This gallery contains 11 photos.
Thai Food Porn
Gallery
Why Thailand Is Somewhere I’d Like To Go Back To
1
One of the perks of living in Southwest China is that it means I live very close to Southeast Asia, therefore I decided to spend the first three weeks of my absurdly long Chinese New Year vacation in Thailand. The first week and a half I stayed in Bangkok with a good friend from college, Adam, who’s teaching at a local experimental elementary school. Then I spent my final week and a half with three fellow teachers, Laura, Kristen, and Sam, on the southern islands of Ko Somui and Ko Phangan.
Three weeks was a nice amount of time to spend in the same country. I got to get a good feeling for the culture and the food, learned how to count to 100, and began to really love certain little things about the country. Instead of recounting my every step over the 3 weeks I’ve decided to list my six favorite things about Thailand. Some are obvious, and others not as much.
1. Street Food. I’ve decided to devote an entire post to Thailand’s food, so just sit tight.
2. Super Hip Bangkok College Students
They make ankle length pleated skirts look like the most fashionable pick of the season. It’s like Gossip Girl Thailand has taken over every time a class lets out from one of Bangkok’s dozen colleges. The girls’ black skirts vary in length, but they all accessorize with a slouchy brown leather belt and fabulous flats of their choosing, and they wear smart white oxfords with big round silver buttons.
There’s something about the length of their skirts, the cuts of their shirts, and the silver detailing that makes their outfits seem very retro, like a lot of Thailand’s buildings and infrastructure. They seem to overtake Bangkok at certain times of day, looking cooler than all the normally done-up Thai boys and girls around them.
3. Sparkling water in a glass bottle, with a straw.
Available at any 7-11 (and you can usually see another 7-11 from any one 7-11, so that basically means everywhere), and the same price as a plastic bottle of still water. Nothing like an ice-cold bubble water after you’ve been trudging around wats all day in the heat. Plus the bottle is cool looking.
4. Palmy.
My favorite T-pop star. I wish I could describe this hip Thai girl vibe better, I tried with the college students but couldn’t quite get there. Whatever it is, Palmy has it. She’s retro, fun, and a little edgy. Just watch the video to understand this vibe I’m having trouble with. And then help me describe it. I love Palmy, she sings, she dances, she acts like a bird.
5. The colors and the gold.
It just makes me wish I had a better camera.
6. Dining Al Fresco.
I don’t think I had a single indoor meal this entire trip, except for the couple trips to McDonalds, and that wasn’t our fault, we live in rural China. A few times I may have been covered by some sort of patio like structure, but I was effectively always outside. I liked not having that separation of street and restaurant. The fact that there was no need meant that the weather had to be awesome, which it was, but it also was just a great way to enjoy the environment of where I was while simultaneously enjoying the food.
The Team
I thought it was important to reintroduce my team, since they make regular appearances on this blog and are the best companions a girl could ask for in rural China.
You’ll see below the ladies of Bangmai; Yuting, Kaede, and myself (from left); supporting our big strong male teammate, Wang Yong. Our facial expressions in this photo exemplify our natural charm and liveliness. Kaede wasn’t ready, so this photo ends up exemplifying her natural confusion and boringness. Just kidding we’re all equally awesome.
The cast of the new sitcom "Everybody Loves Wang Yong"
In all seriousness, they’ve been an incredible support to me this semester. I can’t imagine having done this without them! I’ll miss them this vacation and can’t wait to restart our family meals and team workout video sessions.
Yes, that was me you saw on Lincang local television.
What’s great about our school is that it’s a little insular community. Both teachers and students live in dorms (different buildings) during the week and all live and work in the same couple hundred-foot radius. On sunny days several local teachers will sit outside on stools, eating sunflower seeds and chatting. They’re our coworkers and our neighbors, so getting to know the local teachers has been really important and really FUN.
The moment we felt like we’d really been accepted into the inner circle was when Kaede, Wang Yong, and I were asked to be in a skit that several local teachers were performing in a government sponsored talent show for all of the villages surrounding Lincang. We didn’t know we’d be performing for a packed auditorium of party officials and friends when we agreed. I for one thought we’d only be performing it in front of the school, and didn’t understand that this was kind of a big deal until we were forced to skip school for three days and showed up at the big auditorium for our dress rehearsal. I probably should have realized, considering the number of hours we’d spent rehearsing at one of the teachers’ homes over the weekend.
The skit was called “Tomorrow Will Be Better” and chronicled the story of a young girl who’s father works in the fields and then plays cards and drinks all night. The girl drops out of school very young to have a baby and later expresses her regret that she couldn’t keep studying, the message being that education is very important and it’s up to the entire community to support our children. The skit contained a handful of dance numbers and two uplifting ballads. Kaede played the young girl, Wang Yong one of the other fathers, and I the incredibly challenging part of the “foreign teacher.” It was kind of a stretch and required a bit of research. The skit ended with all of us holding each other’s hands above our heads and swaying back and forth.
We unfortunately did not with the competition, but Kaede and I did manage to catch the attention of the people running the event. They asked us if we would perform an American song or dance for their big closing exhibition the next night. This was one of the first times I ever truly and firmly tried to say “no” to a Chinese person I was supposed to respect. Our lives here sometimes feel like day after day of head nodding and doing what our principals, and the various important people our principals introduce us to, tell us. We try never to give an outright “no” to any request. It’s not “no I don’t want to go to your house for a drink,” but “I’m sorry I really need to write some lesson plans and I’m very tired.” Or we just go to their house for a drink.
In this case, I came outright and said, “no I really don’t want to perform, just the three of us, in front of an entire auditorium of people.” Unfortunately, one of our local teachers had already promised our services. We were trapped. Because we didn’t have any traditional American culture to whip out and wow them with, we decided to learn a very old and famous Lincang area song, thinking we’d win the crowd over by appealing to their local pride.
Backstage, as we were about to go on, they sprung on us that we’d have to answer questions about what we loved about Lincang after we sang. I rehearsed a quick answer about how I liked my students and spicy food most of all. It wasn’t until I was onstage that I saw the enormous TV video cameras. Next week my students told me they’d seen me singing on TV. Then some local teachers told me the same thing. Then some of my student’s parents. Then the doctor at the hospital where I was getting my required Visa health examination.
Thus began my life as a local celebrity. So far I’ve been able to retain a good degree of normalcy in my life, us famous people tend to have trouble with that.
You Know You’re in China When…
you mistake your students for wizards.
Last week was Bangmai’s sports week, which meant I got to watch my 4th and 5th graders battle it out in a ruthless tug-o-war, and game after game of middle school ping-pong . When I walked down from the teacher dorms to the main field in front of the classroom buildings and saw the scene below, I thought the ninth graders were participating in a quidditch match. How else would you explain one student standing with a hula-hoop over his head as his classmates tried to get a ball through it? I soon realized this is how Bangmai makes up for our lack of basketball court. Two students play the role of “hoop” and stand with a ring over their heads, which they can also move to make sure the ball makes it through. Bangmai’s B-ball stars don’t let anything get in the way of their mad skillz.
Video credit to Justin.
圣诞老人 ＝ sheng dan laoren = Christmas Old Man = Santa Claus
Christmas came to rural China this year, thanks to the tireless spirit and festiveness of us foreign fellows! I’ve never worn a Santa hat for longer than five minutes until this Christmas. When I wore one for days on end. Some might say we overcompensated, but really it was necessary to create the atmosphere around the holiday, since most people around us had no idea that it twas the season.
Christmas was saved by many a delivery from America, which included goodies like: a super plush Santa hat, hundreds of candy canes, a little Christmas tree with ornaments, festive chocolates, and a SANTA SUIT. Thanks Pank and Justin!
Telling Sheng Dan Laoren what I want for Christmas.
My students Maggie and Molly came over to try out the suit.
I told my students that Christmas is the most important holiday in America and that everyone always celebrates it with their families. Since this was the first time I wouldn’t be with my family on Christmas it was their job to celebrate with me! I gave them pictures of Christmas-y things, put on Christmas music, and had them make cards and decorate little white circles, which acted as ornaments as we trimmed our own green paper tree together.
In one of my fifth grade classes, I had arranged for Wang Yong to knock on the door 10 minutes into class and come in dressed as Santa, with candy canes for all the good little boys and girls. I went to answer the door when the knock came, right on schedule, and saw before me the PERFECT Chinese Santa. It turns out Wang Yong had gotten cold feet and recruited one of our favorite local teachers, the conveniently portly Zhen Laoshi, to take his place. Unfortunately Zhen Laoshi couldn’t get the iconic “ho ho ho” down. It came out more like a deep “huh huh huh.”
The kids came up with some great cards. I told them to give them to their parents on Christmas and show off how they can say “Merry Christmas” in English.
A Far Too Appropriate Mistake.
I mentioned in a previous post that Bart takes after his namesake, Bart Simpson. He seems to have really internalized this.
The Jiafang – 家访
I’ve made many promises to get back on the blogging bandwagon, and then I go and fall right back off again, so I will make no such promises now. Can’t hurt to be hopeful, though!
Since I last wrote about my 4th graders, my relationship with them has come a long way, thanks in a large part to Molly. She was the first of my students to invite me to her home to meet her family. Home visits are an established part of teaching in China; all of us teachers go on them pretty regularly. They’re a valuable investment tool because they give us a chance to show our students that we care about their lives outside of the classroom.
Until Molly, however, I’d mostly viewed home visits as a remedial measure, something done when a student was especially misbehaving or on the verge of dropping out of school. Molly was a lovely, quiet little girl who I’d never given much thought to. She invited me to her home because she just really wanted me to meet her Mom!
One Friday afternoon Kaede and I set off with Molly and several other 4th graders on the 30-minute walk to her home. Before we left, Molly gave us the option of the beautiful “small road” or the less beautiful “large road.” We clearly went for the beautiful option, which ended up being more of a bushwhacking path down through rice paddies into the valley and then back up the other side of the mountain, to where Molly’s home was nestled in the slope. We’d brought all of our things with us for our weekend in the city because we planned to head into Lincang directly from Molly’s home.
View of the valley and the other side of the mountain from Molly's home.
A few minutes into our journey I learned the Chinese word for mud. It had rained recently and my flip-flops were getting stuck in the packed dirt paths between the rice paddies. My students instantly tried to remedy the problem by running to grab dried bunches of rice crop and throw them in front of us to make a path. We felt a little like royalty as they scrambled to make this path for us, but I let it happen because I was starting to be genuinely worried that I’d slip on the muddy, one-foot wide path and fall into the rice paddy that was at least a five foot drop below me.
Just as we began the ascent up the other side of the mountain it started to rain again. My students rushed to help us with our things, hold umbrella’s over us, and continue to help us with the path. Kaede and I were soaked, mud up to our knees, not quite knowing where we were going or how’d we get back. My flip-flops were getting so stuck in the mud that one of my students insisted on holding them for me, and I completed the rest of the journey bare-foot. My students got so worried that my bag would weigh me down and I’d fall that the group of ten year olds started standing behind me, literally pushing me up the mountain. That’s an image I’ll hold with me for a while.
We arrived at her house, the sky cleared, and we washed the mud from our feet and shins. It turned out that her mother was still out in the fields, her older sister worked at a factory in Kunming, and her father had recently died, so we went exploring the area with all of the local children. Her home was attached to what appeared to be an abandoned oil refinery.
Emma, Samantha, Annie, and Molly next door to Molly's house.
Annie, Molly, Jenny (top row from left) and Samantha, Emma, and an unnamed 1st grader (bottom from left).
The walk up from her house to some other student's homes.
It was clear that it meant a lot to Molly that we were there, that of all of the students in the 4th grade, it was her house we trudged through the mud to get to. Ever since that visit, Molly has gone from a sweet student to an OUTSTANDING student. She never stops practicing her English and her grades are exemplary. This whole experience made me realize that the home visit might actually be most beneficial for students like Molly, students who are good but need that little push the become great. In this context, it’s only the great students that have any hope of going on to high school, and in a lot of ways it’s my job to light that extra fire in these kids to make them work and strive for that opportunity.
Happy Belated National Day!
So the Chinese celebrate the 4th of July on October 1st. And they’re not celebrating the founding of the United States of America, but the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949. And they call it National Day.
If there were any special National Day celebration traditions (i.e. fireworks) I missed them completely, but all of us teachers definitely noticed the 7 day vacation we were given! Fellow fellows Kristin, Andrew, Caitlin, and I decided to venture west to Tengchong, the land of Yunnanese volcanoes and hot springs, where we met up with several other TFC teachers. The promise of volcanoes turned out to be pretty empty (literally, see below), but we did have a lovely day and night wandering around a relatively well intact ancient village, spend a relaxing day at the hot springs spa, and eat the best Chinese meal I’ve ever had, thanks to Tengchong local and fellow TFC-er Zumei.
Heshun village in Tengchong, Yunnan.
The "volcano." It was literally called "the big empty mountain." We'd rather it was filled with bubbling magma.
The Tenchong speciality, guohuo, at Zumei's house.
The highlight BY FAR was Beihai, “the north sea,” which is a sprawling swamp we paid some locals to take us out trecking in. They lent us some stylish camo boots and rowed us out into the middle of a giant lake with a weed covering thick enough to walk on. It felt like a huge, natural, outdoor waterbed. I’ve never had so much fun just walking around. I also had the honor of being the only one of our party to fall right through the weeds up to my waste. Granted, I was in unchartered territory. The video below gives a better sense of what walking on the slurpy swamp was like, and also captures the fateful moments before my fall. My bottom half was submerged moments after this video ended.
The intrepid travelers take on the swamp.
We also found the best baozi in the world. We ate it every morning with our Coke Zeros.
A Bunch of Wild Monkeys (Bangmai’s 4th Graders)
I’ve decided to use the excuse “I just don’t know where to start” to explain why it’s taken me so long to post since school started. An introduction to my fourth graders is as good a place to start as any! They’re one of the three classes of students I teach, and definitely the group with the most character.
It’s been exciting getting to know them over the past month and starting to understand their individual personalities. They’ve gradually been going from a mass of 49 hard to manage little kids (I often call them a bunch of wild monkeys, see the photos below), to little, very unique people I’m looking forward to watching grow up over the next two years.
My personal relationships with them started to take shape when I gave them English names at the end of the first week. I told them they had to earn their names, that it was an honor to have them, so they had to have one full day of good behavior before I bestowed the privilege upon them. The best behaved they’ve ever been was the day they earned their names.
I named all of my students after my friends and family, and when I ran out of loved ones I chose names I’d always liked, names that appear in the middle school English textbook (so they can see their name and get excited later on), or names from favorite pop-culture figures. I have an Annie and a David after my parents (although David is one of my more troublesome students, he got scolded today for never paying attention, sorry Daddy). I have a Robert, a Vicki, a Charlie, and an Eleanor after my grandparents. I made the mistake of telling the whole class that Robert was my grandfather’s name, his classmates called him “爷爷 yeye” (Grandpa) for the rest of the day. A lot of Bamboo Chute readers would hear their names if they came into my classroom. I especially enjoy calling on Bart. True to his namesake, Bart Simpson, he’s a little hell-raiser. And then there’s Sean, who chose his name because it sounded like the Chinese word for “kill,” (杀，sha).
My fourth graders don’t always make it easy for me; I’ve got my little know-it-alls, my sassy little girls, and my Bart Simpsons, but they seem to always forgive me, no matter how strict I am with them. And they have their moments. I’ve trained them so that simply saying the word SMART has them go from this:
To this:
Bellow we have Lucy (left) and Ethan (right). Their other teachers clearly sat them next to each other so that serious and sincere Lucy could keep the noisy and easily distracted Ethan in line. One day Ethan and his friends came to class with their pencil cases filled with 3-inch long grasshoppers. I cracked down hard and ever since Ethan has been a model student!
Kelly (left) and Sam (right) are by far my smallest students, but also two of the sassiest, especially Sam. He often shouts things like “Teacher, he doesn’t know what you’re saying!” when one of his classmates can’t answer a question. 
Harry’s (left) mom owns the fried rice restaurant in Bangmai, the only restaurant within walking distance of our school, which means Harry benefits from a lot of home visits from me! He manages to be both quiet and troublesome, it’s almost a gift. Henry (right) clearly knows he’s a boss.
Nate (front, on top of the table) exemplifies more of his class’s wild monkey-like behavior. 
Bamboo Chute 