Oh man, I can’t believe I’ve already been here for two
weeks. I’m going to try to sum up my first week and try not to be verbose (and
for me, as you know, this will take quite an effort).
Some of the
locals come to the foundation to learn English and we also teach some of the
staff. Two villagers come each week and the first week I was here I taught one
of them. I taught Lek, who is coming to America for three months to stay with
his girlfriend’s family and help at their church. He’s from one of the local
tribes, the Karen, which are mostly Christians due to missionary influence. During
our lesson we talked about his upcoming trip, his faith, and other aspects of
his life. Near the end of his lesson we got talking about his cooking
abilities. Sasha, the other volunteer teaching, somehow got us invited to
dinner in their village. So at five, Sasha and I trekked down to the road to
wait for the villagers to pick us up on their little vespa-looking motorbikes.
They took us up to a high hill and showed us their farms. I didn’t know until
dinner that Lek had killed the chicken we had for dinner at his farm that day.
I ate chicken gallbladder (apparently it’s the most fought over out of all the
part of the chicken) and a fish eye, since they eat every part of the animal.
Neither tasted quite bad, surprisingly. It was one of my most favorite nights
of the trip so far.
For the
weekend, thirteen of us took the three-hour bus ride to Chiang Mai. We had
dinner at a tex mex karaoke bar (the food was a lot like Chilis) and then
headed to a huge street market that night. In the morning, each of us spent
fifty dollars and did an awesome zip-lining course. Safety standards don’t
really exist here and at one point our zip-lining guide dropped us three
stories high using a slipknot and his own strength. There was no back up safety
device. All of us survived and had an amazing time. The course had 22 zip
lines, bridges, and even a spiral staircase up a tree. Included also was
transportation, lunch, and a t-shirt. We definitely got our money’s worth.
Monday we
headed back to Chiang Rai and had one last good meal before eating rice for
another week. Nine of us left for “homestay” on Tuesday morning. We drove two
hours away and stayed at a school where we taught a couple hours of English
each day. It seemed more hot and humid than at the foundation and after our
eventful weekend we were all completely exhausted. The kids were receptive and
enthusiastic for the most part. We taught a different class and lesson each
day, so it’s really hard to actually tell how much the kids learn and remember.
One day, Lauren and I taught animals to the kids, which was one of my favorite
lessons. We played a game where we broke the kids into two teams and had a
volunteer from each team come up. We named an animal and their teammates had to
help them to spell the animal out on the board. At one point the kids were
literally screaming so loud that one girl was cowering in the corner covering
her ears. It was chaotic and awesome; the kids had a ton of fun. We also had
the kids match the picture of the animal to the word on a worksheet and I
helped this adorable boy with his because he didn’t quite understand. The next
day Lauren and I sat in while two girls taught a different class the animal
lesson. I don’t quite understand how the school works, but there was always
kids walking in and out of classrooms and it seemed that at any point in the
day at least one class was on break. While we sat in on this lesson, the boy
that I helped the day before walked in and sat in the corner. While the girls
quizzed the kids on the animal flashcards, the little boy from the day before
was the only one shouting the animals out from the back of the class. I’m glad
he at least remembered them for a day. The school didn’t have a running shower
either, so I took showers by refilling a water bottle. It gave a whole new
definition to “roughing it”. I’m having
some technical difficulties so I haven’t been able to get all my photos on to
my computer. I’m going to by a card reader tomorrow, so that should work.
I still
need to upload pictures from homestay and tell you about elephant riding and
this weekend. More to come!
Leaving the orphanage where we spent one morning playing with the kids.
Two girls at the primary school who wanted their picture taken.
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