Hiatus

     There will be a brief hiatus in my blogging.  Tomorrow, March 1, is a travel dah.  Blogging will resume from the USA.  Stay tuned.

Reflections, Thailand 2018

     This is my last day in Bangkok and Thailand.  After numerous trips to SE Asia, and ten years of teaching in Ayutthaya routines are well established.  Much of what once seemed exotic is now ordinary and sometimes annoying.  Somethings which were a challenge are now simple, e.g., getting around.  Having a smattering of the Thai language is helpful in many situations, particularly knowing how to say 'no thank you'.  However, sometimes it leads to the mistaken notion that I really speak Thai as the person to whom I've said 'no' starts conversing with me in Thai.  Saying no in Thai is much more effective than saying no in English.  The school routine is now embed in my mind.  I remember on one of my earlier trips to SE Asia going by an elementary school at dismissal and wondering what school was like.  Now I know.
     The weekend in Chiang Rai was a high point.  It's a beautiful area and we did just enough tourist things.  Spending time with Pear's family was delightful...such great people.  It was fascinating to get a sense of the graduation experience even though I didn't get to see the Princess hand out 2000 diplomas.  Chiang Rai is a small city with a delightful climate...cool nights and warm days.  It has grown much since I visited 13? years ago.
     School was a bit more challenging in a positive way.  The Total Physical Response method of teaching I use must be working.  The 5th and 6th grades have mastered what I've taught previously forcing me to expand my repertoire. Now I also use my English/Thai guidebook from which I'll say  a phrase in Thai and they say it in English. Relationships with the teachers continue to deepen the new, younger teachers are both more interested in connecting with me and in using English.  The change in my status is reflected in the informal seating chart at the lunch table; gradually I've moved from eating alone, to the foot of the teacher's table, to the middle and, this year, to next to the head.  The teachers most interested in English cluster around me and the others move to the periphery.   Small changes instituted by the principal are evident as she struggles against inertia for improvement.
     Life with the family is more complicated with the presence of Nice (In a previous blog I wrote about transliteration.  Nice' mother Poo, pronounced Poe, named him that hoping he would be nice.  Thai typically drop the last syllable or sound of a word when speaking so when the family refers to Nice that call him Nii.) who is now 20 months old,  He's a shrieker; happy, sad or in between and it's an extremely loud, high ear splitting sound.  He also cries at the drop of a hat.  In spite of that my relationship with the family continues to deepen.
   Charitable work in which I engaged will be reported in separate blog post.

Pictured below is one of the improvement at the school since I began nine years ago.  Between the two buildings concrete was poured, painted with games and roofed.  It provides additional entertainment for students and a place to gather in wet weather.  There was heavy dew on the grass where the students normally sit for opening exercises so they were moved under cover.  The acoustical difference a concrete floor and steel roof make is amazing.

A kindergarten teacher arranges her students.

I'm sorry I lost the ability to sit cross legged.  Even a very old Thai person can do this.

Bangkok Sidewalk Epilogue

   Exiting the Bangkok Christian Guesthouse, my hotel, last night I found the usual food stalls doing great business.  Remarking to the Guesthouse staff "Don't they know it's Monday?"  I got more of the story about sidewalk businesses closed on Mondays.  It seems there was a government mandate that many had to be closed on Monday.  However, Soi Sala Daeng 2, my street, is considered such an insignificant street they are exempt from Monday closing.
   Here's my guess how it all came down.  Government officials responding to complaints about sidewalk congestion decided to end it all.   So they led with a big announcement to that effect.  Sidewalk food stalls are such a part of Bangkok life that there was a huge pushback.  Some of the best food in Thailand is served from these stalls and a good meal costs only a dollar or two.  Likely customers and sellers alike protested.
     Something had to be done.  The government would lose face is they just backed down.  The result is quintessentially Thai.   The order is given "All stalls on busy streets much close Mondays."   The congestion is acknowledged but life can go on almost as normal and the officials can say they acted.
    In a similar vein the law states that there be no alcohol sales on Buddha's birthday.  Indeed, most bars are closed.  This does not deter restaurants that serve alcohol.  Order a beer with your meal and some place out of sight the beer will be poured in a plastic cup before it is served to you.  Honor the thought but don't disrupt life over a principal.

A twin...5th grade.

The other twin...I often can not tell which is which.

Behold...a Sidewalk!

      Through the year I track news of Thailand.  Much has been written about government authorities clearing much of the sidewalk sales; food stalls and night market stands that sell almost everything.  The only evidence I'd noticed were most of the night market sales were gone from Silom Rd.
      Today when I exited the guesthouse I notice all the food stalls on the street, Soy Sala Deang 2, were gone.  Around the corner on Convent the same thing; all food stalls gone and the usual three foot passage was now the full sidewalk of about seven feet.  Absent, too, were the customers clogging the sidewalk.  On Suriwong, the next major street over from Silom...absent.
       Have the authorities removed them for the work week?  They were there Saturday and Sunday.  No, as it turns out, it was their day off.  As usual one answer raises another question.  How was the decision made that they would all take Monday off?  If one stayed in business they'd be swamped with sales.  Is it government mandate?  A 'gentleman's agreement'?  Even the sidewalk sewing machine guy was gone.  Whatever the answer I am glad that they all get a day off.  The typical Thai workweek is six days for $300. a month or less and no sick leave and little if any vacation.

Knowing it was my last day, students hovered around  me.

With her "Smoky" hat on her hijab teacher Da, drums.

All Was Revealed

    Readers of this blog may remember my SE Asia mantra "All will be revealed."  It's very helpful in many situations.  Countless times I've sought something in public, e.g., a seat on a minibus, and it totally appears that I'm forgotten.  Then at the right moment a signal is given and that what I sought magically appears.  Likely it's partly a language issue.  My lack of Thai combined with their limited English makes it difficult to communicate.  If I've seen a glimmer of recognition when I made my request I slip into "all will be revealed" mode and it always is.
    The mantra also works well when making plans with the family.  Case in point; Saturday, we took a driving trip to a bird sanctuary. With a day free an outing was in the works.  They floated the idea of a trip to the cave we first visited shortly after my arrival but I was cool to the idea because it was a four hour drive each way.
    The alternative planning was left up to them with the understanding it wouldn't be as far as the cave.. My assumption was we'd likely visit a temple.  Departure time was announced as 6am so I was up at 5am.  Actual departure was 8am.  We drove a couple of hours and pulled up in front of a bird sanctuary.  Wrong again...no temple.  The aviary was moderately interesting.
   On the return trip we stopped a warehouse type store.  They bought a year's supply of fish oil, two cases of bottles about the size of the usual wine bottle.  It wasn't all that expensive...which, I suppose
was why they went to that store.  Offering to pay for the oil it cost less than $25....Yes, I know I'm a big spender.
   I'm writing from Bangkok as I begin the journey home.

Ripe mango with sweet sticky rice...my favorite Thai dessert.

All of the 4th grade plus 6 3rd graders.

Wouldn't You Know?

    This is about elephants.  I've ridden them, fed, them, seen them paint pictures and play soccer, watched them being bathed in the river and posed with them.  Once sitting in an outdoor restaurant in Ayutthaya I watched as an elephant walked up behind the teacher at the table across from me and nuzzled her ear with its trunk  She was amazingly calm when she looked up into the face of an elephant.  But, trucking elephants fascinates me.  Something about the interesting animal combined with the 'farm element' of trucking I find intriguing.  I've driven by when they are being loaded and often have seen the trucks carrying them on the street,
      Deciding to act on this interest two days ago we went to the usual loading site.  Not an elephant was to be seen but soon a truck loaded with elephants went by and then another.  The traffic congestion caused by the Chinese New Year's celebration changed the loading site.  No luck.
     Tonight it was time to try again.  Arriving at the terminus of the elephant rides...they are here, to give rides to the tourists...a truck was being loaded.  Whipping out my trusty camera I took a picture and then the battery went dead.  Which raises a deep philosophical question...in this photo crazy age do you actually see something if don't get a picture of it?   Deciding that the answer is Yes, and photos are ancillary, I chose to make the best of it and see what I could observe, which, as it turned out was much, and some of which was hilarious.
     Four elephants fill a tandem axle truck that has both front and back tandems...duals only on the back tandems.  They are eager to load.  As soon as the back of the truck in hydraulically lowered forming a ramp they hustle right in whether or not they have a riders.  Some of the mahouts ride the elephant as it is being trucked to the kraal.  
    The ride terminus is a small area bounded by the loading platform from which riders gain access to the seat on the animals back, a low pipe fence for a ways, and single strand of barb wire and a large opening.  The fence is more to keep people out than elephants in.  Some are wandering around loose but most are ridden by mahouts.  One was tied to a tree with a single strand of baling twine.
    One huge bull, bareback, ambled over to a 50 gallon drum willed with water.  Filling his trunk with water he swooshed his back, sides and belly several times.  A middle aged Caucasian couple were watching just out of reach of the splashing water.   When the wash appeared to be over the women walked over if front the elephant to take a picture.  He sank his trunk in the barrel, sucked up snootfull and blasted the woman from about five feet away.  She ran laughing, and soaked, back to her husband where they watched awhile longer.  Mounting their bikes he blasted them with water again as they rode by.  He definitely seemed to have a sense of humor.  
     Of course all of that would have made great pictures...but I have it in my mind.  Maybe next year I'll go with a charged battery.

My one picture.

"My Cup Runneth Over"

     Perhaps I should retract what I said in a previous blog about Thais and goodbyes.  Every year the school plans a special farewell and this year was no exception.  My small suitcase, small enough to be a carry on, has a been a point of pride.  It may be time to get a larger one for all the gifts that are showered upon me at the farewell.
     After lunch hour all the students were seated in the gathering room arranged by classes.  The room fell quiet...unheard of...and I expected it was in anticipation of a dramatic moment.  Eventually the students resumed their typical chatter and still we waited.  A passing teacher explained that we were waiting for the custodian who'd gone home with key to the room in which the microphone was housed.  Big drama. 😶😶
      The program began with my farewell address to the students followed by a thank you addresses from the school by one of the teachers and a student representative.  Then the students presented me with cards they had made and the teachers with gifts from the school...yes, they did find a silk shirt, blue, big enough for me!
       If I have doubts about returning the out pouring of affection and gratitude fills my cup so full I think "how could I not?"  One of the sweetest moments didn't get pictured.  There are several 6th grade boys always want to be near me; Bird, Yai, Fedin, Abradeen and Kabeem.  The program was over but the 6th grades hadn't left yet when the boys came and gave me a huge, group hug!

Third Grade with their card which has a picture of each of the 25 students.

Students presenting me their cards.

Kindergarten gathers for a picture.