Switching Positions

Well, it has been a week longer than I thought that this update would take, but I guess that late is better than never, yes?

Much has happened in the past month, and the majority of it has to do with my transition into the role of "resource manager" over here at GES. Before returning, I thought that this role would be a nice, easy job that would provide me with a much more flexible lifestyle, complete with extra opportunities to engage in more directed ministry. Well, let's just say that that ideal situation is one that looms off in the horizon—it's a reachable goal, but there is a journey ahead of me that must be trod ere I rest at that haven.

It's funny to me, thinking as I do right now, that I actually miss teaching Math. Not so much that I am passionate about the subject—which I'm not—nor that I even enjoy the field—it was my worst subject in high school, and ergo, my least favourite—but the reason I find myself missing teaching Math is because I miss my students. It's funny how you can struggle & struggle, how you can bleed, cry & sweat through some of the most taxing (mentally) experiences of your life only to find that, having gone through the gambit, you take pleasure & ownership in leading others through the precarious maze. Yeah, I miss teaching math. I miss helping my students learn & grow. I miss interacting with the wide variety of personalities & I miss trying to reach each of them in a way that suits them best. I sure as heck don't miss marking Math assignments though. Man, math marking is the devil.

For all of you newbie teachers out there, hear it from the horse's mouth: everything gets easier the second time around. Yes, you may have been told this in your classes, or in a textbook or from people who know people who've taught for years, but coming from a guy who never had a stitch of teaching instruction and then teaching the most difficult content in all of high school—having him say that it gets easier after the first year might carry a little more weight [at least I think it does :)]. In fact, it was surprisingly easier: I didn't have to teach myself the content before teaching my students; I didn't have to shoot blindly in the dark with examples or methods of teaching. I had an arsenal of experience 10 months long with which I could begin tailoring my instruction for each student. It was great (minus the marking)... And then I got transferred.


Aaron, the new Math teacher came in to BKK for the first time ever with his wife, Lorrie, on the 5th of July. I was told that he was an Education graduate who majored in Mathematics. "Great," I thought, "This should be a smooth transition." I had previously been in e-mail contact with him & had given him access to online copies of our textbooks, and after a few days of getting over jet-lag, he sat in on some of my classes to observe how I had been running the classes so far. After one afternoon class, I asked Aaron what he thought & if he had any comments or ideas about how the class should progress. He replied to me saying that he pretty much had no idea, as he'd never taught a class before. "Surely", I thought, "an Ed. student would have had a practicum already!" and I asked him about this, only to discover that he wasn't a math education major—only ("only!" Ha! As if it was any less of a degree!) a guy with a math degree.

Now, this blew my mind & caused a radical paradigm shift in my noggin' as to what this year was going to look like. I now knew that I could (and probably would, if not at least "should") become a primary resource for Aaron to draw from as he took over the courses that I had designed through much strife & grief last year. I wouldn't want a soul to have to tread the same path that I had trod—especially if I could help him avoid the pitfalls that I'd tumbled into along the way. That being said, I hoped that he gathered some ideas from his observations & asked, from this conversation, if he'd be comfortable teaching a class or two that Friday. I'd observe & give comments about things he could work on in the precious few moments he had before flying "solo:" a dress-rehearsal for this year's Math Show, as it were.

Things went well for him that Friday, and I cleaned up the few remaining assignments that needed to be graded, and then I was officially cut off from the high school Math program (again, a bittersweet experience). The following Monday—this past one, in fact—I assumed the position of Resource Manager, the primary occupation of which was and is to operate the school's library. Unfortunately, there was no real orientation or on-the-job training or in-service or manual or... anything for me to have, really, before being cast to the rabid dogs. The only morsel that was flung my way came by the previous librarian's five minute show & tell of where the books were, how she kept the loan cards & records and what she did to manage overdues (there was a tiny bin wherein their overdue books' loan cards were filed, according to class but not to student). And then, the first class came in.


To say the least, it was a gong show, and it still will be until I find some sort of system that I can use to keep records & to manage the information exchange. Not only was the current record-keeping system for loans inefficient, but the actual book records were beyond nightmarish. None of the past librarians kept a consistent method of keeping records for books, as they are enumerated and filed by any of the following methods: under the author's first name, under the author's last name, under the book's publishing company, under the book's series, under the main title of the book, under the sub-title of the book, and even—I think—some filed under the first phrase on the first page of the book. Yikes.

Don't get me started on shelving & the organisation of the book collection. Let's just say that "general disarray" is the status quo of the library, and this literary warzone is going to need a great deal of TLC before the paperback shrapnel metamorphs into a viable pool of words.
Did I mention that there is no master catalogue, which means that nobody even knows what books we have & what books have been lost? Yep. That's right.


* * * * *

Anyway, the long drudgery of digging myself out of the slime pit aside, let's talk about other things that have happened in the past few weeks. Like going to Angkor Wat, for example.

As I write this letter, I'm sitting on a bus bound for Bangkok from the north-western region of Cambodia, wherein lies the renowned Angkor Wat. The place is spectacular. Utterly spectacular. Awe-striking and wondrously immense. Aside from the wat proper are several other temples and cities of stone peppered throughout the jungle, awaiting your wandering eyes & legs to grace the thousand-year old hallways. I can't say much more, because it wouldn't do service to the site—to the intricacies of the sandstone carvings worked out so immaculately that each of the several thousand 18" figures carved in the walls all had noses with nostrils & bellybuttons and eyes with pupils. And these are carved into stone blocks that make up walls, much less the more ornate sculptures & structures that make up the complex of Angkor.

One thing I will say about the place, however, is that in light of the amazingness of the place, I couldn't help but feel grieved. In many of the centuries-old corridors and in practically all of the temples' many sanctums were statues of Buddha. Some were sitting there, not having been moved for hundreds of years & still in good condition; others were decaying, having lost arms, legs or heads; still others were mere fragments of the statues that they once were; yet among the most grieving were the ones that were made of porcelain with the fresh coating of paint on them that stood beside half a torso of a former idol—each with an altar of incense in front of them & each wearing sacrificial garlands of flowers and each shaded by golden parasols to protect them. What place is this and what twisted reasoning exists in this that mere blocks of stone—even decayed rubble—get more attention, more love and more money than the hundreds of children & scores of war amputees that chase visitors around the park desperately trying to sell you their trinkets? It blew my mind & made me sick.

Yes, one thing of note about Angkor Wat is that every Cambodian and their dog in the park will follow you relentlessly to try & sell you anything that they can, be it postcards, cold water, skirts & bracelets or musical instruments that are too big & too fragile for you to take on the airplane. Much of the country's income comes through tourism, and Angkor Wat is the nation's primary international draw. Cambodia is easily the poorest country that I have ever visited; it makes Thailand look like a lavish land of hedonistic opulence (which, I guess actually is true of some parts in Bangkok).

Before this gets excessively long, I'll switch directions again. Ask me about the adventures of getting to & from Siem Reap, the city that hosts Angkor Wat—and if you ever decide to go, never believe the bus drivers: they're filthy liars. But do stay at the Potted Palm Garden Lodge: cheap rooms, excellent, honest, friendly & helpful staff—they redeemed Cambodia for me, and that's saying something when you bear in mind the bus drivers.


Things that you could pray about, if you're that type of person:

+Soda, one of my students of yesteryear, has left to go & live in Kentucky for a year as part of a language exchange program. Her sponsor family is putting her in Grade 12 when she gets there because—I can only assume—they want her to experience the life of an American Senior (that's a G 12 student for us non-Yankees). She barely passed 10th grade over here, receiving outside help from tutors who spoke her native language, so academically, this is going to be a difficult year for her (if she even tries). She'll get by quite well in the communication department, but her thirst for popularity might get her into trouble. Pray that she makes wise choices in the next year & pray that, as she moves from a Buddhist country to a nation that is considerably more Christian, she would see & experience the Truth and love that comes only from Christ.

+Pray for Aaron, the new math teacher, as he jumps in head-first into the world of GES without really any idea as to what he's doing. Pray for me, as I undertake the organisation, restructuring & operation of all resources at GES as well as taking over teaching the High School Computers classes [apparently, there was a hole that needed to be filled ;)].

+Pray for the students at GES. A few of them have opened up to me in the past couple of weeks, letting me in on some very personal information about things that have happened and, in some cases, still happen, in their lives. Pray that they would come to taste & see that the Lord is good; that He is the almighty Healer and that He is the true source of love.

Thanks for reading my letters & updates, and thank you for your prayers.

Daniel.

Experiensation

※Imagery

First things first. For those of you who have never graced the borders of Bangkok, let me illustrate for you a common, pervading feeling known as Bangkok air. Imagine with me, if you will, that you are in your house preparing to make cinnamon buns. Before you, rolled flat on a table or counter-space is a nice, irregularly shaped rectangle of yellowish-white, gooey sweet dough, its fringes powdered by the downy freckles of flour that you scattered underneath it, serving as a non-toxic pre-Teflon coating, serving as a safeguard against sticking. To the right of this delightful sheet of raw dough is a small glass bowl, pleasantly sitting with a spoon drowning in the browny paste contained therein. The paste, looking like some exotic sand from a volcanic beach, sparkles and glistens with rich yellow streamlets pooling in the paste's random depressions. From the aroma wafting out of the bowl, your nose sings an aria of delight, and the stomach rumbles in accord, eagerly anticipating the final product. The spoon's hands are full as you pull it from the pasty bowl and light it on the pillowy dough nearby. As if desiring to share the wealth, you help the spoon spread the brown sugary mash of cinnamon and margarine over the virgin dough, sullying its pristine, spotless fields with a thick, sticky coating of heavy goo.

In Bangkok, you're that dough and the air's that spoon. Within minutes of venturing beyond the realm of air conditioning, you find yourself covered in a film of humidity & sweat. It’s unavoidable, inescapable & pervasive. I now know what a cinnamon bun feels like when it gets dressed... No wonder all the Thai people are light brown! ;)


※Updatedness

Okay, instead of talking about baked goods, I'll get to the real reason for writing this stuff: what's been happening in Thailand. It has been two weeks (I think?) since my last update, and since then, we've completed orientation AND our first week of classes.

My goodness, you wouldn't believe how much of a difference knowing the material makes when you're trying to teach an upper-level subject! Ha! I was dreading the though of teaching math again for the first month here while the permanent math teacher arrives in mid-July.

Last year, not knowing a stitch of how to teach nor remembering any of the content that I was supposed to be relaying to my students was a horrifying experience. Every day, I was finding myself sweating bullets through each class and every evening I was forced to press my nose deep into that proverbial grind-wheel just so that I could have a slight grasp of what I was to convey to my students during the next day. It was like being a kid forced to eat a bucket of lima beans or else watch the bad guy shoot your parents. Disgusting but necessary.

Not so, this year. The difference is almost like night and day. Switch out the lima beans for jelly beans & you've got something more like what's going down this year. Instead of dreading classes, I'm now looking forward to seeing my students. Instead of fearing what's on the next page in the textbook, I smile to myself, already knowing what it portends. Rather than just trying to communicate the content in any way possible, I now get to spend my time more creatively—like making up ways of how to relate mathematical concepts to real life (who woulda thunk that relations & functions could be compared to notes & chords?). The difference is remarkable. The students are not marauders escaped from the pits of hell, there is sunlight during the daytime & sleep is more than a fanciful luxury! Ahh, it's a pleasant contrast.

Orientation this year was amazing. Much of the time was spent setting the framework of how the school is run, what will be expected from the teachers throughout the year & what we as teachers should expect from the days throughout the months ahead. Whereas last year's orientation focussed more on random theories of how to teach & presented not-so-practical paintings of instructional style (which may have been applicable to certain class settings, but not in my case), this year's orientation focussed more on drawing outlines in which we could paint our own pictures—as long as we coloured within the lines, things would be groovy. This approach, in retrospect, seems to offer a better plan of attack than a general example of what "could be."

Those days whisked by, ushering in the fateful acid test of "Day One." Remarkably, everything seemed to progress quite smoothly for both retuning & new teaching staff. Our schedules came to us very late (The Friday evening before classes began) which posed a bit of a stress, but on the whole, the good ship GES set sail in 2008 without so much as a hiccup. Last year, we had a huge debacle surrounding military school for the high school male students (In Thailand, there is a mandatory term of military service for all able-bodied males, and if that service is offered during "military school" as a student, the male can forego potential conscription / drafting in any potential future conflict) last year, which caused high school classes to be taught on most days until 5pm. With advanced notice this year, we managed to rework the schedule to accommodate this, which means better times for both students and teachers throughout the year (hooray).

There isn't really much else to report on the business side of life over here. I'll be filling in for the Math teacher until mid-July when he is scheduled to arrive, and after that, my duties as "resource manager" will begin, and I'll have the fun job of being able to help every teacher with any of their copious needs—students too.

※How You can Partake

Things to pray for/about, if you're that type of person:

•One of my students from last year, Soda—the drama queen/sensationalist-turned-sweetheart is sitting in through the first few months of school here. She'll be going to Kentucky to study in an American high school over the next academic year. At home, she is an only child, and her father runs a business up in Chiang Mai—several hundred kilometres north of Bangkok—which also ends up meaning that he practically lives up there too. Because of this, there's a marked lack of—and a desperate cry for—a masculine presence/attention in her life. Long story short: she ended up having two boyfriends for the bulk of last year—her more serious one, who went to study in Virginia, and a "fill in" here at GES until he returned. As such things always go, the truth became known to all parties, and now three people are hurting after two consecutive break-ups. Pray that this would be an opportunity for Soda to discover that the emptiness she's trying to fill—the love that she is looking for—can be resolved or accomplished or fulfilled by the wondrous gift of a relationship with Christ. I'm concerned about the possibility of her going to America with the state of mind that a boy can make her complete: its a dangerous position to be in when facing North America's more aggressive teenaged boys... Please, please pray that she would come to know the true Joy Giver and Lover of her soul.

•Pray for the up starting ministries that will resume & begin this year at the school. We will be picking up "Life Group," GES's version of a youth group for those interested in & committed to Christ. I'm hoping to be able to start an after-school/weekend Bible study group with some high school students if there's interest. Pray that the Lord would have his way in this.

•Pray for both the new teachers & returning ones as we try to get a rhythm for the work week—that we would get ample rest and continue to persist in seeking God's face.

Thanks for your time; I've gotta go & get ready for my classes. I'll fire off some phonemes & spit out some syllables again in July. Until then, keep on keeping on!

Neogenesis

June 7, 2008.

A week has effectively gone by, and in a few days, orientation for the 2008/09 school-year will begin. To say that the week was without note would be a gross understatement, as many new twists, turns, excitements and whatnots have been revealed within these few, short seven days.

When I arrived at GES, I had assumed I was the only foreign person around, and for the first few days of my return, it definitely felt like that. I didn't actually see anybody from the school until Sunday morning, at church... When Chris & Ro walked up on stage and began leading worship. "What what what??" I thought to myself, "There are other teachers around?! Sweet!"

The service went by in an interesting fashion. It being the final week of classes (or something) at ISB, the most prestigious International School in Thailand—which happens to be just down the street from the church—Sunday's service was oriented around the fact that many families would be leaving the community with the culmination of some of their children's educations. There were a lot of good-byes and a lot of heart-felt responses to which I felt a bit foreign, having just arrived back in Thailand; and after the speaking portion of the service was done, the church held a rather sizeable potluck session in the sanctuary for people to mingle & munch away the last service everyone'd be together. It was good to still see some familiar faces in the congregation and even better to have been noticed by a handful of folks too. I was surprised, actually, at how warmly I was welcomed back by a church body with whom I had spent no more than like 45 Sundays with. It felt good to be noticed & appreciated.

As far as school has been going, Monday was a very anxious day for me. Having just arrived a couple of days previous, with many of my memories from the end of last year fresh in my mind, I lay on my bedroom floor laughing nervously at the potential absurdity of the decision I had made. "What in the world am I doing here?" was a thought that plagued my mind that morning, coupled with, "What in the world will I be doing here," "How am I going to survive this year," and "What was I thinking?"

I knew, however, that God had indeed called me very explicitly to come back to GES and to Thailand to be used for his purposes. Still not knowing what those were, I was feeling a bit trepidatious... at best. Knowing Scripture seems to come in very handy, and since the God's Word admonishes us to cast all anxieties on Him (for He cares for us), I did just that. I prayed and told the Lord exactly how I was feeling, but let Him know that I would allow Him to deal with these issues and trust that He knows what He is doing. After taking a deep breath, I closed the door to my bedroom, went down the flight of stairs, out of my house and traversed the school's campus to head into the potential fire of the office.

To spare you from tedious details and episodes, let's just say that from Monday through to today, each day has caused my reservations & fears about my relationship with the administration to melt away—and not just melt away to neutrality, but in place of my fears, hope & excitement have begun to spring up in its place! Working with Peter & Sue directly, so far, has been not bad: even pleasurable at times. Sue's asked me to see what I can do about updating the school's website and to try to get some monthly content areas flowing as well as spearheading a project that sounds much like a school newspaper (springing from that, also a yearbook). These things sound quite interesting, and at present I'm looking forward to seeing how I can engage students in taking ownership of some of these activities.

I was also given the pleasure/responsibility of being able to pick up new & returning staff members from the airport throughout the week. It was good to see familiar faces & to be able to welcome my former colleagues back to the country—even if they were half dazed by the jetlag of trans-Pacific flights. Furthermore, it's been great to be able to get to know the new staff members who have been filtering in throughout the week. They are, for lack of a better word (and based so far on first impressions), awesome, awesome people & I am looking very much forward to spending the next year getting to know them & having the opportunity to support them in their teaching endeavours.

As I left Canada, Katie Wong had mentioned to me that the community atmosphere changes substantially each year that she had been at GES, and I can already see such differences forming. One of the biggest "new" things about this new group of staff is that the majority of new teachers all know each other very well, having all gone to the same college together (and all having graduated this past spring). The reservedness and social barriers that often come with people "trying to put their best foot forward" when conglomerating into a new social environment are practically nonexistent. These people feel real, and they feel very comfortable with each other—even the new teachers who didn't know any other soul at GES before stepping onto campus.

One of the most exciting things that happened with this group so far occurred last night, the evening after the newest arrival, Chris, landed in Bangkok. The whole shebang of new staffies had just come back from taking an excursion to Big C and came into the staff room where Surang & I were talking about campus security measures and other new ideas for the year. One thing led to another, and Surang expressed that one of her big dreams for this year is to have the school focus more on getting the students spiritually connected. She mentioned how, through working with the Baptist church on campus, it might be a good idea to have students be invited to come & hang out with the church folk once a month, with activities co-sponsored by GES staff & Thai church members. Suggestions were made about having dinners for the students along with activities & sports/games where they would be exposed to Christianity in more of a relational way than just the "instruction" style of exposure dominated by our devotional times.

Hearing this made my heart leap for joy.

And then she talked about maybe taking the whole high school to go to orphanages & children’s' ministries and other outreaches of the sort, to show them Christianity in action—and to give the students an opportunity to assist in helping the community! Goodness gracious, this woman must have been reading my mind over the past few months! All of the staff members seemed very gung-ho about such activities, which was really encouraging. And then, as it was Friday night & we all wanted to go do something, without even mentioning anything, the group decided that they wanted to get together & sing worship songs and pray. On a Friday night! I couldn't believe it!! Last year, trying to get staff together on a Friday night to worship God seemed like a painful chore, and here this group is, getting together on their own initiative, desiring to worship God together at the beginning of the year. Man, I have a feeling I am going to love working with these people this year!


* * * * *


Orientation begins for the new staff on Monday, and the first two days are optional for returning staff. I think I'm going to sit in on those days to try & further building amicable relations with the new staff. One of the things that I felt about my arrival last year was how disconnected & unsupported I felt from the returning teachers when they didn't show up at newbie orientation. I could really have used their wisdom and experience throughout that time, and my desire is to provide just that to these new folks this year—even with what little experience & actual proficiency I have.



As for my job description, well... It’s GES & I'm pretty sure no one really knows the full story as to what will ultimately happen with me. I've been hired back as a full-time librarian, who will be responsible for digitising the library catalogue, organising the collection with a recognisable standard, moving the collection to the new facilities (scheduled completion is September of this year), maintaining, weeding & adding to the collection. Extended responsibilities include (but aren't limited to: this is GES) the first on-call substitute teacher, the primary after-school "homework help" worker, secondary administrative support, non-library resource management and external communications head. On top of this, I've been asked by the Thai office workers to take up teaching Remedial English classes to high school students—essentially taking the lower level students from the main-stream English 10 & 11 classes and teaching them in line their proficiencies. By chance, Michelle—our half-time administrator—and I stumbled upon what also looks like me filling in for high school math instruction (grades 10, 11 & 12) until the permanent teacher arrives in the middle of July. Seriously, we literally stumbled upon this: during a casual conversation about who was going to fill in the blanks with the late-arriving staff, Michelle pulled up the master schedule and hovered the mouse over the empty Math slot, and a note appeared, which said "Mr. Daniel." Ha!

Michelle is in full support of me being a full-time librarian, and she—like I—recognises that in order for me to be able to do a good job at it, the position will require me to focus intensely upon the tasks within that job description. Having me take over the high school English "B" program (which we all thought was scrapped, after a parent/teacher/administration meeting at the end of last year) as well as becoming the acting high school math teacher pretty much sounds like my last year's experience... plus being the librarian. I was overloaded as it was with Math and English "B" last year; how in the world I would be able to pull of my library position would be beyond me.

This, hopefully, will all get sorted out within the next 10 days—or at least it had better. The first day of English instruction at GES is ten days away. It's going to be interesting to see how everything turns out.

More on that next time ;)




Update: June 8, 2008.

Turns out that I’m for sure going to be teaching high school Math until the permanent teacher arrives (hopefully) in July!