Teacher! Teacher!

For my teaching observation assignment I was assigned to P. Kindergarten (I use P. instead of _____ so that this blog won't show up in google searches) where I would be pollinating the minds of 3-4 year old Thais to be... Now, it's been a while since I was 4 years old, but I remembered a few lessons that were hits with me: John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt... wheels on the bus... duck, duck, goose... you get the idea.



At P. Kindergarten, we start every morning with jazzercise to a remix version of "I'm a Barbie Girl", followed by yoga and meditation to Enya. You can't go wrong with this formula. I only wished that I grew up in such a trendy Kindergarten. This place was totally decked out with every piece of climbable plastic toy imaginable, an outdoor swimming pool, and even karate instructors... because teaching kids how to fight teaches them discipline... or something like that.

The kids were pretty bright in that they learned Thai, English, and Chinese. Yup, 3 languages at 4 years old! Every class is also equiped with a Thai aid who walks around with a stick made out of colored tape and whips kids arms or asses if they act up or get out of line. Due to the sheer fear of the Thai aids, the kids were extremely well behaved for the most part... until the aid would leave. As soon as the kids realized the drill sergeant was gone from room they quickly erupted into a jumping, dancing, screaming, plethora of 4 year old. My initial reaction to this was to clap my hands twice very loud, but this only provoked them to copy me. 4 years old and they already knew how to mock me. This would last for a good 2 minutes until the aid came running back to the rescue fighting her way through the crowd with her trusty.. tape... stick.. thing.



Despite moments of wanting to peg a few of the little runts with a dodge ball, these kids were great. In the end, we made it through the alphabet, the numbers 1-50, fruits and veggies, household appliances, and the difference between "Teacher" and "Teeshirt". It was incredibly cute how eager these kids were to learn and how well they spoke English at such a young age.

After 2 weeks, and with a final Asian peace sign, I said "Sawadee Krab" to my wee Thai friends and booked it on up to Bangkok... time for the real deal.

Pattaya, "the extreme city."

Upon leavin Koh Chang we made our way to Pattaya... "The Extreme City", as dubbed by a billboard upon entering the city. Pattaya can pretty much be summed up as Las Vegas on steroids. If you have any un-christian addictions then you can rest assured they can be met in Pattaya. Dirty massage parlors lined with skantly clad dressed teenage girls at the doors?... check. Lady boys stopping you walking down the street to ask "you want eat meat big boy?"... check. Taxi drivers offering "marijuana cigarrette?"... check. Thai kickboxing matches inside open air pool bars with go go dancers grinding down strip polls?.... CHECK!

Pattaya is easily one of the most un-authentic cities in Thailand. The westerner population likely matches the local population. This is due almost entirely to the western male population that dominates the city. For every thai girl walking around in homemade jean thongs (jongs?) there are at least 2 western men following her around. Pattaya exists for the sole purpose of prostitution, drugs, go go bars, and western men living out all of the illegal activities that are so frowned upon back home. So how did we end up in this place? Well, this is the lovely little town that Language Corps decided to pick for their Thai headquarters! Yup, we were going to be spending the next 2 weeks observational teaching and going through cultural training within a very un-cultured sin city.