Decisions, Decisions

Wednesday 7/7/10

A cow. A wandering dog. A “motorbike” on the wrong side of the road. A merging delivery truck. Those were the things in chronological order that I was sure would end our lives as we rode in a car with our recruiter from our hotel in Nakhon Si Thammarat town to the school in Sichon, 60 gut-wrenching kilometers away. Incidentally, during this trip we were also informed that the paid accommodation “within walking distance to the school” was actually too far to walk should we accept the job, and we would therefor be required to learn how to ride motorbikes. Other options please?

So as we were contemplating the implications of this bait and switch, we happened upon a plethora of motorbiking Thais either driving themselves or taking their children to school. One mother in particular looked fairly safe with her helmet in place, however her 5ish daughter riding on the back of her bike, and her 2ish daughter sitting between herself and the handlebars were helmet-free. I laughed to myself while thinking about how the situation would look if an American mother tried to fit her two children on a moped while driving - car seats and head-to-toe padding.

After a quick stop for a fried egg breakfast and some Colombian iced coffee, we arrived at the school to find 1600 students, ages 12-18, gathered on the lawn. Our butterflies subsided upon exiting the car and receiving a warm welcome of smiling, giggling and staring. One of the many captivated students yelled out “hello!” to which we replied in kind. The cutest part of the interaction was her pride at being the first student to whom we spoke, which was visible through her teasingly boastful body language and excited tone used while talking to her friends immediately thereafter. A meeting with 12 Thai national English teachers, the English school director and our recruiter over mangosteens and more coffee followed by a tour of the school made for an interesting experience. Mangosteens are delicious by the way.

Following the school tour we were taken to see a couple accommodations, had some spicy sea bass (also delicious), returned to school for an undetermined purpose, tried to find another accommodation, then returned to our hotel in an afternoon rain storm, thereby witnessing the aftermath of a motorbike accident which required the involvement of several aid cars.

Nick and I not knowing the rules of the road and our inability to read Thai, combined with cars driving on the opposite side of the road than in the US has led us to believe that our motorbiking would result in two flattened fa-rang teachers. It's hard to teach when you’re squished.

Decision pending.