#7 Absorbed into Nothing

Thailand has some special kids. Basically these kids are mentally disabled somehow and are usually quite difficult to deal with in class. Sometimes they're harmless but that's a rarity. Jeng literally ran around the library with a plastic hammer for the entirety of my first lesson. Teaching in the library is hard enough with copying machines and all the comings and goings that come with it but when you add Jeng it's nearly impossible. The next week he decided he was going to class with the kids the next grade up and so he didn't attend my class. The week after that he was back and he set up all the beanbags I had with me on their side, about twenty, in a design that resembled crop circles. It was an endeavor that took an exceeding amount of patience as the bean bags do not sit up easily. When I came over to him at the end of class he looked up at me and then proceeded to scatter all the beanbags and then follow his classmates out. Jeng is seven or eight.

There are two in my class of little devils at Sitrabut who love to screw around and generally not pay attention. One of them isn't special he's just dim, the other is quite smart and always knows what I've taught that day, he's got to have aspergers or something. The way he behaves in class, his body language, his complete and totally anomalous social behavior, he's got to have a mental hiccup going on in that brain of his. He's a bit naughty sometimes but he's a saint compared to the special kid in Lawri's class. He throws massive fits daily and then attaches himself to her wrapping his legs around hers and his arms around her waist. He's only seven or eight but she says that he's stronger than her.

In Thailand they always call these kids special, it's the way they do it here. There also seems to be little acknowledgment of what makes these kids special. The difference between ADD and autism is not recognized. Obviously they see the difference but aside from possibly removing the student from the class there will be no action taken to try and change the students experience in school. I've figured out that one of my kids is red-green colorblind. He's a smart kid and he should know the difference but he still holds up the wrong color when I say either red or green. Blue, yellow, and orange are usually fine but that red and green thing is tough. I've seen homeroom teachers smack kids with a bit of force for getting things wrong when they should know better and this kid should know better, if he wasn't color blind.

Occasionally these special kids will have a sort of buddy in the class who helps them with their work, sits with them to keep them out of trouble, and explains things to them they don't understand. It's sweet and the dedication is inspiring. A girl in class moved from team six to team two right before we began a game. This is common, kids want to be with their friends, but this girl, as I found out later, simply wanted to be next to the special kid who was designated as her charge by some teacher or administrator. It can't be fun but it's admirable, taking care of those who need it, this sort of responsibility is accepted all too rarely.

A political poster in Thailand

Taking care of each other isn't exactly a cultural norm though. The national elections are coming next week and the way that a political campaign is conducted in Thailand is absolutely amazing. There are posters with heads of lizards and dogs and many other animals superimposed on human bodies wearing suits that symbolize politicians. There are no politicians singled out by this campaign it's a knock on politicians across the board and to a Thai person being called or even associated with having animal like qualities is extremely offensive. That particular advertising campaign is by a group that is trying to get people to abstain from voting because the system is corrupt. I would say supposedly but there's really no doubt about it. To put insult to injury though the group that is putting up these don't vote signs is rumored to be funded by the yellow shirts who are currently in control of the government. They're probably not in the majority as the red shirts have been gaining large amounts of support lately and they know that if they can get people not to vote it will be easier for them to fix the election.

Chuvit ANGRY!!!

There is a guy running who's platform is anti-corruption, a message that probably would ring true with most Thais if it weren't currently being spear headed by a man who owns numerous brothels in Thailand and pays the cops off regularly in order to allow them to operate. Chuvit is his name, and in addition to anti-corruption he's also very interested in decreasing traffic. Some of his posters show him looking very angry and holding on to a steering wheel. There's two other angry Chuvit posters, one where he's got his hands on his head balled into fists full of those sparse hairs that still remain on his head. In the other he has a baby wrapped up in his right arm and he's doing his standard angry face. Apparently the message is that a government is like a baby, it's only happy when it's being changed regularly. There is one happy picture of him, he's kneeling next to a dog, the national symbol of loyalty. Chuvit isn't the only candidate, though he's certainly the most entertaining. Other posters look like they might be obituary pictures for business men or generals. Old men wearing their nice clothes, some with military uniforms, and a garish smile on their face that reminds me of a villains sneer as you step into his trap. They simply cannot compare with Chuvit's televised event in which he smashed an egg over the head of a man wearing a paper bag with another politicians name written on it. Of course it wasn't a paid advertisement in the traditional sense, it was a news story but without question Chuvit paid someone at the news agency to air it.

I would trust a stranger walking out of my own house with a TV before I'd trust these two.

Despite all this show there is a bit of real drama. The leading candidate as most people see it is the sister of the former prime minister who was deposed and exiled and has since been declared a terrorist and is also accused of massive fraud. All accusations aside from the terrorism are probably true however they are also true of many of the other politicians as well. The sister who's running for prime minister has no political experience at all, she's the head of the red shirts who idolize Thaksin, the deposed prime minister. All of the Thais think that if the red shirts get too many people in to the government and they can form a coalition that the yellow shirts don't like then we will have curfews and the election will be declared invalid. It's not such a far step to imagine such a scenario as in 2006 when they began prosecuting Thaksin for conflict of interest because he was the host of a televised cooking program they also disbanded his party for vote fraud. There has since been a tape circulating the internet between one of the judges and the opposition party discussing how best to ensure Thaksin's party was dissolved.

No matter what happens I'm pretty sure that I'll experience some sort of curfew, hey, who knows, maybe there'll be riots again and school will be canceled? Johann, this mid thirties Irish guy who's one of the sweetest men I've ever met snuck out last year during the curfew when the red shirts were occupying Ratchaprason Square. He got back into his house and just then a cop came walking up and asked him what he'd been doing out. He said he just wanted to have a look around. The cop said that he could be shot on sight for being out after curfew and Johann in true foreigner fashion said, “But I'm a teacher.” It is true, at least last year when there was a curfew the orders were anyone caught breaking it who didn't follow the commands of military personnel could be shot, it never happened though. Everyone knew what the curfew was about, and when the Red Shirts started fires all across the city all of the Farangs climbed to the top of the nearest building and watched the flames and smoke plume up into the sky, pillars of frustration that were absorbed into nothing.

Till we meet again friends, and as you go skating out of your house after six think of me, because in a weeks time there's a very good chance I won't be allowed out that late.