On Display

I no longer harbor any childhood dreams to become famous within the public eye. Since coming to Thailand, I’ve had my picture taken more times by strangers than a monkey in a zoo. It’s like the freaking paparazzi over here. 

A few examples...

The old town night market: 

There are street markets going on all the time around here. There are at least two nightly markets and then every weekend/week there seems to be an excuse to have several more. Whether it’s the first of the month market, or the vegetarian festival, or a full moon celebration, there’s always something to explore. It’s usually a really good time, unless the market is located in Old Town Phrae. The area around our school seems to be used to white people walking around. Students all yell out, “Teacha! Teacha!” and request high-fives from us. But the farther we get from school, the more looks we get, especially at the market in Old Town Phrae. The other day we were strolling down the street--all eight of us farangs--and a woman stopped two of the girls from our group and asked them to take a picture next to a dried fruit stand. Then everywhere we walked on the street she would stop us and make us take pictures with either her or the merchandise stand/food cart. Then once she started doing it other people appeared with their cameras and got in on it. It must have been a great time for them. For us, it was mostly just hilariously weird. 

The Assembly: 

This past Sunday we had to work. Lame. It was an open house type deal, but it was nothing like open houses in the United States. Instead, the director sat at a table on a stage in front of all the parents and literally read from a packet--a packet which all the parents had in front of them--for more than an hour. This assembly could have easily been replaced by a newsletter. All the English teachers were placed off to the side in a group in front of the assembly. Randomly I would hear the director say “America” or “farangs,” but for the most part it was over an hour of Thai whipping past our ears (actually, it was directly in our ears because they placed the speaker next to us). As we sat there, two teachers and multiple school photographers snapped photos of our presence. Then, at the end, they made us English teachers stand up, introduce ourselves, say where we’re from, and which grade/subject we teach. Then we had to go sit in our classrooms and wait for parents to come talk to us, which they never did. The director continued talking, and once he finally stopped all the parents wanted to leave because that meeting was most likely boring even if you understood it. As far as I could tell, we were there strictly to be seen by the parents and for documentation for future pointless assemblies. 

Gate Duty: 

Every day a Thai teacher and an English teacher stand at the front of the school and greet the arriving students. Last Friday it was my turn to be the English teacher up front. It was 45 minutes of me saying “good morning!” in a sugary sweet tone with a smile pasted on my face to the point of pain. The kids are just too stinkin’ cute to not smile and wave at. Also, if there’s any Up fans out there, my school is filled with little Russells. The boys either wear khaki shorts with their button-up uniform shirts or little tan boyscout outfits. Adorable. Sometimes I actually lol at their uncanny resemblance to the Pixar character. 

Along with greeting the kids just outside of the school, all of us farangs are like celebrities within the gate. We are regularly high-fiving and shaking hands with kids of all grade levels. In the mornings, it takes us only about five minutes to walk to school. After school, it takes nearly three times as long because we’re constantly being stopped by kids who want to utter their few standard English phrases, and as English teachers there’s no way we’re going to stifle this desire just to get home a little faster. 

All in all I feel like a celebrity here...sort of. No one knows my name or anything about me, but they sure do like to take pictures and shake my hand.