Travel to Teach: Thailand Volunteer Story

Bas Kortmann, 26, The Netherlands

A short tale from Namsom

This is a story about my stay with Travel to Teach for the last two months. When I arrived in Nong Khai, I had the opportunity to go to Namsom for only one week to find out if I would like it there. Well, one week became two, two became three and now after seven weeks I am finally leaving the Isan paradise.

Together with six other volunteers, Rick and Jehab and our dogs we stayed in Ban Falang I (house of the foreigners). Within one week we moved to a new dorm, Ban Falang II since the safety of the volunteers was at stake in the old dorm. One water tap outside, rain inside, exposed electric wires and very dirty rooms no longer met with the wishes of Travel to Teach.

The first week we were teaching in a Wat and in the house of a teacher because the schools hadn't started yet. After this week we could teach at two primary schools or one high school. I decided to go to the Nangua primary school. Together with Anita, I taught under the supervision of Pi Nang. It was really a big relief for me to find out that teaching is not that hard. Beside the normal vocabulary exercises, writing and speaking lessons there was enough time to play games and sing songs. The students really love to sing and dance. We have been teaching 6 classes. Two grades, 5th and 6th which each consisted of three groups. The level of the students English was lower than I expected so I had to skip the items I prepared in Holland. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the teaching at the schools.

One thing I still can not get used to is the fact that the some teachers don't really care about the time the class starts. It is very common that if a class is scheduled for 10 o'clock the teacher appears at 10.40 and then at 11.00 says: 'Oh, time already...'

Every day was a day in which I experienced new things. One of the most remarkable days was Teachers Day. All the children of the school we gathered in the big hall. We had to sit in front of the hall, facing the children. Each group came forward, offered us flowers and threw their bodies to the ground (Wai) to show us their respect. As uncomfortable as I felt, I and Paulien had to sit there for about two hours receiving all the flowers.

Besides teaching we had enough time for ourselves. Mustafa and I decided to build a pizza oven, since western food is not available in Namsom. We discussed about the design for a long time and in the end we decided to build an oven based on a traditional Italian oven. Together with Aon, one of our many Thai friends, we bought the stones, the concrete and the metal for building. Within one week the oven was finished. Although the initial design was a pizza oven it ended up as a convertible. The oven could easily be transformed into a really great BBQ. We were so happy the moment the first pizza came out of the oven and we were even more satisfied with the taste of it. Even without cheese (welcome to Namsom) the smell and taste of the pizza was great.

We even made a variety of combinations to be tested Pizza Tuno, Pizza Pork, Pizza Mushroom and Pizza Namsom.

So what else can you do in Namsom besides teaching, eating pizza and relaxing? You can sit at the lake with the Chinese temple, have a foot or body massage, go karaoke or climb the 800 steps to the temple on the mountain to enjoy the beautiful sunset. Hanging out with our Thai friends and sightseeing the surrounding of Namsom. We really liked the Thai band I-Nam over here, especially the song "ruk kon mee jao kong" which you are required to know the lyrics when you arrive to Namsom :.

I could write so much more about Namsom, about the market, the owner of the pet shop, our dogs, our gecko or the garden, but my time is running out. I'll leave Namsom within 15 minutes to go to Bangkok and after that I'll travel through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. On the way back home I'll will again visit Namsom, but this time with my girlfriend to show her why I stayed seven instead of one week in Namsom.

Email Bas Kortmann

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