Keeping Ties in Thailand: Update and Vacation Pictures

The last few weeks at site have been surprisingly rewarding, productive, and fun. I thought that transitioning back to life in my village would be challenging after my parents departure, but fortunately I had plenty of things to keep myself busy. Last week I taught an 8 day English conversation course for the informal education office and had an amazing time. My students were all adults who were eager to learn english and excited to come everyday. By the end of the program most students could hold basic conversations about their age, birthday, job, time, daily routines, emotions, and places. They learned to ask and answer questions, and learned nearly 200 vocabulary words. Everyday we began class by reviewing all of the conversation we had already learned, which I think really helped them put it all together. Hopefully some of these students will actually go on to use what they learned. With ASEAN coming up soon and Thailand falling behind and lacking English speaking people, there is a huge push throughout the country to learn English.

After the English course was over I taught a one day baking course. Most Thai people have no idea how to bake, and after news of my baking expertise spread many people expressed interest in learning how to bake a few simple things. I taught ten women how to make chocolate cake, white cake, chocolate frosting, buttercream frosting, and snickerdoodles. They all whipped out their notebooks and wrote down everything I said. Ideally, some of these women will purchase a small oven together (they are about 30USD) and start a business selling cakes and cookies in the market to raise a little extra money for their families.

This week I'm busy preparing lessons for the newest group of Peace Corps Thailand trainees who arrived in Thailand last month. I was lucky to be chosen to help with their training and am excited to meet the new group, be inspired by their excitement and energy, and spend a week in a hotel with hot water. I'll be heading to their training site next week (a 14 hour trip) and will teach them about Sexual Education in Thailand, Gender Issues, and Teaching English. The neighborhood kids are already complaining about me leaving again so I've been spending plenty of time playing with them and going on long bike rides after work.

I didn't take any pictures of the two projects I completed this week, but here are some pictures from my parents vacation...

Bus ride on the way to meet my parents. It was several hours long, no air conditioning, and I didn't have a seat. After standing for the first 2 hours I couldn't take it anymore and sat down on the floor surrounded by the smell of sweaty feet. Not sure why I look so happy...

Boat trip on the way to the Island we stayed on. Excited to begin our adventure.

Sitting on the floor for dinner. Typical Thai style sitting, but at a pizza place!

Check out that baby bottle of milk.

Mom and dad got to meet a few of my Peace Corps friends and we took a kayaking trip around the limestone cliffs.

Sunset from a small island in the middle of the sea.

Sitting in a cattle car to take our luggage down to the beach as we headed off the island.

Wat Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. After a very long, very windy ride sitting in the back of a truck to the top of this mountain, the highest point in Thailand, we finally arrived.

Elephants!

I thought for sure my mom was going to wimp out, but she surprised me and acted like a pro (sorta).

Short hike to a massive waterfall in Chiang Mai. You can't see too much of the fall in any of the pictures.

A man in his barley field.

Hanging out in a field of lavender.

Mom and Al acting goofy.

"Soo Quan" ceremony to wish my parents good luck, safe travels, and health. Notice the massive amount of string tied on our wrists. My little house was packed with the village elders all sitting on the floor while the kids and younger people sat on bamboo mats outside.