Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand

sooo after all the fun and games in cambodia, laos and vietnam it was definitely time for some culture. I had been in contact with a woman who worked at a school in northern Thailand, and decided that I would venture there on my own. I booked my flight from Siem Riep to Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani in the very northeasternmost corner of Thailand, arriving on the 15th of February. This is a city that not many tourists frequent, minus the few middle aged men from the UK or US that have married young attractive Thai girls.





The family, which consisted of Rose ( the mother), Jojo (husband), Jubjaeng (daughter, 13) and Toto (son, 10) picked me up from the airport. There were no other tourists in sight which was a little unnerving but mostly refreshing. It was about a twently minute drive in their Isuzu pickup truck (pick up trucks are the most popular vehicle in this part of Thailand) to their home outside of the city. They had a very nice home, and I was given my own bedroom and bathroom. Both of the parents are teachers although they work in different schools, and I was to accompany the mother (Rose) to school every day and help her with her lesson plans.





The first night I arrived Rose asked me if I liked phad thai and I thoughtlessly proclaimed that I loved it, or loved the version that I had had in America. Its not terribly different in Thailand-just better. I think one of the key elements that American phad thai leaves out is the fresh lime that you sqeeze on top before eating. There's also something about the noodles but I'm not quite sure what it is. I definitely sampled my fair share of phad thai in the 3 1/2 that I was there. Needless to say, my first night in Thailand was relaxing and comfortable and the family immediately made me feel right at home.



It is hard to sum up the two weeks I spent at the Sawangweerawong School. The staff could not have been more welcoming and friendly, and I felt that I was actually able to leave a little mark even though it was such a short amount of time that I was there. It was astounding to see how little English the students knew, and they were the equivalent of middle school and high school ages. They were trained to say a few lines at the beginning and end of class that essentially went like this:

Students: Hello Teacher

Teacher: Hello Students. How are you today?

Students: I am fine.


There were obviously a few students who broke the mold and were able to converse with me, albeit roughly. But the majority of the students could barely understand me when I asked them their names, age, etc. It was difficult for me to understand at first- how these seemingly bright and well-dressed kids (all students in thailand wear uniforms) could lack even some rudimentary english phrases. As the days went by, however, I learned just how this situation came to be. Behind the crisp blue and white uniforms and well kept hair styles were children who ordinarilly would be spending their days working on the farm. They came from the country, and consequently from low-income households. THeir parents may or may not have attended school, but certainly would be no help with their English speaking either way.

The woman who I was staying with, Rose, was the only English teacher at the school as well as several young assistants who were studying to be teachers. Rose's English was very good considering she has never been to America or any other English speaking country, along with the fact that she doesnt normally get a chance to converse with anyone in English. But she was not fluent, and had a thick accent that made her difficult to understand at times. She was always asking me other ways to say things, and what random things were called. I began to realize how beneficial it was to have someone on hand to explain or put words to something that should couldn't find the words for. I also helped Rose come up with new lesson plans and edit the old ones in the evenings- we would be sprawled out on her tile floor because it was the only way to keep cool.

One of the perks of working at the school was that I was able to accompany the faculty to lunch every day. This daily lunch group consisted of me, Rose, the head of the English department, and a few other female teachers who were friends. Two of the girls (Champu and Wen) were studying to become teachers, and were around my age. Wen decided on the first or second day that Ashley was too difficult to pronounce (this was true in all of southeast asia) so she called me "Anchun" which is apparently a type of flower. I felt comfortable with this nickname and slowly other staff members began adopting it.
But back to the daily lunches...
Every day we went to a new restaurant in the area that the school was in and I sampled many local flavors. One particularly memorable day was the farewell party for all of the student teachers. It started out as a typical lunch day, with the headmaster ordering up plates upon plates of food (everything is shared minus your rice (sticky or steamed-I prefer sticky). It turns out that he had ordered a couple of different types of fish, an interesting stew with squid, and a Thai delicacy-ants eggs. Now the ants eggs weren't as bad as you would imagine although after trying a few and making what I'm sure were some disgusted facial expressions I was finished. I was pretty much at the mercy of the department head in terms of what I ate for lunch during those two weeks, but that was probably the worst of it.

There's so much I could say about this school and the family that I stayed with that I don't think will fit in this blog post. Firstly, I have never felt so comfortable and at home with people after only spending a few hours with them. They were the sweetest and kindess family I have ever met-taking me on full-day adventures on the two weekends I spent with them when I'm sure all they wanted was a little rest. The parents, as I said before, were both teachers, and would be up before me every morning (I woke up around 6:30) and would be working hours after I went to bed at night. And on the weekends we would get up at about 5:00 because they wanted to take me to see the sunrise at various monuments and natural sights in the area. This was fine for me, Jubjaeng and Toto because we just closed our eyes once we were in the car but I really don't know how Rose and her husband pulled off such little sleep. We also visited both of their sets of parents, who are from rural villages far outside the city. They normally visit each set of grandparents once a month, but I'm sure they visited both while I was there on purpose. I was able to sit and eat with their extended family members and laugh and gesture when no words could be communicated us.

On my last night with the Naruk family, they set up a picnic in their front yard for my farewell party. They pulled out all the stops- bringing out the family kareoke system, lights and all. After dinner (and a beer or two) the kareoke got started. Toto, their son, was not shy at all about his singing voice and belted out a few warm up tunes. And even despite my claims that I had possibly one of the worst voice they had ever heard, I was summoned to sing. I wasn't sure what english songs they had so I was surprised when I stumbled upon a song that my mom used to sing to me before I went to bed at night. It goes:
When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother, what will I be?
Will I be handsome, will I be rich?
Here's what she said to me,
Que sera, sera
Whatever will be will be
The futures not ours to see
Que sera sera

There are other verses but the strange thing was that I had been thinking about that song earlier in the day. Thankfully Jubjaeng and Toto sang with me, and it seemed like a very fitting way to end my two weeks there.
During those two weeks I was able to see two hardworking teachers make a wonderful life for their family and fully appreciate everything they have been given. I was also able to help out at a school that is in desperate need of English learning tools and people that speak english but that despite this are making the best of their situation and are carrying on with a light hearted attitude and lots of laughs.

These are the experiences I will cherish.