A Weeks Adventures

The past week has been busy filled with a various activities. On Sunday I took a day trip to a nearby city of Mukdahan with my friend Pon, a dentist who works at the PlaPak hospital and who I tutor an hour a week in english. She brought along Giew a doctor at the hospital that just moved to PlaPak to complete a mandatory 2 year government service to areas in need of doctors. We made a 2 hour drive to mukdahan in search of a famous spot along the Mekong river where you can enjoy a nice lunch over-looking the mountains and river. Their lunch speciality...roasted baby pig! There were dozens of baby pigs sliced down the middle, bones, teeth, tails and all put onto sticks over the fire. I politely declined the dish and opted for some morning glory tempura, sticky rice, somdtam, and a few bites of salted fish. The view was amazing from our little hut on the cliff.

After lunch we hopped back in the car to visit a famous local church. Its always a little weird seeing or visiting a church is a buddhist country but that is one aspect of buddhist culture that is so great. They are very open to learning about different religions and cultures, accepting all people. After walking around a bit we were off to the main attraction of the day, a buddhist festival at Wat That Phanom. On friday marks the holiday Magha Puja or Sangha Day. This is when Buddha addressed a meeting of the 1250 arahants. The festival lasts over a week where people go give merit to the temple and celebrate. Outside the wat there were stalls lining the streets selling anything you could imagine. After wandering through the streets we headed into the wat to give merit. This is where you light en-sense sticks, say a prayer, walk around the shrine three times, and stick a gold piece of paper to a statue. I'm sure it is actually more complicated than that but that is my short explanation of what happens. We met up with more of Pons friends from NKP hospital, grabbed some dinner at a restaurant called Kitty and finally were on our way back to PlaPak.

That coming Monday was Valentine's Day and I decided to have a fun low-key day with my students of making heart cards and singing shimadrink-a-dink, I love youuu. Thai are very into love and relationships with one of the first things people will ask is if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend. The majority of the shirts sold here have multiple hearts, bows, or the words Love and Happy written on them. My students knew of the holiday but it wasn't made into such a big deal like in the US. My teacher Pi Med said the holiday is just for teenagers. Anyways here are the end products from my adorable 3rd grade boys

Sixth graders Paaw and Ging (the heart is a favorite pose!)

Message from my 3rd grade class!

Finally we come to Tuesday, the start of Boy Scout camp. With only have a reference from the days of tagging along my older brothers boy scout trips I wasn't sure what to expect from a thai boy scout camp. I was happy to learn that the girls are included in this too, they are called Girl Guides! The previous week my 5th and 6th graders have been preparing walking around with rope to practice their knots or spending the afternoon perfecting their marches and line formations. The camp consisted of all elementary 5th and 6th graders in the PlaPak district. They start the day with a flag raising and speeches. After that they were sent on a 8km hike, the teachers did not participate so the morning was spent sitting around chatting.

5th graders Ora-thai and Bow practicing knots in english class!

After lunch there were 18 different stations set up providing activities from singing, boating, team building games, and even flying down a zip line on a tire into the lake. Naturally I wanted to participate in these activities which the teachers were exciting about. I was deemed as the "example" for the zipline. There were no harnesses or safety equipment, you just put your legs through the tire and hold on as the zipline takes you straight into the lake. It was fun but left me with wet pants the rest of the day!

At the top ready to head down!
Flying over the lakeDespite not feeling that great from a headache I had a great day and could tell my students were loving every minute. I would not say there are as hardcore at the US boy scouts but it was a good experience for elementary school students!