Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Belated seasons greeting to you all wherever you may be my friends, I thought it an appropriate time to update you all on my progress in the land of smiles now all of the Christmas fuss back home has died down. I say "Christmas fuss", but in reality I kind of missed all of the build-up and whatnot that comes with the territory at this time of year back home, being a Buddhist nation there was barely a mention of it outside of our ferang contingent.
Anyways, so what have I been up to? Well, with the kids at school ploughing their way through mid-terms school has been pretty dis-jointed, not a lot of lessons and a lot of free time on my hands to plan lessons and such. They let us go home early most days so I spent a fair while just basking in the ever improving weather. At last the rainy season appears to have faded and most days now can truly be described as "scorchio" now, something I am slowly getting used to while my tan is coming along painfully slowly, though I know I have to take it easy or I will become an instant lobster. The tortoise always beats the hare hombre.
Once the mid-terms had subsided we were summoned to one of the biggest schools in our area, Witchimatu school, on the 23rd and 24th of the month to judge a national academic competition. These things are taken pretty seriously in this part of the world and most of the foreign teachers in the area were called to arms to set about picking the best students in various aspects of English for the 14 provinces taking part in Southern Thailand, the winners in each category would go on to the National finals and it was such a big deal that even the Prime Minister of Thailand turned up in Trang for the few days it was on. Indeed, Trang has a population of around 60,000, but for the duration of the competition it had been chosen to host this increased by 20,000, so town was pretty chaotic.
On the Thursday I was judging the "impromptu speech" category for Pratom 1 - 3. (around 7 - 10 year olds). The gist of the competition was that each child took in turn to pick a random unseen subject from a hat, though myself and the two other Western judges including my good friend Alex from New York had previously approved which subjects were in there. They then had only 5 minutes to prepare a 2 - 3 minute speech on the subject and regale us with it. A pretty difficult task I think you will agree, especially for kids so young. I was amazed at the level of ability of these kids. Okay, some struggled and some lost it due to nerves, not surprising given the pressure they were under, but some were unbelievable, they truly blew me away. The judging criteria we were given was also pretty complex, unnecessarily so in my opinion, but thankfully we all ranked the same kid as number one overall, out of thirty children, so he was clearly the standout candidate, getting near perfect scores from all three of us. It was amazing to think someone so young could produce such a performance; I couldn't have done it in my native language at that age, let alone a foreign one.
The following day I was back at Witchimatu, only this time to judge the "Multi-skills" competition, for pratom 4 - 6 (10 - 12 year olds I think). This competition was even more intense, thirty students still, nut this time they were being judged in listening, reading, writing, something called picture dictation, and speaking, all in the space of a few hours. I was with two other judges, both of whom are friends of mine so it wasn't too bad on the whole. The reading test did not involve us though the listening test Tim had to read out sentences for them to answer multiple choice questions to. Then came "picture dictation" were I had to read out descriptive sentences that they had to draw corresponding pictures for, some of them were ridiculously tricky, like "draw 6 grey geese with 6 eggs on the 8th row from the top". Confusing for me, let alone them. Then came the writing test with three short essay questions, all of them we had to grade in a very short space of time, and finally a speaking test which came in the form of an interview with each judge individually with pre-set questions. It was very much like camping, intense, (geddit??) and I felt for some of the poor mites as they were coached and coerced by their various parents and teachers but they all seemed proud to be representing their school. Once again there was a clear winner in all of our eyes which is kind of a relief as you don't want to be the one judge to rock the boat by claiming another as the best when the other two thought they could barely string a sentence together. Her English and pronunciation was remarkable for someone so young, they really do push language over here and its very important for their future, though there is clearly ways they could improve the teaching of it in my opinion, though I will leave that rant for another day. I also get a couple of certificates to show I have judged in a pretty prestigious event which will look good in the old teaching portfolio in the future I reckon.
So with that event over myself, Cal and Steph went to various shopping haunts to finalise the ingredients for our tropical Christmas dinner with much success. Cal and Steph also had two teacher friends down from Bangkok for the weekend, a lovely couple called Simon and Izzy who originally hale from Hobart in Tasmania. Christmas eve night was spent meeting them and supping various frosty beverages from local establishments, including a newish bar around the corner from our house which is fast becoming my favourite watering hold in Trang, not least because of the lovely waitresses who serve us there, including one called Boo who I am convinced I am in love with every time she smiles!
Waking up on Christmas morning with a mildly fuzzy head the men got to work on preparing the Christmas dinner as best we could with only pans and hobs to work with. Calvin, being a former chef took charge and things went pretty smoothly. In glorious sunshine and santa hats we managed to knock up a meal of roast chicken (something I went out on my scooter for to buy pre-cooked from Tesco Lotus), carrots, roast spuds, asparagus, turnip, some sumptuous pigs in blankets all topped off with lush gravy. A triumph over our lack of cooking utensils I believe, and we were all filled with that hearty feeling of over eating and satisfaction by the end of it. Calvin also produced a chocolate orange cheesecake from scratch that I claim without regret to be the greatest cheesecake that has ever crossed my lips, and I have munched my fair share over the years! In addition we had packed the little Christmas tree outside our house with gifts for each other, nothing major mind, but nice to open something on Christmas day on top of the lovely gifts my fair mother had sent across the world. Cal and Steph got me a boss new motorbike helmet, an orangey number to match my Winnie the Pooh bike emblazoned with a cartoon pig's face and the words "Power Pig On Road". So on top of my childish cartoon bike I have to wear this, making me one of the campest riders amongst Trang's pantheon of motorcyclists.
Following dinner much beer and merriment was had by all and though it was strange to be in such soaring temperatures and without my usual horde of fantastic friends and family whom I truly missed we had a fantastic time and made as much as we could of Christmas far away from home.
Again, waking up on boxing day we figured we should try to escape our fuzzy heads, and Simon the cricket score which I was revelling in and so a trip to the beach was hastily organised. We chose our favourite local beach, Hat Yao, or Long beach when translated, which takes about 45 minutes to get to. In the blazing sun we arrived and desperate for refreshment the three males headed directly in to the sea to wash away last night's excesses. Hat Yao is a gorgeous beach with beautiful clear water but it is punctuated by large domineering but breath taking rock formations leaving small isolated beaches either side. We knew of one such small beach that requires you to either walk around the rock when the tide is out or swim around when it is not so high, as there is no access by road. This meant it was pretty secluded and hoping for more freedom and solitude Calvin and I set about the short-ish swim to see if it was do-able in those conditions before reporting back to the rest of them whether it was worth it or not. The brisk swim around the rock was relaxing and serene so things all seemed to be a-okay in that respect, but as we rounded a further rock heading towards the small length of sandwe were hoping to spend the afternoon on we realised there was quite a strong current and we decided to turn back. This felt like the best course of action as the tide was sweeping in rapidly and as we neared the corner of the first rock Calvin, who was slightly ahead of me turned and said, "I'm not getting very far are you?" With a sigh of resignation I agreed with him, as I had been thinking to myself that I had been expending in inordinate amount of energy in relation to the literal centimetres I was moving. We decided the safest bet was to take refuge on a rock nearby, which, while uncomfortable, was at least giving us the opportunity to recuperate and hatch a plan to get back, as there was simply no way other than the seemingly impossible route we had come by. After 10-15 minutes sat laughing at the ridiculous situation we had got into Calvin volunteered to "test the waters" again so to speak, and leaving me on the rock with only his snorkel and a few sea birds for company, disappeared around the corner to the place we had last been unable to battle against the strong rip tide. Out of sight all I could do was wait, cooking like barnacle on the rock. Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun so they say, which was I? Anyway, 15 or so minutes had passed and still no Calvin. Would he send for help? Should I try and swim myself? Should I try and flag down a longtail boat in the distance? I opted for a bit of everything. Sat waving half-heartedly on the rock at local boatmen the ones that noticed tended only to wave back at the kooky foreigner perched like a bloated and sunburnt siren on his decrepit throne. The problem was that the situation was not so severe that it warranted a full on distress call, so only a few mutterings of help ever exited my mouth, knowing that we were only a hundred metres or so from the shore that I had left I felt pretty embarrassed that I had gotten myself into such a ludicrous mess and so once I could see no more boats, and spying a middle eastern man floating merrily on an inflatable tube I decided to grab Cal's snorkel and go for a monumental burst for home. Remembering advice from when I learned to swim as a youngster not to panic in such situations I gathered my energy, took a few deep breaths and jumped back in, swimming slowly but forcefully I began to make some headway, only to reach the same point we had struggled to pass before and never moving beyond it. Despite putting in all of my effort I simply wasn't moving, it was an incredibly frustrating thing indeed and that was when I began to worry slightly, not that I would drown, it was never sheer panic, but I was beginning to tire and the sun was beating down at full pelt. Then I heard a voice next to my shoulder, it was Simon. He had arrived with a rubber inflatable tube as a floatation device and as we both grabbed onto it and began to kick any lingering worry dissipated. He seemed in control and with his authoritative Aussie voice bellowing instructions I followed them as best I could, Aussies know about these things right? They all love surfing and rip tides are second nature to them. Well, I hoped so anyway.
Despite all of our efforts both of us could not budge from this area of rock that I had been at for a while, the current was way too strong and how Calvin managed to get back I will never know, but hats off to him. On Simon's advice on how to escape a rip tide we aimed to go a bit further out to sea and then go around the current, this is how it is done apparently. So with our floatation device at hand we drifted out a bit and kicked for home, only once more the current could not be punctured. If anything it was stronger out here. Sh*t. We chatted once more and decided it was best to conserve our energy and wait for either Cal to send a boat out for us or to flag one of the passing boats if they were near enough. Floating along further and sea with only an inner tube was bizarrely quite relaxing. It was a fairly serious situation in reality but I never felt in true danger, as drowning was not going to come into the equation as we had floatation. That was until we floated into a fairly populated herd of massive jellyfish. That's when things got pretty pathetic. Spying them first I pretty much yelped like a little girl and tried desperately to get my body and limbs as far out of the deepening water as possible. Simon was pure Aussie masculinity personified, an experienced swimmer and diver he merely shrugged off these alien critters, where as I began to panic, I hate the slimy blighters. They fill me with fear and disgust in equal measure.
By now we had floated a fair way out to sea, actually coming into clear view of Koh Libong I think, a local island, and films like castaway began to play out in my head. How the hell had I managed to spend a good portion of my boxing day floating aimlessly on an inner tube with an Aussie I had just met and whom later admitted he spent the whole time contemplating taking a dump? Well, if you didn't laugh you would cry. Indeed not only were we floating out, but sideways, and so we noticed a populated beach on the same coast, about 3 beaches down from Hat Yao where we had started. We decided to aim for that as it would be going with the current and crucially for me, away from the demon jellyfish. Summoning our energy reserves in our now sun-baked carcasses we kicked for our salvation and eventually our feet could touch the ground. Relief at last.
As we did so Calvin rocked up in a kayak he had hired to come to our aid, too little too late sunshine, but thanks all the same. He rowed it back to Hat Yao and promised to pick us up from our new beach destination as soon as he did so. Incidentally, en route back to Hat Yao he ran into the Middle Eastern man splashing around and asking for help, so we were not the only ones to have fallen foul of the current, this made me feel vindicated in my heroic efforts. The man apparently launched himself onto Cal's kayak a weak and desperate man, nearly capsizing it in the process, and bizarrely, he had removed him clothes in an attempt to lighten his load to get back, so that must have been quite the sight!
Having recovered from that semi-preposterous situation we had some food and headed home, ready to tell tales of squalls and sea monsters a la the pirates of yesteryear. Well, we had a few beers in celebration of our exertions and hit the hay, back in work the following day while Simon heads off to a paradise island to relax for a few days. Once he is back he, Cal and Steph are heading up to Bangkok for New Year, while I am heading to Malaysia with Alex. Good times lie ahead as I have a four day weekend, not a patch on what most of you lot have off work at home, but I am happy with my slice of the proverbial pie regardless.
Whatever you all get up to have a wonderful time and raise a toast to me, as I shall to you.
Peace and love pilgrims…x
- comments