Friendship Camp

Every July Santisuk English School holds an "English Friendship Camp". Students, volunteers, and staff board busses and travel south to the beach for three days of games, songs, worship and more. It just so happened, that my stay in Thailand overlapped Friendship Camp. So, two days into my stay in Latkrabang I got whisked away to Rayong where I would be participating in Friendship Camp until my return to Indonesia.

On the bus to Rayong. From right to left is Dou, myself, and my two new roommates for the weekend.

The beach from our hotel.

Charissa and I enjoying the beach.

I expected to spend most of my time with Latkrabang people, but true to the name of the camp, it's hard not to make new friends during the event. We were seperated into different groups for different activities and I ended up making a whole new group of friends who are students from the Lad Prao school. 

Adding to my Santisuk family.

At lunch enjoying the delicious seafood that was served to us beachside all three days.

It was an awesome weekend and a great way to spend my short time in Thailand. I can't believe I'm leaving this family, but it's nice knowing I'll get to see my own immediate family in just a few days. Until then, a brief stay in Jakarta...

“Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.” - James Baldwin

"Where are you from?" is quite possibly the hardest question I have to face. Even complex math problems have a solution, but the question of my origin is much too broad for me to ever feel I've given a satisfactory answer.

I was born in Ohio. I live in Pennsylvania. These are black and white. But the oddly shaped rectangle on a map is hardly what I'd call home. Additionally, I borrow a sense of home from other locations. In Pennsylvania alone I feel at home in a multitude of streets, dorms, and houses.

But never in my life did I expect to land on the tarmac in Bangkok and feel so overwhelmed with a feeling of homecoming. I deplaned with the largest grin on my face, feeling practically giddy with appreciation for the opportunity to return to this country.

My taxi driver from the airport commented in broken English as I grew visibly excited as we drove down Ladkrabang Road. "You've been here before?", he asked me, "You know where we're going?". Oh did I. On my right the night market I used to shop at flew by, and my friend Kate's old apartment passed on my left. The bridge I used to use to cross the street; my favorite stalls still selling food in their same locations; they were all there.

I entered Santisuk English Center with the same grin I deplaned with, and it's hardly left my face since that moment. I left coworkers, students, and friends when I went back to the United States last year. However, I was returning to family.

It's been amazing since I arrived. Carol and Don Don are so incredibly welcoming. CJ, after some prompting, remembers me and still runs around Santisuk with just as much spunk but with a year added to his age. After Carol made us breakfast I left to take in the morning in Ladkrabang, just as I used to.

Ladkrabang Road, right where it connects with the road Santisuk's on.

I've sipped coffee around the world and by far my favorite way to take my coffee is blended with ice and made by the Ladkrabang coffee lady.

One of the water monitors (or as the locals call them, "komodo dragons") who hang out in the park with me.

It's good I'm only here a few days, or else I might need to buy a second adjoining plane seat to fit on the plane home. All I've done is eat the amazing food that Thailand offers. I seriously missed authentic Thai food. And after Carol treated me to lunch, my (well technically Kate's) old students treated me to dinner. And dessert.

Adam and New treated me to dinner... sticky rice and fried papaya were some of the long awaited items on the menu, although the seafood, duck, chicken, and papaya salad were delicious as well.

Ice cream before English class.

Good food and great company, there's nothing quite like coming home... other than finding another piece of it tucked on the opposite side of the world. Home sweet Thai home, for the next 4 days at least.

Welcome to Class

Curious how a typical English class goes with me as the teacher? Time to find out!

4:30 – Class starts in 15 minutes so I wander into the classroom to turn on the A/C, lights, and drop off my materials. Often I then scurry off to fit in one more snack before class because I’ll be teaching until 9:00PM.

My classroom, pre-students.

4:45 – I usually have 3 or so of my 10 students. Still, I get the process going. Take attendance, check homework, etc.

4:50 – Students have arrived. I get pleasantly flustered as they wai me apologetically. Class continues, often with me teasing them for being late.

4:45 – 5:30 – “Sentences” – Every night 10 new words are assigned from the list of most commonly used English words which was compiled by Dr. Edward W. Dolch (I don’t really know what that means, it’s just what the course material says). A typical day includes a word list like, “who, what, where, good, well, better, best, drink, eat, ate”. During this portion we go around and students read all their sentences. It’s my job to correct grammar and pronunciation. Some days it’s fun and easy, other days are excruciating. Still, it’s the portion of the class I get to be the most creative so I really enjoy it. And if I don’t get my students laughing during some portion of this section there’s something wrong. I want to pump up their enjoyment of the language during this section as much as possible.

5:30 – 5:55/6:00 – “Sound of the Day” – During this portion I give a 20 question quiz on the previous day’s “sound” and then move on to the new list. Today’s lesson was Z or S. So I gave a word list including words like “zero, zinc, zoo, zipcode” etc and they have to learn to pronounce these correctly as well as learn to differentiate from their S counterparts such as “sink” and “sue” for “zinc” and “zoo”. We get to make funny sounds and they just repeat after me a lot. At first this section was tedious, but I actually enjoy it now since I can tell a HUGE improvement since the beginning of the session only 9 classes ago.

6:00 – 6:45 – “Bookwork” – Here’s where they finally open the course materials. In every session after Pre-1 they cover 4 chapters. In my Level 1 class they are expected to complete chapters 1-4. Each chapter has 20 sections including things like pronunciation, reading, questions, grammar, games, and essays.

Some of my students working on bookwork.

I used to be worried about filling up a full two hour class, but time actually flies by. I adore my students. They’ve already much better than when we started. By no means are they fluent, but we’ve come to understand each other and know how to circumnavigate each other's language barriers. Besides, they’re great at teaching me (and mocking my) Thai. Besides, now that I’ve provided them with the space to come out of their culturally-shy shell, they do. And it’s entertaining (and educational) for all involved.

Toes in the Water, Santisuk in the Sand

Carol and Dundun once again spoiled us rotten. Today they drove us to Pattaya, a beach a little more than an hour drive from Bangkok. It's pretty self explanatory, so I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Some of the Santisuk team and students.

The view from our little piece of paradise.

I swam to that island.

A beachside temple. 

The beach we were on is in the background.

My students decided to bury me in the sand.

I ended up as a mermaid...

All in all a very enjoyable day at the beach.

So that's Pattaya. :)

Santisuk

With all the flashy photos of tigers, palaces, temples, and elephants it’s pretty easy to forget why I’m here. Some of you may not even know my reasoning for going to Thailand in the first place. I figured I’d actually update you on my ministry and reasoning behind what I’m doing in my daily life here.

As you’ve probably learned, I’m here working with Santisuk English School (SES). The main school is in Lat Prao, but I’m stationed at a branch in Lat Krabang. Before traveling to Thailand I did some all-purpose Googling about Lat Krabang. The list of attractions: nothing. Well, let me explain Lat Krabang from personal experience: it is a district on the east edge of Bangkok. The reason it exists is almost entirely because of KMITL, the engineering university. KMITL is the MIT of Thailand though, so Lat Krabang has one definite feature: lots of really bright young adults.

That is why Santisuk is genius to start a branch there. Now technically schools have to be registered with the government here, so the branch I’m at is called “Santisuk English Center” because we are not established enough yet to apply for the title of school.

The guidebook for teachers states, “SES will be an effective evangelistic tool and a high-quality conversational English school”. SES offers low-cost (half the price of other English schools here, and those rarely have someone who speaks English as their native tongue) and high quality classes. I’m not here to hand out pamphlets on the street. I’m here to teach English and build friendships with my students. (Santisuk believes that the most effective way to expose people to Christ is through living our lives.) So I’m a walking-talking testimony; a missionary.

My students enjoy hearing about my faith, just like I love when they take me to visit their (gorgeous) temples. I’m not trying to convert them; I’m trying to meet up with them for lunch or a movie. That’s why there are always pictures of us with students. We provide them with incomparable English practice, and we’re blessed with native tour guides who are willing and enthusiastic to do anything and everything with us as we explore Thailand.

The Santisuk English Center in Lat Krabang consists of 6 people at the current moment. Carol and Dundun are head of the branch. They are amazing people. They’re like my Thai parents, except they’re Filipino.

Not gonna lie, I stole this photo from Facebook...

The rest of us include P'Yo, Kate, CJ, and I. P'Yo works in Lat Krabang and stays in Santisuk as sort of a caretaker for the building. Kate is another missionary from Wisconsin. Oh, and there’s CJ. CJ is Carol and Dundun’s four year old son. Adorable, spoiled, and very sassy; he loves having young adults to use as his play toys and mobile jungle gym on a daily basis.

A photo of CJ by the ostriches that I took at the Crocodile Farm.

My favorite CJ moment from this week was the quote, “Jesus will give me an iPad”, which he said on a taxi ride home from the movie theater on Sunday. He’s very spiritual in taxis and enjoys singing Christian songs with incorrect lyrics as we traverse around Bangkok.

But that’s pretty much it. My day-to-day life in Thailand consists of hanging out with this crew and slowly getting better at butchering the Thai language. And I love it.

สวัสดีค่ะ

Sorry I haven’t updated recently. I have been busy since the moment I last posted. On Monday we passed out flyers and advertised around Latkrang and the university near here (King Mongkut Institute of Technology, or KMIT). KMIT is essentially the MIT of Thailand, except for engineering. Apparently most of our students come from there.

                

Santisuk people taking the bus to KMIT.

(The non-Thais from left to right are Kate [the other Latkrabang missionary with me], Caitlin, Bethany, and then myself. The girl on the left is a Pre-1, although she is also very good. They both joined the four of us for shopping downtown later that afternoon.)

                Afterword, we ended up spending the night downtown with two other missionaries (Caitlin and Bethany) since we had orientation at the main Santisuk branch the next day. We got to briefly traverse around the mall and then I sat in on Caitlin’s Level Pre-1 class.  Pre-1 is usually taught by a Thai, and then levels 1+ are taught by native English speakers, however there was too much interest in Pre-1 so she splits a class with a native Thai speaker. He works on grammar and some of the harder concepts and she does the pronunciation and reading parts. After her class I accompanied her and her students for dinner.

                

Caitlin's Pre-1 class and I. 

                We went to this outdoor restaurant where her students ordered a wide variety of dishes that we all shared family-style. A cultural tip- Thais love to share their food or drink. I have never been around a Thai who had something to eat that they didn’t offer me to try. On one perspective, Thailand is a nightmare for germaphobes, but it’s amazing if you want to get the chance to try as much food as possible. And thanks to that night I can add duck bill to the list of things I’ve tried!

                

Duck bill.

                Seriously. It’s duck bill. And it isn’t just like eating meat off of the bill. You eat the bill itself. It took me a long time to wrap my head around that concept. However, it actually is really yummy! I also got the chance to work on speaking to native Thais there. The Pre-1 level is not even remotely close to fluent, but with enough patience, you can definitely have a conversation. Cultural tip #2- Thais are really easy going and like to have a good time. So even if you are with a Thai who doesn’t speak a word of English, you’d be surprised how far you can get connecting with someone with smiling and laughter alone.

                After spending the night at Cailtin’s and Bethany’s, Kate and I had orientation at Santisuk. The main branch is located further downtown than the Latkrabang branch that I’m at. It is a great location and is full of awesome people.

                

A photo of the back of the Santisuk main school taken from Cailtin and Bethany's porch.

                I was there until much later today when I finally returned to Latkrabang. Bangkok is already starting to feel like home, and I ventured out around the streets by myself for the first time today. It’s definitely easier and more fun to go around with other Thais, but there’s a sense of pride that I can at least keep myself from starving now.

Eating Thai ice cream after dinner in Latkrabang with other Santisuk members in the area.

                That’s all for now, other than that I start my first day of teaching class tomorrow! I got assigned to teach Level 1 students. (Kate has Level 2.) I briefly saw some students at the school who I believe will be mine. They seem so genuinely sweet I can’t wait to spend time with them. But again, first I must make time for sleep. I’m not so good at that nowadays. I hope everything is well back in the US! I'll be sure to update on how teaching goes tomorrow!