DROP!

One of the perks of knowing so many other English teachers in Thailand is that aside from my own hysterical daily events, I get to hear everyone else's as well. We always have so much fun sharing our teaching adventures with each other. We actually refer to it as swapping our war stories.

This story in particular I wanted to share with all of you. It happened to my friend Laura who is teaching at a high school in Ayutthaya.

One day she was eating lunch in the cafeteria when four of her favorite tiny M1 students ran over to her. They are in her class that meets immediately after lunch. At first, she thought they were just being cute and trying to say hi but then she realized they were obviously trying to tell her something. They had panic of their faces, making large hand gestures, and blabbering a mile a minute in Thai. She stood there with a confused look on her face so the boys grabbed her hand and lead her out of the cafeteria, pointing to another building. They were jabbering in Thai back and forth trying to figure out how to explain to her. Finally, they came up with the word "drop!" and continuously shouted "DROP! DROP! DROP!" At this point, Laura was so confused. Is there like an egg drop going on...?

Then they switched words, grabbing her arms, and started yelling "Teacher! LIFT! LIFT! LIFT!" "Lift? Do I have to lift you up? Are you going to drop somewhere? Am I going to get in trouble? Are you tricking me?" she thought. Then she realized they were pointing to the elevator. Oh...okay, lift is the elevator...it's making a little more sense now. So she gets in the elevator with her four panic stricken students, still with no idea where she's going or what's going on (common here). Then, they finally run down the hallway and bring her to their classroom where she has class next period. And this is what she found...

Photo Credit: Laura Baulkeley

Apparently, a painter fell through the roof and into the classroom. At the time, there were students quickly sweeping up debris and stacking the desks.

It all made sense now.

Just like this story, I've learned that if no one else tells you what's going on then you can count on your students to at least try. One time, my students were trying to tell me that they would be 15 minutes late for my class because they had to move chairs for an event. But they told me this by continuously saying the word "CHAIR!" and miming actions of them moving chairs. I eventually figured it out.

Anyway, if you're wondering, the painter is okay and wasn't hurt. I can't even imagine if a man would have fallen through the ceiling WHILE she was teaching. Because everyone is safe and sound, the story of the painter causally falling through the roof of the school is just another one of these "only in Thailand" moments we encounter that just make everyday another adventure.

But seriously, only in Thailand...