Well, week number 6 is in the books. There remain just 4 weeks left until I leave Mae Sot, which is actually only the third geographical area in the world in which I've lived for more than a week (the first two being the Trenton, NJ area, and the Montreal, QC area).
As you could probably guess from the title of this entry, in many ways I'm really enjoying myself here, yet in many ways I can't stand it.
Let's go for the positives first. I've come to love my job... I'm happy for pretty much every minute of my time at the school, where I usually stay from about 9:30 to 4ish. I don't start until 10:30, but I'm usually there by 9:30, firstly because I'm already up and have nothing better to do at that hour in Mae Sot, and secondly because I enjoy hanging out with Mae So Htway (the "assistant" referred to in an earlier entry). Despite his almost non-existent knowledge of the English language, I have found myself becoming quite close to him.... despite the fact that our communication is limited to his very broken English, and my baby Burmese. We laugh, we share beers, we play chess ( I always win) and checkers (he always wins), and he's become one of my favourite individuals at the school.
At 10:30, I have my grade 5 and 6 class, which I have mixed feelings about. About 1/3 of the class seems to get pretty much everything I teach, and they generally do quite well on the tests, and seem almost bored by how easy my class is. Another third of the class, doesnt understand a word of what I say, and consistantly fail horribly. In that sense, I feel somewhat ineffective. There bottom third is not getting anything out of the class, and the top third isnt really being challenged..... of course, i'd like to think that the middle third is the group that IS benefitting from my class. Thats something that I can't really judge. One thing about the Burmese people.... as much as I've come to absolutely adore them.... they won't hesitate when it comes to cheating!!! (Cheat was one of this week's vocabulary words). I tell them in English... and burmese... not to cheat, but that doesnt seem to stop many of them.
At 11:15, I have grade 9, which is the highlight of my day, and hands down the highlight of my entire time here. Grade 9 is the only class in which I've been able to learn everyone's names, and is the class where I've really gotten to know people on an individual basis. The students are old enough and generally have a good enough grasp of the language, where I can do much more with then. So, despite Astrid's claims that I'm being too hard (and I don't really give a **** what she thinks), I've worked them on all 4 skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. In the last 6 weeks, I've noticed remarkable progress. Take for instance, the writing: each week, I assign a 1 page essay on various topics (nothing too advanced...). The first week, 4 out of 13 people turned in something that I didn't consider worthy of a grade higher than F. The next week, only 1 person got an F. The following week, the lowest grade was a C+ of which there two. Finally, this week, there were no grades lower than B.... and its not because my grading has become any more lenient. Granted, I am well aware of the fact that many of the students are probably getting help on their papers, which I've decided to permit (although I told them they must do their OWN work).... but if nothing else, this shows an improvement in their attitude, as everyone takes my assignments serious enough to earn a grade of at least B. This week's paper touched me in particular... not only becuase everyone got a B or better, but because of the topic: I asked people to write about why and how they left Burma.... and it really put everything in a whole new perspective for me. Granted, none of the stories will ever make CNN, but they were generally the same: they couldn't afford education in Myanmar, so they left, many of them by themselves or only with siblings, to Thailand, where they've become very happy to find BHSOH. Knowing everyone's stories has only made me feel much closer to my grade 9 class, which I think will have left a lasting mark on me. And in case those of you back home think that I am being too hard on them, I told them if they earn it, we play games on Fridays.... and we've had a lot of fun doing so. Montrealers might remember such games as "darling if you love me, would you please smile", and "horse, knight, cavalier" (which I changed to "horse, knight, peasant"- since I couldnt figure out how to explain "cavalier"). Game day is very low key, and I feel more like I'm with a group of friends than with my students. That said, I'm running out of game ideas, so if any of you would be kind enough to help me out, please send an email to ROCO148@msn.com.
12:00 is lunch time.... its a time to grade any papers I might have gotten, and a time to chill out away from the noise of the school for a little bit. At 1:00, I have either grade 3 or grade 4, which I could hardly say is the highlight of my day. Their English comprehension is almost 0, so everyday I just teach them words, and often I repeat myself over and over agani- because I know thats how they learn. This, however, has made these classes rather boring and uninteresting for me. Also, I feel as though theres nothign I can really offer these kids that the Burmese English teachers cant.... alas, I'm making the most of it, and the kids still respect me.
By 2:00 I'm usually finished.... which means its time to hang out with Mae So Htway (i dont actually know how he spells his name) and have a beer. By 3:00, all the kids are finished, and I chill out at the school for a bit.... usually, some of the little kids will run towards me wanting to play "kya" (checkers), and/or Maung Soe (one of my grade 6 students), will ask me to play chess. Maung Soe has become quite obsessed with chess, and he asked me to buy him a chess set, which of course I did, and he wants to play with me everyday. Of coruse, as the kid is one of my brightest students, he's become quite a good chess player, and he beats me 2 out of 3 times (although I'm probably the only person there that can ever beat him at all.... Mae soe htway says he hates playing with Maung Soe becuase Maung Soe always "nein-deh" ("wins")).
That lasts until around 4 or so, when there is nothing left to do and no real reason for me to stay there. So, I go home, and by 4:30 or so I'm back at my guest house in mae sot, showered and ready for the 2nd part of my day.
This is the sad part. Of all the problems I've faced here in Mae Sot: poor hygeine, linguistic issues, bad weather- all of them I can deal with. However, what has really taken a toll on me is the boredom and lonliness. Sure, the school is good to hang out at.... but I dont really enjoy sleeping there, as Im not actually able to sleep on the floor of the school (I have a hard time sleeping almost anywhere) with the loud din of roosters, dogs and pigs, and young Burmese kids aren't exactly great conversalionalists for me, as much as I've come to adore them. And yes Ive met some westerners here, but they generally seem to be quite busy, and are usually only good for 1-2 nights a week. Translated, that means usually for 5 nights in the week, I'm bored from 4:30 until bed time, around 9:30. I did manage to buy a short wave radio for 200 B, which has BBC World, Radio Singapore International, and Radio China international.... that, combined with a limited supply of reading material, and my self-taught effort to learn the Burmese alphabet has managed to take up some of my time. Yet, I miss the days where I could just watch a movie, laze about on wiki, hang out with Gerbie, play Stratego with Darian, or have people over so I can cook for them. In fact, I miss cooking, as I'm dependent on restaraunts and food stalls for every single meal (granted, its still probably cheaper than cooking for myself in Canada). I miss being able to eat an apple every day (which is why I probably got sick here!!!!).... for these reasons, I would say that I am very much looking forward to ending my stay here.... that,s not to say I hate it here. If I had a house with a kitchen, tv, and dvd player... and a good group of friends.... I would enjoy it exponentially more. Alas, my 10 weeks here is not enough to invest in any of those thigns, especially since there are only 4 weeks of it left.
At any rate, that's all from me for this week. I'm hoping to post Mae Sot / Mae Pa/ Myawaddy / BHSOH pictures on facebook before I leave.... just give me a few weeks. There, you,ll already find pictures from singpoare, malaysia, rangoon, and Chiang Mai, if you have not done so already.
Also, because I seem to be receiving a lot of rather important emails quite late, and to combat my boredome, ive decided to expand my internet indulgence to twice a week.... so I will access the internet again early next week..... blog entries will remain on Saturdays, for those of you keeping track. So, until then, a bientot.
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