This was written in November regarding a specific incident involving a student. Something common among many of the students I teach is the lack of affection they have received in their short lifetimes, not knowing or understanding that they are missing it. Just a simple hug has made a big difference to many.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Ready And At Home
Put your head on when difficulties knock at your door Your visitor may not be who you were hoping for No one wishes for adversity to be standing there But your virtue makes it much easier to bear
her resistance to learning turns to crackle and hiss.
the problem is not with her ears.
Shared with Reena’s Xploration Challenge #413 and based on an interesting incident this week. The inappropriate title comes from a translation of the subject’s name. The form is the Wayra: This short syllabic verse has 5 lines with a syllable count of 5/7/7/6/8. It is unrhymed and incorporates onomatopoeia within the verse.
Today’s Daily Stoic poem:
Wherever You Go, There Your Choice Is
One day, we’re flying high The next may be lying low Our choice always tells us why We found which way to go
Of course, I am the hero This is my poem after all! Well-intentioned and rational Justice must be my call
So you must be the villain A poet must have a foe! Conjuring a dastardly plan Laughing maniacally so
We take action as we believe Ignorant of a better way Both deceived by our duty In this game of life we play
Today I’m feeling:
Good again. I’m enjoying the feeling of being revitalised from my morning exercise. I woke up with a start this morning, though, which was good in that I wasn’t waking before my alarm like earlier this week.
For some reason, I was dreaming about opening a (?) for my student, Fah, and I also had an impression that I had been dreaming about an old workmate, Steve. I’m not sure why they were roaming around in my subconscious.
My first class was fun and straightforward but the two-hour break following it has made me tired and uninspired. I will teach the same lesson again soon to another class of the same grade but I’m doubting it will go as well. I may be doubting myself here rather than the students.
(After) Although the second class was a little more difficult to deal with, everyone at least submitted something to me, whilst some of my first class just left because they couldn’t answer the questions and weren’t interested in asking me for help.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
My student, Spain, who filled me in on some classroom gossip from his perspective. He’s a year older than everyone else as he has some kind of quirky autism which held him back a year and whilst he struggles to interact in a ‘normal’ manner, he’s fairly bright and knowledgeable and today I discovered that he is particularly observant.
He told me how he sees everything that is going on, who is with who, when they come and go, lots and lots of details. It was interesting to talk with him but also tiring as I struggled to hear him through his face mask and the sudden twists and turns he makes in conversation.
The best thing about today was:
Buying a punnet of strawberries at the walking street and scoffing them all with coconut ice cream, yoghurt and mini-Toblerones in a big bowl. So much for all that exercise and trying to lose weight!
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I was not inspired to write after a provocative (to me) comment was posted on my poem, Christmas In Gaza, that I read this morning.
I’ve left the comment there without response but it essentially boils down to divisions through religion – ie, my god is better than yours. There’s no reasoning with this, so I’ll not engage.
Internally, though, the rage of hypocrisy burns so brightly. I need to let it go. It’s not my business what others choose to believe.
A few minutes after writing this, I started thinking about how things in general these days are about winning and losing and while some folks lose online arguments, others are losing their lives and the winners are rewriting their histories in some form or another. This triggered off a flow of words and I managed to get the bad feeling out.
Something I learned today?
Hong Kong is the only city in the world that uses seawater to flush its toilets.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
This morning, I encouraged Baipad to finish off a drawing she had started and when I messaged her this evening, asking her what the best thing about her day, it was that she had finished it.
The fertile soils know nothing of humanity As it is tilled into dust Masses of molecules, ambivalent To all the partitions discussed
Oblivious to gods, watermelons grow In amongst the shouts The squawks of the barbarian Echo along the valley of doubts
Bring another flood to wash clean The fields of blood Plant the watermelon seeds In this god-forsaken mud
Never mind the river or the sea There’s no mountain owned All the king’s horses and men Will see the kings dethroned
Today I’m feeling:
Pretty good, waking before my alarm again, though I did sleep earlier last night too. The BetterMe exercises are really getting me going in the morning, along with a cold start shower afterwards, meaning I step under the shower and turn on the tap to get about 15 seconds of cold water before it warms up.
It has finally gotten cold enough to not have aircon at night but I still have the fan on at the moment.
Health:
Physical: 8 Mental: 8
Today I’m grateful for:
Whoever makes the cookies that they sell at Le Paradis. I just have to control myself from buying them every day!
The best thing about today was:
My last class of the day with the grade 11 Hospitality students and J-Biz students. It was a light-hearted, fun class about Japanese culture, in keeping with the theme of the week.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I had to deduct points from more than half of my grade 8 students for not doing their work for me yesterday and it made me decide that I need to deal with them a little differently.
Today, I immediately graded all their work in front of the whole class. Not in a vindictive manner, but in a way that they can immediately see the outcome of what they do, or lack thereof.
Something I learned today?
I randomly came across an album online that had a picture of the artists on the cover and one was almost the spitting image of Hayden, from the facial hair to the cap and clothes. I sent him the picture and he laughed about it too.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
Nomsen absent-mindedly left her iPad behind in the classroom, so I picked it up for her to keep safe. A few minutes later, she called me and I told her that I had sold it at the market for 10 baht.
She laughed and soon came back to get it, looking a little sheepish. She was appreciative of my taking care of her but also acknowledged that she had just had ten points deducted in SchoolBright due to her not doing any work for me yesterday.
I guess my class wasn’t exciting enough for these two this morning.
Great, despite getting up a couple of times in the night, the second time with forty minutes before my alarm was due to go off. I contemplated just getting up but managed to get back into a light sleep before the alarm roused me again.
Day 2 of BetterMe exercise was tough as it was concentrating on arms, so involved different types of push-ups, which my weakling little arms and dodgy shoulder still struggle with.
At school, I wandered around talking with students at the different stalls for Japan Day and everyone was in a good mood. I particularly enjoyed watching my students submit the tasks that I assigned them instead of having a class. I got them counting to ten, taking cosplay photos and singing songs. Some students surprised me, though not the lazy ones who didn’t bother to submit anything.
Health:
Physical: 8 Mental: 8
Today I’m grateful for:
Free time. With no classes today, I spent a lot of time wandering around school and sitting in the cafe.
Eventually, I had had enough and decided to come home early with the idea of telling the school that I forgot to sign out when I left today.
Because of all the free time, I got to prepare a lot of my photocopies for my visa application, clear up the backlog of poetry to read and get back to the garage as they didn’t plug the reversing camera back in yesterday.
The best thing about today was:
Feeling on top of things in general. Not one thing stands out in particular today.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
My lazy students bothered me a little bit today but only in that they made me work harder chasing them up throughout the day and evening.
Personally, their laziness is their choice and doesn’t actually affect me.
Something I learned today?
I am delighted to see that Nong Praew is super happy in her new school. I hope she does well there, where she seems to have some friends.
I took this picture because this girl said that she is one of my students but I didn’t recognise her! I later figured out that it was Aom.
Weak in direction Wandering in thought Diffident impulses Waiting to be caught
Careless of failure A broad range reception Cast a wide net Contemplate reflection
Immediate impression Accepting anything Start with a tiddler From a little spring
Can’t be kept from thinking Waiting for a nibble Watch the river flow Into an inky scribble
Inspired by part of the essay The Way of Writing by William Stafford
Today I’m feeling:
Fairly invigorated and cautiously happy. I have a little tiredness behind my eyes.
I subscribed to a BetterMe exercise program and started it this morning. It was pretty straightforward with some new exercises for me. When I arrived at school my body felt great from the workout I had given it. Sitting in the cafe before my first class, though, I can feel a sluggishness coming on. Hopefully, my first class pep me up again.
Health:
Physical: 8 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
The BetterMe app.
A tip before subscribing: I searched for BetterMe promo codes and followed one of the links, which gave me a 50% discount. I then filled out the form required and submitted it, but didn’t respond to the email.
In the following 24 hours, I received a follow-up with a further incentive of 80% more discount. The price I am more than comfortable with.
I’m also going to figure out a way to save the workouts so I can continue using them after my subscription is completed – not forgetting to cancel it before being charged the full rate.
The best thing about today was:
I really enjoyed my quick afternoon grade 10 class where I turned the tables on them and asked them to make questions based in the text they saw on Monday.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
When I arrived at my grade 12 class this morning, they all cried that they wanted to go and help with things for Japan Day tomorrow.
I was also thinking about what I can ask my grade 8 students to do tomorrow, as they will definitely ask me to attend instead of studying.
So I figured to kill two birds with one stone and asked my grade 12 students to come up with ten tasks that I can ask the grade 8s to complete during the event.
They are smart enough and came up with them quickly and then went off to help. I went to the teacher’s room for a little while and when I came back to check on the room, all the students were there again, saying that there was nothing left for them to do!
I let them have free time rather than try to cram in some work for them.
Something I learned today?
I checked out the Bluesky app as it has been talked about as the new better Twitter but to me it just looked like a dumbed-down version of Substack, which I will stick with instead.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
It was Fah’s birthday today so I bought her a slice of cake.
I took this picture because my grade 10 students seem to enjoy my class.
Learning what to ignore Can lead to learning more Is this really news? It may be just for views
Does the banner fright me? Is it true? It might be! You must stand up to defend Cos this could be the end
Any should or would Could be understood What it means to kill It will, it will!
Any headline and byline using modal verbs can safely be ignored as news.
Today I’m feeling:
A bit anxious and overexcited for some reason. I woke up, did exercise and everything, all feeling good but then something compelled me to drive fast to work when it really wasn’t that necessary.
Once at school, I relaxed and enjoyed chatting with the students and my first class was fine. The second, though (grade 8s), was very frustrating with kids playing dumb, sleeping or distracting others.
I gave up and set them a small task and waited for them to complete it so they could go. The kids playing up didn’t bother and rather than getting frustrated, I just let them do what they want.
I shouldn’t stress myself over it.
Health:
Physical: 8 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
One of the ladies in the office where the photocopier is. I didn’t bring any paper with me and it soon ran out in the machine. I went into the office and asked if they had more, but the first two replies were negative.
I kinda shrugged ‘ok’ and went back in to get my bag, but another lady followed me and pulled out a fresh slab of A4 from a box (so they obviously knew that they had some but didn’t want to supply it). I was grateful for her help.
We are a school that wastes tons of paper printing nonsense every day, yet isn’t keen on its teachers printing out worksheets!
The best thing about today was:
My frustrating morning class made me take some time to write up some new lessons this afternoon in the teacher’s room.
From there, I could see George teaching in the room opposite and I was surprised when the students started leaving, almost 40 minutes early.
I’m not sure whether to be bothered by him not teaching his full-length classes (he always arrives late to class too) or to figure that I should relax myself more in my own classes. I know I should give myself the opportunity to chill about it but also feel an obligation to do my best for my students.
Anyway, the day provided me with some inspiration as I put together some slides and did some printing.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
My mood was a bit up and down again today and I’m thinking to go back to my full dose of sertraline again. It’s not worth feeling like this just to try and stop taking it, really, with the only purpose to see if I can.
I have a half tomorrow and then will go back to a full pill again on Wednesday.
Something I learned today?
As I was going to my first class in the morning, I found Baipad talking with Cake. I didn’t know that they knew each other but they met during the last time they had scout week.
I told Baipad why I thought Cake was the smartest student I’ve had the pleasure of teaching and advised to stay around with her if and when she can.
I took this picture because Cap has secured a new spot, for a while, at least. Could he be a bookshop cat? I don’t think so.
When did the heart harden? Turned to stone, dark and rough Too tough to beg pardon Too much no longer enough
The buzzing bees have built Wide walls to the castle No more red wine spilt The parts no longer a parcel
And so the keep is locked The key swallowed by a raven Flown far from the flocked To maintain the inner haven
Today I’m feeling:
Ok but not wow. Thinking that my drop in mood yesterday may be because of my reducing my sertraline. It was definitely the feeling I used to have when I couldn’t shake off minor slights.
I slept before 9pm last night and slept well but still not quite up to snuff yet. Let’s see how coffee does for me.
In classes and whilst occupied, I was feeling ok. Now that it is time to slow down, I can feel myself fading fast already.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
My grade 12 student, Men, who gave me information about doing translation for mobile games, which I passed on to Baipad.
The best thing about today was:
The fact that it takes me ages to walk around school these days, as everywhere I go, students stop me to talk to me. Finally, I feel accepted when I’m at school.
Why wasn’t it like this forty-five years ago? I obviously know the answer to this but, well, here we are.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
There were a few disruptions around the building that I was teaching in this afternoon and I had to quickly find a free classroom to move to for my final class. It was a close thing to keep the momentum going for them to study, because if it took too long, we all would’ve been frustrated and just given up for the afternoon!
As it was, we found one, though the projector didn’t work, so I made it a pretty simple and easy grammar lesson and we still managed to get out early.
Manow took this picture because I was replicating a picture that Fahmai painted of me.
Tired but ok. It was a struggle to get up but not too bad once done.
Health:
Physical: 7 Mental: 6
Today I’m grateful for:
Plenty of parking spaces at the airport this evening. I even managed to park next to the other car here tonight for the family.
The best thing about today was:
In my second class I played along with my naughty students instead of getting upset with them. We were just doing quizzes, so it was quite fun. I wasn’t in the mood for serious work either.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
After a fun first class, I was sitting in the cafe and saw a message from Amy saying that she tried calling two times but the phone hung up on her. I never heard anything so I called her back and she seemed annoyed and distracted with her parents buzzing around in the background.
She asked me questions and then didn’t listen to my answers and so she asked them again.
Anyway, I will meet them at the airport in the early evening.
Then I got messages from Nut asking about Namsai’s phone, which I had taken from her in class and she swore badly at me. Nut’s messages were rude and direct (though I can forgive her, as it may just be her poor English).
These two things together, along with a sudden feeling of exhaustion, put me in a bad mood, though. I’m trying to think myself out of it now.
I got out of it by the time of my second class but when I got home, the tiredness overwhelmed me a little more and then problems with playing guitar made me grumpy again.
Now I just want to sleep and then hope to wake up tomorrow in a better state of mind.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I messaged Baipad last night about painting rocks and giving them away and this morning we looked around for some and she took three with her. A little later, she sent me photos of her painted rocks and who she gave them to.
I took this picture of my naughty students lazily doing my quizzes because I was going to use it to threaten them that I would show their homeroom teacher. BB, Namfon, Tulip and Baibua behind the chair. Khawhom jumped out of the way when she saw what I was doing. Ironically, they all blame me for being in trouble because their SchoolBright scores are so low but they have no answer when I ask them why I’m always reducing their scores! They do crack me up most of the time, though.
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