Just after the New Year’s, fellow Blog It Home winner Keith came to visit me. We mostly spent time in my village and at my school, and he made a great video summing up a pretty typical day for me. A big thank you to Keith and check it out!
This week is Peace Corps Week and in honor of 54 years of Peace Corps, the Office of Third Goal put out a call for current and returned volunteers to make a video highlighting their “Host Country Hero.” Being my last month in Thailand, I knew I had to participate, if only to make something to show my appreciation of my co-teacher and best friend in Thailand, Kruu Ning. The videos were relegated to two minutes, which is not actually a lot of time, and so I wanted to tell the full story here.
Way back in Pre-Service Training, two years ago, I was interviewed about what I wanted from my site placement. The only thing that I was adamant about was that I wanted to work with a co-teacher who wanted me there. It didn’t matter to me if I was in a rural place far from other people. I wanted to work with someone who was willing to work with me.
With Kruu Ning, that is exactly what I got. She filled out the application for a Peace Corps volunteer. She’s been there for me when I struggled and shared my successes. She has been so amazing. Which is why she’s my Host County Hero. Watch the video to learn more.
While I’ve devoted much of this blog to sharing what I have learned about Thai culture, with my service winding down I figured I would give a short round-up of some of the recent projects I’ve either spearheaded or had the chance to be a part of, to give you a bit more insight into what being a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand entails.
Thailand’s fiercely independent spirit and lack of colonization has benefitted the country in a variety of ways. Perhaps the most tangible and visible effect is the fact that Thailand has been the regional economic powerhouse for sometime. However, next year, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economy Community (AEC) goes into effect, bringing a European Union style agreement for free movement of qualified workers among the 10 member nations with the lingua franca being English. This impending development for the region has had a rather significant impact on the work that I am asked to do here.
Right around this time last year, my group, Thailand 125, watched videos made by the group before us that advertised all the different committees of volunteers working here in Thailand. They ranged from HIV/AIDS Outreach committee to the Project Resource Committee to Sticky Rice Newsletter to the Thai Youth Theatre Project Committee. I was drawn to a number of them, and applied for quite a few and was selected to be an editor of the volunteer produced newsletter Sticky Rice and to be the Deputy Director of Public Relations for the Thai Youth Theatre Committee.
A group of my students have been preparing to perform at the annual Festival, the culminating event of the TYT Project, which was this past weekend. Nearly 140 students from 13 different communities came together in Lopburi to learn about singing, dancing, mask making, shadow puppets and sword fighting and to perform a short play entirely in English that they had prepared in front of the rest of the participants. I’ll let the pictures from this weekend speak for themselves. more “So Much Fun at the 2014 Thai Youth Theatre Festival”
There have been a flurry of time marking milestones happening over the last couple months. First, there was New Year’s Eve and Day. Next came the one year anniversary of coming to Thailand. Then there was my 26th birthday. Friday was Maka Bucha Day, or the first Thai holiday that I have had a chance to celebrate twice. Finally, Sunday marked the day of the half-way point of my service in Thailand. I have now been in Thailand longer than I have left here. more “My Peace Corps Service is 50% Complete”
Last week I attended the 34th Annual Thailand TESOL International Conference in Chiang Mai. The theme of the conference was “21st Century English Language Education: Towards Global Citizenship.” I was extremely satisfied with the experience and it made me think quite a bit about teaching English, specifically in Thailand, and how I can improve my approaches and to pass those along to my co-teacher.
Thailand has lots of special days, often with observations done at the schools. There are a number of Buddhist holidays. There’s Thai Language Day. There’s Science Day. There’ Wai Kruu Day. And this month there’s Children’s Day and Teacher Day.
Ten years ago, some Peace Corps Thailand volunteers in tandem with some British volunteers recognized the benefit of learning and confidence building through the performing arts. They worked with their Thai counterparts and students to adapt a Shakespearean play to be performed in their local communities. After the success of the local performances, they came together for the Bangkok Shakespeare Festival. That initial festival was such a success that they decided to make it an annual event and the Thai Youth Theatre Project was founded.