Discipline....

On the way back from Laos I got on a bus for the last hour of the trip at 6am, to find it jam packed with people! Standing room only! I don't think back home it would be legal to have people packed in the aisle of the bus and not in a seat. Again, things just fly a little differently here! I had my purse, my backpack and my computer bag, standing, crunched in the aisle. A girl sitting next to me offered to hold my bag and another lady pointed out where I could put my backpack. It was very nice. When we got back to Singburi, this girl asked me where I lived as she saw me walking away. She said "I will give you a ride!" Kindness. Putting others before yourself. Important qualities to hold. I came back on Thursday, knowing that we didn't have school because it was the queen's birthday. Later that morning I got a call from James saying that we don't have school on Friday either. I'm always the last to know and am given information at the LAST minute! I think it will be hard to get used to structure, plans and a schedule when I return home! 
Over the past 2 months I have been dealing with some pay issues with my school. I am doing a lot of extra work on lesson plans they want, for 3 different subjects, for 2 grades, for the WHOLE YEAR! I asked for an increase in salary...an increase that would put me similar to every other foreign teacher I know. The school said that it was too big of increase. I have started to get worried about money issues because with the salary I make now it is really hard to save any money...and I NEED to be able to buy a flight home eventually! I hate dealing with money issues. I constantly feel bad because I know I am making so much more than the locals.  I know that I would be fine making what I do if I lived here and were going to live here forever, but that is just not the case. So I have really been putting my simple living to the test and only getting by on the bare necessities; FOOD & WATER!
Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday night there is a big market. Here are a few pictures from the market.
Everything that is being sold is just laid out on a blanket, as seen with these tools.

 

 The Thai people LOVE their eggs! You see these fried eggs everywhere! 

 Here is an array of sauces and such for cooking. There is a vast array of smells that kind of overwhelm you!

These sausages made me think of Schmeckfest!

 

One of the things that I am continually frustrated with is the lack of discipline and structure at school.  I'm still convinced that part of the behavior problems I have in my classroom, stem from the students' home life. I feel because the kids come from wealthy families they are used to doing whatever they want and are a bit spoiled. Maybe it's just this age of kids! It is very frustrating because I don't see any real repercussions for inappropriate behavior or disobedience. I feel that because there is no real discipline, bad behavior continues to occur. I feel discipline in necessary and beneficial, to a certain extent of course. I guess I could just do what I see the older Thai teachers do and just swat the kids! I just don't think I could bring myself to do that!!

A big difference, from the educational system in the US, is that there is no diversity or options for kids with any sort of learning disability or special need (that I have seen or heard of). All the kids are in the same classroom (and way too many kids at once I feel), and are not given any special help for their learning challenges. I really noticed this when I made up my own Math test (to see if I am actually teaching the kids anything and to see what they've retained), and some of the kids needed a lot of extra time and extra help. Back when I worked in the Sioux Falls district, when it came time to testing, student's needs were very important. They were sent to the resource room where someone could read the test for them and they were given as much time as needed. It was very interesting to me to see the results of my test. Both classes actually did quite superb (not to brag!), but it was also interesting to see which students took 15 minutes to finish the test or 50 minutes.  There were students in both of those categories who scored 90% and better, which tells me that students learn, achieve and accomplish on many different levels, but one is not better than the other.

For the first time I ate a pomegranate! They are beautiful to look at and taste great but are kind of a task to eat because it consists of so many little parts! You can just swallow the little seeds inside the fruit, but I choose not to!

Another first I experienced recently was being caught out in a monsoon rain while riding my bicycle home from school! It was quite something! I felt like I was being hit with a pellet gun! If I wouldn't have had my glasses on it would have been impossible to keep my eyes open to see!

 

 Here is just a silly picture of me one night where I decided to put my hair in pigtails and I wore my friend Steve's cowboy hat!

 

 A few more stories before I end....one day as I was riding home from school I heard what sounded like an ambulance siren, so I pulled off to the side of the road. When the vehicle passed I realized it was a truck with what looked like a cage on the back of it and on the side it said "prisoners." I noticed that inside the "cage" it was jam packed full of half naked prisoners. I have heard many stories of the unbelievable and unspeakable things that go on inside the Thai prisons here. Prisoners are treated like animals. 

I need to ask to make sure, but I'm pretty sure that there is no sort of substitute teacher system in place. Whenever a Thai teacher is gone or sick (which is hardly ever, I think you only stay home if you are dying!), another teacher just takes over your class. When our kids have class with a Thai teacher and they are gone, we are responsible for the kids that period. 

While Stephen and I were in town on a weekend night, getting some food from a street vendor, we noticed that an older Thai woman was "popping a squat" right in the middle of the street into a drain. No one seemed to care or think it was strange, not even the police officer that casually walked by!