#4 SEA Teacher Project 5th Batch: Weekend in Chiang Rai; Walking Street, Cat Cafe, and Night Bazzar2/7/2018 “10 things to do in Chiang Rai” “Best Place in Chiang Rai” “Chiang Rai” That was my activity on YouTube and Google to facing the first weekend. There are so many tourisity place in Chiang Rai. But, for the first time weekend in Chiang Rai, i’m looking for the best place near by my hotel. Fortunately, mrs. Sunny will pick us up to the walking street in front of Damrongratsongkroh School. . Walking street will be held in the night. So, in the afternoon, we went to the Central Plaza with another SEA Teacher participants. We went to Central Plaza by ordered Grab Car. But, Grab Car in Chiang Rai has unique method. The car is Taxi. So, when i go inside the car, a driver asked me to cancel the order on Grab application. In Central Plaza, we just walking arround, and tried to Thailand’s KFC. The taste was different. For me, the seasoning was too much sour taste. It was not match in my mouth. When we walking arround, we met Indonesian people in Central Plaza. He is student in Mae Fah Luang University. We talked about Chiang Rai, Thailand, and also about Indonesia. He is so kind, and helped us to go back to the hotel and walking street. In the evening, we met mrs. Sunny to walk arround the walking street. There are a lot of souvenirs, Hill Tribe clothes, Northern Thailand clothes, and also Thailand food. Mrs. Sunny bought a Thailand extreme food. I thought that was worm and insect. When i tasted it, the taste was GOOD. I like it. We met a cute girl was playing traditional music. She played the music very well and so pretty. She can speaks english, and she is a student grade 4 in elementary school. I took a picture with her. Then, mrs. Sunny brought us to the night concert in Flower Garden. A name of the band is “Instinct”. So many girl shouted, screamed, and touched. They are band from Bangkok. But for me, i didn’t undertand the songs. . . Sunday! On the Sunday, i’ve searched about popular cafe in Chiang Rai. The top cafe in Chiang Rai was Cat Cafe. The location is near by my hotel. We just walked for about 15 minutes. Cat cafe. We can eat with so many cat. We can touch them, but don’t feed them with our food. The second location that i’ve searched on Google was Chiang Rai Night Bazzar. The location is near by bus station. They sold a souvenir, and street food.
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In the first week of the project, mrs. Sunny picked us up at the morning to see Red cross camp at the camp area out of Chiang Rai district. I saw the participant of the Red Cross Camp is all girl. Mrs. Sunny said that the boys camp were in other place. In my opinion, there are a lot of differences between the camp system in Indonesia and Thailand. The first one is about the commitees. In Indonesia, the commitees of the camp is usually a senior students. They organize all the things to prepare the event, but the teacher still watch them. In Damrongratsongkroh School, the commitees of the camp is teacher. The teacher participated to organize all things to prepare the camp. In the afternoon, the students did a tracking to received some contents from the teacher. The students did the tracking very enjoyed. Mrs. Sunny gave a content to the students about how to give a good manners in the formal situation. I saw a differences style on giving the content to the students. In my experiences, the senior will give a content to the students, and the senior will give a pressure to students and the process will be very serious. After that, mrs. Sunny took us to having lunch. She gave us stick rice with fried chicken. Stick rice is a favorite food in northern Thailand. They will eat by sticky rice almost everyday. And then she gave us Som Tam, Thailand dish with papaya and mixed vegetables and also peanut. . At the night, the weather was very cold. About 13 degrees celcius in the night. I saw the students did a things that they ask a forgiveness to the teacher. The students did some games with the teacher and lit a bonfire. I sleep early at the tend because the weather was made me freezing, but i still enjoyed my slept. In the morning, the seniors came. They gave some games with powder, sang a song, and also sang “Tak tung tuang” which is viral in Thailand. The singer of that song is from Indonesia. And we shocked when we knew that they knew “Tak tung tuang” song. After that, the seniors went to the spot that will deliver the content. And mrs. Sunny and us just walk arround the track to saw the seniors did in every spot. The seniors in Damrongratsongkroh school were very kind. They gave some games to the students, and the students really enjoyed in every spot, even they have to wet, full of powder, and crossed their face with lips stick. In the evening, we have to go earlier because tomorrow was Friday, and i have to pray at the mosque. To be honest, i really want to see them till the end of the camp.
. We went to the hotel by school bus with the seniors. They were so funny, but all of them speak Thai. So, i just saw them speaking and laughing loudly. #2 SEA Teacher Project 5th Batch: First Day in Chiang Rai. Orientation, Buddy, and Watching Football2/5/2018 A nice morning from Chiang Rai~ In our first day in Chiang Rai, mrs. Nok will pick us up to the CRRU for orientation and welome from mr. President of CRRU. But, for me, Diah, and Novita have to bring our luggage to the university because our school will pick us up to the hotel. We were introduced by CRRU international affair to the mr. President of CRRU. They gave us a thai name. And my thai name is Ekashaii. They said that it means one and win, i don’t know ha ha ha. After welcome greetings from mr. President of CRRU, we have an orientation class with mr. T. He explained us about tourism place in Chiang Rai, nearest mosque arround our school, and the location of our school. Buddy! We will have a buddy while we are in Thailand. They are a student from CRRU and they will help us while we are in Thailand. My buddy is north, he is english education student from CRRU. Then, buddy picked us up to looking arround CRRU by mini bus. The university is very big and has a lot of good facilities such us football field, basketball hall, library, and has a large garden. . Good bye, delegates! In the afternoon, it was time for me, Diah, and Novita to move to other hotel near by our school. Mrs. Sunny is a coordinatior from Damrongratsongkroh School, picked us up to the hotel and will help us during teaching period in Damrongratsongkroh School. I told to mr. T that there will be a football match in Singha Stadium between Chiangrai United against Bali United. Suddenly, mrs. Sunny took us to the football stadium to bought a ticket match for the evening match. I was shocked because i thought it’s ok if i don’t have chance to watch football because it was our first day. Nice hotel for a month in Thailand! Damrongratsongkroh School gave us a very nice hotel, with a nice service. The owner is very kind. Our room is at 4th floors, and they don’t have any lift to reach the 4th floor. So we have to go upstairs with our luggage. Some exercise in first day. Mrs. Sunny picked us up to the stadium. The atmosphere of the stadium was wonderful. I think we have a different football culture between Indonesia and Thailand. In Thailand, people are very enjoy the match with bring some beer, foods, and people are relax in the stadium. In my place, we are very totally support the team, and we are not allowed to bring a bottle of water. We always shouted every minutes when the game played. In Thailand, they enjoyed the match. Chiang Rai United defeat Bali United with scored 2-0. But i’m still happy with the amazing experience.
Finnaly ! A time that i waiting for a month comes. It’s my first time i have a travelling abroad. I was very excited to be participated for SEA Teacher Project 5th Batch by SEAMEO. I prepared all things very well from passport, flight ticket, insurance, luggage, and remembering some thai basic words ha ha ha. Sunday, January 22nd 2018. It was time to leaving Bandung. My parents and my sister accompanied me to the shuttle station. The shuttle will pick us up to the airport. . . There are 3 students from Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia who will be a delegates for SEA Teacher Project to Chiang Rai Rajabhat University. Me, Salma (Elemntary Education), and Tias (International Program Science Education). We met at the shuttle station to go together to the airport. The shuttle comes, and time to say goodbye to my family. We arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 12 am. It was too early and we have to wait for check in for about 4 hours. Our flight is at 5.35 am, and we will have a transit at Kuala Lumpur before touchdown at Bangkok. But, Salma’s flight was different than me and Tias. Her flights is at 6.30 am and touchdown at Bangkok directly at 10 am. But we will have a same flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai. I’ve been on plane before, but it when i was 4. So, i still nervous for my second flight in my life. Me and Tias use Malindo air, and we have some breakfast on the plane. We arrived at Kuala Lumpur for connecting transit. We don’t have any time for relaxing at Kuala Lumpur because we have to check in quickly. The location of the terminal from landed to was next fligt was quite far. We rushed to the next terminal and use airport link train. That was cool! Touchdown! Finnally we arrived at Don Mueang airport, Bangkok. The imigration process at the airport was quite long, but the process went smoothly. Then, we met Salma again, with another delegates from UNS, Novita. But, Novita’s flight earlier than our flight because we choose the cheapest ticket flight hahaha. We have about 4 hours to wait our flights to Chiang Rai. We found a halal restaurant at the airport, taking pray, and check in. We are really happy to the airport facilities. They have a clear sign to find muslim prayer, although Thailand is not a muslim majority country.
. . Welcome to Chiang Rai !! We arrived at Chiang Rai at 7 pm. Mrs. Nok, coordinatior of SEA Teacher Project from Chiang Rai Rajabhat University waiting for us. They picked us up to the hotel and meet with another delegates from Indonesia and Philiphines. We went to Seven Eleven together to find something to eat. And me, i tried to bought a sim card and internet data. I spent 30 minutes to bought sim card, because they can’t speak english. I boought tourist sim card with 4.5 GB internet data for a month. After that, the boys in this project have a small talks in my room. Eric from Bantul, Winthrop from Philiphines, and me. We have a shared about our places, discussed some recent topic in Indonesia and Philiphines. Long trip, new journey There was a lot of new experiences during my first week in Thailand. From the Thai lettering, thai foods, language, and the people. I think i want to tell it all in different article, and now, one of my huge obstacles in here is communication.
. As you know, thai people speaks thai and they have their own thai lettering. Not all people in thai can speak english. Actually, maybe this situation is almost similiar with Indonesia. But, Indonesian using latin writing. So, foreigner still can read some sentence in Indonesia. In Thai, you will feel like you were reborn. You can’t read, you can’t speak, you can’t hear. But you can cry. . Don’t worry. You have a desire to survive. You can solve that problem easily, because you need food, you need internet data, you need taxi to pick me up. Although they can’t speak english, you have to speak with them. Here is the tips to have a communication in Thailand. . Body Language is the Super Power! Communication is how to deliver a message to people that the people could understand what i mean and i can understood what they mean to. My college teacher told us that “Symbols don’t give any means to people, but people gives the symbols a meaning to be understood”. And, you have to know a forbidden symbols in your country. It helps you to be treated good in other country. Such a red light in the traffict light. The red light doesn’t give a means to stop, but we give it a meaning to stop. We have a universal body language. You can express anything with your body. You can pointed a thing, or create symbols with your finger. It may helps you a lot because they will understood about what you mean. You can combine your body language skills with speaking a basic english words. . Thanks to Google Translate That is the easiest way to have a communication for millenials. If you feel so hard to explain your words with your body language, google translate is the easy one. Open your mobile phone, go to google translate, and translate. Easy, right? And if you didn’t understand what they said to you, you can use voice translate, just let them speak into your phone, annd google will translate it. Life is so easy now! . Ask for Assistance One day, my friends and i want to go to Central Plaza in Chiang Rai by order Grab Car. We got a driver, and then he called me by phone. Unfortunately, he can’t spoke english. When i spoke in english, he will answer in thai. It made us confused and stucked. And then i saw thai police was walking in the street. I came to her ask him to answer my phone and tell him that i am here. The policeman can’t speak english, but they understand what they have to do from us. Thanks. Well, if you are in a urgent situation. You can ask people that you could believe to. I was so lucky there was a police near by me. I trust them because they work for government. If you were in tourism place, you can ask to the information center, or you can ask for help to the native people who speaks english. Read to know why i am in Thailand, what is the program, and many question that always comes to me. It Such a FAQ !
. . Look at the opportunity . On November 2017, that was a hectic time for a student in grade 3 in University. Organization; that was the only thing that may disturb our rest time, homerwork, and even relationship to others. We have to do a lot of event in our student association (HMPS UPI) on November such as National Sociology Olympyad, Sociology Edu Camp for new student, and we have to prepare our next event on December such as Sociology Islamic Fair and Sociology Education Festival. After that, i have to prepare for Sociology on Show; Talk show event presented by Journalism of Sociology Education. The last, i have to make all social media belongs to Paguyuban KSE UPI still active and responsive. Sometimes that was made me bored. . One day, i have a time to relax from that activities. I just lay on my bed, watching YouTube, and playing with my phone. While we have chatting on group Line, there was something that interest me. My friend announced an information about teaching student program in Thailand for a month, but these program doesn’t fund you. I thought that it was a big opportunity for me to learn something new, something different, and out of comfort zone. The problem was money and my self. I guess the money that i’ll spent for a month in Thailand is arround 5-6 millions Rupiah. I just have arround 50% from that calculation in the bank. I reveived a money every month from scholarship. Since September, i always saved my money from scholarship because i really want to use the money for join to an exchange program, national confrence, or study visit. I thought these program was a right time to use my money. . “I take it”. . I registered to join the program, and had an interview for selection in faculty. There were 13 students to joined the interview. And, YES! I am the one of two student from Faculty of Social Science Education that will join SEA Teacher Batch 5 by SEAMEO. After that, i tell my parents, they were shock but looks happy. . So, i did bravely to sign SEA Teacher program because i thought that the opportunity wouldn’t comes twice. . . What is SEA Teacher? SEA Teacher Project is a project that aims to provide opportunity for pre-service student teachers from universities in Southeast Asia to have teaaching experiences (practicum) in schools in other countries in Southeast Asia. Based on the SEAMEO (South East Asia Minister of Education Organization) seven priority areas for the eleven SEAMEO member countries to work together to improve the quality of education in Southeast Asia, “Revitalizing Teacher Education” is one of the priority areas in building and strengthening capacity of teachers in the region. (seateacher.seameo.org) Now, these project are the 5th batch held for twice a year. There are three countries who joined on the project, that is Indonesia, Thailand, and Philiphines. The major are in math, science, english, social studies, and pre-school. For my university, we sent eight student to be a part of the project. Four student to Thailand and Four student to Philiphines. The election of delegates who will be participating on this project are choosen by the faculty. . . What will you do there? Teaching, in english. That’s enough? No? The main things from this project is teaching. But, before we teach, there are something to do like orientation, class observation, and create a lesson plan. We will have a teacher from the school as our mentor, and teacher coordinator to help us while we are there. To create a lesson plan, we have to learn about their teaching style, and can adjust with our method that we have learn in university. After teaching practicum were finished, we have to present our project conclusion in host university. And then we have to create self report, and unformal report by writing in blog. Andd...... not just teaching We have a bonus in this project. The school or universities will take us to look arround the place. They will carry us to some place, they will introduce us about their place, culture, and also food. . . How about money? You don’t need to follow money, money will follows you. Rezeki ga akan kemana~ Don’t worry about money. If you have a strong desire, money will comes to you. A lot of people will support you for this project. Your parents, your family, your neighbour, and even the institution like your faculty, your majors department, your university will help you. So, in here i would like to thank you very much to all people that always support me to take this project especially for my friends, my parents, a head department of Sociology Education (Mrs. Siti Komariah, M.Si., Ph.D), a vice dean of Faculty of Social Science Education (Mrs. Dr. Siti Nurbayani, M.Si), and OIER Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. Thanks for all support. . . What is your purpose? “Experience is the best teacher” –SiDu Book This project will give you a lot of experience, not just teaching experience, but you have experience to living in another country. From this project, i want to see how good i am for communication in english. As a sociological student, knowing the culture, sensitivity of the life in here is one of my purpose. |
Muhammad RetsaSEA Teacher Project Batch 5th delegates from Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia placed in Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, Thailand Archives
May 2018
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