About 4 weeks into teaching we realized that we were going to have to make a "border run" to get a new visa since our original 30-day visa was about to expire. So we made an executive decision to take a week to visit Cambodia, applying of a 60 day Thai visa at the embassy in Phnom Pehn and a quick jaunt to visit Angkor Wat. Our flight to Phnom Pehn was flawless, after that not much went according to plan.
Our plan was to go to the embassy immediately after landing because we knew the paper work took about 3 days. However we showed up way too late to even get an application form as the embassy was filled with people attempting to get back into Thailand. Most of these people were foreign businessmen, non-Thai spouses (mainly males), and a few backpackers not unlike ourselves. With our initial embassy run failing we decided to go to the hotel we planned on staying at. A rather seedy set up, the "Hotel Califonia" (seriously) only had a room for 1 night not the 3-4 nights we thought we had booked. At this point our confidence was high. We finally got a hotel reservation at a place down the street which was really nice and right on the Mekong River. We vowed to get up early the next morning and make it to the embassy before anyone else did.
We arrived at the embassy, filled out all the forms and waiting our turn. When we were called to the window we were greeted by a Thai woman who was clearly unhappy with her immigration job. She gave us the run around asking us for our return trip plane tickets not only the Thailand but also our plane tickets leaving Thailand back to the US. So clearly we pulled out the plane tickets that all airlines send you through the mail and gave them to her......what?? How can you honestly ask me for plane tickets when my flight is over 2 months away. We did in reality have a confirmation email which barely passed her inspection of reading it, flipping it over, and upside down at least once. Even then we were told to wait as her "boss" had to check it all out. After waiting for about 3 hrs, nervously talking to an Austrailian backpacker that hadn't showered in 15 days and continuously tried to convince us that we would get it (inspiring tremendous confidence) and fixing some of our paper work we were given a receipt and told it would be ready in 3 days. This gave us an opportunity to check out Phnom Pehn.
We visited the Grand Palance which was amazingly beautiful, the national museum which had interesting Khmer and pre-Khmer art, but the most interesting but gut wrenching of our visits was to the S-21 prison and the killing fields. The S-21 prison is where Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of people. There were grewsome pictures and accounts of their methods. Our tour guide even had her own stories of how the Khmer Rouge killed her entire family. The killing fields were no better as it was the spot where millions were mass murdered. The bones are housed in a huge glass tower standing about 75 ft high. Walking around the pits in the killing fields you can still find small bones and bits of clothing floating to the surface of the ground. These stops on our tour of Phnom Pehn were interesting and well worth it but also incredibly depressing.
After our three days of waiting for our visas and recovering from the low spirits the Khmer Rouge ruthlessness had put us in, we picked up our passports with their new Thai visas in them, jumped on a plane and landed in Siem Reap about 45 min later. Siem Reap is about 4-5 km away from Angkor Wat at the surrounding structures. We hopped in a tuk-tuk and went to visit some of the smaller temples. Ta Prohm was our first stop. I can hardly do it justice but there were huge trees growing in and around the temple itself, swallowing walls and sections of the temple whole. It was a really awesome place. The next morning we decided to bicycle to Pra Baekeng for sunrise which again was truly incredible and something that even our pictures couldn't do justice to. We continue to bike around, exploring Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom the the two biggest temples. Angkor Wat was just stupid huge and detailed. Our favourite place, however, was Bayon. Bayon is home to 52 different massive stone faces spread throughout the pyramid shape temple. Again, pictures can't do it justice so my words won't even come close. A really cool place a one we thought should still retain its wonder of the world title.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Monday, September 3, 2007
Thai Angels
During our stay in Thailand, the Buddhists celebrated the Candle Festival. We wrote a little about this before, about how we went to Ubon Ratchathani with Pi Kung and Chev to see the big parade itself. It was there that we were inundated by students asking to take pictures with us. However, the candle fesitival held many surprises for us.
Before the parade we spent the night in Pi'Kung's parents home just outside of Ubon (this is where we met Toto and Yoyo). Around 9:00 pm that night Pi'Kung's father asked us if we wanted to go to the temple with him. There we sat with a plate that had two candles on it, incense and lotus flowers. We listened to the monk chant and listened to the others in prayer. Then everyone, including the two of us, stood up and followed the monk outside. There we circled the temple three times each time chanting something different representing the three stages of Buddhist thought. Then we all removed our candle from the plate and put it down on this one tree and said a prayer. It was really a powerful experience, one that we will not soon forget.
However, before we even made it to Ubon our local village celebrated the Candle Festival. All the students spent all their free time preparing floats and practicing Thai dance for the event. There were about that 14 surrounding villages that also joined in the festivities. That morning (the Friday before the actual candle festival held on Monday in Ubon) we were very excited to watch the students perform and showed up at school quite early. It was there that the director of the English department, Pi' Noo told us that it was time to get ready. She put us in her car and told us that we would be dressing in traditional Thai costume and that we would be leading the entire parade. She dropped us off with the dress maker and said she would be back.
There we were with people who spoke very little English unsure of what was happening. Then a "lady boy", or a man dressed as a woman called Brigid over and she started to do her makeup. And by makeup, we mean clown makeup. Her face was painted white and thick brown eyebrows were drawn in with dark thick eyeliner. She wore the most unnatural shade of pink lipstick and then was sent to the back to put on bright spandex pink leotard and then she was wrapped in pink Thai silk to form a skirt. Meanwhile, when Brigid emerged from the back Brian was on the floor having his makeup done by the lady boy. It was the same as Brigid's pink lipstick and all. Then Brian was asked to put on a bright yellow leotard. The one thing that Brian wouldn't budge on was that he would not take off his boxer shorts and despite please from the people there he came out a vision in yellow spandex with boxer shorts hanging out the end. he was then also wrapped in Thai silk that was formed into pants that Brian later complained about a great deal of chaffing. If this was not enough both of us were then adorned with more costume jewelery then we had ever seen complete with a giant crown for Brigid that weighed her head down and felt like it was constantly pulling out her hair. Brian's hair was gelled and combed over (much to the delete of his father) and then he was also adorned with a crown. Finally Pi Noo came back and picked us up where it was a whole new adventure to try to get Brigid into the car as her crown was so high that she did not fit into the car. She literally had one lady boy grabbing her feet and then two others pushing her into the car.
Finally we made it to the start of the parade where we took hundreds of pictures with the students, teachers, directors and even the local government officials asked to take pictures with us. Then we were given a sign to hold and started to lead the parade. Two students were given the duty of following us with umbrellas to shade us as it was about 95 degrees out and we were in full spandex.
At the end of the parade we were seated with all the important members of the government on a leather couches (much o Brigid's dismay) and watched all the villages perform different Thai dances representing the challenge of devil versus good. The Thai dancing was actually quite good but after the 3rd hour with no drinks or anything we were certainly ready to call it a night.
When we left the school after our 6 weeks of teaching the presented us with a photo from that day with a caption that read, "Brigid and Brian, Thai angle and Buddhist Rent."
We promise to post the pictures as soon as we are able!
Before the parade we spent the night in Pi'Kung's parents home just outside of Ubon (this is where we met Toto and Yoyo). Around 9:00 pm that night Pi'Kung's father asked us if we wanted to go to the temple with him. There we sat with a plate that had two candles on it, incense and lotus flowers. We listened to the monk chant and listened to the others in prayer. Then everyone, including the two of us, stood up and followed the monk outside. There we circled the temple three times each time chanting something different representing the three stages of Buddhist thought. Then we all removed our candle from the plate and put it down on this one tree and said a prayer. It was really a powerful experience, one that we will not soon forget.
However, before we even made it to Ubon our local village celebrated the Candle Festival. All the students spent all their free time preparing floats and practicing Thai dance for the event. There were about that 14 surrounding villages that also joined in the festivities. That morning (the Friday before the actual candle festival held on Monday in Ubon) we were very excited to watch the students perform and showed up at school quite early. It was there that the director of the English department, Pi' Noo told us that it was time to get ready. She put us in her car and told us that we would be dressing in traditional Thai costume and that we would be leading the entire parade. She dropped us off with the dress maker and said she would be back.
There we were with people who spoke very little English unsure of what was happening. Then a "lady boy", or a man dressed as a woman called Brigid over and she started to do her makeup. And by makeup, we mean clown makeup. Her face was painted white and thick brown eyebrows were drawn in with dark thick eyeliner. She wore the most unnatural shade of pink lipstick and then was sent to the back to put on bright spandex pink leotard and then she was wrapped in pink Thai silk to form a skirt. Meanwhile, when Brigid emerged from the back Brian was on the floor having his makeup done by the lady boy. It was the same as Brigid's pink lipstick and all. Then Brian was asked to put on a bright yellow leotard. The one thing that Brian wouldn't budge on was that he would not take off his boxer shorts and despite please from the people there he came out a vision in yellow spandex with boxer shorts hanging out the end. he was then also wrapped in Thai silk that was formed into pants that Brian later complained about a great deal of chaffing. If this was not enough both of us were then adorned with more costume jewelery then we had ever seen complete with a giant crown for Brigid that weighed her head down and felt like it was constantly pulling out her hair. Brian's hair was gelled and combed over (much to the delete of his father) and then he was also adorned with a crown. Finally Pi Noo came back and picked us up where it was a whole new adventure to try to get Brigid into the car as her crown was so high that she did not fit into the car. She literally had one lady boy grabbing her feet and then two others pushing her into the car.
Finally we made it to the start of the parade where we took hundreds of pictures with the students, teachers, directors and even the local government officials asked to take pictures with us. Then we were given a sign to hold and started to lead the parade. Two students were given the duty of following us with umbrellas to shade us as it was about 95 degrees out and we were in full spandex.
At the end of the parade we were seated with all the important members of the government on a leather couches (much o Brigid's dismay) and watched all the villages perform different Thai dances representing the challenge of devil versus good. The Thai dancing was actually quite good but after the 3rd hour with no drinks or anything we were certainly ready to call it a night.
When we left the school after our 6 weeks of teaching the presented us with a photo from that day with a caption that read, "Brigid and Brian, Thai angle and Buddhist Rent."
We promise to post the pictures as soon as we are able!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
what's in a name?
Our human neighbors were fantastic. We lived in between the two assistant directors, one a man and the other a woman (we have no idea what their names are because everyone called them "assistant director"). The female assistant director we came to find out was not very liked and this poor old lady lived by herself and did not show her face much. The male assistant director was who led the construction of our house and was married to a woman who worked in the canteen. They had a son and a pitbull tied up in the back yard. He would often be building stuff out front and although his English was not great, he was always very friendly.
The most important of our neighbors were Pi Kung, her husband and their son. Pi Kung became like a mother to us while we were living there, always being sure that we had food and some times even entertaining us by taking us out on weekends and bringing us to people's home for dinner. We really had our strongest bond with her and her son Chev and we will miss them terribly.
We were introduced to Chev, a two year old, for the first time and he would not even look at us. We scared him because we looked so different, and he would hide behind his mom, sometimes crying until they left. One time, Pi Kung and Chev came to pick us up in a truck and Pi Kung said "look Chev is in the Chev." This is when she explained to us that Chev's full name was Chevorlet Colorado, named after their blue truck. I couldn't make this stuff up. Then she said that this other girl who lived near us was named High, for the Highlander her parents drove. We had thought that vegetable was weird, but these names were beyond our expectations (we later met two of Pi Kung's nephews, Toto and Yoyo, named after the dog in the wizard of Oz and the toy).
As we got to know Chevorlet Colorado and more importantly he got to know us we really fell in love with him and he provided hours of entertainment.
The more that
The most important of our neighbors were Pi Kung, her husband and their son. Pi Kung became like a mother to us while we were living there, always being sure that we had food and some times even entertaining us by taking us out on weekends and bringing us to people's home for dinner. We really had our strongest bond with her and her son Chev and we will miss them terribly.
We were introduced to Chev, a two year old, for the first time and he would not even look at us. We scared him because we looked so different, and he would hide behind his mom, sometimes crying until they left. One time, Pi Kung and Chev came to pick us up in a truck and Pi Kung said "look Chev is in the Chev." This is when she explained to us that Chev's full name was Chevorlet Colorado, named after their blue truck. I couldn't make this stuff up. Then she said that this other girl who lived near us was named High, for the Highlander her parents drove. We had thought that vegetable was weird, but these names were beyond our expectations (we later met two of Pi Kung's nephews, Toto and Yoyo, named after the dog in the wizard of Oz and the toy).
As we got to know Chevorlet Colorado and more importantly he got to know us we really fell in love with him and he provided hours of entertainment.
The more that
Monday, August 27, 2007
our house, our neighbors and their names
We spent the first three weeks of our stay with the family of Pi Ray one of the english teachers. As we mentioned in an earlier blog one of our housemates was "Pak" or "Anong", Pi ray's son, who was our first intro into how Thai people name there children. Everyone called him "Anong" which is the general thai word for " little kid" but his birth name is Pak. Over dinner one night we learned that Pi Ray loved to eat vegetables or in Thai "Pak". Her love for vegetables was its strongest during her pregnancy with "Pak" and therefore determined his name. We thought is was funny but kinda cool and didn't really think about it much more.Our stay with them was lovely but we were excited when they told us they were "building" us our own house. We soon discovered that by "building" they meant fixing up an already existing house (which actually was where Pi Ray's family had originally lived). Our house consisted of two floors. The first floor was all tiled, had a leather couch (Brigid's seat) and three leather chairs (Brian's seat), a TV that didn't work, a refrigerator, and a bathroom (including non flushing squatting toilet and cold shower). Upstairs were two rooms, one of them was scary and we shut the door and never went into and the other was the bedroom complete with school view, porch, and a "mattress" (two long hard pillows on the equally hard wooden floor). It soon became our home and we began to appreciate all of the little things that came with it. The geckos that lived with us that helped too control the large bug population. One of our favorite pastimes was watching the geckos hunt and eat bugs on our wall. We named all of the geckos, Max, Sam, Pedro, Julian, Becko, Nubs and Big Mama (about 6 inches long ). We also had lovely backyard neighbors, the roosters who would wake us up always in time for school with their crowing, frontyard neighbors, the cows who became increasingly more friendly as time went on even poking their head in the front door, and everyday visitors, the random dogs, Leo, Boom, and Fanta who had no real home but were taken care of by everyone and lived on school property. Brigid really struggled with these last neighbors because all she wanted to do was pet and love the dogs which she was not allowed to do because they were dirty street dogs.Even though she was not allowed to have contact with the dogs she still found ways to sneak food to them when Brian wasn't looking, and therefore ensuring their continual presence.
We had human neighbors as well....
We had human neighbors as well....
what we taught
Somewhere between being famous and being embarrassed we have been teaching. We teach three classes a together a day and the age of our students range from 12-18, except on Fridays when we teach in the primary school where the students 8-11.
We started out a little rough with introductions. We were nervous and the students were shy so it was tough to get them to participate. However, we quickly learned that Thai students are really competitive so board races became our "go to move". It is important to note that when we say that we "taught" English (pahsat angrit, see we are learning to speak a little Thai!) it is more accurate to say that we played games with the students that were centered around English words. The most important thing for the students was to hear native English speakers talk and we left the grammar lessons to the teachers. We tried to think of lessons that they would have fun doing and to teach them words that would help them to extend their English vocab. Our next lesson idea was "Simon Says." We taught them verbs ranging from run and jump to dance and sing. This was certainly a hit with students. Once we had taught this lesson a couple of times to different classes we decided to spice it up a bit by adding "high five". Needless to say this resulted in ending many classes with a high five to one of the students and random high fives being thrown our way throughout the school day.
Another lesson that we taught was "Daily Activities." We taught students how to say things like brush your teeth, wash the dishes and shampoo your hair. They ended up teaching us how to say these things in Thai as well. After we went over all the phrases we would have board races where students would act out the phrase and the other students would have to say it in English while one person on the team wrote it on the board. This resulted in the following reinvention of daily activities:
"brush your teets"
"button your shit"
"shampoop your hair"
Amongst others. Each time we tried to keep a straight face while we corrected them. However, I can't tell you how many times Brian took a shower and said "I am just going to shampoop my hair."
We really loved our students and we like to think that they actually learned some English from us being there. There were a few students who would sometimes find us during the day and just sit and talk with us in order to practice their English. Learning English is really a means of leaving their tiny village of Ban Kram and some students saw it as their only way. We really hope that it was these students that we were able to help the most.
We started out a little rough with introductions. We were nervous and the students were shy so it was tough to get them to participate. However, we quickly learned that Thai students are really competitive so board races became our "go to move". It is important to note that when we say that we "taught" English (pahsat angrit, see we are learning to speak a little Thai!) it is more accurate to say that we played games with the students that were centered around English words. The most important thing for the students was to hear native English speakers talk and we left the grammar lessons to the teachers. We tried to think of lessons that they would have fun doing and to teach them words that would help them to extend their English vocab. Our next lesson idea was "Simon Says." We taught them verbs ranging from run and jump to dance and sing. This was certainly a hit with students. Once we had taught this lesson a couple of times to different classes we decided to spice it up a bit by adding "high five". Needless to say this resulted in ending many classes with a high five to one of the students and random high fives being thrown our way throughout the school day.
Another lesson that we taught was "Daily Activities." We taught students how to say things like brush your teeth, wash the dishes and shampoo your hair. They ended up teaching us how to say these things in Thai as well. After we went over all the phrases we would have board races where students would act out the phrase and the other students would have to say it in English while one person on the team wrote it on the board. This resulted in the following reinvention of daily activities:
"brush your teets"
"button your shit"
"shampoop your hair"
Amongst others. Each time we tried to keep a straight face while we corrected them. However, I can't tell you how many times Brian took a shower and said "I am just going to shampoop my hair."
We really loved our students and we like to think that they actually learned some English from us being there. There were a few students who would sometimes find us during the day and just sit and talk with us in order to practice their English. Learning English is really a means of leaving their tiny village of Ban Kram and some students saw it as their only way. We really hope that it was these students that we were able to help the most.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
So I guess this is our 15 minutes of fame
Clearly, Brian and I stick out. Not only are we the only white people within 100 mile radius of our little village Ban Kram (if not more), but we are also giants, hovering a good 4- 12 inches above everyone (Julie, we finally know how you feel, we literally have to bend over to talk to people) and we speak only english with a few Thai words in a funny accent. Little did we know that it was exactly this that would launch us into star status.
First, it started with the yelling. A lot of "Hello," "How are you?"Brion," or "Breeget." We thought this was fun and we always yell back hello and ask students their name, even though only a brave few answer.
Then one day Brian and I sat outside at one of the tables at school and a small group of girls from another table started talking to us. Suddenly, they were at our table and then just as quickly we were surrounded by about 50 students. They started throwing paper and pens at us and asked us to sign our name. But not just our names, they wanted us to write "My name is." It was insane. Pieces of paper torn from text books or other little scraps thrown in front of us for our autograph.
Then people started drawing pictures of us and giving them to us. First, one of the girls in the house we were living in with the English teacher P'Ray and her family drew pictures of me and wrote in Thai that I was beautiful (once again, I had to believe P'Ray on this one, it really could say anything). She then drew a picture of Brian, her and me with a house in the background. P'Ray explained that this girl was not in fact her daughter, but that both of her parents had died and that she had just taken her in. She said that the picture said that she would like for Brian and I to be her parents. It was one of the hardest moments we have had so far in terms of realizing the suffering of some of these kids, in the poorest part of Thailand. On a lighter note, we also received a portrait drawn of Brian and I from these three girls that take us to lunch everyday in the canteen. Written at the top in English was " When you leave, I will miss you forever, I promise. Love forever." Rather intense seeing that this was given to us after sharing only two lunches with these girls (they have since requested a photo of Brian and I for them to keep).
Our fame recently reached new heights when we spent a weekend in Ubon Ratchathani for the Candle Festival there. This is one of the biggest festivals in Thailand celebrating the Buddhist monks and Ubon holds the largest parade/party of all. When we arrived at the parade we took our place near some of these giant floats made of wax that were candles to be offered at the temple. Within the first 30 minutes, 3 random Thai people had asked to take a photo with us. Then it became a regular thing. Either we would catch people taking photos from across the street or people would ask to take photos with us about every 5 minutes. Then as the day progressed and we started walking around, people would line up waiting to ask us questions (practicing their English) and then they would take a photo. At one point we were surrounded by about 15 Thai people and their was this father who started grabbing at our arms saying "my son wants to take a picture with you." It was crazy and honestly really exhausting. By the end of the day we were trying to cover our faces just to get out of there and people still chased after us. Brian said that now he can see why celebrities get so fed up with photographers, but we decided if we were making millions of dollars, we may have less of a problem with it.
When we return, if you could treat us like mini celebrities, that would REALLY make the transition easier. Thanks! B&B
First, it started with the yelling. A lot of "Hello," "How are you?"Brion," or "Breeget." We thought this was fun and we always yell back hello and ask students their name, even though only a brave few answer.
Then one day Brian and I sat outside at one of the tables at school and a small group of girls from another table started talking to us. Suddenly, they were at our table and then just as quickly we were surrounded by about 50 students. They started throwing paper and pens at us and asked us to sign our name. But not just our names, they wanted us to write "My name is." It was insane. Pieces of paper torn from text books or other little scraps thrown in front of us for our autograph.
Then people started drawing pictures of us and giving them to us. First, one of the girls in the house we were living in with the English teacher P'Ray and her family drew pictures of me and wrote in Thai that I was beautiful (once again, I had to believe P'Ray on this one, it really could say anything). She then drew a picture of Brian, her and me with a house in the background. P'Ray explained that this girl was not in fact her daughter, but that both of her parents had died and that she had just taken her in. She said that the picture said that she would like for Brian and I to be her parents. It was one of the hardest moments we have had so far in terms of realizing the suffering of some of these kids, in the poorest part of Thailand. On a lighter note, we also received a portrait drawn of Brian and I from these three girls that take us to lunch everyday in the canteen. Written at the top in English was " When you leave, I will miss you forever, I promise. Love forever." Rather intense seeing that this was given to us after sharing only two lunches with these girls (they have since requested a photo of Brian and I for them to keep).
Our fame recently reached new heights when we spent a weekend in Ubon Ratchathani for the Candle Festival there. This is one of the biggest festivals in Thailand celebrating the Buddhist monks and Ubon holds the largest parade/party of all. When we arrived at the parade we took our place near some of these giant floats made of wax that were candles to be offered at the temple. Within the first 30 minutes, 3 random Thai people had asked to take a photo with us. Then it became a regular thing. Either we would catch people taking photos from across the street or people would ask to take photos with us about every 5 minutes. Then as the day progressed and we started walking around, people would line up waiting to ask us questions (practicing their English) and then they would take a photo. At one point we were surrounded by about 15 Thai people and their was this father who started grabbing at our arms saying "my son wants to take a picture with you." It was crazy and honestly really exhausting. By the end of the day we were trying to cover our faces just to get out of there and people still chased after us. Brian said that now he can see why celebrities get so fed up with photographers, but we decided if we were making millions of dollars, we may have less of a problem with it.
When we return, if you could treat us like mini celebrities, that would REALLY make the transition easier. Thanks! B&B
Monday, July 30, 2007
Brigid's most embarassing story
Teachers in Thailand have it made (I have already suggested to my sister that she move here and teach and that goes for Julie and Pam too. Although Jules may not have the same kind of entertaining stories that she has now, I know she could get used to how Thai teachers are treated). At any point a teacher can ask a student to do pretty much anything. If a group of students are playing a game a teacher simply has to walk up to them and then the youngest student in the group will leave so the teacher can play. If a teacher would like a chair or some water, they simply ask a student to go get it for them. The teachers are served lunch by the students who sit and watch them eat, ready to refill water or any food at any time. A teacher can even see a student at the market, outside of school grounds, and have said student carry their groceries for them regardless of what the student is doing. It is amazing and Brian and I have been lucky enough to experience this kind of treatment.
However, as wonderful as all of this is, it is nothing compared to how we are treated when we are with the director of our school. He treats us like a combination of his children and his trophies which he shows off to his other director friends.
The other weekend, Brian and I went to Sisaket to watch the students play footsong (indoor soccer with 5 people on each team and boundaries, very entertaining) and badmitton (not so entertaining as you can imagine). We were there with the teachers only and sat in the stands and really enjoyed cheering our students on. We even went out to a Thai disco with the teachers and drank whiskey and water which is apparently the drink of choice. The disco was pretty interesting and was more like a concert with the same band, but about 7 revolving singers and back up dancers who changed costumes everytime they were on stage. And Thai modesty definitely went out the window with these costumes of mini skirts and basically bra tops. Why I love Brian is because it wasn't the costumes that got his attention as much as it was that the women lacked any rhythm. It really bothered him to the point he said that he couldn't watch any more and that he was ready to immediately start teaching dancing at our school in order to stop this kind of tragedy from happening again. (Side note: we have since taught our students American dances including, but not limited to the water sprinkler, the shopping cart and in honor of Mike Ferrante, the Young Jocs "It's going down" motorcycle move from the video. We have pictures don't worry!)
But I digress, The Sisaket sports fesitival was a week long thing where the students slept on the floor of the gym and then got up in the morning to participate (again, this was something that bothered Brian terribly because he thought "this is no way to get ready for a game"). We spent the weekend with the teachers and then later in the week the director wanted to take us to see Thai boxing. When we arrived we went to sit with our students in the stands, but the director shook his head and pointed to these leather couches in the centerof the stadium. We sat there and were fed and provided water throughout the whole event. We were very comfortable with a fan blowing on us although it remained 99 F in the stadium. The director had the announcer tell the whole crowd that we were there which received big cheers from our students. As we watched I adjusted in my seat and realized I was sweating more than I had realized, but thought that it couldn't be too bad. I kind of whispered to Brian that I thought that the back of my legs were sweating where I was sitting on leather (who thought LEATHER was a good idea! And these couches are at ALL big events). I stood up slightly and I will never forget Brian's face when I turned around. It was a combination of laughing and sheer panic. I was not sweating a little, I had legitimate sweat marks from my bum to the middle of my hamstring. I did not know what to do so I adjusted myself so just the very edge of my butt was on the couch (you can imagine how awkward this looked). The I slid myslef awkwardly to the concrete seats next to the couches claiming they were "more comfortable." Then I thought I would make a run for the bathroom while the director went to go talk to a friend. So I slid off the couch made a run for the wall and shimmied along it (all the while Brian is watching and laughing). I turn the corner and there is the director and he wants to introduce me to his friends. I am not sure if anyone noticed, but I do know that directly after that interaction it was the director's idea to leave the Thai boxing stadium. I was so grateful when we finally got into the car and then he stopped and said "time for volleyball." Brian and I somehow managed a way for me to cover the sweat with my bag and a hankerchief (I am still not sure how we managed this, but thank you Greg Bruce and Talia for suggesting bringing the hankerchiefs). And of course , to add insult to injury, I get in there and they offer me hot coffee. The only thing that made me forget about the sweating was the fact that this was not just volleyball, but it was gay volleyball. I am not sure how to describe these young boys to you, but there was a lot of very stereotypical gay men movements, high pitched screaming and running around literally flapping their arms like fairies after every point. It was like nothing we have ever seen and certainly not at a sporting event featuring 16-18 year old boys. Anyhow, by the end of the match the sweat had dried and we returned home.
On the way back, the director randomly stopped and bought us icecream. I took it as a sign that he had noticed my over heating. Brian isn't so sure, but we will never know because it isn't the Thai way to embarrass a guest like that.
However, as wonderful as all of this is, it is nothing compared to how we are treated when we are with the director of our school. He treats us like a combination of his children and his trophies which he shows off to his other director friends.
The other weekend, Brian and I went to Sisaket to watch the students play footsong (indoor soccer with 5 people on each team and boundaries, very entertaining) and badmitton (not so entertaining as you can imagine). We were there with the teachers only and sat in the stands and really enjoyed cheering our students on. We even went out to a Thai disco with the teachers and drank whiskey and water which is apparently the drink of choice. The disco was pretty interesting and was more like a concert with the same band, but about 7 revolving singers and back up dancers who changed costumes everytime they were on stage. And Thai modesty definitely went out the window with these costumes of mini skirts and basically bra tops. Why I love Brian is because it wasn't the costumes that got his attention as much as it was that the women lacked any rhythm. It really bothered him to the point he said that he couldn't watch any more and that he was ready to immediately start teaching dancing at our school in order to stop this kind of tragedy from happening again. (Side note: we have since taught our students American dances including, but not limited to the water sprinkler, the shopping cart and in honor of Mike Ferrante, the Young Jocs "It's going down" motorcycle move from the video. We have pictures don't worry!)
But I digress, The Sisaket sports fesitival was a week long thing where the students slept on the floor of the gym and then got up in the morning to participate (again, this was something that bothered Brian terribly because he thought "this is no way to get ready for a game"). We spent the weekend with the teachers and then later in the week the director wanted to take us to see Thai boxing. When we arrived we went to sit with our students in the stands, but the director shook his head and pointed to these leather couches in the centerof the stadium. We sat there and were fed and provided water throughout the whole event. We were very comfortable with a fan blowing on us although it remained 99 F in the stadium. The director had the announcer tell the whole crowd that we were there which received big cheers from our students. As we watched I adjusted in my seat and realized I was sweating more than I had realized, but thought that it couldn't be too bad. I kind of whispered to Brian that I thought that the back of my legs were sweating where I was sitting on leather (who thought LEATHER was a good idea! And these couches are at ALL big events). I stood up slightly and I will never forget Brian's face when I turned around. It was a combination of laughing and sheer panic. I was not sweating a little, I had legitimate sweat marks from my bum to the middle of my hamstring. I did not know what to do so I adjusted myself so just the very edge of my butt was on the couch (you can imagine how awkward this looked). The I slid myslef awkwardly to the concrete seats next to the couches claiming they were "more comfortable." Then I thought I would make a run for the bathroom while the director went to go talk to a friend. So I slid off the couch made a run for the wall and shimmied along it (all the while Brian is watching and laughing). I turn the corner and there is the director and he wants to introduce me to his friends. I am not sure if anyone noticed, but I do know that directly after that interaction it was the director's idea to leave the Thai boxing stadium. I was so grateful when we finally got into the car and then he stopped and said "time for volleyball." Brian and I somehow managed a way for me to cover the sweat with my bag and a hankerchief (I am still not sure how we managed this, but thank you Greg Bruce and Talia for suggesting bringing the hankerchiefs). And of course , to add insult to injury, I get in there and they offer me hot coffee. The only thing that made me forget about the sweating was the fact that this was not just volleyball, but it was gay volleyball. I am not sure how to describe these young boys to you, but there was a lot of very stereotypical gay men movements, high pitched screaming and running around literally flapping their arms like fairies after every point. It was like nothing we have ever seen and certainly not at a sporting event featuring 16-18 year old boys. Anyhow, by the end of the match the sweat had dried and we returned home.
On the way back, the director randomly stopped and bought us icecream. I took it as a sign that he had noticed my over heating. Brian isn't so sure, but we will never know because it isn't the Thai way to embarrass a guest like that.
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