LAST DAYS IN BANGKOK

On the Friday of my first week in Thailand we had a early start with a welcome from the British Council and The Ministry of Education in Thailand which included an amazing musical performance from some local school children. 

It was during this meeting that we were supposed to be meeting our mentor who should have been sat next to us. However we were welcomed by an empty seat. We guessed that maybe our mentor was late and were comforted by the fact that other ETA's were also sitting looking a bit lost and lonely! 

Me and Joy feeling a bit deserted

After an introduction to what was expected of us on the 9 week program we had a coffee break. After this break the chair was no longer empty and we met our mentor, Lan. We were instantly amazed with how good her English was. Lan is fluent with only very rare instances where she uses the wrong word or tense. It turns out that she studied for her masters in Bath, England.  This made me feel very safe as I knew that any problem wouldn't be too complicated to explain so my language barrier dissipated instantly. 

As the briefing went on we were warned about the dangers we may face during our weekends travelling. We were told horror stories of drug missuse and jail sentences along with moped accidents and injuries from animals. It was at this point our mentor whispered to us about how she rides a moped with no helmet and that the dogs that roam about in Ban Song aren't all that friendly... Oh. 

After some lunch we had a group seminar with ETAs placed in the South and our mentors. We did some teacher training and had a chance to brainstorm and ask questions to our mentors and vice versa. We were informed about the naughty children we would teach in big classes, where we would be living and what the local area is like. We were also told we would be flying down to Surat Thani the next day in the afternoon after visiting a market in Bangkok with Lan's sister in law. 

We then got dragged into an impromptu photo shoot with other ETA's. The Thai mentors sure do love a photo! Lan told us that many of the teachers had been messaging her begging for a photo of both of us.

This photo was uploaded to Facebook with teachers and students all very excited to meet their new 'farang' (foreign) teachers. 

In the evening there was a welcome party with live music, food and some traditional Thai dancing. It was a very good send off as some of the ETA's had a long journey and had to leave that night or early the next day. 

I had to say goodbye to Deeni and the rest of the people I'd spent most of my time with in Bangkok that night.