Sonny and Lenora Take on Thailand

Hello world, 

Finally getting caught up on some of these blogs over here. We've been doing a lot of traveling so were backtracking on some of these things. Everything has been going good over here though outside of the MSU loss. Luckily we were traveling during the time so I missed the whole game and any news that had to do with it so that made it a little bit easier to get over. 

But about a month and a half ago we had a couple visitors here. My mom and dad were able to make it over pretty unexpectedly. They were taking a trip to Pakistan and right before they left they figured that since they were already 3/4 of the way to Thailand they might as well just finish the trip and visit us. It was really nice to have them here just to be able to see them face-to-face for the first time in however many months. We were still in school so it was kind of a weird schedule but we were able to do a few things with them and they did a little bit of traveling by themselves as well. 

It was pretty funny because the week or two before my parents got here I kept telling my dad to try to get to the library or look up some things he wanted to see or do in Bangkok. His reply email read something like this: "I wish I had time to go to the library and look at books. You figure out what to do and we'll be happy with it." That of course made it very easy for me (not really). But the funny part about it was I laid out an itinerary for us about a week in advance and sent it to my dad to see what he thought about it. He was in Pakistan by this time so he had a lot more time on his hands apparently and proceeded to make and request about 20 changes to the plans. It ended up working out alright and they got to see a lot of different things, but it was ironic (if thats the right use of the word) how he had no cares about the plans and all of a sudden he was the master of planning.

When we picked them up at the Bangkok airport, it was pretty early in the morning but they didn't look too stressed or travel weary surprisingly. It was a little bit easier for them coming from Pakistan because they didn't have as much of a time change making the jet lag a bit less of a problem. We decided to stay in Bangkok for a couple days and see a few of the temples and attractions there. It got to be pretty boring for both Paige and I because we have already seen a lot of temples and after a while they all become the same. But after we had been to one temple and halfway through the next one, my dad surprised me with a "lets get the hell out of here, these are all the same." 

Being in Bangkok can be fun but it is also a hard city to stay in very long because of the amount of trash, people heckling you, and general stress/tension you feel when you are in the city. My parents started feeling this same way too and were relieved when we went back to the airport and sent them to the island of Koh Chang after about two days in Bangkok. Like I said Paige and I were still in school so we weren't able to go with them unfortunately. This was the end of the semester so some time on the beach would have been a welcome trip. It sounded like my parents really enjoyed the island though. 

After my parents got back from the island they came to Suphan for a few days. The first day they got here they came into the school for about an hour and checked it out. They met a lot of our teachers, saw the classrooms we teach in and met a few of our students. The interactions between my students and my parents was pretty funny just because of the language barrier. Since we were in school it was hard for us to do much of anything with them except for go out to dinner in the evening and check out a few markets. They did a bit of exploring on their own and liked our small town. I think my dads favorite thing about the whole trip was the amount of mangoes he was able to buy and for how cheap he could get them. Anytime we left our apartment building it was like he was on a hunt to find mangoes. I have no idea how many he ate in total but I wouldn't be surprised if it was around 100 for the whole week.

After Suphan it was back to the airport in Bangkok. Their flight was early in the morning so we said our goodbyes and they were back on their way to Pakistan for another couple days before returning to the US. Although their trip was only about a week long they got to see a lot of the main attractions of Thailand in Bangkok and when going down south to an island. Even though it was such a short trip, it was great to have them here. I hadn't been planning on them coming to visit so it was just an added bonus for them to come and was definitely a great experience to be able to share with them. 

Last Week of School

Our first semester of teaching finally wrapped up the last week of February.  We were excited to be so close to our "summer break," but the last few weeks were far from a leisurely coast.  Cyrus and I both decided to give oral exams to all of our students.  A teacher before us suggested it, and it sounded like a good idea, seeing as we wouldn't have to grade over 700 tests....little did we know that asking the same 5 questions to over 700 students isn't much better.  Though it was a little repetitive and rough on my voice, it was good to actually talk to each and every one of our kids (people tend to get lost in a class of 40).

I asked my students basic English questions and a few that had to do with what we learned throughout the semester.  Some of my questions were:

          What is your name?
          What is my name?
          What is one thing you do in the morning?
          What time do you go to bed
          When do you feel excited/angry/scared?

I took the students in two's and three's out into the hall to give them their test:

 

 

Two students (Teen and Nut, see below) goofing off as I was giving the test to other students outside in the hall:

The answers ranged from dismal to impressive, and I always knew it was going to be a long session when the kid struggled to answer "How are you?" (which is something they stand up and say at the beginning of every class).  All in all I was glad I gave a speaking exam though, because a lot of kids who never talk in class are actually really good at English (and alternatively there were a lot of kids who knew next to nothing). It gave us a good idea of where we'll be next year, and how we can improve our teaching styles.

I also had all of my students write their names on a little card and then I took a picture of them holding their names up so I can try to remember them for next semester. Some of my favorites students...

 

 

Now that we're done with our first semester a part of me misses home, but I'm definitely not ready to leave yet.  I look forward to spending another semester with my students, because I feel like I just started getting to know all of them and getting a hang of the whole teaching thing. Here's a little snapshot of some of the kids.

A group from my smartest class:

This is Toppy, one of my more entertaining students.  He's a little bit of a trouble maker, but he always makes me laugh.  The first day of school when I had everyone write their nicknames, he wrote "Toppy....like party, love coyote".  I didn't know what it meant then, and I still don't, but I proceeded to call him that every time I took attendance.

The class watching "Up" during our last day.

These are three of my favorite students: Teen, Nut, and Chai.  They love to come talk with Cyrus and me, and like to joke around with us.  And they speak English pretty well, which is always a plus.

Now that school's done we'll be doing some traveling and hosting my mom for a few weeks.  We start school again in the middle of May, so we have a nice, long break to prepare ourselves.

Paige


Paige summed up our last couple weeks of school pretty well. I decided to give an oral exam just like she did and while it was easier to ask questions than grade a test, asking the same five questions over and over for two and a half weeks straight gets really old. The questions that I asked were:
          -How are you?
          -What is your name?
          -What day is it today/tomorrow/yesterday?
          -What month is it right now/last month/next month?
          -When are you happy/angry/sad/excited?

It seems like it would be a really easy test and for most of the students it was. But when you get some students who don't know how to answer "What is your name?" it can become really hard to not get a little bit frustrated or mad at them. But overall it was a good experience. I got to learn a lot more about the students individually and actually talk to all of them as opposed to only a few who raise their hands every class.

One of the other perks of asking all the questions was I actually got to learn a bit of Thai. Whenever I asked the students a question, they would say the question in Thai just to think about it. Eventually, after hearing the same question in Thai about 800 times I picked up how to say the questions and words in Thai.

Sorry we've been pretty slow with the blogs. But we are planning to post a few in the next week or so and catch all of you up on our adventures. Hope everyone is doing well back home and go State.

Cyrus

Cyrus Bball

As Paige mentioned last time, I recently made my big Thai NBA debut. Well...not really but I did play in a basketball competition in a nearby city. 

It came about pretty randomly. One day I went with Paige to the school right next to our apartment where she was going to do some running. I usually just go there and shoot around for a little bit but this time there were a few kids playing (who were awful) and a teacher who was playing with them. They asked me if I wanted to join in with them and I had nothing better to do so I said yes. The teacher playing with them actually turned out to be pretty good and we went back and forth a few times between watching the kids run around in circles with the ball. 

When we were finished he came up to me and asked me if I wanted to play in a basketball competition with him the next day. He spoke decent English but I still had a hard time understanding what he was talking about. From what we could gather, there was a competition about 100 km away and that the games started at 10 PM, but he wanted to meet at the school we were at around 6 PM. So I ended up just saying yes and figuring that I would find out what the deal was the next day when I met him. 

The next day I showed up to the school and he asked me again if I wanted to play in the competition that day and I said yes. We jumped in his truck and we were on our way...or so I thought. We ended up driving for ten minutes to a court in Suphan. When we got out he introduced me to a few of his friends that were playing and told me that they were on the team with him. We ended up staying at the court for about 2 hours and then he finally told me that we were ready to go. For real this time. Talking to him in the car on the way I found out that the competition was at a university which was 100 km away. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. I don't know what I was really expecting but when we got there I was really surprised.

When we walked into the gym the first thing that I noticed were the referees, scorers table, scoreboard, and shot-clock. I have played a lot of basketball games since middle school (shout-out to my 3-peating IM team!) but none of them since that time have involved any of the above amenities. The first day we just played one game which we ended up losing by about 10. It was a lot of fun playing a sport in an actual competition again but it was hard just because of the language barrier as well as the way that they play. Not to get all basketball nerd on you but they did a lot of isolation trying to beat their man off the dribble versus a lot of screens and cuts like I am used to. One of the weirder things of the whole game was stepping up to the free throw line. I literally have not shot a free throw in a game in at least 10 years.

If any of you guys needed lessons on shooting form, here you go.

The second day Paige decided to come back with me. We met at the school again at 6 and were on our way...or so we thought. Instead we had to pick up 2 other people. We rode for about an hour and half all squished into a pick-up truck. It was a pretty uncomfortable ride but we made it. For our game that night we played against one of the better teams in the competition. We hung around with them for most of the game until the 4th quarter. They ended up winning by 30 or so. All while wearing purple jersey's.

You can see the other team in their purple jersey's.

Overall, it was a really cool experience to have been able to play in a competition over here. Thinking about a lot of the situations I might find myself in before I left America, I don't think this one would have ever crossed my mind. Also, I never ever, ever, thought I would see a Thai person throw down in-person. The teams we played against were surprisingly big, strong and athletic.  

Hope everyone is doing well back home. Looks like State basketball is playing good so that's awesome. Everything else is going well over here and we are just finishing up our first semester and looking forward to our summer break and also the trip we have all been waiting for from Linda and Debbie. 

Cyrus and Paige

PS. In case you were wondering my debut stat line was 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, and 1 TO (maybe). I'm no Draymond but I'd say those were pretty solid numbers. If anybody can get a hold of Coach Izzo, I think I might still have eligibility left for the basketball team. 

Festivals and Suphan

Hello, Hello!

Cyrus and I have been back to the grind ever since we got back from our two week winter break.  This means our weekends are limited to hanging around Suphan, and finalizing our lesson plans for the end of the year.  We don't have any big adventures or trips to write about, but I hope these snapshots of "Suphan Life" will be entertaining enough...

Thai people love festivals.  It seems like they have one every other weekend. The first couple festivals we went to were fun and exciting, but I feel that once you've seen one, you've seen them all.  Every Thai festival includes the following things: stupid carnival games (almost always involving popping a balloon), vendors selling anything and everything including $2 watches, used shoes, t-shirts with bad English on them, colored contacts, car cleaner, and stalls and stalls and stalls of meat on a stick.

You can also buy bunnies in dresses if you want...

And sometimes there are elephants...

This is a picture of one of our favorite people in Suphan (the woman on the left).  She is fondly known by all of the Western teachers as "Pad Thai Lady", but her real name is Mon.  Her restaurant doubles as the family living room, and it's not the cleanest place I've ever been, but her pad thai is "the bomb" and there are hardly any other restaurants that make it.  We go at least 3 times a week, and a meal there sets us back 30 baht....or $1.

This is the night market in town.  It's just a road with a bunch of food vendors.  Some of our favorite things to get are pad see ew, sushi, green curry, spring rolls, mango and sticky rice, and pineapple smoothies.

People will drive right up to the stall on their motorbike, order, then take the food back home in plastic bags.

On the back of a "song tow", a.k.a. a pickup truck with benches that drives people around.  Needless to say there are no seat belts.

This is the road our apartment is off of.  If you walk 100 yards you will get to Pad Thai Lady's restaurant.

We spend a lot of our Sunday mornings at this coffee shop.  A super cool woman named Banya owns it.  She speaks English really well and makes a deeeeelicious Thai iced tea.

We only have three more weeks until our big two month break, so we are just counting down the days. Hope everything is good at home!

Paige and Cyrus

p.s.  Look out for the next post detailing Cyrus' Thai basketball debut....

Sports and Sukhothai

Being the lucky ducks that we are, Cyrus and I got a 2 week break from school.  They told us it was something about a sports week and midterms at school.  All we know is that we don't need to be back until the 17th.  Jackpot! 

After our New Years trip to Bangkok and Koh Sichang, we hung out in Suphan for a few days to get ourselves together.  Our coordinator told us that we should try to go the opening ceremony for the Sports Week, which was at the soccer stadium in town.  Since we were in Suphan, we decided to show some school spirit and go check it out.  We expected it to be a little performance by the school, maybe some songs, and a few track and field races or something.  Well, it went down a little differently.  Sports week is actually called the "OPEC Games" and schools from all over Thailand come to compete in a week long tournament of all different sports.  The opening ceremony was seriously like watching the Olympics.  We saw first class marching bands, choreographed dances with hundreds of kids, fireworks, the lighting of the torch, and the procession of all the different school teams.  And we are talking about elementary to high school kids...in public schools.  For a seemingly poor country, they know how to celebrate sports. 

Students from our school performing:

During the procession of the schools:

The lighting of the torch!

After being in Suphan for a few days, we packed our bags for Sukhothai.  It's about 6 hours north of Bangkok and is known for it's ancient ruins from the kingdom of Siam, and fun fact: it's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ruins were built around the 1200s and I'm not too well informed on the history, but they were really beautiful.  It was around the time when Theravada Buddhism became the official religion of Thailand, so there were a lot of huge statues of Buddha.  Obviously I'm not Buddhist, but there's something about the statues that makes you feel relaxed and kind of spiritual.

  

The ruins are contained in the Sukhothai Historical park, which covers a pretty big area.  We rented bikes to ride around to all the different temples, and because the complex is so big there were a lot of times when we were the only people at a site, which made it a lot more authentic.  Also, please note the artistry that went into taking some of these pics.

If only we were as good at using the camera timer as my mom is....

Just cruising...

A friend of Cyrus' from Kalamazoo teaches in Taiwan, and is coming to visit Thailand this week.  So we'll spend the rest of our break hanging out with him and his girlfriend in Bangkok and showing them around Suphan.

Paige and Cyrus

Happy New Year!

Happy belated New Year to everyone! We had a whirlwind weekend to bring in 2012, consisting of rooftop parties, last minute destinations, island ferries, motorbikes, and too much whiskey.

For New Years Eve, a group of us met in Bangkok to celebrate.  It's funny how jaded we get by being here; to us Bangkok is just an hour's ride away and no big deal, but a year ago, Bangkok sounded so foreign and exotic.  We had to keep reminding ourselves where we were and to appreciate the experience. For the countdown, our group decided to go to a rooftop party on the 40th floor of a hotel.  Unfortunately, it was "farang" central ("farang" are what all westerners are referred to in Thailand, a term that we are growing to resent, because we feel we are more than just tourists), but I guess that should have been expected. Regardless, we had a good time and did a proper job ringing in the new year.

It was awesome to be eye level with all of the fireworks.

Our relationship with Bangkok is what you could call "love/hate".  The "real" Bangkok is alive, loud, dirty, beautiful, in-your-face, and exciting.  But the Bangkok that you are most likely to encounter is  glossed over and full of tourists.  We've been here for three months, living and working in Thailand, so it's disheartening to be treated like "just another farang" when we're there.

So after having enough of the city and all of the tourists, our group decided to relocate for the rest of the trip.  We had originally planned to go camping in a national park, but we had a spark of spontaneity and just chose a place out of the guidebook instead.  It felt so adventuresome to literally choose a destination, pick up our backpacks and go to the bus station.  That's the thing we've noticed about Thailand, there's no use in planning or worrying about not planning, because nothing ever goes the way you want it to anyways.  But everything seems to works out in the end.  You many not take the route you intended on, but you ultimately end up where you're supposed to be.

So we headed out to a small island south east of Bangkok, called Koh Sichang.  The island is nothing that would be on a postcard, but it had an authentic atmosphere and we made up the majority of tourists. We spent the trip riding motorbikes, exploring the island, and eating good food.  It was one of those times, when it's not so much where you are, but the people you are with that shape your experience.  Our small, yet wonderful group hailed from all over the US and the world. With people coming from California, Texas, Philly, Manchester, and South Africa, the conversation and company were always of high quality.  How we all ended up together on a small island in the Gulf of Thailand is an amazing thing.

There's a feeling I'm constantly having here that is much rarer to come by at home.  It's hard to put into words, but it's an overwhelming sense that you are exactly where you are meant to be, doing exactly what you are meant to be doing, with the exact people you are meant to be doing it with.  For that brief moment, everything feels right. 

Lots of love,
Paige and Cyrus