We did so much but I will just give a recap on some fun stories.
Teaching went really well last week. Everyone here is such a fast learner and their hunger for knowledge never ceases to impress me. But honestly, my favorite part of my English lessons is the last 10 minutes that I spend with the older boys. This is when I teach American slang :) Oh man, it is hilarious. Everytime I see them they always ask me "whaddup?" and it is seriously just the best thing.
Also this week I was teaching in the big guest house (the big nice looking building on my fb pictures) and we were sitting down at a table. All of a sudden one of my students yelled, "TEACHER!" and was pointing at the ground. When I looked down I was very confused because it seemed as if the floor was moving....like it was alive. That's funny because it was alive! Out of nowhere a huge surge of ants were appearing and taking over! When I mean huge I mean there were thousands upon thousands. I have never seen that many bugs at one time in my life. So of course the only logical thing to do is scream and run away to let someone else deal with it :)
I went on a very long bike ride with the kids and almost died. Well not really. It was just hotter than hell and I felt like we were going uphill both ways. haha but the scenery was breathtaking. We went to some hot springs nearby and boiled up some eggs for lunch. That was pretty cool. But boiled eggs don't smell good in the first place, and then cooking them in sulfur definitely does not help the smell...
Torie, a new volunteer, came this week. It is very nice to have another native English speaker around. And she is super cool, so we are having some good times. But it was pretty funny because when she first came it was hard for her to understand the Thai accent. So even when people were speaking English I would do some translation. I forgot how when I first got here I could not understand a thing but now it doesn't even phase me.
I have become pretty close with the manager here and he has been a great mentor. I have learned so much from him and he is a great example. One day I was helping him write a professional letter to the foundation heads and I heard this weird noise (we were sitting outside in the small open hut). It was a low humming sound that seemed to be getter louder. I asked Che what that noise was and right when he was about to answer, a huge swarm of bees launched their attack on us! Holy! We both jumped and ran in separate directions. I was jumping, running, and swatting all around the farm. Somehow, probably divine intervention, I escaped without a single sting. But my friends here were not so lucky. It was just so random, no one knows where that came from. Whatev.
Oh and before I forget, my little side-job in the city teaching at that fancy school got cancelled. It just was a super big hassle trying to coordinate everything for it to work out. And honestly, it was fun, but I am more than happy to stay here and just focus all my attention on this family. So I will go into the city on Friday evenings.
This weekend we made the 4 hour trip to Sukhothai. It was so cool. It was a bunch of ancient ruins and we rented bikes to see it all! Be on the lookout for some pictures. It really was amazing. Too bad it was scorching hot and I have never lost that much water just in sweat. Everyone was drenched. Like straight up, you-just-jumped-in-the-pool drenched. So that was gross, but besides that it was awesome!
This place has become my home. Over the weekend I found myself missing the farm and the kids. I really love it here. These kids have been through some of the hardest times and yet they are the happiest people I have ever met. They teach me so much every single day. When I learn about their backgrounds it breaks my heart that they have undergone such awful things. But then it gives me hope. No matter how difficult things are we are always the master of our soul. We choose to be happy. One year ago a young boy was crawling through a field while soldiers were opening fire on him so he could escape child soldier life. Today he is the sweetest and kindest human being I have ever came into contact with.
The red soil here gets into everything. When I got into the city I tried scrubbing my feet to clean up a bit before we went out. But the soles of my feet are stained red. No matter how hard I scrubbed, it would not come out; the dirt is in deep. It does not matter how long I stay here or the adventures to come, I have become a part of this wonderful place and nothing will be able to change that.
Til next time,
Stay fresh!
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