Mae Sot (8) - Day trip to Myanmar, broken toe, Buddhist Lent (27 July 2007)

Hello my friends and loyal readers,

My update comes about 24 hours earlier than normal. This is for two reasons. Firstly, due to Budhist lent, we have a 4 day holiday at school, which means nothing to do for Friday morning. Tomorrow morning, when I would normally do my blogging, theres a 7 am football match.... so I just thought it'd make sense to do my blogging today.

Just to clarify something.... I am not in Chiang Mai currently, nor have I been since 3 June. I spent about 36 hours there between leaving Bangkok and arriving in Mae Sot (a smallish town/city 6 km from the Myanmar border), where I have been consistently for the last 2 months, save for 1 day in Sukhothai. My school is technically not in Mae Sot, but in a village called Mae Pa 5 km away. Mae Sot is not a huge town, but isn't tiny either..... there's also a lot happening here that isn't advertised in any tourist brouchure (mostly due to the fact that it involves some sort of illegal activity). Mae Pa, however, is best described as a village, and it makes you feel as though you've been transported back several hundred years.... perhaps pictures will clarify this better.... and I will post pictures on facebook within the next couple of weeks.

One week from today, I will be going to Chaing Mai for a 4 day weekend, where I will meet my brother Matt and his wife Monica (some of my readers may have met Matt before, as he has visited me in Montreal on several occasions). For that reason, I will not be blogging for that weekend, and in all liklihood, I won't blog next week. Assuming thats the case, this is my 2nd to last blog update in Mae Sot.... meaning, for better or for worse, my time here is coming to a rapid end.

As you could imagine, I am very much looking forward to my long weekend in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai itself is not really spectactular (I think its wayyy overrated), but unlike Mae Sot, it is very much part of the 21st century, and unlike Bangkok, you can actually breathe! Of course, I'm mainly looking forward to this to see my brother, who, having a lot of money, plans on staying in an upmarket hotel. After staying in 2$ accomodation for the last 2 months.... it will be quite nice. Also, it will give me something to do over the weekend.... occupying my time on weekends has proved rather difficult for me, and I have no clue what Im going to do during this 4 day weekend (of course, it would be ideal if budhist lent were NEXT weekend, but nothings perfect).

Yet, I'm not 100% happy about this. Yesterday, I told my grade 9 students (a class with which I have fallen in love) that I will miss two days for the said reason, and I could see the disappointment in their eyes. Of course, its not something thats going to make them hate, or even think less of me, but it was obvious that some of them were slightly disappointed.

By this time, some of you are probably wondering about the first part of this blog's title. What? I broke my toe?? Yeah..... thats a funny story (for people who share my sense of humour at least). Last Saturday, actually shortly after writing my last entry, I had to do my 2nd day trip to Myawaddy, Myanmar for passport/visa reasons (in order to extend my 30 day stay in Thailand, i have to "leave Thailand" and come back). Since Myanmar is one of my favourite countries, much more enjoyable than the other said country (I wont be too specific, lest this entry get scrapped like the last time....), I was more than happy to oblige. So, I had finished the process of "leaving Thailand", and for some bizarre reason, foreigners are not allowed to bike over the Thai-Myanmar friendship bridge. No big deal... I'll just walk. Being the rainy season, the bridge proved to be rather slippery. And for some reason, the concrete sidewalk was occasionally replaced by 6-inch wide stripps of metal- which became EXTREMELY slippery. So, not entirely paying attention to the ground (the river is pretty interesting.... watching people trying to swim to Thailand, or watching Burmese woman do their laundry), I slipped and stubbed my toe rather bad, to the point where, within hours it became black and blue and disgusting..... not the best situation when I still had to ride teh bike 6 km back to Mae Sot. Oh well.... that didn't stop me from enjoying my stay in Myanmar. Since my last time in Myanmar, I have managed to pick up a bit of Burmese, and was able to go to the market and bargain in Burmese- and the burmese people love that. I bought some things.... got rid of some of my left over kyat (although they mostly take Bhat).

That about covers most of the excitement going on here. School is still the best part about being here- but even that's a mixed blessing. I don't particularly enjoy teaching grades 3 + 4.... my repitoire of things to do with them is quite limited, and most of them don't seem to learn very fastly at all.... although that could be because I'm not very good at teaching them. Grades 5 + 6 is a little bit better... a good chunk of the students very much understand and appreciate everything I teach them, yet so many of them don't understand a thing..... and they just sit there, fooling around, talking to each other, and dont pay attention. I have to tell them to be quite (in english and burmese) every two minutes, and its really strarting to frustrate me. However, I would gladly remain at the school JUST to keep teaching my grade 9 class.... such a thing is never a problem with them. They have impressed me beyond my highest expectations. For the first time, every single student got every answer on this weeks newspaper article, and they all finished it with 10 minutes to spare in the class (Doh Soe finished within 5 minutes.... with all the answers right!!!!). The dictation also went spectacularly.... 10/12 people got at least half the words right, and 8/12 got two-thirds!!! Am I a miracle worker, or am I just getting easier? Perhaps a little of both. Although I know they really appreciate me..... This may be stupid, but let me give an example. At the beginning of class, to all their Burmese teachers they kids say "Minglaba saya", and to the english teachers (ie the volunteers), they say "good morning, teacher". Within the past few weeks, they have shifted to saying "minglaba saya" to me... which makes me feel as though they respect me beyond the level of a half-serious western volunteer. Of course.... I don't want to overplay such a thing.

Although Karl has reemerged from obscurity (turns out he was violently ill for a whole week), I have still had the responsibility of teaching French..... although its one which Ive actually revelled in. Yes, my French is less than fluent, and I make plenty of small mistakes.... but so what. I've had fun teaching french just because its such a laid back atmosphere.... and in reality it doesnt REALLY matter if they actually learn the language. In other words, I dont really feel frustrated if they dont pick it up..... but some of them, have picked it up rather well. However, my tenure will shortly come to an end, as new volunteers from Switzerland are due to arrive any day now.

I suppose that's enough to conclude another week's update. I probably won't update next week, but if I truly feel compelled to do so, I will do it on Thursday. If, I have not yet updated by next Thursday, then I won't update until the following week, maybe around Wednesday the 8th? I can't be sure.... just check up every once in a while.

I miss you all. I send you all warm regards from Mae Sot, Thailand. Take care.

Mae Sot (7) - A slightly interesting week (21 July 2007)

Sah wat dee kahp,

That's Thai for hello, and is almost the extent of my knowledge of this language. I hope all is well in Montreal, and the (potentially) many other parts of the world in which my readers are currently inhabitating.

Last Saturday night was what has become the weekly inter-school football match, which saw BHSOH (my school) get trounced 6-1.

On Sunday, I decided to take an impulsive day-trip to Sukhothai, which was supposed to be decently nice. Despite the moderate hastle in getting there (almost everything in Thailand is a hastle), and the fact that I actually spent less time there than I did travelling, I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. For those of you who don't know (which is probably all of you), Sukhothai is an ancient (13th-14th century) capital of northern thailand, and is packed with gorgeous ruins of Budhist temples. I'm normally not a huge temple fanatic, but I heard it was supposed to be decent, and I kinda wanted to get out of Mae Sot for a day, if nothing else, just to remedy the boredom. I actually really liked it because the area was really well-maintained and quite nice. It was touristy-enough to make it interesting (and worth going out of my way to see), but not quite over-run like Chiang Mai. Although I managed to get on a sorngthaew (pickup-truck taxi) which a whole host of attractive French girls.... but that's not wholly relevant to anything.

Astrid was due to leave this week, so on Monday they had a nice good-bye ceremony for her. Tuesday was her last day, and by Tuesday afternoon, she was gone. Karl also seems to have disappeared into thin air.... I haven't seen him since Astrid left. Also, out of nowhere, just during the time since my last entry, a pair of Australian volunteer teachers came and left. At the very least, they provided me with dinner company for a few days.

With Astrid gone, and Karl MIA, I have assumed the responsibility of the French teacher. The smartest kids learn French in an optional after-school class everyday. Although I do know quite a bit of French, I hardly feel qualified to teach the language... and I know I make grammatical mistakes all the time. But then again, most of the mistakes I make are minor, and I know they are probably never going to use the French that they learn. Besides, I don't feel any less qualified at teaching French than Astrid was at teaching English. One thing I try to do differently than them is to go directly between Burmese and French as much as possible (as opposed to between English and French), and they actually tend to learn words quite quickly. I actually kinda enjoy teaching French, as it is really low-key, I don't really have any expectations, and only the most motivated (and brightest) students come.

My other classes are going just fine..... grade 9, as usual, never ceases to impress me. I did a dictation on Thursday, and I told the class that I would be thrilled if we improved upon last week, where 7/13 people got 50% of the words..... and this week a full 10 people managed to pull it off, including 4 of which who got 65%, and one girl, May Dar of course, who got almost every word!! And the weekly essays, in which I asked them to write about their future lover (despite Thini's insistence, I was off-limits) were also quite good. Of course, before all of you say how wonderful of a teacher I must be, I feel as though I haven't paid enough attention to speaking. Sure, I have them read their essays out loud on a weekly basis.... but in terms of actually conversation/discussion, I haven't done so well. Besides the classic "what did/will you do this weekend?", I've been at odds for good conversation topics.... and my attempts to get them to talk freely about newspaper pictures hasn't really worked so well- as they would prefer to write it out and then read what they wrote- which isn't necessarily bad. Logisically speaking, practicing speaking is definitely the hardest part. Some of them don't speak very loudly at all, and it is impossible to hear them (combined with the fact that their pronunciation is often so bad, I cant understand them).... and we are surrounded by loud classes on either side.... and the noise makes it really difficult to hear even normal voice levels.

Grade 5+6, however, continues to frustrate me..... sure, a good chunk of the kids totally get pretty much everything I throw at them, but then an equal number just don't get anything at all.... and I really don't know what to do. I hate writing Fs on tests. I try doing a lot of board excersises, and making sure the "slower" students get a chance, but either they refuse to go up and try (note: loss of face), or they do go up, and get it so horribly wrong. Understandably, some of the material is rather difficult.... try explaining conjugation rules for simple past tense (speak = spoke; go = went; come = came; etc).... yet some of it is quite easy, such as making questions in the past tests (just add the word "did" and put the verb in the present).... yet, some of them just don't get it. Alas, I'm at odds to figure out how to get them to understand it.... and I absolutely can't stand writing Fs on test papers. Grades 3 + 4 aren't a whole lot better either.... although grade 4 is miles ahead of grade 3. I keep things quite simple.... teaching them a set of related vocabulary words (for instance... body parts), and a few relevant verbs (eg., My ... hurts), and I try to get them to recognise patterns... and for the most part, they don't. I don't want to say they're stupid, but they don't seem to learn quickly at all.

There's another thing that has started to bug me..... mostly because of the colour of my skin (and also perhaps because of a 20 000B donation I made on behalf of the BSC), people tend to think I'm a walking ATM, especially my friend Min Saw Thway (mae soe tway). I have no problem buying him lunch everyday, since they don't feed him at school and Stefan (or, as he says, S-Tefan), always used to buy him lunch. And I have no problem buying him beer, because I enjoy the company.... even cigarettes are so cheap that I'm okay buying them for him. But then Karl gave him an MP3 player, which he proceeded to break, and now MST (Min Saw Tway) wants me to buy him another one..... I relented into giving him my crappy FM radio (not my short wave) that I bought at the border for 100B). Then, he wanted me to buy him football shoes. I felt really bad because his old shoes broke, and he wouldnt be able to play if he didnt have any. I found a pair for 260 B, which is roughly 8 USD, so I decided to get them for him. I'm fully aware of the fact that he has absolutely no money, and compared to him, I do have money.... but I also have bills up the wazoo, and debts, and all those other horrible things. Also, if I buy too many things for him, then i have to buy stuff for everyone.... which will surely deplete my bank account.

I've also realised I've become quite cheap here. Part of it is due to the fact that I do have bills waiting for me in Canada, and Im not receiving any income this summer. But I've also adapted to see things in relative terms. For instance, in Canada, I wouldnt bat an eye at spending 10$ for a pair of football shoes, but here, that just seems too expensive. And I have yet to spend more than 3$ US on a meal, incluidng during my time with Jon, and even that seems to be quite expensive (as does 2$ ). I wonder how I'm going to feel back in Canada, when the cheapest grub is low quality Eaton Centre fried rice for 6$. Then again.... I really do miss cooking, and I look forward to cooking when I get back to Canada.

I suppose this shall suffice for another weekly entry. I have yet to share some exciting news with you all: it seems that my older brother Matt (whom some of you have met) and his wife Monica are going to be in Thailand quite soon! Two weeks from yesterday (3 August), I'm due to meet them in Chiang Mai for a long weekend. I'm quite looking forward to that (for obvious reasons).

I will try to have pictures from Sukhothai up within the next 3 weeks. Cheers, and blessings.

Mae Sot (6) - I'm happy and sad (14 July 2007)

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.

Mae Sot (5) - Halfway point! (7 July 2007)

Well, for better or worse, the halfway point has arrived. I'm not quite sure if I long to return to Canada, or if I would rather stay here- just to see through the school year.

The weather has changed quite a bit.... there's been a shift to the monsoon season. The good news is that the oppressive heat is gone.... it doesnt seem to get much hotter than 28 or so. The bad news, is that the rain is almost constant, and mud is ubiquitious. Oh well.... I don't control the weather, so complaining about it is futile.

I've gotten to know a little bit more about the town of Mae Sot. Mae Sot is an extremely interesting place. On the surface, little appears to be remarkable.... save for the Burmese shop signs. There are 7-11s everywhere, tons of cyber-cafes, and even a few Western "farang" places. Only spending a few days here would leave you with no other impression than a typical border town. It is only by spending a longer time here, and by talking to the right people, that you can really get a feel of some of the crazy things that go on here.

For one thing, there are quite a few jewelerry stores in town. What isn't obvious, is that all the jewels are smuggled in from Myanmar. Even some of the classy looking electronics stores are rumoured to be merely a front for drug, sex, and money laundering. Many of the people working here are illegal Burmese who pretend not to be.... working for almost nothing, yet living a life much better than they would in Burma. In the most random and obscure locations, one would find underground schools, news centres, and Karen resistance movements. A few times I've witnessed the deportation of Burmese, which looks disturbingly similar to the deporation of Jews depicted in numerous HOlocaust movies..... picture a whole ton of people crowded into this grate-like pickup truck. Where they're being shiped, namely Burma, is little better than where the Jews were shipped. however, word has it that they often dont stay there for long, as immigration in thailand tends to be lax, and they jsut walk back over the border.

Things in school are okay. My grade 5 and 6 class is somewhat frustrating.,... I try to teach them simple grammer.... verb conjugation (present tense) and what not.... and in class most of them sem to understand. I ask them (in burmese) if they understand, and they say yes, and they generally get the board excercises right. When I give them tests, however, around half of them fail. I dont know what to do!

I love grade 9 though. Astrid thinks im being too hard on them, but honestly i dont really care what she thinks. And neither seem the students. While some of them are very limited, in those who aren't I've aklready seen quite an improvement. One girl, Lwin Lwin, who seems to be the self-apopinted "class leader", complained a little bit when i first assigned a lot of work.... now shes the most motivated in the class, and her work in exceptional. Anotehr girl, May Dar, always seems to get whats going on, although her motivation is inconsistent. In three other people, Doh Soe, Dar Yee Hla, and Cho Nwe, I see remarkable effort and improvement, although their skills are still a little rough around the edges.

As I am half way done, I have to ask myself, "have I found what I'm looking for in my trip?". To be honset, I never erally knew what I was looking for..... somewhere, my search for the exotic turned into a longing for the familiar. However, what I have found is a remarkable sense of self confidence that I've never had in my life, and I hope and plan to take it back to Canada.
Thats about it from me.... Stefan is gone, tragically, and I'm gonna miss the guy. Until Next Saturday, i wish you all well. Cheers.

Mae Sot (4) - no title (2 July 2007 - edit 19 May 2008)

Oy. It seems that my last entry, that I worked so long on, disappeared some how. I don't understand technology. I'm not going to attempt to retype the whole entry again - you'll have to wait until Saturday for a new entry, when I'm in the blog updating mood.

However, I can assure you that things are okay over here. I'm settling into a routine as much as it is possible, particularly with my students. I've been working them hard- especially the odler ones- but I'm hoping that it will pay off in the long run.

Last Saturday, I had to go to Myanmar to get my visa renewed... and I spent a few hours in Myawaddy, Myanmar..... that was interesting indeed. It is supposedly one of only two Burmese towns with 24 hour electricity, as they manage to steal it from the Thais (the other being their brand new capital, Napidaw). It's also the first time that someone gave me change in the form of a ciggarette.

For those of you keeping track, there's been a slight change to my travel itenerary. I plan to leave Mae Sot on 14 August, taking the bus to Bangkok. Frmo Bangkok, I plan to take a night train to the Lao border, cross into Lao, spend a day in Vientiane, 2 in Luang Prabang, go back to Bangkok, fly from bangkok to Hong Kong on the 19th, and spend one day in Hong Kong, then, come back to the states on the 20th. I'll keep you all updated on how that goes.

That's all from me... I've very disappointed at the loss of my last entry, which none of you will ever read. It was a true gem. Take care.

**edit 19 May 2008**

I couldn't write this at the time, but I know sure well why my entry wasn't successfully

posted at the time. Although I wasn't aware of it, I was culture shocking a little bit: and taking it out on Thailand. I said some reasonably nasty things about Thailand, and I guess I underestimated the extent of the military junta which was ruling Thailand at the time. In retrospect, I'm glad the entry wasn't posted, because, by the end of my trip, and looking back, I've come to appreciate and love Thailand and Thai people.

Mae Sot (3) - Just when I started to get settled in (23 June 2007)

Hello everyone... it's that time of the week again. Thanks to Sulin for her comment, and thanks to Dan for his comment from the prior week. I always enjoy reading your responses to my blog entries- it assures me that people do read them after all!!

Before I fill you guys in, I wanna share with you about two funny articles I read in the Bangkok post last night. One article was about a New Zealand couple who tried, unsuccessfully, to name their newborn child "4Real". The New Zealand government claimed that human names were not allowed to begin with numerals. The second article was about a Dutch woman who tried to file a lawsuit, claiming she was "traumatised" by NOT winning a lottery contest she didn't even enter! Oh, I had a good laugh over that.

Meanwhile, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my life back in Montreal. This time away, as I had expected, has given me a great chance to analyse my life back in Montreal - and I decided that starting in September, I will start anew, leaving behind two horrible things that nearly ruined my last semester - depression and MCF. Both of these unfortunate things will be gone from my life forever!

Now that thats over.... let me fill you in on this weeks events. So, last Saturday, just a few hours after writing my last entry, I became violently ill. Turns out I got some horrible case of food poisoning. I was largely bed confined for over 24 hours. Throughout the entire weekend I was out of commission. However, it wasn't as bad as it could've been. FOr one thing, my weekends are usually quite boring anyway, and at least this way I was in some way "occupied" (i know thats kinda a weird way to look at it). Also, it didn't affect the week at all, so I didn't have to miss any classes.

So I was fully recovered by Monday, and it was a normal start to what i thought would be a normal week. On Tuesday, most classes were cancelled on acount of Aung Sung Suu Kyi's birthday (if you don't know who that is... i suggest you wiki her). That same day, I was surprised to find out that we have a NEW western volunteer at the school- a 20 yr old guy named Karl from Sherbrooke, QC, who's staying for 6 months. Fortunately for me, this hasn't seemed to affect my schedule. And, as he's living in Mae Sot, I will occasionally have some company during the evenings. He's here with 3 girls from the area (they are here with a programme of sorts), each volunteering at a different school.

Despite these unpredicted changes, including another class cancellation on Friday for reasons that still elude me, I have started to ease into a routine for all my classes.

For my grade 5+6 classes, I'm teaching them grammar and vocab. Each week I will give them a few vocab words, which I make them write sentences for hw. Then I'll teach them some sort of grammer.... this last week, I taught them parts of speech, subject object verb, etc etc etc. I want to make sure they have all the basics down pat, because a lot of them don't always write complete sentences. I test them every week.

For my grade 9 class, I assign one essay every week (which will be read aloud after I grade and make corrections), I have them make stories based on pictures, I have them read newspaper articles and answer questions, I try to get them involved in casual discussion (ie, what did you do this weekend? etc)., and if they've earned it, we can play games on Friday.

For my grades 3 + 4 classes, I've been teaching them vocab. Last week I did fruits and this week I did vegetables. While these classes are rather boring (I don't do games or songs, rather I just repeat the words over and over again), the kids have actually learned the words!!!! I gave my 4th graders a test yesterday,. where I wrote the burmese name for a certain fruit and they had to write the english name, and everyone did extremely well- and there were even some perfect papers!! (I made sure their notebooks were underneath the benches, so I know no one cheated). So far, what I'm doing with the little kids seems to be working, as I can clearly see that they are learning these words.

As you can probably gather, it is going rather well. A large part of me really wishes that I could stay here for the entire school year, just to see the progress the kids make. Yet a large part of me misses North America- with its familiarity and temperate climate. I am indeed looking forward to my return to Canada.

Just a side note: pictures from Burma (Myanmar) are finally online!!! Check my facebook profile. Until next week, I wish you all the best.

Mae Sot (2) - a week of ups and downs (written 16 June 2007)

I never really know where to start these blog entries. In order to properly give you idea of how things are, I have to go all over the place. Basically, there are two "side stories" about my life here - Mae Pa (the school, etc), and Mae Sot.

Let me start with Mae Pa. I think I explained last week that Mae Pa is a small village, about 6 km North of Mae Sot (I bike there everyday). It is where the school/orphanage is located. Before I go to much farther, I will introduce you to some of the characters in my Mae Pa life (by telling you their name and a little about them, it will be less confusing when I refer to them in this and later entries).

As I said last time, there are two other Western volunteers: Stefan and Astrid. Astrid is 22, just finishing her university studies. She decided to do a semester abroad in Bangkok, but abandoned her studies to travel around the area. She decided to change her degree from business, and is now writing her thesis about the NGO situation in Mae Sot (with Burmese refugees, etc). She is French, but speaks English (although with a mildly heavy accent). She is teaching English and giving optional French lessons. For English, she teaches the grades that I don't. Stefan is a bit older, also French. He seems rather disillusioned with Western life, and has been loafing around SEA (particularly Thailand and Laos) for a while, and plans to stay for as long as his budget can support him.... he eventually hopes to open a business in the area so he never has to return to France. He speaks a bit of Thai, but very little English. So, he only gives optional French lessons at the school, which amounts to 1 hour of actual work each day. Most of the day he spends just kinda chilling out. Fortunately for me, his French is very clear and I have not had any problems communicating with him (although he has an occasional laugh when I use the Quebecois word for something). I find him quite reserved, relaxed, yet very conversable.

All of the other teachers are Burmese. Most of them speak nearly no English (even the English teachers!). There are two notbable exceptions. The principal (something) is a nice, longyi-wearing man, who seems to have taken a particular liking to me, not least because I've already donated 10 000 B of the money I'm supposed to deliever from the Burma Solidarity Collective.

One of the teachers for the older students is a 60 yr old man named U Cheng. Despite never having left the Burma-Thailand area, he speaks quite good English. He also seems to take a great liking to the students.... unlike all of the other teachers, he hangs out with the older guys in their quarters during his breaks.... and joins them in their guitar playing and merryment. He has also taken a liking to me, and he is one of the few people I can have a proper conversation with.

There is one orphan who is not actually a student. His name has eluded me (and I probabluy wouldnt be able to spell it properly anyway). He stays there to help out around the orphanage, and during the day he kinda just lounges about with Stefan. He is an extraordinarily nice fellow with almost no knowledge of the English language. He talks to me in pidgin English and he has been teaching me Burmese (with mixed levels of success). We play checkers often, and he usually (but not alaways!!!) wins.







The Thai teacher, a Burmese fellow named Zandy (sp?) is also a very nice fellow, despite his very limited knowledge of English. He, too, has made an effort to teach me Burmese.
He, Stefan, and I occasioanlly go out for a beer at the "depanneur" accross the street. What results is a linguistic extravaganza of Burmese, Thai, French, and pidgin English.


This is what a typical day looks like: My alarm is set for 9 am, although in reality I'm up well before my alarm rings. In fact, I usually am on my way by 9 am. I'll stop somewhere on the way (7-11 or something of the like) for a small breakfast. I arrive at the school around 9:30, despite the fact that my first class isn't until 10:30. FOr an hour, I usually just hang out, talking to Stefan or the helper (as he will be henseforth referred) if they're there (which they usually are). At 10:30 I have my Grades 5+6 students. This has actually proven to be perhaps my favourite class to teach. The kids are for the most part surprisingly bright. I've been pushing them, and they don't seem to have much problems understanding me. Yesterday I gave them a test (telling time, and the vocab words for the week: "friend", "travel", and "grass"). The vast majority of the students did extremely well on the exam, which makes me quite happy. On Friday, however, a fight broke out between two students- a boy and a girl. It was hardly an ideal situation, but we managed to get them apart, and to calm everyone down. I hope not to see a repeat of such an incident.


At 11:15, I have my grade 9 class. I also really enjoy this class.... a small class of only 13 students. This class I'm really trying to challenge (the school finishes at grade 10, at which point a few students vy for a schoalrship to study in university in Bangkok). This week I tried having them read a short, relatively easy (and not politically sensitive) English-language newspaper article. At first, it went over horribly, as not a single student seemed to have any idea what was going on. However, after two long days of working the article very slowly, I found that 6 / 13 students finally started to get it! Astrid thinks I'm being too hard on the students. It seems to me that her idea of getting her students to learn English by singing songs and playing games. I take this job much more seriously than that, and I understand the gravity of the situation with these kids. As bad as this sounds, being proficient in English is really the only chance they have at getting their lives together- since they can't go back to Burma, and Thailand doesn't really want them there (they are living there illegally). It is because I really care about these kids, that I want to work them hard. If they don't work hard, they'll never make any progress. Plus, none of the English teachers seems to speak English adequately. Not to think of my self as a saviour to these kids, but as the only native speaker of English, I feel obliged to really push the kids. Of course, all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. I told my grade 9 students that if they worked hard Monday - Thursday, we'll leave Fridays for games.


At 12:00 is lunch. Either I eat at the orphange (and have a traditional Burmese meal) or I go to one of the stores/restaraunts around and pay 20B for something. At 13:00 is my next class (except on Wednesdays, at which point I'm finished). At 13:00 I have either grade 3 or grade 4. Teaching these kids is a little tougher, as their ability to understand English is rather limited. Plus, the class is a whole hour long (not 45 minutes), so I never really know what to do for the whole hour. This week I taught them the English names for different fruits.... knowning the burmese equivilents made this process a lot easier. When this class is finished, I usually hang out for a bit, before going back to Mae Sot. Typically, I'll get a beer with Stefan or something, and leave the school around 3:30ish.


This leads into a good transition into the 2nd side of the story: my Mae Sot life. Last Sunday, I went to a church that I thought was in English. It ended up being in Thai, but it wasn't all a waste- I met a small, but quite nice group of Westerners there. Neill and Diana are an American couple living as missionaries. They recently bought a rather nice house in Mae Sot, quite close to my guest house, and are very happy to have me over. Gail is a Kiwi of about 25 who, dissatisfied with her New Zealand life, has decided to live with Neill and Dian and be their secretary. She is a very nice person, whose somewhat frequent SMSs have mange to kill some of my bordom. Mindy is a Chinese-American who has been teaching Karen children on and off for two years. By some way or another, she knows Neill and Diana, and she was over their house on Tuesday, when they invited me over. Gail has decided to make this Tuesday night time a regularly occuring Bible Study. Also at the church, I met a black guy (they are very rare here!) from Los Angeles named Brian.


While it was nice to meet fellow westerners, I don't actually seem to see them very often, or at least I didn't this week. So, whlie the boredom situation has improved a bit, there is still an almost intolerable amount of "down time". Neill has lent me a bit of reading material to supplement the minimal supply which I have brought with me, and I am able to share the occasional dinner with someone else. So, while the lonliness has improved, it is still very much there.


Except, that is to say, for the bugs with which I seem to share my guest house (particularly the washroom). Last night I saw what I can only hope was a huge centipede, walking around the floor of the washroom. Oy!


And I bet you're all wondering what happened with the girl situation. Yes, these is still quite a bit of female attention, although it has died down a bit. For instance, the girl about which I wrote in my last entry..... last Saturday night she sent me an excessive amount of SMSs to the tune of "I miss you!!!!!!!!" etc etc. When I saw her in person, I kinda subtly gave her the hint that I wasn't interesting in .... pushing boundaries. She seems to have taken this hint rather well. That situation over, the female attention (for now) is limited to girls waving at me on the street, shouting "hello", and smiling and giggling when I walk into stores.... but soon enough I'll get used to that sort of thing.


Anyway, I don't want to take up too much of my readers' times. I appreciate everyone who continues to read my updates, and I especially appreciate those of you who have sent me emails. MAny thanks to all of you, and I wish my blessings upon you.