this one's for you, dad!

from: Michael Salzberg

to Anna Salzberg

date: Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 11:46 AM

subject: blog

body: No posting on the blog in February?

(Touche. Sorry, Dad.)

I realized that after all this time, I have yet to really talk about what my life is like here. And so, here you have it: a day-in-the-life of a Fulbright ETA in Warin Chamrap, Thailand. Hold onto your keyboards.. it's pretty wild!

6 am: wake up to the sound of roosters and the vrooming of my very prompt neighbors unfathomably loud motorcycle and car.

6:05 am: put pillow over head; go back to sleep.

6:45 am: wake up, trudge downstairs to make coffee (thank you, french press!) and take freezing cold shower.

7:50 am: hear the Warin Chamrab school anthem play; realize I have been drinking coffee and perusing the internet for 45 minutes, am still in a towel, have no clean clothes and need to be at flag pole in 15 minutes.

8:05 am: stumble out the front door and to flag pole, where every Monday I am greeted by colleagues in civil servant uniforms, every Tuesday by pink shirts, every Wednesday by both staff AND students alike in boy and girl scout uniforms, every Thursday by standard school uniform and every Friday by traditional Thai dress. I, unfortunately, own practically none of these ensembles, though I have amassed a bit of a traditional Thai wardrobe.

8:45 am: begin period one. Please note: though flag pole is scheduled to end at 8:25 and class is to begin at 8:30, an adherence this official time table has yet to come to fruition. When I ask my students where they have been, their most common answer is, "Teacher! Sorry! Eat breakfast!" or, even more often, a puzzled look, because the question was not understood. This is not isolated just to 1st period; I hear this breakfast excuse all day, as my students saunter in an average of 15 minutes late. For those of you who know me and my uhh issue with timeliness, you may be thinking, "Hot damn, Anna chose the right country." You would be right.

8:45 am- 4:00 pm: I attempt to teach the English language for an average of three hours a day. Topics covered may include: clothing, emotion, Hanukkah (never got around to Christmas...), Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, weather and seasons, music, America, yes, just in general, I talk about Amerca, telling time, shopping, counting, months, numbers, body parts, and/or descriptive words.

Students may be forced to: put on a skit, practice a dialogue, do a tongue twister (she sells seashells by the seashore), "repeat after me," "sit down please!" "just listen! no, no.. not repeat.. just listen please!", run to the board and spell/draw/look confused, decipher a language that they do not understand, give me 1 baht for coming in late, speak, speak, and "speak more loudly please!!", go "shopping" with American money I xeroxed (this may or may not be illegal?), explain to each other an activity they did not understand when their crazy American teacher explained it to them the first time and/or any combination of aforementioned activities.

And, when not teaching, I am: eating ridiculously hot som tam, lesson planning, trying not to eat all of the delicious desert-like things other teachers brought into work, drinking water, sweating, thinking about air-conditioning, trying not to pass out from heat poisoning, reading books and articles on how to teach ESL... and have I mentioned thinking about air-conditioning?

4 pm- 10 pm: Afternoons and evenings vary.... though only minimally. They are mostly filled with 1) sitting outside and reading, because my westward facing my room is approximately 40 degrees celsius; 2) watching an episode (or three.... don't judge me; I live alone in Thailand) of The Wire/Six Feet Under/Mad Men and/or Sex and the City; 3) going to P'sang's brother house for dinner, one of my most favorite things to do here, as I get to play with lots of children, drink beer on ice and attempt to practice my Thai; 4) meet Maricel for dinner in Ubon, a much needed respite that usually comes midweek; 5) go across the street to the noodle shop, alone or with Joi, where the people actually know my name AND my order (nodding head smuggly); 6) spending time with my faithful friend, the world wide web; 6) talk to all of you back in the u.s. of a (though not as much as I would like, I might add. ::hint hint::) 7) whatever combination of above activities my little heart desires.

My life, huh?! Prettty wild. There have been some awesomely hilarious and strange moments, but that's for next time. I'm thinking about going crazy and posting twice this month-- keep your fingers crossed.

Happy belated Chinese New Year/Valentine's Day/Presidents Day!

Love,

Anna