Voices trembling, yet as one to sing A collected mind travels the crow road Where prayers and prophets seek to bring The moon silk dreams once borrowed
A shatter as the violence worshipped returns A zigzag missile homes in on the heart Faced with the darkness, the torment burns The moon silk dreams soon fall apart
I woke up with the light before 5 am and knew I wasn’t going to get enough sleep, so I reset my alarm for a little bit later.
Even then, I still felt like I could go back to sleep easily, even after breakfast, driving to school and coffee!
As it was a special event day today, though (Thai Language Day), I soon perked up walking around school and talking with students. There were very few classes going on, so there was a fair amount of excitement in the air.
I cancelled my grade 12 class, giving them a small assignment to do instead and took it easy with the grade 8s in the afternoon.
The best thing about today was:
Chatting with students Jee and Pemai this afternoon. It started off with their gossip about Freya and helped me understand their point of view about her behaviour. More interesting, though, was discussing differences between schools in Thailand and the West and also talking about some of the teachers and other students that they like and admire.
Something I learned today?
Amy’s mum has shingles on the right side of her face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the effects before but it looks really bad and painful. I need to investigate more about it so that I can try and avoid ever having it too!
I took these pictures of Anchan and Jee because they gave speeches in Thai about the importance of education (so they told me) for today’s event.
Contented and happy. It’s the end of the day now, and it feels like it’s been a big, long week. I think it may only be the second full five-day week of teaching I’ve done in the first 7 weeks of this semester so far!
But, it was a day with three different but interesting classes that I enjoyed a lot. The first was with grade 11s, where they are putting together presentations, and I taught them about using grammar checkers and ChatGPT to spice up their content (and hopefully, they don’t get smart enough to use it to write their presentations in full!) I was actually surprised no one in the class knew how to use it already.
They all went through their presentations again, and though they are mostly still ranging from awful to average (with a couple of very good ones) we are going through it slowly and adding, improving and practicing and I’m hoping that they can feel that they are slowly improving over the course of the semester.
After that, I did the Thai Ghosts lesson with the Hospitality/Japanese grade 11s, and they were all quite interested and keen on it, though I was happy to acquiesce to their demand to finish off the work as homework so that we could all get out for lunch a little earlier. I had to go to the bank, too and could sneak in an extra coffee at House whilst out.
So, after the morning disappeared in a flash, it was on to my grade 8s, where all they had to do was a 30-question online quiz based on the 6 texts they’d written and previously answered comprehension questions on. I told them that they couldn’t finish until they got more than 75%.
I can remember writing about this last year and the fact that the lazy kids who forget their books are going to get caught out as they won’t have what they need to refer to.
This year, the class did much better, and it was really enjoyable helping those that are struggling with the English and showing them how to find the answers. I could feel them getting all serious as it was starting to dawn on them that when they’ve just been copying answers before, they haven’t developed the skills to find them for themselves.
I directed them through their books, giving them clues on where and how to find the answers, and they were all quite proud of themselves by the end. It made us all happy.
Once home, I’ve just sat in front of the TV trying to unwind. I’m tired but not sleepy yet. As I’m writing this, though, I’m reminded of just what a good day it has been.
Today I’m grateful for:
Finding old videos of Ipswich Town from the 70s and 80s on YouTube and feeling all nostalgic about those days of watching football on TV with a picture quality worse than 360p.
It’s interesting to read some of the comments of others who were around at that time too and how much respect Ipswich got for their achievements, even from fans of other teams.
The best thing about today was:
Pretty much as written above. Very enjoyable.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
In my last class my student Ten has finally fallen out of favour with almost everyone after his closest friends have deserted himself, realising that he just treats them like shit. They talked with me about him today, and they are struggling with it because they try to help him and encourage him, but Ten gives nothing back.
I can see clearly that he is compensating for his lack of ability to learn and develop social skills, and I can also see that my behaviour at times would have been similar.
He sulked around the classroom, not really attempting the work, and I decided to let him stay that way while I was helping others. I asked him a few times to get started, but he just slouched off elsewhere until I found him again staring into space.
Finally, I translated for him, ‘Pick yourself up. Look at how hard students like Nut and Namsai are trying to understand. You can do this too.’
After about 80% of the students had finished and I started letting them go, I found Ten in the next classroom with Ploy, KanomBang and Namsai helping him, showing him what I had just shown them. I joined in, and we all encouraged him, and by the en,d he managed to pass and felt a little better about himself.
He’s learning some big lessons right now, and it will take him a while to recover. It will be interesting to watch.
Something I learned today?
Kru David told me that Thailand ranks something like 140th in the world for education. I joked that there are not many more than 140 countries! It’s sad for these kids but good for me. I’m trying my best, and I have my own expectations, but in general, the expectations of the school won’t be that high.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
As last week, I dropped into Kru David’s least favourite class to teach (but with some of my favourite kids) and helped Nicha and Fah to try to get to grips with what was trying to be taught, which was alliteration in poetry. They both looked perplexed and wanted to give up but were happy to let me try and explain to them so that they could at least get something from it.
Whilst I was writing something to help Nicha, she was playful and brought her eyeball up to mine and then her nose to mine and laughed and said to Fah something along the lines of ‘I almost kissed the teacher!’ I ignored it and brought her back to the writing, but it was a little weird, I guess.
I have no problem being mildly affectionate with my students in a fatherly way and Nicha could still pass for a primary student as she is so small, skinny and still a little immature in her behaviour. But afterwards, I was thinking how I would react if she had pecked me on the lips!
I know some of these kids are testing things with me because they feel comfortable and safe to do so, but there is also a line that has to be drawn.
Anyway, Nicha and Fah went to Kru David with the bare amount of understanding but at least now had the confidence to do so, instead of running out of the class as they had been doing in past weeks.
My usual Saturday morning tired already. It’s only been a three-day workweek for me too.
Last night I felt kinda invincible. Throw anything at me and I can do it.
Come the morning and I can feel my brain struggling to connect things together. As I was reading about John Lee Hooker and BB King I was thinking about something else entirely and I can barely remember either.
Quick coffees today as we will take Nong Na out for lunch to thank her for taking care of our cats last weekend.
Today I’m grateful for:
Taking the time to go to the city for lunch, picking up Na on the way. We got to the hotpot restaurant at 12 and I couldn’t believe that it was 2 pm when we had finished. Time went so quick and I was very relaxed.
The best thing about today was:
The mix of the hotpot soup that soaked into the rolled-up tofu sheets, then dipped into a peanut and sesame oil sauce with chopped garlic and then a sip of some Chinese milk drink to take off the heat. Awesome!
The staff were concerned that the soup would be too spicy for me but to be honest I could’ve done with some more Sichuan peppers in there!
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
As seems to be getting more normal these days, time is out of my control and disappearing faster than I would like. I sat in my room after lunch and started investigating a cento poem, which required looking through lots of other people’s poetry to pick out lines from.
Doing that and catching up on some other poetry reading evaporated 3 or 4 hours and I didn’t end up coming up with anything for the cento yet. I still need to collect more before trying to put it together.
Something I learned today?
The USA has threatened the capability to shut down chip manufacturing in Taiwan if China should invade. The short-sightedness of the threat is incredible as it would mostly affect USA products such as Apple, nVidia etc.
There’s a lot of crazy in the world right now, perhaps I should stop looking.
Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10
We drove to pick up Nong Na this morning as there was a bit of rain around and I drove us to the city and back. Whilst Amy paid for lunch I paid for the durian bingsu dessert.
I also picked up a couple of 20 baht Japanese toys for Baipad and NamHom whilst at the bingsu shop.
Nong Fah took these pictures because Anchan was sleeping in class like this! I asked her later about it and she told me that Kru Ren doesn’t know anything about teaching and is difficult to understand! The kids are smart enough to know their education sucks but don’t know how to get out of it and the culture here is not to question those seen as above you.
Not too young, not too old Have a happy birthday today Comfortable in this solid, good age Time moves only one way While all around are obsessed With things that matter not How can these golden years Be the only gold we’ve got?
Similar to yesterday. Heavy eyes but body set to go. Waiting for my brain to catch up. Coffee and kids will do the trick.
The kids will be disappointed this morning as the playground is closed as another one of the sails covering the roof has ripped and fallen down in the storm yesterday afternoon. I wonder when they will decide to give up on this design and put in something more practical instead.
Today I’m grateful for:
Being able to watch Seven Kings Must Die via a dodgy Thai gambling website on our big TV tonight. It took me a while to get back into the story from the TV series (The Last Kingdom) but I enjoyed it a lot.
The best thing about today was:
Getting home, hungry as hell and Amy said ‘ok, I’ll cook now’ and the smells from the kitchen that I haven’t smelled for a long time. It’s the best! My microwave TV dinners are no comparison.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
It took me about half an hour to watch a five-minute video this afternoon because Amy kept talking to me, asking questions that required attention. When I felt confident that she’d finished I jokingly asked her if it was possible that I might be able to finish watching this five-minute video that I started watching thirty minutes ago? Thankfully she was in a good mood!
Something I learned today?
The phrase ‘taking the mick’ came from cockney rhyming slang. Mick is Mickey Bliss hence ‘taking the piss’. But now I’m wondering who was Mickey Bliss and where did ‘taking the piss’ even come from?
I was actually conscious of learning this while reading it hence writing it here. I love language play.
What is a cause or issue that is important to me?
Increasingly it is education as this is my field of employment.
Over the long term, it is animal welfare and food use. Slowly the world is changing and the abuse of animals for food consumption will hopefully keep decreasing and instead of wasting crops to feed animals, we can just remove that part of the chain and use those crops to feed other humans.
Increasing production and consumption will bring down prices of vegetarian products and drive up meat prices so they become less affordable and desirable. There are still lots of things holding back this change but it feels to me to be the most virtuous way.
Whilst this issue is important to me, I’m not evangelical about it. I do what I can by myself. Other people’s choices are out of my control.
I took this picture because this is how I found my students when I came to the classroom. I woke them up with my phone alarm and greeted them good morning. I’m curious what schools are like in other countries now. South America, the Middle East, and other parts of Asia.
No movement, no promise Woke up tired again The sky has gone grey Dead and uninspired
Today I’m feeling:
In the morning I was feeling pretty happy. We had a Songkran ceremony blessing the director (or he was blessing us, I don’t know) and folks were having fun splashing water around. I got home around midday and, despite three coffees, I’m starting to feel sleepy as these early mornings are catching up with me already. I must resist the urge to sleep though.
Today I’m grateful for:
My former teenage self for reading books. For some reason, I never really thought of myself as a reader. When I was young it took me a long time to finish a book. On going through my diaries from 1983 and 1984 though I can see that I was reading a lot more than I thought. I can even remember the feeling of reading certain books though the story has long gone. I always saw my mum reading so I guess that influenced me more than I realised too. I surprise myself – when I think about it.
The best thing about today was:
Feeling pretty good at school with all the other teachers for the ceremony. I was able to do some online searching for lesson ideas on my phone whilst they did all the Thai speeches. The atmosphere was pretty positive despite the heat. My shirt was wet with sweat even just sitting still.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
This was actually last night though the result was this morning. Last night was the roughest storm so far and it ripped up another sheet of our roof over the entertainment area. It rained so hard and heavily that the gutters overflowed and in the garage, the water was overflowing into the underside of the roofing though thankfully not into the rooms (from what I could tell anyway). There were even hailstones pounding against the windows. I found the damaged roof this morning and wondering how we can fix this. There’s nothing much that can be done about the weather except to know that it will happen again one day. Thankfully not much was damaged that hadn’t already been in last week’s storm.
Something I learned today?
I watched a video arguing that English shouldn’t be compulsory in Japanese schools because very few students succeed in learning enough of it. They were arguing that it wastes time for those students who are more interested in learning something else. It made me wonder about Thailand. My friend Fui, who I often see in House, always talks about education here. He has sent three of his four kids overseas to study knowing just how bad it is here. He agrees that students should be failed and be held back a year as other countries do rather than just passing everyone. Thailand must look good on paper but the only people it is fooling is themselves.
What is going well in my life right now?
In general, I can’t, or shouldn’t complain except right now I don’t feel particularly enthused about anything much. That will change I’m sure. So, really, everything is going well. I’m very lucky.
Pavlov’s fish. I took this picture because these fish are in the pond outside the cafe at school. Were they there before? I don’t remember. Their reaction to me leaning over to take a picture was to beg for food. Sorry fish.
How to fill the hole in that space? The emptiness in the halls When reminded every day By the pictures on the walls? Your smell permeates the air Your shoes still outside the door Waiting for some other soul Because you don’t need them anymore As your clothes hang in the cupboard Unbearable, the thought to remove But one day the burden must lift Knowing you’d surely approve Now you’re blown to the wind But the heart is where you stay Bittersweet what time is left Until I join you again one day
Educate the children and it won’t be neccesary to punish the men.
Pythagoras
Today I’m feeling: Tired and sleepy Today I’m grateful for: Shitty 7/11 coffee to fuel my drive to Lampang. No decent coffee today but that will make tomorrow all the more sweet. The best thing about today was: At uncle’s funeral today there was the usual chanting and ceremony but something I hadn’t seen before was a traditional acapella song that sounded almost islander in origin. Mourners gathered around the coffin and with arms around each other in a long chain they swung side to side with the rhythm. It was really quite beautiful. What was out of your control today and how did you handle it? Almost everything was out of my control today except my thoughts and reactions, which were all positive. Today was a day for other people and I submitted to that. Something I learned today? The US military has recruiters in US schools actively targeting the poor and those unable to afford college tuition fees (or their debt). Military personnel, I believe, get free college tuition. That’s pretty crazy! What are you most proud of in your life? Coincidentally I just posted a response to a similar question that I wrote a couple of years ago. That was a list of three things I was proud of, which still stands today. Though looking at this question grammatically, I wouldn’t want to have one thing I was most proud of but to be proud of many things. Life is long and deserves many proud moments.
I took this picture because this is where uncle’s body became ash and smoke. This crematorium is bigger than I’ve experienced before. I’m starting to recognise more of the extended family at the funerals I go to. However, the family also dwindles each time.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry I don’t know, who, when, what or why Spent my days in endless frustration A victim of a worthless education
Now I’m at school on the other side All the things I learned being applied And frustrated kids look up with empty eyes I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
The people who get on in theis world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.
George Bernard Shaw
Today I’m grateful for: Being able to share my abundant fruits with other people. The papaya is delicious but I can’t eat six of them! The best thing about today was: A quick ride along back roads and tracks to Bruno’s reminded me of times riding my motorbike in Dorset as a teenager. The green overhanging fauna down dirty muddy tracks and lanes. The smell of fresh oxygen mixed with distant smoky garden fires. I was transported, if only for a moment.
I took this picture because I found these two ‘good boys’ far from their home on my morning walk and they followed me all the way back.
Boris knew he was the one But refused the offer many times Only when it was insisted Did he fall in with the signs And George, he was the same Saying he didn’t want to lead He kept saying no, no, no Until he finally agreed It’s a thinking man’s game So be most suspicious It’s a clever way to play To seem so unambitious
Paraphrasing Robert Greene’s Daily Laws for 20th May
Education is an imperfect shield against custom and tradition. In some ways, you may judge us still to be a little backward.
Kukrit Pramoj
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful that Cap woke up from his general anaesthetic yesterday. He’s still slow and grumpy but slowly recovering.
Stepping into traffic is a foolish test There’s too many variables to control A longer vision would be for the best And more satisfying for the soul Instant reward carries too much risk All can be lost on a second spin Life is a long time to exist And goodness lies deep within
We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school masters and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.
Baron De Montesquieu
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful that I have no classes for the next two days and should be able to find some free time for myself.
1994ever 