Steve and Rae in Thailand

MUN and the Thai School System

Wow, life can be crazy sometimes. I can’t tell you everything that has occurred since I last wrote, but enough has happened in the last week or two to make up for it.

This past weekend Steve and I traveled to Bangkok with six students for a Model United Nations Conference. Five of the students represented various countries (Israel, El Salvador, Ecuador, Thailand, and Afghanistan) and one student held a Chair position. They discussed several current world issues and formed coalitions with other countries to create resolutions on which the assembly debated a voted on. The Grace students did remarkably well; they gave speeches to encourage (or discourage) the assembly to vote for a particular resolution and challenged other countries with whom they did not agree.

The conference was entirely made up of international schools, the majority from Thailand and also one Laotian school. Because the students were from international schools, the conference was almost as ethnically diverse as the United Nations itself.

The education these high schoolers have received is quite impressive, but it also reveals great disparity within the education system of Thailand.

For the last three weeks I have been tutoring sixth graders in English at a local Thai government school. While Thai students at international schools in Thailand can debate native English speakers and write complex documents in English as their second (or third language), we are teaching the sixth graders at the Mae Hia school how to ask questions like “What is your name?” and “How are you?” They struggle to respond even though they have “learning” English since they began school. The teachers themselves cannot speak English and so the students do not hear the words when they are learning them. Like almost everything else at this level of Thai education, the students learn by rote memorization. It is quite impressive (but deceiving) to flip through their workbooks and look at what they are able to read. However there is no comprehension.

The Thai school system is entirely based on privilege. If a family has any money at all they will send their children to a private school where the education is of much higher quality. For those without money, their children are enrolled in the government school where, to put it nicely, the education is lacking. Supposedly parents can even pay extra at public schools for their children to be in air conditioned rooms with slightly better teachers.

Currently English is everything for Thai education. It determines whether a child takes over his or her parent’s job as a seller in the market or if the child has the opportunity to become a bank teller or a doctor. Parents whose children attend government schools try to save as much as possible to send their children to English camps over their breaks to improve their conversation skills. So many parents cannot.

To combat this problem, we have assembled a free English camp for the Mae Hia school over their October break. The camp is three days a week for two weeks, with this Friday being our last day. We have eighteen sixth graders attending and several volunteers who speak almost fluent Thai. We sing songs and play games with them to encourage them to have fun learning. To see smiles on their faces is truly a priceless gift.

Chapel Retreat

Steve and I spent part of this weekend at Suan Bua with fifty-one students and four other adult sponsors for Chapel Retreat. We left Friday after school and stayed until Saturday afternoon. The purpose of the retreat was to create cohesion among the students and to prepare their hearts to lead and set up chapel this year.

The school does not own buses so instead of riding all together the students rode ten song taus (kind of like pickup trucks with the back enclosed) to where we were staying.

Friday evening included icebreaker activities, a discussion about this year’s vision, committee meetings, worship, and games. It rained almost non-stop all weekend, but all the students had good attitudes. Steve needed to think quickly to keep everyone busy as none of the icebreakers we planned could be played due to the weather and our space.

Saturday morning we had a communion service led by a single guitar. It was refreshing to have all the extras stripped away. One of the adult sponsors gave his testimony, which proved to be impactful to the students and staff alike. What struck me most was how completely his heart changed and how God led him to comfort the person in his life who had hurt him the most.

We spent almost an hour discussing themes for chapel revolving mostly around the ideas of journey and water. The four student core team members are making the final decision today and will be announcing the theme tomorrow morning at our meeting.

While the retreat had quite a bit of business to attend to, it provided time away from school for us to get to know the students and have some fun too!

Land of Smiles

Thailand is often referred to as the land of smiles. People always greet with a wide smile and friendly eyes rather than the closed mouth, tight courtesy smile of the States. Maybe they smile because their country is one of the most beautiful in the world.

This past weekend Steve and I joined some friends at the houseboats for a birthday party. We drove about an hour outside of the city to a reservoir where we parked our cars, grabbed our gear, and boarded two longtail boats that transported us across the lake.

The reservoir is a valley they flooded years ago. In some places dead trees that were drowned still stick about the water. The bottom is possibly close to a hundred feet down. It was about a half hour ride to the houseboat where we were staying. Now, don’t confuse the houseboats with the boathouses in the U.S. A Thai houseboat is simply a wooden shack sitting on long bamboo poles and tied to shore.

The wood was not exactly in good condition and we accidentally broke a few of the boards on the dock when we were jumping into the water. I tried not to think about the bamboo rotting below us.

The trip was fantastic for a weekend away. There was no internet, no cell service, and no city sounds. We cooked our own food, played games, listened to music and swam until late in the night. The houseboat was not exactly a high class establishment (no plumbing, no mattresses, plenty of bugs), but we will definitely do it again!

Also, if anyone wishes to wrap Autumn in a box and send it here we would greatly appreciate a break to this heat!

P.S. We found this pinned up in the teachers’ lounge last week. It’s a small world.

First Week of School

Friends, life has been crazy good these last two weeks. Steve and I hiked part of Doi Sutep August 4^th with a few of Grace’s new teachers. The trail led to a waterfall, and though the guidebook assured us it was an “easy” hike, it turned out to be quite formidable for some. Still, the morning gave us the opportunity to learn more about our new friends and the waterfall was well worth the trouble.

Steve had teacher-orientation meetings most of last week, but our first house guest kept me entertained while he was busy. Naomi Raber, as some of you may know, is a friend of mine from Bluffton University. She recently finished a six week internship in China and took a detour to visit us in Thailand on her way back to the States. She gave us an excuse to hit the street shopping in the city, and a reason to try riding three to a motorbike (GASP!). Don’t worry; we returned her in one piece.

(Photo Credit: Naomi Raber)

(Photo Credit: Naomi Raber)

Naomi is a very talented linguist and her Thai was immensely helpful. She inspired us with how a small amount of language opens doors…not to mention how quickly she learned (she only spent eight months in Bangkok and she was able to hold solid conversations with our Thai friends and the vendors). Speaking of which, we now have a Thai teacher and will have our first lesson soon!

*Words I learned today when ordering a smoothie: sap-bpa-rot (pineapple) and som (orange). Our server was so proud!

Today was Steve’s second day of school and it is a strange week. I attended school with him yesterday and because of an assembly, each class was only twenty minutes long. Wednesdays and Thursdays, however, are block days so today classes were almost an hour and a half.

After school was the Activities Fair where the students choose what they want to be involved in. Steve is in charge of Model UN and Strategic Board Games Club and we will both be mentors on the Chapel Planning committee. This evening is Parent Orientation. The parents are encouraged to attend so they can meet their child’s teachers and so they can maintain an active part in their child’s learning. Steve is settling in to the new year and is happy to be teaching the same classes as last year.

(Photo Credit: Naomi Raber)

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to find our place here. God has blessed us so much!

P.S. I’m happy to announce that my brother is engaged! Looks like we are coming home this summer after all!

Love,

Steve and Rachel

Sa-wat-dee-kha!

Hey friends! We made it!

We survived our first week in Chiang Mai, Thailand. For those of you who receive our email update, you know we’ve had a busy seven days. Last Thursday we arrived at midnight (UTC+07:00) and were picked up by our good friends the Rowes who took us to our new house. We set our trunks just inside the door, made the bed, and crashed into dreamless sleep.

This past week we have been reconnecting with people and setting up shop. The previous tenants left quite a bit of stuff behind for us to go through, most of which needed to be thrown away. We spent the weekend cleaning and unpacking.

Monday and Tuesday I had the opportunity to join two modules intended for new Grace teachers. Thailand requires a total of twenty hours of cultural modules for foreign teachers within the first year. Monday’s module discussed Thai customs and etiquette. Kruu (teacher) Pat, the Thai instructor at Grace, taught us how and when to “wai,” a symbol of greeting and respect in Thai culture. We learned other important customs to follow that most Westerners would not know upon arrival:

1) The head is the most sacred part of a person’s body. Accidentally touching another adult’s head requires an apology.

2) The feet are the least honorable part of a person’s body. Pointing a foot at someone is considered one of the worst insults.

3) Thais frequently adopt a “Mai-Pen-Rai” attitude, meaning “forget about it,” or “it doesn’t matter.” This response is typically used to allow the offender to “save face” and to avoid conflict. However, saying Mai-pen-rai does not always mean the person is not emotionally hurt. Thais simply are not as eager to confront as Westerners. Showing anger and raising one’s voice is considered extremely impolite and poor mannered.

Most of the tidbits we learned go back to respect and honor being possibly the most important qualities to the Thai people.

The second module discussed some basics to learning Thai as a second language. Because Thai is a tonal language and does not use a Roman alphabet, it is considered one of the most difficult languages for a native English speaker to learn. Hence, many teachers have been at Grace for several years and can speak little Thai.

Depending on the five tones, the same word can mean “throw,” “forest,” “Aunt,” “Father,” or “Father” (implying Chinese descent). The difficulties of the language mean the phrase I will probably become the most familiar with these next few years is “poo-cha-cha-ka” (please slow down).

Khob-khun-ka (thank you) for your love and support, and thanks for being a part of our adventure!

(P.S. email us at steveandraecutillo@gmail.com if you would like to be included on our email update list.)

You Found Us!

Hello friends!

We are so happy that you are checking out our blog. Unfortunately with the busyness of preparing for the wedding and for our big move our posts will be minimal until the beginning of August. But don’t forget about us! We are excited to be sharing our experiences with you.

Love,

Rachel and Steve