Rolling with the punches

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I'm instituting a new Thailand Advisory Guide that should help put my life here in perspective. Personally I'm aiming for my life to swing between Mango & Bananas. I can accept a few things going wrong here or there, but if I find myself deeply unhappy for any length of time, I'll need to re-evaluate things.


I'd actually call today a Code Mango. Life is really really good. Could it be better? Maybe. Would I change a single thing? Not really.


My lesson today was graded "to standard" which is just fine by me as several things went wrong, a few which were under my control (specifics about my technique) and a few that were out of my control (several people came in late, the white-board markers wouldn't work, the overhead projector stopped working). Overall I kept rolling with the punches and survived the lesson. I don't need to be perfect, I just need to pass. I got good feedback that will help me in future lessons.


I got my assignment #2 back, and will need to resubmit it. It was a grammar assignment and I was pretty unsure about the last page - I didn't get it all wrong, but one thing from one exercise, something else from another exercise etc., so I'll need to correct it and turn it in again. I knew it wasn't my best possible work when I turned it in. There was some laziness/self sabotage going on and there's a part of me that's relieved that I didn't pass it first time through. It takes a bit of the pressure to be perfect off of me. Armchair psychologists - feel free to interpret as you like.


I went out for a beer with the guys which I love. We didn't talk about anything especially exciting, but I know that once the course is over I'm going to miss them terribly. And I got a ride home on the back of the Brit's motor bike which was fun, and saved me 20B for the songthaew. When he dropped me off he said "That'll be 2,000 baht." but I was like "You're going to have to do a lot more for that much." (Yay for a good come-back said while it was actually relevant!!!!)


So life is good. It's very good. I'm just loving this course, I love learning new things and getting to practice teaching in such a safe environment. I love the messy complicated human people who are on the course with me. I love the food (today's teriyaki chicken just about blew my mind), I love the weather - it's so warm and even the humidity is strangely comforting. The rain every night just clears the air and makes everything look clean in the morning. And yes, I know this is a *classic* case of the Honeymoon Phase of culture shock. I know it'll wear off eventually, so for now I'm just going to revel in it.


Now a question for you, faithful Work In Progress reader.... Is there anything you want to know about Thailand (politics / social issues / nature)? Anything you would like to see me try or to report on (I would rather not eat a bug, but I'd be more than happy to take pictures)? Is there anything I've been posting about that just bores you to tears and wish I wouldn't mention again? (Every time I talk about lesson planning you want to smack the computer?) I keep this blog primarily for myself, but I love that you wonderful people are reading it & leaving such supportive comments. So I want to do what I can to make it as interesting as I can for you. =)