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The final goodbye

The term ended in the blink of an eye, one minute I was dusting off my school shirt for a new year and the next my kids were walking the halls as Kindergarten graduates.  What happened, did I just wake from a coma?? 

I had been preparing myself for this moment for a while.  Although I still have no idea what the next chapter is going to be I felt ready to leave Nakhon Sawan and return home to see my family and friends back in Cork, a place that now only exists in my memory and on Skype.  But, no matter how much organisation I did, nothing could prepare me for the final goodbye, and I didn’t have any expectation of the amount of emotion I felt for these little people, who aren’t my family, who won’t remember me, but still played such a huge part of my life over the past eighteen months. 

The final month of school was packed solid with events.  The school celebrated it’s tenth anniversary and invited some local monks to bless the students and staff.  I accompanied my students on their school daytrips where we boarded the party bus pumping out dance tunes, I’m not sure if it was the accelorator or the dancing students that pushed the bus down the highway.  My students chattered in English as we marvelled at exotic birds at Chainat Bird Park and the massive tigers at Bung Chawak Zoo.  We pretended to be robots and sang our favourite songs over ice cream breaks.  We celebrated Yuwapat Day, an annual jubilee when the school exhibits crafts and performances created by the students over the school year, a bittersweet reminder of all we’d been through together. 

Finally the school term closed with the graduation ceremony for the K3 students, who are off to ‘big school’  in May.  This was also my own final day at Yuwapat.  I remembered the emotional send off the previous year, and dreaded the emotion I was feeling personally.  I got myself ready on the final morning of school, and took very great care in getting my ‘teacher face’ in place.  Regardless of my own departure and my own emotion, I was there to support my little ones, who were starting to feel the enormity of their very first crossroads.  We had been prepping for weeks on the big changes ahead, and how exciting they’d be, and how it was ok to be sad aswell.  We had it down, my babies would be ok.  Then I saw the tears, the floods of tears, here we go...!  I hugged them and gave them the usual pep talk, reminding them of all the great things about big school that we’d talked about before sending them off to their mammies in time for me to realign my ‘teacher face’ and head out to the crowd again.  They eventually filtered off, heading home, and away from me.  I returned to my classrooms to take down my teaching aids, and cleaned out my desk.  Once the kids were gone it felt like I was getting ready for a new beginning again.  Until the principal popped his head into the office...

I was one of three members of the foreign language staff to leave, aswell as two members of the Thai staff.  The Principal requested our attendance outside for a moment, to say goodbye.  The staff formed a circle around us and one by one gave us a hug.  The tears came like waterfalls.  The Thais do like emotional moments, whereas I, being a grand sturdy Irish girl, prefer to bury it down deep, away from public view, and maybe cry into a tub of ice cream later.  Needless to say I’ve piled on the pounds and Thai women are tiny, go figure.  It turned out to be a really lovely one to one goodbye with each the staff I’ve worked with over the eighteen months I spent at Yuwapat.  I got my chance to thank those who helped me when I was fresh out of my TEFL course without an ounce of teaching experience, those who translated parents’ comments on the report cards I sent home, and those who were as patient as saints when I screwed up my class schedule and didn’t turn up for class (this happened right up to the end, thank you Tc Kung for your endless patience!)  I got to thank the lady who cleaned up all my crap after I’d had crazy craft lessons where my monsters flung glue and paper all over the place, and the ladies who fed me every day.  I was so sad to say goodbye and I feared that my next school may not offer the same familial environment.  I’ve had a lot of frustrating moments trying to understand the Thai way, or as I heard it once, “the Thai way or the highway, baby”, but what I already remember most prominently about my experience at Yuwapat is the laughter in the hallways, the kind smiles from colleagues, and the constant offer of questionable snack foods, ie cockroaches were on offer one day but I kindly declined for I have a tub of ice cream in the freezer that I must cry into.

I recently read an online article written by an Australian guy who had spent six months in Thailand.  On his departure he writes about the things he will miss most about the country.  I read this list with a lump in my throat as it was very close to my own.  I’ll miss the jumpy little geckos who kindly eat the mosquitoes who unkindly eat me, the refreshing and cheap smoothies that come with a free Thai lesson courtesy of ‘Smoothie Guy’, the paradise islands a bus ride away, the beautiful hot hot sun, the ease with which I can get shit done minus red tape or queues, and the greetings of “where you go?” followed by unrequested directions without ulterior motives.  I could go on.

Goodnight Thailand, you are a dream that I had the privilege to make my reality.

 http://whatsdavedoing.com/11-things-miss-most-thailand/

https://www.facebook.com/yuwapatkindergarten

Photos: Sinéad Millea.

A weekend in ruins

Sukhothai National Park

Following my trip to Bali and Gili Trewangan the rest of 2014 filtered away gracefully.  I bid it farewell with a pot luck Christmas dinner on the porch with the rest of the teachers.  We donned our Santa hats, sang Christmas songs and served roast turkey in the 25 degree heat, and that was cold season.  I’m already nervous of the Irish weather, which I’m due to return to.  I had just enough time to digest the banquet before embarking on a short jaunt to Koh Tao for some much needed rest in the sunshine.  I was beginning to feel the urgency of my looming departure and decided a long weekend was better spent on the beach, despite the back breaking long journey.  A new year was once again rung in by the ocean, whilst floating a lantern that held my hopes for another incredible year ahead.  

Back in Nakhon Sawan the end of term was just around the corner and so was my big goodbye.  I soaked up as much time with the munchkins as I could, and could finally see the fruits of my labour as they excitedly formed sentences.  There were days when my lesson plan went out the window in favour of the conversations that organically flowed through the classroom.  Mind you, these are 5 and 6 year olds so the convos were frequently about Elsa, robots, and sharks.  One of my younger students once told me that he goes to school on a big brown dinosaur with red eyes.  I’m not sure where he parks it, but it might explain the delirious expression on the security guard’s face.

Yet again there was a long weekend to celebrate a Buddhist holiday, so I packed a bag and headed for Sukhothai, north of Thailand.  I’d been wanting to visit for a few months, but typically I keep the closest places til last as they’re “only up the road and I can go anytime”, but this blasé attitude usually results in my missing out on what’s on my doorstep.  Not this time, I headed for the bus station the evening before to check the bus times and returned bright and early the next day only to be told that the next bus was in 90 minutes.  This is a regular occurrence.  With the language barrier it’s difficult to explain the intricacies of any situation so a foreigner simply gets told “mai mee” (don’t have).  This can be frustrating when you’ve heard conflicting information or you can see what it is you want right there.  There may be some valid reason why it isn’t available, but when the person you’re speaking with has limited or no English you simply hear ‘don’t have’.  My advice in this case is to take a seat and wait.  This is one of those situations where the mantra I’ve adopted from Thailand comes in handy, “mai bpen rai”*.  Anyway, I got there and some hours later I was alighting and being shouted at by Tuk Tuk drivers.  I found a Sorngthaew that doesn’t rip off tourists and pretty soon I was bound for my guesthouse.  I chose the new city as I thought it would have the better choices of guesthouse and eateries, being “new”.  The new part of the city seemed quite large and with only two days and a scrambled brain I did not bother venturing further than my street, except to catch the bus to the old city.  The bus between the old and new Sukhothai is a painted wooden trailer containing long benches, like in a Sorngthaew, with a truck front, pretty cool and very cheap.  It stops just outside the park, where you purchase a ticket.  

The last bus back is 5pm and, as I was budgeting, a Tuk Tuk at tourist prices was out of the question so I was already too late to see any of the ruins.  I sauntered around, taking in bike hire prices and breakfast spots and jumped back on my wooden chariot for some dinner.  I found a cosy little restaurant on my street where I ordered steak and red wine and nestled in to read my book.  I was at a pretty riveting plot twist which just kept getting more and more exciting, so I ordered a second glass, and a third glass, until the words blurred and I had to take myself off to bed.  Goodnight Nana…

I woke with a thumping headache, a queasy feeling, and the guilt of threatening to ruin my short trip.  I wasn’t having any of this bad behaviour, I was going to get up and do what I had planned and I was going to learn my bloody lesson (I was using my ‘teacher voice’ on myself here).  I caught the bus to the old city and forced down some toast and coffee, before hiring a bicycle, so pink it looked like it was coughed up by My Little Pony, and headed for the park.  This was where the magic is, the Sukhothai National Park is filled with ancient ruins of temples and pagodas, and for the life of me I can’t differentiate between the two no matter how many people I’ve asked.  I had read on travelfish.org that there are many routes in and out of the park where beautiful views and pagodas can be found.  My crappy sense of direction ensured I only found one outside the park, however not even shite navigation can deter one from happening upon the beautiful ruins inside.  It’s an amateur photographer’s dream.  In fact most of Thailand is, one can photograph all around and appear to be super talented while the landscape and street life scenes do all the work just by being perfectly photogenic.  But I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.  The wind wisping through my hair as I glided along the pathways was a terrific hangover cure and I was myself in no time.

I finished up and handed back my girly pink bike in time to catch the last bus back to the new city.  Regretfully I looked back on the old city with the sun fading down into the horizon and dreamed of what it would be like to see it sink down behind the majestic pagodas.  I wished I had booked a place to stay here, it was closer to the beauty and the cafes had a better choice of fresh juices and ground coffee.  I guess I was being a typical tourist here, wanting western standards but as I’ve mentioned before, when you are eating Thai food all day every day it makes a nice change to have eggs and toast for brekkie whilst on vacation.  Anyway, first world problems.  All in all it was a much needed break after the craziness of Christmas, and ahead of the busy and emotional final term.  So, so, final.

*http://baanajarn.com/living-in-thailand/understanding-mai-bpen-rai/

http://www.travelfish.org/location/thailand/northern_thailand/sukhothai/sukhothai]

Photos: Sinéad Millea.

Been a hiking Viking

Waterfalls, sport and Vikings

The breathtaking views from Erawan National Park

Good Lord, it’s been three months since I wrote to you last.  Where does the time go?!  I have been working away diligently.  All work and no play makes Sinead Nua a dull blogger but I managed to squeeze in some fun and games here and there so I do have a few tales for you.

We celebrated the Queen’s birthday in August and, similar to the King’s birthday which doubles up as Father’s Day, this was also a celebration of Mothers throughout Thailand.  As I mentioned before, the Thai royal family are very highly revered and celebrations held in their honour are always community involved affairs.  As usual the school put on a show in which the students and their Mums partook with a great sense of ceremony.  And, as is normal for Thai celebrations, we were granted a long weekend.  I don’t know how these Thai folks get anything done with all these holliers but I’m not one to complain.  I went back to the home of the 10 baht bar, Kanchanaburi, to resume my failed trip.  This time I was determined not to fall foul of the dreaded lurgy and I planned an excursion to Erawan Waterfall.  I, and my travelling comrades, hired motorcycles to transport ourselves through the beautiful landscape where we stopped for coffee and photographs as we pleased.  The drive was exhilarating, with the open road stretched out before us and the mountains framing our view.  It was refreshing to get out and breathe the rural air.  Living in Nakhon Sawan you feel somewhat stifled by the traffic and smells of the city and, at times, even claustrophobic at the hoards of people everywhere.  But here in the mountains it felt freeing and, for once in a long while, I could breath.

We arrived at the national park to find buses and trucks packed into the car park, and hundreds of people swarming the pathways.  We joined the long line of visitors trundling along the uphill path to make our way to the seven waterfalls that promised to wow us with their magic.  Each level was even more beautiful than the last, all very different yet each with its own draw for the crowds of bathers that relaxed in the balmy water.  One level had a smooth vertical rock that was used as a water slide, another had a lip that jutted out like a mezzanine level where people bathed and enjoyed the view of the others splashing below.  The top level was where we decided to get in the water, and after the ascent in the humidity it was a welcome sight.  We derobed and popped ourselves in the smooth water.  I had heard about fish that nibble at your skin, rather like one of those fish pedicures and thought it might be a nice beauty treatment that would leave me glowing on the drive home.  No, not at all what transpired.  I ended up being gnawed at by huge over friendly fish that left me squealing like a little girl.  Little bit embarrassing.  On the descent I encountered a makeshift ‘shop’ nestled in the trees where one could buy traditional Thai dresses.  I guess it shows business acumen, afterall there are no competitors and you never know when someone may have the hankering to buy a full trad gown on an amble in the woods.  I always kick myself for not thinking of these great ideas first.

Traditional Thai dress anyone?

With this transient lifestyle I’ve adopted there are ups, such as spontaneous trips, and there are downs, such as saying goodbye all too often.  I’m just about getting used to saying goodbye to people and understanding that friendships here are part time.  I’ve learned in the past that you keep some friendships burning via social media but most of the associations I make here will probably fizzle out after we leave.  It’s hard to know right in the moment which friendships will pass the test so all goodbyes here are hard.  I had such an experience again at the end of August when my two housemates finished their teaching contracts and left Nakhon Sawan.  It was incredibly fun living with them and seeing them leave was sad, but I am kept regularly updated with sickeningly enviable photos of their travels and it’s made me excited about my own adventures ahead.

Along with new housemates, September brought with it some refreshing wind and a chill in the air that I have not felt since Christmas when the weather went from ‘freaking hot’ to ‘balmy’.  It will never be ‘cold’ here but the rainy season is a welcome change from the searing hot season.  There were days when I was so weary from heat and sunlight that I felt no desire to do anything or be anywhere.  Spending most of my days sitting under my air conditioner, I found hot season a challenge to say the least!  Now I’m feeling lovely bustly breezes on my morning drive to work, although this is usually a sign of rain to come so the threat of being pelted by raindrops the size of golf balls always looms closely.

Our school day trips were scheduled for mid September and I was looking forward to an excursion with the little monkeys.  The theme was ‘food’ according the school syllabus so the K2s were treated to a trip to the supermarket to buy ingredients that they would whip up into pizza and the K3s had a venture to a nearby organic corn farm.  School trips are always taxing as you’re on your feet all day, hyper aware of every little munchkin’s whereabouts.  The supermarket was a particular highlight, especially in the seafood section where each of them picked up a raw shrimp and started playing with it.  I have to admit, if I ever have kids of my own I would like them to be filled with enough personality and fun to sing to a raw prawn in the middle of Makro.  The kids drew a lot of attention from fellow shoppers when they broke into the alphabet song at the tops of their voices in the cereal aisle, proud moment. 

After school trips were done, the school started buzzing with plans for the School Sports Day.  The students took part in various competitions in preparation for the big event but the main focus was to be the chants for each team.  The school was divided into four camps, the theme being ‘Clash of the Warriors’.  We had Vikings, Gladiators, Pirates and Samurai, and the kids were excited at the prospect of being kitted out in fitting costume.  Each day the kids practised their chants which comprised of English and Thai song and dance.  Teachers busily whipped up costumes, posters and props while students learned all about the warriors they were to imitate on the day.  My big creation was to be a Viking ship, that the kids were going to parade through the streets and shout their chants from.  I had it all planned out, it was going to be super cool.  Except that I hadn’t planned for the searing Thai sun to melt the glue and leave my Viking ship a floppy sorry mess.  Parts started dropping off it from the minute we set off on our parade and by the time we arrived back at the school, a mere ten minutes later, my graceful ship was nothing but a limp pile of cardboard.  I would never have succeeded at invading Dublin.  Nevertheless, the day proceeded with great energy and sportsmanship, and each team earned a deserved trophy for it’s participation.

 

We are the Viking Warriors!

At the end of September my students left for a months vacation and I prepared to begin Summer school.  The Science theme of Summer school left me blank, I quit Science the first chance I got and now, 22 years later, I am furiously searching the interweb, panicking about the prospect of teaching the blasted subject for two whole weeks.  After about a half hour on Pinterest I calmed myself and prepped for two weeks of pure playfulness, from learning about Penguins to shooting bottle rockets into the air.  I think Summer school may actually be for teachers rather than students!  We also have meeting the Pre-K kids to look forward to.  They come in during the second term to learn basic stuff like counting, the alphabet and colours, but mostly to get them acclimatised to the school environment for when they become K1s and rule the gaff.  Their first days are a blend of cuteness and hilarity. 

Of course, the most exciting time of October comes in the final fortnight when the teachers scatter to their chosen vacation spots to top up the fading tans.  My chosen destination this October is Bali, and I’m super excited to be going there finally.  It’s somewhere I had on my list since deciding to move to this part of the world.  Now it’s so close I’m a ball of nerves at the thought of going to a country where I don’t speak the language.  I know that’s a pretty crazy thing to say, since I’ve lived in Thailand for a year (yes, a whole year, my anniversary was mid September!)  but I kind of managed to be understood here and I’m apprehensive that my crazy charades may not work out in Balinese.  However I am excited that this trip will feel like a proper holiday with a flight, a currency exchange, a new language and new food, the latter being the most exciting part.  I love Thai food but, boy do I need a change!  So, I look forward to two weeks of sun, sea and stuffing my face.

On my return I go straight into term two, which is the shorter term of the school year, so my departure will be looming closer and closer.  I was due to leave at the end of the previous term but I decided to extend my contract by five months, and my original departure date has since come and gone, leaving me feeling very unprepared to leave.  I still feel very new here.  I hope that in February, homesickness will settle enough to convince me to head back.  I often feel a sense of panic at the thought of not being able to do certain things as freely as I can here, like jumping on a bus and alighting at a paradise island, picking up dinner for less than a quid, walking into a bar with a bottle of whiskey and paying only for mixers (that one’s bonkers), and other such mad things that Thailand allows, and that I have taken for granted over the past year.  I will look forward to seeing my family and friends again, of course, but the financial hardship and red tape I constantly encountered back West is something I don’t miss one bit.  I guess it’s time to start researching the plan of action for 2015!