Sanity is Nice

Well yesterday was a good day. It was a soul strengthening day, a relieving day and a loving day. Both the Thai director and the English director of my program came to do a site visit. There was no class yesterday but the entire University is getting ready for graduation. There are flowers and decorations everywhere!! They even made dividers in the roads so they could put flowers there as well. When I got to school the directors were running late (Thai time, of course)  and I joined a huge group of teachers from my school making.....well there is not a word for it in English but they are absorbent bricks that you can stick flowers into. The bricks are not really styrofoam or sand, just some other substance I have never encountered before. But we cut them, soaked them, wrapped them in a thick netted plastic and used ribbon to tie the plastic on. Then more soaking. It was kind of nice working alongside everyone else, especially when none of us had any obligation to help out; it was just to help make the campus beautiful.

So then my directors arrived in the middle of a shower, unfortunately. But even before the sun came back out they saw that my campus is beautiful. Then we had a meeting with the program directors and everyone important from my school. We talked about what is working, what is not, areas that need changed etc. My director from America used to be a debater and loves to throw me on the spot spontaneously with difficult questions, but I know it because he knows I can handle the questions. Honestly, there is very little I would change about my situation. My English department is a family of women who know they can tell me when something needs done or changed, as do I, and tries to include me in some of their weekend activities or helps arrange motorcycle rides to the bus station. In school, I have wanted for very little. There will always be areas where we bump against each other, because of our different cultures and it is always hard to have two teachers for a classroom. Also, when do two women of the same culture continuously get along? Lol. I was concerned for one question they asked my boss at my school. Were there areas that I needed to improve or change? The reason I was concerned is because it is not uncommon in Thai culture for people to avoid discussing problems. It is considered impolite to talk directly about problems. So I did not know if something new that I never knew about would come up. But it didn't. They are happy with me, even more than happy in certain areas. They see that I take 'initiative' and I love the students and am willing to "play with them." I already loved my boss but my respect for her grew two times as big with that. She will tell me if small things need changed and she will not hide them from me, causing the issue to fester. I will continue to teach extra classes as they tell me to and I am sure there will be many more lectures in my future about "Teacher, you no do that it. It is not Thai culture."

So yes, the meeting went well and we even came up with great ideas for the program in the future. Then we went out to lunch and then to a coffee shop to talk privately. Those many hours in the coffee shop did wonders for my sanity. I got to spill my concerns about anything and everything Thailand and got advice in many areas, some of which I really needed to hear. There were areas I never even thought of where more is expected of me and areas where I should step up and lead and manage things, not just necessarily in my school or city. Looks like being the princess of the group has saddled me with the responsibility of leading lol. Don't worry, our talk was not all lectures about problems and expectations. We talked about lighter issues and the future as well. Someone wants me to have a Doctorate by the time I am 32. The coffee shop we sat in is also owned by some parents of a friend I met and they gave me 3 Chinese Dream buns as a gift. I am going to have them for lunch and I will let you know how they taste.

Well today I am off to ride a motorcycle (Funness number 1), ride a bus for two hours (ehhh, at least it is not 6 or 8 hours), then I shall be in Sukothai where I will be zip lining through the jungle and swimming and doing who knows what else. They have monkeys in the city ruins so that may be an option. And for right now, "Darn it, I just lost my juice box" actually popped out of my mouth. So I need to go find it now.