Monday (12/1):
Slept until about 12pm. Pretty relax day. That night I helped Jah with more of her English homework and helped Pat make little jellies to sell at the school. We wanted to sell some food at the school to raise money for the youth in the area who wanted to go to Cambodia for the Baha'i Conference but didn't have enough money.
Tuesday (12/2):
School as usual today. During lunch we worked with the Crossword girls again. They memorize so much! Right after school we ran home to get the jelly and also pick up P''Wi who was helping us sell and brought meatballs to sell as well. We set up the stand at the school and sold all our food. It was good but I was tired.
Wednesday(12/3):
Woke up early for gate duty today. Today there was practice for the King's birthday a.k.a. Father's Day celebration at the school. So we had two hours of hanging around that we spent working more with the Crossword girls. After practice was over I had class with 6.1 where I taught them the “this is a spoon” game. They had a great time with it.
We sold meatballs and jelly and carrot cake today. We sold out of everything again. It was kind of frustrating to sell these things. All the kids come at you like a mob; they don't do the whole line thing very well.
Thursday(12/4) Father's Day Celebration:
Got to school just in time for the beginning of ceremony. It was really cute to see all the little kids with their dads. They gave them all flowers! A couple prayers were said and then there were a couple of Thai dances where the Canadian twins Yasmin and Roya had gotten all dressed up and did a dance with the other girls. Adorable!!
We sold more food after school. We had A LOT of food but we ended up selling ALL of it! Yay! I think we made good profit of selling food. After school the Canadian family and I went with Golee to one of her friend's house (P'Hiuey). She and her husband own a car dealership as well as several phone stores. The husband collects fish so we went over to see the fish. He was pretty serious about the fish he had. Apparently he flew to Chine to get some of the fish and every month he had actual sea water shipped to him for the tank. CRAZy! It was cool though to see because he had all kinds of fish and coral. He even had Nemo and Dory! Haha.
After looking at the fishes we ate carrot cake made by P'Wi who also joined us and drank a lot of tea. We watched the kids play, the twins and P''Hiuey's son and daughter, while we ate and talked. It was a really nice afternoon and we got to just relax.
Good News- Protestors have left the Bangkok airport!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday (11/27) Thanksgiving Day:
No school today because there were no English classes for me to go to. I hung around the house cleaning and doing laundry to prepare for my trip. That night I was to get on a bus with P' Pat to Chonburi. In Chonburi some of the youth have been going down there to teach and work on helping out the Baha'i community down there so I was to go down with them this weekend. So around 7pm Pat came over and Golee, Jah, Pat, Pat and I went to Big C to get some food for the trip.
We caught the bus around 9pm. It was a really nice bus. Pat had got us VIP tickets so it was really comfortable to sleep. So I got to sleep the whole way. We arrived in Chonburi (south of Yasothon and on the beach) at 6 am. We took my first tuk-tuk ride to the house where I met Bah Needa (owner of the house we were staying in ) and P'Orn. We wnt to bed as soon as we were showered where we'd be sleeping.
I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving at all. The only food I had all day was yellow noodles. :( I missed family and home but I was really excited for the weekend ahead.
Friday (11/28):
After a few hours of sleep we woke up and ate a bit. Then P'Orn, Pat and I walked down to the sea side. It was really cool to see the ocean finally. The area we went to was a fishing market where there were tons of boats and fisherman and shrimp! There was a pier we walked on and took a bunch of pictures. It was a really windy day; we took a lot of goofy pictures. After that we had noodles at a little shop among all the fisherman. We had noodles with guess what!? SEAFOOD. It wasn't m favorite but I ate it including the squid tentacles and all.
We walked back to the house and I took a small nap. Then we walked to an elementary school not far from the house. We went to talk to the kids and to try to get some of them interested in coming to Junior Youth classes. We were thrown in front of a big crowd of kids once we were there and we played games with them. Then we did the same thing in front of another class. We had a good time playing games with the kids. The director of the school was very supportive of us getting the kids to join our group which was really nice to see.
After the school we caught a bus to the big market in Chonburi. We ate Pad Thai and had coconut drinks. We walked around the market for the rest of the evening. I bought a couple of things although there was tons of stuff I wanted to buy! I was pretty tired by the end of the day though so when we got back to the house I crashed.
Saturday (11/29):
Later after I had gone to sleep the evening before all the rest of the youth showed up from Bangkok. Warren, FM, Arm, Jen, Lang, Jit, Sita, and P'Tim were all there now. So we ate breakfast and said some prayers before going to pick up the kids from the school around 9am. Pat, Jit and I went to get the kids and we were surprised to find that quite a few of them had shown up for the class. We walked back with them to the house where the class would be held.
We sang songs, played games, said prayers and got to know each other. I think the kids had a lot of fun. P'Tim explained to them a bit about the class and most of them seemed interested enough to come back a second time for the class. We were all happy to get such a good outcome. That night we split up into groups to do some home visits but I stayed with FM and P'Orn at the house to help clean up and cook food. That night we had a new Baha'i come over and she brought her non-Baha'i friend. P'Tim did Anna's Presentation with them and then we ate. It was pretty relaxed night. After they left I taught all the youth “This is a spoon” game. They went nuts over it! Haha we couldn't play too long thought because we were being really loud and it was pretty late already.
Sunday (11/30):
Ate breakfast with everyone and soon the JY group came and Ahjahn Mark (Bah Needa's husband) went to teach them. We had a short presentation on how to talk to parents of the JY group members and to tell them why the group is important and good for their child. So we all sat around for that and then we worked on learning some songs including “Armed” by Devon Gundry. I thought we didn't sound half bad.. For lunch we had “som tam”. Pretty good but after being sick off of it I think it's kinda been ruined for me. :(
After lunch all the youth went to the beach and we just ran around and had a good time taking pictures and stuff. We sat around and sang and then I taught them the “secret signs” game. We had a lot of fun with that. It took them a bit to understand how to play, especially FM but once we got the hang of it they were obsessed! =D Soon it was time to head back to the house.
When we got back all the youth from Bangkok had to leave to catch their bus back. Pat and I were the only ones left. We hung around until 8pm teaching the adults “Armed” and just talking. Bah Needa took me to the bus station where I would be catching the bus back to Yaso alone. They left me there and I waited at the bus station by myself for about 40 mins. That was a little akward. Finally around 9 pm the bus came and I found out that I would be sitting next to this really creepy looking guy. I won't lie and say I wasn't just a bit nervous. Turns out the bus ride in general was not very pleasurable. I had an uncomfortable seat and couldn't really get decent sleep. Also the bus kept stopping for some reason. I never knew why and it made me a little uneasy. I was worried too that in the morning I would miss my stop for Yasothon. I called Golee and she talked to one of the guys on the bus for me.
I got to Yaso around 7:30 am. I was so tired!! Golee picked me up and I was happy to go back to my bed and sleep for the rast of the morning.
No school today because there were no English classes for me to go to. I hung around the house cleaning and doing laundry to prepare for my trip. That night I was to get on a bus with P' Pat to Chonburi. In Chonburi some of the youth have been going down there to teach and work on helping out the Baha'i community down there so I was to go down with them this weekend. So around 7pm Pat came over and Golee, Jah, Pat, Pat and I went to Big C to get some food for the trip.
We caught the bus around 9pm. It was a really nice bus. Pat had got us VIP tickets so it was really comfortable to sleep. So I got to sleep the whole way. We arrived in Chonburi (south of Yasothon and on the beach) at 6 am. We took my first tuk-tuk ride to the house where I met Bah Needa (owner of the house we were staying in ) and P'Orn. We wnt to bed as soon as we were showered where we'd be sleeping.
I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving at all. The only food I had all day was yellow noodles. :( I missed family and home but I was really excited for the weekend ahead.
Friday (11/28):
After a few hours of sleep we woke up and ate a bit. Then P'Orn, Pat and I walked down to the sea side. It was really cool to see the ocean finally. The area we went to was a fishing market where there were tons of boats and fisherman and shrimp! There was a pier we walked on and took a bunch of pictures. It was a really windy day; we took a lot of goofy pictures. After that we had noodles at a little shop among all the fisherman. We had noodles with guess what!? SEAFOOD. It wasn't m favorite but I ate it including the squid tentacles and all.
We walked back to the house and I took a small nap. Then we walked to an elementary school not far from the house. We went to talk to the kids and to try to get some of them interested in coming to Junior Youth classes. We were thrown in front of a big crowd of kids once we were there and we played games with them. Then we did the same thing in front of another class. We had a good time playing games with the kids. The director of the school was very supportive of us getting the kids to join our group which was really nice to see.
After the school we caught a bus to the big market in Chonburi. We ate Pad Thai and had coconut drinks. We walked around the market for the rest of the evening. I bought a couple of things although there was tons of stuff I wanted to buy! I was pretty tired by the end of the day though so when we got back to the house I crashed.
Saturday (11/29):
Later after I had gone to sleep the evening before all the rest of the youth showed up from Bangkok. Warren, FM, Arm, Jen, Lang, Jit, Sita, and P'Tim were all there now. So we ate breakfast and said some prayers before going to pick up the kids from the school around 9am. Pat, Jit and I went to get the kids and we were surprised to find that quite a few of them had shown up for the class. We walked back with them to the house where the class would be held.
We sang songs, played games, said prayers and got to know each other. I think the kids had a lot of fun. P'Tim explained to them a bit about the class and most of them seemed interested enough to come back a second time for the class. We were all happy to get such a good outcome. That night we split up into groups to do some home visits but I stayed with FM and P'Orn at the house to help clean up and cook food. That night we had a new Baha'i come over and she brought her non-Baha'i friend. P'Tim did Anna's Presentation with them and then we ate. It was pretty relaxed night. After they left I taught all the youth “This is a spoon” game. They went nuts over it! Haha we couldn't play too long thought because we were being really loud and it was pretty late already.
Sunday (11/30):
Ate breakfast with everyone and soon the JY group came and Ahjahn Mark (Bah Needa's husband) went to teach them. We had a short presentation on how to talk to parents of the JY group members and to tell them why the group is important and good for their child. So we all sat around for that and then we worked on learning some songs including “Armed” by Devon Gundry. I thought we didn't sound half bad.. For lunch we had “som tam”. Pretty good but after being sick off of it I think it's kinda been ruined for me. :(
After lunch all the youth went to the beach and we just ran around and had a good time taking pictures and stuff. We sat around and sang and then I taught them the “secret signs” game. We had a lot of fun with that. It took them a bit to understand how to play, especially FM but once we got the hang of it they were obsessed! =D Soon it was time to head back to the house.
When we got back all the youth from Bangkok had to leave to catch their bus back. Pat and I were the only ones left. We hung around until 8pm teaching the adults “Armed” and just talking. Bah Needa took me to the bus station where I would be catching the bus back to Yaso alone. They left me there and I waited at the bus station by myself for about 40 mins. That was a little akward. Finally around 9 pm the bus came and I found out that I would be sitting next to this really creepy looking guy. I won't lie and say I wasn't just a bit nervous. Turns out the bus ride in general was not very pleasurable. I had an uncomfortable seat and couldn't really get decent sleep. Also the bus kept stopping for some reason. I never knew why and it made me a little uneasy. I was worried too that in the morning I would miss my stop for Yasothon. I called Golee and she talked to one of the guys on the bus for me.
I got to Yaso around 7:30 am. I was so tired!! Golee picked me up and I was happy to go back to my bed and sleep for the rast of the morning.
Sunday (11/23):
Children's class today at 9am. Only the family from Canada showed up and one other girl so we didn't do anything big. We drew our favorite things and talked about our homes. The girls Yasmin were so cute and funny! I loved hanging out with them. Later in the morning Michelle showed up and I talked with her and the family about our homes. When Golee, Pat and Miw finished their study circle for the day we all went out to lunch together.
We went to this noodle restaurant close to the school. We had yellow noodles and wontons! SOO goood! These were probably my favorite noodles so far since I've been in Thailand. We had a good time laughing and talking over lunch. After we all headed over to the school to help out more. There was a lot going on and a lot being done. I helped out wherever I could. I tried crepes for the first time too. There was a guy who came buy with his stand who sell crepes and he put custard or chocolate or fruit syrups on it and it comes out huge and crispy and so good! It's so fun to watch him make it too, because he uses this big circle, flat burned to spread the mix on. Very cool.
So the rest of the evening we were very busy getting ready for the next day when the King's Award committee would arrive to check out the school. Everything had to be perfect. We were there until about 8pm. When we finally got home it was nice to go to bed and I was excited for the next morning!
Monday (11/24) The King's Award Committee:
6:30am wake up call today. We were dressed in our finest, black skirts and white blouses – the official uniform for Santitham teachers. So we got to the school and everyone was busy getting last things in order before they arrived. Before we knew it they were there and immediately ushered into the reception room we had all prepared for them. Then there were shorts presentations and a couple dances by some of the kindergarten kids. So cute!! Then there was a very nice video documentary about the school, after which the members of the committee went to walk around the school and evaluate. Finally around lunch time I helped set up tables and serve food and then I finally got to eat to.
Every important event that goes on in Thailand has it's place for karaoke. I've found it's like their national sport almost. Everyone sings and everyone has a good time. While we ate several people went up on stage to sing including the head of the committee (who had the honor of going first) as well as several other members of the committee and Golee who sang Hotel California. It was so fun to see that such important people would just get up and sing in front of everyone! However, it was soon time for them to go but before they left they had a couple of very good comments about our school. The results of who won, however, would take maybe a couple weeks to produce. We were hopeful though. The rest of the day we cleaned up while some of the kids did karaoke. It was a really good time.
Tuesday (11/25):
Uneventful day. Woke up. Missed school. Blogged. Ate. Sleep.
Wedneday (11/26) Day of the Covenant:
Got to school in time for the Day of the Covenant celebration which was just more prayers in the morning and a speech by Nawarat. Then aerobics since Wednesday is sports day. Then both classes 6.1 and 6.2. Golee and I have found that 6.1 is a much better class and their English is much better. 6.2 is a very rowdy class and I don't think they're very motivated to learn and also it always seems like they have less class time because events always cut into their periods. It's unfortunate, I have to think of a way to motivate the class.
During lunch Golee and I went to run some errands which included stopping at the bank to try to get my card to work and it turns out when I tried the ATM is worked! Yay! FINALLY! So after errands we went back to school to work with the Crossword girls. While at school we talked to Nawarat and he told us about the airport situation in Bangkok! We were shocked and Golee was supppose to go to Bangkok this weekend so we were all worried.
After school we went to the Volunteer House where the Canadian family hosted the Day of the Covenant celebration. We had a good time eating Persian food that Nadim made (finally not noodles or rice!!!) It was really good and we played some games too and had a lot of fun. I was in a good mood hanging out with everyone and I felt very at home with everyone like I did with my own community at home. :)
Children's class today at 9am. Only the family from Canada showed up and one other girl so we didn't do anything big. We drew our favorite things and talked about our homes. The girls Yasmin were so cute and funny! I loved hanging out with them. Later in the morning Michelle showed up and I talked with her and the family about our homes. When Golee, Pat and Miw finished their study circle for the day we all went out to lunch together.
We went to this noodle restaurant close to the school. We had yellow noodles and wontons! SOO goood! These were probably my favorite noodles so far since I've been in Thailand. We had a good time laughing and talking over lunch. After we all headed over to the school to help out more. There was a lot going on and a lot being done. I helped out wherever I could. I tried crepes for the first time too. There was a guy who came buy with his stand who sell crepes and he put custard or chocolate or fruit syrups on it and it comes out huge and crispy and so good! It's so fun to watch him make it too, because he uses this big circle, flat burned to spread the mix on. Very cool.
So the rest of the evening we were very busy getting ready for the next day when the King's Award committee would arrive to check out the school. Everything had to be perfect. We were there until about 8pm. When we finally got home it was nice to go to bed and I was excited for the next morning!
Monday (11/24) The King's Award Committee:
6:30am wake up call today. We were dressed in our finest, black skirts and white blouses – the official uniform for Santitham teachers. So we got to the school and everyone was busy getting last things in order before they arrived. Before we knew it they were there and immediately ushered into the reception room we had all prepared for them. Then there were shorts presentations and a couple dances by some of the kindergarten kids. So cute!! Then there was a very nice video documentary about the school, after which the members of the committee went to walk around the school and evaluate. Finally around lunch time I helped set up tables and serve food and then I finally got to eat to.
Every important event that goes on in Thailand has it's place for karaoke. I've found it's like their national sport almost. Everyone sings and everyone has a good time. While we ate several people went up on stage to sing including the head of the committee (who had the honor of going first) as well as several other members of the committee and Golee who sang Hotel California. It was so fun to see that such important people would just get up and sing in front of everyone! However, it was soon time for them to go but before they left they had a couple of very good comments about our school. The results of who won, however, would take maybe a couple weeks to produce. We were hopeful though. The rest of the day we cleaned up while some of the kids did karaoke. It was a really good time.
Tuesday (11/25):
Uneventful day. Woke up. Missed school. Blogged. Ate. Sleep.
Wedneday (11/26) Day of the Covenant:
Got to school in time for the Day of the Covenant celebration which was just more prayers in the morning and a speech by Nawarat. Then aerobics since Wednesday is sports day. Then both classes 6.1 and 6.2. Golee and I have found that 6.1 is a much better class and their English is much better. 6.2 is a very rowdy class and I don't think they're very motivated to learn and also it always seems like they have less class time because events always cut into their periods. It's unfortunate, I have to think of a way to motivate the class.
During lunch Golee and I went to run some errands which included stopping at the bank to try to get my card to work and it turns out when I tried the ATM is worked! Yay! FINALLY! So after errands we went back to school to work with the Crossword girls. While at school we talked to Nawarat and he told us about the airport situation in Bangkok! We were shocked and Golee was supppose to go to Bangkok this weekend so we were all worried.
After school we went to the Volunteer House where the Canadian family hosted the Day of the Covenant celebration. We had a good time eating Persian food that Nadim made (finally not noodles or rice!!!) It was really good and we played some games too and had a lot of fun. I was in a good mood hanging out with everyone and I felt very at home with everyone like I did with my own community at home. :)
Thursday (11/20):
Today was a really good day. I woke up on time to go to school but then Golee told me I didn't have to come in the morning because she would just be teaching her Moral development classes. So I stayed home and cleaned the bathroom which OBVIOUSLY hadn't been cleaned in a LONG time! It was good that I could get it clean. It was gross. I also got to clean my room and bit and do my laundry.
Golee returned in the afternoon and we went back to school . At school I gave 6.2 another quiz/game. We played Bingo with the words that we had been studying. After class Golee had to leave but I stayed grading papers for an hour and then playing Scrabble with the girls for an hour. Then we had a meeting after school about the King's Award. Nawarat and Niyana talked about how the school was in competition with another school in the area for the King's Award. (Every year the Kings gives out awards of recognition to schools and this year Santitham was in the running for the Kindergarten level in a middle sized school). So the following Monday we were to have representatives from the King come to visit the school to evaluate it for the award, In order to receive them we had to set up the school really nice and fix it up.. pretty much for royalty.
So the meeting on that went until about 5:45pm. Golee and I rushed home to get ready for dinner. That night we were to have the family from Canada and two other families with small children over for dinner. I just had time to change before the families arrived. We had a ton of very good food including Tom Ka Gai (chicken in coconut milk soup), pork sticks, pork chili, and an amazing dessert of bananas in coconut milk. YUM! :) After dinner the younger kids played some English-Thai games. They were so cute! Then the kids and their parents played some games like “feeding each other bananas while blind folded” which was very entertaining to watch. Then we all played a game “staying on the shrinking boat” which got families very close to each other!
It was a really fun evening and it was a perfect end to a very busy day. I was glad to talk to the Canadian family and play games with the kids but I was also happy to get to bed after a very busy day. =D
Friday (11/21):
Went into school a little later today, around 11am. When I got to the school everything was pretty much out of order. All the teachers were around starting to set up for the King's Award committee so there were only a few teachers actually teaching which meant that each of these teachers had maybe 2 or 3 classes for maybe 2 or 3 hours! How exhausting! A lot of the older kids were just hanging around and helping sweep or something. I was immediately put to work when I got there and you'll never guess what they had me doing....they assigned me to cleaning the leave of all the plants in the area! Do you know how many plants are in that “area”?! I would have never thought to do such a thing but I suppose it did make a difference and it actually does help the plants grow but really?! Well, I was glad to help of course but it did shock me at first.
So I did that for the rest of the morning. At lunch Golee wasn't around so I ate by quickly by myself and then went to see what else I could do around the school to help. I think it was pretty hard for the teachers in charge of the whole 'preparation project' to tell me anything to do. They never really asked me to do anything that was complicated or important it seemed so at times I did feel kind of useless but I was there to help anyway I could. After lunch one of the teachers told me to take the 6.2 kids up to the classroom and to teach them! I was a bit hesitant, Golee still wasn't around and I had no idea what to do with them. Unfortunately, this was the roudy class too. It was a bit frustrating trying to tell them what I wanted to do because half of them were running around and to the other half I was trying to explain what it was I wanted them to do. AH! It turned out okay I guess. Golee showed up 30 minutes later and we played Hangman and they worked in their work books for the rest of the day. Again another very tiring day!
Saturday (11/22):
Woke up early today and went straight to the school to help out. There wasn't much to do that morning so we came back to the house and I helped Pat and Fon prepare food for that evening. We were suppose to have Feast at our house and we were going to have a “hot pot” style dinner. It was weird to see that after cutting the raw meat on a cutting board they would use the same board to cut the vegetables on without watching it. This, no doubt, had me a bit worried but I guess with a 'hot pot' dinner everything gets boiled anyways but still. Are Americans just over-conscious of and sensitive to things like this and they aren't really a big deal or are Thai people just completely unaware of health issues like this?
Anyways, we headed back to the school in the afternoon and just in time to meet up with the JY group. The family from Canada also showed up and we played some games together. I practiced some English with the JY group and then the kids played some soccer. Later in the afternoon, I went with Golee to run some errands. I got to talk to her a bit and I noticed I was feeling really comfortable around her. I liked that I was getting use to things.
For Feast that night we said prayers and sang. We went over the October 20th letter from the NSA about the conferences and I talked with Nadim and Christina (the Canadian famliy) about situation of Baha'is in our home communities and Thailand. It was very interesting to hear from them. Then we had the “hot pot” dinner which was really good – AND I didn't get sick from it! The rest of the evening we talked and sang and ate! It was another really good night.
Today was a really good day. I woke up on time to go to school but then Golee told me I didn't have to come in the morning because she would just be teaching her Moral development classes. So I stayed home and cleaned the bathroom which OBVIOUSLY hadn't been cleaned in a LONG time! It was good that I could get it clean. It was gross. I also got to clean my room and bit and do my laundry.
Golee returned in the afternoon and we went back to school . At school I gave 6.2 another quiz/game. We played Bingo with the words that we had been studying. After class Golee had to leave but I stayed grading papers for an hour and then playing Scrabble with the girls for an hour. Then we had a meeting after school about the King's Award. Nawarat and Niyana talked about how the school was in competition with another school in the area for the King's Award. (Every year the Kings gives out awards of recognition to schools and this year Santitham was in the running for the Kindergarten level in a middle sized school). So the following Monday we were to have representatives from the King come to visit the school to evaluate it for the award, In order to receive them we had to set up the school really nice and fix it up.. pretty much for royalty.
So the meeting on that went until about 5:45pm. Golee and I rushed home to get ready for dinner. That night we were to have the family from Canada and two other families with small children over for dinner. I just had time to change before the families arrived. We had a ton of very good food including Tom Ka Gai (chicken in coconut milk soup), pork sticks, pork chili, and an amazing dessert of bananas in coconut milk. YUM! :) After dinner the younger kids played some English-Thai games. They were so cute! Then the kids and their parents played some games like “feeding each other bananas while blind folded” which was very entertaining to watch. Then we all played a game “staying on the shrinking boat” which got families very close to each other!
It was a really fun evening and it was a perfect end to a very busy day. I was glad to talk to the Canadian family and play games with the kids but I was also happy to get to bed after a very busy day. =D
Friday (11/21):
Went into school a little later today, around 11am. When I got to the school everything was pretty much out of order. All the teachers were around starting to set up for the King's Award committee so there were only a few teachers actually teaching which meant that each of these teachers had maybe 2 or 3 classes for maybe 2 or 3 hours! How exhausting! A lot of the older kids were just hanging around and helping sweep or something. I was immediately put to work when I got there and you'll never guess what they had me doing....they assigned me to cleaning the leave of all the plants in the area! Do you know how many plants are in that “area”?! I would have never thought to do such a thing but I suppose it did make a difference and it actually does help the plants grow but really?! Well, I was glad to help of course but it did shock me at first.
So I did that for the rest of the morning. At lunch Golee wasn't around so I ate by quickly by myself and then went to see what else I could do around the school to help. I think it was pretty hard for the teachers in charge of the whole 'preparation project' to tell me anything to do. They never really asked me to do anything that was complicated or important it seemed so at times I did feel kind of useless but I was there to help anyway I could. After lunch one of the teachers told me to take the 6.2 kids up to the classroom and to teach them! I was a bit hesitant, Golee still wasn't around and I had no idea what to do with them. Unfortunately, this was the roudy class too. It was a bit frustrating trying to tell them what I wanted to do because half of them were running around and to the other half I was trying to explain what it was I wanted them to do. AH! It turned out okay I guess. Golee showed up 30 minutes later and we played Hangman and they worked in their work books for the rest of the day. Again another very tiring day!
Saturday (11/22):
Woke up early today and went straight to the school to help out. There wasn't much to do that morning so we came back to the house and I helped Pat and Fon prepare food for that evening. We were suppose to have Feast at our house and we were going to have a “hot pot” style dinner. It was weird to see that after cutting the raw meat on a cutting board they would use the same board to cut the vegetables on without watching it. This, no doubt, had me a bit worried but I guess with a 'hot pot' dinner everything gets boiled anyways but still. Are Americans just over-conscious of and sensitive to things like this and they aren't really a big deal or are Thai people just completely unaware of health issues like this?
Anyways, we headed back to the school in the afternoon and just in time to meet up with the JY group. The family from Canada also showed up and we played some games together. I practiced some English with the JY group and then the kids played some soccer. Later in the afternoon, I went with Golee to run some errands. I got to talk to her a bit and I noticed I was feeling really comfortable around her. I liked that I was getting use to things.
For Feast that night we said prayers and sang. We went over the October 20th letter from the NSA about the conferences and I talked with Nadim and Christina (the Canadian famliy) about situation of Baha'is in our home communities and Thailand. It was very interesting to hear from them. Then we had the “hot pot” dinner which was really good – AND I didn't get sick from it! The rest of the evening we talked and sang and ate! It was another really good night.
Playing Catch-up
Monday (11/17):
I started the class by myself today. When the teacher comes in the room the class leader asks to the rest of the kids “are you ready?” then all the kids stand up and say “good morning Ms. Shadow. How are you today” and then I say “I'm very well thank you. How are you?” “I'm very good, thank you.” and then I tell them they can sit and they 'wai' and sit down. I find this to be a little weird because they drone on, not enthusiastically or real at all but I guess it's kind of a respect thing. Anyways, class went really well.
During lunch I played with the Scrabble girl again. In the afternoon class during one of the breaks I was practicing my Thai writing and I caught the attention of some of the kids. Within a few second they were all swarmed around me telling me how to pronounce stuff and laughing hysterically when I said something wrong. It was really cute and funny. :)
After school Golee and I went to the Baha'i Volunteer House to visit the Baha'i family from Canada that just arrived. I met Nadim, Christina and their twin daughter Yasmin and Roya. It was really cool to meet them and hear their story. They took a year off to travel the world and they've been to China, Vietnam and Taiwan already. The plan to go to India and Europe as well on their way back to Canada. Later that night I went out with the family and Niyana and Nawarat to Big C where we ate at MK Restaurant. MK is a Korean hot pot style restaurant where there is a pot of boilig broth on the table and they bring vegetable and then you order all the meats you want to put in and and then you put everything in and enjoy! It was very good. Afterwards we did some shopping and then we were home around 9pm! Long day, glad to get to bed finally! :)
Tuesday (11/18):
Today was pretty uneventful. At school Golee taught most of the classes alone because I was working on creating a game for the kids. In the afternoon I want to Nanaphan alone to do some shopping and then Michelle showed up and bit later. We walked to the market and walked around a bit.. Later in the evening I went with Jah to run some errands and I found out the my ATM card still didn't work even after emailing Commerce 3 times!!! UGH!
Wednesday (11/19):
I didn't go to school today. I hung around the house cleaning up and just dong stuff on my computer. When the kids got home around 4pm I had a snack with them. We hung out together for the rest of the evening and then around dinner time I was getting really hungry. I didn't have anything in the house and I couldn't go out to get anything. Luckily, just then Fon called me up and invited me to dinner with her family! Yay! Her and her mom came to pick me up and we went to meet the rest of the family at a restaurant. When I got there I ate something really quick and then Fon and I went to walk around a bit. We went to a movie rental shop and I wanted to rent somethings but I didn't have a lot of money or a membership so I couldn't. :( Soon we were headed back home to sleep!
Monday, December 1, 2008
I shall attempt to update on the past weeks without writing a novel for everyday as I tend to do :
Monday (11/10):
Struggled to get out of bed today as the Sunday before was very busy and tiring. However, I had to get to school so crammed down breakfast and got dressed – hit the road by 7:45am. Class went well today. I gave 6.1 a pop quiz on spelling (words such as Australia, Mexico, Vietnam) for the unit we had been working on. We played a game after so it wasn't complete torture for them I hope.
I help serve the kids again at lunch time, something I really enjoy doing. The kids are all so cute and they always do a small 'wai' and some try out there English and say “Thank you! Good afternoon!” ADORABLE!! :) Lunch for me today included a fish..a whole fish...head, scales, fins, bones, eye, you name it. Now if you know anything about me you'll know that I am not one who likes to eat things that still looks like it could have been alive at one point...HOWEVER I completely dove in and tore that fish apart. I pulled off the tail and head and picked through the bones to get all the meat. It was really good and I felt like such a champ! The simple pleasures in life huh? :)
That night I helped Jah with her English homework – scratch that, I DID her English homework and go figure she got an A on it...turns out I'm not so bad at English. I was just glad to help.
Tuesday (11/11) Birth of Baha'u'llah Celebration:
Headed to school alone that day for the first time because Golee was running around getting things ready for that night (the celebration). After school we went to P'Wee's house where we ate lunch that came in a box -vegetables, meats, sauces all packaged in a box. I had never seen anything like that. I thought it was really cool. It was really good, kind of like Asian tacos or chicken lettuce wraps but with rice pastry instead of lettuce. Good stuff. Next a trip to Big C where we picked up a couple things for the evening and some KFC ice cream! :) (Saying prayers for the Birth of Baha'u'llah)
Before we headed to the Volunteer House (where the celebration was to be held) we stopped at this
little cafe called Miss Aree where we got these amazing blueberry yogurt smoothies. Yum!! When we got the Volunteer House we cleaned up a bit and started to set up. I went to work on the presentation for the night. I had found a video on YouTube about the Life of Baha'u'llah but of course it was in English. So.. I had to edit out all the English and put in Thai translations (obviously got help with the translating part) but that took pretty much the rest of the evening up until the hour when everyone arrived. (Youth at celebration - Baha'i Volunteer house)
There were prayers and then my video and we played some games. It was a short evening because it was also a week night but it was really
nice and dinner was really good. I was really good that I could actually help out with the evening. (roses! Miuw and me)
Wednesday (11/12) Loi Katung Festival:
I got stuck at home today. I woke up late and Golee was already gone to school. I tried to call her and then I thought I would just leave and head to the school myself but then I didn't have a key to lock up the house. It was a real bummer because I missed the Birth of Baha'u'llah celebration at the school which I heard was really good. :( I guess it's my fault for not waking up on time. So I hung out at home cleaning up until everyone got home around 3pm.
Today was actually the Loi Katung Festival in Thailand as well. The Loi Katung Festival is a
celebration where people make floats with candles and inscents and things and send them down the river. I've heard that they do this to send their love to their sweethearts or to pay respects to their ancestors or to make wishes come true or to send their bad luck away. There is no religious significance to the festival, it's just a traditional thing.
So at 6:30 Mook, Fon, Golee and I headed to a Festival celebration in a neighboring town. It turns out the my roommate Pat was actually participating in this Festival as part of a traditional Thai beauty pageant. So we drove a bit to the town and got the there around 7pm. We saw Pat and she was all dressed up for the show. There were about 15 contestants and they were all dressed up in elaborate dresses and makeup and platform high-heel shoes about 4 inches tall!!! They were obviously difficult to walk in but an apparent necessity as Thai women generally aren't very tall. Some of the girls were as young as 15 but they all looked maybe 20-ish with all their makeup.
So the competition took forever! (Pat all dressed up! oh lala)
All the girls introduced
themselves, put all their floats in the water, and performed a talent (where Pat spoke English, Korean and French). There was a first round elimination and then each of the 10 remaining girls were asked questions. Then another elimination round and finally announcement of the winners. As I learned that night from talking to Golee, the judges lock-in the top three girls from the beginning and then it's really just a competition between them for the first place, and the judges really aren't shy about telling people this. One of the judges turned around and told us who was going to win while we were watching behind them. The winner was suppose to get 7000 baht. Pat didn't end up winning but she did receive 1000 baht for being in 4th place. (putting her float in the river)
While the judges were deliberating after the questions round these 5 girls and a male singer came on stage. This part really shocked me because the girls were dressed in really provocative skirts that were very short and belly shirts and they were dancing in a very sexual way. The singer was dancing with them in a very suggestive and provocative way.
was completely shocked by this! Keep in mind this was a public family event and there were tons of little kids in the audience. I thought it was completely inappropriate and I was very confused by this. I'm not allowed to wear shorts or skirts above my knees on the everyday in public but then there are tons of public displays like this? It seems so contradictory to me but I guess thats a social thing of Thailand. Anyways we ended up getting out of there around midnight! We were all exhausted and very happy to get home, especially Pat whose feet were in absolute pain from those crazy shoes! (left: a very elaborate float with dragons; right: Mook, Fon and me taking pictures during the very long show)
Thursday (11/13):
Today school was the same pretty much although I noticed I'm becoming more comfortable with the kids and being in front of a class. The kids seem to behave better when I'm around – Something I've noticed in Thailand. Whenever I walk around a store or something people always try to impress foreigners so they start cleaning things and acting really professional. It's very funny to see- and I they like to talk to me and joke around with me. I like that they can feel comfortable around me and I can be someone they look up to.
Also today I started to play Scrabble (or Crossword as they call it) with the schools competitors. The school has two girls – both in my 6.1 class- who compete every year in a Scrabble competition. So I started to play with them to help train them for the competition this year. Today was the first time we played and they totally kicked my butt! How embarrassing!!! Two 11 year old girls who beat me at a word game in my own language! Pathetic! However, they do know all the little tricks and two letter words with “x” that I totally didn't know where legal to play. So I gave them that one. :)
Friday (11/14):
I didn't go to school today. I stayed home cleaning and working on a couple things around the house. Later when Pat got home from school we took a bike ride to the “book center” or their version of Staples. While I was in the store everyone was staring at me.. I didn't understand. I wasn't wearing anything bad and I don't think I was doing anything wrong but I guess I should be use to that by now.
After the “book store” we went to the market and walked around and ate some baked sticky rice and meats on a stick. It was all so good! I had dinner with the girls at the house that night and then I went to Big C with Jah and Golee later. I started to feel pretty comfortable with them and joking around with them, it was pretty cool. I tried my ATM card again and it still wasn't working! AHHH! So annoying. Thankfully Golee lent me 100 baht so I could do some food shopping. I have to figure out the bank thing still!
Saturday (11/15):
Before the Junior Youth Group today we went and had noodles with Miw, Arm and Pat. When we got to the school the kids were already there. We loaded up the van with everyone and everything and headed down the back roads to the lake. We were going to fish and make “som tam” or papaya salad. We set up the mats and the kids headed to the edge of the water to cast their lines. They only had one pole and I'm afraid they weren't very experienced because all they seemed to catch was seaweed or twigs until they eventually lost the bait. (the boys from JY group "fishing")
Luckily our “som tam” making was more successful. It was the firs time I made it by myself. I didn't really know how to do it and Arm kept laughing at me but as it turns out mine was the best! =D In order to make this papaya salad you have to shred up the papaya and carrot and then you mash it up with lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, chilies, garlic, and peanuts. Then you have “som tam”! It's very spicy but it's pretty good if you can handle the spicy-ness (which of course I can). The rest of the afternoon was really pleasant. We just hung out and had a good time with the kids. (the famous 'som tam')
That night I watched Monsters Inc. with Pat and I think she understood most of it and really enjoyed it. I was glad to share something from my culture even if it was just a kids movie..I mean I enjoy it so why shouldn't they? I feel really good with everyone and I think all the girls are getting really comfortable with me too. =D (the JY group)
Sunday (11/16) One Month Anniversary :
I woke up around 8am to get ready for children's class. Pat and I sat down together to have breakfast – fresh squeezed orange juice yum!!! So good. As it turned out, only one girl showed up for the class so Pat just read her a story and then we colored a bit. Then Michelle, the exchange student from Canada, came by and I ended up talking to her for the rest of the morning. We talked about the difficulty of being in a completely new country and just all the culture shock and cultural differences. It was really interesting to talk to her about all that. She seemed to be having a harder time with it all which was surprising to me because she didn't have a boyfriend at home and she was going to school everyday, actually doing something and learning which was really what I was struggling with. But I guess she still has a family and friends to miss so it's all really the same. I think also that I'm more accustomed to being alone and I knew it would be really hard and that's what I wanted. Anyways, we tried to make plans to go hang out with some of the other exchange students at her school the next weekend.
That afternoon I went with Pat to Nanaphan grocery store to buy some lunch. We ate noddles with Chom Pu and Mook. Later I went back with Fon to buy dinner at the market which was really good too. The rest of the evening we just kind of hung out and I studied a bit of Thai.
Monday (11/10):
Struggled to get out of bed today as the Sunday before was very busy and tiring. However, I had to get to school so crammed down breakfast and got dressed – hit the road by 7:45am. Class went well today. I gave 6.1 a pop quiz on spelling (words such as Australia, Mexico, Vietnam) for the unit we had been working on. We played a game after so it wasn't complete torture for them I hope.
I help serve the kids again at lunch time, something I really enjoy doing. The kids are all so cute and they always do a small 'wai' and some try out there English and say “Thank you! Good afternoon!” ADORABLE!! :) Lunch for me today included a fish..a whole fish...head, scales, fins, bones, eye, you name it. Now if you know anything about me you'll know that I am not one who likes to eat things that still looks like it could have been alive at one point...HOWEVER I completely dove in and tore that fish apart. I pulled off the tail and head and picked through the bones to get all the meat. It was really good and I felt like such a champ! The simple pleasures in life huh? :)
That night I helped Jah with her English homework – scratch that, I DID her English homework and go figure she got an A on it...turns out I'm not so bad at English. I was just glad to help.
Tuesday (11/11) Birth of Baha'u'llah Celebration:
Headed to school alone that day for the first time because Golee was running around getting things ready for that night (the celebration). After school we went to P'Wee's house where we ate lunch that came in a box -vegetables, meats, sauces all packaged in a box. I had never seen anything like that. I thought it was really cool. It was really good, kind of like Asian tacos or chicken lettuce wraps but with rice pastry instead of lettuce. Good stuff. Next a trip to Big C where we picked up a couple things for the evening and some KFC ice cream! :) (Saying prayers for the Birth of Baha'u'llah)Before we headed to the Volunteer House (where the celebration was to be held) we stopped at this
little cafe called Miss Aree where we got these amazing blueberry yogurt smoothies. Yum!! When we got the Volunteer House we cleaned up a bit and started to set up. I went to work on the presentation for the night. I had found a video on YouTube about the Life of Baha'u'llah but of course it was in English. So.. I had to edit out all the English and put in Thai translations (obviously got help with the translating part) but that took pretty much the rest of the evening up until the hour when everyone arrived. (Youth at celebration - Baha'i Volunteer house)There were prayers and then my video and we played some games. It was a short evening because it was also a week night but it was really
nice and dinner was really good. I was really good that I could actually help out with the evening. (roses! Miuw and me)Wednesday (11/12) Loi Katung Festival:
I got stuck at home today. I woke up late and Golee was already gone to school. I tried to call her and then I thought I would just leave and head to the school myself but then I didn't have a key to lock up the house. It was a real bummer because I missed the Birth of Baha'u'llah celebration at the school which I heard was really good. :( I guess it's my fault for not waking up on time. So I hung out at home cleaning up until everyone got home around 3pm.
Today was actually the Loi Katung Festival in Thailand as well. The Loi Katung Festival is a
celebration where people make floats with candles and inscents and things and send them down the river. I've heard that they do this to send their love to their sweethearts or to pay respects to their ancestors or to make wishes come true or to send their bad luck away. There is no religious significance to the festival, it's just a traditional thing.So at 6:30 Mook, Fon, Golee and I headed to a Festival celebration in a neighboring town. It turns out the my roommate Pat was actually participating in this Festival as part of a traditional Thai beauty pageant. So we drove a bit to the town and got the there around 7pm. We saw Pat and she was all dressed up for the show. There were about 15 contestants and they were all dressed up in elaborate dresses and makeup and platform high-heel shoes about 4 inches tall!!! They were obviously difficult to walk in but an apparent necessity as Thai women generally aren't very tall. Some of the girls were as young as 15 but they all looked maybe 20-ish with all their makeup.
So the competition took forever! (Pat all dressed up! oh lala)
All the girls introduced
themselves, put all their floats in the water, and performed a talent (where Pat spoke English, Korean and French). There was a first round elimination and then each of the 10 remaining girls were asked questions. Then another elimination round and finally announcement of the winners. As I learned that night from talking to Golee, the judges lock-in the top three girls from the beginning and then it's really just a competition between them for the first place, and the judges really aren't shy about telling people this. One of the judges turned around and told us who was going to win while we were watching behind them. The winner was suppose to get 7000 baht. Pat didn't end up winning but she did receive 1000 baht for being in 4th place. (putting her float in the river)While the judges were deliberating after the questions round these 5 girls and a male singer came on stage. This part really shocked me because the girls were dressed in really provocative skirts that were very short and belly shirts and they were dancing in a very sexual way. The singer was dancing with them in a very suggestive and provocative way.
was completely shocked by this! Keep in mind this was a public family event and there were tons of little kids in the audience. I thought it was completely inappropriate and I was very confused by this. I'm not allowed to wear shorts or skirts above my knees on the everyday in public but then there are tons of public displays like this? It seems so contradictory to me but I guess thats a social thing of Thailand. Anyways we ended up getting out of there around midnight! We were all exhausted and very happy to get home, especially Pat whose feet were in absolute pain from those crazy shoes! (left: a very elaborate float with dragons; right: Mook, Fon and me taking pictures during the very long show)Thursday (11/13):
Today school was the same pretty much although I noticed I'm becoming more comfortable with the kids and being in front of a class. The kids seem to behave better when I'm around – Something I've noticed in Thailand. Whenever I walk around a store or something people always try to impress foreigners so they start cleaning things and acting really professional. It's very funny to see- and I they like to talk to me and joke around with me. I like that they can feel comfortable around me and I can be someone they look up to.
Also today I started to play Scrabble (or Crossword as they call it) with the schools competitors. The school has two girls – both in my 6.1 class- who compete every year in a Scrabble competition. So I started to play with them to help train them for the competition this year. Today was the first time we played and they totally kicked my butt! How embarrassing!!! Two 11 year old girls who beat me at a word game in my own language! Pathetic! However, they do know all the little tricks and two letter words with “x” that I totally didn't know where legal to play. So I gave them that one. :)
Friday (11/14):
I didn't go to school today. I stayed home cleaning and working on a couple things around the house. Later when Pat got home from school we took a bike ride to the “book center” or their version of Staples. While I was in the store everyone was staring at me.. I didn't understand. I wasn't wearing anything bad and I don't think I was doing anything wrong but I guess I should be use to that by now.
After the “book store” we went to the market and walked around and ate some baked sticky rice and meats on a stick. It was all so good! I had dinner with the girls at the house that night and then I went to Big C with Jah and Golee later. I started to feel pretty comfortable with them and joking around with them, it was pretty cool. I tried my ATM card again and it still wasn't working! AHHH! So annoying. Thankfully Golee lent me 100 baht so I could do some food shopping. I have to figure out the bank thing still!
Saturday (11/15):
Before the Junior Youth Group today we went and had noodles with Miw, Arm and Pat. When we got to the school the kids were already there. We loaded up the van with everyone and everything and headed down the back roads to the lake. We were going to fish and make “som tam” or papaya salad. We set up the mats and the kids headed to the edge of the water to cast their lines. They only had one pole and I'm afraid they weren't very experienced because all they seemed to catch was seaweed or twigs until they eventually lost the bait. (the boys from JY group "fishing")
Luckily our “som tam” making was more successful. It was the firs time I made it by myself. I didn't really know how to do it and Arm kept laughing at me but as it turns out mine was the best! =D In order to make this papaya salad you have to shred up the papaya and carrot and then you mash it up with lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, chilies, garlic, and peanuts. Then you have “som tam”! It's very spicy but it's pretty good if you can handle the spicy-ness (which of course I can). The rest of the afternoon was really pleasant. We just hung out and had a good time with the kids. (the famous 'som tam')
That night I watched Monsters Inc. with Pat and I think she understood most of it and really enjoyed it. I was glad to share something from my culture even if it was just a kids movie..I mean I enjoy it so why shouldn't they? I feel really good with everyone and I think all the girls are getting really comfortable with me too. =D (the JY group)Sunday (11/16) One Month Anniversary :
I woke up around 8am to get ready for children's class. Pat and I sat down together to have breakfast – fresh squeezed orange juice yum!!! So good. As it turned out, only one girl showed up for the class so Pat just read her a story and then we colored a bit. Then Michelle, the exchange student from Canada, came by and I ended up talking to her for the rest of the morning. We talked about the difficulty of being in a completely new country and just all the culture shock and cultural differences. It was really interesting to talk to her about all that. She seemed to be having a harder time with it all which was surprising to me because she didn't have a boyfriend at home and she was going to school everyday, actually doing something and learning which was really what I was struggling with. But I guess she still has a family and friends to miss so it's all really the same. I think also that I'm more accustomed to being alone and I knew it would be really hard and that's what I wanted. Anyways, we tried to make plans to go hang out with some of the other exchange students at her school the next weekend.
That afternoon I went with Pat to Nanaphan grocery store to buy some lunch. We ate noddles with Chom Pu and Mook. Later I went back with Fon to buy dinner at the market which was really good too. The rest of the evening we just kind of hung out and I studied a bit of Thai.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Well the rest of my first weekend went like this
Tuesday:
School again. I went with Golee to all her classes and met more kids. I was excited to actually get to know the kids and work with them. After lunch I went to talk to Nawarat again and we went over my schedule again and talked about how I could help the school more. Turns out that he just wants me to stick with helping Golee with her classes for now. He also asked me to help out with the schools website, to update it and make it more useful and efficient. So I worked on that a bit for the rest of the afternoon until Golee was done with class for the day.
After school I went with Golee and P'Wee to Nanaphan Market down the street from our house. I bought bread and cereal and stuff for breakfast. I couldn't get too much because 1) I didn't have unlimited amounts of money 2) I have no room in the house to store anything (just one shelf in the fridge) and 3) There is no way to really prepare food at the house, people eat out mostly. So I walked around with them a bit.... tired and frustrated that I couldn't talk to anyone.
For dinner N'Pat and N'Miw went to the street market and brought back some food for me. By now I was already getting tired of the spicy curries and typical noodle dishes so I just had some simple chicken and rice. Later on I watched some of Memoirs of a Geisha, that I brought from home, with Miw and soon slept!
Wednesday:
We went early to school today because we had “gate duty” which means we stand at the gates of the school to welcome students as they come in. It was also sport day so we had to wear track suits. Sport day just means that in the morning for about 20 minutes the kids do some aerobics in the field before class. Class seemed really long today and I was very tired for some reason. At lunch I helped serve the kids again and sat with Golee while we ate and talked about Thailand. We went home after lunch because we had no more classes for that day. I was glad to have a day to go home and relax.
For the rest of the afternoon until the youth got home from school I hung out alone at the house reading and studying. When the youth came home they brought some “som tam” and we all dug in. It's customary in Thailand for everyone to eat out of the same dish, so that's what we did. Later on P'Wee came over and brought roasted chicken and sticky rice! Yum!! But later on that night I didn't do too good. My stomach got really messed up, as it turns out, by the “som tam” that I had had earlier. It was an awful night. I couldn't get to sleep and I had to keep getting up to use the bathroom! :(
Thurday:
When I woke up I was a mess. It turns out that Pat also got sick and Golee had to take her to the hospital early in the morning because she was throwing up and everything. I was glad that I didn't get that bad. But I was still really sick so instead of school I slept and slept ALL day. It was a really hot day and I just laid in bed feeling pretty awful. Pat was there too, feeling the same way. I just figured it was inevitable and that I was lucky I didn't have it THAT bad and this was the first time out of all the things I had eaten so far. The rest of the day I hung around the house, only getting up for trips to the bathroom.
Friday:
I was still exhausted and sick. Pat went to school that day but I was still a mess and way too tired. Golee was home when I woke up because she doesn't have class on Fridays (she's only part time at the school). Around 2pm I was feeling well enough to go to Big C with Jah and P'Wee. I just walked around and checked out the store as they shopped. I tried to get money out of the ATM again and AGAIN it didn't work. Very frustrating because I couldn't buy food and I was running out of money. That night I got really frustrated about everything. I wasn't feeling well and just sitting around all the time was really staring to bug me. Talking to people from home and hearing everything they were up to made me really miss everything and everyone. But I didn't allow myself to get too absorbed in those thoughts. I was determined to make it here, after all it's what I wanted and I am really happy to be here, maybe it's not the easiest thing I've ever done but I probably the most rewarding.
Saturday:
I woke up and I was feeling a bit better so I had a lot on me “to do” list but of course almost none of that could happen. I woke up and only had time to stuff down my breakfast before I was out the door with Golee, Arm, Pat and an Auxilary Board Member from Bangkok names Ayshia who had just come to visit. We went on “home visits”; visiting families of the kids who use to attend Sunday School. Turns out not too many of them were there but I tagged along and said “hello” and met a couple of new people and got a tour of the town.
In the afternoon I went with Arm and Golee to a Junior Youth Group of about 6-7 boys who had graduated from the Santitham School and were now studying a Baha'i book with Golee. I got to play some ping pong with them which was really fun. Some of them were really good, but of course...I could hold my own. I couldn't really do too much during the class, being that I couldn't understand what was going on really besides that they were reading a story. But I was glad to meet and hang out with the kids a bit and it was definitely better then being home doing nothing. That night I had dinner with Pat, Miw, Chom Pu, and Mook. Yum!!! :)
Sunday:
There was suppose to be children's class in the morning but none of the kids showed up. :( So that didn't happen. So over breakfast I talked to Golee and the other ABM, Ayshia about how I can help out with the community. The basically want me to work the the junior youth, go on home visits, teach English and teach children's classes. I hung out until around 2 pm when all the youth went to the Baha'i Volunteer house to clean it up in preparation for the Birth of Baha'u'llah celebration on Tuesday. After cleaning up they talked a lot about the community goals and what everyone needs to do to help out. That was a long conversation in Thai and I was getting very tired and hungry. We finally left and got dinner around 7pm. I went with Golee, Jah and Wee to the street market and had lots of good food!!! It was really good for me. I think I started to bond with them well and get more comfortable around them as I got to know them a bit better. I was glad to get home though after a long day.
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