Chiang Rai, March '09
Day 4
Woke up at 0551 by the roosters. Wandered around. Saw a pond at the back. Tried resting in the pile of grass in the field. It was like sinking into a huge beanie that smelt of grass, which is nice. Had breakfast. Worked in the fields for about half an hour. Had to return back since the smog was getting worse.
Sat in the open pickup truck to the Hmong village. We climbed up the steep slopes, 'Sawadii kha-ed' the villagers despite them not knowing Thai, gave out sweets. I took a whole minute just to remove the sweet wrapper for a little girl. Haha she looked so blur and I had no idea how to explain to her. Met a 78-year-old lady at the provision shop. When she caught my eye, I bowed to her and she beckoned to me. I stepped forward and she held my hand. Sister translated, and the old lady had said that I was beautiful. I think she's referring to inner beauty. Haha the old lady's so cute and cheeky, amidst all those wrinkles. Saw lots of dogs and a cat. Bought a pineapple drink from the provision shop. Sat in the covered truck on the return trip, Sister too.
Had lunch, then watched a demo by Mr John. He's the son of the lady who lets the Home use her land. Got dragged up stage to do a demo for the magnet belt. Ms Lee and Sililak too.
Sat in Marie's open pickup truck to the Mekong River. Stopped over at a cheap provision shop on the way. Got sweets for the kids. Continued riding and sang lots of songs.
The Mekong River is soooo cool! Where we were marked the border between Laos and Thailand. In other words, the big hill opposite was Laos. Absorbed info from the two humanities teachers on the way down to the shore. Usually the water level is around 3 metres higher than when we were there. And how illegal drug tradings come in through that place we were at. The sand was really fine, showing how strong the current was albeit the calm exterior. Worried for Ms Law. Haha Ms Praveena taunted Ms Law to open up a water botttle that was sealed with plastic, and Ms Law got to prove her wrong. Erica and Shang meei tripped over and discovered an ox horn with half the front of the skull still there. And we got an inferential lesson by Ms Law. Meanwhile, Ms Lee was busy satisfying her geography curiosity. And when Ms Praveena asked Ms Lee to educate us on the geography, Ms Lee just said, "See that? That's a fishermen." And Ms Praveena said, "Oh oh teacher I know! That's a boat, right?"
Then we headed out to this area that jutted out from where we were. It was very rocky there, with lots of river boulders, which can only be transported at high water levels and strong currents. Then we saw a suspected ox-bow lake, which Ms Lee explained. In some areas, the land was cracked and the vertical areas of rocks had prominent lines, which Ms Lee and Ms Law explained. Saw tadpoles and how they were crowding around some shiny sand thing. Ms Praveena suspected it was potassium iodide, the yellow precipitate one. It's funny how teachers manage to make a lesson out of everything. Saw the current on the exterior, showing how strong and fast it was. Saw a huge net. Mr John said that at high tide, the net would catch fish. Took a picture for Ms Praveena and Rachel. All of us got a laugh when Ms Praveena the biology teacher mistaked a floating branch for a turtle. Ms Law pointed out some plants growing in the sand and said, "See? Real resilence. This is resilence." CME lesson. Headed back up the hard way after Ms Law and Ms Praveena. Sat in the same truck back to the Home.
Had to bathe fast since dinner was in 15 mins and there was still 10 people among 6 cubicles. Yay for Guides. Had dinner, then washed the plates. Chareon helped us. Ms Law pointed out a huge lizard. Felt nonchalent and headed to void deck. Cried when I hugged Umpon.
The concert by the kids was really nice and allowed us to see more of their culture. We did our performance. We talked to Ms Praveena about alliteration with the letter 'P'. She said we forgot 'pure' for Ms Praba. I said, "Oh yeah! No Ms Praba isn't pure. She talks about mangled bodies and her fav word is morbid." Oops. Cried. Ms Lee passed me some tissue through Ms Praveena. Then everyone stood in a line, and the little ones hugged everyone, led by Sister and Padeng the cook. Cried a little.
Held Umpon's hand. When she disappeared, I sat on the benches and cried again. Sister comforted me. Mrs Gurung tried and asked me why my hand was so clenched. Ms Law tried forcing some jelly into my hand and said, "Hey, take it lah. Ms Law only has one hand." She failed. But Sister is right. She is on her mission, and I have my own. To spread God's love to the people around me back here. It rained, just like the last night in Scotland.
We had a debrief. Mrs Gurung said that our performance was one of the nicer ones she had seen, the effort we had put in. Ms Law talked about how she 'abused' Padeng. Ms Praveena talked about how we had changed over the days, from the absence of 'Thanks' to the presence of it, and then in Thai. Ms Lee talked about how we have grown, from being unprepared to touching hearts with our own.
After that, we packed our bags and went to sleep.
Woke up at 0551 by the roosters. Wandered around. Saw a pond at the back. Tried resting in the pile of grass in the field. It was like sinking into a huge beanie that smelt of grass, which is nice. Had breakfast. Worked in the fields for about half an hour. Had to return back since the smog was getting worse.
Sat in the open pickup truck to the Hmong village. We climbed up the steep slopes, 'Sawadii kha-ed' the villagers despite them not knowing Thai, gave out sweets. I took a whole minute just to remove the sweet wrapper for a little girl. Haha she looked so blur and I had no idea how to explain to her. Met a 78-year-old lady at the provision shop. When she caught my eye, I bowed to her and she beckoned to me. I stepped forward and she held my hand. Sister translated, and the old lady had said that I was beautiful. I think she's referring to inner beauty. Haha the old lady's so cute and cheeky, amidst all those wrinkles. Saw lots of dogs and a cat. Bought a pineapple drink from the provision shop. Sat in the covered truck on the return trip, Sister too.
Had lunch, then watched a demo by Mr John. He's the son of the lady who lets the Home use her land. Got dragged up stage to do a demo for the magnet belt. Ms Lee and Sililak too.
Sat in Marie's open pickup truck to the Mekong River. Stopped over at a cheap provision shop on the way. Got sweets for the kids. Continued riding and sang lots of songs.
The Mekong River is soooo cool! Where we were marked the border between Laos and Thailand. In other words, the big hill opposite was Laos. Absorbed info from the two humanities teachers on the way down to the shore. Usually the water level is around 3 metres higher than when we were there. And how illegal drug tradings come in through that place we were at. The sand was really fine, showing how strong the current was albeit the calm exterior. Worried for Ms Law. Haha Ms Praveena taunted Ms Law to open up a water botttle that was sealed with plastic, and Ms Law got to prove her wrong. Erica and Shang meei tripped over and discovered an ox horn with half the front of the skull still there. And we got an inferential lesson by Ms Law. Meanwhile, Ms Lee was busy satisfying her geography curiosity. And when Ms Praveena asked Ms Lee to educate us on the geography, Ms Lee just said, "See that? That's a fishermen." And Ms Praveena said, "Oh oh teacher I know! That's a boat, right?"
Then we headed out to this area that jutted out from where we were. It was very rocky there, with lots of river boulders, which can only be transported at high water levels and strong currents. Then we saw a suspected ox-bow lake, which Ms Lee explained. In some areas, the land was cracked and the vertical areas of rocks had prominent lines, which Ms Lee and Ms Law explained. Saw tadpoles and how they were crowding around some shiny sand thing. Ms Praveena suspected it was potassium iodide, the yellow precipitate one. It's funny how teachers manage to make a lesson out of everything. Saw the current on the exterior, showing how strong and fast it was. Saw a huge net. Mr John said that at high tide, the net would catch fish. Took a picture for Ms Praveena and Rachel. All of us got a laugh when Ms Praveena the biology teacher mistaked a floating branch for a turtle. Ms Law pointed out some plants growing in the sand and said, "See? Real resilence. This is resilence." CME lesson. Headed back up the hard way after Ms Law and Ms Praveena. Sat in the same truck back to the Home.
Had to bathe fast since dinner was in 15 mins and there was still 10 people among 6 cubicles. Yay for Guides. Had dinner, then washed the plates. Chareon helped us. Ms Law pointed out a huge lizard. Felt nonchalent and headed to void deck. Cried when I hugged Umpon.
The concert by the kids was really nice and allowed us to see more of their culture. We did our performance. We talked to Ms Praveena about alliteration with the letter 'P'. She said we forgot 'pure' for Ms Praba. I said, "Oh yeah! No Ms Praba isn't pure. She talks about mangled bodies and her fav word is morbid." Oops. Cried. Ms Lee passed me some tissue through Ms Praveena. Then everyone stood in a line, and the little ones hugged everyone, led by Sister and Padeng the cook. Cried a little.
Held Umpon's hand. When she disappeared, I sat on the benches and cried again. Sister comforted me. Mrs Gurung tried and asked me why my hand was so clenched. Ms Law tried forcing some jelly into my hand and said, "Hey, take it lah. Ms Law only has one hand." She failed. But Sister is right. She is on her mission, and I have my own. To spread God's love to the people around me back here. It rained, just like the last night in Scotland.
We had a debrief. Mrs Gurung said that our performance was one of the nicer ones she had seen, the effort we had put in. Ms Law talked about how she 'abused' Padeng. Ms Praveena talked about how we had changed over the days, from the absence of 'Thanks' to the presence of it, and then in Thai. Ms Lee talked about how we have grown, from being unprepared to touching hearts with our own.
After that, we packed our bags and went to sleep.
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