New Faces and New Challenges

The last few weeks have been somewhat of a rollercoaster of stress, anxiety, frustration, and excitement. As all of us started to get settled into our routines again, trying to get our heads round our new timetable, covering lessons due to shortages of staff, and getting used to our kids (new and old), it was made clear very quickly that this semester would be totally different from last. Looking back at it, I now see last semester as a 'honeymoon period' of sorts and now is time to get my act together. These past few weeks have been rough in the classroom; with each class I taught, I felt the level of respect was shrinking and the amount of students that were misbehaving, not paying attention, or simply couldn't understand what I was saying was only growing. I was beginning to lose my tether a little which was the first time since being here that this has happened; for me, it had reached the point where I felt I wasn't even teaching my students anymore despite receiving positive feedback from some Thai teachers from the school (which was incredibly humbling).

New Semester. New Start.

However, things started to change last week when more teachers were getting hired at the school which in turn, raised the possibility of being moved to teach Primary aged kids which I was incredibly excited for. I felt that I could make more of a difference with the younger kids in comparison to my Secondary students, where for me, it had kind of reached the point of no return in teaching them; that their English was so poor and their unwillingness to learn was so high, that without any assistance from a Thai teacher, there was no point. Which was really upsetting to think actually. But, after a lot of thinking, I knew in my gut that moving to Primary was the right choice for me, it offered a fresh start and a chance for a new teacher to make their own impact on the Secondary students. So, like I said, things started to turn around and on Friday, I had my first official day as a Primary teacher! It was nerveracking to say the least but I really enjoyed it and although its going to be a massive challenge at times (after all teaching 15 year olds to now 6 year olds is a huge difference), I think I'm going to thrive there and really test my patience and ability as a teacher; this is the career path I've wanted to take for a long time and now I'm on it, I'd be a fool to stop myself before giving every possibility a chance.

"Hash Run" with my favourite girls from Korat.

Despite how stressful these few weeks of change have been, I've also been really fortunate to make some new friends here in Korat! After agreeing to meet Grace at a cafe in Korat, I was introduced to some of her other friends and I really hit it off with them. After a few drinks that night, we all decided to enter the "Hash Run" the following day (June 13th). Now, initially I was pretty excited for the run but when I realised actually what it was (a bunch of guys strolling around a field finding papers and getting drunk), I was suddenly not so thrilled haha. However, I did thoroughly enjoy the 'run' (I use that term very loosely) thanks to good company except for the part where I had to sit on a pile of ice (ass out) for a dare...I saw an 81 year old butt...! I didn't deserve that...

Over the moon to have accomplished this goal...12KM!

So the reason I was looking forward to the prospect of running was because Grace, Enda, (new teacher) Bobby and myself had entered a 10km run the following weekend (June 20th) at the King's Stadium in Korat. What I didn't quite realise until the day of the run was the sheer size of this event! I had been put on with a collaboration from the Princess of Thailand and the International Olympic Committee for an event for "Olympic Day". The day consisted of two events; a 10km run and a 4km walk. However...the run turned out to be more than 12km and we only realised this as we were running. I had never ran that far before nor did I feel like I properly prepared myself for it. At around the 6km mark, I really started to feel like wanting to stop, I was losing all motivation, but I kept going and felt this weird sensation (runners high?) around the 7-9km mark. It was like my brain has gone from saying "I cant do this!" to "You got this!" -- it was an awesome feeling and thanks to it, I finished the race. Best part of it? I didn't stop (depsite the best effort of Thai runners and drivers...)! I finished in a time of just over 75 minutes. To celebrate the run, I joined my new friends Georgia, Marisa, and Diana for dinner and wine at Georgia's house. After a few months of feeling quite isolated in Korat, I am so happy to have found new people who I connect with and who can offer new experiences in Korat whereas before I had felt like they were dried out.

Wine and curry night with amazing peoople.

To top up what has been a eventful couple of weeks, Grace and I joined our Thai friends and headed to Vongchavalitkul University to attend an event that commemorated the 40th anniversary of political and trade relations between Thailand and China. The show consisted of a celebration of both Thai dance and Chinese opera with The most exciting part of the night was a performance called "Changing Face". Also known as Bian Lian, and particularly performed as part of the Sichuan Opera, the performance consists of someone wearing these brightly-coloured, traditional Chinese costumes and these vivid face masks which are meant to depict different characters. Then with a swipe of a fan, waving of the hand or the turning of the head, the mask on the face will change immediately. It was fascinating to watch and a great way to experience side to the huge varieties of cultures that are imbedded within South East Asia.

"Changing Face"

Ubon and The 'Grand Canyon of Siam'

Barely a week after we returned to school from our summer holidays, we were lucky enough to have a long weekend off and a chance to explore another part of Thailand. Whilst most of my colleagues decided to rest in Korat, I travelled east and visited Ubon Ratchathani to see my friend Tae. Ubon is one of the four main cities of the Isaan province (with Korat also being one). Before now, Korat was the furthest east I had travelled, so I was excited to see yet another side to Thailand.

My first time heading East.

Although I now regret not leaving on Saturday, I had to utilise the 24 hours I had to explore so I decided to take the train to Ubon as it was the quickest way to get there. I'd heard such negative reviews of the railway system in Thailand with the trains NEVER leaving on time (no exception with me unfortunately) and the conditions of the trains being dire (however, that wasn't the case with my train). The journey was supposed to take around four hours, but with delays it was closer to five; still two hours faster than if I was to take the bus so I couldn't complain too much.

Tae picked me up from the station and took me back to his house to freshen up. I was introduced to his Father, Sister, petrified cat, and overprotective, farang-hating (not really..) dogs; they were pretty intimidating and with past experience of vicious dogs, I was in no mood to stay outside with them very long haha. Our first stop on the trip was to visit one of Ubon's biggest temples, the Maha Wanaram Temple (Wat Pa Yai). The reason why we had this three day weekend was because of Visakha Puja Day (aka Buddha Day/Buddha's Birthday), which commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Gautama Buddha (which happened all in one day I might add), so it was imperative that I go visit a temple on this weekend and pay respect. The temple itself wasn't as extravagant as other temple's I had seen in Thailand, but it was already being visited by so many people who would light two candles, put a wreath of flowers in water, and light two incenses all as part of Buddhist tradition to pay their respects.

Temple at Central Park. Ubon Ratchathani.

After that, we visited some other landmarks in the city which included Central Park (Thung Si Muang), and Supat Temple where we also fed some fish on the Moon river (yes, that's actually its name). I enjoyed Ubon because it seemed less crowded than Korat but still was surrounded by traditional Thai charm. It was so nice having Tae be my personal Tour guide as he was able to explain the history behind all the different landmarks we visited and clarify the reasonings behind Buddhist practices which I've sometimes found hard to wrap my head around. (Thanks man!)

Exploring Sam Phan Bok.

The next day started with an early rise and a 2 hour trip towards the Laotian border to a place called Sam Phan Bok (which translates to English as '3000 holes'). This place has been labelled in some travel blogs as the 'Grand Canyon of Siam' and truly is a hidden wonder. Formed because of water erosion, thanks to the Mekong River (home of the famous mythical creature, the Naga), the place is full of holes within the rocks forming a really cool and interesting landscape. We arrived there around 8am and it was already scorching hot. I had heard that going there around sunset is stunning, but due to time restraints, my friend, his family and I decided to roam the deserted scenery before the touristy rush came. Like I just mentioned, the Mekong River that runs through Sam Phan Bok is believed to be home to a mythical serpent-like creative called the Naga (pronounced Nah-gah). When I have visited temples in the past, I had seen statues of this creature that sometimes possessed 5 or 6 heads. But this creature is only known to have one and is thought to have been spotted on numerous occasions in this river (by unconfirmed sources) and acts as a guardian over the river and the Thai and Laotian people (as this river was very close to Laos). I had looked at some pics before on Google Images but couldn't quite capture the beauty of the place myself on my iPhone camera. Nonetheless, it was really cool to visit and I will most definitely visit again.

Exploring what Ubon Ratchathani has to offer. Thanks for showing me around, guys!

Before we headed back, we made one more to stop to another temple called Tham Khuha Sawan Temple which was a beautiful white temple that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. What was great about was the scenery that surrounded it; we were miles from the Laotian border and Mekong River again and the views were lovely. As we made our way to the station to send me off, we saw where the two main rivers in that region, the Mun and Mekong, met. It was known as the 'Two Colour River' due to you actually being able to map out where the two rivers actually met.

For me, this was the first real time I had felt I had been able to more a more rural side to Thailand; before its just been cities or beaches mostly. It was just a shame that I was only there for just over 24 hours. But big thanks to Tae and his family for hosting me! I had a wonderful time and will most definitely be back, with my film camera in hand so I can take some really great shots of the beautiful landscape in and around Ubon.