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Published: February 5th 2009
Pretam 1 and 2 with their farm pictures
They were all so proud of their pictures so we had a class photo :-)So I've been a very busy lady (I use that term loosely) for a couple of weeks, hence the lack of blogging! The other weekend it was English Camp in Khun Yuam and I had 3 nights of luxury!! There was a mattress (made from straw and incredibly hard, but a mattress none the less), and....... wait for it....... a hot shower! Yes, I actually felt clean for a short while :-) Anyway, English camp was pretty good as it was basically playing English games with 16, 17 and 18 year olds for 2 days. It was quite interesting to see the level of English of older pupils in a less remote area, compared to my young ones from a very remote village!! On the Saturday, me, Jonny and Joey had a really fun task called artist and clay. One group formed a pose together, and the other group was blindfolded but had to mimic the pose by having a non-blindfolded 'artist' telling them what to do. I spent half the day blindfolded as this was obviously much more fun to blindfold the volunteers and put them into ridiculous positions! We also led a game involving lots of eggy mess as
A little star
She's so cute and did an amazing picture! they had to throw an egg full of 'top secret information' (so it couldn't break) over a 7 foot net. Somewhat amusing! But it was basically a really fun day and the kids seemed to enjoy it as well.
Then I had the most amazing tea!! They made us omelette, which contained what was somthing like the filling of cornish pasty - meat, potatoes, carrots etc. It was great. The food was somewhat spoilt by the atmosphere around the table......... you can tell that some of the volunteers have never done a days work in their lives as they were so grouchy and snapped about anything and everything that was said!! But they cheered up a little once they had food inside them! We then headed to the hotel where Penelope is staying. She is the leader of the charity and she's come out to visit and check up on us basically! She bought us all a drink, which was lovely, then I spent the evening having a giggle and chilling out a bit with the others, before going back to the hotel, eating half a mars bar (yes, yes, yes - i found them in a
Blind for half a day......
Some interesting poses started to take shape, and of course it was hilarious to make the volunteers sit on each others knees!! supermarket and nearly wet myself with excitement!) and then continuing to gossip before heading to bed about midnight-ish.
The next day was much the same, although our activity was much more boring and not worth mentioning. However, the Scottish dancing was amazing (like a ceilidh style dance, which was hilarious, despite the sweatiness at the time and the painful feet the next day!) and the blindfolded obstacle course was quite amusing too. The stench in the room during the closing ceremony was less so........ dirty sweaty kids, mixed with dirty sweaty volunteers, mixed with dirty, sweaty teachers equals foul!! I won't deny that I was probably contributing to it somewhat! Sunday night was a good laugh as well. We had a party back at the hotel to celebrate the end of the camp and also a couple of birthdays, with wonderful food (chicken done on a BBQ and spring rolls, with fried rice) and beer and whisky! I hit the whisky in order to try and deal with everyone around me getting incredibly drunk, and hoping it would help me sleep when I eventually got to bed, but no...... it seems the whisky wasn't strong enough to
block out the background noise of vomiting and drunken snoring from those who couldn't handle their drink!! So on Monday morning I awoke at 6:30am after a good solid one hours sleep and headed back to my village on the bus in order to teach small children for the rest of the day. All in all, both a fun and funny weekend! Oh and I also made the mistake of asking what I was eating when I was having lunch at school on Monday (it must have been my tired state that made me do such a stupid thing) and I found out it was pigs heart - tastes suprisingly like kidney! I'll be honest, I don't think I'll be asking again any time soon. Curiosity is a bad times thing!!
Tuesday at school was pretty much a wipeout. The mentality being: "well we're not here the rest of the week so why teach lessons today", as opposed to "oh no, we're not here the rest of the week, we should probably teach them something!" Good! And then on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, it was Scout Camp!! This was awesome!! I had to get up extremely early
Lined up to throw their egg....
....it's in the huge ball of paper! on the Wednesday as I was told we were leaving the village at 7am. Of course, we didn't (this is Thialand!!), it was closer to 8am. Anyways, a pick up took us a few kilometres to Huay Kai Pa where all 9 schools met up. The kids got their faces blacked up with soot (of course we joined in.....) and then off we set! Alice, Nicky and I walked the 8Km to Huay Kong Po, much to the other teacher's astonishment. Seriously, their laziness comes out in all aspects of life. They zoomed passed us in trucks and on motorbikes because it was just too much for them to even contmplate using their legs. I guess I shouldn't be surprised really after witnessing teachers drive to the other side of school because they can't be bothered to walk! Anyway, we arrived, ate, chilled out, and watched the kids build their camps. They had to sleep under sheets of tarpaulin held up by wooden sticks and they had to build a drying rack, fire, and a dustbin holder thingy. It was all very impressive -they're pretty good with knives and the such by their age!! Me and Nicky then put our
tent up in the blazing heat......I'll be honest, we made the mistake of putting it on a slope, meaning that we all ended up in a heap at one end of the tent suring the night on both nights, but it was hilarious, and I was fairly impressed with my tent putting up skills!! We went for a wander around the village, which is possibly the most beautiful village I've seen. It was really typically Karen and just so pretty!! A random guy showed us this really cool water wheel thing that they use to pound the rice in their village; it's unique to them, as most of the Karen still do this by hand. We also found the memorial to Penelope's son. Penelope is the head of the Karen Hilltribes Trust, which she originally set up in memory of her son who died in a car crash. A water system was put into this village and we found the plaque!
The evening entertainment at Scout Camp was........ well...... interesting! It was basically a chance for the teacher's to show off. They spent 2 hours "entertaining" us all by singing songs and wiggling their bums (which never
stopped being funny apparently), whilst the kids sat on the cold hard floor watching them...... joining in very occasionally! It was weird. They then made us English ones stand up and introduce ourselves and sing a song......delightful! :-) We're such great entertainment!! But anyway, it was pretty chilly up in the mountains so I was glad when bedtime came and the 3 of us could huddle in our tent (we had to huddle even if we didn't want to due to the tent location issue).
Thursday was much the same. The kids had to get up at 5:30am to exercise!! To be fair, they probably welcomed it because since asking if they had fun on Scout camp they have all said no because it was too cold in their so called tents! We stayed in bed for that part of the day but did get involved with the activities they were doing, including climbing trees and going on rope bridges etc. (no safety equipment of course.....) Throughout the day the male teachers got absolutely wasted on whisky and beer. They were all off their faces by mid afternoon but carried on drinking......... it was funny, but also
slightly worrying as they were still in charge of the kids...... lol! In the evening there was a big camp fire, lit by the children dancing with fiery sticks (it's all so very safe.....) and on this occasion they asked us to dance, so we improvised and used the Scottish dancing we had done at English camp - astounding!! I was glad to escape to bed again that night! I would also like to take this opportunity to point out just how smelly toilets can become in 2 days when so many kids and adults are using them. By the end of Thursday it was definitely a "roll your trousers up, hold your breath" kind of a job just to have a wee!! Also, I was so dirty!! The ground was really dusty and I was literally caked in dirt!! The shower at Alice and Nicky's house the next day was amazing!!
On Friday we left camp early, I had that most amazing shower, and then we headed up to Khun Yuam on the bus! I had a fantastically chilled afternoon, wandering to the shops, reading my book and enjoying the sun! Then I went partying :-)
The courtyard of the luxurious accommodation
The mattress was hard....... but it was a mattress, and the shower was luke warm....... but it was heat!! THIS was luxury!! We got picked up from the resource centre, with the usual method of transport.....back of a pick up!, and headed off to a Mong village somewhere near Mae Sariang for one of the teacher's birthdays! We had good food (although a little dubious about the chicken legs with feet still attached) and much whisky and beer! We played drinking games, got incredibly drunk, then went to sleep in a huge tent (my 3rd night of discomfort!). The teacher whose birthday it was suffered a little bit from the amount of alcohol........I think this shows what a bad influence the English are on Thai people :-s But despite our dispicable behaviour, they not only bought us waffles and pancakes for breakfast in the morning, they also took us back to Khun Yuam so we could hitch to Ban Mae Ja. We are just treated so well here!!
So then off we went to Ban Mae Ja, in the back of another pick up...... this weekend it was time to paint!! So as I arrived, a paintbrush was thrust into my hand and I set about making the outside of the dorms look beautiful. I cannot believe how hot
Getting ready to go trekking to Scout camp
Our faces had to be covered in black for some reason. Grrrrrrrrr! it was at the weekend, it's like someone has suddenly turned the heating up over here. I couldn't paint in the sun for too long as my skin just started sizzling, even with suncream on! So I painted a while, then kids stole my paintbrush, as well as my camera, so I was left with a damp cloth wiping up where they made a mess! One of the kids, Laila, was beautiful and she became my new best friend! She also took some rather artistic photos of flowers on my camera! She was truly gorgeous! I then had an hour off while the first coat of paint dried so played a game of volleyball with some of the older kids, much fun! Instead of going back to painting I then helped prepare the meal for everyone in the evening. We used a HUGE wok to make thai green curry (ish) and scrambled egg with tomato). It was great, although I was filthy from soot by the end of it. It tasted OK too, and was good preparation for when we have to cook for ourselves on the water project. The evening was spent around a fire, drinking beer and chatting
Scouts
About halfway through the walk, looking rather tired. away. We put the world to rights a few times during the course of the evening and finally headed to bed at about 2am.
Sunday was also great fun. I planned some teacher conference stuff with Helen in the morning, did some painting, and ate rice pudding, then I went into the jungle with Padatoo and some of the others to collect bamboo for making the walls in the dormitory. I was rubbish at chopping it down as I'm too weak and have no aim, but I was a bit more useful for carrying it! It's suprising just how tall some of the bamboo shoots are, and considering they're hollow, they're really really heavy! The sweat was pouring off us once we made it back to the village with about 10 shoots between us. Padatoo then showed us how to make them into the bamboo sheets that the villagers use as flooring, walls and roofing! I didn't have a go at it as it looked incredibly skillful and I'm pretty sure I'd fail and ruin the bamboo we'd used all our energy collecting. After lunch we had to go else we'd have missed the bus. We managed
Look how blue the sky is!
Sorry to rub it in with all the snow and everything but wow, wow, wow!! to hitch to Khun Yuam but then had to get the bus from there. It was so so hot still, I honestly can't believe how much the temperature has changed - drinking LOADS more water to cope with it!!
I was prepared to chill out all evening in the village but Sum-see took me away, up to the Church..... where there was a village meeting! I had no idea what was said, or what was going on, but I know I was the subject of conversation a couple of times due to the laughing and the looks at me! Maybe they're planning to kill me, eat me, and take all of my possessions. It'd be as if I never existed....... Or they may have just made a joke about my rubbish Thai speaking, or the way I was sat or something! Who knows!! But anyway, I'm going to stop typing as the bell has gone for lunch :-) Plus, I presume you're pretty bored of reading!! The joys of this week can be blogged next time!! :-)
Sawadee-kaa for now!!
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Vikki
non-member comment
Laziness?!
Those more experienced teachers are not idle- they are just preserving their energy ! You sound like you are running around like a blue-arsed fly and will exhaust yourself within weeks!They are prepared for the long haul! Lazy teachers indeed -the impetuosity of youth!