I’ve just started the blog so I’ve got a few entries to write to catch you guys up on what’s been going on for the past week...I’ll start with today and perhaps write an overview of the past few days when I've got more time.
So it’s not even one week into the program and I’ve managed to get myself sick. I went to bed last night with a slight fever and body aches and woke up this morning feeling a bit worse. I called the Field Director, and we decided that I would just stay home and rest so they all left without me to see the governor of the district we are teaching in, which was our activity for the day. I told everyone to take pictures and in all honesty it’s nice to get some rest. We've been pretty busy since we arrived.
We are staying on a mission in the province Nakhon Phanom in a small village. It’s verrryy hot and about 80-90 percent humidity every day. There are 10 of us in the group, 2 guys and 8 girls. Us 8 girls are sleeping in a big room with 8 floor mats and these square pillow things. They are about the size and comfort of a shoebox. The guys each get their own room in the main house! Slightly unfair but hey, we’ve got lots of quality bonding time in the girls’ room. John and his wife Meao (pronounced Meow) live here and run the mission. John also happens to be the English liaison between this province and the ministry of education in Bangkok. He is part of the TLCB (Thai Lao Cambodian brotherhood) and has lived here for about 35 years.
There are 4 girls who live in the room next to us, big Nom, little Nom, Eh, and Bped. Thai names tend to be very long so everyone under the age of 25 and even some older than that has a short nickname. I got the name 'Gu-lap' meaning "Rose", probably because my face turns red often as it's so hot here...but the girls seem to think it's a good name. Three of the girls are in high school and one is in college. They are staying at the mission and attending school as their parents couldn’t afford to send them, back in their own villages. The girls are very sweet and take every opportunity to learn English from us. Much of the time around here you’ll see a makeshift English-Thai lesson going on in a little straw gazebo thing right outside of our rooms. It’s a lot of fun and I’m learning some good Thai phrases in the process!
The most outgoing of the girls, little Nom, brought me some hot water and “toast” and some medicine to take this morning. The toast consisted of bread slathered in butter with a little peanut butter on top. She even served it to me in my bed (which consists of a mat on the floor)! The medicine is called “yaa” and John told me that it is the “Thai wonder drug”. So we’ll see how that works! I took them a little while ago and I’m feeling better. John’s Thai wife (who doesn’t speak much English) took a look at me this morning and deemed me safe to stay at the mission, meaning I didn’t have to go to the clinic in town, which was a relief. Everyone right now is off at the governor’s so I’m gonna go get some more sleep and perhaps watch some movies that other volunteers brought along.
Oh, and one of the best parts about this mission – wireless internet everywhere!! Who would have thought? Definitely not what I expected. Pictures soon!
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