Hello hello hello. I hope this post finds everyone well. I apologize that I haven't written in a while but I have had much to do in the last three weeks. Thailand continues to be very good to me and I continue to love my new home more and more each day. It is interesting going out of the country for whatever reason (visa run usually) because of the places I have been while living here I am eager to get back after about three days. I start missing the food, the cheap prices, and the cute faces:) I am also happy that I have developed quite a few friends and we all enjoy making fun of everyone else's home country. For instance, our elementary and middle school PE teacher is from Honduras. We all know he is from Honduras but we make jokes about him being Mexican. Another teacher and myself were in my classroom talking about possible coaching ideas for the new school year and we needed to talk with Diego about them because the "Mexican" is also the athletic director. So, me and Dan are talking and Diego comes into the room. "Ahhh...waiter, there you are!" I say to him, "I will have the enchilada platter with two tacos and no guacamolie, Dan would you like anything?" "Why not!" Dan says right on cue, "I will take a chinchilla!...What took you so long to get here man? Is there a sombrarro sale going on somewhere or what?" "Ha ha ha," Diego says back. "You know Dan, with how busy you Canuks are with getting drunk, playing hockey, and puting maple syrup on your ham, where do you find the time to make "mexican" jokes?" This is what goes on all the time. It is a riot because we have Americans, Canadians, Mexicans (ha ha ha), Brits, and Danes so everyone gets their shots in at each other. When I get made fun of it is usually about cheese.
The students are also wonderful as well. They are so kind and respectful it is amazing. I haven't had one discipline problem the whole year. The biggest problem a teacher faces is reminding students not to use Thai in the classroom (when in class they MUST use English). How easy is that huh? I still am amazed at the nickname situation over here. Students have very long names and are given a nickname when they are born and they are known by their nickname. Being that I do my best to find humor in every situation, I made a discovery when looking at the nicknames of my 8th grade students. In one class I have students who have the following nicknames: Off, Time, Phuk (pronounced Fook), Yoo, Best, and Mahn. I am so tempted to have the counselor make an announcement over the loud speaker (however, I don't think he would get it and ACTUALLY make the announcement), "I need to see students at lunch in the following order: Time, Yoo, Best, Phuk, Off, Man, thank you!"
Well that is all for now. I hope that everyone found the "Obama Special Olympics" comment as funny as I did. Until next time, it's not about what you have, it's about what you don't have (it's a thinker).
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
NIMBY...
Hello everyone. I hope you are all well and are having a happy March. Everything is pretty much the same over here, except that I am writing this post in Malaysia. I am getting my non-Immigrant B visa (so I can ACTUALLY get a work permit and work here legally...shhhhhh) and got a great deal on a ticket, get to miss a couple days of school and explore more of SE Asia. Ohh...and its on the school's tab!! Anyway, I will talk more about Malaysia in my next post, but I would like to tell you another story.
I think I have mentioned that people here like to play a little game I refer to as "cutsies." For those of you who don't know, it is when people cut in line. I am going to put this as plainly as I can, I DO NOT LIKE THIS GAME!!! It is one of my main pet peeves. Well, being that I am an outsider, I have tried to deal with it as best as I can, but I have finally had enough and made the decision to not put up with it anymore. Lately, I have been telling certain individuals stories to get their response and if it is humorous to them I will post it on here. So, I ran this story past my friend Sinem (who informed me that she tends to occasionally play this game...Simem I am so disappointed in you) and she seemed to find it funny.
Last week I was at Tesco-Lotus buying some items I needed. Tesco-Lotus and Big C are like the Wal-Marts of Thailand. There are always full of people. So, I spend about 45 minutes there and I head to the counter to pay for my "merch." The line that I get into is about 10 people deep, about the same length as every other line. I am in the line waiting patiently and a couple minutes later a woman (slightly heavy and around 50-55) gets behind me in line. I turn to look at the woman and give her a friendly smile. When she smiled back at me, I felt a touch of non-verbal communication. As soon as I turned back around, I KNEW this woman was going to try and pull some shenannigans!! We continue to get closer to the counter and I am always keeping a keen eye on "Cutter Kathy." She is trying to be sneaky by walking over to the gum, looking at a pack of it, but then not buying it. She did that about three different times. As I am seeing all of this, I am just thinking to myself, "Lady, I know you have no idea that I realize what you are up to, but I HOPE you try and cut in front of me. I HOPE YOU DO!"
Well, we are getting close to the counter and she is starting to see she is running out of time. Throughout this time, I have been trying to figure out a way to position my cart in a way that if she tries to "pull a quick recon" I can use the cart to cut her off. Let me say that I positioned my cart better than General Patton positioned his army to secure victory in WWII. This lady figures out that it is now or never and tries to play cutsies. In her attempt, I gave my cart a little nudge and nailed this lady square in the hip. That's right...you can say whatever you want about me but I am proud to say that I knocked a middle age woman SQUARE IN THE HIP FOR TRYING TO CUT IN LINE!!!!
Bottom line is that this woman was not happy! She started yelling at me in Thai (which I cannot understand) so I calmly started replying in English (which she could not understand), "I don't think so hunny. NIMBY. N-I-M-B-Y. Not In My Back Yard. I knew the whole time you were gonna try some shenannigans and you paid the price. We may be living in Bangkok, but where we are at now is called "Bang-Hip". I hope you have a wonderful evening." Of course I said all of this with a smile on my face. Again, I will say that I left with a smile on my face and quite proud of myself. I even had to tell my senior economics class about it and they thought it was funny too.
Well, that is all I have right now. I am glad I remembered I needed to publish another post. I am trying to hang out in Malaysia, but right now it is pouring outside. Until next time, at times it is easiest to make a point my knocking someone...no matter what age...in the freakin' hip:)
I think I have mentioned that people here like to play a little game I refer to as "cutsies." For those of you who don't know, it is when people cut in line. I am going to put this as plainly as I can, I DO NOT LIKE THIS GAME!!! It is one of my main pet peeves. Well, being that I am an outsider, I have tried to deal with it as best as I can, but I have finally had enough and made the decision to not put up with it anymore. Lately, I have been telling certain individuals stories to get their response and if it is humorous to them I will post it on here. So, I ran this story past my friend Sinem (who informed me that she tends to occasionally play this game...Simem I am so disappointed in you) and she seemed to find it funny.
Last week I was at Tesco-Lotus buying some items I needed. Tesco-Lotus and Big C are like the Wal-Marts of Thailand. There are always full of people. So, I spend about 45 minutes there and I head to the counter to pay for my "merch." The line that I get into is about 10 people deep, about the same length as every other line. I am in the line waiting patiently and a couple minutes later a woman (slightly heavy and around 50-55) gets behind me in line. I turn to look at the woman and give her a friendly smile. When she smiled back at me, I felt a touch of non-verbal communication. As soon as I turned back around, I KNEW this woman was going to try and pull some shenannigans!! We continue to get closer to the counter and I am always keeping a keen eye on "Cutter Kathy." She is trying to be sneaky by walking over to the gum, looking at a pack of it, but then not buying it. She did that about three different times. As I am seeing all of this, I am just thinking to myself, "Lady, I know you have no idea that I realize what you are up to, but I HOPE you try and cut in front of me. I HOPE YOU DO!"
Well, we are getting close to the counter and she is starting to see she is running out of time. Throughout this time, I have been trying to figure out a way to position my cart in a way that if she tries to "pull a quick recon" I can use the cart to cut her off. Let me say that I positioned my cart better than General Patton positioned his army to secure victory in WWII. This lady figures out that it is now or never and tries to play cutsies. In her attempt, I gave my cart a little nudge and nailed this lady square in the hip. That's right...you can say whatever you want about me but I am proud to say that I knocked a middle age woman SQUARE IN THE HIP FOR TRYING TO CUT IN LINE!!!!
Bottom line is that this woman was not happy! She started yelling at me in Thai (which I cannot understand) so I calmly started replying in English (which she could not understand), "I don't think so hunny. NIMBY. N-I-M-B-Y. Not In My Back Yard. I knew the whole time you were gonna try some shenannigans and you paid the price. We may be living in Bangkok, but where we are at now is called "Bang-Hip". I hope you have a wonderful evening." Of course I said all of this with a smile on my face. Again, I will say that I left with a smile on my face and quite proud of myself. I even had to tell my senior economics class about it and they thought it was funny too.
Well, that is all I have right now. I am glad I remembered I needed to publish another post. I am trying to hang out in Malaysia, but right now it is pouring outside. Until next time, at times it is easiest to make a point my knocking someone...no matter what age...in the freakin' hip:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
