The Thai Field Trip

Yesterday was my first experience with a Thai field trip. The teachers have been talking about this trip to Chaing Rai for almost a month now, so I was expecting some well planned out exciting day( and yes it was exciting but in the Thai kind of way). We left from school at 4 in the morning. At first I thought my teachers had played a funny joke on me because when I walked around school in the dark, crisp morning there was not a person to be found or a sound to be heard. After a few minutes I heard the engine of the bus and saw that the teachers and students had gathered outside of the school gate-luckily it was not another poor translation mishap.

We picked up several of the teachers along the way and stopped about an hour and a half into the trip to use the restroom and get a quick breakfast from 7-11 or sewen-elewen as my students say because they can’t pronounce the V sound. Five hours later I see the arch welcoming us the city of Chain Rai, but for some unknown reason at the time our bus continues to drive for roughly an hour. We finally stop at Mae Sai, the last town before entering Burma, and go…. Shopping.

I love shopping, but in Thailand I can feel very shopped out. At every town there is a cute little outdoor market, or in Bangkok’s case a gigantic market known as JJ market, with cheap clothing, knock-off designer bags, colorful fruit, handicrafts, and a plethora of food. Mae Sai is known for being even cheaper than all the other markets that are abundantly available. For an hour and half my students and I meandered through the maze of shopping. I purchased some prunes and “open mouthed nuts” (we don’t have this nut in the states, but the direct translation for it literal is open mouth bean because when it cooks it looks like it has an open mouth.

What I really wanted to do, however, was climb a staircase to the top of the hill overlooking the market and stare out over Burma while drinking an iced cappuccino (Thailand has made me addicted to this drink because it is the best substitute for coffee. The drink they call coffee is horrible!). From my low location in the gorge the market was located in, I was unable to see much of adjacent country, but my host teacher wouldn’t let me leave her side, and I didn’t want to deprive her of her shopping. I am always the lost western soul who needs guidance in my teacher’s eyes.

We ate lunch in the market. Thank-you Leah for introducing me to Koa Soy- red curry noodles with tender chicken and crispy noodles on top. We drove another hour back into the city and to the school competition, the reason we were actually in Chang Rai. Luckily after much phone troubles and lack of service I was able to meet up with another Fulbright ETA. Those thirty minutes of seeing a familiar face and not having to worry about misinterpretations are enough to keep me sane, and the shared coconut ice cream was a bonus!

So after spending only hour at the school competition and two hours shopping my students and teacher loaded the buses to make our way back to school. The six hour bus ride was lessoned only by one roadside stop: dinner! It was noodles and meatballs, of course.

The following day the craziness only continued. I went to the second floor of the Bprathom(primary school) building only to find the halls deserted and the air silenced. I waited in the outdoor hallway looking around to see if my students were anywhere in sight. Sometimes they are late because they are brushing their teeth or still with the previous teacher-don’t ask me why because I don’t know. I just accept the fact that my students come 5 minutes late to class because that is how the Thai school system is.

Today something felt different, so I only waited five minutes before I started venturing around school trying to discover the reason for the absence of my students. The answer I found: “it is nurses day.”

Apparently 4^th year nursing students were at school to teach about health. This included brushing your teeth, not smoking or drinking, and washing yourself. By yourself I am referring to the delicate subject of health education. I found myself staring at student nurses teaching my 10 year olds about the depths of their bodies using small balloons. I decided it would be best if I just took the rest of the morning to lesson plan.