Travel to Teach: Thailand Volunteer Story

Biddy and Rick

Biddy, 18, England

My first week with Travel To Teach was spent in Nongkhai restoring a school in danger of being shut down (view the photo gallery of the restoration project). There were plenty of things to do, go to Bar-nana or Surreal and plenty of places to eat falang food such as Mutmee. However, for me this was not why I came to Thailand.

My time in Nong Khai was enjoyable as I made many good friends but there are so many falangs there and I wanted to experience the "real" Thailand. So after one week I moved to Namsom and loved it.

In Namsom you are pretty much the only falang around so you will be greeted constantly when going anywhere. There is no Bar-nana in Namsom, in fact there are only a couple of karaoke bars but his means instead of going out in the evening to Western oriented places you will often get invites to teachers houses instead.

For my first two weeks in Namsom I taught at Tasom primary school, grade three and four. I love the school, I shall really miss the teachers who are so friendly and the children, because even though at times it can be very frustrating teaching children when neither of you speak the other's language, at the end of the day it was really fun. After those two weeks Tasom school broke up for their holidays and so I went to an education seminar in Ban Phue with Rick and two other volunteers as well as some of the teachers from Namsom. This was also quite fun as we had to teach childrens English songs to teachers, some of whom were trying to take things very seriously!

I also taught monks during my first week in Namsom, but this was not like teaching the monks in Nong Khai who are attentive and ask questions; These were novice monks and I was teaching a class of 50 13 year olds half of whom were determined not to learn a thing even the alphabet and so it came as a relief when they broke up for their holidays a week earlier than the school!

After the seminar I went to Phom Phi Sai with all of the volunteers for the Naga festival, and although we did not see any fire balls the jam-packed atmosphere throughout the day was still amazing.

After doing a three day English camp in a village outside Nong Khai I then returned back to Namsom where I and the other volunteers taught in a small classroom next to the shop of one of the teachers from Nangua school (another primary school in Namsom). I taught there for one week and then Tasom school pupils returned and so did I, back to the classes I had before.

My final night in Namsom was on the Loi Kratong festival (the seconds most important festival in the Thai calendar). The other volunteers and I followed Namsom tradition and dressed in Thai clothes and danced to a Thai song on stage!

The Namsom dorm is very nice and open with a kitchen so you can cook your own meals if you want, but we usually bought street food back to the house or ate out as it is actually much cheaper than cooking yourself. Some times Rick or Jeab would eat with us, they visited the dorm every day and I will miss them, as well as the other volunteers. And meeting so many people from so many different countries means if you go traveling again in the future there will always be a sofa for you somewhere!

If you want to be near some night life or would be reassured knowing that there are plenty of places to eat Western food nearby then perhaps Nong Khai is for you but if you would like to see more of the Thai culture and take things a bit slower I would certainly recommend Namsom. Also, one thing you have to do in Namsom is climb up the mountain to see the temple and views at the top. The first time someone told me about it they said there were 700 steps, the second person told me 800 and the third told me 1000, in any case it certainly feels like a lot but the views at the top are definitely worth it, but you will only do it the once!

I was only here for 9 weeks and it really wasn't enough, I would say book as much time as you possibly can as it will go so quickly! Also, if you have any questions feel free to email me.

Email Biddy Andrews

Mini Gallery: