More Thailand Adventures

Since the last time we blogged, we have watched elephants paint pictures, throw darts, and play soccer; held monkeys; and gone bungee jumping. It has been very exciting. But more importantly, we have had great experiences serving the amazing people of Thailand.

House Building

As Lizzy blogged about last week, we are still working on rebuilding a house that burned down for a widow and her family. We have had several bumps this week—contractors not showing up, buying 2 by 3 pieces of wood instead of 2 by 4's, lots of rain, etc. So despite slower than we would like, the work is moving forward. We have put in six cement poles that will become the foundation of the walls and hope to build the roof tomorrow. While waiting for the contractor yesterday, feeling sorry that we weren't doing anything and didn't feel like we were making a difference, I looked over and saw the lady for whom we are building the house standing on the side, holding one of her babies. I couldn't help but think that even though the bumps in building have felt discouraging for us, they must feel infinitely more discouraging for her. Every day we don't make progress with building is a day that she doesn't live in a house. It was humbling and put the situation in perspective. It made me want to work my hardest and do all I can to make the most difference in these people's lives.

English Teaching

We have had several opportunities to teach English this week. On Monday, I went to the monk school while Lizzy stayed and taught at a local elementary school. We both found that it was easier teaching this week because we had previous experience at our respective schools and we could better cater the lessons to the needs of the students.

Last week at the monk school, a teacher found out that I played the violin. She told me that she was going to bring her daughter's violin next time so that I could play for the students. I wasn't sure if she was serious, but sure enough, when I arrived on Monday, she had a violin. We taught the students how to speak about talents, and then I, with the help of the violin, was able to demonstrate my talent. The violin was in pretty bad shape, and it took a couple of minutes to get the strings tight enough to even think about tuning it. The bow was also old and despite how much I tightened it, the hair would not go taught. When I finally got the violin and bow in manageable condition, I played one of the only songs I could remember—“I Know My Redeemer Lives.” I never thought I would play the violin at a monk school, let alone a song about our Savior. But it went well, and the monk students enjoyed it.

Tuesday afternoon, we also had the opportunity to teach English to teachers at various schools throughout the region. I was not sure what to expect, but anticipated maybe four or five teachers coming to the lesson. Nope. When Jon, my teaching partner, and I walked into the schools, we were greeted by 32 teachers from several schools, gathered around tables with pen and paper out. We were immediately ushered to the stage, given microphones, and allowed to teach the class for the next hour and a half. It was a bit intimidating at first, but we got into a groove pretty quick. The teachers were looking at us, smiling the whole time. The really wanted to learn, and were just happy to be there. It was kind of funny to see them in a reversed role. At the end of the class, they all stand up and said in unison in their broken English, “Thank you teacher. See you next time.” (This is something that the English students say at the end of every lesson). I am excited to go back next week to teach the teachers. It is a sustainable and effective project, in my opinion, because even after we leave, these teachers will be able to pass on the things that they have learned.

Lizzy had quite a different experience teaching her teachers. I don't understand all that happened, and will let her blog about it next week. All I know is that it involved her and her teaching partner being dropped off at a school that wasn't expecting them, and then receiving "mysterious crunchy mushrooms" from the mountain to eat while they tried to round up teachers. They were kind of giddy all night. Sketch.

Hand Washing and Teeth Brushing

Today, we had the opportunity to go to the school where we built the sink and put on a hand washing / teeth brushing assembly for the children. It went very well. It was educational, and I feel that all of the kids had a lot of fun. We started with a skit where Lizzy, several other volunteers, and I (dressed as a GREEN GERM) exemplified how germs spread.

In the above picture, we are showing how germs are spread when you don't wash your hands. To the left, we are showing what builds up on your teeth (Lizzy and the other two girls are the teeth) when you don't brush.      

The kids were then able to go out back where they were able to practice their hygeine skils with the new sink. It was a bit crazy, as some of the kids were taking what looked more like showers in the sink, washing their heads and faces.

We finished off the day with a really race, and had the kids sign pledges of cleanliness. It was a fun and effective activity. We hope to be able to impliment it at other local schools.

Looking Forward

We have been doing other small activities, such as teaching communities how to build sustainable hats out of local materials. Pictured is a group of volunteers practicing our hat making skills.

Tomorrow, a group of us are going to a small village where a man named Sai Sam has set a medical/HIV clinic for a group of Shan immigrants. We are hoping to be able to find some way to help, related to public health, sanitation, etc. On saturday morning, we are also meeting with a group of health related NGOs to discuss possible projects we can work on together. I am praying that we will be able to find some way to collaborate as, despite the majority of the volunteers being interested in health care, there has been a lack of health-related projects. Keep your fingers crossed for us!



Below are pictures that we took during our weekend adventure to Chiang Mai.

  

 


The elephant just starting its painting.

 

The elephant finishing up its painting. It was pretty incredible,
needless to say.





Lizzy looking like a true bungee jumper. Can you believe it was her
first time?!




Getting dunked while bungee jumping

 





Just chilling with monkeys.



Just enjoying some blues music in downton Chiang Rai at the "Boy's Blues".

 
 





Rain, sinks, and burned down houses



Homemade ping-pong table! The "net" is a broom.



So far this week has been really rainy! Which is AMAZING. It is such a nice break from the intense heat. On Monday we all went to our schools to teach English for the first time. This turned out to be a lot harder than expected. It is very difficult to try and explain what I am teaching when the kids don’t know much English and I only know a few phrases in Thai! Another struggle is that the teachers know about as much English as the students so I am teaching them as well. But after a while I started to get the hang of it! Teaching them requires a lot of acting, drawing, and very animated facial expressions. I  teach three classes: a 4^th grade, a 5^th grade, and a 6^th grade class. I taught my 4^th grade class “head, shoulders, kness, and toes” and they loved it! As I as teaching the 6^th grade class, a huge rainstorm came out of nowhere. I couldn’t even teach because it was so loud! The kids quickly jumped out of their seats and closed all of the windows and doors. And then about 5 minutes later, it was over. It was crazy. That afternoon as we all got back from teaching, we shared teaching ideas, games, and made lesson plans for the upcoming weeks.



Another game. I'm still not sure what it is but i do know that this girl is way good at it.



Outside my 6th grade classroom during the rainstorm.



The street my school is on



Painting the sink





Tuesday was a great day. We went back to the school where we started building a sink and finished it! It is a really big sink. It has about 30 faucets on it! We grouted, painted, drilled holes, put the pipes up, and and connected the facets on. Next Tuesday we are going back and giving an assembly about hand washing and teeth brushing, which we are really excited to do. That night we all squished in a room in our house and watched Shawshank Redemption (edited of course.)



Cute kids at the school playing on the playground we painted :)



Stephen modeling the sink



Yes, we did build that beautiful sink!



The burned down house



Today a group of us went to this village about 45 minutes away to help build a house that had been burned down. The house belongs to a lady with a teenage son and a baby boy whose husband left them recently. We don’t know the full story but shortly after he left the house was burnt down. The houses in the village are very small, probably the size of my bedroom back home. We did demolition work on it and got rid of all the rubble. We also dug six holes for the wood pillars that hold up the cement walls and the tin roof. It was really hard work, that’s for sure. On the way home Stephen and Jon were standing up in the back of the truck with all of us sitting behind them and Nat turns to me and says “Is it raining?” I look up…nope it was their sweat dripping on us from the wind. Welcome to Thailand J



This is the house the lady and her boys are living in while we build her house.



This is a game we play...and i don't know why. Basically it's a game of luck and your hands get slapped A LOT. Out hands are always bright red after we play but i promise it is fun.





Stephen getting slapped



Time is flying here in northern Thailand. Lizzy and I have already been here for ten days. As we have become more familiar with the people, the food, and the culture, it is starting to feel a bit like home. The past week has been filled with volunteer work at local elementary schools. We have taught English, restored several playgrounds, and began building a large sink.

Building the Sink

One of the highlights of my week was starting to build a sink for an elementary school. Because the school is set up oustide, the kids get fairly dirty throughout the day. The sink will be a great resource for them to be able to wash before meals.

With the funds provided by you and other donors, we purchased about a hundred large bricks, cement, sand, and tile. A local contractor showed us how to lay down the bricks to make a straight and sturdy wall. By the end of the day, the other HELP volunteers and I were building the wall independently. It felt good to get our hands dirty and work hard.

 After we laid the wall down, a fellow volunteer, SuJung, and I, decided to take a break and play a game. The point of the game is to push each other's hands, trying to knock the other person over while staying upright yourself. We failed, however, to see the problem of playing so close to our newly laid wall...

Luckily, we were able to patch up the error. We then laid sand in the wall, which will eventually act to stabilize the sink. Next week, after everything has hardened, we will work on the plumbing, cement the outside, and finish it off with a layer of tiles.

Weekend Trip to Chaingrai


As HELP volunteers, we typically work Monday through Friday, getting the weekends off. This weekend, we decided to take a two hour van ride to Chaingrai. On Saturday, we visited the Princess Mother's summer villa where we took a tour of the royal villa, walked in her HUGE garden of flowers, and learned more about the history of the royal family. To say that the king, and other members of the royal family, are loved by the people would be an understatement. His picture is everywhere. On bridges, billboards, the money, in people homes, in restaurants, and even in the Internet cafe where I am writing this blog.





The current king took over the throne in his twenties and has ruled for over 70 years. He, and other members of his family, have done so much good and have become strong advocates for the people of Thailand.

We had to wear special pants to cover our shorts in order to enter the royal villa. As you can see from the picture, I was struggling slightly with the pants at first, but eventually got them figured out and was able to tour the Villa with the rest of the group.






We woke up early Sunday morning and drove near the top of the tallest mountain peak on the Thailand-Laos border. We then hiked the rest of the way where we watched the beautiful sunrise.

It was an incredible experience to be above the clouds and look down at the incredibly green landscape.
We took a picture at the sign that marks the peak as the tallest in the region. If you look over my left shoulder, you will see an elderly man's face in between the girls in the red and grey. We don't know who he is, and didn't know he was in the picture. The ULTIMATE photo bomb in my opinon.

We were able to attend the Chaingrai branch on Sunday morning. I was surprised to see how many people--about 50--were at church. It was great to participate in the services. The church to the left is not the LDS branch meeting house. It is a Buddhist temple (nicknamed "the White Temple") that we visited in the afternoon. It is spectacularly weird. There are hundreds of statues of skulls and other demonic pictures on the outside. Inside, the gist of the artwork is a mural depecting everything from Michael Jackson to Spiderman, Edward Scissorhands, and Kundfoo Panda. It is difficult to convey how bizzare it was. Nat, our Thai volunteer, doesn't like the temple because he feels it is set up only for tourists and is disresespectful to Buddhism tradition.

Nutella and the Mountain

On a side note, Lizzy and I have been surprised how delicious Thai food is. We both want to try to stay in shape. Most of the girls here, including Lizzy, are addicted to Nutella (a chocolate hazelnut cream) and eat it with anything and everything.




I made a deal with Lizzy that if she wouldn't eat Nutella for the rest of the trip, I would run to the top a mountain to a local Buddhist temple (pictured right) every morning. It is only about a mile away, but the climb is fairly steep. We are six days into the bet, and neither of us have broken yet.



Looking Forward

We are very excited for some projects coming up this week. Tomorrow, we are going to spend all day teaching English classes (Lizzy, at an elementary schools, and me, at a Monk school). Later in the week, we are going to finish building our sink and will help rebuild an old lady's home that recently burnt down. I have also set up a meeting with a local NGO that works primarily with mental health awareness, which I am excited about.

Thank you again for all your support! We wouldn't be here without you.