Two beer downpour

We went to a cultural museum for our activity yesterday and then via many modes of transport met up with another volunteer for a trip to Chinatown for dinner. That sounds very civilized to the poimt of boring! But anything 1) in Bangkok tuk tuks and 2) chaperoned by a 19 year old U of Chicago student is bound to be an adventure.

As soon as we entered the Chintown area, the way people drove was distinctly Chinese, not Thai. Thai drivers virtually never honk, always slow and stop for pedestrians, and in general are exceedingly polite. Chinese drivers - as seen in Shanghai in 2008 - go as fast as possible, hate the brakes, will calculate the pace  of the pedestrian and plan to miss them but if the walker freaks and stops they honk and are annoyed that you stopped their trajectory. It takes a great deal of courage to know that when headlights are speeding at you!

We were dropped off at Point A and started asking questions about a certain cafe that as written up and nightly endorsed on several travel websites. We walked, and tuktuked, we walked more and tuktuked more. At the end of all that we were dropped off at Point A. Finally a very nice local man headed us in the right direction and our guide recognized the area and found our cafe - that term used strictly because they served food. We sat 1/2 way out in the street at the usually plastic table and stools and he ordered the house speciality: oysters. I am not normally a big oyster fan, but when in Bangkok...

They were amazing wonderful! I saw scallions and some kind of Breaded Egg under it and the oysters had stewed in some combination of spices. I know you can't see my mouth watering remembering it! As we finished eating and were enjoying our Thai beers, the rain started. Sprinkled Rain in Bangkok is only to let folks know to take cover. It never just sprinkles! The gusher began seconds later. The staff hurried us under the awning and we had to choose between using the one umbrella for three of us or getting a second beer. That was the easiest decision we made all day! It turns out Thai downpours are just about 2 beers long!

We took a very peaceful cab ride home and can say we have eaten the best Bankok Chinatown has!
 

More about the school

School yesterday was a lot of meetings - just like school everywhere! But the kids did spend time with a monk who was brilliant with them. Never raised his voice but had them actively engaged. He was teaching - gently - prayer positions and words. It will be while before
they acquire "stillness" but they loved the experience.

That got my asking questions again about the school. It is "private" in that it is owned by the local Wat, or temple. The land the temple is on,  the school and all the surrounding "slums" (the word the teacher used) is all Wat property, but the school itself is funded by the government. So it is there for the children who live in the area. I need to see the housing area to say for sure, but the rooftops look like the kind I have seen in more needy areas. The children however are neat and clean, always.



So the monks can come speak whenever they like, although if they usually send this one the kids do not mind religious instruction at all.

School

I am teaching in a private school that is pretty typical for Bangkok. Grades P-6 on 2 campuses across the alley from each other. There is the typical mix of new and veteran teachers, a male director and female administrator.

English is started in grade 1, with a "native speaker" 1 hour a week, so we are busy all day and and a central part of the program. Imagine if we offered Chinese or Spanish that way! Teaching is primarily the typical Asian model of lecture and rote repetition without meaning, but there is an effort to be more experiential and conversational at the upper levels. Missing are the typical ways of teaching rhyming words like say, day, way, but perhaps that requires conversation ability that our kids have when they begin to read.

There is a Thai alphabet song but it takes about 7 minutes to sing! If you are washing hands to it you will be really clean.

Everything in Thailand is very clean, partly because the rain keeps it washed and because the Thai are personally very clean people. So the children's uniforms are spotless but wrinkle proof and shoes come off before entering any room.

Bathrooms, sidewalks, public areas are clean and people of all ages are modestly dressed in Western clothes. In Bangkok, there are 10M people but relatively little shoving or bumping. They tend to be small so lots of us can get into one train. But the taller volunteers do feel a bit Gulliver!

Temple Visit

I am having to go back and recapture stuff that just came so thick and fast I could not get it blogged.

Last week we went to a Temple and were honored to meet the director monk. He was educated in America and was the most gracious and sincere man I have ever met.

He gave us the basics of Buddism, but the fascinating part was how Buddism has changed in Southern Asia as opposed to Northern Asia. Case in point is the absence of women in the monestaries.

Buddha originally taught that man and women were no different in ability to follow the path and join monestaries. Various (male) cultural issues arose even before the Buddah had died, but they laste after he did. Centuries past and with the influence of the west, women began to apply. The North being more progressive agreed to set up separate monestaries and ordain women. The South being more "by the book" will not ordain and does not welcome women monks should want to establish femal monestaries. So it goes.

Whatever the training is, I have heard no loud argements or honking horns!

It's a jungle!

The weather is beyond the hot and humid of the tropics because of all the greenery that is growing in every possible space that is not concrete. And in some cement it is breaking through. The  house yards are not  tidy grass space, but crammed with voluntary lush plants with huge leaves and gorgeous flowers. The earth steams after a rain and the green holds the moisture until The air can try to absorb it. As dry as Morocco was, I found the water it needs. About 50 years without human interference would be all Bangkok needs for the dense jungle to reclaim it..

Redefines humidity as we know it in Chicago!
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English Camp and Cultural Event

Today the whole CCS volunteers staff when to my school for an all school English Camp. We each had an assigned topic and detailed instructions from the local teachers, but 8 groups of 40 kids per group!









I did storytelling for grades 4-6 which meant a lot of time with The Boy Who Cried Wolf. By time #7 I was not sure if the wolf would show up or not. It would be faster if the villagers just chased him off or got smarter sheep. But the kids had a great time and all the teachers were grateful.






Then we had a cultural experience. The planned event was a visit to Jim Thompson house who was a private American who took 6 regular Thai houses, moved them all to his property and designed one house in the Thai style from them.  He also collected some astonishing Chinese and Thai art which was wonderfully displayed. The house made the most of the wonderful garden. In th way it reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright with the windows and vistas bringing nature in. Except here there is no need for windows!

The unplanned part was the taffic and rain. The 40 minute tour took 1.5 hours to get to and 2 more to get home. We ended up taking a van, sky train, subway, tuktuk, golf cart and splashing through puddles.

 

Weekend in the South Pacific

Off the grid for the weekend - plenty to say on Monday.