Kalasin Bound

Our month of orientation in Bangkok is over, and I’m now sitting on a plane bound for Udon Thani, where my host teacher will pick me up, and we'll head off to Kalasin. So I guess my Fulbright journey really begins today. I’ll begin teaching on Monday; I have no idea what I’ll be teaching (besides it being something English-related), I don’t know what my weekly schedule is, and I don’t know how many kids there will be per class and how many of those kids will actually show up. I don’t really know what topics I should cover, or what I should do for my first day, but if I learned anything from the past month, it’s that it’s probably going to be okay, and I'll probably be doing a lot of improvisation.

We’ve had a week of practical teaching in Bangkok, where we taught at a Mathayom school (high school equivalent) in Nonthaburi. Tiff and I taught an amazing class of 18 M3 (9th grade equivalent) students; we played games throughout the week, taught them the Macarena, and sang Taylor Swift songs together. (Never have I seen a group of people so united in their love for Taylor Swift.)

Day 1: quick mid-teaching selfie, Day 2: daily pre-teaching breakfast sandwich, Day 3: taught our class how to use "that's fire," "that slaps," and "that's mid," and Day 4.

The week was honestly smooth-sailing, and I’m anticipating a bit of a shock once I start teaching in Kalasin, where I’ll be teaching on my own, there won’t be any AC, and the English levels across students will vary significantly. Regardless, I’m so grateful for having the opportunity to gently ease into teaching in Thailand.

Some highlights from practical teaching:

• Our week of teaching was during school vacation, so all the students that showed up were there because they wanted to spend a week of their time off learning English with us. So the fact that we had a full class show up each day was a highlight on its own.

• Our daily break: During our scheduled 10 minute break each day, Tiff and I would circle around the classroom, chatting individually with students. One on one, they were much more willing to speak up. One of the students was incredibly shy about speaking in English to me, and I tried encouraging her by speaking a bit of my broken Thai. I told her, what if I speak in Thai to you and you can speak English to me? And just like that, we began to have a (very basic) conversation. When I got up to leave, I told her, susu, and she replied, keep fighting!

• There is definitely a correlation between how much the students are willing to participate and how much Tiff and I are willing to embarrass ourselves in front of the classroom. I would have never thought that I'd be standing in front of a classroom doing a Just Dance routine or singing and doing the Macarena to Taylor Swift songs. But the moment we put ourselves out there, all the students would be so much more engaged and willing to participate.

• Not a classroom highlight, but lesson prepping was always the best with Tiff. Even when, or maybe especially when, we lesson prepped late at night in a sleep-deprived, slightly delirious state.

• Even though we were only there for a week, spending eight hours with a group of students is quite a bit of time; the tears and hugs and promises to keep in touch on the last day were definitely bittersweet. Our attempt of getting anonymous feedback from our students turned into really adorable notes from all of them.

On the note of hard goodbyes, I had my last Muay Thai session yesterday. To everyone’s surprise, Singhao showed up wearing full athletic attire, and after warming up, called me into the ring. When Kru Mai tried handing him pads, he shook his head and said he wanted gloves. So, I got in the ring and sparred with a 77 year old former Muay Thai champion. We were laughing the whole time, but it was actually pretty intense, and Singhao would laugh and cheer whenever he landed a punch.

Kru Mai is always teaching and giving feedback, and yesterday was probably the most he's coached. I always listen so intensely and usually pick up around 5-10% of what he’s saying. Sometimes Non’s there to translate, and other times I just nod and repeat some of his words back to him. Yesterday, I think he was talking both technique and philosophy, so my comprehension dropped to around 3%, but Tiff and I pieced some things together with context clues and Non’s help. It was a pretty inspirational last session. After practice, the four of us went to find Singhao, and he gifted Tiff and I elephant pants and gave a really sweet speech on how he would miss us so much and that we were his grandchildren. I had written two cards for Singhao and Kru Mai (in Thai– which required a lot of help from Google Translate and Non, but I am nonetheless proud), and we got Singhao a little handcuff keychain and Kru Mai a Muay Thai glove keychain. When we gave Singhao his gift, he gave a delighted laugh and pulled out a real pair of handcuffs from his bag, explaining how he used to use them a lot.

Fianl selfie with Singaho + guess which one's the real handcuff

My last meal with everyone was Pad See Ew, Tiff had Khai Jiao, and both the Nons got Pad Kra Pao. Two of the women who are always sitting by the street food vendor insisted on giving us a plate of Kai Jeow Cha Om, which we shared, along with Singhao's usual bags of pineapples and little red bean pancakes Singhao brought.

Some highlights from Muay Thai:

• Sparring! When we first started sparring at practices, it was always just boxing, but one day I asked Non to teach me how to spar Muay Thai, and since then, we would do a few rounds of boxing and Muay Thai each day. I thought my shins were ready for sparring since I had been kicking the bag everyday, but that was probably the most naive thought I’ve ever had. My first day going shin to shin with Non and little Non (who actually have shins of steel) gave me a pretty good collection of bruises. I even had a foot imprint on my leg the next day; when I showed my bruises to little Non, he got such a kick out of it that he wanted to take a picture with me. Since then, I’ve been bringing shin guards to practice. My goal for the end of the year: to have shins of steel.

• Meeting new people: Every now and then, a new student (usually Non’s friend) will show up at practice, and I’ll be able to work with them. It’s such an interesting experience sparring with people I can barely hold a conversation with, and I’ve really begun mastering nonverbal communication through gestures and sound effects.

• Each time the 6-7 year olds are there, I'm always summoned to a game of tag at the end of practice. I'll run around the tables, chasing them as they laugh and scream, honestly struggling to keep up with them. During practice, Kru Mai calls me over to work with them, and I try to teach them using a mix of Thai and English.

• Little Non’s been getting, as Tiff and I like to say, a bit too comfortable with us. He is nothing like the shy little 13 year old boy I met on the first day. One day at practice, he filled his mouth up with water before sparring, and spit it all out at me the moment we started the first round, which resulted in me chasing him around the ring and him dying of laughter and half apologizing. I used to depend so much on Non to help me translate and communicate with little Non, but I’ve been to a few sessions where by the end of practice it’ll just be me and little Non, and I think we’ve established a pretty good form of communication. He’ll show me random pictures and TikToks which don’t need much explaining and make funny faces and goof around.

• Post practice dinners: Each day after practice, we’ll go to Singhao’s ticketing booth to eat dinner. It’s always some combination of me, Tiff, Non, little Non, and Singhao, and on the day that we’re all there, we borrow an extra chair from the street vendor and squeeze around Singhao's tiny table. We all eat our plates of rice and noodles, along with the bags of pineapple Singhao always buys.

• Post dinner walks: One of my favorite moments from Bangkok is walking back to the hotel with Non when it’s pouring and the streets are flooded. There’s something about trudging through water and getting soaked in the rain, which feels so refreshing after being soaked in sweat.

The people who were strangers to me on my very first day are now familiar faces after a short month: the woman running the street food vendor is always frying up something that smells delicious, although we always get cough attacks when she throws in a handful of chili peppers and the smoke drifts our way. I wai to the person working at the parking permit booth before Singhao when I walk by. A few other familiar faces (usually Singhao's friends) always pop in to say hi, some of them talking to me in Thai, some in English, and even some in Mandarin. It’s crazy to me that I've stumbled upon this small community in Bangkok; I can’t hold too long of a conversation in Thai, most of the time just reciting my usual speech of where I’m from and what I’m doing in Thailand, yet everyone still welcomed me with such open arms. The final goodbyes were bittersweet, and I honestly didn't realize how sad I would be to leave that small community I've found, but the fact that I am makes me so much more grateful for each one of them.

A month ago, I felt so thrown into the chaos of Bangkok– I was suddenly in a bustling city with a group of 17 other ETAs (plus Sam!), and I felt like my social battery always had to be fully on. I was always talking to people, and while it was overwhelming at first, I definitely found a balance and adjusted to it. Even when I went back to my hotel room, Tiff and I would stay up late chatting, and we would start our early mornings together. I got used to seeing familiar faces in the lobby and catching up with the other ETAs over breakfast. I got used to the delicious hotel meals and the easy access to all different types of cuisines and anything I needed to buy.

Some of the delicious Montien Hotel lunches

Now, I'll be moving into a house to live by myself in a community tucked in rural Thailand where few people speak English. There are a million things to be nervous about, but there are also a million things to be excited about. I'm so excited to meet all the people who will be my community for the next year. It's crazy to think that there are people in Kalasin who will probably be some of my closest friends in a year, yet I don't even know that they exist right now. I can't wait to build friendships, meet all my students, and explore all the local shops and restaurants. I want to explore Thailand's greenery, improve my Thai, and maybe even build up a bit of a spice tolerance. I have absolutely no idea what will happen in the next year, and I'm so excited by the thought of that.