Orienting The Disoriented

It’s been a long week.  CIEE and its Thai partner OEG did a great job of pulling off an informative and fun orientation despite the fact that much of Thailand, including Bangkok, was under a constant threat of flooding.  Apparently, this is the worst flooding that Thailand has seen in years (ever?), and some of the schools in Bangkok and in the Northern provinces won’t be starting school for another week or two because they are under water.  Pretty crazy stuff.

The orientation focused on two main issues: teaching us the basics of the Thai language, and teaching us how to be teachers.  The Thai language is tonal, meaning that there are several ways to say the same word, and where you place the emphasis often determines the word’s meaning (?!).  Um, right…not easy.  There are about 140 people on this program, and though some are teachers in the US, the majority are not, so most of us had a lot to learn, and quickly.  Small group exercises, role playing, large group exercises, songs, games, you name it.  Hope I can remember all of this stuff when I actually have to stand in front of a class next week.  We’ll see.

Orientation wasn’t all work though; we did some cool stuff too.

Pooja, me, Abby at the Grand Palace in Bangkok (had to wear knee-length clothing that covered the shoulders)

I heard that we were supposed to ride elephants and go rafting in the north of Thailand, but that was cancelled because of the flooding (bummer…that would have been incredible). Instead, we went to an ocean front resort just outside of Pattaya on the gulf coast.

Dinner in Jomtien, on the way to Pattaya

Hotel room view in Pattaya

Pattaya is generally a seedy place and it’s not uncommon to see beautiful young Thai girls walking around holding hands with old, gross men from the west. It’s a big party place though, and I’m sure I’ll go back, especially because I will be living so close. It is what it is unfortunately.

Walking Street- Pattaya

Ice Bar!

Orientation ended on Friday, October 28^th, and it was time for all of us to move on to our respective schools.  I had a great week, met some great people, and was sad that I had to say goodbye.  I found out during orientation that I was the only person placed at my school, meaning I would pretty much be living on my own in my part of town (there are others in my town somewhere…hoping to connect at some point).  It’s been a somewhat lonely 24 hours (I seem to be the only person living in this empty apartment building....), but I’ll discuss that more in my next entry (thank god I have internet service in my place…I think I would go crazy otherwise).  Hopefully, it will be a non-issue by the middle of next week.  School starts Monday; wish me luck.  Until next time….Sawatdee KAH (which I now know is the correct way to say goodbye)!