It’s the end of the first semester! We’re rounding final exams heading towards academic competitions and Sports Days, with a short school break in sight. This month, our writers look back on the past five months of school. For some, it’s the beginning of their service journey, while for others, it’s the beginning of the end. In every experience, however, there’s plenty of chaos, frustration, joy and laughter. Check out our favorite moments in the midst of it all!
Holly Lingenfelter, 136 YinD
I almost considered not doing the Mother’s Day activity I had planned with this school. It was one of my least favorite schools out of the six I teach at regularly. I typically do the same lesson at each school, with some variations to match the students, teachers, and resources available.
For Thai Mother’s Day, we made mini origami flowers to string into a necklace as a gift for the mothers of the students. The origami flowers were not the easiest, but not the most difficult either. Unfortunately, this lesson did not go over well at one of my favorite schools. My normally patient and well-behaved class could not follow along with the origami flower making. Between having no attention span, no patience, and getting frustrated with the delicate folds, the students were not having it.
I thought, if the lesson was chaos at one of my calmer schools, there’s no way it would work at my most rambunctious school. This particular school had been a challenge for me every week. My class consists of about 40 students, full of energy. Not only are the students incredibly loud, but so are the teachers; yelling over me, not allowing me to finish speaking, and difficult to manage every week.
However, out of all the schools I did this lesson with, it was my favorite one. Surprisingly, the students loved the craft, and it was the calmest I had ever seen them. They were incredibly focused, delicate with each fold of paper, and enjoyed it so much that we went 30 minutes over our class time.
This lesson also built a huge connection between the teachers and me. Before this lesson, we had been struggling to connect, and every class felt like a push and a pull. But I realized during this lesson that the teachers enjoy being involved and active in the lesson. Before, what I had seen as constant yelling at the students was now what I realized was a way for the teachers to try and be an active participant in the lesson.
My entire perspective of this school changed after this lesson. I used to dread going, but now it has become a favorite. It takes time and many mistakes to find the sweet spot with each different school, class, student, and teacher. But keep trying new things, never count anyone out, and you might just be pleasantly surprised.
Gretchen Evans, 136 YinD
My favorite school-related moment from my first term can be categorized as ongoing (a term that is giving me and probably other (R)PCVs reading this VRG PTSS). About a month and a half into the semester, I started co-teaching at my Friday school during P.E. class. Before then, I would only teach during English classes and the final club hour. I am so glad I was given this opportunity to get to know another teacher at my school better, and most excitingly, to play sports with my mattayom students! The unit of focus right now is the basics of table tennis. It has been an entertaining way to learn more Thai through ping pong terms and vocabulary.
I am a competitive person, so to say losing to 13-year-olds has been fun as well as hurtful, but it’s true! I get swept by two of my M1 students in our class’s doubles tournament every Friday. It’s difficult to be funny in a foreign language, but that has never stopped me from attempting the PCV-language-barrier version of dad jokes with them. I now take this weekly defeat in stride and am ecstatic this has built rapport with my students – we joke about my (lack of) ping pong skills. To all my fellow volunteers, if you like playing sports and have time in your teaching schedule, don’t be afraid to ask to co-teach P.E. class – it just may be your favorite moment from your term!
Kayla Kawalec, 134 YinD PCVL
One of the most exciting opportunities I’ve been afforded these past few months as PCVL was to sit on a panel of volunteers and talk about my experience in the Peace Corps engaging youth in sustainable development. Our lovely Editor-in-Chief, Lilly, also attended the event, and we talked to people from government agencies, embassies, NGOs, universities, and other organizations in Thailand about what the Peace Corps does and our shared goals of empowering Thai youth through community integration and collaboration. It was surreal to be sitting on a stage in front of my Peace Corps Thailand coworkers, whom I respect and look up to so much, and speak in their language about the work we do together in this country. Equally special was the opportunity to represent my fellow PCVs, who are doing the hardest job that they’ll ever (hopefully) love, the way I do.
Tal Carmel, 136 YinD
Looking back over the past term, I’ve had a lot of beautiful experiences. Everything ranging from being rushed by the children at my schools as they excitedly give me hugs, eating new and interesting foods, to watching the children come out of their shells and embrace new things.
I don’t know if I can pick a favorite, each experience and moment holds something pure and wonderful for me. What I can do is pinpoint a moment where cultural barriers were meshed, and I got to watch children be shamelessly and fully immersed in an activity.
Last week, I showed the film KPop Demon Hunters to some of my classes. A movie that, while they may have never seen it, they are very familiar with the music thanks to TikTok. While we sat watching the film, I loved looking around and seeing the students completely absorbed in the film, how they would explain to each other what was going on if someone couldn’t follow (we watched the film in English, with Thai subtitles, but not all of my students can read).
While watching them be enraptured with the film was great, my favorite part was when they would sing along. You could feel the pure joy in the room as the students sang the familiar words that they had only ever known out of context through snippets on an app.
The energy was infectious.
So naturally, I found myself shimmying my shoulders and singing along too. It was truly a moment of cohesion. Music has the power to connect, and in that moment, we weren’t two cultures, two languages, two age brackets; we were one harmony.
Peak integration.
Alyssa Strong, 135 TESS
If you know me, you know I have struggled for the past year and a half with counterparts. Struggles so bad that all Peace Corps staff could offer me were hugs, which were appreciated.
Despite the strife, I decided to stay at my site even though many people had told me to go. I stayed for my students and the bonds I made outside of school. I couldn’t ever imagine leaving my community, and the thought of starting over at a new site terrified me.
But with a new school year came a slight relief from the tension. I got a brand new secondary counterpart. The main one stayed the same, and the other one teaches history this year, but getting a new counterpart changed the entire dynamic of my second school year.
My new counterpart, Mon, welcomed the experience of working together with open arms. He is someone who, from the beginning, wanted to converse with me in English as much as possible. We spend hours every day chatting about everything from silly school drama to the deepest things in our hearts. He has always listened to understand. Even when he may not get everything I say to him, he always tries, and we find a way to meet each other in the middle.
He jokes with me, and he laughs because he thinks my laugh is funny. He sings English songs with me. He has invited me to explore many new hobbies with him and his friends. He has been a big part of helping me create closer bonds with all of the teachers and staff at my school, which has given me countless reasons to stay after school until dark.
And I can’t even count the number of times he has gone out of his way to go the extra mile for me and my friends. He volunteered to be the tour guide for my friends when they visited for our English camp. He always gives me rides when I need them. If he ever can’t, he makes sure I have someone to take me home safely. He never lets me buy him something without paying me back with a gift on the same day. Sometimes he will even surprise me with little gifts – like the time he got me an ice cream after lunch because I mentioned the ice cream he was eating at lunch was my favorite flavor. And I could never forget the time I got gum on the bottom of my shoe, so Mon found an old pencil and straw and used them to pick the gum off for me.
Mon feels like the first person at site who truly sees me for the person I am and strive to be. There is no better feeling than the feeling of being seen, known, and appreciated for exactly who you are.
Getting a new counterpart this year truly changed my service for the better. It brought its own set of drama because of lingering counterpart tensions, but it has also brought me tremendous joy and a new best friend for life.
I am a better volunteer and a better person because of Mon, and I am grateful every day for what feels like a second chance this second school year.
B. Harris, 136 YinD
With this being my first school semester in Thailand, I have so many fond memories that I’ve made with my students, counterparts, and my host family. From the impromptu student volleyball games to having a great English lesson that everyone loves. However, I have most enjoyed being a part of the marching band staff at one of my schools. I was notified during site announcements that one of my schools has a thriving music program. This was a huge win for me, as my original degree in college was music education. It’s been surreal actually being at site and standing in front of a band. We have weekend practice from 8:00 to 17:00, but I enjoy every second of it. This semester, we started the challenge of teaching students how to read the music staff, since they currently learn all of their music by the teacher telling them what rhythm and notes to play. It hasn’t been the most fun task (for the students), but there is progress, and I can’t wait to see what we will accomplish next term.
Tucker Strauch, 136 YinD
There was a week sometime in early June when I was fortunate to have durian every day. A neighbor won the lottery and decided to give us a whole fruit. The nayok gave the Peace Corps three fruits during site visit, only for those to be regifted to me because the PC staff couldn’t fly home with a fruit so pungent. One day, at one of my primary schools, a teacher who owned a few durian trees brought some in to share with the staff for lunch. I’ve grown quite fond of the unique flavor, so of course I dug in. That same day, right after lunch, I was sitting on the ground in a circle with my 3rd-grade friends. While introducing some new vocabulary words, I let a small and silent burp slip. Almost immediately, one of the girls blurted out, “Durian!” and shot up to her feet, looking for the source. Then, the rest of the class followed suit in an excited frenzy. I just didn’t have the heart to let them think that there was durian being unshared somewhere, so I told them the truth. In all honesty, I didn’t know how to say “burp” in Thai, so I just made a little impression. They got the idea and fell to the floor laughing. I was soon joining them.
There is no other job quite like teaching. On any given day, some moments bring me to the edge of a meltdown, while others fill me with pride and gratitude for the opportunity to do this job. During one random class with 2nd graders, I will be blurting out in broken Thai to the kids that if they don’t pay attention to the instructions, they won’t know how to do the activity – they usually just stare blankly back at me, not showing any sign that they understand a word. Then, the very next period, the 4th-grade students will connect the dots between the lessons over the past few weeks and successfully carry out a mock buyer/seller marketplace performed only in English. Of all the moments over the course of this semester, the infamous ‘durian incident’ was one of my favorites because it highlighted just how un-stressful my job can be. That moment was a reminder that some of the best parts of this job aren’t in the perfect lessons, but in the unexpected laughter that makes all the effort worthwhile.
Sticky Rice 