Tag: Christmas party

Zeigen, Schweigen – 28th December 2023

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

What this is, is impossible to say
Inscriptions to this page
Words stated, yet left unsaid
The knowing of the sage?

So much more was said
When so much was omitted
After all that had been read
And to memory committed

By appearance, the truth unseen
Let me show you inside
Scratched upon this canvas
There’s nothing left to hide

4th Jun 2024 – Submitted to FOWC with Fandango

Today I’m feeling:

Great.  Last day before five days off.  Pushed through arm and chest exercises this morning that really tested my endurance.  My muscles ache and feel good. 

Happy to be at school amongst all the happy kids, though many have skipped today after all the excitement of sports day yesterday.

I left pretty quickly to sit and catch up with coffee.  Enjoying being here but also want to get back to the party atmosphere.  Everything is easy.

Today I’m grateful for:

The lady who served me in the 7/11 this morning.  It’s a job, someone has to do it and she did her job.  Thank you.

The best thing about today was:

Everything.  It’s been a really nice day.

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

Yesterday I appropriated Fah’s phone whilst she was in the stands and I wandered off taking multiple random photos just to fill up her phone.  I gave it back after ten minutes or so and she shook her head at all the pictures now on her phone. 

So today, to let her get me back I unlocked my phone and gave it to her whilst I was playing volleyball with her friends.  I got it back about 15 minutes later and forgot about it until I got home.  

I’ve just spent the last 30 minutes scrolling through 100s of photos, deleting half, considering the rest and wondering what to do with them all.  There are some nice shots in there, though many were just of Fah, Jet and Mai messing around pulling faces and not many of me and the ones of me make me look old, which I am (but don’t want to be!). 

Phone cameras are so good these days that it’s easy to zoom in and see every line, wrinkle or sag on the skin!

Something I learned today?

Australia is wider than the moon, with a diameter from east to west of almost 4000km!  But this is only when considering diameter and not land area.  If you flattened the moon out it would actually be wider.

Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10

I spent 100 baht (of my last 700 baht in the bank) on some wafer snacks for my students’ Christmas party today.  I personally handed them out to everyone and wished them a Merry Christmas.

After getting home I let Amy take a nap and took myself off to my room so that she wasn’t disturbed.

As I was walking around the school I caught up with Baipad, Jan and Apple twice and Baipad was sleeping both times.  The second time I dragged her up for a walk and sat down elsewhere to talk with her one-on-one. 

She’s a sweet introverted kid who is resisting the responsibilities of growing up.  I gave her words of encouragement and sent her back to her friends, and probably more sleep.

How did my relationships change this year?

My relationships this year have been 90% with my students and 10% with anyone else.  My relationship with my students evolves over the course of the year. 

The kids I taught at the beginning of the year I don’t teach so often now and we have all relaxed into a happy friendly environment in classes. 

With the new students I got in May we have all gotten to know each other to varying degrees in that time.  These are the relationships I value highly these days.

My relationship with Amy changed slightly again this year as she returned to Chiang Rai from Australia. 

In most ways, we are back to what we were before she left.  We and our relationship with each other is very familiar.  It’s not boring but sometimes predictable.  That is somewhat of a comfort for me at this stage in my life. 

I think it is also for Amy but she still has the energy to consider going off and doing things and perhaps still looking to the future.  It’s not contentious for either of us, just a matter of fact of the different stages of our lives.

For future me

Jet took this picture of Fah and me showing the stereotype of the student-teacher relationship in Thailand.

The Slip – 20th December 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Between one form of consciousness
And another
Hold no fear for this deathlike sensation
Meditate on it, let it inspire
See it for what it is
Explore it with your full imagination

*inspired by Robert Greene’s Daily Laws

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.

Hans Christian Andersen

Today I’m feeling:
Happy and relaxed
Today I’m grateful for:
Working at a stall where Christmas party gifts were available to students and I could swipe extra swag and be a little Santa myself and deliver candy to students of mine that I came across.
The best thing about today was:
A pleasant relaxing drive up to Doi Mae Salong, this time, finally, with Amy. It’s a good time of year temperature wise but with rainy season a memory, the views were quite obscured with smoke. Still, we got some nice pictures of the temple up around the back of the town, which our little car struggled to get to but I had faith.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
With the Christmas party at school today I was suddenly asked yesterday to help at one of the stalls. I was hoping to be able to quickly leave and go and chill with coffee before heading home early but that became unlikely. So, I kept a good attitude and had a lot of fun with all the kids. Time went quickly and I enjoyed it so much that it was easy to transition into driving up into the mountains rather than complaining to stay home and relax.
Something I learned today?
Today feels like only a minor software update. I’ve been trying to think for the last 15 minutes but struggling to find anything new that I learned, just additional pieces of information to add to existing knowledge. I guess through listening to the Oh Brother podcast I did learn some early 80s Manchester punk scene trivia. It’s probably not life-changing at my age.
Who are your favourite artists?
Musicians and comic book artists are numerous. When it comes to traditional painting art though I really don’t know anything. I do recognise paintings that attract me but never enough to identify with a specific artist. I think I don’t hold painting in the same regard as music and comics. It doesn’t take me on a journey and my thinking is not skilled or deep enough to contemplate.

I took this picture because I didn’t recognise my student Noah, on the left, with this wig and dress. I also haven’t seen her face for a long time as she usually wears a mask. At the school today was a Christmas Party in the morning with performances and stalls and many of the kids, even those not performing, decided to dress up. The girls particularly look different and try to show themselves off. I’m happy their school uniforms are frumpy and unsexy!

You Are Not One – 27th December 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I am me, you are you
What we see, what we do
In a box and it’s all done
But you are not one

I say it, you do too
Making me, making you
Pigeonholed to belong
But you are not one

In our heads, a sum of parts
Stand divided, fool our hearts
A long road to what we become
Because you are not one

And you’re so desperate to see the lights that you don’t dare think about what’s going on in the dark.

from Troubled Souls by Garth Ennis and John McCrea

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Baew and Mee for bringing Amy home safe and sound last night after their Christmas Party. They are good friends.

Prepare for adversity! It seems the school is attempting to stop teachers from leaving the school again, so I may have to concede my coffee time at House, at least for a while. OK – I know I will have to accept this for now. Let’s see how we go! I’m writing this because I know I can get myself worked up about it because it’s dumb. I get much more work done when I am at House. Anyway, anyway, anyway.

Yesterday afternoon and evening I really enjoyed a very chill day watching TV and reading. My eyes got tired and a little kratom put my body and mind into a blissful transition towards a fabulous, long, deep sleep.

I feel refreshed today and will start resetting my alarm back 5 minutes every day or two until I get back to 6.10 or 6.00 and get back on the abs regimen. The pizza and beer on the weekend saw a weight increase of 800g but I think I’ll be back under 76.5 again soon. Still heading towards that 75kg goal I set a while back but really now I’m more concerned with getting the last of the fat off my belly and chest.

Do you feel old for your age? Young for your age? Just right? Are you in step with your peers?

I feel young for my age, about 20 years behind, maybe even 30! I was thinking the other day about George and me being comfortable around younger people, but I think for very different reasons. For George, he is easily able to control younger people around him. They look up to him as a guide, as I once did too.

For me, I am comfortable around younger people (not necessarily young, I’m talking about up to Amy’s age) because I find them inspiring for myself. As I watch them growing, I understand more about myself. Their energies and excitements, filled with curiosity, are exciting to me. Perhaps it makes me feel somewhat superior and that is an ego boost but this is not a conscious thing. Yes, I can see where people are heading towards mistakes but I also see them find their way out of them too.

As with everyone, it is not just about age. I can see many teenagers and 20-year-olds who do not inspire or enthuse, just as I can find others older than me, still growing and learning. For me, this is a life well spent.

Am I in step with my peers? Well, I find it difficult to identify my peers. Who are they? It can’t just be people my age. And living here in Thailand, maybe still finding peers (local? farang?) blurs things further.

The auntie across the road told Amy that she couldn’t believe that I was older than her husband. We’ve never talked but she said that my actions are of a much younger person. I dunno, I get pleasure out of playing with their dog and sometimes their cat and I’m generally doing things at a more speedy pace than the locals. It’s not just a physical thing.

But again, there are some things I generally don’t like to do, things I consider may be making a fool of myself! Interesting to think about what we decide constitutes making fools of ourselves. I still won’t sing karaoke unless I’m drunk! Why is it ok then? Haha – I don’t know!