Since I never went to bed last night, it wasn’t hard to get up this morning at 6:00 am. Stephanie usually leaves her house around seven to get to school and then waits for her assignment for the day. Stephanie is one of five annual subs. She works mainly in the elementary school but sometimes is called to the middle school and high school. Every day she teaches a different class, a different grade and she has definitely become the students’ favorite teacher. She is so passionate about what she does and it shows in her work. She spends her extra time tutoring after school and also coaching the softball and rugby teams.
Today I shadowed Stephanie and got to see what her life is like on a daily basis. She was subbing for the fifth grade class and then facilitated her weekly creative writing workshop for a group of students after school.
When the bell rang this morning she took attendance for her fifth grade class and it was cute to see how excited the kids were to have "Miss Conn" with them for the day. She introduced me to the class as "Miss Wade" and then ushered them off to music class.
It was Stephanie’s free period of the day so we decided to walk across the street to Starbucks. Starbucks is located right next to the country club and outside there is a beautiful view of the pool and the surrounding lake. Just looking at the scenery made me feel at peace. In that moment it was easy to understand why my friend stayed in this place even though her heart aches for her family and friends back home.
Starbucks was amazing and they even made my special soy vanilla latte. Of course, it did take a rather long time to get my order but it didn’t matter. Steph and I sat down on some of the typical Starbucks-like couches and I immediately became aware of my surroundings. All of the tables were full of women, some western and some Thai, wearing work out outfits or short skirts, complete with a tan and distracting wedding rings. So many questions entered my head.
"Hey, what’s the deal with all the women in spandex?" I whispered to Steph.
Stephanie laughed and then gestured me in to listen carefully with her soft voice. She explained to me that these women were nicknamed "Nichada moms." Meaning, they are named after the name of the community, Nichada. They are women who had successful jobs or careers back home and then moved to Bangkok with their husbands, and now they don’t work but remain quite wealthy. They donate a lot of their time to the school, but also to working out and socializing at Starbucks. I guess they typically drop their kids off at the school and then head to an aerobics class followed by a nice cool cup of coffee.
Later on we had lunch with Allison, Stephanie’s friend and fellow elementary school sub. We ate cheap Thai food from the cafeteria and then decided to lunch in their work room instead of sweating it out in the lunch room with the students.
After lunch, Stephanie greeted her class with a reading from a novel they had been reading and then guided them into their journal entries. She also led them in a discussion about realistic fiction and helped them brainstorm ideas for their own stories.
Since the class had behaved so well for the day, we all played a game of silent ball and it was hilarious to see how competitive and serious the kids were. They even wanted to continue playing after the bell sounded for the end of school. Stephanie had to kick them all out.
We grabbed our stuff and went to another classroom for the creative writing workshop. Stephanie teaches this class once a week and has about twelve students, all who share a love for fiction and a love for their teacher.
I sat among the kids at a small round table in the back of the room. All of them brought stories they had written at home and insisted that Stephanie read them out loud to the class.
One of the students smiled at me the whole time. I thought he was in second grade but later I found out he was in fifth. I guess he is just really small. He wrote a story about the alphabet and how he was the letter “H” and at the end of the story he turned into letter “F”. I thought it was so funny but I don’t think the rest of the group understood the letter “F” reference. But come to think of it, I don’t think the author understood it either.
Stephanie also tutored for an hour while I sat and blogged. Later on she asked me if I was bored and I insisted that I love watching her teach and how cool it is to see someone love what they do so much. It’s kind of weird seeing how one of my peers (well, my only peer lately) is pretty much an adult. When did that happen?
After tutoring, we changed into our work out clothes and headed to the gym. The ISB is equipped with everything and so many things go on after school, mostly sports but also activities. While we were working out, Stephanie pointed out some of the Nichada moms and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Later on we walked to the villa and we stopped at the salon and the grocery store. On our walk home, Stephanie made sure I knew the weather isn’t as hot as it usually is. I was glad, considering I was sweating profusely.
Back at her house, we changed for dinner and rode our bikes to a nearby Thai restaurant. When we exited the compound, everything changed. The houses became smaller, less extravagant and wild dogs roamed the streets. The Thai place we ate at was named “The Breeze” and lights were strung around the palm trees and fans kept the outside tables cool. We ordered our meals along with some beer, the perfect match for the end of a long day.
On the way back, we rode on the other side of the lake and found ourselves at a massage parlor. The place was right next to the entrance into the compound and directly faced the 7-11 (Yes they are everywhere). We parked our bikes and slid off our sandals before we entered the parlor. Two Thai women greeted us and we asked for foot massages. They gestured for us to sit down and we sat side by side in two black comfy chairs with ottomans that held our feet. The foot massage lasted an hour and they even rubbed our necks, shoulders, and back. It was the most relaxing experience I have ever had in my life. I even fell asleep. It was amazing, just amazing. I told Stephanie that I couldn’t wait to tell my brother about getting a food rub and how jealous he would be.
That one hour of complete relaxation only cost 220 batt, so about five dollars and fifty cents. So cheap! As we were slipping on our shoes, all I could think was that I would have to come back every day.
I was barely able to ride my bike back to Steph’s apartment because I was so relaxed and barely awake. I literally passed out on the bed from pure exhaustion. I think the lack of sleep for the past two days caught up on me and I have never slept so well in my life. I can’t think of a better way I would have liked to spend my first day in Thailand.
1 comment:
you know what? i am a really really awesome teacher. i am glad you are staring at this as i type it. you are so pretty. cha cha cha
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