One chapter ends…another begins.
The day has arrived. In a few short hours from now, I will heft my pack onto my back & wave goodbye to a school, a town, & a country that in these last 2 months has become my home. Home. It’s a strange concept. One of the first questions a new acquaintance will ask is: “Where do you live?” It’s not an easy question for me to answer. The truth is, I live wherever my head & a pillow meet. It’s an idea i’m still adjusting to: Living a life of transit.
I have found that one of the strangest aspects of this transitory lfestyle is the swiftness with which relationships with other people can begin & end. People who are my pal for a day or two and then disappear on planes & trains to places far away. I feel priviliged that our paths diverged, even if only for a pizza & a glass of beer. These brief encounters have reminded me of the importance of living for the moment. A bus could knock me down tomorrow – but today I’m happy.
And I am happy. Yesterday I recieved my teaching certificate and graduated from my training course. I now have an opportunity to do something positive & fulfilling. To really make a difference. I make no apologies for my idealistic rose-tinted view of the power of education. There is a danger of allowing life to slip into a tunnel of mundanity. Of letting apathy & disillusionment dull our senses. I am grateful for the chance that has been afforded me, and I will use it to the best of my ability.
It’s funny. I enrolled on this course without even knowing whether teaching was what I really wanted to do. The last 2 months have helped crystallise the passions of my soul. There was no Eureka! moment when I first stood up alone in front of a class. I just knew. And the experience just kept getting better & better. My last class, on Thursday, was one of the most enjoyable I have taught to date. I had asked Ji, one of my trainers, for a popular, well-known song amongst Thai kids. She started humming the theme song from Titanic. Brilliant. J’Adore Celine. My lesson was on “holiday trips”. So I took a heartfelt song about Kate & Leo and ripped it to shreds. Here are the lyrics for “My Heart Will Go On” – Bucky style
La la la, la la la la la la, la la la, la la
I went on holiday
To the U.S.Aaaaaaaayyy
It was terrifc – it was great!
I was away for 3 weeks
The best thing was New Yorrrrrk
It was terrific – it was great!
Within 2 minutes I had the whole class on their feet massacaring this tune. It was terrific, it was great! I then got the students into groups & told them to write their own world-trip themed verses to the song. One of the ones they produced included the wonderful phrase:
“I went on holiday to China….the best thing was Thailand”
And they’re not far wrong. Thailand is a great place. A warm-hearted land of smiles. A Massaman Curry of deliciousness, a Tom Yum Gung of beautiful scenery. But the time had come to move on. The world is my oyster. I could head north to the vastness of China, west to the diversity of India, or south to the koala’s of Australia. But it is the east which is calling me. Colonel Kurtz is playing in the jungle. He wants me to come and find him. The Vietnamese tourist board have an interesting slogan: Vietnam: It’s a country, not a war. I need to discover the myth beneath the legend….
Tags: Massaman Curry, Thailand, Thailand
The Dude
KEEP WRITING BUCKSTA ITS FECKING GOOD STUFF
MORE SINGING TOO THANKYOU PLEASE!