Loi Kratong

So, a week after the food festival there is another festival called Loi Kratong. It takes place on the first full moon of the lunar calendar and in my little town it is an excuse to have a great big party. Somran, one of the Thai teachers at my school who has become a great friend, became my personal tour guide through the events, and even conspired to get me into the parade through town. But I'm getting a head of myself.
As I walked through the morning market (ah yes, I found a new market in town. Not only is there a night market, a Monday and Thursday market, and a weekend market, but there is also a morning market where you can get everything you would ever want in the way of food preparation). So, I was walking through the morning market, and saws dozens of cute little banana boats with flowers, candles, and incense stuck into them every which way. I didn't know too much about the festival yet, but eventually decided to purchase one and have on my desk throughout the day until I knew what to do with it.
At that, Somran saw it and invited me to meet him that night to learn how to make my own, I happily accepted and went out side for the morning announcements which were, I found out, to be more than usual. Every child in the school had a boat and after announcements they walked them to the temple, all 1750 of them, to be blessed by the monks there.
After that, school proceeded as normal until the afternoon sports (it's still sports weeks) which were begun with mock-up parades. I was told it was as practice for the festival tomorrow, but I never saw students in the parade, so who knows.
At the appointed meeting time, 6 o'clock, I went to meet Somran at his home with Ruth Yndra, the Philipina who teaches English to kindergarten students at my school. From there he took us to a little shop/house on the main drag of Nong Chang and taught us how to make the banana boats (Pictures next post). At the same time, the women of some organization (of which there are 6 doing the same) were making a float out of banana leaves to be in the next day's parade.
The next day was the parade, and, I found out, I was to be in it with the ladies who's float I watched being made. At first I was nervous, being terribly under dressed, but, it's a small town and everyone knows me anyway so that fell away quickly enough.
Like Jesus with loaves and fishes, Nong Chang is with parades. They managed to turn a 15 walk into a 2 hour procession. Each group had to stop and do a dance in front of what must have been judges, although no winner was mentioned for the dancing (my group did win with their float though).
After the parade was a large party, with 3 stages and a small vacant lot turned into a kind of bar with a rock band playing. I spent time at all three, all the while being fed and boozed by Somran, who must have no greater pleasures in life than feeding me and getting me drunk. I ended up home by midnight having had a marvelous, marvelous time.

My Boat, finished.

The float, nearly finished.

Close up of the float head,
spouting water.
My group at the parade.
The parade, my vantage point.
The festival beginning.
People launching their boats.
Two of my friends with their boats,
one borrowed.

Boats floating away.

The boats after the floating
and subsequent theft of the coin inside by children.
Aforementioned children.
Having a great time throwing firewords at each other.

Ladies waiting to dance.

Samron in between feeding me and
getting me drunk.

Mermaid float.

Birthday cake float.

Boat float.

Girl in a country-western marching band?

Local scavenger dog,
meekly enjoying the festival.

My group on stage doing their dance.

Sports Week

This week, I have seen what may be the most amazing thing I've seen since coming across the ocean. For two whole weeks the last hour or two of school is taken off for sports. There are very few actual games played, most of the kids just do drills and exercises while about half of the students sit in rows clapping while girls dance a well known dance to a well known song.


The amazing thing is, however, not an ounce of fighting. No arguments over the rules, cheating, who gets to start, who plays on what team, someones success or failure, just 1750 kids having a blast. Games that would be reduced to redfaced battles to the death in America, continue happily and without incident with almost know attention paid by the supervising teachers.


Another thing that surprised me was the lack of organization and the overbearing concern for the children's safety. Children ran across the street after balls, where in America they're not allowed to enter the parking lot on penalty of death. Children scampered up rickety ladders to the rooftops to get down balls, children wander about without anyone knowing where they are going, or why.


Terrifying? Not at all. It was surprisingly safe and comforting. The school, in general, operates on a rule of chaos. Children are expected to be responsible for themselves. To look before they go across the street. To not wander off. To not be stupid enough to lean out of a bus. It's a small town, a very small town. The rules don't keep the children safe, we do, and of course they keep themselves safe.


Children certainly don't seem to get into accidents any more here than they do in America. Perhaps depending on rules to keep our children safe isn't any more effective than expecting the community to keep them safe, especially in such a small town.


I will certainly write more on this topic, and on teaching in general, soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures:

A very cool Thai game. Essentially very much like volleyball

but with the no-hands rule of soccer: feet and heads only.

Americans can stop feeling cool about hacky sack now.

One of my students.

And another.

A soccer drill.

The well-known song and dance...

Food Festival...

I have been blessed with this first month in Nong Chang in so many ways. Not the least of which is the occurrence of two festivals within the first month of my working here. Although I was hoping that my next post would be a long intricate description of my first impressions of teaching in Thailand, I find my thoughts too difficult to organize into one post, and too much is happening now to wait any longer.

The food festival happens once a year. So far as I can discern it has no more religious or cultural significance than a county fair, but it sure is a blast. This is very similar to the food festival in Nong Khai and leaves me wondering if it is some sort of travelling group on a circuit, or if it is something many local regions put together on their own. Either way, it's a huge draw for all sorts of people, and has live performances going throughout the night... which even included my very own students...

My Home and School

This is the outside of my school... remember, open doors and windows... No AC!

This building is currently being built,

as the director hopes to expand the school...

Myself and Samkorn (Thom). He teaches

Mathematics to the upper grades.


Noom and Anno. Noom teaches computers,
Anno is my fellow Farang English Teacher.

My House: Living Room.

Bed Room

Master Bathroom: Hot water Shower,
freshly installed


My Kitchen, quite cluttered, but with no

cabinets or shelving, one has little choice.

I Was Disappointed...

that children did not play in fields beside and behind my house. When I first looked out the windows and explored, with my eyes primarily, the empty fields land marked by mounds of dirt and sticks, mazes of tall grass, and other interesting geological features, I thought for sure this must be a favorite of the local children.
It evoked, quite strongly, "the mountain," which rose at the center of an abandoned field (construction site in waiting) littered with wondrous locals and enchanted glens that only a child could possibly enjoy to the fullest. Surely, "the mountain" could not have been as grand as I remember it, nor the piles of rubble so elegantly arranged, nor the trees so mysterious and powerful.
The fields around my house, unimpressive to my adult eye, must have looked very similar to my mountain and it's encompassing kingdom. This, I thought, was evidence enough that it was a favorite play-place for the children of Nong Chang.
But there were no children. Was the magic of such things lost on Thai children? Were they too interested in television and video games (which, surely, were no less popular in my childhood, but the notion held a sort of older generation superiority)? I was baffled, although not too concerned because of the many other affairs that had filled my life.
Today, however, my first weekend day at home, no fewer than 5 children (that I noticed) in two separate groups made the fields their special place, whatever name they may have put to it, and I felt a sense of gratification and relief that far outweighed any sense of annoyance that may have bubbled up due to their intrusions.

On another note, my hot water heater was installed today. At a few minutes before 10, I locked myself out of the room that contained the bathroom where it was to be installed. No problem, I thought, I have until 3. Well, the installation men had the audacity to overlook the Thai habit of being a little late, and rang my bell no later than 10:05.
I panicked, and the neighbors, who have some attachment and reign over my house that I don't quite understand, summoned up several sets of keys, none of which opened the door in question. Finally, one of the workers scampered through the acoustical tile in the ceiling, crawled to my room, and dropped down in like fashion, opening my door. I removed the key from the room to be stored in the living room, and will make a copy at the next weekend market.
The heater itself is passable, although I can either have a very hot shower, or a very strong one, but not both at the same time. I feel a twinge of regret not purchasing a more powerful unit, although this is sated by the thought (as the lights dim whenever it is turned on) that perhaps it is a limit of my little house and not the heater itself as I have had showers better from less impressive machines.
Ah yes, by the way, "hot water heater" is by no means in the western sense. It does not provide a store of hot water for my entire house, but rather sits in my bathroom, quite dormant, until I take a shower. Then, and only then, the coils heat up the water passing through it.

Bare Necessities...

Today I have completed my quest for the bare necessities of life. First, and foremost, I achieved fire. That all powerful gift handed down from my forebears is now under my control in my very own kitchen.
I had been fretting and worrying about how to get the gas tank to my house for days. Finally, I was at a restaurant and saw a young man pull up, roll in a full gas tank, and roll out an empty one. Eureka! They delivered. I had only seen them at one shop, which, upon visiting, I saw the very youth of the night prior. After much meddling and muddling in Thai so poorly pronounced I could not be understood, and hand signals, the message was received and shortly their after I was followed home with a full tank of glorious fuel for my little burner.
Next, I was on a bus for an hour and half to the nearest mall/department store complex. Many malls here are simply an extension of one or two large stores. The nearest to Nong Chang is in Nakhon Sawan, a neighboring provincial capital.
There, I purchased a properly warm comforter for my bed. Now I had a warm place to sleep. Though, surely, you must think, Nong Chang has blankets? Indeed they do dear friends, indeed they do. However, I've found that once you leave the fashoinista-rich environs of Bangkok, you quickly find yourself among rural Thais for whom color and style have no meaning.
When I first purchased my bed and asked about sheets I was confidently handed a set of garishly pink "Hello Kitty" sheets. Now, I wasn't in the mood to be terribly picky, but that was just not within my realm of acceptability.
"Do you have another" I motioned and asked. Rapid pointing to the bed and sheets and indications that it was the right size. "I don't like the color" (unable to utter the phrase "anything but pink hello kitty"). A confused look of defeat, that was all they had.
So, I found myself trucking to Big C, the titan that competes with a fellow titan, Tesco Lotus, for the coveted position of "The Walmart of Thailand."
I arrived, wandered about the attached mall with disinterest, and came across my third necessity, although to anyone but a Westerner it is sheer luxury: a how water heater. The price was large (at least 4,000 baht, installation included), but the allure was strong. I told them I would be back to see how much Big C would suck out of me.
I also purchased some sketchbooks--why not pick art back up in my little town?--before hitting the Big C.
It was everything I had expected, a giant gleaming well-organized warehouse full of everything from televisions to fresh meat. I had run into a fellow teacher (an overwhelmingly shy Filipina who taught English to kindergartners at my school) and her cousin, and we decided to make our way to bedsheets. Everything that wasn't hideous was over 1,000 baht, and included a full set (but not a simple sheet, only a fitted one, to my dismay). Finally I decided on the middle of the road 1300 baht set (around 40 dollars) that was pleasant enough. Success.
I had decided that I would stay in the middle of the road, where it seemed safely comfortable but not bordering on excess, in my purchase of a hot water heater. 4,900 baht, installation included, would suit me just fine. They will install my glorious contraption tomorrow at 3, assuming they can find my house using the drawing I made.
Ah yes, my landlady, when asked to give me my address, seems to have given me something different entirely. The road she wrote down was certainly not mine. I shall have to inquire again.

And there we have it. I can cook (although not yet keep food cold), I can sleep and bathe comfortably, and I have a place for the vast majority of my belongings. The cultivation of beauty shall come with time, and more paychecks, for now, I shall simply enjoy the bare necessities of good living.

"Peht"

Spicy(Peht) is a highly subjective thing in Thailand, I am finding. I consider myself at least reasonably well tempered against spices. I can easily eat anything they would dare create in a Thai or Indian restaurant in America for someone who asked to have it made "spicy"
Here, it's hit or miss, and I find that Thais have a great variety of concern for me and my Farang tongue. Just tonight, was hastily brought a meal without fuss that caused me great concern, drinking several glasses of water, marked by the occasional full green chili pepper found within the fearsome plate.
Later in the evening, I found myself the customer of a wary and reluctant Thai woman who insisted that it was spicy, in Thai, and made several hand motions to ensure that I knew what I was getting myself into. I bought it, fearfully, and took a bite of the strange creation ( a kind of crepe folded into a cone with the "spicy" filling. The first bite was harmless, the danger must be at the bottom I thought.
I was able to eat the entire thing, never once detecting that pepper of any kind was even an ingredient. Perhaps my tongue had been tempered by its earlier experience? Certainly, though, this was nowhere near as spicy. The variation makes ordering food very difficult.
Do I want it spicy? Yes. Very spicy? I don't know... what is very spicy for you? Will you tone it down for me even if I say very spicy? Will you absentmindedly produce a maelstrom of fire without even asking if I want it spicy?
So far, I haven't had anything I can't eat, or even didn't enjoy on one level or another, but I thought I would share.

Life is Good

I've moved to my new town and begun work at my new school and things are going quite well. Nong Chang is a very beautiful, friendly, and blessedly small town. It is the capital of the district of Nong Chang which is in the province of Uthai Thani, Thailand.
The "downtown" area consists of a main drag that has experienced a slight sprawl to one or two parrallel streets and to the main highway going to the provincial capital, but otherwise remains quite centralized. I can walk across the whole down town strip (even with my slight hobble) in about 15 minutes. From my home, about a half mile east of "downtown" to the school, about a quarter mile west of downtown, I can bike in 6 minutes... it's a very tiny and concentrated little existence, and I love it dearly.
When I came here I had my choice between 4 places. A townhouse, 2 studio apartments, and a regular house, all unfurnished except for one studio which came with a bed. The townhouse was nice, came with a/c (in one room) hot shower and western toilet. But, it was dreadfully dark, and large and felt like it would swallow me whole and leave me feeling lonely. The studios were both very similar, although one was certainly nicer than the other. Neither had a/c or hot showers, and I figured for 30 bucks a month extra, I would get the cute little house.
My house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a very large living room. This costs me about 2,500 baht per month, or 75 dollars. Much to my surprise and chagrin furnishing the home is turning out to be quite expensive, and will surely outweigh the cost of 4 months rent, although I plan to sign on for another semester, extending my stay.
I plan to get my own hot water heater (although installing it is a mystery...) and simply live without air conditioning, at least until the cool season ends (and I've had a chance to save some money).
The school is just lovely, although huge and rather basic. I teach grades 4, 5, and 6, seeing each class for one hour per week. Each grade level has 6 classes, and each class has 40-50 students. In total, I have about 750 students to whom I must give grades and with whom I must make progress... it is a bit daunting. Although, no FCAT, no real standards whatsoever, simply the expectation that I show up and produce some sort of grade at the end of the process.
Anno, my fellow farang teacher from the Netherlands, and myself are the only white people in town, perhaps for several towns. This gives us a good degree of celebrity status, especially among the students. At Southside, I rather liked the special status being a substitute teacher gave me. I saw each class just long enough to really have fun with them, but not long enough to sour many students against me. Walking through the halls I enjoyed a tremendous popularity.
In my school in Nong Chang, it is staggering. Shaking hands with Anno and I is quite a big deal. Students are either terrified of it (having not yet met us) or entirely over eager. Either way, there is always some sort of very strong reaction to us.
If anyone would like my new address, you can email me for it, posting it wholesale via internet doesn't seem wise (especially after finding out someone has been buying subscriptions to online dating sites using my check card, which I just had to cancel). Know that I am quite well and quite happy in my new home.