Eucational River Barge

This past weekend, shortly after returning to my town, I joined a group of about twenty Thai English teachers for a training/trip. Now, trips with Thais can be wonderful or horrible (usually depending on the hour of departure and how many hours they scream karaoke on the bus - the record for the latter is 8 hours straight). However, I really like most of the teachers that went and I was up for one last hurrah!

So, we set out at 2am on Saturday morning to drive down to the Chao Praya River, near Bangkok. This is one of the largest rivers in Thailand, but I really didn't know anything about it.

The first day was a little hard because we were all quite sleep deprived, but the facilitators were amazing and kept us moving with activities, cooking, cleaning and games. We started out with safety instructions:

We learned the English word "life jacket" (not life guard or life saver) and how to correctly put them on. We also discussed emergency routine and learned the phrase "Man Overboard" (not 'man overboat'! :) though it makes sense).

After this there were English language activities with breaks in between to take in some beautiful river-side views.

Here the teachers figure out the correct order for the steps of corn harvest using pictures and English sentences.

Then we wrote our own steps for various food items. This one is potato chips. We "learned' that potato chips take more energy to make (and create more waste) than fresh boiled corn.

Here the Thai trainer, Chompooh, prepares a white board to teach body parts of sea animals. All of these activities taught English words to the teachers, but were activities that could also be used with the students back in their classrooms.

Here are some views from the boat:

A Ferry boat docked outside a riverside house.

A beautiful, Thai-style, pavilion on the side of the river.

Even some monks prefer boat travel!

The evening of the first day, we docked near an open field where we played some team building and listening activities - most of which involved blindfolds and listening to instructions from a partner/team.

I partner with AJ Wasana for a game of "Sherman's tanks". We came in third.

Listening for the instructions from her partner, Jenny is ready to bomb another tank.

(She was the winner.)

By the end of day one, we were exhausted and ready for bed, but it didn't stop us from sitting on the upper deck and enjoying a beautiful sunset.

Sunset on the Chao Praya River

Day two brought us to Ayutthaya. After a few more activities on board, we started seeing some of the ancient ruined temples of the former capital of Siam, Ayutthaya.

a ruined temple on the side of the river

After doing some activities about Ayutthaya on board, we docked in the city itself and visited a museum and some historical ruins. It was great fun. I love this town!

a bunch of us at the temple of the three kings in Ayutthaya

What a great trip!

Going Away Party number 1

These last few months I've been feeling more and more ready to finish up my time here in Thailand and move on the the next chapter of my life. It has been a challenging experience during which I have grown in ways I could never have imagined. Every possible emotion has surfaced at one point or another in intense ways that don't come about as often at home.

My focus these last months has been on what is next. I knew that with change comes some amount of mourning for what has passed, but I didn't expect to have extreme emotions in this area as I began my journey out of Thailand. It is time to move on and I feel so ready for what's next.

However, after my emergency journey home to be with my father, I have returned filled with only positive and joyful emotions about this place. Those things that were rubbing me raw before I left don't seem to matter any more. There is no time to start new projects. Whatever impact I had the potential to make has been made or not made by this point. I am focused now only on enjoying those meaningful relationships in my life here.

This past weekend, I traveled with the group of English teachers that I have worked the most with here. We took a river barge down the Chao Praya River, one of the main rivers of Thailand. It was a wonderful, educational and fun weekend. However, this story must be saved for a later time. Now I want to tell about what has happened today.

I had been informed on Saturday that this morning the students would "say goodbye" to me at the school where I live. I thought that I would make a brief appearance at their morning meeting and be done with it. Clearly, I had a momentary lapse in memory about how well Thais do ceremony, pomp and circumstance!

What I did have was an entire school assemble dedicated entirely to expressing appreciation and love for me and my time here. It was So touching!


AJ Wasana, the teacher I teach with at this school, was the MC. She talked a little bit about my time here and then invited students up to present me with flowers and gifts. Each homeroom class had something to give me! The students walked on their knees, as is a traditional show of respect. The came up to me and presented me with

gifts

flowers

traditional Thai leis for made of fragrant jasmine

and even a picture of the Thai King and Queen for my wall in America!

Even a member of the community that surrounds the school attended to present me with a gift from the community

the traditional flower ring hand-made from beads

A couple of the students gave speeches on behalf of the entire student body and then I shared a few of my thoughts and feelings with them as well. I hadn't prepared a speech, but managed well enough in Thai so that they understood my message and emotions. The last speech was given by Po-oh (the principal). He is very sweet and sincere (quite an exception as Thai principals go!)

I politely receive Po-oh's speech

a group picture with the teachers after all the students presented their gifts to me

After most of the students left, one class stayed to each offer me individual gifts. This is the class that I feel closest to. I taught them last year and they are AJ Wasana's home room class. Their gifts were really special and included several hand made neck scarves - which will come in handy in Connecticut!

Watcharaporn is one of my favorite student. Her gift was one of the scarves!

A couple of students were really emotional and really tugged at my heart strings. This kind of sincerity is hard to come by here and therefor so incredibly meaningful!

What an amazing morning! Now my house smells of jasmine from all the flowers. And I think I'll have to ship home one more box than expected! :)

Meanwhile, Back on the Ranch

At last, I have returned home to my town in Korat. I was away a total of three weeks and it was about time to be getting back!

Kannika, one of the English teachers at the school where I live, picked me up in a town close to mine, where I was dropped off by the bus. She bestowed on me the biggest hug I think I have ever received from a Thai person. I almost toppled over from the combination of the hug and my extremely large backpack!

More exciting, even, than this hug was my welcoming committee at my house. In my absence, Pumpkin, one of my cats lost a great deal of weight!

Before and After

Due, in part, to my lax parenting, I realised that I was yet again to become a grandmother. I was hoping for three.


Instead....

I got FIVE!

Toto (Swahili: child),

Bagheera (Hindi: leopard),

Comet,

Noir (French: black),

and Lukged (Thai: raisin)

(Left picture: Toto, Bagheera, Comet, Noir, Lukged)
(Right picture: Noir, Bagheera, Comet, Toto, Lukged)

They are so cute. Only one looks like the mother, Pumpkin, and I think there were probably two fathers (i.e. the 'milkman' was orange!). I'm not sure exactly when the kittens were born, but I don't think it was too long after I left. My guess is that they are a little more than two weeks old.

Other than this most welcome party, the party on my porch continues.



Study hall.... And infirmary

I took these pictures from inside my house within the time period of an hour - just to prove I am not making it up, that my porch is the most favorite spot for many of the students. I have asked them in an extreme variety of ways to find other places to "perch", but to no avail.... What a nice welcome!

Before coming to the office to write this, I had to drop off something at the hospital. I was greeted by many of the nurses that I know. Most expressed that they missed me in some way. One was the epitome of Thailand. She first walked by, said she hadn't seen me in a while and patted my stomach while telling my I'd gotten fat since last she saw me. Not five minutes later, she returned and expressed how much she'd been missing me - wouldn't I please come hang out with her upstairs for a while today since it had been so long. Ah - Thailand.

Laugh or cry.

I choose to laugh! (And hanging out with my new 'grandbabies'!)

The Year of the Golden Pig

Well, I finally figured out how to post a title onto my blogs. How exciting - it only took my six months. Oh well!

It's been a while since I last posted and so much has happened. In brief, I took emergency leave of absence from Thailand because my dad underwent open heart surgery after a mild heart attack. The procedure was successful and he is home from the hospital. I am also back in Thailand and ready to finish off my last month here before heading home for good. In other news, I learned that I have been accepted into graduate school, so I will begin a three-year program in nurse-midwifery in September. So, it's been an intense, busy couple of weeks with many blessings.

This week was Chinese New Years. Chinese New Year is based on a lunar calendar. New Year begins at the new moon - usually the second new moon after the winter solstice. The celebration lasts 14 days until the full moon. Thus this year's new year celebration began on February 18th and will end on March 4th.

Because there are so many Chinese-Thais and Chinese in Thailand, there are always celebrations around the country - and especially in the large Chinatown area of Bangkok. Yesterday, while attempting to get from the main bus station to the Peace Corps office, the city bus I was riding got stuck in traffic going through Chinatown. Luckily I was in no hurry, so I could sit back and enjoy taking in the street-side festivities. Here are a few pictures:

A crowd gathers at the Chinatown gate. Many rub the stone lion for good luck.

Vendors line the streets selling colorful paper dragons on sticks.

a close-up of one of the dragons

the streets are filled with banner, lanterns, dragons and, of course, many cars and people

A restaurant has it's lanterns up for the new year. Shark Finn soup, anyone?

This year is extra special. Chronologically it is the year of the pig. However, this year is extra special - it is the year of the GOLDEN PIG. In addition to the zodiac animals, Chinese use the five elements - water, wood, fire, earth and metal - in their horoscopes. I don't know much about this, but apparently every twelve years, the normal animal year is more auspicious because it is combined with one of the elements. The Golden pig year is the year of the "fire" pig. This golden year only comes about every 60 years. It is considered especially auspicious to have a baby or start a business in the year of the pig, especially the golden pig. Some people thing this may start a baby boom around mainland China. We'll see...

Happy New Year!