Life in Thailand, 8000 kms from my comfort zone to the east

It’s been almost 6 months that I left home, getting further and further outside of my comfort zone. Then 5 months ago, I arrived 8000 kms from home to the east in my temporary final destination: in Phetchabun, Thailand, to teach here. They told me it’s going to be very different from Europe. They told me that it’s the “land of smiles” here. They told me that I have to go with the flow here. They told me that I’m going to have lots of experiences and I would learn a lot here. I thought, well, it’s exactly what I need! But I’ve never thought that all of this will be true hundred times more than expected, and that my comfort zone is so far, I cannot even see it any more, not even over the horizon.

I arrived in Thailand with the initial excitement, ready to take in every novelty. First, I spent a few days in the lively Bangkok, then in the beach town Hua Hin, and finally, I got to Phetchabun. Phetchabun is a provincial capital of a northern-central province, even though it’s the size of Siófok (my hometown in Hungary).  It’s not flooded by tourists, it’s an authentic Thai town. I was happy about this for many reasons: for the cheap, “non-touristy” prices and for the experience of the real Thai culture.

The “land of smiles” (?)

First of all, I saw that here everybody really is happy, smiling, and friendly. In the school, in the shops, in the restaurants, in the streets. Thus I concluded that this is the “land of smiles”, indeed. This was a refreshing experience compared to the worried, stressed, smile-free, “everyone should know how much burden I carry on my shoulders, and how dare you being so openly happy”-kinda look at home. I met the owners of the local family restaurants in the neighbourhood, who now say “hello” even if I walk by only. In the shops, people tried to pull all their English knowledge together just to help me, and they reacted positively when I tried to say something in Thai. The landlady was also very helpful, and she sometimes came over with some banana or mango. Wow, I thought, this is unbelievable, there is still human kindness, positivity and generosity in this world. I “only” had to travel 8000 kms to find it…

Then one day, you realize that you “have to” smile even if you don’t feel like it. And you have to get out of the house even if you’re not in the mood, as there is no kitchen, no stove where you could cook. And it’s cheaper to eat out anyway. Then these things start to annoy you, and you miss the things you got used to at home, and which meant comfort and convenience for you. You would like to cook a little, or at least to put a pizza in the oven. But neither is there an oven, nor good pizza – only expensive ones. The 7/11 mini supermarket nearby doesn’t have a big variety of goods, and for the closest Tesco, you have to walk.

Transport

Walking here is not easy: sometimes on a pavement, sometimes on the road. But wherever you walk, you always have to be attentive, as the cars and the scooters don’t care much about passers-by. Scooters can come in your way even on the pavement, if that’s more convenient for him. And nobody will stop at the zebra crossing for you, even if you’ve already stepped down.

I love walking, but I cannot do it much here. By the time, I get to the end of the street (or by the time, I step out of the house), I’m already soaked in sweat. It’s like I had a shower. Also, I always have to carry a water bottle with me to stay hydrated. It’s not enough that it’s always 31-37 degrees, and cooling doesn’t come at night either, it feels even hotter beacuse of the extremely high humidity. Hence a 15-20minute walk is already exhausting. But there is not much choice, as there are no buses, no songtaew, taxi is expensive and rare, and anyway how would you explain where to go if you don’t speak Thai. There is no Grab (Asian Uber), which works in all other places in Thailand but Phetchabun. Tuk-tuk is also rare, only at the hospital and the bus terminal, and who knows what price I could bargain at all. How comfortable it was in Oxford, that I just hopped on my bicycle or the bus, and I could get anywhere I wanted! Or I just took my car, and popped out for shopping or a daytrip. I definitely miss the comfort, but of course, we find a solution for everything if necessary.

Sooner or later, it’s recommended to rent a scooter, to explore more than just 1-2 usual routes from the city. So I have also rented one after 2 months. Why did I wait for 2 months? I had never ever sat on any motorbikes before, especially not riding one…especially not in Thailand, where driving is not really about following the rules. But I don’t complain, as trafficwise, Phetchabun is much better than Bangkok or Pattaya, for example. So finally, I said yes to the scooter, pushing myself even farther out of my comfortzone. It was however totally worth it, as now I love riding the bike. I hop on it more times per week, and I ride even out of town, for example to national parks nearby. I also feel the flow of traffic better and better, and I’m getting quite good at zigzagging among cars and other scooters. I’m even prepared for some other scooters coming from the opposite direction in the side lane.

The rainy season

Rainy season started in May, which is only 1-2 hours of rain in the afternoon. No biggy. Then it changes into heavier rains coupled with thunderstorms. These times, it’s really noisy in the house, as the raindrops hit the tin roof. And for the better experience, even the electricity and the water may go off (luckily not too often though). Who knows for how long: for 1 minute, half an hour or for several hours. Electricity is the bigger issue, as it means the lack of air conditioning, too. Then you just sit in your room listening to the clicking noise, watching from your window how the rain is flowing in the street. Then when it stops raining, you realise that the puddle in front of your house is so big that you would need a boat to cross it. In that 3 meters of gap which is between the house and the road to the school, it’s so muddy that you simply sink in it.

This is a real challenge at 7.20 in the morning when you’re heading to school nicely dressed up. And the situation is the same two streets farther, too, so you’ll be definitely muddy, that’s it! How long does the rainy season last? Oh until September! (noting on the side that more days can go without rain, or just a little drizzle in the evening or in the afternoon, so it’s not a continuous heavy monsoon you should imagine). This has slightly changed in August and in September; it rains a bit more, and the temperature may fall below 30 in the evenings. It doesn’t mean coolness, just fewer days with scorching sun. However, the high level of humidity stayed with us, so you still get soaked in sweat just by standing in one place.

The house, the “refuge” in the comfortlessness

I loved the house where I first lived. I loved my room, because it was light and spacious, and the house was newly-built; we were its first occupiers.

This is important, because when I get home after a long tiring day, I need a cosy place to rest and relax comfortably. Then after one long day, the surprise came when entering my room: I’m not alone. A ghekko ran across my room. Cute little animals, only the first encounter can be a bit shocking, when you see something running through your room. I got used to it finally, that there is a ghekko in the opposite corner of the room, which never crossed a line, never came over towards my corner. It became my friend.

One weekend, I noticed another one, but a little bit bigger, in the same corner. They came down when the AC was on. At least I didn’t have mosquitos! 🙂 Then they disappeared for weeks, and after a while, only a baby ghekko appeared again. It didn’t know the limits: it ran through the window above my bed, next day, it was already on my bed. I really have no problems with them, I’m not afraid of them, but in my bed… here you go comfort zone! Another thing that I just have to get used to, I guess.

Another surprise was just when I felt a little bit at home in the house: we had to move. I wasn’t happy, I had hectic enough weeks, I didn’t need another bother. But there wasn’t much to do about it, we had to move. The landlady had another house, which they refurbished, so I put up with it. I even saw some advantages of this new place: for example, not sinking into deep mud and puddle after a heavier rainfall, and I can take my scooter out, not only when it’s dry weather.

The (not so) “grey weekdays”

Now the question could come, ‘and how are the busy workdays?’. We say weekdays are usually not too eventful, they’re common and usual, since people go to work, follow a certain schedule, do some recurring tasks, follow a certain routine. Here, in Thailand, this doesn’t exist! Since May, since I started teaching, I think I haven’t had two weeks that are the same, even though my timetable has not changed. In the first weeks, it’s normal that the timetable changes, things are shaping up. On top of this, there were bank holidays, too, so it was after a long time I saw how one full week goes.

First of all, I shot myself away from the borders of my comfort zone by saying yes to teaching Computer, which then brought along teaching Health, which then brought along teaching P.E. in the Mini English Program (bilingual program). So instead of just planning “normal” English lessons, I can prepare from topics that I have to learn more thoroughly first. Not even mentioning that there is only Thai book for Computer, so I have to collect materials for my lessons knowing only the topics to teach. Freedom is good! But so time-consuming… Oh, and P.E. includes teaching gymnastics, basketball and Krabi Krabong, i.e. Thai sword fighting. So many different subjects for 3 different grades…I need regularity and routine so badly, to find some comfort outside of my comfort zone.

But the regularity doesn’t come! What’s more, even the tiny regularity we already had broke. One day, it was a different routine for the morning assembly. Another day, you were waiting for your students for your class but they are having a rehearsal in the morning for the next day’s activities. They just forgot to inform you that the morning classes are cancelled. Oh and next day, there are no classes because of the celebration. Next week another bank holiday. After that, teacher appreciation day, which lasts all morning, and they prepare for it for the whole afternoon before. We accidentally found it out 1 whole week before the actual day. But not about the next week’s poetry day, which resulted in another half-day celebration, hence classes got cancelled again. Or we heard 3 versions about how many classes would be cancelled because of the student director election. At the end, my students still appeared in class.

Another occasion when we found out during class that there are shorter lessons that day. Again, we got two different versions about the modified time of lunch, just to make sure we are confused enough, and there would be someone who’s at lunch when he should be in class. About the rehearsal for the King’s birthday, we knew absolutely nothing in advance, not even that it was going to happen. We were also just guessing how many teaching periods would be cancelled because of it. We didn’t know anything about the actual celebration time either for a long time. But I could continue my list with the Queen’s birthday or the retirement “party”; latter is a huge thing in Thailand. We knew about the date in advance, but the number of cancelled classes remained a mystery for the whole time. Originally, we knew about 2 hours, then by the end of the 2nd hour, we got the information that it will be 3 hours long. But in the meantime, everything finished. So we still went to class, but the students didn’t know they would have any classes in the morning, so they hadn’t even prepared for it. Here goes the teaching again!

If you still have your class, the material for the given lesson may remain fluid until the very start – especially in P.E. You arranged the next day’s material with your co-teacher, then something completely new comes on the day, which I hadn’t even heard about before, not that I could teach it. Or once I arranged with the Thai teacher that I would teach the next class, but on the day, on the spot I was facing a 100% different plan. Another time, they tell you just before the class that it would be hand balance that day, then right before the actual start it changes to teaching bridge pose. If the P.E. teacher is present at all to tell you this. Because there are times when you just see him smiling and waving from a car which is about to leave the school. Or he’s just somewhere else, nobody knows or wants to tell where. The point is that don’t have expectations or plans carved in stone, but always come up with a plan B. This is rather exhausting, as you have to be vigilant and alert in every minute of every day, and have to find a solution for unexpected situations in a way it’s appealing for everyone – which is not always easy…

This is of course not an exhaustive list of examples. I haven’t even mentioned when we had to go for medical check twice, for which the date and time was also very random. Or when we went for the working permit without any notice, just ‘come teachers, we’re going right now’. So we had to put teaching aside, and just go. Then we went to extend our visa ‘after noon’, at 11 am, which failed after 1.5 hours of waiting. We finally got it few weeks later, for the 3rd attempt, and further long hours of waiting. There is a similar story almost every day, and always something that had never happened before, and you would had never even dreamt about it.

And why cannot we say that weekdays are grey? I referred to this in a previous blogpost, that here every day has its own colour. Thai teachers wear the colour of the days. It’s not strictly ordered for the foreign teachers, but recommended to follow the colour trend, not to be too much of an outsider. Especially before main celebrations, we have to ask in advance what colour to wear. This is now part of the routine, but it took time to get used to it. And also to buy some pieces of the basic colours.

‘But this is Thailand!’ This has become the motto for us, foreigners. One either flees from here, or stops and thinks about what they can learn from this. I’ve chosen the latter, because I feel I’m becoming better and better at letting things go if they’re not as I expected, and I stress much less about these kind of things. Moreover, because I learn patience, I learn new skills, and because my problem-solving skill is improving big time every day. Last but not least, I love my students, and it’s very interesting to follow what the current teenager trends are in this part of the world, and how the Thai education system – which is worth a whole new blog post on its own – shapes the students. Simply, it cannot be a coincidence that I’ve landed here: 8000 kms from my comfort zone to the east!

 

 

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