"Same same, but different" is something I hear almost everyday here in Thailand. It generally means (talking about two things - this could be anything) that its either the same as something else, like something else or not like it at all.
After our training at the Yonok Foundation in Lampang Thailand we all split up to go to our respective provinces. I was placed in a rural district in the province of Chaiyaphum with one other teacher Monique. I have a feeling that I will be talking about Monique quite a bit in my blog since she is the only other person who speaks English on the mine we live on. She graduated from Mercer University in Georgia in May and is from Trinidad and Tobago. Some other cool stuff about her is, “she was almost born in Cypress, she lived in Pakistan for three years and was evacuated to the US after 9/11 where she resided in Orlando Florida until college”.
Our first weekend in our new home:
I have almost settled into my new home, which seems like it is really in the middle of nowhere. Allison (my roommate from college) is teaching in Uttaradit, which is about a 6 hour drive away and an 8 hour bus ride even though its really only about 140 miles away. We have rice paddys and tapioca fields as neighbors. One funny thing is that for the amount of rice that surrounds us, we still can’t buy it at the market only the tesco express, which is like a Safeway. Oh yeah I live on a mine. Its pretty much like a compound with 24/7 security that walks the perimeters every 2 hours (supposedly). I think there are some places were not supposed to go, but since no one speaks English its hard to tell. There is one other guy who lives on the compound and he is, I believe a geologist for the mine, he likes to plant trees or play soccer in his free time so we rarely see him as well. We can't pronounce his name so we just call him Mr. T.
Friday (6/1/12) morning we got up early to visit our new schools before beginning on the following Tuesday. Monique and I both teach at two different schools during the week. We were introduced to our school directors as well as the rest of the teachers. We thought we were going to go to Korat (a major city) on Saturday, but apparently that changed. So instead we did nothing too exciting, we just slept in and took the day pretty slow.
Sunday – Monique and I tried to walk to the “camping” or intersection aka the stop light, which has a Seven (seven eleven – but just referred to as seven here) an Amazon Café and a Tesco express. We were told it was too far by the guards as well as Mr. T so we walked to an open market instead, which only took about a half an hour. We considered it our big adventure, which really only involved walking down a straight road with tapioca fields on either side of us.
Monday – Monday was some sort of holiday so there was no school. Monique and I were taken to Korat (the second largest city in Thailand). The drive was just over an hour and we hear that the bus only takes an hour and a half. The mall itself was bigger than any mall I have been in before. With four levels you could find anything, even McDonald’s and Pizza Hut, but really only being two weeks into Thailand we decided to stick with the Thai food court and I had traditional kaaw phat mu (pork fried rice).
School Life:
I work at two different schools. Monday – Wednesday I am at a school called Hue Ta Le, which is smaller and goes from kindergarten to 6th grade. The school itself practices Buddhism (every morning there are prayers I just don’t know what they are ever saying, but they are the same ones everyday) as well as farming. On my first day of teaching I was given khaaw niaaw mu ping aka sticky rice and pork on a stick cause they heard I liked it. So far they bring it to me every morning that I come to school. They also gave me mangos and some fish / shrimp concoction to eat it with (but I gave that to the maids when I got back to the compound) and literally 30 eggs from the chickens that they farm here. There are also ducks and fish. I haven’t seen anything else yet. They also feed me lunch everyday.
My second school is kindergarten – 9th grade on Thursday and Friday. I was told I was going to teach 6-9th grade so I prepared for it then they changed their mind so I now have 30 first graders (in one class), 30 second graders, 30 3rd graders and 30 4th graders each day. Compared to my other school, which has 19 students max in each classroom. Lets just say its hard to control the entire class especially when they have no idea what you are saying because this is their first English class ever….
I have come to learn that most Thai people feel that whenever possible they should drive in the middle of the road instead of in their respective lane.
Monday (6/18/12) one of Monique’s schools took us on a field
trip. In the beginning I wasn't planning on going, but ended up skipping school (of course after asking permission) after one of her teachers demanded that I come. Our first stop was of course Seven for a quick snack and drink. About an
hour later we were going down a driveway lined with beautiful trees brining us
to a Buddhist temple. The director of Monique’s school preformed a ceremony
with the “top” monk after all the students had arrived (7th and 10th grade). The students would be
spending the next three days at the temple learning and practicing how the
monks live. After the ceremony all the teachers who were at the temple went
down into the bamboo forest to harvest bamboo shoots with the “top” monk, who
spoke English and who actually has students in San Francisco. To finish our
visit, we had an all-vegetarian lunch at the temple (the monks do not eat
meat), which was actually quite a nice break from the continuous pork. 
Pet (the nickname for Monique’s school) still had more
activities planned and after the temple we continued on to Pahin-ngam National
Park. The park is known for its views, beautiful flowers and the “Thai
Stonehenge”. The park has an overlook / cliffs that they call the end of the
world, which overlook a valley and are the border of the Chaiyaphum Province.
The Krajaew (kra-g-ow) flowers, which are only out during three months of the
year are known for their pink beauty and unique shape. For example if you step off the
path while walking through the park where the flowers are you are charge 500
bhat. The last stop in the park was what the teachers call the “ Thai
Stonehenge”, which is a group of rocks that are in interesting formations. The Thai people think one looks like the world cup and another one like a chicken. They explained to us that
some scientists believe based on the rock formations that this part of Thailand
used to be under the sea. After taking tons of pictures and buying fresh mangos
we headed back home.
