Schoolboy Again

January 6, 2017
Bangkok, Thailand


This post will be rather brief in comparison to my usual writing as I'm a bit short on time. I'm sitting in an open-air lobby at a hostel in central Bangkok, listening to the strange birds calling and enjoying the cool morning air. The daylight has just begun to break, and I also hear traffic on the street behind the building. From yesterday's experience, I know that the sidewalks are lined with food vendors just waiting to tempt me with their offerings. I can't wait to get out there and try something new.

I promise to write a post in the future about the street food that I've been enjoying, and the wacky traffic and incomprehensible bus schedules, but as I have been in a grammar refresher course yesterday and today, I simply cannot afford the precious minutes. My class was interesting yesterday. I was surrounded in a small room with 11 other students like me, who are planning to teach English. We are a multinational group. A few Americans, two Canadians, two from Singapore, one from Thailand, a New Zealander, and an Aussie. My first partner of the day was a woman named Munara, from Kyrgyzstan. (I had to look up how to spell that) Our instructors were Ukrainian and British. The accents alone in that room were enough to spin my head. I can only imagine what a potluck dinner would be like.

We discussed parts of speech, how to properly identify verb tenses, what modals are. The instructors, Diana and Tim, were very good at controlling the class, allaying our fears of ignorance (as many of us haven't done this in quite a while), and helping us to learn by using games to elicit responses. The sessions seemed to go by very quickly. I'm looking forward to today's class as well. 

It's time for me to pack my belongings, check out of the hostel, then head to the bus stop with my backpack. I'm sure I'll grab something tasty along the way.


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