A Day at the Office

This morning I arrived at work expecting it to be a normal day of studying Thai and trying to read the resources that they have here at the office. Around nine am a teacher friend of mine and her husband popped in and asked if I wanted to go visit some schools with them to get some signatures to turn into the government. As I have mentioned I jump at any opportunity to get out and drive around the community. We visited two schools in my area, and while she got the signatures I entertained the children. This involved trying to get them to ask me questions about myself and America, and a couple rounds of songs. Pretty fun, but I have to admit I don't like standing in front of the classroom. I am much better suited to small groups of children and tutoring. After our visits to each of these schools, my friends graciously took me to meet the village headmen near each of the schools. In the first village I met Mr. Boon Chom by a large pond at the restaurant he owns. He could not have been friendlier and he seems dedicated to his community. We discussed population logistics, the community group and the problems facing the village. Mr. Chom wants the pond where his restaurant is to become a tourist attraction for fishing. He would like to have a boat service there as well. He also wished that they could have a drainage canal developed to prevent the constant flooding of the village during the rainy season. During this time many children cannot get to school, the farmers cannot get to their farms, people get sick and the foundations of houses rot. It's a big problem in my area. He also said the community group was struggling. They weave mats to supplement their income but cannot find a strong market in which to sell them. The group is not sure what to do and has sort of given up. When I asked what was the best thing about his village, he said that he had never thought about that before, that he usually just thinks about what is wrong and then moves on. This sounds like the perfect village for a Peace Corps volunteer to make a difference. I couldn't help but get excited and was glad that the headman was open to communicating and working with me. 

At the second village/school area my interview went a bit differently. The head man was friendly and hospitable but kept stressing that he was retiring from his position soon. He was also distracted by the cow being slaughtered by about 12 men in his front yard. I was too! One good part of the interview was when he asked what would I teach America about Thailand. He was obviously very proud of his country and wants America to have a good impression of it. I explained to him that one of the goals of Peace Corps was for volunteers like me to teach Americans about the countries that we serve in. I guess this blog is even a teaching tool for such a goal. 

We traveled on to visit 3 more schools in a different Tambon (ie different county). Though this was not my community I still smiled and entertained the students. The students were all VERY shy with me except for at one school. This school was way out in the country and I was the first foreigner that they had ever met. I couldn't believe it! And they weren't shy at all. The funniest questions I got were "why are your eyes blue" and "why is your skin white". I had a lot of fun with this group and things got even funnier when all 60 of the students asked for my autograph. I had to set up a table like a celebrity would do at a book signing or something. 

Arriving at the next school, I was surprised at how quiet things were. When I finally saw the students, about 60 1st through 6th graders were sitting Indian style meditating. This was a school centered around Buddhism. I have never seen anything like it!

At lunch with my teacher friend we started throwing around ideas for a Life Skills camp. This is a pretty popular activity with PC volunteers and it involves 1-3 volunteers throwing a camp for 2 days to teach Thai youth about life skills like team work, self-esteem, career planning, etc. At our lunch we decided to have a Life Skills camp in which we train teachers to host their own life skills camps at the schools around the area. The date is tentatively set for mid-July. I'm really excited about developing this project. 

Today was definitely one of my best days at the office yet! After work I'm off to get a manicure with some co-workers and then going to play bay dtong (a bowling game) with some villagers. Things are good and life is great!