Day 3, and I'm Ready For A Vacation!

I should have learned by now that even when you think you know what you've signed up for when you volunteer abroad, nothing goes to plan!

Monday was my first day at the Fatima Center, a community outreach run by the Good Shepherd Sisters of a local Catholic Church here in Bangkok. It is surprisingly large place, and I'm not even entirely certain if I've seen even half of it. There is a large school, a kindergarten/preschool, and the women's center for women escaping abuse and seeking help with unplanned pregnancies, where I expected to begin helping this week.

I arrived with two staff members from Friends For Asia, the organization that is hosting me. When we met with the sister in charge, she told me that there were some new women settling in, and it would be better for me to start there on Thursday. Until then, could I help out in the kindergarten and teach English to the kids?

One day I'll write a long post about volunteering abroad in general! I have a draft sitting around since last January when I spent 4 weeks volunteering at a home for girls in Peru. But basically, one thing I have learned is that you just have to roll with it, and do whatever you can to help!

I don't spend a lot of time with children, especially really small ones. I find them a bit intimidating, to be honest. They are so loud, and unpredicatable! One minute they're crying, then theye're laughing, then they are hitting someone, and then they're jumping on top of you...

So there I was, suddenly thrust into a classroom of about 20 small children of greatly differing ages (my inexperienced guess would be a range from 3-7), with the teacher looking at me like "now they're your problem".

I am not an ESL teacher. I'm not a teacher of any kind! And I certainly don't know what to do with a rowdy classroom of little kids that speak a different language. However, I never know what little kids are saying to me anyway, so it really did't feel all that different from my usual interactions.

I grabbed some books from the corner, and we practiced the ABC's, and sang Old McDonald Had a Farm, and The Wheels On The Bus...a few old favorites, by the sounds of it. They espcially liked when the Horn On The Bus Goes Beep Beep Beep!

It was chaotic, and loud, and overwhelming. But the kids are funny and cute, and when I got home that night (with a raging headache), I was able to do some preparation for the next day so that I couldd avoid that awkward moment of standing in front of them with my mind drawing complete blanks on what to do about the whole situation!

We praciced opposites (up, down, hot, cold...they love actions and funny faces), and words for emotions, action words, and sang If You're Happy And You Know It (for the following verses I made up whatever came to my head...its amazing to me that I actually don't know these songs beyond the name of it).
Today I prepared a lesson on shapes and colors, and I came armed with 2 different coloring pages for them (personally hand-drawn and then photocopied. Why thank you, yes I am so artistic and teacher-y! Thank you, thank you very much). They LOVE coloring! What a lifesaver.

Usually no activity lasts for more than 10 minutes before they lose interest and its on to the next thing, which I panic to set into motion before total loss of attention!

Luckily, there is more than just lessons. I arrive around 9-ish, after they've already begun, and then take over until about 10:30. Then they have some play time until 11-ish. I help set up lunch by placing the dishes on the table and chasing away pesky pidgeons who would like to eat too. Then I make sure the kids each find a seat (about 70-80 in all, I think) when they come in, and continue pidgeon duty for the remainder of the meal. After the kids are finished, they take their dishes to the back (to be cleaned by hand by one of the teachers) and brush their teeth. Meanwhile I help another teacher to wipe tables and benches, and sweep and mop the floor.
After cleanup, we eat lunch (purchased by another teacher from somewhere outside the compound) in the classrooms, watching over the kids who are supposed to be sleeping on straw mats on the floor. They, of course, do not wish to sleep (I would love to trade places with them!). There is lots of pinching, tickling, whispering, fart noises, coughing, giggling, etc., until the teacher shouts at them to be quiet. Eventually they do fall asleep, and I have spent this hour and a half entertaining one little girl who never naps (the teachers have just accepted it, and let her go about her business), and an older girl who is the daughter of one of the other teachers.
After nap-time, the teachers brush all the little girls hair and re-braid it...those that know me well are probably giggling to themselves picturing me braiding little girls hair. It is another gaping hole in my qualifications as a Thai teacher.
After this, the kids get a snack, and then its back into the classroom for more English lessons with Teacher Jill!

 They do not respect me AT ALL when it comes to discipline. In fact they usually completely ignore me when I tell them to behave, or else they just smile and continue merrily on. Again, not much different than kids at home. I am not a very threatening figure, apparently!

I am ok with this for the most part, mostly because I take it to mean that I am nothing like their teacher, whom I also fear. This woman is terrifying. I am sure differences of what is culturally acceptable account for much of her behaviour (such as physical discipline, ie: hitting children/smacking their palms with a ruler), but she also has done a few things that made me feel sick to watch, such as taunting and humiliating certain children in front of the class. It is hard to know what my place and role are here, so I don't know what to do about it. Its one of the really hard parts of working in a foreign culture. Even when kids piss you off, they are still just kids, and I hate to see authority figures abuse their power.

On a happier note, the kids really seemed to warm up to me today while I was playing with them. It was supposed to be a "sports day", but the rain really picked up right before we were going to head out, so we all played inside. They are really sweet kids, and were so thrilled just to throw a ball, play clapping games, sing songs, or read a familiar storybook. They love being tickled, being captured by a falling "London Bridge", and impressing me with how much English they already know.

There is definitely a part of me that was sad to wave goodbye this afternoon, but another part of me is deeply, deeply, relieved!!! I honestly do not know how I would survive an entire month of what has occured in the past 3 days. I feel like would need a heavier dose of extroversion in my blood to cope.

I am also excited to see what my placement in the women's center will be like. I find it much more enjoyable to interact in smaller groups, and to be able to work with a hopefully longer attention span (rather than struggling to get 20 children to sit in a circle for more than 2 seconds).

I'll report back on the weekend!