The (second) First Week of School

our friendly neighborhood soldiers

This is some of the text from an email message I sent explaining some of the situation to our Baylor professor who coordinates this program, the parents of the new teachers, my own parents, and the hesitant new American teachers who are supposed to arrive in Bangkok sometime tomorrow: 

"You may have seen the news about the recent Thai coup. The situation is not dangerous, and in fact the military has pledged special effort to protect foreigners. The Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts, government, and military have all promised to take special care to protect foreigners in the country.

Thailand is still as safe as it ever was, perhaps safer. Although the news sounds scary, I assure you that the situation feels safer and more peaceful than it ever did, even last year. The "hotspots" are on the other side of the city from where we live and work, and are not violent, just politically sensitive. In fact, since the coup, the protest sites seem to be dispersing on their own. I truly believe that you will not even see anything. If it weren't for CNN or BBC, I doubt you would even know that anything was going on.

Despite the word "coup" (of which Thailand has now had 12 since the 1930's) please know that it really does not affect us in any way. It only directly affects those in government, and not foreigners at all.

Again, this is the safest I've felt in my time in Thailand. Our apartment is nowhere near anything that's going on, and a residential neighborhood would be one of the safest places in Bangkok. Nobody was killed or even injured in the completely bloodless coup. It was a peaceful government transition that the people of the country by and large support. Bear in mind that this is not the United States where ideas like "coup" or "falling government" seem scary. These terms have different connotations here, and are really viewed as positive things for the kingdom."

In fact, lately there has been a trend where Thai people will take selfies with the soldiers. This is encouraged, and the soldiers seem happy and friendly. The ones stationed on our street know us now and are friendly towards us.

Despite the best efforts of me, my boss, our Baylor professor, and Suzy (a Baylor grad who has been teaching in Thailand for around 20 years now), we lost three of the new teachers. They panicked when they heard the news and didn't get on their flight. Unfortunately, since they withdrew at the last minute, it's been impossible to find replacements for them.

I picked up the two remaining new teachers at Suvarnabhumi Airport with my boss, Geoffrey. I had already met them at their orientation in Waco and went along to help (and also to get out of the office because there was nothing to do). We arrived a little early, but we had lunch at S&P, and the pickup went smoothly. 

The coup happened that afternoon while I was taking the new girls to the grocery store. I got the news on Twitter, and awkwardly informed them that I had been incorrect in my emails to them trying to convince them that a coup wouldn't happen. They took the news really well.

The next day was Saturday, so there was no school. I was determined to show them that Bangkok was a safe place to live and work, so I got up early to take them around town. I'm not much of a tour guide, but I've gotten to know my city pretty well. I remembered some of the first things I did last year, and we started the morning bright and early at BKK Bagel in Chit Lom. I'm doing my best to be the new Katie or Grant this year. Of course, following the lead of my predecessors, I took them to the Erawan Shrine to watch the Thai dancers performing their prayers.

Erawan

Because the girls were still so jetlagged, we were out that morning around 7. Even after breakfast, it wasn't even 9 yet, so we had plenty of time. They wanted to keep moving, so I took them to Jim Thompson's House next. There was a special Jim Thompson farmer's market going on, and after looking around there we took the tour of the house. I believe it's smart to take this tour when you first arrive in Bangkok, as it's a great introduction to Thai traditions, history, and culture. Jim Thompson, the mysterious American architect/spy/silk tycoon's home is now a museum, and contains his extensive collection of South Asian art. While we were there we also got to watch a silk weaving demonstration.

silk weaving demonstration

As part of the tour, the guide mentioned how Bangkok used to be known as the "Venice of the Orient" due to its many canals, or khlongs. Even as recently as twenty years ago, the khlongs were the best way of getting around town before the MRT or the BTS were constructed. Jim Thompson's home is built on one of these waterways, and even includes a riverboat dock leading to the original front door. That would have been the main entrance in the 1950's when he lived there. The girls were intrigued by the river boats and asked me if I had ever taken one. It told them that yes, I had actually taken this riverboat line a few times, and it's the only one in town that I was familiar with. It was still early, so after the tour we hopped a khlong boat and headed to the cultural heart of Bangkok to another one of my favorite landmarks, Wat Saket... the Golden Mount.

Wat Saket

I won't go into details, since I've written extensively about this before. This was my second time to visit this temple, and I felt like I really knew what I was talking about (or at least enough to fake it). This temple appears on the back of the 2 baht coin, and is a very famous and iconic landmark in this area of town.

From the top of the temple you can see an excellent view of the city, including the so-called "hotspot", the Democracy Monument. From where we were it was obvious that the area was perfectly peaceful. It's amazing how the news really blows the Thai situation out of proportion. Living in Bangkok, you wouldn't even know that we were living under a military junta! Everything is running as smoothly as normal. Speaking with the head of the Vocational department, an American-Thai woman who is one of our best contacts for getting the inside story into what's actually going on in Thailand, we talked about how in any country other than Thailand, a coup might be cause to worry. Thailand is the happiest and most peaceful place I've ever seen. It's called the Land of Smiles for a reason, and nobody seems bothered by the military presence. Mainly people are relieved that the chaos from last year seems to be over.

Finally, it was lunchtime. We headed back to Siam Square via khlong boat, and went to Siam Paragon, Bangkok's premier luxury mall and 2013's most "Instagrammed" place in the world, for lunch. We ate a a midrange bistro, then wandered around the mall for a while imagining what it would be like to be rich. My question is how do they get the cars inside the 3rd floor Rolls Royce showroom?

could be yours for 45,000,000 baht

The luxury car stores like Rolls Royce and Lamborghini had signs in Arabic, English and Chinese. It really tells you who their customers are!

Anyway, the next monday was the first day of class at Mathayom (and the new girls' first day at work period). I'm excited this year because I got to pick my classes to teach, so I'm teaching more of the older students. So far I've only done welcome material, passed out the textbooks, created a roll sheet... things like that. This coming week will be the first week of lessons.