Now that I'm done geeking out over Bach's unlikely marriage with the Punch Brothers, here's some actual life news.
I am very excited to announce that the theology student I was tutoring last semester is now my coworker! Jew has become the chaplain of the nursing dorm and lives just two floors down. I can't even begin to tell you how much easier this will make my life. For one thing, Jew is Thai and can translate things for me, as well as help me to avoid unintentionally breaking the rules or making slip ups in this working culture. I suspect she will even be able to function as a line of communication between me and the staff of the nursing dorm. Because Thais avoid confrontation, the only way I've found out if I've been doing something wrong has been through third parties. What's more, Jew will provide a great link between me and the nursing students since we'll be working together on a lot of student activities. Plus she's just a spiffing person, so you can see why I'm very pleased to be working alongside her.
I had heard rumors that Jew might become the chaplain at the nursing dorm, but I didn't realize this meant she would be living there. To be honest, I'd kind of forgotten about it what with trying to figure out my own job. so I was very surprised to see her on the premises on Friday. I immediately congratulated her and invited her to join me for the Good Friday Tenebrae service at the chapel. If you haven't been to a Tenebrae service, it's a very reflective and moving way to spend Good Friday. It was a good evening of fellowship, and doubly so as I was able to celebrate Jew's recent employment with her over dinner.
On saturday, Mai had planned another excursion to the "sticky waterfall" because she has a friend from home visiting. I didn't have other plans, so I decided to come along. The group was a rather random mix of people, some from Thai class and some I'd never met before. But we had a good time although I got a little sunburnt and somewhat sore. I must be getting out of shape... This time we stopped at a cave that's been turned into a sort of temple. It was pretty neat. There was a giant statue of Buddha inside and some other ornaments. It made me wish we could have church in caves.
I decided to call it a night early as Jew had invited me to come to Payap Church's sunrise service on sunday. since I haven't had any morning commitments in a while, I haven't really been getting up before 9:00 a.m., so I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. But somehow I managed to drag myself out of bed four hours earlier than usual and make myself look somewhat presentable. It was good to do something special for Easter, even if it was an overwhelming amount of Thai for 6:00 a.m. Luckily they have a translation service, and I had a personal translator besides. Afterwards there was a potluck of sorts, and I was dreading the prospect of Thai food so early in the morning, but I needn't have worried. Along with the boiled rice there were eggs, sausage and donut along with the usual offering of nescafe. The breakfast of champions! Afterwards I'll confess I went back to bed for a few hours before attending my usual church's Easter service. '
That evening I'd promised Jew I would attend and help with an Easter presentation she'd put together. It was mostly with members of Christian Endeavor, but some of the students were Buddhists who were simply curious about this foreign holiday. Jew had asked me to share my understanding of Easter briefly for them, say in five minutes or so as she didn't want the event to go over half an hour. Trying to explain the meaning of Easter to people who maybe aren't familiar with it in a way that is easy to understand and/or translate in under five minutes is a bit of a challenge. Plus I had an M. Div student sitting next to me. I didn't really get through everything I had planned, but Jew seemed to appreciate my effort and it was neat to share my faith in a low-pressure setting with people who were genuinely interested. I'm looking forward to doing more with the Christian Endeavor group and am glad that I'll have Jew to help direct me.
Today I finally got myself back in a practice room after an inexcusable hiatus. I've actually made out a written practice chart that I've posted on my door in order to keep myself accountable. I was looking forward to my English class in the afternoon, but it's exam week so nobody showed up. such is the life of a volunteer English teacher in Thailand.
A bit on teaching, since I haven't posted much about it. Teaching English here is a unique challenge because of the culture. Because of the concept of saving face and also because of the traditional mode of instruction, Thai students are very reluctant to ask questions or tell you if they don't understand something. I can very carefully explain an activity in English and then ask "do you understand?" and be met with a room full of nods and smiles. But as one of the books Esther assigned us to read points out, this often means little more than "I acknowledge that you have said something to me." To admit you don't understand is to lose face, or to make your instructor lose face. It is the same with asking questions. I cannot rely on the expectation that my students will ask questions when they don't understand something. To do so would be disrespectful and make me as a teacher lose face. It is an interesting challenge considering I cannot communicate with them in their first language.
This evening I accompanied Jew to dinner and, knowing how important inclusiveness is in Thai culture, I invited her to come and watch tv in my room since hers doesn't have one. I never watch tv here for the simple reason that I can't understand anything, but Jew was a good sport and explained to me what was going on. We watched a Japanese game show involving people dressed up in costumes that looked like pokemon. They had to compete in different contests, including racing toward a giant fan, performing a vault, sumo wrestling and my personal favorite, keeping a balloon attached to them intact while being attacked by an army of children. Gotta love Japanese entertainment.
And so life continues to be an interesting mix of new experiences, or non-experiences as with the case of my all-too-frequently cancelled classes. Pohb gan mai ka.
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