Loi Krathong. Part I.

Before I talk about the fun stuff, there's always the obligatory school stuff that has happened the past couple of days.

I find it harder and harder to blog about the school that I work at because it has been difficult adjusting to the education system. Our notions of what it means to respect a teacher is not quite the same here. In America, when you respect a teacher, you show up to class on time, you pay attention (you NEVER take out your phone in class and plug your headphones in, or even take out your phone at all), you don't run around in a classroom, you don't randomly get out of your seat to chit-chat with your buddy-buddy across the room, and so on and so forth. As for Thai students, their notion of respect is......well, when I find out, I'll be sure to let you know.

I need to remember that each class is a different being. My M3/1 class are bright, quick learners, and ridiculously quiet and shy. I want to bring them out of their shell and become more confident in their speaking abilities. My M3/8 class is only driving forward because of the girls. They are my least favorite class. They are simply not interested in English. So I tried something different with them today: I asked them to create a story with me. I had to spend some time explaining what a story was and what a main character was, but once I started asking them questions, they became more and more engaged until the entire class began shouting out answers and random English words (except for 6 boys who just fell right asleep in front of me. At least try to sleep with your eyes open--yeesh!). However, the scariest thing about youth is that they're violent. The entire story was about Harry, who had a pet owl and a pet buffalo--who shot his buffalo and owl in the head because he was a hungry robot. And then Harry sued the condo (in which he lived) for $1000, and his family was happy because they got money. The end. Literally. 9th graders. And that's all they can think about. I really don't know where youth is going these days.

I sound so old.

As for the school itself, I'm afraid that my blog posts have gotten considerably more negative (despite my already negative nature) and it's almost worthless to blog about it because rereading it just makes me want to stick Barbie's head into a boiling pan of oil and then throwing the hot plastic at the wall. Or person, depending on the sort of mood I'm in that day. But anyway. Onto the fun stuff!

Loi Krathong is insanely busy. It's nothing like the Fourth of July, where everyone just hangs out with their families and that's it. It's a community event. Children have to represent their schools and make speeches; they have to dress up and represent their village/ethnicity.

Just a quick note that not all students are evil like M3/8 and M3/9. Not all students in M3/8 and M3/9 are evil either. But the entire class as a being: EVIL. However, I have some very sweet students too :) I'm not completely hated, as has been proven to me tonight.


These are just a fraction of my students. Aren't they cute?

Floating lanterns--the main attraction of the Chiang Mai Loi Krathong festival is pretty popular here too. I remember that my friend Kent and I floated one up into the sky when we traveled to Guilin. I felt very nostalgic. I ran into my students as they were preparing to lift off their lantern, as evidenced below:

Ah, so cute. :)

They asked me to go with them to watch the parade, but at this point, I wanted to wander around by myself, as N and L were hanging out with A and a Filipino math teacher, R, and I was tired of just sitting, so I thanked them and watched the parade myself. Loi Krathong is a time where all villages can celebrate their culture and their pride. If you would like to see those pictures, head on over to my facebook.

As for floating our 'krathongs', that's tomorrow! (Thus why this post is titled "Part I") Ah, L and I bought our krathongs from our students:


We're QUITE SURE they ripped us off, but I made them make me a deal: they need to get a 5 on the next speaking test. I'm such a teacher. :)

So here are our krathongs! We will be lighting these tomorrow night and floating them down the river:

The water lily is mine--I'm making a wish for my father. :) And L's is bright and yellow--just like she is!

There will be more stories and pictures coming soon. Right now, I need to write my entire semester's lesson plans by tomorrow afternoon.

Oh, Thai culture, how you tickle my funny bone.