Mai Pen Lai in Mae Sai

Confused, Confused, Confused and a Bunch of 'Mai Pen Lai'


"Mai pen lai" is similar to saying don't worry about it, never mind, this is

how it is, it's okay , or everything will work out. Last week Tanner, Emma,

and I started training at Pornpikkual Pittaya in Mae Sai, Thailand. It has

1,500 students and over 100 teachers. To say the school is large is an

understatement. It is longer than three football fields and about two football

fields wide. It has its own swimming pool, football field, and concert hall. The

students here range from 3 to 19 years old and come from middle to wealthy

backgrounds.



Monday morning I quickly realized that this is the school's first year having

native English speakers. Some of the staff's English skills are okay but a

majority of the time we all just smile and laugh at each other and say "mai pen

lai". The school hired a full time Thai speaking English Department Head who

is supposed to watch over us and help us navigate our new surroundings.

However, she is new to the area too and has taken off the first week to

move and get her apartment set up here in Mae Sai. (She would have been

extremely helpful this first week but instead she took days off...."Mai pen lai.")

Instead we have learned to do some things by ourselves, speak a tiny bit of

Thai and I think the Thai teachers respect that!



We have to "clock in" every morning with a fingerprint scanner and out every

evening by the same nifty technology. Our hours are 7:30am - 5:00pm with an

hour for lunch each day. The three of us has about 20 class a week and that

doesn't include a mystery English program that supposedly after school. We

really know nothing about the program besides the words “extra money”and it

happens some days and not others...."Mai pen lai."



On Tuesday of last week we had training at a hotel in the city (apparently

the owner of the school also owns that hotel, the gym, multiple restaurants,

and one of the teachers joked that she owns the whole city!) "Mai pen lai"

she is a really nice lady. Her daughter speaks excellent English and helped

translate the teacher training which was all in Thai. The training, from what I

could understand, was trying to help the Thai teachers understand that not

all students are alike and that they need to adapt the lessons to the students'

different personality and learning types. The guest speaker also spoke on

the fact that most people talk to other people about negative topics or just

complain to them. He spoke about the power of positive words and telling

a positive story during conversation instead of complaining. It was a good

reminder for the three of us because going to a new location where no one

understands you and you don't understand them is challenging. In turn a lot of

discussion, as we like to call it (not complaining), happens. So now we all try

to share a positive story or something that made us happy that day instead of

focusing on the negative.



After Tuesday's training we all were left to lesson plan for the rest of the week.

We didn't get our schedules until Wednesday afternoon so that was a bit hard.

We also had no idea what level the students would be at or what content we

were expected to teach...."mai pen lai".



Anyway after lots of research, planning, and positive discussion we left on

Friday feeling nervous and excited to start the week with our kids. Emma

has all of Kingergarten to teach, I have the equivalent of 1st - 4th grade, and

Tanner has some of 4th and all of 6th-9th grades. We are spread thin and

only get to see each class once a week but once is better than never.



As the Thai people say "mai pen lai" - everything will work out.


Life is good, Mae Sai is beautiful, and class starts this week!