First Impressions

Since we have arrived here in Thailand, we have been inundated by the importance of first impressions: dress, smiles, smells, the proper “wai,” the exchange of gifts... these are all important firsts. Little did we know that we would be carted to school straight off the bus the Friday we arrived in Nonsung, leaving us with no time to ready ourselves for all these firsts.

We rolled in on the bus we had boarded... scratch that... ran to catch at 7am that morning in Non Kai near the Laos boarder. The journey was six or seven hours, sans air conditioning. I would like to mention (primarily for Sherri's sake) that we started off fresh and showered but we were wearing the same clothes we had been in for a few days (remember the Laos boarder debaucle?) and after a few solid hours of sweating on the bus we were grubby to say the least. Our Media Kids coordinator Pai, had called our school to let them know we were arriving Friday. “They will be there to pick you up,” he assures us.

Here's what we are thinking...
We don't teach until Wednesday, we could go to Bangkok and visit people there, or we could go see our new home and get settled in. We decide on using the weekend to settle into our new house, thinking that we will have Monday and Tuesday to prepare for our first day of teaching. Doesn't that sound nice?

Our phone rings, “Hello, Teem, where are you? I am waiting for you.” Our teachers are at the bus station already! We're a bit nervous. I wish we knew how long it was going to take for us to get there. I wish we knew how to tell the teachers when we would be arriving. The first of our language barriers goes up.

We try to “freshen up” in the bus bathroom. It's challenging to stand still on a barreling bus and all the more intimidating when there is a sloshing bucket of water (used for flushing) lapping at the sides of the bucket next to you. I pull the wrinkled sleaved shirt from my bag... first impressions are important. I may look and feel disgusting, but I will do it with covered shoulders and toes!

We arrive. We call our Thai teachers. We can't understand them and they cannot understand us. We hand the phone to the bus driver. He looks really confused but takes the phone. He speaks what seems like rapid-fire Thai, hands the phone back to Tim and points us toward some doors leading to the bus terminal.

We go in...no one approaches. How will we know them? Actually, it doesn't matter, we stick out like a couple of sore and grimmey thumbs. They'll find us.
People stare...we stand smiling and occasionally shift locations to attempt an escape from the many eyes. Impossible.

Finally. “Teem! Lisa!” I was so nervous about this first introduction all I really remember is Tim and I gave a couple of fly wais. We have practiced during our training classes, in our hotel room and even on the bus ride to Nonsung. Tim may be “Mr. Media Kids,” but I proudly hold the silver medal for the best female wai. I was shown up by a Philippino, she has the most fly wai of them all. I think it must be proximity that gave her the edge. Darn. Maybe next year.
We wai, we eat, I drink a cup of coffee in attempts to quiet my pounding headache and we're off to our new home... or so we thought. We are desperately looking forward to a shower but instead we are going to the school. “That's okay,” they are excited to show us the school.


Taken from the English Department.

Hmm, why are there students here? We thought the students were on vacation? “Students are here?” we ask timidly.
“Yes, yes. Students are here.”


During morning assembly each day this area is full of NonSungSriTani's 2000+ students.


Taken from the 2nd floor balcony outside of our office. The school campus is beautiful. It looks more like a college campus than a highschool.

We are brought up to the English department, “the office.”
“Here are your desks,” say our beaming Thai teachers. “Ajarn (teacher) Gowit can make the schedule for you to teach next week.”
“So, are the students here during vacation?”
“No, no. Not on vacation.”

Tim and I begin to piece it together bit by bit as we ask the same questions in different ways.
The students have been back from vacation since Thursday (the day before). We are indeed at school, on a school day meeting teachers, assistant directors and being shuffled around campus in front of students. First impressions are important. We are dying.

After we wai each person that we are introduced to we try to explain that we were not expecting to come to school, we have been on a bus all day, we don't look very nice...

We get the impression that the English department wants to have a welcoming dinner. We express that we would like to buy a nice shirt, our bags are in Bangkok and we would like to change before dinner. The school wants to buy us some King's shirts (I will never escape uniforms and dresscodes). The yellow polo King's shirt is worn on Mon and Tues. The good news is I can wear pants on these days. Whoo-hoo!

We are driven to a shop and we try to find clothes. “Pants, are pants okay?” I ask Ajarn Dang. “No, pants. Skirts” Language barrior #? I've lost track at this point. Actually pants are okay with the King's shirt. I learned this from my neighbor P.O., she's a teacher and a God-send. More about her later. So I buy a black skirt and a King's shirt. Tim gets a pair of dark brown pants and his King's shirt. We are ready for dinner. Well almost.

We are taken to our house and shown around. It is fantastic, I'll describe it later. The two teachers Ajarn Dang and Ajarn Puchilom wait while we shower. Oh, the pressure!
We shower, put on our new clothes and we are driven to dinner.

Turns out to be just the four of us, not the big English Dept dinner like we thought they were telling us. We didn't need to dress up at all. Not sure how that was miscommunicated, but we were delighted to be in clean clothes anyway.

They order dinner for us and we, finally for the first time since we arrived, began to relax. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and some conversation, sometimes understanding one another and sometimes not, but smiles dominated the evening. They told us that Thai culture is “relax” and we “can be okay.” And we were. Very okay.