Lost in Translation

“Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”

“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
– 2001: A Space Odyssey

“Do your best and forget the rest.” – Tony Horton, P90X

Whoa, double quote! Short post this week. Read on for why.

Writing for fun?

I wrote a really long post earlier but realized it was mainly venting about a bad day I had. Nobody's got time for that. So I deleted it.

The bad day occurred because I still don't fully understand how the Thai school system works. Every day brings new expectation for my role as a teacher. Some days I'm proofreading a worksheet for another teacher, other days I'm writing a test for hundreds of students. I'm learning to embrace these assignments with short notice and learn from them.

To process some of these rough days, I've started writing a "paper" about the Thai education system. Yeah I know, I can't believe I'm writing a paper for,err, fun. But it's so vastly different from the American system that I figured I should  write down some of my observations so I don't forget. Anyway, this has been really good for me to identify challenges I've had in the classroom and how to overcome them. I plan to do the same thing about the American education system when I get back to the States. Who knows, it might even end up in a book. You heard it here first.

Check, please

I went out to dinner the other night some other English teachers at the school. Streets in Thailand are filled with little shops and restaurants. I love going out with people who are familiar with the area because they know these great little places I would never find. This one was hidden behind a large building off the main road. It had this little garden and pond next to our seats. It was very serene.

I followed suit with everyone else ordering and got pig’s neck. It was actually really good, regardless that it was about 90% fat. In an effort to make the restaurant homier for us Farang (foreigners), the owners put a Beach Boys album on over the stereo. I love Thai people.

You know nothing Jon Snow

For the first time in three years, I will not be bringing home a fantasy football trophy this winter. In the most improbable of all situations, EVERYONE on my bench outscored EVERYONE I started, and I ended up losing by 4 points because my opponent had two players from the Bears (Thanks McCown and Jeffery). The irony is terrible. It must be a rule that you can’t win at fantasy if you’re out of the country or something. Yeah, that’s it.

Randos’

Here are some funny things I’ve found around the school and the area. They pretty much speak for themselves.

The students came up with this for a team name. So proud. Sorry my handwriting still sucks Mom.

Next week all the English teachers are singing and dancing to “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in front of the whole school. I’ll see if I can get someone to take some pix.

Mark

P.S. Sorry the text formatting is so bad. I've tried changing it but the website sucks and won't let me. It's also all in Thai. 

P.P.S. David is currently traveling around Europe. It’s sad that these two sentences are Davis’ longest blog post in the last month.