My ridiculously hopeful post

School opened last week in my village.  I remember dreading this day as a child.  I loved summer vacation:  Endless exploration, playing, creating, and imagining all day long.  I certainly had a charmed childhood.  Perfect family, perfect friends, perfect amount of toys and security.  I was lucky.  In fact, my perfect little life is exactly why I decided to move halfway across the world.  I want to create opportunities like the ones I had growing up and still have today. 

However, these dreams of digging ditches, building bridges (both literally and figuratively), community development, impacting poverty and creating educational opportunities are met with only one request: Learning English.  My community desperately wants me to teach English.  To everyone. To the elderly.  To the disabled.  To the kids.  To the government workers.  To the business owners.  To the stray dogs that roam the alleyways (just kidding about the dogs, but it would certainly benefit me if they knew English.  Maybe then they wouldn't chase me and try to bite me when I ride my bike because we could finally understand each other.) It's the first question out of everyone's mouth when they meet me "Can you teach me/my son/my daughter/my cousin/my friend English?"  And then they look at me with eyes full of hope and it rips my heart out of my chest.  Every time.  Then I have to go into my well-rehearsed speech, "Mai bpen kru.  Mai sone paasaa Engrit.  Diichan tam ngaan patana chumchon.  Kahtot ka."  Telling them I'm not an English teacher and that I'm here to work on community development is one of the hardest things I have to do every day.  It's always met with disappointment and disinterest. 

So, I came up with an idea that might be able to satiate both my personal goals and the needs/wants of the community:  Using English to teach life skills while using art as a engagement medium for learning, creativity, and confidence-building.  Plus it will be fun to paint! 

I firmly believe teaching English can be categorized as community development, opportunity building, and educational advancement.  Knowing English means the difference between a job with income potential and one as a rice farmer.  Not that a rice farmer is bad.  In fact, it might be quite good.  Thailand, and the rest of the world, depends heavily upon Thailand's rice production and according to reports made just this week, Thailand expects to maintain its current status as the world's #1 exporter of rice.  (Click here for the Bangkok Post article)  Think about THAT next time you have jasmine rice with dinner because perhaps my neighbors are the people who planted it. (That's a stretch, but sometimes it's fun to think about just how small the world really is, and how inter-connected we all are whether we like it or not.)

But can you imagine that rice farmer's potential if s/he knew English?  Well, I'm trying. And it gives me a lot of hope about how I can actually be of service here, and how one person can make an impact in the world. 

Next week I get to start my "art projects" with the village kids.  I'm really excited, and probably much more excited than even they, are to teach them about the human body, healthy living, recycling, water conservation, taking pride in one's culture, and whatever else I think of over the next two years. 

Some of the "art projects" I've tried out for my "recycling" lesson made from the People and US Weekly magazines my friend Melissa sent:

Paper beads

Woven paper basket

I also made an incredibly horrible and ugly paper flower which will not be showcased in my little art exhibit. 

So wish me luck, because while you might think this sounds easy, I know it won't be:   Because they told me 60 kids are coming to this class and I'm terrified of children in mass quantities.  Because nothing ever goes as planned here.  Because things move at a much slower pace here than they do in the U.S.  Because the statistics of success are against me.  But I'm going to try.  And I'm going to keep trying.