Competition... Again?

Before I came to Thailand, I had no idea that there could be so much formal competition in one school year. In America, of course, we have spelling bees, geography bees, and numerous sports and games during various seasons. For the most part, however, these take place outside school hours – especially the practices – and teaching continues as usual.

Not so here. The school year runs from May to March, and includes a bewildering assortment of contests. December is when things really get going, though. At each school, students representing the different grade levels (pre-school, grades 1-3, and grades 4-6) are selected to represent their school in a multitude of subjects and activities. English, Thai, math, and science, of course. Art (clay sculpture, drawing, painting, fruit sculpture, etc), garden design, and poetry. Thai pop singing, English pop singing, Thai traditional dance, and pop dancing. And of course, sports (soccer, volleyball, betong, dakrow, and track), which require their own competition days.

Student spend day after day practicing at school. Classes are cancelled, of course, and at many schools this means that those students who aren’t competing in any subject spend their time running around the playground. Teachers don’t teach, because they are coaching the competitors or attending meetings to get information about contest details.

Finally, the local level academic and sports competitions take place. Last week, our town schools competed from Wednesday through Friday. This week, the village schools are competing today and tomorrow. It’s a fairly large operation. (These days did not include the sports.) Winners will go on next week to compete at the school district level. Winners from there will compete at the provincial level, and up on until reaching the national level.

On the one hand, perhaps there’s nothing wrong with encouraging some competition in education. Kids who are skilled can get some recognition and experience. Parents can cheer for their kids and their community. On the other hand, it seems ridiculous to me to essentially stop teaching as early as January. Also, some of the contest categories are, in my opinion, completely inappropriate for elementary school students. Namely, the "dancer" competition.

I think it’s great that a large number of students learn traditional Thai dancing. However, in recent years, kids are learning and competing in a new style of dance. A style that, if I had a small daughter, I wouldn’t want her to do in her own house, much less on a stage in a skimpy costume in front of half the neighborhood. Thai people call this style of dancing "dancer," which I guess is some adapted language from America, except that in America, no school child could dance like this at anything remotely resembling a school event.

So, last Friday, I suffered through a good six hours of watching young girls (ages 5-12) shake their hips seductively. Most of them don’t have hips yet, of course, but you wouldn’t have known that from the costumes. I’m not sure why I didn’t just walk out, but my school was participating, after all. At one point, during a particularly disturbing dance by a group of 6th graders, I asked my co-teacher, "When your daughter gets to be that age, will you want her to dance like this?" "Of course," she responded. "Thai people aren’t good at showing their emotions. This helps girls learn confidence." Since the music was blaring, I really had no good response.

[The photos here are actually from the 2006 town school sports competitions. Lest anyone think I’m overreacting, let me make it clear that these costumes are nothing compared to the "dancers."]

Meditation

Both my schools are "Buddhist Way" schools. "Buddhist Way" is a current educational initiative in Thailand aimed at teaching students about moderation, thoughtful action, and diligence. It has a variety of interesting implementations.

At both schools, as well as at both of Robert's schools (which are not actually "Buddhist Way" schools), students participate in daily meditation. After lunch and noon hour recess, they gather in the hallways for several minutes of silent reflection, legs crossed and hands in the proper position.

Because Thai kids are pretty much like kids anywhere, though, many of them enjoy this opportunity to make faces at their friends and throw little bits and pieces of things at each other if the teachers aren't watching. I usually enjoy the opportunity to open Newsweek for a few minutes.

Wednesday Lunches

Sometime during our early weeks at our site, I was sitting at a desk at the school district office and a woman came up to me. She introduced herself as "Pi Noy" and asked me a list of rather complex English questions. Upon further conversation, and discovering that I was a vegetarian, she invited Robert and I to her home for a vegetarian lunch. I can't remember what it was, but it was absolutely delicious.

For nearly two years now, Pi Noy has from time to time made lunch for us on Wednesdays, our office day. She never makes the same food twice. We've had kao soi curry, spicy tofu "laab" salad, "rad na" (noodles with gravy) over omelettes, and lots of other fancy dishes. Shown in this photo is a recent meal of eggrolls with peanut sauce. Pork-filled for Robert, and tofu-filled for me. I ate way too many!

Noni & Mimi

On Friday night, I was chopping garlic for the kidney beans and two small creatures made their way towards our patio. Not wanting to scare them away, I quietly got some kids' books off our shelf, carried them outside, and set them on the bench. The books were instantly snatched, perused, loudly discussed, and played with.

Sunday evening while I was chopping garlic for the lentils, the same two small creatures approached. This time, when finished with the books, they came into the house and looked at our photos and cards on the walls. Robert got out a geography kit that we were given a while back, and they had great fun playing with the kid-friendly binoculars.

Both girls live two houses down from us, at the home of Kroo Deeah and his wife Pi Min. Mimi, the older girl (grade 2), is the daughter of Pi Min's sister, who I've never met. Noni, age 3 (though nearly as big as Mimi), is the daughter of Pi Min's daughter, who I've also never met. In other words, Mimi lives with her aunt & uncle, and Noni lives with her grandparents, and this is a total of 4 people living in the same house.

I was happy about the visits, because for nearly two years Noni has simply run away in fear anytime I've acknowledged her presence. We seem to have reached a turning point in our neighborly relations over the weekend, so that now she feels free to run in and out of our house at her pleasure. It was quite delightful to be making dinner with the sounds of two girls reading and playing.

Chinese Celebration Meal

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, a Chinese meal was served for the Teachers’ Day lunch. Chinese meals of a certain style are often served at important social functions in Thailand – weddings, housewarming parties, etc. They are very different from what a typical Thai meal for a similar occasion might be.

Last year, I asked my co-teacher if she liked the food served at these meals. She told me that she doesn’t, and that most people in our area don’t. When I asked her why it was served, then, if people would prefer to eat Thai or northern Thai food, she replied that it had to do with status – the Chinese meal is a sign of wealth, so serving one gives the impression that you are well off. (This would explain the 100 baht per person price tag for yesterday’s lunch, which all the teachers were expected to pay. Peace Corps volunteers were served free.)

Anyway, here is a description of yesterday’s meal, which is fairly typical of what you would find at such an occasion:

The first course includes a plate of appetizers, mostly different types of meat. Yesterday, it included pork dumplings, processed pork, baked jerky-style pork, picked eggs, and some pineapple and pickled ginger in the center. Robert says that the jerky-style pork and the dumplings were "pretty good." I refrained from eating any of it, though I did try a pickled egg once about a year ago at the command of a teacher from Robert’s school. I thought it was pretty nasty.

Yesterday’s second course, not pictured, was called "fish stomach soup." However, my co-teacher explained that these days it no longer includes real fish stomach. Instead, it had chicken and pig skin. Robert thought it was "pretty good."

The third course included two dishes: fried rice with pork, and spicy shrimp and pig skin salad. The fried rice was called "American fried rice" because it had raisins added. (I told my co-teacher that we don’t put raisins in fried rice in America, and she laughed.) I should point out here that all of the courses are served on one large plate in the center of the table, and diners serve themselves into small bowls using chopsticks or spoons. Robert says that the spicy shrimp and pig skin salad was "tasty, with a nice mix of flavors and a crunchy texture," and the fried rice "did justice neither to fried rice nor to raisins."

Next came a plate of stir-fried vegetables with shrimp and a flaming pot of tom yam soup. "Tom yam" is a spicy soup made with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf. It is traditionally made with seafood but can be made with other meats, or mushrooms or tofu, as well. Yesterday’s tom yam included squid, fish meat, and processed fish balls. Robert isn’t a big tom yam fan, and thought that one bowl was enough. (I like it when it’s made vegetarian.)

A whole steamed fish, also on a flaming plate, came next, which Robert reports was "ok." And last came a plate of sliced fruit, including guava, papaya, and orange sections. This, finally, I did enjoy a small bit of. I really like guava.

So there is a description of what you might find at a Chinese celebration meal in Thailand. To our great relief, this one did not include Robert’s all-time least favorite food here: chicken feet!

Teachers' Day: A Time for Reflection and Revelry...

Today, January 16, was Teachers’ Day in Thailand. This yearly holiday includes merit-making and fun for educators all across the country. It was our second Teachers’ Day here, and no less interesting than the first.

The merit-making ceremony was scheduled to begin at 8:00, and since we were wearing fancy clothes and hauling two large bags of oranges, our landlord (a prominent local principal) picked us up a few minutes beforehand. We arrived at the school district office and laid out our wares next to the other teachers’ offerings. When the group of 51 monks arrived, they circled the tables, and each teacher carefully placed one of their pre-prepared food items into the alm’s bowl of each monk. Although as non-Buddhists we felt no need to make merit for our future reincarnations, Robert placed our oranges into the bowls while I took photographs, in order to show some participation.

When the monks were finished with their rounds and the white canvas bags were bulging with sticky rice, fruit, ramen noodles and canned sardines, we all moved into the large meeting hall for the next ceremony. To begin, the monks did some chanting and prayers for about an hour, and the crowd of teachers sang a solemn song enumerating moral virtues. This was followed by an awards ceremony. I am pleased to report that both of my co-teachers received awards, one for excellence in teaching social studies and the other for library reading program development, but I didn’t have anything to do with either.

Thais love to take photographs, and the advent of the digital camera has only increased their enthusiasm. Since there was about an hour-long gap between the conclusion of the awards ceremony and the serving of lunch, that time was of course filled with a hyper, crazy photo session. Every possible combination of teachers, principals, teachers and principals, teachers and Peace Corps volunteers, teachers and principals and Peace Corps volunteers, principals and Peace Corps volunteers, and on and on, was duly recorded on memory chips.

Finally, it was time for lunch, and a good thing because I was quite hungry. But oh, disappointment! It was a Chinese party meal of which I could eat nothing (description to follow tomorrow). Oh well. The whiskey was poured, the young hired women in increasingly revealing outfits began singing karaoke, and the atmosphere turned into one of loud revelry. We escaped with my co-teacher at 1pm and I came home to eat a cheese sandwich, but when Robert went to the market just before 5pm to buy our vegetables for dinner, he ran into a few inebriated teachers who were just leaving the festivities. They reported that the party was still rolling.

Sand Sea Resort Review

In the life of many a Peace Corps Volunteer, there comes that moment when parents come to visit, and they finally treat you to many of the luxuries you have not been able to afford on your living stipend in your country of service. Such it was for us at the Sand Sea Resort on Railay Beach West in Krabi, which we visited last August, courtesy of my mother.

Railay is only accessible by boat; for us, a longtail boat chartered by the resort. We were whisked away across the water, past brilliant green karst bluffs and into a light rainstorm. Adventure! Upon our arrival at Railay, we followed a cart full of our bags over a short path and into the Sand Sea gardens.

Bungalows line either side of a well-tended path meandering towards the pool, and a moment later, the beach. Although our bed was a bit hard, the sparkling clean shower and comfortable wooden porch chairs more than made up for it. Each morning we enjoyed a buffet breakfast overlooking the water.

For meals other than breakfast, however, I recommend eating elsewhere. Railay Bay Resort next door has better food and better service. Due to Muslim ownership, neither resort serves alcohol, but there are plenty of small beachside bars to fill the gap.

Days can be spent swimming, snorkeling (many guided trips are offered from shops around the resort, including the fantastic "sunset snorkel" ), rock climbing, wandering over to Phra Nang Beach, or just sitting by the pool. In the evenings, you might run into an impromptu game of beach volleyball at sunset, or perhaps walk the five minutes over to Railay Beach East for bar movies and a livelier crowd. There’s no rush to life at Railay – it’s all about enjoying the laid-back, mellow atmosphere. Pure vacation.

Sand Sea Resort has onsite laundry and a mini-mart, as well as relatively affordably internet access.

Funeral

Last night we went to a funeral for the son of a school principal in our town. Age 24, an engineering graduate, he committed suicide last week in Bangkok. We’ve been to many funerals in Thailand, but they’ve all been for old people, so this had some similarities and some differences. [Note: By "funeral," I am referring to what we would think of as a "wake" in America. In northern Thailand, up to seven nights of funeral are sponsored by different community groups and take place at the house. After the funeral nights are finished, there is a daytime cremation ceremony at the local crematorium. Robert has been to a cremation, but I have not.]

Last night’s funeral was sponsored by the school district, the police department, the hospital, and one of the outlying villages, so many teachers and principals were in attendance. The basic format was the same as the other funerals I have attended: everyone was dressed in black and white; a photo display of the deceased was prominently set; representatives of each group presented bouquets and money to the family in front of the casket; the monks arrived after 8pm and did long chantings and a sermon; the formal ceremony was followed by snacks (in this case, oranges, banana chips and Thai herbs juice); and there was little display of sadness or grief.

This was a much more somber event than the other funerals I have attended, though. Instead of chatting loudly during the sermon, most people seemed to be listening, or at least sitting quietly. There were few cell phones ringing, and only one extended phone conversation. I’m not usually able to hear much of the monk’s preaching because of all the distraction, but last night much of it was very clear, and I clarified main points with a Thai friend afterward.

The sermon seemed to focus specifically on suicide and on what we in America would call depression. Robert and I agreed, later, though, that we wish it could have had a different slant. I don’t see how blaming the young man for his sadness, or implying that he hadn’t done enough good deeds, is respectful of the family or of anyone else who might be similarly suffering. I think that part of the issue is that in Thailand, depression doesn’t "exist." It’s an unacceptable state. (We once heard a Thai person comment that she couldn’t understand why someone who had graduated from college and had a good job could be suffering from depression, because she clearly had enough food to eat.) It made us appreciate the wealth of resources that exist in America for people who have mental or emotional problems.

It was also hard to hear that in Thai Buddhism, a person who has committed suicide is permanently removed from the circle of death and rebirth, and will therefore never have an opportunity to reach Nirvana. Most other sins can be forgiven, it seems, even if you have to be reborn as a lowly animal for a while, but not suicide. Though not a believer in reincarnation myself, I feel a great deal of sympathy for a family who, in addition to grieving for the loss of their loved one, doesn’t even have the comfort of believing they might be moving on to a better place.

We know of three suicides within our small community of teachers, principals, and their families – two of which occurred since our arrival in this town, and one that was not too many years before. All were individuals in their 20s or 30s. It seems to me to be an high number for such a small group of people. Part of me wonders if the attitude towards depression in Thai society is one that results in a higher incidence of suicide, because people are not able to find help for what could be a treatable condition. To quote Robert, the experience last night left us with mixed feelings: sadness for the family who lost their son, some anger at the monk for the content of his sermon, and gratefulness to be part of a society – Americans – in which depression can be recognized and treated.

Children's Day

Yesterday was National Children’s Day in Thailand. I think the original purpose was to focus on kids: their potential, their right to be treated well, their child-like qualities, etc. I attended celebrations at my school on Friday and at the local government office yesterday.

Many of the activities were pleasant to observe. Kids might volunteer to go up on stage and answer questions, such as, "How do you help out at your house?" or "What do you want to be when you grow up?" They always got prizes for being brave enough to give an answer. A group of my fifth and sixth grade boys did a traditional northern Thai dance at the government office on Saturday morning that I thought was very impressive. Not only were they good dancers for being so young, but they also showed that they had been working hard on it. (See photo.)

Other activities were less enjoyable. Many of the kids’ performances involved heavily made-up girls in mildly provocative outfits, lip synching to Thai pop music and shaking their hips far too suggestively. I don’t know why this is so popular in Thailand, and I don’t know why it is done at elementary school. (With some reluctance, I’ve put up a photo of one of these groups of girls. I don’t really like to promote it in any way, but I wanted to show an example. It’s from among the less suggestive outfits I’ve seen.)

On the whole, though, it was nice to see kids in Thailand getting a little more recognition and approval than they usually do. At school, teachers often treat kids as an afterthought or even a nuisance – school is really more about the status of the teachers than about the education of the students. (Some schools are worse about this than others.) But on Children’s Day, it seemed like for one day the kids got to be front and center. That was a refreshing change.

Sponsorship

Before I say anything, let me emphasize that this is NOT a sales plug! My goal is just to inform.

Back in the USA, I often saw commercials on late-night television for charitable organizations of one sort or another, trying to convince viewers to sponsor a child in a third-world country. I never really bought into those things, because who knows where the money ends up?

But as it turns out, there is an office of the Christian organization World Vision here in our little northern Thai town, and they do a lot of good work. At my Monday-Thursday school (pictured), all of the students are sponsored by families through World Vision. At my Tuesday-Friday school, about two-thirds of the students are sponsored.

What does this mean for my kids? Every year, World Vision buys their notebooks, pencils, and other basic supplies. World Vision pays for their school uniforms. If you look closely at the boys' black and orange jackets, you'll see that they have a World Vision label -- the sponsored kids sometimes get additional items of clothing for certain types of weather. World Vision buys books and sometimes even furniture for the school library and other rooms. Last year, when my Tuesday-Friday school was extensively damaged by the flood, World Vision paid for many replacement items.

Additionally, World Vision will occasionally pay for a field trip for the students. Last year I went with 6th graders from six different local schools to a number of sites around our province, with all fees, transportation, and meals paid for by World Vision. They give scholarships to several students every year for study at high schools in our provincial capital. And, my co-teacher informed me today, they hold a World Vision football (soccer) competition every year.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to sponsor a kid through World Vision. However, I did want to point out that if anyone was considering doing so anyway, I can vouch that it really does work!

Just for Fun

For a little glimpse of what I do on a typical school day, here are some shots of flashcards and student work. The flashcards, as I'm sure is obvious, are "People Adjectives." The kids have a lot of fun with these.

The student work has photos that the kids selected from a folder of magazine cut-outs. After choosing a photo, they "interview" the person in the picture in English. Thus, if you were able to read some of the questions and answers, you might see that the skier's favorite sport is "skiing" and Queen Elizabeth II's favorite food is "chocolate."

Blessings

Back in November, we helped do an English camp at our friend Sean’s site. During a break time, we were hanging out at the home of one of Sean’s counterparts. An old man in the house wanted to give us a blessing before we left.

He tied a string around the left wrist of each one of us while murmuring his wishes that we have good health, good travels, and good remaining time in Thailand. He was very sweet and sincere.
Typically, when you have a string ceremony like this in Thailand, you wear the string until it falls off. The one I currently have on my wrist is from our COS conference in December.

If you can’t tell from the photos, it was yellow shirt day at English camp.

A Great Group of Kids

There are times when being a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand starts to feel rough. Emotionally... It's a difficult culture to adapt to, the weather is challenging (whether hot or cold), and sometimes I don't feel like I'm accomplishing all that much at my "job."

But the 5th and 6th graders at my Monday-Thursday school never fail to bring my spirits up a bit. Perhaps they'll insert random English words we've studied into an otherwise Thai conversation in an amusing way. Perhaps they'll joke about the "kaab moo" (baked pig skin) that Robert offered them one day. Perhaps they'll make fun of my daily breakfast -- oatmeal -- which they find to be amusing both gastronomically and linguistically.

Or perhaps, like today, during a lesson on comparative adjectives, they'll repeatedly insist that OF COURSE I am more beautiful than Tata Young, the Thai singer. And they'll laugh when I tell them that's worth a few bonus points. But they said it even without the bonus points... so there!

The photo was taken on our field trip to the Mae Mo Power Plant in November. Ajaan Warangkana, my co-teacher, is posing in front of the yellow flowers with the kids.

Small Town Life

Sometimes traveling to different parts of Thailand gives us a new perspective on our little town. This past weekend we visited Pai, a hippie-mountain town in Mae Hong Son province, with a group of volunteers. More on that trip later, but for now I’d like to share a couple of rambly tidbits about our rural town.

A guidebook I once read noted that violent movies are popular in Thailand, and the farther away you get from big cities, the more violence you find on TV. This is an accurate description of where we live. Because there isn’t much to do here – no shopping, no movie theater, no major sporting events – entertainment tends to be limited to TV, cockfighting, and alcohol. Lots of alcohol. Frequent holidays and festivals are occasions for variety, and of course for more alcohol as well.

There are many good sides to being out of the big city. We know our neighbors well. It’s easy to get around by bicycle. The air is clear, aside from the smoke from burning fields. I would not have given up the opportunity to experience small town life.

We’re set in a valley surrounded by farmland and then mountains. For security reasons, I’m not allowed to name the area on this blog, but I’ve included a couple of photos from this evening’s bike ride. You might notice the cell phone towers, the smoke rising from harvested rice fields and the Casa Que Pasa t-shirt. Oh, we miss burritos.