Cultural Training

There's a new law requiring teachers to go through some cultural training before the government gives them a work visa. My visa expires soon so I had to spend my weekend in cultural training. A lot of it I already knew from living here for 5 years. But it was good to clarify some things. I've always known Thais, and most Asians in general, have this thing about losing face. I never understood though, what this meant. Was it that they were embarrassed or didn't like being made fun of or teased? I now see it has more to do with being right and not being humbled by others. There were several situations presented to us and asked for how we would respond. Here's one situation we were presented with:

You are involved with helping to organize an English camp for 500 students. The director proposes to have the camp over the weekend to save costs and not affect regular classes. You disagree with that because the number of students per group will be too large for the camp to be effective in terms of language learning. Moreover, teachers will have to work hard continuously for 2 weeks without a day off which seems unacceptable for all teachers. But the director insists on these stipulations. How do you handle this?

Thai teachers would not raise a fuss, they would just go along with it. We discussed that we would give voice to these issues and raise a big fuss since this affects our performance and the students potential for learning.

It was also discussed that a Thai director does not necessarily respond to issues raised. Rather, they are more likely to demand their own way because the teachers raising the issues threatens their power. A western director is more likely to respond to the issues because they are interested in the welfare of the teachers and students. (Of course there are power hungry people in western countries, this is more based on culture.)

Another topic that was raised was the Thais viewpoint of their king. They have a deep rooted love for him and view him as a divine father. This is a fusion of Brahmanism and Buddhism. I found this information helpful in trying to understand their way of thinking with regards to worship. It's not based on reason. More based on tradition and their striving for good luck. These are not just ways of worship, it's their way of thinking. So becoming a JW for a Thai entails huge changes and they have a lot of opposition because it's their culture, not just a belief. Interesting...

Thinking about all that gives me such an appreciation for knowing the truth. I also value having the opportunity of living here and being exposed to such different ways of thinking. Not that it influences me, but it gives me a wider understanding of people in general and how diverse we all are. I know it sounds abstract, it's hard to express. My point is that I like learning how people think and how that contrasts with how my culture thinks. This is the same reason I loved the James Michener book I read about Afghanistan. I'm starting another book of his called Iberia. It's all about his travels through Spain.

I'm an iGirl

I couldn't take it anymore...the hassle, the wasted time, the miscommunication. So I bought an iPhone. It's beautiful! It's so easy to use and takes photos and videos so easily (which is especially helpful with the deaf). I've downloaded some great apps (if anyone has any good apps to suggest please let me know). I also now have skype on my phone so it'll be a lot easier to call you guys....so many benefits. It was expensive but it's worth it! I'm hoping to get a MacBook when I'm in the States this summer.

I took a run this morning using a really cool app called 'Run Coach'. It keeps track of my pace, distance and routes. Thais really celebrate graduating from university. As I was running in the park today the path was blocked by all these graduates with their personal photographers taking photos. Kind of annoying, it broke my stride. Although it did give me an opportunity to take a photo with my iPhone.

Catching my breath

Nearly a month without a post...sorry. I am still alive, just been totally inundated with, let's see....stuff. The extra hours at work has been a bigger adjustment than I had imagined. Did I really do this for 3 years? Maybe it's different because of how much bigger my ministry is now. There's been huge growth in the past 18 months. I'll share some experiences with you in an email coming soon.

Anyways, I'm getting back on track. One interesting thing at school is the recent outbreaks we've had. I had a student home sick with H1N1 a few weeks ago along with children from other classes. There were several children in the school with Hand Foot Mouth Disease. Wednesday this week a parent approached me, AFTER dropping her daughter off at school, saying she had found head lice in her daughter's hair that morning. I told her she needed to take her daughter home and get it treated. So we had to check all the other children...they were clear. There's also rumors of a new coup d'etat. There's bound to be some extra time off with all that going on. That's what I'm hoping for at least.