they are used to only being lectured at.

Crystal and I were discussing the different roles of teachers in
different countries. In the states, Teachers are expected to be role
models, interactive, and creative. They are expected to motivate the
students and look after them. In Thailand, it's much more old school.
These kids are lucky to be at such a (relatively) good school and it
is their job to get the work done. The teachers go into the classroom,
lecture, and leave. There is no mushy gushy stuff. I secretly kind of
like it...American students have it too easy. We are all SO blessed to be going to some of the best schools in the world, and yet we complain, required constant praise and want our hands held the entire time. Corporal punishment is 100% allowed in Thailand and it could do us some good.

So this morning, I had a free period and was drug into a random 7th
grade classroom to introduce myself. There was a microphone, and I was
pushed into the room and told to just "talk". So I started chatting
randomly about myself, and the students started to ask me questions.
Their questions were really adorable-do you like the Jonas Brothers?
Do you like Thai food? And one girl asked me, "Do you like Taylor
Swift?". I almost dropped dead from happiness right there. My idol, my
girl crush, is famous in Thailand. Everything is right in the world.
So I smiled and said "yes of course!". Little did I know that next,
the students would insist that I sing an American song. After
attempting to decline politely, the teacher told me to "Sing!". So I
take the microphone, the kids start clapping (I swear it was like the
disney-channel) and I sang, "Love Story" by T-swift. Hilarious. Suddenly, flashbacks from Cafe Japone start popping in my head, when I "stole" (I still disagree) some girl's Taylor Swift song and proceeded to rock out to "Should've Said No" (despite some boo's from the crowd...). It was almost as epic, minus a few sake bombs :)

Lunch at school is interesting. There is a huge open air
pavillion-type thing with tons of picnic tables. Surrounding the
tables are a lot of different food vendors, where you can get noodles,
rice, fruit, etc. Crystal and I were trying to pick out our noodle
dishes and we asked one of the English teachers what a dark, rubbery
looking thing was. She replied "oh it is a noodle!". I was a little
suspicious, it definitely looked like liver, but hey, she said it was
a noodle so I didn't say anything. So at the table, Crystal puts said
object into her mouth to try it, and I whisper, "hey I think it might be
liver". Definitely was, as poor Crystal spat it out and asked the
English teacher, "is that liver?" and she replies "oh yes!" with a big
smile. Gotta love a good language barrier... Sorry Crystal :( I
should've gone with my gut instinct (CAUTION: LIVER). Everyone
keeps bringing us food, and it is so hard to politely decline. Today a
teacher brought over what looked like water, which turned out to be
sugar syrup, which everyone else was sucking down like nobody's
business. Sugar syrup! To drink! They already put sugar in literally,
everything. Noodles, rice, fruit, meat-everything has sugar. It's a
miracle the kids aren't obese and still have all of their teeth!

I am going to need to be brought back down to earth in the states.
Just because we look different, everyone always tell us "you are so
beautiful!", meanwhile I am dripping with sweat, wiping the grease off
of my face and trying to tame the uncontrollable fizz that used to be
called my hair (it has a life of its own with this humidity. it is
mutant.). Oh yea-real beautiful. The no makeup thing was a good idea,
seeing as it would just melt off my face anyways, but I am looking
pretty "rustic" these days. Thank god nobody notices.

I am getting really excited about this weekend and the upcoming
holiday. Next week we have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off. After
"English camp" ( I have yet to get actual details about this elusive
camp taking place somewhere at sometime) on Saturday and Sunday,
Crystal and I are going hiking to a nearby mountain (Hok Foh? maybe? I
am such a stupid American when it comes to the Thai words), where
apparently if you hike to the top you live another year longer (excited about
that), and then on Tuesday we are going to Bangkok. I am so pumped to
see Bangkok from a Thai person's perspective and see things that I
wouldn't normally as a tourist. Also, the food will be amazing! I
luckily swam laps in my lap pool yesterday (are you actually serious?
my lap pool? this is so surreal) so I am ready to EAT! :)

Well I have one more class today and then it is off to aerobic dancing
tonight! Last night, we got roped into going to see the ballroom
dancing class, which is another free activity for the community.
Neither of us really wanted to dance, but we decided to go see it just
to appease everyone. It was actually super intense, they were great!
There was the cutest old Thai man with a headset dancing around the
gymnasium and shouting instructions in Thai. Loves it.

Trust is the essence of being in Thailand. We met a random woman who
could speak English at the market, and since then she has been (a
little much perhaps) coming to see us every so often (ok its kind of
obnoxious. she shows up everywhere. at school. at aerobic dance. I
know she just wants to help and practice her English, but I'm not used
to people being so...over the top), and last night we just jumped in
her car with her to go to the ballroom dancing. We have no idea where
we are going, we didn't have our phones, but everything seems to work
out for the best...I would never do that in the states seeing as I'd probably end up on the next 20/20.

I have tried multiple times to upload my pictures to facebook, but the internet connection is pretty slow so it doesn't want to work. Stay tuned in hopes that I get it to work!

xoxox

Stacy