Anyways, today was the second day in which I worked, and so far, it has not felt like work yet. I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but I am gaining some experience in the process of communicating, and in logging information.
My first day of work, it comprised more or less of consultations than teaching, and making audio recordings for me to review. As I progress with teaching and practice, I will be using audio for my students to practice their speaking, and to compare their progress from when they began learning, and throughout the course. It is one thing to try speaking, and it is another to listen to a recording of how you sound, because it is how you sound to others. I realize that I must be comfortable with how I sound when I speak, because I will be hearing my voice more and more often in recordings when I work with my students. Another thing I have come to understand is that I will be teaching not only different levels of English, but English for different purposes; right now, I am building lessons for TOEFL preparation for one student, speech preparation with time management and Standard English in addition to different types of language (formal, informal, and jargon) for another, and General English speaking/listening skills with department-specific terminology and practices for another group. Eek! I'm glad that I will be spending all day at the hospital to do this, and I can not wait to have a work permit in my hands (it will be like Christmas came to me!) and be established as an employee. While things have been moving slower than I would have preferred, I have received much moral support from friends and family, who couldn't express the saying better: "good things come to those that wait." Yes, I have waited, and I will remain patient, but at the same time, I will work my butt off so that I can help the people here improve their English-speaking skills, their confidence in their ability to speak it, and their opportunity to pass exams that measure English-speaking and competency!
Those who like pictures, I (finally) took one, but not of work, though I was in my workplace, and it is of food. I visited a cute coffee shop (of course I would) and found that this location also sold macaroons or, depending on how you spell it, macarons. One iced vanilla coffee ('gae fae vanilla yen'), six macaro(o)ns, and 225฿ later, I left.
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The flavors, from left to right: Coffee, lemon, coffee, strawberry, blueberry, caramel.
I actually do not recall eating a macaro(o)n in my life, and so this was a first. I was not disappointed, having tried only the blueberry flavored one. It was light and aerated, the cookie, and the filling was rich in flavor, without that buttery feeling or taste that comes with eating heavy buttercream. The coffee, well, you just can't go wrong with coffee for me, and mine even came with foam and a pretty design on top. The atmosphere was very cutesy, and the associates there were very nice, which I think made up for the slightly steep price. (225THB= ~ 7.80USD) But then again, I do not buy macaro(o)ns on the daily, so I am no expert.
Anyways, my titles to each blog do clue in to what I am to discuss, and this post is no different, though maybe slightly mysterious in it's connection. While "Day 2 Tuesdays" would make much more sense, "Two day Tuesdays" just sounds better, eh? Plus, I would actually like to use this post to bring up one of my earlier posts. I will have to admit that there was much frustration applied in writing this article, and it was really frustration that had built over a few months, because of the fact that I felt very restricted from expressing my thoughts freely. In fact, the only person who expresses all their thoughts openly, without a care to whether they were nice or not, is my uncle. He says whatever he wants, expecting nobody to be upset or to catch him on his actions; if they happen to do so, he, as my aunt so vividly painted it, would bite their head off. It is extremely frustrating, and this behavior is understandable (but isn't really acceptable). It is understandable because it displays how he feels insecure about certain aspects of himself, where her feels vulnerable, and when an animal feels cornered or vulnerable, they attack. While it isn't acceptable, he has built his own paradigm which makes him think it is okay for him to react in such a way, but not for other people: he has built a small fortune for himself and his family and he has very few friends that he remains in contact with and opts to not socialize with others when the opportunity strikes him. These friends, of course, either are at his financial status or better, or they are a life-long friend that has stuck with him. Him not having many friends means less people that will be vocal about their ideas which may or may not oppose his; as for his financial state, this tends to give people egos, making them think they are better than others, therefore they do not need to listen to what other people say.
The problem, though, with having built this state of mind is that it increases the likelihood of eroding important relationships that one may already have. For example, I see my aunt, and she is not the person when I first met her. By outsiders, she is seen as the woman who 'tamed the beast' that is my uncle, but as time has passed, I have grown to understand that she has been patient and not tamed him, but tolerated him. Many of her activities seemed to have been limited in order to appease this said beast of a man and, while I do understand that in a marriage does involve compromise and the occasional giving up of something, I feel that she has given up more for him than he has for her, in things she likes to do. Examples of these "We go to different restaurants and he orders the same thing every time," or "He doesn't like it when I bring work home." As far as I have heard on his side: "I have never cheated on her." In a healthy relationship, each partner must accept certain aspects of the other, and give in their partner every now and then, the keyword being each. Not one person giving into the demands of the other. And fear should not be used against the other to get what they want.
Speaking of relationships, I would like to say, that after four months of spending time together, the one I have with my six year old cousin has blossomed into a very close and loving relationship, and I feel that he has definitely started to make progress towards his independence. Last night, he slept in his own bed, all night. Although I do have to say that I shared his room with him so he felt more secure, but he did not go downstairs once. He even said that he wanted to sleep upstairs for tomorrow night! That was a major stride taken. From there, we will continue to work on him sleeping in his own room more often, and then sleeping by himself in his own room for the entirety of the night. Then he will eat all of his food on his own in a reasonable amount of time, and then he will be doing more things independent of his parents, like bathing himself, dressing himself, cleaning up after himself, etc. But for now, he work on one thing at a time.
An update on my legs, I have dressed my one large scrape for the third time. It is a weird feeling, removing the bandage, cleaning the wound, and then applying a new bandage. There is a weird numbness that I have when I remove part of the bandage that are closer to the wound opening, which is due to the swelling. I do hope that when the swelling of my injuries goes down, my ability to feel pressure is back to normal, else I may need to see a physician (how convenient that I work in a hospital!)
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Until next time,
K
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