Teaching English in Thailand: Day 31, Ladyboys

Day 31: Friday 24th July

There's nothin' like a bit of BBQ pork and sticky rice to start the day! Again, a feast was laid out on my desk this morning. Rowena says she buys it because she likes to give the old ladies at the market some custom. Im not so sure about her motives, but I sure don't mind.

Kanang at the morning market

BBQ pork

I only had 2 lessons today so I had a lot of time to spare. There was a lot of outdoor activity going on at school, such as general meandering around, playing sports or chilling and plaiting each other's hair, in the girls cases. I had enough of sitting in the office and braved the outdoors, seeing as it was very overcast and not too hot. It was still 32 degrees, mind you. I sat for a fair while, watching various students switching on and off the volleyball court. Every now and again a student would call over "Teaacha, play volleyball" and I'd wave my hands  to my head, signalling how hot it was. I just didn't fancy getting all hot and sweaty today, and was happy to watch them all get competitive together. Also, the students playing today were really good, and I didn't want to break up the flow with any terrible shots.

Buum bought us all ice cream!

In the afternoon I ventured outside as they were playing again. (Do these kids ever study?) I sat on my own at a table near to the court. I don't mind sitting alone at school, because I am a teacher and the kids aren't going to laugh at me and think "haha, that loser is on her own again". Im also the only blonde person (apart from the school stray dog) on the school grounds, consisting of about 600 students and teachers, so I am used to standing out and being the 'only one'. After a while, one of the students from M4 (age 16 ish) came over and sat next to me. It was the first time any of the kids had approached me like this, because they are usually all so damn shy! She didn't want anything in particular, and she didn't seem shy. So we sat quietly together, as we watched the others play volleyball. Every now again again we would say something in very broken English, and sometimes the other would understand. I pointed at one of the boys on the court and asked her, "ladyboy?" and she replied "yes", and went on to point to three other of the boys, signalling that the four of them were all 'ladyboys'. I kind of thought this before, but the first one I asked about had a full face of make up on and painted toe nails, which made it pretty explicit.

Loving the V ball

Shmaaaashhh

Even though I've never put much thought into the subject, I always thought that a ladyboy was more of an adult thing- not kids. I thought that men who wanted to be women would dress like them, and sometimes even go the whole way. I wouldn't have called the boys at school who carry a handbag and put talcum powder on their face 'ladyboys', but apparently that's the way it is over here. I love how in Thailand, the boys who want to act or dress like a ladyboy can, and everybody accepts them for it. There were 4 ladyboys on the volleyball court, and they were smashing the ball around so hard and powerfully which may surprise some. Many might think that a ladyboy, and even girly girls are too fragile or pretty to get sweaty in a game of volleyball, but it was very refreshing to see an equal distribution of boys, girls, and ladyboys on the court.

Had a huge headache today so when we got home i just binge-watched Orange is the New Black and had a niiiiceeee sleep.

I'm going on holiday tomorrow to Hua Hin until Tuesday 4th August (amazing, right?) and Im not taking my laptop for the fear of it getting stolen in a dodgy hostel. Therefore, I will be catching up with my blog posts once I get back so you can have a lovely load of (or one big) holiday post/s to read!

Peace, Olive