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"