First days in Chiang Rai

PHOTOS


I'm sitting in our kitchen, listening to some birds chirping and our neighbor's daughters running around with a giant periwinkle umbrella. Every now and then, the little girls peek into the window and stare at me. When I make eye contact with them, they squeal and run away. Sometimes I can get a "sawatdeeka" out of them before they flee.

I'm in Chiang Rai. And so far, things have been great.

I was nervous about coming here. It was another big step out of my comfort zone. When I was preparing to leave the U.S., I knew that I would have a month of relative hand-holding in Bangkok - a city I correctly predicted was not too difficult to manage and adjust to - with 10 other American girls my age who were all going through the same emotional highs and lows I was. It is a modern, bustling city with every amenity available. It was, quite simply, knowable, familiar almost. Chiang Rai was not. Teaching at Princess Chulabhorn's College was not. Being in a provincial town was not. In the days leading up to our departure from Bangkok, our nerves and anxiety ran high, and I was certainly not an exception.

Kelly, P'Noi and I got on the plane for Chiang Rai early Monday morning. As we began our descent I could see extensive plains and field of grass and crops. And eventually the city. For someone who has never lived abroad in anything other than a gigantic metropolis (i.e. Cairo) the rural sights were a visual reminder of how new this all would be.

A teacher from the PCC’s English Department picked me up at the airport with a van and a driver. She showed me the house, briefly, and she took me to the English Department office on campus. There I met Jessie, my housemate who is here with the Teach in Thailand CIEE program.  We chatted, they showed me around a bit, and I spent the rest of the day in the office and around the school getting the hang of it all.

That evening, the Chinese teacher Ong and another Thai teacher (P’tip) took Jessie and me to a Loi Krathong festival in Chiang Rai. Loi Kratong is a festival that celebrates light in Thailand We bought lanterns to float down the river as fireworks exploded all around us. It was totally safe, Mom.

The next day, at roughly 8 a.m. I found myself in front of a microphone, standing in the school’s courtyard, addressing the entire school in Thai. I said:

Sawatdeeka. Yindee tee dai rootjak. Dichan cheu Alison, namsagoon Hollenbeck. Bpen kon American, ma jaak Seattle. Dee jai tee ma tee Chiang Rai. Kop khun ka.

Or:

Hello. It is nice to meet you. My name is Alison, surname Hollenbeck. I am an American from Seattle. I am happy to be in Chiang Rai. Thank you!

The vice principal of the school then gave both Jessie and me a bouquet of roses and we posed for photographs.

Then it was off to my first lesson.

I had planned to do a replica of a lesson we did in Bangkok, about introducing yourself that was heavy on repetition. But, shortly after stepping into my first class, I realized that my lesson would be far too easy. I changed all of my plans for the second half of the class on the spot, and it worked out fine, I think.

I teach Mattayom (Secondary grades) 4, 5 and 6; which are the equivalent of 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grades back in the U.S. Every grade is divided into classes that stay together, in the same room all day. They are numbered in order of their academic ability, so M5/1 is a more advanced class (in theory) than an M5/4 class. I’m not sure how this blatant ranking of every student in the school works out for the kids, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. The same thing certainly happens in the American school system as well, but perhaps not as… bluntly? It throws me off a bit but it is quite interesting nonetheless.

Each week I see all of the M4, M5 and M6 classes once. In other words, I see more than 350 students every week. Like it wasn’t hard enough to learn all their names already.

Anyway… back to the narrative. The second day, P’Noi from Fulbright was still here, so we went to the Wat Rong Khun, a famous temple here in Chiang Rai known for it’s unique design and architecture. It was closed so we couldn’t go in, but it was still beautiful. I am definitely going back. Here are some photos:

Later that night we went to the second day of the Loi Krathong festival, and saw a huge parade complete with traditional Thai dancing, fire dancing and enormous (gaudy) and beautiful floats.

On Thursday I taught M4/1, a class that teachers had told me was particular advanced. They walked in 20 minutes late from chemistry, very apologetic. “Sorry teacher, but it was unavoidable,” one student said. Ha. Ok. Another advanced class. But it went fine and we actually had a lot of fun. After class, another student (who had proffered “master of ceremonies” when I asked them to list jobs they knew) approached me and asked me if I had plans for the evening. No, I said, wondering what was coming next. He went on to invite me to a huge festival put on by the M4 students that evening at 6:00. There will be dancing and activities, he said, and I am the master of ceremonies. Now, who could say no to that?

A little after 6:00 Jessie and I strolled into the huge performance hall on campus. It was a sea of 7^th, 8^th and 9^th graders. I mean, a SEA. A loud one, too. Plenty of shrieking was coming out of what we assumed was a Haunted House. The M4 students in charge lit up when we walked in and excitedly ushered us into an activity room. One student took a look at me and then ran off. Great, I thought, I’m frightening the children. But lo and behold he returned with a student from my M4/1 class (the “unavoidable” one), who was to serve as our guide for the evening, as he spoke the best English. He escorted us to our seats so we could watch the shows in the “teacher section.” It felt really weird being given this kind of honorary treatment, but I am, I guess, a teacher.

The M4 class put on a great show that was full of drama, dancing and elaborate videos. There was a ladyboy routine, a hip hop dance, and then (I think) an attempt at the hula? It was a little unclear to me. The MC broke into English to explain to me what was going on, but even then, I was still a little confused. It was hilarious, well-done and overall, very impressive. I found myself laughing quite a bit. Here are some photos:

1. What I assume are the "hunky" M4 boys doing a hilarious dance (I was told later that it is a dance that only girls do). There was much screaming during this performance.
2. The ladyboys strutting their stuff.
3. The MC's - including one of my outstanding students!

Friday night a former American teacher was in town with his family, so of course the entire English department had to go out to dinner with them! We went to this nice restaurant on the river and stayed for hours! When I first sat down, the teachers asked me, “Alison, do you drink beer?” Unsure of what the right answer was, I nodded shyly. “Wahoo!” sums up the response I got, basically. So we got a beer tower and sat around for hours talking and laughing. It was really fun to get to know the other teachers outside of the office and school setting.

Anyway, that’s more than enough for now. Sawatdeeka!