Rise & Grind
I can't believe two weeks of classes have already gone by and I'm just now sitting down to write and reflect. We've been so busy over here! I notice myself unconsciously structuring my days through monochronic time, a philosophical term coined by Edward T. Hall which refers to a Western, future-oriented and rigidly scheduled way of life. How many activities/errands can I fit into one day? What will people think of me if I'm always running late? These are very much Western perceptions of time and its importance in maintaining human productivity. In the East priorities are different. Time is thought to be polychronic, much more focused on detail and process rather than end result, and, in line with Buddhist religion, much more focused in the present. Thus, people here commonly talk about "Thai time" which is basically a nice way of saying that everything starts later than planned. Being in Chiang Mai for almost a month now, I have certainly gotten a taste of Thai time.
See.. look how much I've already learned from class!!
In all sincerity though, I'm really enjoying my teachers and coursework at Chiang Mai University. I'm currently in four classes: Basic Thai language, Buddhism in Southeast Asia, Thai politics and history, and Sex Work, Trafficking & Rescue in Southeast Asia. I also have an online class called Service Reflection & Practicum, which is basically just how it sounds: a forum for weekly reflection papers about our insights and experiences doing service work. When I go to Cambodia in mid-October, I will take a Khmer language class (pronounced like kah-my here; but the English word is Kah-mer), and a class on History, development & current politics in Cambodia (or Kampuchea in Khmer).
Since I just had to write a reflection on Cambodia's history based on the book, Hun Sen's Cambodia by journalist, Sebastian Sergio (a pretty dry read but chalk full of information), I'm including the link to a brief timeline here for any history junkies who may be interested. I'm in the process of learning about Thailand's geography and history now, specifically as compared to the West. But, since the country has mostly remained independent from conflict with other Southeast Asian countries and has consistently been ruled by a monarchy, it's historical context remains largely insular. This is not to say that Thailand's history isn't fascinating or worth learning about, I just don't have enough background knowledge or a good website to offer here yet!
But anyway, back to classes. As I've mentioned the CMU campus is huge and split into different schools of study, which are known here as "faculties". So myself and the twenty-three
international students I'm affiliated with all have classes in the Faculty of Law (FoL, pictured on the right) where there are also lots of Thai students having class. There is another international program here too, called USAC, and they also stay in the Uniloft dorms with us, but there are about sixty of them (mostly Americans) and their classes are in the Faculty of Humanities.
So, since all our classes in the FoL are in English, with the obvious exception of Thai language, and since we all have slightly different schedules, the class sizes are pretty small. I think my biggest class is thirteen people and my smallest is seven, and I know everybody in each class. I find this setup to be both a blessing and a curse. While it is definitely comforting to be surrounded by people I know and be able to reap the benefits of small teacher-to-student ratios, it is much harder to interact with Thai students without making an extra effort. Many international students have been paired up with Thai roommates, which has somewhat made up for our lack of integration in the classroom. Nevertheless, between classes, service work, homework and daily chores we are quite busy and it's all about finding a balance. Over the past month I've been learning how to structure my social time wisely, which often includes planning out how to get around. Not surprisingly, my knowledge of the city is still limited and taking red trucks everywhere gets expensive; not to mention that many drivers barely speak or read English.
In order to make traveling around Chiang Mai a bit easier I've been putting extra effort into practicing Thai. Because four of us are only here until mid-October before heading to Cambodia, we have six hours of Thai each week, split into two three-hour classes. This course only focuses on speaking, whereas the rest of the group staying in Thailand until December has the option of taking a Thai writing class after fall break. Thai is certainly a difficult language, but not because of its expansive vocabulary or grammar. Mastery is really all about correct pronunciation of the tones. Thai has five tones and if you neglect to incorporate them into your speech then conversation can be completely misinterpreted. Many words have up to three, four or five meanings depending on their context and tone. And since my four classmates and I won't have the opportunity to learn how to write in Thai, we must use the English alphabet to sound out Thai words.
But of course, the Thai alphabet is completely different. It is made up of 44 consonant symbols which produce 21 consonant sounds, and 28 vowel symbols which combine into at least 28 vowel sounds. The American consonants "b" and "p" are often combined into one sound here, as are "g"
and "n". Adjectives come after nouns in sentences, and there are basically no such thing as verb tenses. This "basic" information does not even account for the fact that Thai's "tongues" are known to be very lazy, meaning they shorten many words - kind of like US slang - but arguably even more pronounced. Furthermore, there are many different Thai dialects depending on one's geographical location within the country. Confused yet? It's a lot to take in... luckily the more I learn here, the easier it will be to pick up Khmer language in Cambodia, or so I have been told.
One element of my weekly routine that has been very beneficial to my Thai vocabulary, among other things, is service work. Currently, I am teaching English at a school for novice monks called Wat Moo Boon. Children between the ages of 12-20 may go to school and train to be an ordained monk, but if they are not considered ready to be ordained by age 20, no further training is permitted and the individual must settle on another profession. The novice monks - in accordance with the lifestyle of ordained monks - rise at 6am and are only allowed two meals a day, the second of which they must finish by 12pm. This strict rule around eating stems from the Buddhist philosophy of the Middle Way: one must learn to live in moderation, to not starve nor indulge. The novice monks spend the day in two different kinds of classes: those focused on the Buddhist teachings and those addressing more common skills such as reading, writing, math and English. In addition, they spend time learning meditation and taking care of their homes (small dormitories on campus) and doing their best to look after stray dogs and other animals.
I have had the pleasure of teaching English to these monks, although I've only taught one class so far, last Tuesday. Before I arrived I was given a lesson plan, passed on from one of the monk teachers to my co-director. This made me feel a bit more comfortable about teaching non-English speakers for the first time, and I began planning activities based off the lesson.
Well.. it turns out the class I was set to teach was "freestyle" according to the teacher, meaning I could focus the lesson on whatever I wanted. Taking a few deep breaths after a minor panic attack, I decided to transfer the first two Thai classes I had received into an unorganized English lesson for the novice monks. I taught twenty young boys, ranging from the ages of 13-17 how to say "My name is ___, I come from Thailand, my age is ____". When I got to the age part I realized I had to teach then the numbers past ten, and after that came words like "house", "car" and "dog". After writing each word on the board in English, I also discovered my ignorance. These boys could not read English, let alone speak it. So I began using pictures instead and this helped significantly.
The other added benefit was that the teacher could speak some English, so he helped clarify words and translate instructions. He also utilized his English to let me know at the end of class that I should, "clean my face" and that I could "bring games next time". Embarrassed, I wiped my sweaty mouth on my white uniform shirt and realized I was covered in blue ink. The whole first half of the class, in my eagerness, I had used my hand instead of the eraser to clean the board. Now I was paying for it, and the students were laughing. They were also dying of boredom and exhaustion because they had been up since six, and not knowing whether it was appropriate to incorporate games into lessons here, I had basically lectured at them the entire time. But hey, at least I got them to laugh! All in all it was a great first-time experience, but its safe to say that tomorrow when I go in for my second lesson, I will be much better prepared with a structured plan and some fun games to engage and energize the students.
My other current service placement is at The Healing Family Foundation (HFF) a non-profit organization that supports people with mental and physical disabilities, although the majority of current artists there have down-syndrome. These individuals spend their time weaving on big looms (or something that looks like a loom). They make everything from scarves, bags, wallets,
t-shirts and postcards - and yes I will bring some home with me because they are truly beautiful and extremely creative. The artists - given this title as it imbues talent and empowerment - sell their merchandise at the HFF center, which is open to the public. Apparently volunteers in the past have also taken it upon themselves to sell some of this merchandise at local markets to help the HFF raise money; something I would love to do if time permits. Apart from weaving, the artists enjoy dancing, drawing, singing and playing card games. Last week we learned the chicken dance together (gai tên), and this Thursday I hope to teach them the Cotton-Eyed Joe. Wish me luck!
During my free time, which is mostly just the weekends, I've been doing a little traveling, visiting temples and other cool sites in the city. Check out my pictures here and on Facebook to see where I've been, and if you're interested in some funny stories check out my new page: Tips for Travel, which I will adding to throughout the next three months!
Happy September everyone! <3
-Amy
