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Published: September 16th 2007
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Orphan School
One out of the three groups, writing a list in Thai, about the do's and don't's of the internet. So, we started our weekend, on Saturday morning, at an orphan home, which was huge!! 900 orphans living on school property, campus style, which were the nicest conditions we've seen so far. We joined up with another volunteer and a volunteer organization leader, and 2 Thais, to teach/review English with about 25 teenagers, 13-16, including some "lady-boys" as they call them (a group of 6-7 boys who are extremely feminine and not afraid to hide it!!) Very entertaining! These kids are so eager and motivated to learn English, as we practiced general greetings. At the end, Rob played his guitar, which they loved, and a student played the guitar and sang a Thai song for us, in which the others joined in, which was beautiful! As we left, they were asking for our autographs and email contacts, as if we were celebrities! For those teachers out there, if you would like to set up pen pals with these orphan students, that would be wonderful! Please let us know, even if only a few students. They have been practicing their English letter writing and would love to hear from other students. After the orphan school, we headed to an island called Koh
Lanta, with our new Thai friend, Nong. This was an invitation for only us, in which we thought it was quite an honor, to go, see and hear traditional Thai music, by his friends' band, minus the lead violin player who sadly passed away the day before. Nong gladly took us on this trip, despite the recent loss. His English was very limited, however did not interfere with the communication, thanks to his handy Thai-English dictionary. We arrived at a hidden gem, called Same-Same but Different, which was a restaurant/bar located along the beach, away from the tourist attractions, etc. It was down pouring, however it didn't interfere with the festivities of music and dancing. We were able to hang out with the local musicians, who warmly welcomed us, as we were the cool kids, because we were with the band! Oh yeah! After listening to a private jam session with "Rasta-thais" (yeah, we came up with that, imagine Bob Marley in Thailand, dreads and all-heheh!) Very talented and fun!! After the music and eating a very, very spicy dinner, which was free, because we were with the band, we headed with the group to a Thai funeral for their
beloved friend, the violin player. There were at least 100 people at this funeral, outside, under 2 tents, connecting to a house. A T.V playing the movie "300" under 1 tent, and gambling and card games under the other tent, as if no one appeared to be saddened. Don't know if it is because of religious beliefs-Buddhism, or pragmatics of culture because Thai people very rarely show emotion, "save face." We were warmly welcomed and offered 2 seats, 2 drinks and some food, which was really touching that they were treating us at this particular time and place. Truly amazing! Such graciousness and generosity! A true rare event, that we witnessed, as foreigners. We felt that we were fortunate to be at such an event. The band placed traditional music and some ladies performed traditional Thai dancing, and appeared to be happy as they danced. We spent the night at a guest house, where we enjoyed a good night sleep on a mattress!! yeah! A padding more than 1 inch thick, which was luxury to us. We also had a shower, no hot water though, but enjoyed running water! Here at the school, we take sponge-baths, with a bucket of
water and a small bowl, in the bathroom. Needless to say, we enjoyed this stay and only paid 400 Baht, which is equivalent to $12 US. We went out for breakfast this morning and made some very poor choices, and we paid for it, not in BAht, not in US money, but in the toilet. Oh yikes! We had to wait for 2 ferries before seeing a bathroom, which is basically a hole in the ground with 4 walls around you. Oh my lanta!! Would have helped, but we were sure glad to see the hawng-nahm (water room=bathroom)!! We came back to school today, and headed on to town on our motor-bike, and it started to down pour again. We were drenched and decided to pull over at some restaurant, great food, tried to wait out the rain, impossible, so we bought a poncho and an umbrella and headed back on the rainy road. Tried to take a different way, yeah, the long way, but we made it! Hooray! Time to go do our lesson plans for tomorrow! More later! Hope all is well! Talk to you all soon!
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