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Published: February 23rd 2009
English camp opening ceremony
Any excuse to get the kids dancingTwo more weekends, alot more teaching.............will I ever have a weekend off?? Well yes, the weekend coming up is completely mine, but that's not the point!! I've been working very hard again for the past 2 weeks.........so hard in fact that I have spent today doing absolutely nothing at school (there's been me and one other teacher in so we've left the kids to it all day!) and when I was laid on the floor resting just after lunch, the kids obviously thought I looked a bit tense, and 2 of them started to massage me - it was rather wonderful!! Anyway back to 2 weekends ago, and English camp in Maelanoi......
It had been a long week at school, I woke up with a cold, and it was very very hot, so I didn't work very hard on the Saturday. We just let them get on with the activity they had to do and chilled out in the sun! Very lazy of us, but I didn't feel great! In the breaks I went down into Maelanoi to buy gifts for all my little ones in the village- I decided to make them little sweet parcels so had
Noses!!
Lusty and I realise we have the same nose and choose to document this by photo fun buying lots of fun decorating things, like ribbon and sequins!! I may have, in some way, also treated myself to a crepe covered in chocolate and green goo - somewhat delicious!! We spent the evening playing sport with the kids (basketball, volleyball and football - I was an active one!), then chilling out and gossiping, always fun! I laid on the cold floor in the hall and regretted it a little the next day as my ribs felt rather bruised, but fun all the same!
Then Sunday...... well by the end of it I wanted to hunt down the Backstreet boys and hysically hurt them in a variety of ways. My activity....... listen to a song over and over again, and put the lyrics in the right order. They had all the sentences on bits of paper and had to re-order them as they listened basically! But after 25 times of "I want it that way" I was rather fed up of them and my enthusiasm was waning. But still, there I was singing and dancing, making up for my illness from the day before! And then I felt I deserved more crepe, so did indeed
The kids
Doing their song jumble thing eat more, and then sat in the middle of Maelanoi having a chinwag with some of the others whilst providing mosquitoes with a feast in the form of my legs! I was pretty much eaten alive....... That night we had a mini shindig for jonny's birthday, then the school put on a party for us to say thanks for English camp! We ate some amazing food on the floor in the hall, then they had prepared some Thai dancing for us. The students were doing it and it was fab!! They had also asked us to prepare something, and being a rather untalented bunch, we decided to act out a short version of The Lion King. It was good fun, even if they blatantly didn't understand any of it!! We then got given Karen bags as gifts, yet another one for the collection (my Karen mum gave me one the other day as well - it's a beautiful blue one and I love it!) The teacher who gave them to us was so sweet; he said "although we don't have alot of money, we have alot of love for you, so we hope you like it" Awwwwwwwww :-D That night
P-A-R-T-Y
For Jonny's birthday :-) we were bored at about 10pm so decided to go on the hunt for ice cream. Strangely enough there were shops open at 10pm on a sunday so I ate even more food that I blatantly didn't need or want! But you know, if your going to put on weight, you may as well do it big styley :-)
On Monday morning I went back to my village. I was abandoned in Maelaluang for 2 hours, then Alice and Nicky's Mum took me home! When I got there, I made my new friend.......a cat called Catface!! He was just waiting outside the door meowing and he wanted lots of fuss and love. So I gave him some, then had to run off to school. He was there when I got home from school as well and we had more cuddles and he's just gorgeous :-) I asked Sum-see if she knew where he had come from and she had no idea either...... but I was glad he was there! Sadly, he then disappeared..... he was there Tuesday morning then not for the whole res tof the week :-( I had given up hope, but then today he
Beautiful Thai dancing
Again, any excuse....... has returned!! He was there when I got back to the village this morning. I think maybe he is a Monday cat, but yay, I have my new friend back...... deformed tail and all!! :-)
School was fine last week. The Pratom 6 had their English test, and, as predicted, those I saw got 25 percent due to it being a 4-way multiple choice exam! Woo! In the evenings, me and Sum-see could be found makiing sweet parcels. The kids keep coming in and asking who they're for so I just lie to them, and I hope they forget the even exist by the time I leave so it'll be a nice surprise! Sum-see spent the week collecting bamboo and huge leaves! It's leaf falling season (hence the picture of the palm tree leaves as well) and she is going to use them to fix the roof of a random hut, which I now presume belongs to her! She has also been trying to make me do sit-ups with her because she thinks I'm getting fat as well....I was a little confused the first time she asked me to sit on her legs (so she didn't move
Beautiful Lady (on the right!)
Ok, so how do I make myself feel even more disgusting than I already do out here? I know! A photo with a gorgeous Thai dancer girl!! them when she did the sit ups), but now it's a general evening thing! I've also been playing volleyball with the kids, and swimming in the river loads because it's just so hot and that has to be the best way to cool down. We must be pushing 35 degrees in the daytime now - bloomin' boiling!! Oh and on Wednesday Sum-see attempted making me Pad Thai as she knows I love it - very sweet! It went a bit wrong and she was laughing at herself and saying it was Pad Thai Huay Ku Pa style, but I thought it was delicious!! I must talk about Pad Thai ALOT, because then on Friday Ming brought all the ingredients to school and taught me how to make it! She made one portion then she made me cook for the rest of the teachers. It was ace!! I'm currently working on gathering the ingredients that we won't be able to get in England so I can cook it when I get back :-)
So then it was Friday again, so of course I climg on the back of a motorbike to go to the main road......... this time
The Lion King
What a beautiful boy! to Khun Yuam! I got the bus and then did loads of shopping when I got there (I've finally got all the gifts for teachers and village people), eventually getting to the resource centre at the school and starting to prepare for the conference the next day. Neither me or Helen were particularly motivated after the Maelanoi one, but we put in minimal effort and got organised ready for Saturday morning........
.......and were then pleasantly surprised! The education officer turned up to the opening ceremony, and was apparently very impressed that we were there. He even stayed for the first part of my first session and said it was very interesting (go me!) Then (and I have no idea how we managed this) we had attentive teachers!! They took notes, asked questions, looked at the resources, and all of the sessions went really, really well! To make things even better, lunch was amazing, and I even managed to thieve a leftover lunch for my tea (beats instant noodles!) Anyway, it was all fab, and I then spent the evening cutting out photos and making little collages of my visit for Sum-see and for the teachers at school
My new friend
His name is Catface and he likes fish and cuddles. His tail is deformed but he's very very cute!! - delightful!
And they were still interested on Sunday! I was less so, after 5 hours sleep for the previous 2 nights (me and Helen gossipped ALOT), but the teachers were on time, and they were still asking questions and being interested. One teacher asked us if we can go and do the same thing in Maehongson, for which we won't be able to find a day together, but we may be able to do a day each, so all very positive! At the end of the conference we got presents, we each got a Sgaw Karen top (looks like a plain Chinese waistcoat) because Kru Sangdao (headteacher of the school) is Sgaw. She also gave us lots of thanks and said that she learnt something, even though she has been teaching for 26 years! So all in all, a fab weekend!
We decided to celebrate our victory with a lovely meal! We started walking to the restaurant but ended up on the back of some teachers motorbikes, and had the most fantastic meal. Fried fish and herbs, and then "hot pot". You get given vegetables, raw eggs, and meat, then they bring out
Me and Sum-see making sweety parcels
Our new evening activity! Enjoyable :-) a pot of hot water, which is on top of some 'burning-ness' to keep it cooking. You put all the stuff in and cook it yourself on the table, making a kind of soup. Delicious!! We left at about 10pm and wandered to find chocolate and alcohol, then got back to the school at about 11:30pm. We drank and chatted and yet again I went to bed ridiculously late, which I fully regretted when the alarm tinkled at 6:15 this morning!
So here I am back in the village. I went to Monday market in Khun Yuam this morning, and then got a bus and a motorbike lift to my village. I had a nice chat with Sum-see who was around because she is at home making the leaf roof! I had spoken to Penelope on the phone at the weekend and she said that Sum-see's husband (he was headman of the village) was shot about 11 years ago as he was accused of 'logging', so she then had to burn her old house down to get rid of the evil spirits and build a new house, which she has now lived in for 10 years. I
Sum-see cutting bamboo
She is going to fix the roof of one of the huts in the village with bamboo and leaves. asked her about it in my broken way, and it's true and she has remarried (although her husband is hardly ever here as I knew before!) It's so werid that I can live with someone with so many stories and not know any of them!! But apparently there's more about it in a Reader's Digest, where Penelope did an interview. So I shall hunt it down and read more about my Mum once I get back!
Anyways, I'm hoping the cat is still around when I get home tonight. My plan: to do absolutely nothing this evening - properly chill out after the busy weekend! Hope England's warmed up a wee bit!! xxxx
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Vikki
non-member comment
Cat
That cat doesn't look cute! Obviously your stay in the village has changed your eyesight! It looks evil! Beware !