No Clever Title, Just a Tired Teacher

Hello everyone, I once again greet you from the far off streets of Nonthaburi!

Is it really already November?  Of course, here I have no weather change to help underscore the passing of the seasons.  I’m sure it’s cold in the States, but here it’s still 80-90 degrees everyday.  It still feels like I never left summer.

But you don’t want to hear about that.  I can practically hear the questions: “What’s it like, Julianna?”  “How’s teaching?”  “Is it going well?”  “Do you like the food?”  “What do you do all day?”

Like all true answers, mine is complicated.

“It” is new.  Like I’ve said before, I’m an adult on my own for the first time, and it is quite often exhausting.  It takes growing up to realize how much you don’t know.  There’s a humbling part of independence, where you begin to realize WHY God designed us to depend on each other.

“It” is also fun.  I take song taus (trucks with space to sit in the back that cost the equivalent of 22 cents) to school and grocery shop when I want and buy roti (bread with sugar icing) on a Saturday night.  I get to go hang out with people and keep my own hours.  That’s fun.

Teaching is going well.  And also hard.  I’ve realized lately that students really have no idea just what their teachers go through.  There are moments when I KNOW that I am where I am for a reason and there are others when the last thing I want to do is stand up in front of eleven boys and one girl for 80 minutes and attempt to teach them vocabulary and spelling.

My internal phrase is “herding cats”.  I love them, I really do.  It’s tiring, but I know I’m where I need to be.

The verse currently keeping me going is 2 Corinthians 4:1, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.”   God gave me this job quite literally out of nowhere, and He will get me through every day.

Right now, I’m trying to learn the class and the kids.  There’s all these different personalities and strengths and weaknesses and I want to teach them all well.  Second grade is currently my babies.  I have first grade for the first time this week.  I get third grade next week.  Pray that I am able to develop a teaching plan and able to differentiate how I teach each class.

I do like the food, although I haven’t eaten a ton of “traditional” Thai food.  Kao man tai (chicken and rice soup) is good, any kind of curry is good.  I love that they keep the yokes runny in hard boiled eggs.  Roti is also delicious.

All day…well, on a school day, I get up at 6:30.  Get dressed, have a quiet time, get out the door by 7:15.  Jump on whatever bus or song tau comes first and ride on down to the school.  Clock in by 7:30.  Go print papers or fix my powerpoint or frantically get everything ready.  9:00, first grade comes.  10:25, they get a break and so do I.  11:00: eat lunch.  11:30-12:50 is 2nd grade and 1:00-2:20 is third grade.  After that, I either have planning time, meetings, or chapel.  I plan until my ears bleed and then go home at 4:30 (if I’m lucky).  Weekends, I do something with people, after sleeping in, and Sundays is church and whatever else comes my way.

So yeah, that’s my current life update.  A lot of new things and transition.  I’ll let you know when something noteworthy happens.  In the meantime, thank you all for reading and let me know what’s going on with you!