When I first set out to go to Thailand as a volunteer, I did not really know what to expect. I had heard many stories about what it would be like, but I was then told that it would probably not be like that at all. That made me wonder a bit, but now I see that every person has his/her own personal experience of their time in Thailand, and it is this personal experience they share with people who come after them.

I had seen pictures of the place I was going to, so I had some expectations as to what it would be like to be out in the forest. I remember coming on the bus from Chiang Mai with expectations of the roads being worse than they are, and there was even a road all the way to my village! I was expecting a dirt-track.

My first encounter with the village and its people, I think will be with me for a very long time. Salahae took me to the village on a Sunday morning, and the first thing I noticed was the church, and a few huts and houses on either side of a dirt-track, which is the main street of the village. Salahae brought me to a house and said “This is your Mo, and this is your sister.” I turned around and saw two bright smiling faces. The whole atmosphere was so warm and welcoming, which made me very happy I was going to stay in this particular place.

The village I stayed in is not very big, and there is a warm atmosphere and a good relationship between everybody. Life in the village is completely different to what I am used to from home. It is much quieter, when you disregard all the chickens, roosters and ducks wandering about the place, and waking you before dawn every morning. No-one is stressing around because they need to get somewhere and back. They all have a very laid-back attitude towards life in general, I feel. Life is very natural, and a bit harder than what we are used to, with all the comforts we have in our own country.

In the village I lived in a stilted house. The house has five big windows, with no way of shutting out the cold, crisp night air, with there being not shutters or windowpanes available. For a while I slept directly underneath one of the windows, and I woke up a few nights in the early hours of the morning, because I was freezing cold. That led me to search for something to put in front of the window at night, and I ended up using my towels as curtains. That helped a bit, as did my woollen underwear.

They have a different view on creepy-crawlies and flying insects in the villages than I have. I came in for breakfast one morning and found my Pa sitting by the fire playing with a bat. My first thought was that I hoped it was dead, and then I wondered what he was going to do with it. So I asked him. The bat was dead, thank God, and he was going to fry it, and have it as snacks. He thinks bats are delicious.

Another thing I experienced was that one day they had some visitors, they slaughtered a duck, and asked me if I wanted to join them. I thought that would be a nice change to the menu (rice and vegetables), so I accepted. And they had used the whole bird for dinner, hacked it into small pieces and put the whole thing in the pot. The only thing they did not use was the feathers.

In the evenings I played cards with the children in my family, and sometimes the parents as well, and we read English books, the youngest girl and I. Many afternoons I had the children in the village visiting, and they were drawing and playing games. And they were counting in Karen and Thai without what seemed to be a system! They could start off counting in Karen and end up in Thai and vice versa. So that was a bit fascinating to see.

Towards the end of my stay there, my Mo was weaving a bit. I am very fascinated by the way they do that. And I tried it as well (it did not matter that it was my first experience with a strap loom, because she was weaving a top for me). It was hard work, both for the arms and the legs, when you are not used to this kind of work, but it was really fun, and in the end my Mo said I was no longer a “Farang”, but Karen, because I could weave like them.

In the beginning I found the situation in the village a bit strange and frightening, I have to say, much because of the language barrier, but that was soon overcome by gestures, a few words here and there, and a lot of smiles! However, communication improved once I began to learn a bit of the languages, and I learned a little bit of Karen in the evenings by the strap loom.

It has really been a unique chance to see something different in the world and to get a new experience. It has been a privilege to be able to share the life of the Karen people for a while, and to see what good the charity does for them I have met many interesting people who I will never forget.

The school I taught at was the secondary school in Khun Yuam. It is a very big school, with around 900 students, and five teachers of English. The classes vary in size from 25 to more than 40 students, so that might be a bit scary if one is not used to classes of that size. However, the students are very disciplined and friendly, and they also helped me to settle in, along with the teachers.

To teach English in Thailand was really a challenge at times, because it took a very long time before the students really were familiar with, and able to use the language structures I tried to teach them. But we had a lot of fun along the way. There was always a lot of laughter when I tried to explain things without the help of the Thai teacher. I guess it must have been very funny to watch me running around in the classroom, trying to explain words like run and jump. There certainly was a need to use the whole body for explanations, so it was no use to be shy, because then they could not understand. And you certainly must not be afraid of showing your ability of drawing (or lack thereof).

I have learnt that patience is very valuable in the classrooms in Thailand, and getting upset because they do not seem to understand, is of no use to either the students or yourself. Explaining everything in words was not always possible, and it was easier for them to understand, and also to remember, if the words were accompanied by gestures or other visual things. And it was really important to speak slowly and clearly. In the beginning I thought I did that, but it soon turned out that it was not slowly enough.

However, the fact is that the students are very shy, and they do not feel comfortable with answering questions or reading one by one. One day I wanted the students to do an exercise and answer the questions one by one. It all ended with all the students answering all the questions. Well, at least there was an answer from them, which is more than I got from some other classes.

One thing which was very different to what I am used to, is that they have assembly every morning, where they sing the national anthem, the school song, and they have prayers. After the summer holidays the management decided that the students (and the teachers) were not active enough, and they had aerobics once a week, during assembly (if it was not raining), and they all joined in, even the headmaster.

During my stay in the school, I had lessons with most of the teachers, and I have to say that they had very different teaching methods. Some of them did not seem prepared for the lessons, and wanted me to teach, but gave me the material only two-three minutes before the lesson. I found that a bit difficult sometimes, especially when the piece of paper I was given consisted of a whole lot of Thai. So I had to dig in my brain and find everything I knew about whatever the teacher wanted me to teach that lesson, and just go ahead and wing it.

It has, however, been a marvellous experience, which I will remember for the rest of my life, not only because I have been able to teach English as a foreign language in another country where I did not speak the language, but also because of the experience itself and all the teachers and students I got to know. Knowing that it is a privilege for me to be able to do something like this, has made the experience even more unique.

Thank you,

Kristin Garnæs