Jamison’s Misadventures In Asia

Today marks the start of my third week teaching, and I’m beginning to feel somewhat comfortable with my role as a "co-teacher".  In an effort to create a sustainable model, the Peace Corps has defined our role as teacher-trainers that work alongside selected Thai teachers in the classroom.  Of course, working out this classroom dynamic would be difficult in any circumstance, let alone crossing cultural and language barriers.  The amount of work and planning that goes into co-teaching is far more than the amount necessary to teach a class alone, but the aim is that after two years, my co-teachers will have improved their English and adopted student-centered teaching practices to share with their counterparts. 

Okay, I just got distracted and lost my train of thought.  Some quick tidbits because I have to go in a minute:

I went to Koh Samet last weekend.  It’s an island in the gulf.  It was a pleasant and fun weekend, but the island itself was nothing too spectacular.  It would have helped if we left our piece of beach and didn’t spend the entire time drinking Beer Chang out of metal buckets. 

I’m recovering from my second major bout with diarrhea since arriving in Thailand.  I never thought that pooping 20+ times in a day could seem normal;  I did not realize that it was possible to poop pure orange gatorade; and I was amazed to defecate something resembling an alien miscarriage once I recovered. 

I apologize for that last little bit–I may have crossed the line. 

In my previous postings, I forgot to mention that I electrocuted myself a while back.  I was plugging in my phone charger and managed to have my finger across both prongs as I did.  This sent a wonderful jolt of 220 volts (roughly twice as much juice as the states) up my arm.  The shock made me drop the charger, so it wasn’t too bad, but it was certainly one of the stranger sensations I’ve experienced.  I would actually recommend it to people, should one gain the courage.  It was kind of fun.

Another thing I’ve been meaning to mention is my practice of teaching my former language teacher, Chaturon, about fictitious American customs.  This first came about when he asked me why my toenails are abnormal (I’ve had minor procedures on both of my big toes to take care of ingrown toenails).  I told him that in America we have a coming-of-age ritual where seven year-olds are placed on a table and have their toenails sliced with a hot knife.  The children are not given any anesthesia, nor are they allowed to show pain or discomfort.  I told him that the ritual signifies the child growing past the age of crying and approaching the stoicism that adulthood brings.  He bought it.  Silly Chatty.  Of course this blatantly defies one of the main goals of Peace Corps: to share my lifestyle and customs with people in Thailand, but I figure I’ll let him in on it before I leave. 

Okay, that’s it for now.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  The start of your summer marks the end of our hot season and the beginning of the rainy season, and for that I am thankful. 

This entry was posted on Monday, May 30th, 2005 at 4:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.