I have officially moved out of the orientation housing though I haven't quite officially moved into my new housing...There was a change of plans as one of our rooms isn't ready yet. And there is a bit of construction on campus that is creating some complications. It turns out that there is also no water in our housing yet soo Kara and I are living in an 'apartment' about a kilometer away. It's actually air conditioned and we are sharing a king bed but that's nothing compared to the mats we've been sleeping on! Hopefully everything will be fixed tomorrow...though we've found out that when we are told one day that will generally mean about 3 or 4 days...only time will tell. The day started out pretty overwhelming but turned out wonderfully. I even got to talk to friends from school this morning. Turns out to be quite necessary some days.
We spent the last few days of orientation holding English camp at the school our Field Director will be teaching at a few days a week. There were 60 students in all and they were adorable. Ages 9 -12 or so. They were quite bashful the first day but by the end of the second day they were completely outgoing and chattering at us in Thai that we couldn't understand. We taught in teams as our 'practicum' before actually teaching and it turned out quite well! The second day of camp the kids had one lesson, then a super informal 'quiz' and then we put on a presentation. My group decided to teach our class the 'Hokey Pokey' and it was a smash hit. They loooved it, especially the dancing around in a circle and yelling 'hokey pokey!' at the end. They got really into it and it was a wonderful presentation. Everything we could have hoped for! Afterwards we had yet another string ceremony and watched the village women make baskets. They were awesome and of course I bought a few...one to use at school and one for a laundry basket. We also got little gifts from all of the kids. In the villages, the gifts tend to be sticky rice baskets but they're good decorations/ can hold lots of little things. It was a completely gratifying experience as the kids wanted to learn English and speak with us and of course, take dozens of pictures fitting as many kids in as possible!
Today was hectic as it was moving day and it was also sort of sad. I've gotten completely used to all of the other volunteers that it was hard to leave! It was also completely overwhelming to be 'on our own'. Tomorrow though is Loy Gratong day so we are going to another volunteers school for the festival...which means I get to see everyone in less than 24 hours. I've already had several phone conversations with people to see how their placements are and everything like that. I believe we'll all be seeing a lot of each other on the weekends, which will be wonderful.
Tonight, the director of the special English program at my school took us out to dinner. We weren't sure where we were going but it ended up being a Chinese festival on the Mekong! It was amazing. There was a Chinese Opera at one end and students from Nakhon Phanom High School (Nakhon Phanom wittayakhom OR na po wo) performing traditional Thai dance and Thai classical music at the other. They had some incredible contemporary dance. It was quite scandalous by Thai terms though! The director's wife is the dance teacher at Na Po Wo and she also happened to teach us Thai dance during orientation, so we got to say hello to her and their daughter tonight as well. They, in the Thai fashion, brought us toons of food and drinks. I also happened to meet the director of the Chinese School here in Nakhon Phanom and we managed to talk in Chinese all night! It was a little confusing but fun. Hopefully I'll see her again soon. The festival goes on for a week and I have a bike ( with a basket and an extra seat and everything!) so I'm planning on going back and getting some good food :).
That's the quick update for now! Tomorrow is the first day of school (I am just observing for the first few days) and the Loy Gratong festival so plenty more pictures coming your way.
aaand of course I've temporarily misplaced my camera cord in all the moving around. So, just the update for now and pictures soon, as per usual. goodnight!
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