Ants, Tuk-Tuk Drivers, and Bamee Moo

Greetings from the mind of Dan

As I write this, we've been banished from the main room to the secondary room while the ant spray slowly kills every last one of those terrible creatures. I'm convinced that I can hear their screams of agony as the poison overwhelms them and it is music to my ears. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for living in harmony with all of God's creations but when you enter my home and walk on all my stuff, we're going to have a problem. This sentiment goes for ants, dogs, people, or anything that drags dirt and disease into or around my food and sleeping quarters. Hopefully, the ants will learn their lesson and we won't have to make the apartment a mass grave for invasive species anymore. It hurts me as much as it hurts them. (Well, maybe not exactly)

On another, more positive note, among all the tuk-tuk drivers, cabbies, and store owners constantly trying to rip us off, there exists a shining soul who goes by the name of Dang. Dang is one of our local tuk-tuk drivers who has risen above the greed all around us and become a valuable friend and service provider. He can be found working nights, usually hanging out at the end of our alley and always with a smile on his face, which brings me to our story. Today, we went for a walk to explore the nearby piers known respectively by distance as Tha Nam Bangpo and Tha Nam Kiak Kai. As we were walking it began to rain, slowly at first but then to a point that was no longer pleasant. At that time we were fairly close to the Kiak Kai pier and a small open-air bar that was showing a world cup game. As we sat down and ordered beers the rain picked up to a full downpour but by then we were safe and dry. After a short time, the game, the rain, and our beers had all finished and so we started our walk home. Hot and tired, the walk was not going to be very enjoyable so we inquired about the fare home from the first driver we saw. The man quoted us "Hah-sip Baht" (50 baht) but what he really meant was, "You're white foreigners so I'm going to try to rip you off because, being white, you're rich and probably don't know how much this should cost." No deal was our response and we were about to walk home when our buddy Dang saw us and waved us over and, of course, he had a big smile on his face. He asked us what we were doing so far from home and we told him that we were trying to get back but couldn't get a reasonable deal. A short discussion yielded "For you, 30 Baht" and we were on our way. I don't think he stopped grinning the whole ride home. Among other things he's done for us: taking us to a closer metro stop so it would be cheaper for us, helping us get a cab and give the driver proper directions, and shaking hands with any friend we bring around. What a guy.

After that adventure we were hungry so we stopped into our Erin's favorite place for "Bamee Moo" which is pronounced like "bomb-ee moo-oo" with the second pair of "oo"s in a short, higher tone. Erin's favorite part of this meal is the pork wontons inside the soup. Bamee is a yellow noodle that looks like Ramen noodles and moo means pork. The dish consists of those noodles, some greenery, sliced pork and the aforementioned wontons in a light yellow broth. Garnish with crushed red pepper, pickled sweet peppers and sugar for a delicious meal. We go there so often that when we walked in today, the woman in charge said "same same?" and we realized that we had become regulars. For the information of the viewing audience, we are now known regulars of the corner bar nearest us which features a garden patio and ducks, rabbits, and dogs running around; the Bamee Moo place; and two forms of transport: the moped taxis and Dang the tuk-tuk driver.

A final note, this past Thursday was "Wai Kru" day which means teacher day. On this day the kids make fancy flower creations and compete to see which class can make the nicest one. Teachers are given gifts of flowers and there is a big ceremony in the morning. I've posted two pictures here: the first is my homeroom class. Though they are loud and not all that bright, I still really like them. The second is me with some of my other students who found me and gave me a flower creation they had made for me. More to come on teacher day in later posts.

Post Script- I dropped a 1000 baht on a bottle of Bombay Sapphire to help me with those long days at work. A thousand baht is a lot of baht, but every sip makes me remember why I got it.

Rough day at the Office

So today in class, I gave a quiz on the first chapter of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The class is the lowest section of my level fours but they are surprisingly intelligent. The quiz was very short: 5 multiple choice questions and one vocabulary question asking them to write the given word in a sentence. Since I'm such a nice guy, I had planned to give out extra credit points to students who could supply extra vocabulary words and definitions from the chapter. No sooner had I cleared the desks and passed out the test do I see a suspicious looking kid in back trying to hide a dictionary under his desk. I snatched it away and continued explaining the directions to the kids. A minute later, another girl had tried to use her pocket dictionary to look up a word, so I took that one away too. As I was explaining how the kids could get extra points with their definitions, I noticed two students in the back discussing their answer to a question and that's when I stopped.

I can handle the talking, I can handle the blank stares, and I can even handle being completely ignored when I'm speaking to them but I CANNOT deal with cheating, and all the worse while I'm trying to improve their grades by offering extra credit. Thus for the 4/4 class, no extra credit was offered and many did very poorly since they had not read the book. The quiz covered 24 pages, and we're in the 4th week, I don't think that it was an unreasonable amount to read.

I know that all kids try to weasel their way into a better grade, I certainly have always tried to get the best grade with the least work but I simply abhor this type of disrespect. ("abhorrent" was one of the words on their quiz) The cheating problem is not restricted to this quiz, in fact several of my students have turned in Wikipedia entries as their own works and one kid copied an entire 5 paragraph essay word for word from a website online. The worst part (and this is where I start to feel sympathy for my old teachers) is wondering to myself, "Did they really think I wouldn't know?"

I'm not convinced that Thai kids do it any more that American kids and it's something that I will have to find a different way to deal with. It seems that reason and friendliness are not the best ways to deal with these students. Unfortunately the alternatives to those qualities are not really in my repertoire.

USA!

Weekends in Bangkok are the best. This weekend, after having a pretty uneventful Friday night (no joke I was in bed and asleep by 10pm... it had been a very long week) Dan and I had friends over Saturday night and it was so much fun! We hung out at our apartment, sat down by the pool, then finally headed out to Kao San Road for some late night World Cup action- USA vs. England. Kao San is very well know backpacking street with lots of bars, really good food, and a pretty good night market. This is the place to go if you are young and traveling in Thailand, so it made for the perfect place to watch the match... lots of Americans and Brits! As we were sitting outside, I actually looked over to Dan and said "My God, I had no idea there were so many white people in Bangkok!" I was pretty happy that the game ended in a tie and not a loss. Everyone was very good natured about the rivalry, so it was fun chatting with other foreigners.

This morning, after sleeping off a hangover, I went to the Chatuchak Market by myself (because its always good to have independent adventures) while Dan figured out the new rice cooker. This is the 3rd weekend I've been and I'm still finding new areas! Today I discovered the "vintage" area and got a super cute dress for 100 baht (about $3) and some jelly shoes. I'm getting really good gift ideas to send home and I know Kelly will be excited when that package arrives :)

And speaking of packages, Dan and I also received some mail from his parents this weekend! I was so happy it arrived safely, the Thai postal system seems a little sketchy. The contents included easy mac and velveeta, which truly is a little bit of heaven so far away from home. It really has been a great weekend.

(This is one of the pictures taken on Kao San of us watching the game... we're living the life these days)

Well Look Who Decided to Show Up

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the show. I'm your co-host, Dan Ursin, along with the lovely and talented Erin Sharratt and together we'll be guiding you around this truly amazing country known the world over as "The Land of Smiles." In just a few moments we'll be embarking on our voyage but before we do, I'd like to make just a few simple disclaimers:

(1) The things you are about to read DO, completely, reflect the thoughts and opinions of the editors and board of directors of this page.
(2) Some of the things you see will be verbatim truths. Others will be shadows of facts, remembered in the way that best retells the story while not always adhering to rigorous journalistic integrity.
(3) We are living in a foreign country that has a distinct culture far removed from our own. While all reasonable attempts have been made to assimilate ourselves to our local surroundings, it is nearly impossible to forget one's upbringing and avoid judging another culture based on your own moral values.

Having said all of this, I think it is time to start the show.

The people of Thailand are amazing and never cease to surprise me. They cover the gamut of personalities from extreme generosity to back-alley thievery; inspirational open-mindedness to needless hostility; and some are uniquely insightful while others can barely see the moped in front of them, so to speak. So far, we've been affected by at least one of all these people. In this first post of mine, I can't help but generalize but I have to say that people all over the world have one thing in common: we all share the idea that wherever we're from is the only reasonable place to be. I would like this blog to debunk some of this rumor by showing that the problems and virtues of all cultures share, at least at some level, a common multiple.

Tune in next time when we discuss some specific examples of clashes and unions in the sweltering setting of Bangsue, Bangkok and the surrounding areas of the Ratcha Anachak Thai.

Teaching Moments

Today was an extremely frustrating day at school, especially considering that I only teach 3 classes on Thursdays. The problem, however, did not happen in class. It happened during my 5th period classroom check.

Here's a little background before the story gets going. My class of M2/3 students drive me crazy. BY FAR, they are the most difficult class I teach every week. They are hard to focus, there is constant chatter, and a wide range of English ability... some students understand the material too easily and others cannot understand a single word that comes out of my mouth. To make matters worse, ALL the girls sit in front and ALL the boys sit in back. The naughty ones sit in the middle (its like their mocking you by talking when you are standing closest to them) and the quiet ones sit on the side. In particular, I am having problems with the girls. On Tuesday, I had 4 girls show up 30 minutes late to my 50 minute class. They said that a Thai teacher sent one of them to get different socks, and so on and so forth and that was why they were late. Either way, I let them in and told them not to be late again. The next day, I took a cell phone away from one of the same girls for the entire day because she was texting after I had already made her stand up for talking. Its a bit of a nightmare, but all the teachers are having problems with this class.

Today, when I was doing my period check, lo and behold I saw the same 4 girls who had been late on Tuesday skipping their 5th period class. I was so mad! Not because they were being disobedient, but because at 13 they should be learning and not be wasting their good brains by blowing off class. SO I brought them to their classroom, the teacher reprimanded them and sent 3 to the English Program office with myself as their escort. The girls started crying when they learned they would be speaking with the director. This was all discussed in Thai so I just stood and watched. Later, I learned that these girls have been a bit of a problem since last year and every teacher I spoke with about the situation just put them in the category of "bad kids." They said that if they're skipping class, at least they're not disrupting it. For me, this is so discouraging! Maybe these girls have never had someone who actually tried to show them something different. Maybe if they were not believed to be so bad they would act better. On the other hand, maybe they are a lost cause. But I feel like I should do something different with them. Its a hard lesson to teach, but eventually these girls need to realize that being smart and trying hard counts for so much more than they give it credit for. Its frustrating. The school really doesn't do much as far as these things are concerned and they let students get away with so much because the government won't fail them. I'll have another entry later on this I'm sure, but today was just one of those days when I realized there's too much work to do and the system is SO far from perfect. This job might just be the end of me.

Welcome to the Apartment

So I tried putting up a video, but it wouldn't load. These pictures will have to do for now. At least it should give you an idea of where Dan and I are living. We each have a little studio with a queen bed, wardrobe, desk and television (we also have cable and get American movie channels, seriously we're living the dream!) Dan just commented on how he liked that I called the place a "studio" instead of a closet... it can get pretty small, especially when its messy (and by that I mean when my clothes are everywhere). Dan and I spend most of our time in the apartment that I took the pictures of. We got lights at the market so it looks more like home. We put up maps of Thailand on the wall and we also have a picture of King Rama IX (as I mentioned before, he's a pretty big deal here). All in all its comfortable. We still need something to sit on however, because all we have now is a bed and a tall block of wood they call a "chair." Dan keeps telling me that one day I will come home and there will be a huge sofa in the room.

Our neighborhood is VERY residential. Dan and I draw a lot of attention to ourselves walking down the street because we are clearly not Thai. Very few people speak English but the good news is that my Thai is improving and ordering food is becoming easier. For instance, tonight Dan and I ordered some really good wanton soup... to get that far at a restaurant would have been pretty tough 3 weeks ago. The only thing that really bothers me about our area (and many parts of Thailand in general) is that we frequently get charged more for things because we are "farang," even though we are not tourists. It makes me mad and I hate the feeling that I am being taken advantage of.

This picture is the outside of our place. It looks nice but its in a "shady area" (and it literally says that on the pamphlet advertising the place!) Below I posted one of the pictures from our balcony and you can see the little tin roofs we look out on to. It looks kinda scary, but really its not. I feel very safe walking down the streets. I've come to accept the fact that the majority of Thai people really don't care about what their buildings look like on the outside so long as the inside is nice. I always think when I walk to school, "This neighborhood would drive my dad crazy!" because everything needs a paint job and some fixing up.

This is the alley that leads to the main street. Our neighbors in the middle of the road have a rooster, so I get to hear it crow on the walk to and from school. Its pretty funny. Dan and I are trying to figure out if they keep it to eat it or just as a pet. Also, everyone has about 5 dogs or cats that just hang out outside. There are a lot of animals in this neck of the woods.

Our place also has a pool, which I used for the first time today! Its nice and pretty secluded with lots of plants surrounding it. I arrived when the woman was finishing cleaning it so I feel confident that the water is good for swimming and not just looking. Hopefully I'll snag a picture of that soon as well.

(Last but not least) This is the picture from our balcony. It sounds amazing when it rains because of the metal roofs. Also, somehow thunder storms here are SO much louder than the ones at home. When they arrive, I wake up jumping out of bed because the boom just gets into my brain. I think the rainy season will be 5 months of pure thunderstorm entertainment.

Morning Traffic

So usually, Dan and I walk to school. When we leave the house just before 7am, the walk 20 minutes long and the weather is already hot but its doable.... you sweat a bit, but its not ever as bad as sweating on the walk home at 4:30pm. Once we took the bus, but it turns out its not faster because the traffic is TERRIBLE. Its bumper to bumper for 3 very long blocks and no one is going faster than a very slow crawl. The only people that are getting anywhere fast are the moped taxis, and here is where the story begins!

Today I woke up late and as a result left the house late and was going to be late for school unless I wanted to run. I don't think I will ever run in Bangkok, its way too hot. So the only other alternative to being late was to take THE MOPED TAXI. The moped taxis are these guys with orange vests driving mopeds through morning traffic. If there is a space in front of or in between cars, they will fit in it. If there are not too many cars coming from the other side of the road, they will cross the center line and drive into oncoming traffic. These guys are so crazy! They can violate every moving vehicle law in the US within 2 city blocks. Nevertheless, instead of being late to school this morning, Dan and I decided to take a chance and get moped taxis. So for 20 baht I got there in 5 minutes... and had the most insane ride I have had in my life. Most passengers just sit very calmly like its no big deal. There was a woman in front of me this morning who was sitting side-saddle and not even holding onto the seat. I, on the other hand, was clutching on for dear life. It was probably the riskiest thing I have done since arriving in Thailand, but it was amazing. Dan and I agreed that for 100 baht a week, it might be worth it to sleep in an extra 20 minutes and travel to school in true Thai style.

(PS. Don't worry too much Mom, I have health insurance in Thailand.)