As I mentioned in a previous post or two, two months ago we managed to get a cat to "alleviate" the mice problem at school. Though I am not a cat fan, this cat (who we named Jah-lay, "little tiger" in Burmese) has won me, and the school committee members, over. This is mainly due to the fact that he really acts like a dog. So, as Jah-lay settled in to life at school (he spent the first week curled up in a box, scared to death), he has also spent many nights sleeping curled up on a corner of my blankets, outside my mosquito net.
On Christmas Eve, I came home to find the Jah-lay scratching underneath my blankets. I thought he was just playing with the mosquito net, which he seems to find endlessly entertaining. However, when I lifted up the blankets, I found he was actually playing with a dead mouse. He had apparently recently killed it and after I revealed it again to him, he grabbed it and continued to bat the mouse around my room, flipping it around and throwing it up in the air. I didn't want to leave him there with it, in case I came back to find remnants of the mouse strewn across my room. So, I stayed for about 10 minutes and watched him play with the carcass. After he was finished using it as a toy, he ate it whole, no mess. I beamed with pride at my little tiger.
My first morning in Nupho, I found that one of the mice that had taken up residence in the school had used my shirt and pants as a toilet. Then, even after the cat had taken to sleeping in my room, I found that another mouse (or mice) had decided to use my water bucket as a swimming pool and my cup as a toilet. So, I really wasn't sad to see that Jah-lay had taken revenge on at least one of them and hope that it will be a lesson to them - at least until I leave here in about a week.
Early this morning I was woken up by Jah-lay running around my room. I assumed he was just bored and playing with the mosquito net, which, as mentioned above, he loves to do. It went on for some time though and I decided to shine my light to see what he was doing, but didn't see him - or anything else. So, I tried to go back to sleep.
However, I still could hear him. So I sat up again and took out my ear plugs. I heard the noise coming from his usual sleeping spot and shined my light there. There he was chomping away at the head of a rat that he had apparently killed sometime earlier. By DC rat standards it was pretty small, but in comparison to the little mouse he had a few weeks ago, it was huge. It was therefore quite shocking to wake up to at about 5:30am and it took me a minute to figure out what the beast (that is what it seemed like at first) was exactly. I wasn't sure if I was more horrified at the sight of Jah-lay eating the head of the rat or the idea that the rat had been alive and running around my room just before its demise.
Moments later, Jah-lay heard cats fighting off in the distance and took off to investigate. I did a little investigating of my own, inspecting the carnage the cat had left behind. There was blood on my mosquito net and underneath some of my blankets. You might be horrified to know that after a few minutes of deliberation, I pulled the blankets away from the carcass and with it just a few feet from my head, went back to sleep.
Jah-lay returned a while later, inspected the rat carcass, and also went back to sleep. I got up again about 8am, left the carcass where it was, and went downstairs. At first, I breathed a sigh of relief as I discovered a trail of blood on the bamboo porch, down the stairs and onto the cement. I realized that the rat had not been in my room alive, but that Jah-lay had brought it upstairs after he had killed it.
I had been ill in bed the day before and had only eaten a bowl of milk and sticky rice, along with two small cups of tea in the last 24 hours. So, with the heat of the day first hitting me, the lack of food and water in my system, and the trail of blood I was inspecting, I began to feel a bit woozy. Luckily, one of the school committee members was willing to remove the carcass from my room and dispose of it so that I could get some breakfast.
Apparently, with my colleague and I both being ill in bed with giardia, and the school committee members in a dispute with the internet shop people, no one had fed Jah-lay yesterday. So, being a resourceful little one, Jah-lay had acted like a true little tiger and had gone hunting.
Mainstreet, Nupoh
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Spiderman pajamas
Spiderman is the name my colleague and I have given the son of one of our students because he is so often sporting spiderman pajamas, even in the middle of the day. Interestingly, this phenomenon of pajamas being worn as regular clothes, out in public, in the middle of the day, is not confined to children, nor to Nupho. Adults can often be seen sporting nightshirts with leggings or full pajama sets as shirt and pants, on the road, at the market, or in the tea shop. It seems that it is not unusual for Thai people - or Cambodians, from what I saw on my brief trip there last month - either. Maybe this is related to the love here, by adults, of cartoon characters? Or maybe just some cultural disconnect...
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Christmas Weekend
Christmas Eve day began with gifts received from a few students, including two who aren't even Christian. The day continued with wine (brought from Mae Sot when I first arrived here two months ago) and dinner at a tea shop, owned by one of my favorite people in Nupho.
I don't believe this tea shop owner ever stops smiling - and if he does, I've never seen it. Tonight when I walked by his shop, he was strumming his guitar and singing. He immediately stopped long enough to flash a big smile and ask "where are you going/coming from?" (as is typical in Burmese culture), before I waved goodbye and continued on here, to the internet shop. I truly wonder if he smiles when he sleeps too.
Christmas Day began with "Feliz Navidad" blaring from the Chin (an ethnic group in Burma) church next door (Zion Baptist church) at about 7am.
It continued with oatmeal (with cinnamon) and hot chocolate, sent by my colleague's mom; then lunch, shortly followed by a nap; then late lunch #1 at the Karen church at 4pm (pronounced Kah-rehn - another ethnic group in Burma and I believe the largest ethnic group residing as refugees in Thailand); closely followed by late lunch #2 at the Chin church at 5pm, and then Heinekens and pad thai shared with an Irish, a Dutch, and an American ex-pat for dinner at about 7pm.
Spending the whole day eating was pretty typical for Christmas, but I can't say that four plates of rice in four hours was typical for Christmas - or any other day.
I don't believe this tea shop owner ever stops smiling - and if he does, I've never seen it. Tonight when I walked by his shop, he was strumming his guitar and singing. He immediately stopped long enough to flash a big smile and ask "where are you going/coming from?" (as is typical in Burmese culture), before I waved goodbye and continued on here, to the internet shop. I truly wonder if he smiles when he sleeps too.
Christmas Day began with "Feliz Navidad" blaring from the Chin (an ethnic group in Burma) church next door (Zion Baptist church) at about 7am.
It continued with oatmeal (with cinnamon) and hot chocolate, sent by my colleague's mom; then lunch, shortly followed by a nap; then late lunch #1 at the Karen church at 4pm (pronounced Kah-rehn - another ethnic group in Burma and I believe the largest ethnic group residing as refugees in Thailand); closely followed by late lunch #2 at the Chin church at 5pm, and then Heinekens and pad thai shared with an Irish, a Dutch, and an American ex-pat for dinner at about 7pm.
Spending the whole day eating was pretty typical for Christmas, but I can't say that four plates of rice in four hours was typical for Christmas - or any other day.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Stories from Nupho
I am teaching my students how to write summaries and book reports in preparation for writing their own reports in a few weeks. One of their homework assignments was to write a short plot about their lives. They all chose an event or period of time in their lives and wrote a brief "plot" about it. Here are some of the events they shared with me this week:
One student had a baby last year, a daughter, who passed away when she was just about four months old. My student explained how sad she was after this event and how taking classes at ESC (the school where I teach) and learning English, along with the passage of time, has helped her to attempt to recover from this tragedy.
This student's husband explained how his father was arrested by the Burmese government in 1988 for participating in the student uprising (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8888_Uprising), where thousands of students were killed for opposing the government. His father spent over 18 years in jail. After his father's release, his father continued to be involved in the political movement against the government and was forced to leave Burma after his involvement in the Saffron Revolution in 2007 (http://uscampaignforburma.org/learn-about-burma/saffron-revolution). His father has been resettled to the United States.
Another student, a Buddhist monk, is Karen (pronounced Kah-rehn) and is from Karen state in Burma. Karen people have been the target of on-going ethnic violence by the Burmese government and its military for more than 25 years (http://www.tbbc.org/camps/history.htm) and the violence continues today (http://www.burmapartnership.org/2010/11/karen-villagers-still-fleeing-post-election-attacks-by-burmese-army/). My student wrote about how his village was attacked and burned when he was about 11 years old. His father was taken away by Burmese soldiers at that time. He is now 26 years old, he hasn't seen his father since that time, and believes that he is dead.
A fourth student wrote about how her father left her and her mother before she was a year old. Because of her father's abandonment, she told how her mother's life has been very hard. However, she explained how her life has been so easy because her mother has always put her needs first.
Other students wrote about an imagined future, a few writing about what life they hope to lead, if they are resettled to the United States. One of these students wrote that she hoped to be a Burmese teacher for Burmese children in the U.S. She explained that she doesn't think that the children will want to speak Burmese if they grow up in the U.S. So, she hopes that she may be able to encourage them to learn to not only speak Burmese, but to also read and write the language as well. She also plans to donate money to her church with her first paycheck, give to the poor, and also help orphans.
I have never taught in the U.S., so I don't know if it is typical for students to share such deeply personal information with a teacher, just for a homework assignment, particularly one they have only known a few months. However, I was really taken aback by the honesty of my students with this assignment. I felt really privileged to be entrusted with this information, as I am unsure if they were really conscious of the fact that what they were writing in their personal notebook would be shared outside of it. I wanted to share their stories with all of you though, because I felt that sometimes we all forget how privileged we are compared with many people in the world - and this definitely reminded me.
One student had a baby last year, a daughter, who passed away when she was just about four months old. My student explained how sad she was after this event and how taking classes at ESC (the school where I teach) and learning English, along with the passage of time, has helped her to attempt to recover from this tragedy.
This student's husband explained how his father was arrested by the Burmese government in 1988 for participating in the student uprising (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8888_Uprising), where thousands of students were killed for opposing the government. His father spent over 18 years in jail. After his father's release, his father continued to be involved in the political movement against the government and was forced to leave Burma after his involvement in the Saffron Revolution in 2007 (http://uscampaignforburma.org/learn-about-burma/saffron-revolution). His father has been resettled to the United States.
Another student, a Buddhist monk, is Karen (pronounced Kah-rehn) and is from Karen state in Burma. Karen people have been the target of on-going ethnic violence by the Burmese government and its military for more than 25 years (http://www.tbbc.org/camps/history.htm) and the violence continues today (http://www.burmapartnership.org/2010/11/karen-villagers-still-fleeing-post-election-attacks-by-burmese-army/). My student wrote about how his village was attacked and burned when he was about 11 years old. His father was taken away by Burmese soldiers at that time. He is now 26 years old, he hasn't seen his father since that time, and believes that he is dead.
A fourth student wrote about how her father left her and her mother before she was a year old. Because of her father's abandonment, she told how her mother's life has been very hard. However, she explained how her life has been so easy because her mother has always put her needs first.
Other students wrote about an imagined future, a few writing about what life they hope to lead, if they are resettled to the United States. One of these students wrote that she hoped to be a Burmese teacher for Burmese children in the U.S. She explained that she doesn't think that the children will want to speak Burmese if they grow up in the U.S. So, she hopes that she may be able to encourage them to learn to not only speak Burmese, but to also read and write the language as well. She also plans to donate money to her church with her first paycheck, give to the poor, and also help orphans.
I have never taught in the U.S., so I don't know if it is typical for students to share such deeply personal information with a teacher, just for a homework assignment, particularly one they have only known a few months. However, I was really taken aback by the honesty of my students with this assignment. I felt really privileged to be entrusted with this information, as I am unsure if they were really conscious of the fact that what they were writing in their personal notebook would be shared outside of it. I wanted to share their stories with all of you though, because I felt that sometimes we all forget how privileged we are compared with many people in the world - and this definitely reminded me.
Many of my students are single young men, here in Nupho without a family to support them and no way to earn a steady income. They are forbidden from working by the Thai government and so are limited to odd jobs they can secure from time to time. While in most contexts single, young, educated men in their twenties would have many advantages, including a generally higher education level than their female counterparts in the job market and more disposable income than older men with families to support; in Nupho, they are at a disadvantage.
These young men actually seem to be one of the most vulnerable groups here, as their rations are smaller and they are forced to share already cramped quarters with other single male friends. Additionally, they lack the family support that is so central in Burmese culture. Unfortunately, many of them become depressed, having no work or family to keep them busy, and they often spend too much time drinking as a result. They have so much potential, but being on their own makes it hard to remain positive about their futures.
Despite the challenges they face, my students seem to be on the right track for the most part, even though I do worry about their futures if they are forced to languish too long in a refugee camp. One of them was out of class last week, after finding some temporary work in a nearby town. He told me that he hadn't read any further in the book assigned for class since I had left for my visa run two weeks earlier. Then after a discussion of the book in class, I come to find out that had just "skimmed" the last 100+ pages while I was away. So, not only had he kept up with the reading for class, he had finished the book three weeks ahead of everyone else. He said "skimming" it didn't count.
These young men actually seem to be one of the most vulnerable groups here, as their rations are smaller and they are forced to share already cramped quarters with other single male friends. Additionally, they lack the family support that is so central in Burmese culture. Unfortunately, many of them become depressed, having no work or family to keep them busy, and they often spend too much time drinking as a result. They have so much potential, but being on their own makes it hard to remain positive about their futures.
Despite the challenges they face, my students seem to be on the right track for the most part, even though I do worry about their futures if they are forced to languish too long in a refugee camp. One of them was out of class last week, after finding some temporary work in a nearby town. He told me that he hadn't read any further in the book assigned for class since I had left for my visa run two weeks earlier. Then after a discussion of the book in class, I come to find out that had just "skimmed" the last 100+ pages while I was away. So, not only had he kept up with the reading for class, he had finished the book three weeks ahead of everyone else. He said "skimming" it didn't count.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Things to know about Nupho...
The residents of Nupho - of all ages - are huge fans of Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, Scorpion, the Eagles (every Burmese boy with a guitar can play "Hotel California"), Boy bands, all things Korean (i.e. movies, soap operas and boy bands), horrid Burmese soap operas, Avril LaVigne, and life-sized posters of puppies and babies to decorate their homes.
You will often see men here taking care of their children, at least the ones under five. In Mali/Tanzania, it was rare to see a man holding a child, never mind traveling with one on his own. However, it is common to see men carrying, traveling with, and being generally affectionate with their children.
It is customary to remove your shoes before entering anyone's house. It is also customary in offices, at school, and often in many shops as well. It is disrespectful to ignore this custom.
I teach my classes barefoot.
People use umbrellas more often to protect themselves from the sun than from the rain.
If you invite your students to lunch, breakfast, or even just for tea, they will inevitably insist on paying for you, despite the fact that you invited them. Being crippled by a lack of understanding of the language doesn't help when attempting to ensure that the tea shop owner will take your money, instead of theirs.
Anything but Burmese traditional music is copied from someone, somewhere. Currently, I am listening to the World Cup song made famous by Shakira being sung in Burmese. Surely they don't have a copyright for that...
You cannot be Burmese without loving tea leaf salad (http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSJAF3DYJp4xYpp55fznJ9v7dc0GJgGowZGyV4ut5HnIl3RsGsPbw)
They chew beetel nut and still manage to procreate - (http://www.yachtaragorn.com/photos/Gallery/SumbaBetelNutManAndKids.jpg) - the beetel nut: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areca_nut).
All of their "coffee" is in packets and consists of 40-60% sugar and less than 10% coffee.
If you order tea, a quarter of your cup with consist of sugary condensed milk.
None of the residents of Nupho understand how you cannot eat copious amounts of rice at EVERY meal.
They all love Aung San Suu Kyi.
They pronounce "Kyi" like the letter "G." Apparently, when the British transcribed the language into our alphabet that sound got lost in translation.
They are former photo-journalists, farmers, tour guides, truck drivers, teachers, government workers, etc...
They love their country and their culture, but none that I have talked to plan to return to Burma.
It is rarely quiet - pigs squeal; the church band plays - at concert level volume, especially when it is just a practice session; 5+ rooms of 40+ students scream their lessons, in unison, at the top of their lungs, from the school next door; monasteries are blasting prayers at any and all points during the day; children squeal; drunk men gather after their one beer puts them in a stupor (Burmese men cannot hold their liquor); someone is seemingly always testing a microphone, saying approximately 20+ times (in English) "hello? hello. hello! hello, hello, hello,"; the cat whines, though not often and not loudly - but still...; radios, videos, and REALLY bad kareoke cannot be listened to at anything but full volume; guitars everywhere, and they aren't afraid to play them - or even a mandolin.
Prayer call from the mosque is the quietest thing in Nupho, except for my students when they are asked to speak or read aloud in class. They speak at inaudible levels, except maybe when I make them stand at the front of the room and speak or read aloud. Then they are wicked excited and speak at a level slightly louder than a mute.
Phone conversations overheard at the internet shop can almost entirely consist of the word "ok" repeated over and over and over and over again, in a rushed manner that indicates they are about to hang-up, but go on for 20+ minutes..."ok, ok, ok, ok.ok? ok! ok! ok, ok, ok....ok....ok, ok....ok" - 20 minutes later (click).
You will often see men here taking care of their children, at least the ones under five. In Mali/Tanzania, it was rare to see a man holding a child, never mind traveling with one on his own. However, it is common to see men carrying, traveling with, and being generally affectionate with their children.
It is customary to remove your shoes before entering anyone's house. It is also customary in offices, at school, and often in many shops as well. It is disrespectful to ignore this custom.
I teach my classes barefoot.
People use umbrellas more often to protect themselves from the sun than from the rain.
If you invite your students to lunch, breakfast, or even just for tea, they will inevitably insist on paying for you, despite the fact that you invited them. Being crippled by a lack of understanding of the language doesn't help when attempting to ensure that the tea shop owner will take your money, instead of theirs.
Anything but Burmese traditional music is copied from someone, somewhere. Currently, I am listening to the World Cup song made famous by Shakira being sung in Burmese. Surely they don't have a copyright for that...
You cannot be Burmese without loving tea leaf salad (http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSJAF3DYJp4xYpp55fznJ9v7dc0GJgGowZGyV4ut5HnIl3RsGsPbw)
They chew beetel nut and still manage to procreate - (http://www.yachtaragorn.com/photos/Gallery/SumbaBetelNutManAndKids.jpg) - the beetel nut: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areca_nut).
All of their "coffee" is in packets and consists of 40-60% sugar and less than 10% coffee.
If you order tea, a quarter of your cup with consist of sugary condensed milk.
None of the residents of Nupho understand how you cannot eat copious amounts of rice at EVERY meal.
They all love Aung San Suu Kyi.
They pronounce "Kyi" like the letter "G." Apparently, when the British transcribed the language into our alphabet that sound got lost in translation.
They are former photo-journalists, farmers, tour guides, truck drivers, teachers, government workers, etc...
They love their country and their culture, but none that I have talked to plan to return to Burma.
It is rarely quiet - pigs squeal; the church band plays - at concert level volume, especially when it is just a practice session; 5+ rooms of 40+ students scream their lessons, in unison, at the top of their lungs, from the school next door; monasteries are blasting prayers at any and all points during the day; children squeal; drunk men gather after their one beer puts them in a stupor (Burmese men cannot hold their liquor); someone is seemingly always testing a microphone, saying approximately 20+ times (in English) "hello? hello. hello! hello, hello, hello,"; the cat whines, though not often and not loudly - but still...; radios, videos, and REALLY bad kareoke cannot be listened to at anything but full volume; guitars everywhere, and they aren't afraid to play them - or even a mandolin.
Prayer call from the mosque is the quietest thing in Nupho, except for my students when they are asked to speak or read aloud in class. They speak at inaudible levels, except maybe when I make them stand at the front of the room and speak or read aloud. Then they are wicked excited and speak at a level slightly louder than a mute.
Phone conversations overheard at the internet shop can almost entirely consist of the word "ok" repeated over and over and over and over again, in a rushed manner that indicates they are about to hang-up, but go on for 20+ minutes..."ok, ok, ok, ok.ok? ok! ok! ok, ok, ok....ok....ok, ok....ok" - 20 minutes later (click).
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
A new school session and a new addition
So, our latest school session has begun and the students seem to be happy to be back, except when it comes to homework and quizzes - much like most American students feel everyday, I am sure. I found enough copies of an easy reader version of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" that I used in my Intermediate class today. They seemed to enjoy playing the parts and I am determined to get at least some of them to be less shy about speaking in front of others - and maybe even get them to shout every once in a while! My Burmese students are very humble and shy and when asked to read aloud, most speak in a voice barely audible to anyone, including themselves.
In other ESC (English Speaking Course - the school where I am teaching) news, we have finally gotten a cat to help to keep out the mice, or at least capture and kill them should they decide to pay us a visit. The cat doesn't seem to know what to do, or where to go though. He seems to enjoy the safety and comfort of a box previously used for computer paper, hiding under a cabinet in one of the bedrooms, or hiding out elsewhere in the school. He manages to purr and cry at the same time and we wonder if he might be a bit bipolar, not seeming to know if he is happy or sad and often seeming to be a bit of both at the same time. We aren't sure that he will actually ever capture any mice, but hopefully his mere presence, particularly his scent, will help to keep the mice from stopping by at all.
Since I originally wrote this post my Intermediate class finished "Romeo and Juliet" and loved it so much that they asked to perform an act of the play for other students at the school. They were so nervous and excited, it reminded me of how much fun I had doing plays in high school. They can't wait to read another play and will maybe perform the whole thing next time.
As for the cat, he has decided to stay and finally gotten out of the box. He has even started to follow us a bit like a dog would, which may be why I like him so much. I am not a lover of cats. Truthfully, I don't like them much at all. This cat is an exception though, particularly because he was keeping the mice away, for a while at least. We have to feed him a bit less fish, I think. We named him "Jah-lay" ("little tiger" in Burmese) and he is now a permanent fixture at the school, even joining me for class from time to time.
In other ESC (English Speaking Course - the school where I am teaching) news, we have finally gotten a cat to help to keep out the mice, or at least capture and kill them should they decide to pay us a visit. The cat doesn't seem to know what to do, or where to go though. He seems to enjoy the safety and comfort of a box previously used for computer paper, hiding under a cabinet in one of the bedrooms, or hiding out elsewhere in the school. He manages to purr and cry at the same time and we wonder if he might be a bit bipolar, not seeming to know if he is happy or sad and often seeming to be a bit of both at the same time. We aren't sure that he will actually ever capture any mice, but hopefully his mere presence, particularly his scent, will help to keep the mice from stopping by at all.
Since I originally wrote this post my Intermediate class finished "Romeo and Juliet" and loved it so much that they asked to perform an act of the play for other students at the school. They were so nervous and excited, it reminded me of how much fun I had doing plays in high school. They can't wait to read another play and will maybe perform the whole thing next time.
As for the cat, he has decided to stay and finally gotten out of the box. He has even started to follow us a bit like a dog would, which may be why I like him so much. I am not a lover of cats. Truthfully, I don't like them much at all. This cat is an exception though, particularly because he was keeping the mice away, for a while at least. We have to feed him a bit less fish, I think. We named him "Jah-lay" ("little tiger" in Burmese) and he is now a permanent fixture at the school, even joining me for class from time to time.
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