Checking In on Checking Out
It has been a long time since I posted. A good friend asked me the other day if I was ever going to update this thing and I had to admit that I haven't been because I'm having a hard time distinguishing the good from the bad, the worthwhile from the worthless. But he was quick to point out that the little, seemingly insignificant things that make up the fabric of my daily life here in Isan are what I'm supposed to be writing about-- not just the major, life-altering things. So I'm back with a few seemingly inconsequential details.
First off, I'm living in a little town called Muangkhong. Go ahead, try to find it on Google...I dare you. The district is on the map if you know where to look for it, the town isn't even there. I pretty much live in the rice fields in the middle of nowhere. I have a couple of neighbors between me and the actual bogs, but I could throw a rock fro my front gate and it would land in the middle of a paddy. My walk to school is lined with rice fields. My backyard is filled with banana trees (and probably spiders...more on that in another post), and I spend my time trying to fend of the mosquitoes (is it possible to get Deet poisoning?).
I work at a high school teaching Mattayoms 4-5-6, which is equivalent to grades 10-12 in the states. I actually love it, except for the fact that there are only 2 of us farang teachers at the school, so I have 1200 students, 22 classes, half of my classes have over 80 students, and I only see each class once/week. Coupled with the attention paid to one of 2 white people in town, and the extracurricular expectations of the school, and I'm exhausted. Plus, sometimes I feel a bit like a Farang Mascot instead of an actual human person. I do love teaching though.
I'll leave it here for now and try to get back sometime soon to tell you a few actual stories. Till then, some proof that I live in the rice fields:
First off, I'm living in a little town called Muangkhong. Go ahead, try to find it on Google...I dare you. The district is on the map if you know where to look for it, the town isn't even there. I pretty much live in the rice fields in the middle of nowhere. I have a couple of neighbors between me and the actual bogs, but I could throw a rock fro my front gate and it would land in the middle of a paddy. My walk to school is lined with rice fields. My backyard is filled with banana trees (and probably spiders...more on that in another post), and I spend my time trying to fend of the mosquitoes (is it possible to get Deet poisoning?).
I work at a high school teaching Mattayoms 4-5-6, which is equivalent to grades 10-12 in the states. I actually love it, except for the fact that there are only 2 of us farang teachers at the school, so I have 1200 students, 22 classes, half of my classes have over 80 students, and I only see each class once/week. Coupled with the attention paid to one of 2 white people in town, and the extracurricular expectations of the school, and I'm exhausted. Plus, sometimes I feel a bit like a Farang Mascot instead of an actual human person. I do love teaching though.
I'll leave it here for now and try to get back sometime soon to tell you a few actual stories. Till then, some proof that I live in the rice fields:
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