thailand!

My guidebook says over 90% of Thais are practicing Buddhists. After visiting just a few cities, I'd believe it. You can't go a block without passing a little shrine like this one - even on the busy metropolitan streets of Bangkok.

Once again, before I launch into the details of another crazy weekend, I will start with a few short stories:

1. My teach-the-teacher session is on hold, since our Friday afternoons will now be devoted to learning a kung fu dance that all the teachers will perform together at our New Years' party. This already awkward process is complicated by the fact that I am the only teacher who does not understand Chinese, so no translations of the dance instructions are provided. If you'd like to check out the dance we're learning, you can see it here. Fast-forward to minute 0:50 if you'd like to see how I ripped my pants.
2. Last week during our weather unit, I had my year 2 students make weather forecasts and then record the actual weather every day. As part of this procedure, I asked them to illustrate their forecasts: sunny, cloudy, rainy, etc. When I distributed the colored pencils, they all immediately jumped for the red ones, which turned out to be necessary because that was the color they all chose for their suns. I didn't think much of it until I was walking home in the evening and noticing the blood red sun setting in the sky; because of the polluted haze hanging over Shenzhen, the sun really does appear to be red. No student in America would select a red colored pencil to color a sun, but here that was the unanimous choice. Just another reminder of how different the most ordinary things can be on the opposite side of the globe...
3. I got a new class this week, which meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It does make my schedule a bit out of control, but still I can hardly complain: it's an 11th grade class called OSC, "Overseas Chinese," and has 9 Korean + 1 Cambodian students. My co-teacher (the Chinese teacher who teaches the class 3 other periods each week) is the director of students, similar to a Vice Principal of an American school. The kids are already pretty respectful to begin with, but the threat that the woman charged with behavioral discipline - aptly named "Sissy" - will immediately know if they are off task makes them even more well-behaved. And the good news is, with 18 classes/week, I now get paid overtime!

Onto Thailand! After a rough start, it ended up being an amazing and jam-packed 48 hours. Andy and I took a cab to the port in Shekou, Shenzhen, to board a ferry to Hong Kong to catch our flight. Everything went relatively smoothly until we arrived at the ferry terminal in Hong Kong and got ready to check in for our flight: our airline, Air Asia, was nowhere to be found. Worse, no one at the other airline counters had heard of Air Asia, and when we finally got airport management, we were told that we were in the wrong area to check in for Air Asia flights, but there was no way we could get a bus or taxi to take us to the correct terminal. As the time before our flight left became shorter, we realized there was no possibility that we would be on it. To complicate this matter, since we had taken a ferry over - which accepts only cash - we had no way of re-boarding it to return to Shenzhen. I managed to convince myself we would be fine until a member of airport staff took our passports, told us we could sleep in the ferry terminal, and left.

As you may divine by the fact that I have Thailand stories to share, things did work out in the end. We were able to buy last-minute tickets into Bangkok through another airline (for the painful price of US$428 each). In the end I was so relieved just to have my passport and be leaving that dreadful terminal that the monetary value assigned to the ticket was relatively unimportant.

Otherwise, my Thai tales form one long happy weekend. A few of the most memorable moments:

• After arriving in Pattaya around 2 am on Friday/Saturday, we decided that rather than sleep we would go for a walk and check out the city. We ended up watching a crappy American movie with Thai subtitles with a lone bartender, eating street food, and walking in the sand until 5 am. Which of course made the 9 am alarm feel terrific on Saturday morning.
• We rented scooters Saturday morning and went beach-hopping. So I spent the afternoon swimming in the ocean, laying in the sun, ogling the fat European tourists, getting a leg/back/neck massage, and eating wonderful food. One minor blip when I ran over my foot with the moped, but otherwise it was a highlight of the trip.
• Pattaya is known for its wild sex industry. Even after being in red light districts in other cities, the blatant prostitution of women and "ladyboys" was a bit startling...
  
• At a bar on Saturday evening, we were told alcohol was no longer being served. In this bar? In Pattaya? No - in all of Thailand! Apparently the King's sister was being cremated, and the ceremony lasted from 7 am until past 10 pm. It seemed that all of Thailand was glued to their television screens watching the procession, so the country was staying sober for the occasion. Quite the lesson in Thai culture and their allegiance to their principal figurehead, who has been their king for over 60 years. Fun fact: in Thailand, it is illegal to say anything bad about the King. So any sour thoughts we had about the alcohol ban were wisely kept inside.

This beach-side sign shows (a) the importance of the king, (b) the sweet Thai script, and (c) a funny equation of fish + cigarette = fish skeleton.

• Bangkok on Sunday afternoon: Pretty much exactly what I imagined. It's a crazy and disorganized city filled with hawkers selling knock-off goods, tons of amazing food, and Buddhist temples overshadowed by towering skyscrapers. Check out the example on the right - how's that for juxtaposition of cultures?