Day 70 - 84: Liberation Education

Day 70 - 84: Liberation Education

Dreamfood:

• I visited a floating market with my host family, and tried a ton of new foods!
• They also took my roommate, Jen, and I on a nice boat ride while we munched on said foods.
• The ride ended at a temple (forgot the name?) where we tried our hand with some fortune sticks. 
• We also visited another temple (again forgot the name) at night and ate at a night market.
• We were set free on the city of Nan, and enjoyed their lively night market.

Homestay Heart:

• My family consists of 5/(6) members; Tee, Tao, Tik, Win, and the grandpa. Our parents were Tee and Tik, two lovely bankers. They have two kids, Win win and Baan baan. Tao was our grandma, and she's a seamstress. We were never introduced to our grandfather. 
• So, Tao, the seamstress, made clothes for Thai dance! She also had a little station where she could do their hair and makeup as well. One day, they decided to dress Jen and I up and pose us for a cute little photo shoot around their house.
• Now, our dad, Tee, could speak a good amount of English. Everyone in the family relied on him to communicate with us. We had taken 4 hours total of Thai lessons, but we knew that speaking and being forced to communicate in that language would help us to learn. But, the family never expected us to speak Thai. We would try, and then they would just laugh at us. It's almost as if they wanted to improve their English. 
• Alright. The grandpa situation. On the first day, after we had met Tee, Tik, Tao, Baan, and Win, I asked if we had met everyone in the family. They seemed confused, but then admitted there was one more family member, the grandpa. I asked if he was working, and then they translated that he was paralysed. I was caught off guard and didn't know what to expect. We were never introduced to him, but would occasionally run into him around the house. We would greet him, but he would never acknowledge us. 
• Overall, our family is super sweet, but we don't really feel like part of the family. We're more like extended family. But, what do you expect of a two week homestay?

Culturescape:

• Thai people never say no; even when they want to. They're too polite! In Thai culture, it's impolite to say no. It might sound great, but it's hard since you never know if you're offending them. 
• Also, they always duck their heads if they walk in front of you. Heads are the most sacred and valued part of the body while feet are dirty and shameful. So, I gather that they never want their head to be higher. This is also shown in interactions with monks. You usually kneel in a monk's presence. 
• Facebook is HUGE. So many random people have asked to be friends. Just like facebook is huge, so is taking pictures. So many people would just snap pictures of us when we weren't paying attention. One time, during seminar, three men approached us and stood and smiled. We were all confused. Our Thai leader, P'Oye, exchanged a few words with them, and then she asked if it was ok if they could take a picture with us. Surprisingly, the PLs said yes. We also were invited by monks to learn about meditation at their monastery. When we arrived a whole camera crew was set up! As we were guided through what was supposed to be meditation by the head monk, we were bombarded with cameras. I was so uncomfortable and upset. It completely ruined that experience for me. Also, when we went to the floating market, a lady that we didn't know and weren't introduced to tagged along. She was constantly taking pictures of us and with us, and we were so uncomfortable. She then went to show us a facbook post she had made with all of these picture of us. After that, we had to tell our host family that we were uncomfortable with this. As this patten continued, I became more and more uncomfortable with this phenomenon. But, for other students, they became more comfortable with it.

Books Read/Media Consumed:

• Whatever It Takes by Paul Tough
• Finally finished! Well, the book didn't feel finished... I wanted more! It follows the progress of a new charter school attempting to bridge the academic gap between US classes, and now I'd like to keep up with that school's progress. If I'm correct, the first kindergarten class will be graduating this year, the year I was supposed to graduate. It left me with a lot of questions like; How is the school doing now? Did they ever expand to high school? Are standardised tests the true downfall of the first 6th grade class?
• Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms
• This is a TED talk about the faults of our current US education system. Very eye-opening. 
• Schooling the World
• A challenging 2010 documentary about world-wide education. 
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
• I haven't read this book as a whole, but we've been assigned a few chapters here and there for seminar. It has given me a novel perspective on everything I've ever learned. 
• Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen
• Just started this informational book about the lies in our history textbooks. It's taught me a lot about the true history of the US and how it relates to current events. 

Human Highlight:

My new roommate, Jen!

Fun fact:

There are NOT komodo dragons, but there are water monitors. And, said water monitors live right outside my house. 

BE critical.

It has helped me to better certain aspects of my trip and myself.

"Who is they?" - P'Oye

She asked me this after listening to our discussion about our educational experiences in the US. We kept saying "they want this," and "they make us do that." The question went deeper than just a clarification. Think about it.

Keep Thinking,

Meg