Dipangkorn students

Here you see the standard look of morning assembly; students like any others, gathering to chat, laugh, poke each other, generally goof around. Then on a signal from a teacher (via loudspeaker), students all form even ranks (arm's length distance between rows).

Students stand for the playing of a song for the flag-raising, a prayer to the Buddha shrine, a song for Thailand and a song for Dipangkorn, all sung by the whole student body, accompanied by the school military band.

Then on another signal, all sit for the duration of the assembly--the longest for me so far is an hour and a half. The students are cross-legged on the concrete; luckily for me I'm old and a teacher, so I get to sit on the steps. On the day it rained (see the wet pavement above), the students were not asked to sit, so stood for the entire (shorter than usual) assembly.

Note the uniforms, also the uniform hair length of the girls. Some variation of the hair length among the upper classwomen, but the uniform dress remains standard throughout. Boys all have short hair; it's called a "student haircut". On Wednesdays many students wear a boy scout or girl scout uniform, also very clean and neat, shorts for boys and knee-or-longer skirts for girls. Standard shoes for girls are slip-on Mary Janes; for boys black sneakers. Always easy to slip on and off, which they do for every class. Shoes also come off outside every temple, also for the internet cafe. In restaurants people generally wear their shoes.

You may wonder what it is to "wai". You see an example in the upper right, students in reverent attention during a reading. Throughout the day students greet each other and the teachers using the same motion: hands together in prayer-pose, thumbs and fingers extended, head bowed and thumbs brought to chin, lips, nose or forehead depending on the amount of reverence shown. Friends greet each other with a brief chin-high wai; monks are honored with thumbs to forehead; in between is an infinite spectrum based on age and position of the one doing the honoring and the one acknowledging it. To me it's reminiscent of the tip of a hat in America's olden days--think Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant being gallant.

The wai is used all over Thailand, not just in school. You'll see it in restaurants, out on the street; even the sports announcers on TV wai to their viewing public.

People have asked me to compare Thai high school students to their American counterparts: "Surely American students are not as naughty as our students!" Impossible to answer with any clarity. Thai students can be boisterous, noisy, energetic--is that naughty? I have not witnessed any malicious teasing, spiteful looks or direct disobedience.

One thing that is surprising for me is the out-loud cooperation of the class as a whole. If a student doesn't understand a question or doesn't know the answer, fellow classmates become a vocal peanut gallery, shouting out the answer or helpful hints. That seems to be expected, tolerated behavior--as is rote, unison response when everyone knows the answer. It's then a gleeful shout, with louder volume indicating greater understanding.

So far I've noticed rapt focus in my English classes, even in those classes where I was warned: this class is very bad in English. They seem eager to understand this strange phenomenon of a person who doesn't know Thai but talks anyway.

I have substituted in American schools; not fair to compare my honored status here, protected by the other teachers and a novelty to the students. In general so far, it's far easier to teach the Thai students. I feel as if they have learned something they wanted to know in every class, and are eager to continue the process.

Wat Prat Kiaow

The giant demon (about 20 feet high, I'd guess) is one of eight (I think), anyway they stand in pairs facing away from the emerald buddha, to guard the inner area from any evil spirits or other dangers.

There's no way to describe the magnificent opulence of the whole outer area--at every step is a new source of visual wonder. A cloister-like courtyard has murals of the epic poems, every step and doorway is decorated, small pavilions house separate Buddha images, floors and ceilings are mosaics of tiles or glass or gold or mother-of-pearl.

The inner area where the Emerald Buddha resides is a place of reverence, thus off-limits for photography. It has a rich beauty all its own, more serene and elegant. The Emerald Buddha is actually made of a single large piece of jade (maybe three feet high?) He was rescued from a temple in rural Thailand after a fire, was a plaster buddha image and thus revered but not especially treasured. Then someone noticed that his nose showed a bit of green (so the story is told by our guide); they carefully chipped away the plaster to reveal the magnificent, translucent green buddha that we see today.

The Buddha is clad in a suit of 24-karat gold. The costume is ceremonially changed three times a year to the suit of each season (Winter, Summer, Rainy--read: Hot, Hotter, Wetter). We were able to see the Winter and Rainy suits on display; he currently wears the Summer suit. Traditionally the king is the changer of the Buddha's suit; the last few times the Crown Prince has taken over the fairly arduous task. I imagine the costumes are quite heavy; the guide said the range in cost is 1 million $, 1.5 million and 2.5 million and they are truly gorgeous.

Enough--I'm overwhelmed by sensory beauty, am just beginning to understand the Buddhist philosophy underlying it all.

9 temples

It's time to show you some of the beauty of the temples. Last Saturday I had the opportunity to see nine Buddhist temples in Bangkok.

My hosts were Moo's two daughters, Miao and Panh (my transliterations)--lovely young women, both devout Buddhists. I gather that the number 9 is a good goal for the number of temples to see in one day for optimum merit. I'm not sure whether they were consciously gaining extra merit by treating a stranger to the same experience, but for me it was wonderful!

We walked a lot, ferried across the river several times, took a tuktuk ride, climbed the steps of the stupa at Wat Alun (the tall white one on the right). Those steps are very steep, by the way, about a 2 up/1 forward rise, even scarier coming down I think. An exercise in trust, and sore thighs at the end of the day.

We began the day at Wat Prat Kiaow, Temple of the Emerald Buddha--I'll give that a separate entry of its own, as it's also part of the Grand Palace, by far the most gorgeous of all the temples visually. Each temple has its own symbol, its own feel--Wat Pa Kang the temple of the bell, Wat Poh the temple of massage (didn't take time for a massage this day, will do that soon). The Reclining Buddha is huge and impressive. On first entry to the inner temple area, you see only the head, then proceed along to see shoulders, belly, thighs, shins, finally the feet--each glimpse a room in itself. The feet are amazing, decorated on the bottoms with elaborate mother-of-pearl images of buildings, flowers--each foot probably 4 feet high by 8 feet wide, a guess. As you look back along the whole length of the Buddha, awe is not an option; it's automatic. Same with the view from the top of the stupa, or the glitter of glass at Wat Prat Kiaow, or the smell of incense at the Chinese temple, or the clanging of the bells at Wat Pa Kang.

We sprinkled sacred water from lotus blossoms, received a blessing and bracelet from a monk, lit candles and incense sticks, poured oil into the receptacles in front of each day's special god-image, dropped satang coins into bowls, bought food for the monks (egg, bacon and a small cup of rice, all uncooked but ready to be presented to a monk for his day's food). We kneeled and bowed, and Miao prayed as I repeated the sounds. Took our shoes off to go into the inner temple areas (almost unbearably hot where the sun had already reached the marble surface!) Everywhere was reverence and ceremony, with different customs at each temple.

In a few of the temples they had separate entrance lines for native Thai people and for farang (foreigners); I'm guessing the farang entry cost more, which actually seems fair as for us it's a tourist attraction and for most Thais it's a religious observance. The two are so inextricably mixed--awe of Buddha and awe of the beauty to all senses.

new skills necessary to live in Thailand

It takes a village to teach a farang--This set of Thai letter stamps is apparently designed for first or second graders, worked well as an evening's entertainment--they stamped each letter in a page of my notebook (a gift from Boom), laughed and cheered as I copied the shapes. I know that learning to read will be a key to learning the language, feel discouraged sometimes at the daunting task.

Transportation is very different here! I applaud AFS for forbidding me to drive--just remembering as a pedestrian to watch for traffic driving on the opposite side of the road is enough challenge. This is the "red truck" that drives past the school and takes me out to the main road on the way to Phuttamonthon. It doesn't stop unless you flag it down (same with the bus; I waited patiently at the bus stop and watched two bus # 170s drive by before I figured out I'd need to be more assertive). Even then, the drivers of both truck and bus slow only to a semi-stop as people get on or off, no full stop unless in a traffic jam. You grab the bar at the back of the truck and swing on in, pay as you get off. Luckily I'm able to walk to school. I've decided I don't need a bicycle after all...

Climate control...

My schedule listed my first class as 236, took me a while to find it...

My new philosophy on fruit: watch someone else to figure out how to get into the edible part, then enjoy! Durian, by the way, is quite delicious, though it does indeed smell terrible. Other foods: surprising ingredients, such as dried fish in the sweet topping for sticky rice desserts, shrimp or oysters in the papaya salad, kernel corn in the ice cream; sweets tend to be way too sweet, spicy foods far too spicy, though there is often a less-spicy option, with the option to add sauces to taste. I watched one woman spoon on the hot pepper sauce til she elicited comment even from her fellow Thais; then she surreptitiously went back for more...

and you must see the flowers...

Anything goes for materials--fruits, flowers, leaves (folded artfully as you see here), popsicle sticks, pencils...

First Form students (grade 7) generally make fairly small and simple arrangements. By the time they're in Form 6 (12th grade), they can be quite elaborate.

Just as a note of contrast--the students who won the director's prize for knowing soccer trivia were just as proud as the winners of the flower judging.

more photos, teacher appreciation at Dipangkorn

The monk is a teacher; I think he teaches Buddhist religion. The director, above right--presenting an award to a student. Teachers arrayed in preparation for the ceremony; a student reads as students show respect.

Teacher appreciation day

The finished product:

he drew the letters freehand--
one of the teachers--

This young man is also the

guard at the school, greets

people as they come in each

morning--

always takes one to supervise... Photos show inverse order of preparation; as you can see, it was all raw materials just the day before showtime...

Just look at the artistry going into these ceremonies!

Students spent 3 days preparing the floral arrangements for teachers, students and staff stayed after school to design and cut the styrofoam decor of the stage/platform, paint and assemble all to perfection.

The ceremonial process was also amazing--full of grace and dignity, also lots of laughter and fun.

I was privileged to sit in the front row of teachers at teacher appreciation day. Each student presented his or her own floral arrangement to us in the front row; we passed them back to the second row, who then passed them to the third row of teachers, who then placed the arrangements on the long table behind us all, where they were later judged and prizes awarded.

photos of Dipangkorn school

first week of school (cont.)

sorry--

The computer glitched, sent up an error message, so I was able to post but not edit or add. Here's a new post to continue; I'll try to remember to save periodically.

Picture me with microphone in hand; I delivered my prepared speech, got some oohs and ahs from the students. The director opened it up to questions and one brave lad ran up to the stage. He blushed, held his breath, looked at my face with wide eyes, blurted out: How old are you? and stepped back, clearly abashed at his own temerity. I smiled to reassure him, explained with the mic that in the US it would not be polite for a student to ask a teacher her age, but I know in Thailand it is very important to know each person's age (definitely an age-honoring society, and it's important to know where someone fits in the age heirarchy). I told him I'm 58 years old--he told the assembly proudly, but must have enhanced my stature considerably as Jiaranai laughingly corrected him--not 68, only 58. He apologized--sorry, sorry and ran off the stage, clearly relieved to be part of the crowd once again.

The next part of the ceremony has to be experienced to be appreciated. Jiaranai led me by the hand to the front of the courtyard in front of the stage, said "Don't be afraid" and left me. A circle of 25 - 30 upperclassmen (girls and boys) gathered around me and started shouting in unison. Thai teenagers can definitely be loud when they want to be. They shouted (encouraging things, I'm sure) as they closed the circle for about 3 minutes, ended with a loud Boom! and dispersed, laughing. I'm guessing my shocked face was indeed comical.

That afternoon I taught my first classes; so far I've used the same lesson plan all week for all levels. Glo is definitely accurate in her advice to not make things too complicated. The lesson consisted of me introducing myself (write My name is Sue Richardson on the whiteboard; I learned to take time to locate dry-erase markers and erasers at the beginning of each class--they tend to wander). Next a brief statement that Thai students know many words in English (generally true) but they are too shy to speak in English (invariably true). I want you students to have courage to speak English (act out courage, picture the Lion from the Wizard of Oz). Write "courage (noun)" on the board, say "Please repeat: courage". The first attempt invariably wimpy, then stronger. Some classes actually said "courage" with courage!

I asked the class: "Do you have any questions for me?" Blank stares. "What would you like to know about me?" Blank stares. So I wrote on the board: "Who has a question for me?", pointed to each word as I said out loud: "Who has a question for me?" That got them going, sudden babble in Thai as they realized the invitation; group process to figure out the English equivalent for what they wanted to know. I sensed hesitation, added: "If you have a question, please raise your hand." (with demonstration) Eager faces, looking at me and then at each other for reassurance, then a tentative raised hand. I jumped on it: "Yes, a question!", and the questions came forth--"Where do you come from?", "What color do you like?", "Do you have brothers and sisters?", "Do you have children?" "What is your team in the World Cup soccer 2010?" I needed the board to show my family tree--I think they had no idea what step-sons and step-daughter are. They wanted to know ages (ooh, mother 86, father 84; very excited about Julia 19--does she have a boyfriend?) When the questions petered out, I erased my question and wrote a statement: "I have some questions for you." Intent reading as I wrote; the first to get it gave a gasp and a squeal--

First I tested their knowledge of me: "What is my favorite color?" (blue), "What state do I come from?" They all knew America, but even though I'd said Massachusetts, they didn't associate that with state. A couple of kids guessed: California, New York. When I got to "What is my favorite Thai food?" (a question every class asked; I answered tom yam kung to all), they shouted gleefully "tom yam kung!" and clapped. For a couple of the quicker classes I asked some trick questions: "How many husbands do I have?" Astonishment, then eager laughter--"One!" and my answer: "Yes, that's right! and that's plenty!" A few kids got that one, too. "How did I come to Thailand?" generally brought confused interest--how, how, what does that mean--how? "Did I walk from America to Thailand?" (demo) "No, no!" One girl (in 15 classes) knew the word "airplane", several knew the word "fly".

Several classes got me to sing a song (I gave them Mary had a little Lamb); one asked me to speak French, all were astounded at the sound of that. I ended each class by going one by one to each student with the question: "What do you like to eat?" Mostly they understood the question, a few students needed a demo. Lots of inverted answers: chicken fried, noodles Thai, ice cream chocolate. The most fun was when I suddenly understood and said the answer my way: "Suki" is "Aha!sukiyaki"; KFC = Kentucky Fried Chicken brought cheers.

Generally the students were attentive, intelligent, interested in the phenomenon of communicating with someone who doesn't speak any Thai.

I hope my next weeks' lessons go as well...

Tuesday's assembly was shorter; then I was invited to watch the rehearsal for Thursday's pinning ceremony. Girls practicing their curtsey, boys their bow. They easily wai at every opportunity, but the curtsey and bow are clearly foreign.

Tuesday afternoon was my first private Thai lesson; I'm to have listening and conversation with Miss Su on Tuesdays, writing with Miss Siribon on Wednesdays. I'm definitely swimming in deep water here...

I'll also be taking music lessons. Mr. Burim the music teacher is wonderful. He is a strong and dedicated buddhist, was a monk for 3 months in his youth (fairly common, I think), is gentle with his students and with me. He reads music in our model, but prefers a different notation system which he is teaching me--bar lines divide the measure, so what comes immediately before the bar line is the first half of a measure, and after the line is the second half of the same measure. It works better with Thai rhythms. He's taught me two songs on recorder (they twist the mouthpiece the opposite way from my standard; he explained that's so you're not blowing your own breath back into your face--it works fine). He also wrote the melody for loi khratong in his notation (the notes, by the way, are not on staff lines, but are solfege: they sing do, re, mi, fa, son, lang, ti, do). One of the songs he taught me is a sad song from Laos; he gave the scale starting with la, for a minor mode. I think he'll also teach me to play a "saw"; it's a stringed instrument with a half-melon-shaped base, neck with 2 strings (and 2 pegs for tuning). The bow is permanently positioned between the strings. To play, finger different pitches (no frets) and bow one string or the other. I got a full octave pretty easily.

I'll close now--more ceremonies later; ideally I'll have pictures to go with the posts.

first week at Dipangkorn school

I've finished my first week as teacher assistant at Dipangkorn school, levels 1-6 in the Thai system, equivalent in age to grades 7 through 12 American. What an experience!

The school is actually Dipangkorn Wittayapat (Taweewattana) to distinguish it from other schools named for the king's grandson Dipangkorn. The school is under royal patronage, was originally named Wittayapat at its construction in 1955. The school consists of several buildings around a large central courtyard; three of the buildings are three-stories, which provides shade for the morning assembly. The classrooms are not air conditioned, but windows open on both sides of each class, into the hall and out to the perimeter of the school, which allows for a cross breeze. The teachers' rooms and directors office are air-conditioned, not kept terribly cold.

My current impression of the school and its students is: what a land of contrasts!

Monday morning the assembly was dedicated to a welcome for the new teacher from America--me!

The student body was gathered, seated cross-legged on the concrete courtyard facing the stage-flagpole area at the north side of the courtyard. They sang to the flag as the Thai flag was raised, then another song facing the Buddha shrine near the school entrance, then the Dipangkorn school song, and finally the song of Thailand. I have since learned that the unison speaking that comes next is sending love and goodwill to everyone in every land. This much has been standard each morning, takes about 15 minutes.

Monday morning I was instructed to come to the front with my advisor Jiaranai; she had prepped me to introduce myself in both English and Thai, had taught me to say "my name is" and "I come from". She made a speech in both English and Thai, the school director gave a speech in both English and Thai; I've saved his speech as a souvenir. Jiaranai lived for an AFS year in Oregon, so her English is fairly good. The director knows only what English he learned in school, so the first half of his speech sounded quite stilted; he relaxed visibly as he got to the Thai part. My turn--I stood facing 1600 attentive kids, holding a microphone

photos of Thai home

This is the view from my apartment, looking out from the balcony and toward the east.

my new home in Taweewattana

I now live in the Taweewattana section of Bangkok, and it already feels like home after just a few days.

My apartment is the designated apartment for AFS foreign teachers to my school Dipangkornwittayapat; I'm the "first annual" and my advisor Jiaranai hopes it will become a long and treasured tradition.

The apartment, an easy walk from school, is on the second floor, next to a lovely young family with a three-month old daughter (I miss Brie, but it's nice having a baby nearby). The apartment consists of a large, clean room with windows on three sides, looking south into my balcony and over the canal (Khrong Pratoom if you want to find it on google), west over red tile and tin roofs of neighbors (nightly rains sound like a jet plane taking off), north into our hallway (windows let in light and breeze).

The balcony is my water area--"water" (nam) was my first assimilated word in Thai and is very important here. The enclosed area of the balcony, about 4 ft by 6 ft, is toilet and spigot/shower. A big black plastic barrel is my cistern, readily filled with the spigot. Jiaranai bought a bowl for me; I brought the scrubby and soap from the US. One bowl of water is all it takes for my twice daily (at least) cleansing and refreshing shower. The open area of the balcony is laundry and sitting area, 4 ft by 5 ft 4 in (I measured by the 1-foot-square tiles, decorated in a one-inch gingham pattern). Laundry is by hand, 7 bowls of water for wash, 7 bowls for rinse, hang on the drying rack, dry within hours. Jiaranai helped me choose laundry supplies, including the little stool to sit on as I scrub.

My toilet is "Western style", but flushed by pouring down water, no flush handle or tank. Sometimes it's the used laundry water, sometimes I simply gather a bowl or two of water from my cistern. I have successfully negotiated the squat toilets in the school, seems pretty sensible once you try it.

Breakfast and lunch are at school--a wonderful cafeteria with fresh rice, noodles, soup and Thai dishes, seems to be a new variety daily. Things aren't too spicy; apparently even some Thai natives like it mild-- with the ever-present option of red-pepper sauce, fish sauce, some other sauces I haven't even dared to smell yet. Tastes delicious plain to me, so far. Breakfast today was rice, roast chicken, a spicy-ish chicken-and-greenbean dish, and a tasty soup (I saw tofu and sliced carrots, didn't recognize any of the other ingredients, can't remember any of the Thai words--seems for every word I learn, I forget two). I was just patting my tummy and saying I'm full when people decided I needed dessert. First a visually beautiful treat of yellow corn kernels, orange squash pieces (looked like acorn squash, dark green skin still on), and bright green squiggles about 1/2 cm diam by 2-3 cm long, would have been scary except I'd just learned about the sweet green paste made of a garden herb (they showed me the leaf), pounded in a mortar and pestle with sugar, whipped with egg and coconut milk. Today's dessert was topped by a scoop of crushed ice, my clue that a dish is sweet. And then she brought over a bowl of hot steamed bananas in sweetened coconut milk...

Dinners will be across the canal from school at Boom's Shop. Boom is a delightful young woman who has already agreed to teach me as she cooks. Pad Thai starts with a wok over an open flame, 4 large shrimp in hot oil; before they're quite pink add 2 scrambled eggs and stir together with the shrimp. Add a handful of rice noodles, immediately pour in water to steam the noodles. Add garlic and red pepper, scallions--I think I'll need to watch one more time. Tom yam kung starts with diagonal slices of lemon grass, fine-chopped red peppers, this sauce and that sauce, shrimp, mushrooms, scallions. She also makes a delightful sticky-rice in banana leaf, sweet and tasty. One day the sticky rice was blue-purple; I was just wondering why when Boom picked a purple flower growing in her shop garden, put it next to the rice. I took a picture of the flower with the rice and she beamed--her pupil is catching on!

Yes, the weather is hot, and wet. I'm re-learning my mom's technique of closing all windows and curtains during the heat of the day, then open again after dark, with my electric fan at the window nearest my bed. A variation they never needed in Iowa or Pittsburgh--if it's too wet out at night, I open the balcony windows only and set the fan to blow out one of the other windows; sets up a cross-breeze without bringing in too much moisture. The school classrooms are not air conditioned, but windows are all open for a welcome breeze.

I'm pretty sure I got the prize position with the Teacher Assistant program--a very liveable home in a pretty location. I'd love to hear from the rest of the TAs where you've landed--

journey and arrival in my new home

Here in the Thawiwattana section, a suburb of Bangkok.

The journey was great--arrived in LA without a hitch, connected with Helena and had supper with her and her AFS friend Pedro, not going on the Thailand trip but living in the LA area. Next morning met the rest of the AFS Thailand group, a great bunch of kids (I think the next oldest to me is about half my age--more later about the thrill of being an Honored Aged One in Thailand!)

Stopover at the Tokyo airport, toured the duty-free shop with Nick, one of our Thai group who had lived in Japan for a while. Learned a little about Japan, was impressed by the beautiful style, bought a donura (sp?), little doll with blank eyes. You paint one eye black as you make an important wish, and when the wish comes true you paint the other eye so he can see to guide your way. I'm thinking of a good wish, meanwhile luxuriating in the pleasure of wishes more than abundantly granted.

The orientation at the Richmond Hotel in Bangkok was a brief and intense combination of jet-lag, Thai language instruction, getting to know each other and melting into the sensuous pleasure of a fancy hotel in Thailand. My roommate was Irine from the Phillipines, an unexpected member of our group and a pleasure to know. She's been a teacher of English in Zamboage, Phillipines for four years, so is the most experienced teacher of the group. She's teaching at a school nearby (approximately 1/2 hour), so I hope to see her again soon.

And now I'm here at home on Khrom Pathom in the Tawiwattana section, suburb of Bangkok. It's a lush and lovely setting, with something beautiful to see at every turn--I can't stop grinning. I'm to start teaching On Monday, have already met some of the students on my tour of the school this morning. First impression is shy, intelligent, curious about this strange stranger in their midst. My coordinator/contact person is Jaranai--I am blessed to be connected with her. She would be a good friend in any circumstance; in this setting she is an absolute lifesaver, English quite good, sense of humor and forgiveness seemingly boundless.

More later--sorry, I can't seem to figure out how to show photos. I'm using a school computer, need to wait til Jaranai is back on Monday so I can ask questions.