The next stage outta here

Leaving the Island tomorrow. Went up to Thon Nai Pan on Friday night, the north east part of the Island. Nicest beaches on the island but hard to get to by road. The place is beautiful; full of couples and families though so the nightlife was...mmmm...relaxed.

Saturday night we had a bbq in Coco's and went to see a live band in Same Same bar. Same Same band as we saw on Full Moon night. Twas good and not too mad a night.

Have been saying goodbye to the kids. They are all revved for up for the big sports day this week so only stop briefly to say goodbye take some sweets and take off running. The Headmaster hadn't told anyone that today was my last day so all the teachers looked at me in surprise when I said 'Lagone' ('bye for good'). Had one last lesson with nursery and played tug of war and inside/outside game (jumping rope). As I pried the little ones from my legs to leave my eyes were moist...I must have gotten something in my eye.

Thesaban, the second school was a non-event. Class one had a half day for sports practice. Pity, as I didn't get to say goodbye. Although the triplets in the class are part of the Charm beach family, where I am staying, so I'll give the leftover sweets to them.

Tonight we are all out for dinner in Liberty resort. BBQ and beach fire. Last farewell to the PODies and the people who looked after us out here.

The last few days have been taken up with packing and throwing things I don't need out . Have bought tickets for Krabi and organised accomodation there, but nothing further than that. Hope to meet Chris, the only other POD guy, over there. Then on to the 10 day silent retreat Suan Mokkh...shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
(http://www.suanmokkh.org/)

M.

Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods. Ralph Waldo Emerson

It was only a matter of time

(Blog relates to last week but is written in the present)

I'm Irish and from a family that "likes their few pints" so it was only a matter of time before I would have to teach with a hangover. That was today.

I went to Coco's to say hi to Tanya(PODy) and Kelly(PODy) and meet up with a French Parisenne called Carl(tourist). The beer was too gassy for me so I made the fatal mistake of having JD. I love drinking whiskey, it gives me a warm content feeling but also tends to retard my decision making. I won't be teaching till 12:30 tomorrow so why not go to Haad Rin (of full moon party fame), I already had my lessons plan done. What's the worst that could happen! I danced like there was no-one watching and we talked and sang till 2ish. I had moved onto water at this stage but the legs where a bit jellyfishish on the way home.

This morning I slept through my alarm so woke a hour late and had to rush to get breakfast. It was one of those morning when you find your mobile phone in the fridge and half a doner kebab in your shoe. I cursed Jack Daniels and his beguiling brew.

I got to school and was only ten minutes late and told the Headmaster I had an upset stomach...I neglected to mention why! He was more interested in rolling his cigarette. He had no clue whether I need to teach next Wednesday or not. The schools in general are not good at communication. But I can't talk...I spelt 'cloud' as 'could' and confused Green with Red and nearly fell over when I was doing actions for aeroplane...I think I closed my eyes and suffered an attack of vertigo. The kids had a great laugh and scoffed all my chewing gum before I left. I didn't mind; it said mint flavour but they tasted of whiskey.

So that was Class 2...Class 1 next. On Monday they where an absolute nightmare. The lads were actually running full tilt into the wall, bouncing back then doing it again. They ignored all attempts at discipline. My poor mind was trying to prepare mentally but all that it produced were swear words.

On my journey to Class 1 I met a friend. Little Pen from nursery. She is the headmasters daughter. Today she decided she was going to be teachers assistant. She cleaned the board and held up the pictures or did the actions when I elicited. My mind did wander at times and at one stage half the class disappeared to get water for over 5 minutes. Little Pen got bored during this time so took my juggling balls and went out into the yard. The last half of the class was utter chaos. 3 of the girls insisted on drawing fruit and point blank refused to stand up and do actions. The lads started a water fight and it took another 5 mintes to calm them down and clean up. Eventually the class ended. I was soaked in sweat and feeling dizzy but did have a quick game of marbles with the class 2 lads before I left.

I got my head shaved yesterday (picture to follow). Well actually Anne, the Canadian PODy, shaved it and enjoyed doing it far to much! Pookey let us use her salon (same place I got my hair cut by "best haircut Lady in Thailand"). We had a tradition in College to go boozing after a haircut. I'm very traditional at heart.

This is my current travel plan:
26 July Krabi/Phi Phi
31 July Surat Thani - Buddhist retreat
13 Aug Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai
23 Aug Loas
7 Sept Vietnam
19 Sept Bangkok...or extend and go to Cambodia
21 Sept Fly home (maybe!)
M.

Never you mind. A guy got to sometimes. John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men)

A poem - a promise is a promise

There was a young man from Nantucket,
And the things that he did they would shock ye,
He...Only joking!!!!

I'm new to peotry so constructive criticism only please. I promise not to do the Michael D. Higgins on it i.e. it won't be a regular thing.

To Live
--------
To love, To laugh
To cry and to hurt,
Be humble and patient,
To know my place in the world.

To learn, To listen,
To mentor and teach,
To be a good citizen,
But not a good sheep.

To challenge, To question,
To read and to write,
Seek Truth and Beauty,
To sleep well at night.


M.


"Not all those that wander are lost" - JRR Tolkien (thanks Neal)

A Cow says what?

It has been an interesting 2 weeks. I have been teaching all through the Monte Vista experience and have gone to school in a various moods...from happy to depressed. I have spent a good few of the lessons revising vocab and playing games with the kids as this take less planning. Rock-Paper-Scissors was a big hit, and they all wanted a piece of me! I won more then I lost---probably because i eyeballed them first.
This week I taught nursery the full yogic breath and how to do the star jump (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6080034036765262544). Two of them have taken to attaching themseleves to my legs everytime i walk into their room...and they all want a go on the helicopter (Teacher Mike!).
The whole school is preparing for the 26/27 July which is some big parade for the King. They are out in the yard banging drums and cymbals and throwing batons around the place.

Yesterday I did animals with the kids in Thesawan. Animals don't sound the same in Thai as they do in Ireland :
Animal - Sound
===========
dog - sunak
cat - maiow
duck - pet (but quack-quack will suffice)
cow - wooa
pig - moowah
frog - khop-khop
We did colours as well, then "Green Frog etc...a lead in to teaching them Adj Noun sentence structure as in Thai they say "Frog Green". They all thought my cow impression was hilarious - growing up on a farm has prepared me for so many things in life!

I'm off to Koh Samui for me birthday. There is another Indian chap whose birthday it is so it should be a good night- 10-20 people. I haven't touched alcohol in over 2 weeks so I'll be taking it easy - I'm high on life at the moment.

I have moved into Charm Beach Resort for the next 2 weeks and am leaving the Island on the 27 July, the day of the full moon. Phi-Phi first then Chiang Mai...time to start planning!

Some more photos - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mikedugganjnr/TeachingSndTravel
Later,
M.



In old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away from the city of destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward; and the hand may be a little child's.
George Eliot

The 1984 Tipperary North Riding County Football Final (Centenary Year)

"Houlihan, did you find your boots yet?".

If we left now we'd still be on time. In those days we use to cycle to training - 5 miles there and back to Newport hurling field. Paul (Houlihan) was a handy football and hurling midfielder; Me, I was the star sub, one of the lads who kept the ball warm at half time. My height was against me I told myself. I get on the team next year.

I often didn't want to go training or to matches, standing on the sideline freezing me nads off, mindin' other lads stuff...but I went; for fear of the mother, for fear of being called lazy. On a farm there is no greater sin than laziness...well, except maybe letting the undeclared bull escape into the yard while the vet was testing; that was my finest hour. The Dad didn't look at me, except to shake his head, for weeks after. I was a bit of a day dreamer in those days.

That year we drew the Tipperary North Riding County Football final. The replay was set for the following Sunday, against Eire Og, the big guns from Nenagh. I was picked to play corner forward. I'm not jokin' ye, I nearly shit myself...This was huge! The girls would surely start fancyin' me now...I mean what's a foot in height for one with a County Medal.

The big day arrived. I played a decent game; worried the defense and made space for the older players to play and score. We won by a clear 7 points. I felt elated, but I also had another feeling. Relief. I had no wish to win really...I was a child, I wanted to play; to take part; to belong...but just the thought of going to a game filled me with aniexty. To feint injury would be dishonest; another grave sin in our house.

In the years that followed, as I never had afor passion for the playing, I slowly began to miss more training session and games. I was always on the sidelines of the GAA fraternity, but a pattern, a belief started there. Put simply, I am not good enough; Success and achievement are temporary...the fear (self doubt)and of not being good enough was constant. This constant companion has been draining me for years; stopping me from trusting the truth within me.

Now it is time to embrace it, to feel it, negate it. It has no power over my life anymore. I own it. I have no solid idea of what I'll do next, but right now it time to play; travel; challenge the unknown. It doesn't take courage anymore. Only the fearful need courage.

By the way, the mother tells me that Paul Houlihan got engaged recently. More power to him. I wonder if he still has his County Medal.

Humbly yours,
M.

Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi

Life, death and rain

Prologue: "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Callum, Happy Birthday to you" - To my darling nephew Callum I hope you had a great first birthday.

Post: It was Full Moon last Friday, the party Koh Phan Ngan is famed for, so the farangs have been arriving in their droves. All between 18 and 25 and looking for a good time. Most of the teachers gave the 3 day Blue Moon party a miss as POD advised against it...apparently a boat sank and some farang died a few years back...and the weather was poor last week.

Earlier in the week it was Subai's birthday. She is one of the Thai girls coordinating the POD volunteers. She has really looked after us so we all clubbed together to buy her some flowers and cake. On the night of her birthday we went to a Thai BBQ restaurant. Quiet unlike anything I had been to before. You queue up for your uncooked noodle and raw meat and fish and cook it all at your table. Holes in the table are filled with hot coals and a circular cooking plate is placed over it. There is a rim on the plate to pour hot water into...the place to cook your noodles etc. Everybody then proceeds to put raw meat and fish on the plates to cook. Its great fun but you are using chopsticks and spoons, so raw and cooked mix...your chops touch cooked meat, but you pretend it didn't happen...in fact we need to ignore all our cooking hygiene knowledge. It was hard work but great fun! A lot of the time you had no idea what something was before you put it in your mouth..."Is this chicken?"- "It looks like Tofu."- "Actually, it tastes fishy."

We all agreed that the best course of action, after such a scandalous lapse of hygiene, was to disinfect our stomach's with alcohol. Some drank beer....I choose whiskey, as I didn't want to take any chances.

Back at school, the title of teacher is becoming less fraudulent. The frustration of the past few weeks, trying to get the kids to listen and learn has dissipated. On Tuesday I was teaching the kids about food. Soon after the start of class the heavens opened and it rained rivers. Obviously the kids open to any distraction jumped to look. I went for a look myself. I yelled “close the windows, Baton down the hatches!”. The kids jumped into action, laughing and running. We all stood hand in hand and shouted.... "Rain, rain, go away, please come back another day. Rain, rain, go away, please come back another day" ...for about 10 minutes before we tired. The rest of the lesson was about the weather...the Sun, the rain, the stars...but it wasn't them and me anymore...we did it together, finally. I got drenched on the way home, caring not a jot; I had sunshine and smiles in my heart that day; In fact I was even hoping for rain the following day.

On the Wednesday I went in for lunch and the principal's wife was lunching as well...she works as a hairdressing teacher and had a trainee with her practicing on the kids. Her English is good and it took her about 30 seconds to tell me I needed a haircut! She was right of course. She said the trainee needed some practice... how about a free haircut. Right-o so, Khawp khun khrap (thanks). I went in the following day to her hair salon and the trainee and an older Lady ("Best haircut Lady in Thailand") both cut my hair passing the scissors between them. We had a good laugh, which is just as well because it took them over an hour to cut it.

This Friday was Full Moon, as I mentioned. We headed to Had Rin, into a Danish bar with a buffet and live music first. The band was tremendous...they took requests so we got a rendition of "Whiskey in the Jar" and "With or Without you", Guns and Roses, Led Zep, ACDC, Queen etc...We was buzzing when we went to the beach for Full Moon proper...it was like, well, New Year's Eve; on speed! Too many people trying to enjoy themselves, people passed out, people trying to get you to buy drugs, get you picture taken with a monkey/geko. We found a spot on the beach and had a bit of a laugh but I won't be heading back there next month.

Went to Koh Samui on Sunday…played golf. Lost 7 balls in 9 holes…a personal best. Toured around then. Beautiful views and great restaurants.

So this week I'm leaving my accommodation and moving into the Monte Vista retreat for a 7 day self development/healing course. So see ye all in a week.

But before I go, I need to mention that one of my college friends lost his brother, to illness, a few days ago. Death is part of all of our lives; grief the hardest emotion to deal with. I hope my friend is doing ok.

M.

"Keep off the grass." - Peter Ustinov's epitaph for his gravestone