Student Stories

So here’s a little video I did some filming for last month, and which we got to see just yesterday. It’s already doing the rounds on facebook and other places but I thought I’d share it here too. It’s called ‘Student Stories’, which I think pretty much describes the contents.

Watch it, share it, get involved.

Lions and Tigers and Warm Woollen Mittens.

It has been an awful long while since I wrote anything for you, for a variety of reasons which I mostly forget; probably because they were along the lines of ‘Don’t really feel like it at the moment – too busy – do it later’.  That and there is a problem with the internet at our house which may-or-may-not simply be something to do with us not paying the bill. And we have been busy. Honest. I’m about to write all about just so you can see.

Well, I’m about to write about one bit. If I wrote about all of it you might not finish before tomorrow. You know what I’m like; I start writing something that took five minutes in reality and should consume no more than a paragraph, and somewhere along the line it turns into a page or three and in reading devourers a few hours. So. Baby steps.

This is what I started writing on December 14^th, and never quite finished until now.

You’re all probably thinking of turkeys and roasts and eating Christmas cookies/cakes/it-contains-sugar-things people have made, pulling out the woolly hats and gloves, worrying about frost and hoping for snow. I’m having a ridiculously sweet coco ron (Hot coco) in a small 20p cup, deciding I want sticky rice and chicken with as much sweet chilli sauce as I can handle instead of a Subway and lamenting anytime the weather dips below 20˚.

When 3 became 4

I’ve got an introduction to make.

Back right, the kid not in green? This is my new student. You'll know him as Jude.

He joined Grade 1 over a month ago, just after the October break, speaks the tiniest amount of English, and is very, very sporty. He has also been pseudo adopted by the oldest boy in the school, who plays basket ball with him and jokes with him and insists they sit next to each other in fun reading. Given that this older kid is by turns cheeky, rude, apathetic and really very smart (If a bit lacklustre in applying it) all the teachers are finding it mildly hilarious.

Jude is also a great advocate of cuddling. Which would be fine. Except, as I mentioned, he’s very sporty. And always seems to have a jacket or jumper on that he can never be persuaded to remove.

It’s always a slightly sweaty cuddle.

But he is the only kid in Grade 1 or 2 who can do a decent unassisted sit-up with any speed. Tradeoffs, I guess.

The Child and the Starfish.

Once upon a time there was a man who would walk along the beach every morning thinking about how to help the world.

One day as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a figure moving back and forth, rhythmically dancing to the day.

This gave him great pleasure, so he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a child and the child wasn't dancing, but instead was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

When he got closer he called out, 'Good morning! What are you doing?'

The child looked up and replied with simple joy, 'Throwing starfish in the ocean.'

The man looked puzzled and said: 'I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?'

'The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die.'

'But, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!' said the man.

The child listened politely, then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea past the breaking waves and said with a smile...

'... but I made a difference to that one'.

This is a parable quoted in a blog I read just now, which is linked below. I don’t know who wrote it originally.

http://joshtbk.wordpress.com/

You should read this. Some of the posts are long, but all are moving, inspiring, heart breaking, sickening, terrifying. All of them with take you out of your comfort zone, if you really think about them.

This blog was written a man I met while he was in Chiang Mai. He’s trying to be the child.

So which one are you?

Shorts, with a chance of Woolly Hat.

The weather here is starting to, amusingly, remind me of British stuff I’m used to. Kind of. It helps that I’ve adapted to it all, to a certain extent; the heat doesn’t feel as hot now. Makes it feel more familiar.

It’s cold in the morning, for a given value of cold. You get up and potter around going ‘Argh where are my woolly socks!’ before you realise you don’t have woolly socks, you moron, this is Thailand. So instead you forgo thoughts of woollen socks and get ready, maybe having a hot shower; a cold shower is out of the question, if you can help it. You put on a pair of long trousers, consider them, step outside briefly and decide that yes, it’s defiantly too cold for anything shorter, thank you. On goes a top or two, and a cardie or that one jumper you (Your mother) had the foresight to pack (‘Why will I need a jumper? It will be way too hot.’ ‘Always be prepared.’ ‘Fine, fine.’) You have breakfast, and a cup of tea which you warm your hands around pathetically and then suddenly its 7.00 and you’ve got to hop in the van, which is covered in condensation. You’re pretty sure that’s a sign it’s gotten colder. Or that it rained over night. Either way.

Things I have most definately not done today.

Anyone else feeling a slightly stomach crushing nervousness about this? No? Just me then...

Still, I am excited too. I love travelling. Love that odd and out of place feeling you get when you’re within a new culture, trying to remember how to ask those basic questions like where the nearest loo is (Always important. Last time there were several instances of “Tao ri...tao rie...ti na... Oh for the love of – who’s got that phrase book?”) I’m also going to try my best to find a foodstuff that can squick out the most people, with bonus points if it wriggles on the way down.

Not so excited about the sun though. I’m not built for sunny time zones. I’m built for rain and mist and the dreary British climes. My skin is so pathetically pasty that even my scalp burns, and who puts sun cream on their scalp? Makes everything horribly sticky. So, sun cream. A lot. Probably to the extent where you will all have to be careful to keep at least a one metre distance so you don’t suddenly find yourself stuck to me.

Just remembered this blog is meant to be some kind of informative what-we’re-doing-today thing, not an outlet for my complaints. Right. Does doing my jabs count? I know they were done ages ago... right, no, don’t count. Pete says he’s packed. Saying “I’m not packed” doesn’t quite seem to do things justice. Before I pack I’ve got to clean my room, so I can actually find those things that need packing. Before that I’ve got to find a place to clean things to. Not the floor. I’ve run out of floor.

I’ll find a cardboard box.

Next. Getting one of those lovely this-is-Thai-culture handbooks that Andrew has; honestly, that thing could train you to be a native. Pretty sure that permanently borrowing his is not an option. WHSmiths? Waterstones? Bah, I’ll find one. This is turning more into a list of things I haven't done...

Visa! Done that! You know, that thing that’s going to let me stay in Thailand for another year in a pleasingly legal manner (Not sure I’m cut out to be an illegal immigrant)? It’s all sent off with too many bits of paper, and should be back within the week. Ignore the rest of this post, just concentrate on this paragraph. Then I shall appear as if I have properly used this blog.

Don’t know the weather in Thailand at the moment. Probably too hot. But with lots of cloud cover. It's weird like that.

Emma