Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Bathrooms

Oh yes, I'm very worldly.  I'm completely prepared to remain calm upon seeing a HUGE cockroach skittering around my bathroom floor.  It's the one crawling up from my sink drain while I'm washing my hands I'm not prepared for.  And of course, with the Thai custom of removing your shoes before entering living spaces, I'm barefoot to boot.
So, I think I'll just avoid my bathroom for awhile.  They'll skitter elsewhere eventually, right?  Or maybe I'll just go get Thomas or Ming to take care of them.  Thomas and Ming are two of the street cats that have pretty much been adopted by this apartment complex.  They're pretty chill.  Actually, possibly too chill to care about a cockroach.
I had a second non-Thai dinner this evening.  The Dutch teacher, one of the "officers" (school secretaries) and I had falafel for dinner at a place that caters to Israeli backpackers in Banglamphu.  It is within walking distance of my apartment, and on a cool day like today we can also walk from school.  There is quite a lot within walking distance from my place.  Now that I can at least manage to get on the correct bus to go to school and come home I can explore further.
I've come to the conclusion that I will be teaching in two buildings for the entire semester.  Today I caught a glimpse of what I think is going to be the new computer room.  The floor and walls are not finished, and possibly none of the wiring.  In fact, I think it would be lucky if it is done by next school year.  The other teachers believe it will take two months just to get the teacher's office put back together.  I'll just be thankful if I have a desk eventually.  Opening a cupboard for my legs and using the kitchen counter for grading only goes so far.
The water was functioning in the bathrooms today.  Yay western toilets!  The new ones do look very nice at least, although 3 toilets and 2 sinks for each gender's bathroom really doesn't cover a student body of 180.  It sure beats the raw sewage smell that emanates throughout the other building.  In both cases the sewer system isn't set to handle paper, so you throw it out instead of flushing it.
Yesterday I had my first instance of having to ask a male student to quit putting his makeup on during class.  Foundation and blush, for starters.  Thankfully that behavior is a lot more common in Thailand, and as such does not relegate him to the kind of middle school ridicule it would in the states.  Parents are also more accepting of it as well, I'm told.
I wonder if the cockroaches have scuttled off yet...

1 comment:

  1. You can always eat the wee beasties, Tastes Like Chicken

    ReplyDelete