Today we left Salaya and headed off to our side trip for the Thailand portion of the trip. I wasn’t too excited for this one, because we have had a lot of work to do and I have been very stressed out. Plus after the disaster that was Brunei, I wasn’t expecting much.
I started off the day on the wrong foot. My roommate Helena and I slept through our alarms and woke up five minutes after the group was supposed to leave to the sound of Dr. Tsin pounding on our door. Luckily I had already packed and the group was on our way 20 minutes after I got out of bed!
Our first stop was an elementary school in a more rural area outside of Bangkok. It was the most incredible experience of this trip so far! Most of the children had never seen foreigners before. They were adorable, so excited to see us, and so energetic. I was sad I couldn’t speak more Thai; it would have been nice to communicate with the children more! Many of the older ones had been taught to shake our hands and say “hello, nice to meet you” or “what is your name?”. I learned how to say “Pi Chu Kristin”, or “My name is Kristin”. Playing with the children was so rewarding and fun. The school gave us a delicious lunch of traditional Thai fruits, veggies, rice, and more! Then we went into the school so that the 9th graders could show us what they were up to during the school day. Once a student reaches 9th grade, they learn vocational training. There were workshops for sewing, cooking, making fermented eggs, carpentry, and electrical work. It was interesting to see that the students were learning so many vocational skills in school, but it was sad to hear that many students don’t continue their education past 9th grade, and that is why the vocational training is so important. Pi Da, the lady who is in charge of coordinating our program through Mahidol University, had attended that school as a child and gave the students a speech in Thai urging them to continue their education. She used us as examples and I really hope the children took it to heart!
Next we went to a high school nearby! After nomming on some delicious traditional Thai desserts and watching Thai dancing, Pi Da asked us to pair up with a Thai student and help them practice English! I ended up talking with three Thai girls who were 16 and 17 years old. One was significantly better at English than the other two. There seemed to be an apathy for learning english among the other ones, and they had trouble understanding a lot of what I was saying. However, I understand their pain because I hated learning Spanish! It was fun to learn about the everyday lived of the Thai girls and what their school is like. They are ver similar to American girls, actually!
Next we headed to our final destination for the day, the floating markets! We checked into our hotel, which is a really neat little ned and breakfast right on the water. And when I say on the water, I mean literally, on the water! We ordered our dinner off of a boat and ended up with some delicious noodles and prawns. After walking around the shops for a little bit we headed back to the hotel to catch a firefly tour boat. The tour was amazing! we were taken down the Mekong river, where the riverflies gather on trees and look like christmas lights in the dark! After relaxing for a little bit in the lobby of the hotel (which is actually outside) I headed off to bed! Good night:)
No comments:
Post a Comment