Teaching English in Thailand: Day 22, Spoilt Rotten

Day 22: Wednesday 15^th July

Today I was a tad spoilt! On the way to pick up Rowena on the way to school, Kanang wanted to stop at the market for something. She ended up buying some sticky rice and bbq pork on a stick. She bought 6 of the sticks of pork, so I just assumed she was really hungry. When we got to school, she handed them to me and told me to eat them, and said she was afraid that I was starving! (Trust me, Kanang, I’m not starving! Hahaha.) They were actually really good, especially as I can be a bit fussy with fatty meat, as you already know.

Every day, when we pick up Rowena in the mornings, she gets into the car and often announces that she has brought along a little treat for me that she picked up from the market that morning. Today she pulled out a little plastic box filled with sticky rice and custard, which is a classic Thai sweet. Mmmm, thank you Rowena! She had also bought half a cooked chicken, some pork porridge and other snacks. When we got to school, I was surprised to see her put the chicken on my desk and tell me to eat it! So, that was pork, rice, sticky rice and custard and half a chicken added to my morning snack list. I happily nibbled my way through the pork, rice and some of the chicken, which was so tasty! It was chargrilled from the BBQ and also so juicy. I kept the sweet sticky rice for later!

Sticky rice and custard

I was scheduled to have four lessons today; the first one was at 8:40 with Kanang. Being the lovely person that she is, Kanang let me have the lesson off! So that was one less lesson that I had to teach today, and it also gave me some time to eat everything in front of me, hehe. I think She just secretly wanted me to eat, because my new skipping breakfast habit is clearly scaring her half to death.

 

Chickeny goodness

Pork and sticky rice

My next two lessons were with the youngest students of the school, of about 12/13 years olds. I teach these classes with student teacher Chuichai who doesn’t have the best standard of English. So we often struggle to communicate, but we are working at it! Every lesson that I teach with her, she brings me an ice cold bottle of water. I always have my own water so the first time she gave me it I declined because I already had one- but now I realise it is kind to accept. And I also now realise how much of a nice gesture this is of her to give me it. None of the other teachers give me water; its just another example of sincere kindness in the Land of Smiles! 

Vocab 

In today's lessons I taught Body Parts again because I only have each class once a week, and even though they have varying ages, their abilities don't differ that much (with a few exceptions). I really enjoy teaching this subject because the students already know some of it, so they feel satisfied to be able to answer my questions. Also, I know they all have the burning desire to ask about the naughty parts of the body that I don't intend on teaching them, so it can be very funny! I taught them the words "bum/ bottom" which they preferred to call "ass", which I think is from the influence of American TV. One girl wrote this on her paper, instead of "foot", and it made me laugh so much that I had to take a picture of it. She found it funny too, even though she didn't know what was going on!

Fook

We went for lunch at my favourite place, but this time I didn't get Pad Thai. "What?!" I hear you gasp. Nope! I got some crispy pork which I tried in Loei, but it turns out that this place's version of it was much worse. So it was just deep fried pork with some garlic. I didn't need to eat and I wasn't hungry, but in Thailand, if it's lunch time, you must eat. 

Mmm????

In the afternoon I had one lesson, so for the rest of the time I was able to chill out at my desk. Of course, I had Rowena waving Oreos in my face and feeding me chocolate muffins. I love it, yet cry a little inside too. I am very aware of all the food I am consuming, and the effects it is having on my body! Next thing I knew, Kanang whipped out a couple of mangoes and started peeling them in the office! So, we also had some tasty mangoes, on top of everything else we had eaten that day. This is pure craziness!

Mango sesh

After eating so damn much today I told Kanang I didn't want her to prepare dinner for me, as I was happy to just have something small if I fancied it later. After sitting in the sunshine for a good hour or so, I thought I would have something light for dinner. So I made some scrambled egg and a salad! Healthy, yay!

Praise the Lord!

Im so glad I made it to the middle of the week! Roll on the weekend!

Peace,

Olivia