I have now successfully finished three cooking classes, which is enough to obtain a certification in Thai cooking! Yay...except that I thought I had to take five classes to get certified, and my instructor wasn't prepared with my certificate the day of my third class, so I didn't receive my certificate. I will either just pop by the school to pick it up, or I will take another class. I haven't decided yet. It is funny how the dynamics of each class are entirely different depending on the people who are in it. For example, the first class we were a large group of mixed ages but mostly older people. The second class was mostly young people, and mostly Americans. I knew from the moment we were in the market and they wouldn't stop making jokes about the shapes of the eggplants, and by their near-constant commentary over the instruction of the teacher, that it was going to be a long and embarrassing class. And I was correct. By the end of the class our instructor was so exasperated by the loudness, rudeness and apparent oblivion of the American boys to the latter two offenses (well to be fair one of the obnoxious ones was Canadian, but went to high school in the states), that he picked out the quietest student in the class, a German girl sitting next to me, and asked her, "Where are you from? I like you! You are my favorite, so quiet, always listening when I am teaching" and then ended his little rhetoric with a scathing glare at the American boys. They were young, rich boys from the West coast; if these were their only offenses it would have been fine. But to make matters worse, they were fresh out of college and still under the notion that their status as college basketball players actually acquitted them from having to act like normal human beings in real life. It was made all the more note-worthy by the fact that the boys were totally unfazed by our instructor's exasperation, and would actually make comments like, "Is this guy for real?" and "This guy is a total zoo" when he left the room. While it is true that the instructor is a bit eccentric (he's actually very sarcastic, which is funny only because most Thai people are too polite to make fun of others so blatantly), describing him as "a total zoo" didn't quite seem to fit the description, especially because the reason he was being so sarcastic and biting was because of them! But I guess they didn't realize that, as they hadn't experienced classes without themselves in it. I had, and I wished for more of them.
Fortunately, my third class was more like the first, with a group of mostly older people and a few young ones, and only one other American who was as unobtrusive and enjoyable as the basketball players were the opposite. I also met a lovely old Swiss man, who having worked for 50 years at a school for mentally challenged children, was granted an extra 1 month paid vacation. His wife, who is a translator for the deaf at five different schools, could not find five people to replace her and so was unable to accompany him on his holiday. She also apparently hates to fly, so I don't think she really begrudged his going. He was so full of excitement and wonder about everything, and was going to take a few different classes so he could go home and cook for his wife. In addition to him and the American, there was a group of three young Korean girls who were on holiday together; they were so funny, a South African lady whose husband had to come to Bangkok on business and she accompanied him for a holiday, a French woman whose husband was also there on business, and a very shy Scottish man who took the better part of the day to come out of his shell. The dynamics of this class were so fun, and so different from the one before, that I think the food even tasted better.
And then there is Thai class. I had a good week last week; I felt like I was getting the hang of some things, like I could make myself understood, and we all were all laughing and having a good time discussing how much things cost, and where we are from, and if our parents are nice, etc. Then Thursday came and my teacher was a different lady, and I couldn't understand a word she said. She didn't enunciate things the way the other teacher had; in fact she talked as a normal Thai speaking person talks. And for about the first hour I had to remind myself that I am of average intelligence, that I am not, in fact, very stupid. After I got used to the way that she spoke I was able to grasp things more quickly, but it was quite a frustrating first hour of class. Then, on this past Monday, after a weekend comprised of staying out dancing till 5am, shopping all day Saturday, going out with the girls for more dancing, and then sightseeing all day on Sunday, I was exhausted. And the room was such a nice temperature and we were all talking so quietly that I just could not stay awake!! Which, by the way, is so much more embarrassing when you're sitting at a table with three other people, as opposed to sitting in a lecture hall with 50 other people. It's kind of hard to hide the head-bobbing when you are sitting directly across from your teacher. I was so mortified by this, that I have vowed to spend my evening tonight studying Thai in preparation for my class tomorrow, so I must go get started!!
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