My first full week in Thailand was less than ideal to say it kindly. I am still super thrilled to have the opportunity to be here in another country doing something that I have wanted to do for years but I am pretty disappointed about some things.
When I was brought to the school the day after I arrived I was introduced to both the programs in need of teachers. One was a 2nd grade class, aka Pratom 2 and the other the Math & Science English program for levels Pratom 2, 3, 4, & 6. I met the 2nd grade class I was told would be mine, and I met all the other classes for the Math & Science program. There was a lot of pressure from the English program director to choose 2nd grade, which I didn’t understand. After a whole weekend of continuous pressure and not-so-subtle comments I accepted the class. On Monday when I arrived at school I learned I would actually be teaching a different class then the one I met and that my Thai co-teacher(who teaches 3-4 classes in Thai and I teach 3-4 classes in English) was out for the day w/out having told anyone(she also did this the Friday before). So my first day I would be teaching almost a full day w/kids I had not met and that speak minimal English. FANTASTIC.
Caligirl and I were assured it was a one time thing until Tuesday when it happened again because there was a seminar being taught by other Foreign teachers and our Thai teachers decided to attend but didn’t get their classes covered either. This happened Tuesday-Friday. OF our FIRST week at school. Not good at all.
Needless to say it was an awful first impression…and were into the 2nd week and it has not gotten better. Don’t let me fail to mention that it looks like they might not be able to keep me here because of some reasons I don’t want to discuss on here just that I was told one thing before I got here and the laws here say different.
But I don’t want this post to be all bad so I must include some photos!!!
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| My students |
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| One of the few well behaved…this is Uefa |
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| This is Tapee |
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| Jinny |
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| Blue |
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| Caligirl & I getting some food |
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| Cheese! |
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| Our house |
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| bathroom |
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| my room(much bigger than in Chicago) |
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| walking in…. |
I should mention the house Caligirl and I moved into is pretty spacious and comes out to about $170USD a month.
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| school lunch |
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| Just say Gai and Cow and they will mix you up some chicken & rice |
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| Bam Bam in bed |
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| catching up on blogs |
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| First Thai massage |
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| waching Aladdin! |
Stay tuned for my first trip to Bangkok and catching up with Bellydancer my girly from Chicago also living in Thailand!
Sending you happy thoughts. I hope it gets better soon.
Thinking of you, thanks for sharing all the pictures
Sorry it's been so rough. I commend you on your braveness to even go out on the adventure on your own. You have to give yourself some props for that. Some people can't even move to a different state than their family and friends … you're making it on the other side of the world! You rock!
♥ Shia