Bangkok oh Bangkok, how do I begin to describe you. One minute fruitful, delicious and full of highlights while simultaneously an overburdened touristy party zone for foreigners. No I don’t want to see a ping pong show thank you, no I don’t need a tuk-tuk, didn’t I already tell you no?! Oh right, so your meter isn’t working today, ey? What a whirlwind of a fun place and exciting part of Thailand.
Best Highlight: Chinatown was amazing and by far the coolest thing we went and did. Our tuk-tuk driver told us it was closed on the way trying to persuade us to go somewhere else to promote a friends business. In case you go to Bangkok let me reassure you, it is NEVER closed, the thing is like ridiculously big take San Francisco multiplyx1000 and cut all the prices to a third. Oh and the dim sum yum yum! Its crowded and smelly and sometimes you see parts of the animals you never wanted to or fish you didn’t know existed let alone edible- but its all well worth the experience.
Other than Chinatown, skimming around the granddaddy of Thailand’s huge markets was how we spent most of our time, night markets, day markets flower markets, floating markets, fruit markets, clothes markets…..
We didn’t get to go to the Grand palace or see the Emerald Buddha we will have to visit that on the way back into the country before heading home to Phuket.
We really didn’t take our holiday to visit Bangkok though, we arrived in Hanoi today and off to all sorts of places here after.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenkmeyers/
Check out this link- Steve is doing an excellent job posting pictures since he’s arrived in September and ongoing throughout our journey to Vietnam Cambodia and Lao. Tomorrow 8am off to Ha Long Bay a night on a junk boat, swimming, with caves to see, kayaking to do and beautiful limestone to discover. From there we go to Sapa the renowned gem of an indigenous village 9 hours outside Hanoi and the south we will head toward Saigon stopping at beaches along the way.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Lesson of Mai Ben Rai
First off thank you everyone for the extraordinary feedback you gave about how to deal with the Coconut Club break-in and my sincere apologies for my extended lax in replying to your lovely personal emails and addressing your responses. I hope no one is mad at me I love you all dearly! I appreciate your reassurances as well, you made me feel confident with my intuition which is great support when in a position to make tough decisions on my own.
So, what happened you ask? Unfortunately, nothing! Such a disappointment. I couldn't get a consistent confirmation of the students who broke in and therefore I didn't take it to a level of action and punishment. One Thai teacher says its some 6 students while another says its only 4 of the six students. The student all split blame one another. So what can I do, I can't punish the innocent. I guess take it from the Buddhist and have compassion and no worries- i.e. the philosophy here Mai ben rai.
The way things work for such scenarios, is take the suspected (in this case 6 children) publicly humiliate them, punish them, ban them from Coconut Club and the matter is closed within 10 minutes. It's very important culturally as well as in the religion of both the Muslim and Buddhist at my school, not to hold onto anything, not to spend elongated times of processing emotions or incidents. Its considered selfish and a waste of time and energy. Mai Ben Rai is the saying out here, "no worries". When I ask the Thai teachers to please further resolve and investigate which boys are at fault, or to help me arrange for a "cleaning day" with the boys at Coconut Club, I'm replied with this sentence as though the situation has already been dealt with and is closed. Sorry that my follow-up may seem dismal and unresolved, that is just the way of the island life here though... to move on. Maybe its a hidden lesson for us westerners who are raised with an expectation to hold onto the way we feel and be entitled to an outcome, a change or something better than what we already have.
Short story on this same subject, you're really going to hate me after I tell you this I'm just full of disappointing news for you... A boy passed away at the school the morning of 27 Sept-2010. Yes I knew him, worse he was one of my consistent Coconut Club boys. It's all very sad. He died of influenza- oh how my days of public health classes and debates of the seriousness of the communicable diseases really rile me up! Thai Teachers say "Oh he had a bad cold" and then take the next 2 days off school making the children clean vigorously to rid the infection as though its a plague. News flash colds don't need 48hrs of scrubbing and don't kill people in a short period of time at age 14 who are strong youthful. Nonononono, arg and why do I consider the study of global health an important way to spend my life do you ask?
Connecting back to the lessons of No worries, as westerners- our teaching staff was devastated. We cared for him he was kind and promising, many of us cried while others just felt internally sad. But overall we all felt similar that we wanted to acknowledge the death, honor the boys life somehow- connecting him back to Coconut Club to the other children, allowing space for us all to process our feelings. The Thai did not react to this in a similar manner, in fact they find us to be quite demented and ridiculous in our behavior of emotions. Its not that they don't care, they simply deal with emotions internally and only for short periods of time. It's considered a selfish way to spend ones energy rather than do something more productive with your day or continue on normally. Still, us silly heart filled westerners made a card for the boy and left it in Coconut Club open ended for children to sign if they wanted- of course in Thai since this has nothing to do with English. We then gave it to the Thai Administration to be sent to the boys family who knows if it will get there but we can always hope. Mai ben rai, right? Life is a cycle in this part of the world, it all disintegrates, reincarnates and then recreates.
On a super positive note to end this blog- Steve arrived this last month Yay! Our journeys on the road together begin. September was also testing month which was rigorous hours both in the office and at school, eating up my weekends and stressful to say the least, hence why I have been an absolute failure in bogging this last month. Testing denotes the end of the term and Summer Holiday. October is summer Holiday for the school the English teaching staff included. Many people have asked where do the children go for a whole month when they're orphans or so distance from their families? The children often are arranged by the school administrations to go home with local families- friends and distant relatives. This is because no one is on campus during the whole month and the gates are locked. Although the take off in the last few weeks was stressful and I must admit I fear the amount of emails I will come home to in 1 months time, I'm happy to say I am finally on vacation and getting to explore SE Asia!!!
So, what happened you ask? Unfortunately, nothing! Such a disappointment. I couldn't get a consistent confirmation of the students who broke in and therefore I didn't take it to a level of action and punishment. One Thai teacher says its some 6 students while another says its only 4 of the six students. The student all split blame one another. So what can I do, I can't punish the innocent. I guess take it from the Buddhist and have compassion and no worries- i.e. the philosophy here Mai ben rai.
The way things work for such scenarios, is take the suspected (in this case 6 children) publicly humiliate them, punish them, ban them from Coconut Club and the matter is closed within 10 minutes. It's very important culturally as well as in the religion of both the Muslim and Buddhist at my school, not to hold onto anything, not to spend elongated times of processing emotions or incidents. Its considered selfish and a waste of time and energy. Mai Ben Rai is the saying out here, "no worries". When I ask the Thai teachers to please further resolve and investigate which boys are at fault, or to help me arrange for a "cleaning day" with the boys at Coconut Club, I'm replied with this sentence as though the situation has already been dealt with and is closed. Sorry that my follow-up may seem dismal and unresolved, that is just the way of the island life here though... to move on. Maybe its a hidden lesson for us westerners who are raised with an expectation to hold onto the way we feel and be entitled to an outcome, a change or something better than what we already have.
Short story on this same subject, you're really going to hate me after I tell you this I'm just full of disappointing news for you... A boy passed away at the school the morning of 27 Sept-2010. Yes I knew him, worse he was one of my consistent Coconut Club boys. It's all very sad. He died of influenza- oh how my days of public health classes and debates of the seriousness of the communicable diseases really rile me up! Thai Teachers say "Oh he had a bad cold" and then take the next 2 days off school making the children clean vigorously to rid the infection as though its a plague. News flash colds don't need 48hrs of scrubbing and don't kill people in a short period of time at age 14 who are strong youthful. Nonononono, arg and why do I consider the study of global health an important way to spend my life do you ask?
Connecting back to the lessons of No worries, as westerners- our teaching staff was devastated. We cared for him he was kind and promising, many of us cried while others just felt internally sad. But overall we all felt similar that we wanted to acknowledge the death, honor the boys life somehow- connecting him back to Coconut Club to the other children, allowing space for us all to process our feelings. The Thai did not react to this in a similar manner, in fact they find us to be quite demented and ridiculous in our behavior of emotions. Its not that they don't care, they simply deal with emotions internally and only for short periods of time. It's considered a selfish way to spend ones energy rather than do something more productive with your day or continue on normally. Still, us silly heart filled westerners made a card for the boy and left it in Coconut Club open ended for children to sign if they wanted- of course in Thai since this has nothing to do with English. We then gave it to the Thai Administration to be sent to the boys family who knows if it will get there but we can always hope. Mai ben rai, right? Life is a cycle in this part of the world, it all disintegrates, reincarnates and then recreates.
On a super positive note to end this blog- Steve arrived this last month Yay! Our journeys on the road together begin. September was also testing month which was rigorous hours both in the office and at school, eating up my weekends and stressful to say the least, hence why I have been an absolute failure in bogging this last month. Testing denotes the end of the term and Summer Holiday. October is summer Holiday for the school the English teaching staff included. Many people have asked where do the children go for a whole month when they're orphans or so distance from their families? The children often are arranged by the school administrations to go home with local families- friends and distant relatives. This is because no one is on campus during the whole month and the gates are locked. Although the take off in the last few weeks was stressful and I must admit I fear the amount of emails I will come home to in 1 months time, I'm happy to say I am finally on vacation and getting to explore SE Asia!!!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Coconut Club Break-in
I can't sleep right now, because my mind keeps turning about what happened today- I guess it would be wise to talk about it...
Today was a hard day but another good lesson learned being new at this job. I came into Coconut Club at my normal 2:30 time to set-up for our after school daily activity only to find the place ransacked and broken into. There is a separate room inside of Coconut Club (which is a normal sized classroom). This separate room is basically an office and stockroom which I keep track of. I organize in-kind donations in this room, birthday presents for the children, new games, special toys like battery operated ones which they can play with on special occasions, nice cameras for photo projects and snacks and candy to give away when a child does good clean-up or is extra helpful. The Office had been broken into and all these things lay strung about with empty wrappers, garbage strewn everywhere, toys stolen, presents destroyed etc.. I wish I could say some mean old horrible person did this. Unfortunately the facts must be faced and truth be told, it was 6 of our Coconut Club children.
There are so many things that can be said in response to this behavior and although I cried, was angry, canceled Coconut Club and wouldn't smile at any children for the next hour so they knew how infuriated I was, I feel pity and sadness for these 6 kids. To understand what I'm talking about you have to understand Coconut Club (CC). In case you haven't understood what exactly CC is and my role in the program let me explain: Its an after-school program where the foundation does special activities for the children who live at the school (many are orphaned and many have families but they cannot afford to feed them). CC is a safe haven, a place the kids can collectively share toys, play games, have fun and be supported by adults- something they currently do not receive at school. We do arts/crafts, volunteers from off the island on holiday bring donations and toys, we go swimming, throw birthday parties, take the kids to BBQs and nice sponsoring hotel events. My role is Program Coordinator a polite way of saying- I manage it. I consider that room to be my responsibility and that office space is precious to me. When I first got here and took over this role I cleaned, organized and made the place beautiful. To have someone come in and mess it all up especially when it is someone who I have made the space beautiful for, really really hurts.
On a more constructive note is what needs to be said about these 6 children. These children who I found out broke into CC are by far our most "special needs" children. They're the kids who are failing their classes, can speak hardly a word of English, who never leave school grounds- or receive family visitations. These are the children who REALLY need CC. Which makes my job of enforcing discipline by banning them from CC sooo much more difficult. I can't help but feel turmoil and heartache over this situation. I found out who had done it because I told the 20 kids who showed up today that they needed to report any information to the teachers. In Thai culture, Stealing is considered really bad. I'm not saying that Americans condone it, but we definitely don't have the same distaste for it that they have here. The children were defensive for me and their CC space and all fingers pointed at the same 6 kids.
I've never been one to agree with public punishment but this sure as heck ain't my turf. The Thai teachers felt the need to scold them out in front of the school in front of all the children, Yes I understand the cultural acceptance, but as a mother hen this was again, hard. One of the kids began to cry with guilt and confession saying sorry and bowing to me and another English teacher. The Thai teachers found this amusing and laughed. I don't know if my thinking about how to deal with children when they've done something bad is totally out of whack, but I would never laugh or embarrass a child when they already felt bad or showed remorse. I wasn't going to tell the kid, "Oh its okay (because it wasn't!)" but something about the situation just doesn't sit right. Here are six kids that need adult love and support more than ever. They do a destructive act which is obviously a cry for help (in my book) and the response is to ban them from the one place they receive that support and humiliate them publicly. So what happens after their banning period is over and they're allowed back in- would they respect me and the CC space suddenly? I don't think so. It would be even less of a home to them than it could have possibly been at one time. Or maybe I'm just too soft hearted?
Here's my idea- I will make them clean CC. They will still not be allowed to participate in activities or attend CC, but I will take them up there, outside of CC hours and have them help me clean the space. Would this not help them appreciate and love the space more? Maybe even persuade them not to mess it up. If they're really good and well behaved and respectful of me and CC then maybe I can trust to let them back in to participate. Or am I too big hearted, optimistic, idealistic and unrealistic about the nature of these children?
Feedback on this entry would be great... I know your not a commenting bunch but there's at least 40+ people out there I've confirmed are reading this, so if you have a moment hit the comment button at the bottom here....
Cheers!
Today was a hard day but another good lesson learned being new at this job. I came into Coconut Club at my normal 2:30 time to set-up for our after school daily activity only to find the place ransacked and broken into. There is a separate room inside of Coconut Club (which is a normal sized classroom). This separate room is basically an office and stockroom which I keep track of. I organize in-kind donations in this room, birthday presents for the children, new games, special toys like battery operated ones which they can play with on special occasions, nice cameras for photo projects and snacks and candy to give away when a child does good clean-up or is extra helpful. The Office had been broken into and all these things lay strung about with empty wrappers, garbage strewn everywhere, toys stolen, presents destroyed etc.. I wish I could say some mean old horrible person did this. Unfortunately the facts must be faced and truth be told, it was 6 of our Coconut Club children.
There are so many things that can be said in response to this behavior and although I cried, was angry, canceled Coconut Club and wouldn't smile at any children for the next hour so they knew how infuriated I was, I feel pity and sadness for these 6 kids. To understand what I'm talking about you have to understand Coconut Club (CC). In case you haven't understood what exactly CC is and my role in the program let me explain: Its an after-school program where the foundation does special activities for the children who live at the school (many are orphaned and many have families but they cannot afford to feed them). CC is a safe haven, a place the kids can collectively share toys, play games, have fun and be supported by adults- something they currently do not receive at school. We do arts/crafts, volunteers from off the island on holiday bring donations and toys, we go swimming, throw birthday parties, take the kids to BBQs and nice sponsoring hotel events. My role is Program Coordinator a polite way of saying- I manage it. I consider that room to be my responsibility and that office space is precious to me. When I first got here and took over this role I cleaned, organized and made the place beautiful. To have someone come in and mess it all up especially when it is someone who I have made the space beautiful for, really really hurts.
On a more constructive note is what needs to be said about these 6 children. These children who I found out broke into CC are by far our most "special needs" children. They're the kids who are failing their classes, can speak hardly a word of English, who never leave school grounds- or receive family visitations. These are the children who REALLY need CC. Which makes my job of enforcing discipline by banning them from CC sooo much more difficult. I can't help but feel turmoil and heartache over this situation. I found out who had done it because I told the 20 kids who showed up today that they needed to report any information to the teachers. In Thai culture, Stealing is considered really bad. I'm not saying that Americans condone it, but we definitely don't have the same distaste for it that they have here. The children were defensive for me and their CC space and all fingers pointed at the same 6 kids.
I've never been one to agree with public punishment but this sure as heck ain't my turf. The Thai teachers felt the need to scold them out in front of the school in front of all the children, Yes I understand the cultural acceptance, but as a mother hen this was again, hard. One of the kids began to cry with guilt and confession saying sorry and bowing to me and another English teacher. The Thai teachers found this amusing and laughed. I don't know if my thinking about how to deal with children when they've done something bad is totally out of whack, but I would never laugh or embarrass a child when they already felt bad or showed remorse. I wasn't going to tell the kid, "Oh its okay (because it wasn't!)" but something about the situation just doesn't sit right. Here are six kids that need adult love and support more than ever. They do a destructive act which is obviously a cry for help (in my book) and the response is to ban them from the one place they receive that support and humiliate them publicly. So what happens after their banning period is over and they're allowed back in- would they respect me and the CC space suddenly? I don't think so. It would be even less of a home to them than it could have possibly been at one time. Or maybe I'm just too soft hearted?
Here's my idea- I will make them clean CC. They will still not be allowed to participate in activities or attend CC, but I will take them up there, outside of CC hours and have them help me clean the space. Would this not help them appreciate and love the space more? Maybe even persuade them not to mess it up. If they're really good and well behaved and respectful of me and CC then maybe I can trust to let them back in to participate. Or am I too big hearted, optimistic, idealistic and unrealistic about the nature of these children?
Feedback on this entry would be great... I know your not a commenting bunch but there's at least 40+ people out there I've confirmed are reading this, so if you have a moment hit the comment button at the bottom here....
Cheers!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Mothers Day and the Kings Foundation Visit
Today was one of the most memorable days I've had since I've come here. It might have been the excruciating heat I sat through for 3 hours in heavy business attire in a stuffy assembly hall or maybe the heart-warming Mother's Day tradition I witnessed that made all the sweating worth all the joyful tears.
Mothers are sacred in Thailand, really family, but I'm going to spend a moment just talking about moms. It seems that the children Muslim and Buddhist are told since day 0 years old, to be thankful and appreciate their mothers love, for they would not be alive without her carrying you for 9 months. There are 10 principals the children at the Kings Foundation school recite daily, I don't know them all yet. But two of the highest priorities are 1. Love your King 2. Appreciate your Mother. Daily they repeat this philosophy (and 8 others), similarly to the United states where we recite the pledge of allegiance daily at school.
So, mothers day assembly is a day where all the mothers of all the children come to the school and sit in a circle around the perimeter of the room as guests of honor. Then, each class of children is called out one-by-one (who's mothers are present) and their mothers are asked to approach the front stage of the room and take a seat in the chairs set out. Their children then approach them, gift them a flower and then kneel at their feet, placing their head down in their mother's lap. The mothers place their hands over their children's head and together they spend a minute praising one another and sharing a very loving and spiritual exchange of appreciation. EVERYONE CRIES, I cried. At first I thought it was more of a great anthropological observation of Thai culture, but suddenly the mothers and kids were all crying as they lifted their heads, while smiling. My heart began to fill with emotional attachment to this moment feeling overwhelmed with the beauty and love in the room.
They spend about 30 minutes doing this because the children are then invited to go to all the women in the room (teachers included) who has acted as a mother in their life and praise them. It's beautiful. One teacher sitting next to me who has a close bond with many of the residential children who didn't have mother's present, started to receive a line of kids kneeling at her feet and holding her, it was intense! Speaking of the residential children who's mothers either couldn't come because they are unable to pay for the distance to visit their children or simply do not have a mother- this was the hardest part. Working at Coconut Club full time where I only really get to know the residential children, I had a particularly difficult time with this. I had to hold one girl for about 5 minutes while she soaked my shirt bawling "no mother". All I could do was hold her and simply cry back. Many residential children would comfort each other, lying on the floor in the room holding each other crying. It was an awe inspiring moment to see all the children who I'm greeted happily by daily, be sad for the first time and get a glimpse into the true horror of their past or life as an orphan. Many outside visitors when I explain the set-up for the 150 children who live at the school say "Oh yeah like a boarding school, I went to one." The misconception is big, its more like an orphanage, these teachers Thai and English are the closest thing they get to an adults support and love. In this way, the foundation is pertinent to their lives and I'm glad I can be a part of this....
Oddly enough Mothers Day was accompanied by a visit from the President of the Kings Foundation. On several accounts I've herd co-workers say, "In the 2 years I've worked here, a man this high-up in the Kings Foundation has never visited- this is a big deal!" And it was, I have never seen the students so stoic and well-behaved, especially after such an emotional morning. But it didn't matter, a man was coming who represented the most important person in the country and that was more important than any mother in the room suddenly. I of course didn't understand anything he said, it was all in Thai, but i did understand the importance and cultural respect made due to his visit. We had every news station on Phuket and Bangkok in our Assembly hall. The Governor of Phuket Showed, The mayor of Phuket and more important people traveled from Bangkok to accompany him for this hour long speech he made to the school. The message seemed well received so I guess it was all good things he said, and our school is considered doing well by the Kings Foundation Standards. One student was talking while he was talking and he made the student come stand next to him in front of the auditorium, to set an example- he continued this as students kept talking.....
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Cooking tip
Next time your cooking with your Wok, clean it this way BEFORE you enjoy your food: Empty out your cooked food and leave wok on burner while still on. Add a tbl spoon of oil and 2 tbl spoons of water, let simmer a bit while scraping the scum a bit with your wok utensil, the oil and water pull it all off as you rotate and scrap a bit. Turn off burner and dump into the sink, do a quick rinse with the faucet = clean. Thais do not use sponges or soap on their wok and definitely do not wait more than 30 sec. to clean it after they've used it. It's so darn easy you'll be surprised!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
...As of month 1
Last week I went to an amazing beach party in Kamala. There was a big BBQ, Sangrias, Fire dancing and a Miss Kamala Competition. I found out about this great party though Chickynet... a network for expat women living in Phuket, its helping me find friends and fun things to do. I met many wonderful new people, locals from Thailand and others from Scotland, Sweden, Australia and Indonesia.
The miss Kamala competition involved 4 women who had to prove their deserving of the title by surviving a water balloon toss and limbo. I took a photo with the winner- and added more fun photos of this.
Later in the evening we participated in a tradition for beach gatherings of lighting huge paper lanterns to let float away in the sky it was quite beautiful.
Fun Day was Saturday an event that I coordinated with Anampuri to come and host a festival at Coconut Club for the residential children over the weekend It was so much! Anampuri is a wonderful company that has a resort on the island and they sent staff from their food and beverage, spa and entertainment to come play with the children for the day. They played funny obstacle course games with the kids, did manicures, pedicures, hair play, coloring books, beading and brought crazy amounts of food like hot dogs, hamburgers, fish sticks, sandwiches, cake, ice cream and fruit skewers. You have never seen such little people eat so much. I've included some fun pictures:
Later that evening I went to hang at the beach and relax after a long work week. It's amazing to me, I've spent so much of my life in the woods and loving the woods. Now, I'm not going back on my words or anything, but seriously- having warm ocean water to swim in every day is pretty sweet. It's just as much of a naturally wonderful beautiful thing to soak in the sea as it is to hike in your backyard or visit a hot spring buried in the Cascades during december. I've decided its all great and I don't know what's better yet- maybe in a year I'll feel different. Heres some gorgeous sunset pix I have to share with you from hanging on the beach...
Yesterday I went surfing for the first time. The number one thing I can say to this is I'M GETTING A RASH GUARD before I go again. My belly and arms are totally red- I think two moles have been halfway detached from my skin! How would I know any different, all the local Thais get out there and ruff it in bikinis and shorts. I guess they have callouss' all over their body or something. Anyways, I think I went home with a brain full of salt - Lets just say I did the mega-netty pot. So yeah, didn't do so great. I rhode a wave and attempted to get up 3 times and actually stood up once until I looked down at my feet and saw they were square in the middle of my board (haha!)- Ker SPLASH! Whatever it doesn't matter... surfing is all about having fun. The locals are so nice, some laugh at you in a real friendly way like "oh man, you got nailed!" kinda way, or some will laugh and say, come on get that wave and encourage you to keep trying. It's really fun! When I was in Maui the locals definitely did not interact with the tourist or beginners. But don't misunderstand me, It's hard and the waves are big, its great surf and man I wish I knew what I was doing so I could ride those gorgeous waves, I'll get there...
Monday, July 19, 2010
Mingling as a local
These last couple weeks have been quite a whirlwind but I've made some pretty large strides in getting to know the island a bit better. For starters, I finally got my motorbike and therefore I'm able to explore all I want. The way to get around here is mostly by motorbike, less prevalent but still existent is cars, and every so often I pass them while driving here and there- an elephant. The island is super hilly, but the roads are modern and paved. Getting around on bicycle would be very difficult considering the intense humidity mixed with insane inclines and blind turns. It's difficult to drive this time of year with the unexpected rains and thunderstorms hailing overhead with no warning.
The other night I had rode into Patong when the air was still and sky clear. After having a joyous evening I hopped on my moto once it was dark to head home wearing my tank-top and cut-offs. Suddenly the sky opened up and huge rain drops began to beat against my body in what felt like giant hail stones. I got totally soaked and for the first time in my journey so far here, I was cold, it was so strange because it kind of felt good like a breath of fresh air from the heat. Never in my life, which has been spent predominately in the wet and cold having lived in the NW, have I ever felt rain be so harsh and painful. Simultaneously, huge bugs buzzed in the opposite direction smacking me in the neck, chest and face going about 30MPH when I was colliding at 60MPH. It was the most peculiar experience. But hey, next time I'll bring a rain coat and a visor for my helmet- I think this will vastly improve the experience!
Speaking of peculiar experiences, I went to Thai Aerobics for the first time last week. Its run by locals which is refreshing. Its on the beach 5 minutes from my flat which is beautiful to be working-out outside. I have to admit, it was kind-of funny but I did sweat harder than I can remember in along time, for a solid 90 minutes. The teacher is an over 50 bombshell who looks about 30 wearing 80's hot pink, leggings and a loose white t-shirt straight out of a Madonna video that reads "I'm happy" with a heart on it. The moves are a clash of Richard Simmons mixed with a modern hip-hop pop work-out that lady gaga would do in preparation for her next show. We rock out to the Thai versions of: Blonde, Paula Abdule and whacky world reggae. I think the main element throughout the workout is to KEEP MOVING for 90 minutes straight. Her feet are just juggling in all different directions like we are learning a line dance but then just when you start to understand which direction she's moving in, she completely changes the footwork on you. The girls, Thais and expats, are constantly bewildered trying to keep up with her all the while laughing. Every once and awhile you see an obvious tourist walk by with a deer in the headlights look trying to figure out for a good 20 minutes what on earth we could possibly be doing. You just know you must look absolutely absurd!
Oh well, tomorrow is Tai Chi... we'll see how that goes.
This weekend was my first larger tackle at hand of my coordinating. When I first arrived one of my tasks which was placed at high priority was to prepare for a birthday party (which was this past Saturday). Coordinating a birthday involves me, speaking to sponsors and local businesses and getting them to contribute games to play with the kids, cake, food, beverages and even a photographer. It also involves using a mass 190 sum student spreadsheet which has become my new-best-friend, listing all info on every child involved in our charity to establish whos birthday needs celebrating this time of year and therefore who gets to come to the party. Now, if the school has 600 students and we have 35 birthdays within that, it's quite chaotic to relay communication to these specific students (track them down so to speak), and put together gifts for these specific students to their desired tastes. As much work as it was to put together, it was a great successes and I received my first kudos. All the sponsors showed, we played Thai charades, 4 corners, obstacle courses, and musical chairs. Overall I'm quite pleased and I think I make a pretty descent event coordinator- next time I think it will be even better!
The children are so polite. When they are offered a bigger piece of cake they take the smaller one. When they win a game and receive a prize, the second time they win they pass their prize onto a peer who has not received one yet. They don't leave anyone out, you don't ever see "loners" or children sitting in corners left out or unable to participate. In one instance for example, a girl received a toy kangaroo that starts small but then expands when placed in water. Her friend once she grasped the concept of how the toy worked became ecstatic at how cool her friends gift was, so the girl just gave it to her. I was shocked at this. The girl who gave up her birthday present didn't seem to think it was that big of deal, as though "what goes around comes around". They seem to all be looking out for each other like brothers and sisters that have one anothers best interest at heart. I think these children have a lot to teach me.
Much love and all the best!
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