Motorbikes

Indeed. Motorbikes are how everyone gets around in the land of smiles. Dek dek (kids) learn how drive motorbikes young. So I got one. James and I each have a motorbike. Our coordinator Kru Lin gave us one of hers and we rented the second one from a local dealer after 30 minutes of haggling and laughing over prices but mostly irrelevant details. He let us rent the Honda bike for three and half months at a price of 5000 baht (about $150). Using these motorbikes, we explore. Gas is cheap. We whip pasts rice fields getting worked by locals with long sinewy shady tweaked out straw hats and big rubber duck boots.  We buzz through small villages on stilts with dog citizens and roosters where the people and the land understand each other and get looks from the locals that can only mean “what in gods name are you doing here?” Well, I’m not sure. But I think it’s to teach English and blend some of this friendly “it’s all good” Thai cultural fabric into the web of my self constructed identity.

James and I are men of adventure so we try to strike deep into the forest vibe and roll around the mountains searching. I guess it could be for a good trail or maybe just a good campsite. There are several national parks up in our neck of the woods so those attract us. Camping and hiking are both good. We visited one park the other day called nanthanburi national park. It was a nice space. I saw some limestone caves the other day.

If you drive these motorbikes, there aren’t really rules. You don’t need any license and you don’t really have to obey traffic laws. I guess you could drive one juggling gasoline soaked elephants while drinking chang beer out of a keg on wheels. I think James and I will go to the top of a mountain next week.

Well to sum up, Thailand is a funny place. 

Nan boat racing

James, Julio (a foreign exchange student from the Philippines who is spending a year at our school) and I spent the Saturday and Sunday of early November visiting some fellow teacher friends in Nan, which is a city about 45 kilometers south of us in Thawangpha. Nan is the capital of our province, and has a bit of a city feel; especially compared to the wild trees, rice fields, and soft lush hills that make up Thawangpha’s night scene. Saturday afternoon we hopped on a bus type of construction and arrived in Nan late afternoon to catch the end of a long day of boat racing.

Each year Nan hosts a fantastic old school boat racing event that spans two weekends and creates quite the buzz. The event is located near the city center on a small portion of the mighty and muddy Nan River and attracts enthusiasts from all over the country. Boats race in a head to head type atmosphere ripping through the water amongst maddening music that could be likened to a medieval romping circus that continuously blasts from towers of speakers populating the concrete seating areas where visitors eat snacks from the hundreds of venders selling their barbequed squid, used leather boots, pad thai, guns, fish, and just about any other necessity you might require on such an afternoon. The boats hold about 30 or more people and are extremely skinny and elegantly designed. Each person on the boat wields a small wooden paddle and the visual experience of watching 30 or 35 people whip these small paddles through the water propelling long dragon decorated boats is uniquely fascinating. I had never seen humans perform such a feat and for a moment I thought I was on another planet watching funny creatures race fantastical red yellow dragonhead boats along a desert river against each other to the deep gongs and wild shouts of wide-eyed onlookers.

Boat racing!

After the boat-racing event James, Julio, and I made our way over to meet up with our friends Katy and Holly. They have a delightfully furnished 3-bedroom house on the outskirts of the city and we immediately dug the place. A couple of other teachers joined us at their relatively sprawling pad, which made for a solid group.

The seven of us headed to a bamboo outdoor indoor restaurant for some Johnny walker red label and interesting live Thai music. The band had a nice setup with lights and was apparently famous throughout Thailand for combining traditional Thai elements with a full rock flavor. More foreign English teachers seemed to roll in as the night advanced and after a few hours we paid for our whiskey and called in quits. James, Julio and I didn’t have a way back to our friend’s house to we started talking to people with trucks. Within 5 minutes we were sitting in the back of a black Honda pickup flying towards our spot while 2 Thai guys up front did the navigating. We easily got rides around to places the whole weekend by very friendly locals who always seemed to insist that we “hop in the back.” This is the customary way to get around in areas away from major cities where there are no taxis.

The next morning we climbed some steps and gazed upon a beautiful temple. A large golden Buddha rested atop and seemed to be casting peaceful vibes down on the entire city of Nan to which he looked over.

James and I then hopped on the back of a truck taxi and as I came back to Thawangpha I realized how nice it was to be able to live in such a peaceful happy place surrounded by nature. The verdant bucolic country vibe of Thawangpha has definitely grown on me since I got here and I think that feeling will only grow as the time slowly waltzes by.

James and I heading back home

First week of school

I rumbled out of bed and ate some rice and a small banana.  James and I then confusingly walked over to the general assembly area (a large soccer field) where the students gather to sing the national anthem each morning. Supposedly, we were supposed to give a speech in Thai to the entire school. Going on these vague whispers, James and I headed over there around 7:50 AM. After a few different Thai teachers spoke it was then our turn to grab the mike.

speaking to the school

I felt like a comedian with very infallible material going up on stage as I looked out on fifteen hundred Thai students and teachers eagerly waiting for me to speak. I knew whatever words I spoke in Thai were going to be a big hit with everyone and that turned out to be just the case as I got a huge laugh after saying “my name is Josh” in Thai. Thai is tricky to speak properly because it’s a language based on tonality. There are 5 tones in Thai and thus each word has roughly 5 different meanings depending on what tone you use with that specific word. For example:

Ki (with a neutral tone) = ride

Ki (with a high tone) = shit

Overall, the speech went well as I managed to give everyone a nice laugh to start the day off.

After the morning assembly my coordinator (Kru Lin) showed me the teacher’s room, which is a nice room on the second floor where a gentle breeze usually rolls through. Moments later, I confidently walked into my first Thai class to teach English. It was a new feeling, but things rolled along smoothly as I slowly introduced myself and played a game here and there.

Kru Lin and I getting her tire fixed

After the first day of teaching I noticed a funny pattern. At the beginning of every class, 1 Thai student yells in a soft mono-tone voice “stand up class” and after all 40+ kids stand up the whole class swings out the words “good morning teacher” “how are you today.” I then say “good morning class” and “I’m doing fine today class thank you.” The mechanical and consistent nature of this daily routine for each class is slightly odd, mechanical, and very consistent.

My school

Teaching over the first week was a success. The days are on the long side and James and I both teach 20 different classes each week with an average of 35-40 kids in each class. Each grade has a ranking system. The “1” ranking classes are the best. They are quarantined off from the rest of campus and have the newest classrooms with the best and most up to date equipment. The next best rank is “8” and the worst rank is “2.” The “2” ranked classrooms are held in caves located 10 kilometers off of campus and can only be reached by a small windy footpath that spins through the hills (slight exaggeration).  Regardless of the rank, the Thai students are generally very respectful and have not given me too much trouble yet.