This post is an update to The Great Christmas Card Exchange, so if you haven’t read Thailand: Week 15 - Report or need a refresher, be sure to check out that post before you read this one.
Distributing Christmas Cards
Admittedly, Christmas was three weeks ago, so I wasn’t exactly punctual with the card distribution. Granted, the packages didn’t arrive until after Christmas, anyway, but it still took a bit of time to do quality control and double check my numbers. If I’m being completely honest, there was some laziness sprinkled in there too. Nevertheless, I finally got around to distributing the cards to most of the schools this week (two schools had special events going on, so I didn’t have class there). All things considered, I think it went extremely well.
Every student was able to get their very own card, which they were so thrilled about. They each went over their card from front to back, carefully studying every word and picture present. Some tried reading aloud, while others asked me to read their card for them. Of course, not everything was understood, but the students were able to at least figure out and understand the names, ages, and greetings written in their cards. Sure, it’s not much, but with only eight lessons (some schools had less than that) and an inexperienced, unqualified teacher, I’d say it’s something to be proud of.
Besides the learning outcomes associated with the card exchange, I also wanted to give my students an opportunity to interact, even if just briefly and minimally, with their American counterparts. It won’t be something most of them will have the chance to do very often, if at all, and I’ve been told it was a very special thing for them to do. I just hope that they were able to learn something from the experience and are able to look back on it fondly. If not, at least I was able to get them to practice their reading and writing.
More Water Issues
When I talk about Thailand, I often just mention its positive attributes, and this isn’t without cause. There are so many wonderful things about the country, and most of my daily interactions and experiences are nothing short of pleasant. Nevertheless, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. As much as I love Thailand, it still has plenty of faults, one of which is its rural infrastructure.
I’ve written about this before (see Thailand: Week 08 - Report), but the water situation in the village (and throughout Isan) is unlike anything I’ve encountered in the States. Now, I’m not complaining that Thailand doesn’t have the same infrastructure as America (that would be a silly and privileged thing to do). I just wanted to highlight one of the issues Thais have to deal with that I’ve never even had to consider. Although the tap water here is undrinkable, it’s still used for other things like washing dishes, showering, and doing laundry. None of this is new news to me now, and I’ve come to terms with the water situation here. I know what situations call for clean water and which ones can just use the tap.
Well, a few weeks ago, I finally learned how to use the semi-automatic washing machine. Admittedly, it was a bit more involved than I expected. First, you load your dirty laundry in the machine, fill it up to the line with the water hose, add the detergent, and let it do its thing. After it finishes, you drain the water, refill it with the water hose, and start the machine again in order to rinse. Finally, when that’s done, you drain the water, remove the laundry, squeeze out extra water, send them through the spin dryer, and then hang them to dry.
I followed all the steps flawlessly this week until it was time to draw the water for the rinse cycle. When I turned on the water hose, it started gushing a mysterious brown liquid all over my clean clothes. If that wasn’t enough, there were a ton of suspended particles in the liquid that got all in the tub. I was overcome with immediate disgust and ran to Pa Lam to get advice about this situation. She called Pa Mon and Pi Eye, who came and helped me draw water from the basins in the bathrooms that are used to flush the toilet. I then rewashed my clothes, rinsed them, and hung them to dry. Needless to say, I won’t be missing the Thai laundry process when I’m stateside.
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