Teacher Sports Day

"The trick is growing up without growing old."

- Casey Stengel

You know how I said I had my last day of teaching? I lied. The school uncancelled half of the classes and I had to do my goodbye lessons again. Knew I wouldn’t get off the hook that easy.

The cancelled classes made time for a big ceremony for the retiring teachers. All government officials in Thailand (teachers fall under this category) have to retire when they turn 60. The highlight of the ceremony was when they showed pictures of the retiring teachers as students. The auditorium of 3,200 students went nuts.

Saturday was also the inaugural “Teacher’s Sports Day.” I don’t think that’s the real name, but it was exactly like the sports day we had with students, except with teachers. It kicked off with a gathering of 4 schools at the Phra Pathom Chedi in downtown Nakhon Pathom. Many of the teachers wore elaborate costumes, complete with banners, batons, and floats. Check it out.

The biggest Chedi in the world!

After several long speeches, we began a parade to the school where the competitions would be held. Our route was about 2 km through the blocked off roads. The heat was brutal as we marched through the afternoon sun. But the band motivated us with motivational pep songs such as “When the Saints come marching in,” “I want to hold your hand” by The Beatles, and “Feliz Navidad.” These three songs played on repeat for about an hour.  I don’t know how “Feliz Navidad” made it into the set list but it was surprisingly uplifting.

Parade through the downtown. 100 degrees. Nice clouds though.

There was an opening ceremony with everyone standing on the field. Much like the other sports day, it only took about 10 minutes before people started passing out from the heat and needed to be carried off the field. Heavy band uniforms/costumes in 100 degree weather don’t mix well apparently.

And then the sports began! All the competitors were teachers from the schools. It was kind of fun to see the teachers cut loose and get really into the games. I was up first in the free throw shooting contest. After absolutely killing it in practice (I made two baskets), I had a complete collapse and went 0-7. Needless to say I was benched for the volleyball game.

Our school rebounded as we won a nail-biter volleyball match. The strong showings continued as we placed second in the potato sack relay race. My shot at redemption came at the tug of war. We smashed the two teams we played, winning four wars in under 20 seconds every time. I will admit we did have a bit of an unfair advantage. The combined weight of me and the Nigerian teacher on our team was probably the same as five Thai men. But a victory is a victory.

Prepping for tug of war

Champions!

Teachers doing a potato sack race. Fantastic.

I was fighting a bad cold the whole time and decided to head home after finishing the tug of war. I was a little bummed to miss the deciding event of Bocce Ball (or “Woodbon” as the teachers called it). Still, a very fun day.

This next week will be fairly busy as I get ready to leave! Packing, cleaning, giving things away, grading, job applications…it’s going to be a chaotic end to my time here.

Also in one week, Mom and Dad arrive in Thailand! I’m super excited to see  them and show a bit of what my life has been like here. I’m sure the waterworks will be flowing when I pick them up at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Next week will be my last post for a while as I’ll be travelling during all of October. It’s going to be as cool as it sounds.

Mark

Goodbye Teacher!

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

-Winnie the Pooh, the real OG

Teaching in Thailand is in the books! I taught my last class today and can’t believe it’s over. I’ve been incredibly flattered over the last week with all the kind words the students have said to me as I’ve said my goodbyes. To be honest, I didn’t always feel like I made an impact in the classroom. I have 550 students that I see usually see for a half hour once a week. But a few things the students said and did over the last week really warmed my heart. Here are a few snippets of my favorite quotes over the last week.

“I want to travel.”

“Oh? Where to?

“America! Give me money.”

“Teacha, you live by Lotus Salaya?”

“Yeah, why?”

(Starts jumping up and down) “I see you exercise.”

“Teacha show six pack.”

I can’t tell if it’s calling me a bad teacher, but the rest of it was very sweet.

Thai kids love selfies. I had to start ending class 10 minutes early so the students had enough time to take pictures with me. Not a bad problem to have.

Since I’m leaving, my students have been bugging me for my contact information for the last few weeks. Phone number, email, facebook. Anyway, I caved and decided to make a second facebook account that the student could add. I started giving out my name of “Mark Watraikhing” during the end of the week. I logged in after a few days and saw this.

450 friend requests???? Are you kidding me????? I lost it when I saw this and laughed like a crazy person for a few minutes alone in my apartment. Thai kids love their facebook.

I had a few messages from students along the lines of “Hello Teacher Mark 555” (555 is the Thai version of lol). A student even sent me a photo album of pictures of me teaching a class…taken by the student. I think I’ll go with flattery rather than being creeped out. Here's a few of the student-made facebook photos.

I will really miss a lot of these students. There was a really good dynamic in most of my classes where they could joke around but be serious when they needed to. But I'm not worried about not seeing them - I've got 620 friends on facebook after all.

The ol’ Switcheroo

I get students mixed up all the time. I feel really bad when I do it, but hundreds of students in uniforms gets really confusing. Anyway, I noticed that I had a student appearing in multiple different classes. Her nickname is Not and I asked her why she was skipping her other class to come here. She responded with, “No teacha, not Not, New! Sister Not!” Apparently her nickname was New and I was mistaking her for her identical twin sister, Not. Super embarrassing.

Last weekend was an absolute blast with all my teacher friends coming into Bangkok for one last hurrah. We rented out a few hotel rooms and enjoyed some quality food and pool time. It blows my mind that I’ve been here for almost a year. It seems like yesterday I was meeting these people and trying to navigate this wild country. I’ve been really blessed over the last year with some good friends that have made Thailand so fun.

This weekend there’s a big sports competition between the local schools. I’ll be representing my school in the basketball shooting contest. Hopefully I can bring back the magic that won me a knockout tournament in 8th grade.

Mark

Thinking about home, thinking about Thailand

"I call this turn 'n' turf. It's a 16 oz. T-bone and a 24 oz. porterhouse. Also, whisky and a cigar. I am going to consume all this at the same time because I am a free American."

- Ron Swanson, Parks and Rec

Well guys, I’ve hit 11 months away from the US. Wow! It’s been a blast but I’m starting to feel the need for the next step. Also, it’s been 11 months without a few things. Here’s what I’m most looking forward to back in America.

A real gym

Call me a tool. I don’t care. For the last year I’ve been doing prison workouts in my room with my bodyweight and water jugs. It’ been fun, but I’m looking forward to a real gym with workouts that don’t include push-ups. I might cry when I see a bench press.

Food and Drink

Bills. Chipotle. Sarkis. Peanut Butter. Taco Bell. Sam Adams Octoberfest. Steak. Five Guys. Scrambled Eggs. Maple-syrup Salmon. Mayonnaise. Pita and Hummus. Miller Lite. Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

That’s the running list of food and drinks I’m going to devour when I get home. It will hopefully put back on the 15 pounds I’ve lost living here. JK on the Pumpkin Spice Lattes though, I ain’t that basic.

Talking to strangers easily

This one I actually don’t notice that much anymore. I’ve gotten pretty used to communicating using a few basic Thai phrases mixed with English, or Tinglish. Still, it’ll be nice to have conversations without a language barrier when trying to order food.

Friends and family

 I would live in Thailand longer if I wasn’t so far away from everyone back home. Technology has made it so easy to communicate with people anywhere in the world. But there reaches a point when a skype call just isn’t the same as actually seeing someone. I need some quality time with my peeps. I’m ready for ya America.

Honorable mentions: Driving a car, drip coffee, Netflix, enforced traffic laws.

On the flip side, there is SO MUCH that I will miss about Thailand. The Land of Smiles now has a firm place in my heart. This place has greatly impacted my life and I definitely want to come back as often as I can. So in no particular order, here's some stuff I'll be hurting for when I'm home.

The people

I’ve met so many amazing people here. From the welcoming foreign and Thai teachers at my school, the expat friends I’ve made, and even the cooks at the food stands, it’s going to be hard to leave the people I’ve been around for the last year. I’ve learned so much from them and experienced such genuine kindness. But again, technology yo.

Food

Thai Food is the best. There’s so much flavor and it’s so cheap. I get my daily plate of rice and garlic chicken for under a dollar. I’m going to flip in America when I pay 5 bucks for a sandwich.

Other fun fact- I’ve inadvertently gone almost completely gluten and dairy-free since being here. No one eats bread, people hate cheese, and I don’t have a refrigerator for milk. I wonder if this is why I haven’t really gotten sick since I’ve been here (I’m not counting the three rounds of food poisoning). There’s going to be some changes in the Lenz kitchen when I cook rice for every meal.

School

For as maddening as the ever-changing schedule can be, school is fun. There’s always something going on that keeps life interesting. The students have this air of innocence about them that you don’t see in America. I’ll miss them laughing hysterically as I butcher a word in Thai. I’ll miss students saying “May I come in please” at the door and have already sat down by the time I can answer. But their huge smiles are probably the thing I’ll miss most.

I started telling my classes this week that I will be leaving at the end of the term. The reactions have been very flattering, with many of them looking very sad and saying, “Noooo Teacha Mahk. I love you.” Their vocabulary might need a little expanding on that one but it’s still cute. They seemed excited that I would take a selfie with them before I leave.

My replacement is a young American woman coming through the same teaching program I did. The students have already decided that she’s beautiful and that I’m dating her.

Traveling

Thailand is just awesome to travel in. Want to go hike some mountains? Boom, overnight bus to Chiang Mai. Thinking about relaxing on an island? I’ll be on Koh Samet tonight. Feeling like seeing some waterfalls? See you in Kanchanaburi in the morning. There are just so many different things to see that aren’t that far away from each other. Better yet is that the buses can take you anywhere you want to go in the country.

That ease of travel just doesn’t exist in America. But it’s inspired me to travel much more when I get back. There’s so much out there to see!

Riding to work/nature

Every morning there is a two minute drive down side road. On it we pass construction workers building new housing developments. There are a few dogs darting across the street. And a fantastic view of the rice patties against the puffy cloud-filled sky.

I love it. It’s just a stunning display of nature. It reminds me just how effortlessly beautiful this country is and how lucky I am to live here.

Honorable mentions: 7/11’s everywhere, endless summer, nothing ever being on time, ridiculous number of public holidays, the chubby guy outside my apartment who runs a pineapple stand.

Next weekend I’m heading into Bangkok with friends for one last hurrah in the city. Should be tight.

Mark