Things I Learned.... Volume 2

• The enjoyment gained from eating a water melon is inversely proportional to the number of seeds
• Filing papers in the gale of a fan is a pointless endeavour
• Hiding at the far back corner of the aerobics class is fine - until the moves are rotated through 180 degrees and you suddenly find yourself at the front without a clue what you are doing and everyone else watching you!
• Too much ripe mango gives you stomach ache
• Setting off on your motorbike without putting the stand up is a mistake you quickly learn to avoid
• If you don't want ants in the kitchen, make sure all food is tightly sealed away and don't drop even the tiniest of crumbs 
• Things very rarely turn out to be as bad as they seem at 4 a.m.
• Overdoing it on the insect repellent means you go round smelling suspiciously like limoncello
• Riding a bicycle again after getting used to the motorbike feels really weird - the saddle is teeny-tiny and the handle bars seem to wobble about all over the place!
• Five-year-old children are much the same the world over :-)

Thought for the Day 3

Well, after a couple of trips to the stationery shop I managed to purchase all the bits and pieces I needed for organising my work space in the office:

I have moved from where I was before, partly so that I am not in the direct firing line of the A/C unit, and partly so my coordinator and I can have adjacent desks.
Note the ukulele on the shelf. Yesterday afternoon the rest of the office was entertained (or otherwise!) as we practised various children's songs and started making up simple Thai versions. I provided the music, not the words!!

And a close-up shot for Sarah, with fine-liner pens and paper-clip pot!
 

We went to do some observations in a school yesterday. However, when we got there the director told us that a child in the class had been killed in a car accident, and the teacher and children had gone to the funeral. He said we could go back the next day, but on reflection I felt it was better to give them at least a couple of days for things to settle down a bit, so we are going to try again on Thursday.
In the meantime, we are still waiting to get started with the Early Childhood centres, so things are still pretty slow workwise. Today we are going to check out the location of a couple more centres, and we have a couple of meetings lined up with other NGOs to discuss ideas for the project and possible ways of working together.

I will leave you with a wonderful quote, which one of the other VSO volunteers here in Thailand has as a footer to her emails. It captures perfectly the VSO approach, which is one of facilitating rather than imposing development:

“Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say "We have done this ourselves"- Lao Tzu

Gecko

I have decided to stop trying to update people with my work situation until something definite happens. (Latest plan, yet to be confirmed: I will work with Early Childhood Centres, rather than schools - i.e. equivalent to pre-school nurseries. They come under the Ministry of Interior,  via local "sub-district" authorities, rather than under the Ministry of Education, so will need to start at the beginning with getting official permission from all the right people etc.....)
One very positive thing to report, though - my coordinator has returned and started work yesterday. Today I took him to meet Alice and her coordinator, so he could start to get an insight into the role from someone who has been doing it for a while. They discovered they come from the same town!

On a totally non-work note - since moving to this area, I have been hearing most evenings a very distinctive animal call. For a while I wondered what on earth it was, and then was told that it is a type of lizard. It is very loud, and sometimes it seemed to be right outside the back door. Then, the other evening when I went out to do the washing up, I saw one on the wall and realised that it had indeed been right outside the back door. I was wishing I could share the experience, especially the call, on my blog, and then it occurred to me that I probably could find something on Google images/Youtube.

It is called a tokay gecko and is quite large, about a foot long, with very distinctive spotted markings.

You can here it calling here, here and here!

Retail Therapy

Apparently there is a limit to how much you can squeeze into a medium-sized Lowe Alpine rucksack, and I think this morning I just about discovered it. Here's the list:

• 2 A4 ring binders
• 1 small hole punch
• 1 pair of flip flops
• 1 pair of sandals
• 2 cartons of orange juice
• 1 small loaf of bread
• 8 yoghurts
• 1 packet of cereal
• 1 jar of jam
• 3 tins of tuna
• 1 pack of soap bars
• 1 bag of tomatoes
• 1 small water bottle (containing not water but washing detergent; I stopped at the laundry on the way to the shops)
• rain poncho
• insect-repellent spray
• purse
• phone
• tissues
• keys
• passport
• work permit
• motorbike documents

AND, if you really try,

• 1 packet of Ovaltine chocolate malt cookies

There's no way I was leaving those behind! Together with Oreo cookies, they have become my comfort food of choice. They nicely counteract the effect of all the healthy fruit and veg that I am eating. And before you protest that you don't see much evidence of fruit and veg on the list above, that's because I usually try to buy those separately at the market.

I have been intending to increase my footwear repertoire (i.e. go "shoe shopping") for weeks. One of the purchases I made before leaving the UK was a pair of Teva walking sandals from Go Outdoors. I have been wearing them non-stop since I got here, and they are incredibly comfortable. However, here everyone wears flip-flops or slip on sandals, as they are easy to take off for going into buildings, and also I wanted some slightly smarter footwear.

So, for the shoe-lovers among you, here is my growing collection:

The original Teva sandals. Excellent quality, hardwearing and extremely comfortable. The ultimate in sensible shoes!

 

 

I bought this pair in Bang Saen, and they are strictly indoor shoes. In fact, to be more precise, they live just outside the bathroom door and are used for the sole purpose of going into the bathroom when the floor is wet after a shower. Thai bathrooms tend to be designed such that the shower goes straight onto the floor and floods the entire room. Apparently, having a "wet room" is becoming rather trendy in the UK; personally I find it most inconvenient and messy!

 

This cheap and nasty pair live by the back door, and are used for the sole purpose of going out into the very dusty back yard where the sink is located and where I do the washing up and hand-washing of clothes. In the rest of the house I go around barefoot, and that way the floors stay fairly clean. (Is my slight tendency towards OCD coming through a touch here?!)

The first of today's purchases. My favourite colour, of course! These will be good for going to work and generally wearing out and about. Maybe today was a bit soon to try riding my motorbike in them. I did nearly lose one when changing gear!

 

The posh black pair, for when I want to look smart and official - meetings with Ministry of Education officials/ school directors etc. Also very comfortable!

I have also been meaning to get the A4 ring-binders for a while. I have a growing pile of papers at work and no means of organising them, which has been causing me some distress, as I do hate not having a system!. So I will go to the office on Monday, armed with my files and hole punch, and bring order out of the chaos!

After many fruitless attempts at finding trousers to fit, I finally, in desperation, resorted to ordering some online from M&S, which Mum has sent out to me. They turned out to be slightly on the large side. M&S have been shifting their sizes down over the last few years, in an attempt, I assume, to convince us that we have all lost weight. I used to wear size 10 trousers; then it became size 8, and now even those are a bit big. Anyhow, I sat down last night with needle and thread and put a couple of little tucks in the waistband, which seems to have done the trick. And yes, I CAN still thread a needle without glasses, JUST, and only in very BRIGHT light. I think it will soon be time to give in....

After my motorbike lesson on Tuesday, my plan had been to continue using my bicycle until the weekend, when I would have the chance to do a bit of motorbike practice on the quiet roads around the office, before venturing into town. However, on Thursday I arrived at work with a bit of a soft back tyre. I pumped it up, and then decided to do the front one as well, for good measure, only to find that the valve was completely corroded and the whole tyre deflated as soon as I started trying to pump it up. Now, I had a meeting at 10.00, and no means of getting there. The VSO motorbike allocated for my use was sitting in the office car park, but my helmet and the key were at home. Thankfully, at World Education I have the support of an excellent, friendly and helpful team of people. Their logistical support chap, who was going into town to go to the bank, kindly took my bike on the truck to the bike shop to get it repaired. However, there was no way it would be ready in time for my meeting, so I decided I had to bite the bullet and use the motorbike. One of the drivers kindly took me home to pick up my helmet and the key. I cleaned the dust and bird muck off the mirrors, drove it round and round the streets near the office for 10 minutes to get the feel of it and then set off towards town. Thankfully I did not have to go too far, and there was not a lot of traffic. I got there and back without incident, and as my bicycle has not yet returned from being repaired I have been using the motorbike for getting around for the last few days. I still feel a bit nervous in traffic, largely because the behaviour of other drivers is so unpredictable, but I'm doing much better than I thought possible when I had my first lesson a couple of weeks ago. Thank you, Simon! When I get the bicycle back I'm going to take the motorbike to be serviced, before I start using it to go any further afield.

To finish, here I am in Bangkok last week, together with some of my Burmese colleagues from WE.

 

 

This one was taken at the airport. They have an interactive screen showing different scenes, with a camera, so that when you approach the screen you suddenly appear in the picture as if you have stepped through the screen. Great fun!

The 800m Hurdles

I am sure my placement will get going properly eventually, but at the moment all sorts of obstacles seem to keep popping up.

The day after we recruited him, my coordinator had to go back to Burma for family reasons. We are not sure when he will be back, and it is not easy to be in communication while he is away. We are hoping for a start date of 20th May....

VSO had identified 4 schools for me to work with. One of them is really too far away to be practicable, and there is some confusion around whether another of them takes migrant children or not, so we have been trying to identify some other alternatives.
Today I went to visit one of the remaining two "definite" schools. The children are not back yet, so I just had an initial meeting with the director to recap the project aims and my role (they already had a meeting with VSO in January), and I briefly met two of the teachers. They all seem very enthusiastic about me going there! (Though I think the director's enthusiasm may be stemming largely from the prospect of having a native English speaker in the school who will be able to help him improve his English......)

However, there is now a slight complication. I have just discovered today, after the visit, that another organisation, who also have an Early Years project working with Migrant Learning Centres and Thai schools, but specifically using the Montessori method, are going to start working in this school and the other of the two "definite" schools next year. I am going to meet with them tomorrow to try and work out what the implications of this are, whether we can work together, or if I will need to adjust my plans.

About 10 days ago I finally started some motorbike "retraining", having not sat on a bike since my training in January in Kidderminster. I was most distressed to discover how far I had regressed since then - I was scarcely able to wobble a few yards down the road, and forget trying to turn around! I very nearly despaired after that first lesson. However, thanks to the patience, calmness and excellent teaching skills of ex-VSO volunteer Simon, in three lessons I progressed to a level that he has now declared me "ready for the road"! I think I'll make that a pretty quiet road to start with!

 

On a positive note, I am beginning to identify some possible leisure time/ social activities. On Monday I tried out the free aerobics, which takes place not far from where I live. The Thai ladies who attend all seem to take it very seriously and leap about with great energy and enthusiasm. I tried NOT to expend too much energy, as it was so hot, but even so I sweated buckets and was completely wiped out for the rest of the evening. Other things that I will try out soon: regular film nights at one of the bars and - don't laugh - ladies' football!

Hitting the Headlines

Did any Guardian readers spot this?

The VSO report on the project is also available on the VSO website

Slowly, slowly

I had a work trip to Bangkok at the end of the week, to attend a meeting of NGOs, CBOs and relevant government ministries involved in the field of migrant education. I travelled at lunchtime on Thursday (by plane - I have yet to experience the joys of the 8-hour bus trip!), and went to the VSO office to sort out some paperwork and pick up the last of my belongings that I had left there - a bag of books and papers. Later in the afternoon I had an appointment with a specialist at the BNH about my finger. I now finally have a diagnosis for the mysterious lump that became infected about a month ago. It is, apparently, most likely to be a sort of ganglion cyst, though it's a bit of an odd place for one to form. Nothing to worry about, in any case.
The meeting was on Friday. It was a very full day of talks and discussion, mostly in Thai, so I was listening through an ear piece to a simultaneous translation. I take my hat off to anyone who can do that - it is such an amazing skill! I came away suffering a serious case of information overload, and a growing realisation of the complexity of the situation for migrant education.

Included in the bag of books that I brought back with me were my VSO training booklets, and I have been having a look at the section on emotional ups and downs, culture shock and coping strategies. Of the various likely emotional ups and downs identified, here are the ones I have definitely experienced already:

Shock/Denial - unable to take it all in; sometimes frantic (Small things can suddenly overwhelm me and send me into mild panic - walking past the smelly bowls of wriggling eels and baby turtles and cages of half dead rats in the market tends to have this effect!)
Pining/Searching - going back in reality or in thought to familiar places. (This is an interesting one, as I have been finding myself pining a lot for Italy, rather than the UK. The other night I even dreamt a really vivid dream in Italian, something that has not happened for a very long time!)
Depression/Apathy - e.g. minor illness; don't want to go to work; difficulty sleeping. (Difficult to say to what extent feelings of apathy and lack of motivation to do anything are related to culture shock and how much it is just because all my energy is sapped by the heat!)
Guilt - blame the self e.g. Why did I volunteer? Why am I not happy? (I am not sure if I would quite describe this as guilt; more a feeling of complete inadequacy and a fear of not being up to the task.)

Things that I have yet to experience:

Euphoria/Minimising - making the best of it; seeing only the exciting things e.g. "at least I'm not in rainy Britain." (The joy of having left the UK winter behind diminished rapidly with the soaring temperatures. On my trip to Bangkok, I savoured the delight of an air conditioned hotel room and snuggling under a duvet!!)
Anger - blaming someone else e.g. local colleagues; the Programme Office. (There have certainly been some frustrations, but I wouldn't go so far as to identify feelings of anger.)
Acceptance - letting go e.g. taking up new interests, travelling, making new friends. (Interestingly, in the same section of the booklet, VSO warn against panicking yourself into trying to make all of this happen too soon, which can lead to making hasty commitments that can later backfire. I do have a tendency to ask a lot of myself and to want to achieve everything right away, but I am taking things quite slowly and doing things at the pace that my physical and emotional energy levels will allow. At the bottom of the page in the booklet is a handwritten note that I added, which reads: "Be gentle with yourself"!)

Also in the bag of books were my ukulele books. The ukulele itself arrived last weekend, when the VSO Education Programme Manager came to visit. So now I have the books as well I can actually start to play it. I hope the neighbours won't mind!

The one place where I do not feel too hot is at the World Education office, where they have the air con on so high (or low, whichever way you look at it) that I actually feel quite chilly. This picture is especially for Auntie Joy - thank you again for the beautiful scarf, which is proving very useful!
The photo on the calendar on my desk is of the River Wye at Ross. I bought the calendar (of the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean) before I came away, to have a little reminder of home! Later in the year there is the Monnow Bridge at Monmouth!

Workshop for migrant teachers

This week I have been helping out with Alice's workshop. Alice has already been working with VSO in Thailand for several years. For the last year she has been doing the same role that I am now starting - Early Childhood Development Adviser, but whereas I will be working with Thai schools and teachers, she works with migrant teachers who work in learning centres set up by the migrant communities themselves. In the past, these centres and the education they provide were not recognised by the Thai authorities, though that is changing now. The centres have few, if any, resources, and the teachers are very often not qualified. However, after the last few days I can confirm that their dedication and commitment is boundless! The learning centre where the workshop took place is state-of-the-art compared to most of them. It has proper buildings for a start!

 

Setting up the workshop. No fancy Powerpoints, interactive whiteboard, or indeed tables and chairs!

 

 

Workshop Rules - in Burmese. Usual things - be on time; participate fully; switch off your phone...

 Alice with her coordinator, Pearl. A great team!

 Group discussions

Recording of ideas took place in several languages - Burmese, Karen and some English

Playing the Bottle-Tops game. Beer bottle tops with the letters of the alphabet written on them provide a cheap and simple resource for alphabet games. A fun and interactive alternative to the  rote chanting that is the usual teaching style.

And for the kinaesthetic learners - the letter-race team game. Highly competitive!

Rice sacks can be written on with permanent markers and make very durable classroom charts

 

 

I was astounded at the level of focus and sheer staying power of the teachers when it came to making resources. They were so appreciative of the opportunity to use the materials that were being provided for them - we had to tear them away from their work at break and lunch times!

Doing the Hokey Cokey in Burmese!

 

 

 Home-made number games

And a prize to whoever works out what this is! 

 

 

 

Winter Breaks in Thailand - Bookings now open

For those who have expressed an interest in coming to visit, the best time is probably from around Oct/Nov to March. April and May are uncomfortably hot, and after that the rainy season sets in with a vengeance which I have yet to witness, but for which I am already bracing myself. (Bright yellow poncho has been purchased for riding bike in the downpours.)
I get 20 days of leave in the year and I think it's probably pretty much up to me when to take them. The two main school breaks are in November and March. The World Ed. office closes for the last week of December.
I know some people would like to come and see me in Mae Sot. However, I would also like to take the opportunity to travel to other parts of Thailand, so there are plenty of possibilities (Christmas/ New Year on the beach, anyone?!)
So, if next winter in Europe turns out to be as bad as the last, there is at least an escape plan. Book early to avoid disappointment!!