Tha Wang Pha Part Two and a quick catch up

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of postings lately, but hopefully this one will make up for that. 

My time in Tha Wang Pha is winding down now. I should be leaving this coming weekend to start a new adventure! On that note: THANK YOU for all the packages and cards I've received, they have meant so much to me. Since I'll be leaving in less than a week, please hold off on sending anymore since (unless you send them super Express) I won't receive them. 

On to the quick catch up:

A couple of weeks ago, a student, May, took me out for the evening. We went to the market first and she bought and showed me a bunch of fruit that I had never seen before (the season here is just changing, so all this new exotic stuff is showing up), then she took me out with some of her school friends and we went to the Nan River where we picked algae off the river bed to cook and eat. On our way back through the farm fields, we picked green chili peppers off the plants. May took me back to her house where her aunt taught me how to make naam prik (chili paste) which they eat all the time here with sticky rice (I think it's a northern Thailand thing). It was great fun, and I got to eat dinner on the floor of her home with May, her sister and brother, mother and father, aunt and grandmother. It was the first time I've really felt accepted and welcomed by a Thai family. Everyone here has been very friendly of course, but this family taught me about different food, how to pick the fresh stuff from the fields, how to cook it, and eat it. It was one of my favourite nights here. I've added some photos from that night to this album, so check it out.

Another recent weekend involved a Girl Scout camp and an English camp. The Girl Scout camp was fun - the teachers just made the girls go through a number of obstacle course type challenges. English camp was interesting. Me, the girls and Devon were each given a station and asked to come up with an activity. There was no clear direction, and although there was a schedule it included things like "Rehearse for talent show, perform talent show." What talent show?! The Thai teachers seemed to have slightly high expectations of what this event was going to be.... Luckily Shaleas' made her station acting. Each group had to write and perform little plays, and the best ones performed for the whole group at the end which saved the "talent show" idea. It was fun although extremely poorly organized, but I met a woman and her daughter at the camp who I now tutor after school, so something good came out of it! Photos from Girl Scout camp, English camp, and some random school photos are all in this album. 

A week ago, Kelly and I met up with Kim in Hang Chat, where Lisa and our other friend Nate teach. We stayed with them for two nights, did a lot of shopping and I took everyone's money in poker which felt good after losing my money to Shaleas and Devon twice since we've started playing...  Since we don't have poker chips, or enough 1 baht coins to play with, we have adapted to playing with grains of rice. The first ten minutes of every game is spent counting out 100 grains of rice each. It works surprisingly well. Photos of our first poker tournament when Shaleas' friend Stephanie (another teach) visited are in the previous album link. 

There are a few more memorable events that have occurred over the past week or so but I don't want this post to get too long. Keep checking the site for another update soon. BUT

Meanwhile....

Another video! I got really into playing around with iMovie, so here is another video, this time based on my school and my students, so I hope you enjoy it! Keep checking for a third installment about my village.