One Reason Why It's a Good Idea to Travel

When you meet people of other ethnic backgrounds and nationalities face to face, you have the opportunity to dispel certain myths and/or stereotypes about your culture. Take yesterday, for instance. i was at a meeting of the Daegu Ba'hai community--we were celebrating the start of Naw'ruz, or the Ba'hai new year, with a feast which also marked the end of a 19-day fast for members of the Ba'hai faith. I was talking to one of the other attenders who was seated next to me, a young Korean man who had been attending the meetings longer than I had but someone I had yet to get to know well. He always made me laugh, and I was glad to have the opportunity to talk to him. After conversing for about five minutes about our families and jobs, he asked me what kind of music I liked. I told him I liked a bit of everything, and mentioned U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers among my favorite rock bands.

"You like rock and roll music?'
"Yes," I replied.
"But I thought black people only listened to hip-hop!"

I stared at him for a moment, incredulous. Was he serious? He couldn't be! But he was. I calmly explained to him as gently as I could, trying to conceal my irritation and anger that all kinds of people listen to hip-hop, not just black people, and that anyone can like any type of music. Then he spoke of Jimi Hendrix. that he was black and a rock star. I didn't think much more needed to be said. While it's true that hip-hop music and culture originated in the black community, it has transcended race and is enjoyed by people of many ethnic backgrounds. I felt insulted that he actually thought that all black people only listened to one kind of music, as if we could only listen to the type of music that our people were responsible for creating. Did it ever occur to him that there might be certain blacks who might not like hip-hop at all? Or was that out of the question?

Even though I was annoyed, I was glad to have the chance to engage in this important, albeit brief conversation. I could have been the first African-American he had ever spoken to in his life, and I just happened to be a living example that it is not your race which determines what kind of music you like, but who you are inside, and what speaks to your heart.

Learning to Let Go

I have been very pissed off with my work situation as of late, and it has been making me very unhappy. Even though I am justified in my reasons for being angry, I have only been hurting myself by wearing the weight of that anger in my facial expressions, body language, and general attitude toward the people I work with. My main complaint is with my boss. I absolutely can't stand the woman. I don't think I have ever felt such strong negative emotions (i.e. hate) like this toward anyone before. She is a cold, uncaring, micromanager with terrible administrative skills who knows virtually nothing about running an educational institution and whose only concern is making money. She doesn't care if she has her employees work overtime, after teaching and discipling students for a full day to do work that could be, and ought to be done during the course of the work day . She thinks it's okay to schedule a meeting for Saturday afternoon at 2pm, in the middle of the day and tell everybody about it on Thursday night and expect everybody to drop their plans and come. She finds no fault on running an English hogwan with a kindergarten without investing in an adequate supply of children's books and songs in English, and thinks it's just fine to accuse a teacher of being unprepared or boring in the classroom when there were not enough materials provided in the first place. My experience at Letter and Sound Academy has been nothing but frustrating. But I am in the homestretch, so I just have to breathe, relax, and smile.

A little change does a lot of good

I returned to work on Monday after my escape to Thailand ended feeling truly revitalized and renewed. I feel a lot more relaxed and the feelings of exhaustion and of being burned out have vanished. A vacation was exactly what I needed to turn my outlook on my work around. I have decided not to get angry at the kids when they misbehave, but to just accept that that is what most people in the adolescent and pre-adolescent stage do and to deal with it accordingly. When one of my elementary students gets out of hand, as was the case today with Franz in my 001 class, I will give one warning before sending the child out. Being a teacher is stressful enough as it is--I see no reason why I should scream and yell and wear out my vocal cords to get them to be quiet. I will teach the lesson to the best of my ability-- whether or not the students learn it is their choice. I have finally relaxed, and loosened my reins on the kindergarten kids. With four and five-year olds, you can't expect them to sit still with their hands folded like they're listening to some university lecture. The thing is, I can be a little bit uptight sometimes. i like structure. I like to see results, and I have been struggling for the past nine months at this school because there is no structured curriculum. You need a curriculum with all grade levels but especially with the wee ones because their attention spans are so short. I think I have been teaching the kindergarten kids admirably considering the circumstances I'm under. I teach these kids every single day with very few resources provided and I do find new songs to sing with them and different handouts for them to color but I can't do it all on my own. I have read practically every single story book we have to them and I can tell the kids are starting to get bored, but what am I supposed to do? i am not going to buy new children's books with my own money. That would be part of building a curriculum which is the school administration's responsibility, not mine. So I have resigned myself to using what I have and not getting a headache over it. I'm over it. Finally.

Until next time, Thailand!

I write this in my last ten minutes before I leave Thailand to go back to Korea. At 9am, I will take a taxi to Thammachat Pier, where I will then take a ferry to Trat province. From there I will get on a minibus at 11am and take the five hour trip back to Bangkok. I've had a relaxing time, which is what I set out to do. I didn't expect Koh Chang to be the same place it was back in 2000 when I first visited, but I didn't expect the changes to be so shocking. It is completely developed, and commercialism is everywhere. And the people are not quite as nice as I remember. Perhaps that's what happens when people become set on making a profit. I don't know that I will visit Koh Chang again, but I will certainly be going back to Chiang Mai one day soon, my home of one year. The funny thing is, and I guess this should come as no surprise, but the second I stepped foot back in Thailand, it felt like I had never left.

Island fun

I just want to recap the last few days of my vacation, starting with my first full day here, February 27th. I spent that day reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and listening to the soothing, beach perfect tunes of Bebel Gilberto courtesy of my new ipod (thanks Mom!)on Klong Prao beach, just an 8 minute walk from my bungalow, which, unfortunately, becomes infested with mosquitoes less than an hour after I open my eyes in the morning. Oh well. It's still cute and rustic otherwise, with high ceilings,and a pretty sunken bathroom with a western style toilet and shower and pretty blue-green tiles around the sink. When beach boredom began to sink in, I left the beach, went back to the bungalow, changed my clothes and browsed around for a place to get a facial and came upon Bodiwork Spa Academy and made an appointment for a 60-minute Revital Facial for 6:30pm. The facial was soothing, and after getting over my first 10 minutes of feeling guilty about laying down and doing nothing, I really enjoyed the hot steam and honey treatment and the feeling of someone else's touch on my skin. After my facial I satisfied my desire for western food at Invito Italian Restaurant on White Sand beach, located just 10 minutes south of Klong Prao beach. I ordered one of the house signature dishes, Ravioli Alla Marinara, big pieces of surprisingly dark ravioli topped with shrimp, asparagus, smoked norwegian salmon and a sauce of melted butter. Although the meal tasted delicious, it was too light to fully satisfy my hunger.

February 28th was spent shopping for summer wear on White Sand beach where I found some good deals on tops, jewelry, and pants. I picked the wrong time of day to do it, however, as the sun was at its highest. I sweat buckets as I tried on the clothes, making it less than enjoyable. After a couple of hours, it was back to Klong Prao where I booked a trip to swim with dolphins and see a dolphin show for March 1st. I took a rest before going to dinner. I went first to Spices of India on White Sand Beach where the waiter spoke about two words of English and screwed up my order. I ordered Saag Paneer and he gave me Aloo Saag. I ate the appetizer and left that place for a different Indian restaurant which was slightly better than the first. I got my saag paneer, but still, I've had better Indian food. After my meal I thought I'd treat myself to a drink, so it was off to Honey Bar next to Invito Italian Restaurant for a pina colada and several games of Connect Four with one of the waitresses and with the long-haired, 44-year old Oy, one of the greeters coaching my moves. I headed home after about an hour of that and went to sleep.

I awoke early the next morning and head via minibus to the city of Laem Sing, in Chantaburi province, to swim with dolphins. We arrived at Oasis Seaworld, the six of us. Well, what words can I use to really describe this?! I am so glad that i got the opportunity to get so close to these adorable, gentle creatures. I got to touch the dolphins. I got to feed the dolphins, I got to kiss the dolphins. I got to watch them spin around and dance. And, best of all, I got to hold onto the dorsal fin of two of the dolphins and swim with them. One of the dolphins was really fast and I got quite a ride with him. At one one point I lost my grip on the fin. When I tapped the water with my hand, the dolphin resurfaced and I grabbed hold again. The trainer threw fish into the water, making him swim faster with me on board. When I was in the water with the dolphins, I didn't feel like a human anymore. I experienced just a little bit what it must feel like to be one of these water dwelling mammals.