The end and the beginning

It has been 3 months since I've written. I haven't disappeared into the jungles of Thailand. I've simply been busy teaching my students and loving them more and more each day. This past week is the marker of one year since I have been in Thailand on a Fulbright. We also met the new batch of ETAs coming with ready minds and open hearts to come teach in Thailand. I've met my replacement in the wonderful person of Korin. She is SET UP for success...that's all I have to say. I couldn't have chosen a better person to come and teach at Sawan Anan as a Fulbright ETA. Although I've decided to stay on and teach one more semester (big news!), I can only describe myself this week as having "jai hai" syndrome...translated to "a lost heart," because I cannot deal with the fact that this amazing year of Fulbright has officially come to an end and my fellow sister ETAs are heading off to travel in Southeast Asia before heading back to the homeland. Perhaps I am in denial with all of this, so I've put an invisible barrier between my heart and my head. It has been a very fast year, and the fastest one since college where years seem to be only as long as months. I will reactivate my blog and write as much as I can about these next 5 months in Thailand and my wonderful students and friends. I'll post pictures and write more later.

Rain Rain Rain

It has been raining nonstop for two days now. The air is cooler, but my metal roof sings all night in harmony with the droplets of rain. It is really rainy season now. I've spotted those red, hairy rambutans, bumpy custard apples, brown longans, and red salas at the market. It is also fruit season.

There are also a lot of these:

Everything seems so much more passionate in Thailand including the weather. The heat is so forceful sometimes that it squeezes the sweat out of me like juice from an orange. The thunderstorms are so loud it feels like enemy planes are dropping bombs. The rainstorms are so sudden that one moment, raindrops the size of small pebbles fall hard, and a few minutes later, the sun appears so swiftly that the sky has no choice but color itself up vibrantly.

Wai Kru Day

With Ajahn Kannika, another English teacher on my right

Last Thursday, all classes were cancelled in the morning because of "Wan Wai Kru" which is a day of respect for all teachers. It is a significant day celebrated in most Thai schools where students show respect and appreciation for their teachers by offering them flowers and incense. All the teachers including myself were led to sit on chairs arranged at the school park and students one by one came up to offer us flowers. We would then give them a blessing and wish them well on their studies and their future.

I think that this day is as important for students as the teachers. I felt very appreciated and loved, and I was on cloud nine all day, but I think it is also good for the students, because they were given the opportunity to humble themselves and reflect on how important teachers are in their lives. It was also good for them to partake in this to realize that they are not at the center of the world, that teachers are not there to serve them, but to be part of their lives forever.

Students offering flowers and paying their respect

I was talking to the other foreign English teachers in my department and we all wished something like this existed in America. If American kids could just be a tad bit more humble and realize that not everything exists for their sole benefit, perhaps they can grow up to be better people. Modernization and materialism has eroded respect for teachers in America and these two things are also starting to encroach on Thailand. My host teachers tell me that students are less respectful of teachers these days and their numbers seem to increase each year. Students that are especially smart or talented tend to regard teachers as tools rather than as friends and mentors.

To end on a high note, the tradition of Wai Kru exists and remains strong in Thailand. It is my hope that Thai students continue to remain respectful to and appreciate their teachers always. Wherever I meet my students, they generally would say hello and wai me. I wai them back to recognize them and respect them too. It is a two way relationship showing that we will work and grow together.

Some of the teachers in the foreign languages department