Placement no.3: Teaching

My sister, Nikita, after viewing all the fun posts I blog about weekends and evenings here with other volunteers asked me "Do you ever work Georgia?".
Yes. Yes I do!

Yesterday's timetable went something like this-

10-11 Grade 1 Questions   Joy  Gabby  Axel
10-11 Grade 4 Questions  Georgia  Jane  Aisling
11-12 Grade 2 Questions   Jane  Georgia  Gabby
11-12 Grade 5 Questions   Aisling  Axel  Joy

LUNCH

1-2 Grade 3 Question  Gabby Aisling Joy
1-2 Georgia Axel Jane Free
2-3 Grade 6 Question   Jane  Aisling
2-3 Grade 1-3 Song and Game  Gabby Joy
2-3 Grade 4-6 Song and Game  Axel Georgia

5-6 Karen Hilltribe Class  Georgia Jane

I love so much that 'Song and Game' makes up part of the curriculum. As well as meditation and exercise. It's makes for more well rounded students :) This means all the those I learnt in girl guide campfires became vital knowledge. A musical theatre variation of 'When the saints go marching in' became a favourite of the hilltribe girls last night and Aisling and I just taught 'Ollie Ollie Ollie/Oi Oi Oi' to Kindergarten class. Considering the entire chant consists of only two words this was surprisingly difficult. But they loved it :D

I'm trying to work out how to put this photo into better resolution, it's Aisling and I with this morning's kindergarten class :)      (I'm in yellow)

 

Another highlight of this placement has to be playing football with the children. The heat can be intense and yesterday the field was swarming with dragonflies- it was like a horror movie- the field was thick with dragonflies. It was my team vs Axel's team. We're not sure which team won, given the fact we don't know which child was one which team and because there were too many dragonflies to see what was going on. Fun though. Because even in Thai humid heat wearing flip flop I'm good at football. If only because I have a 3ft advantage over my 8 year old teammates...

PS: I may update this post over the weekend with more photos ect. but I want to publish it while we have internet connection (it comes and goes very quickly)

Mission Waterfall

Woke up around 10.30am, ate a pancake and then some of the others had already made plans and booked transport to take us to a waterfall. So there I was, drowning my pancake in honey to find plans already made for me! Perfect.

 

So, in the heat of mid day (33 degrees) and the humidity that comes with monsoon season, mountains and waterfalls we made the half an hour hike/trek to the enchanting waterfall in Chiang Rai.

 

Man, it was sweaty. And the altitude was HIGH. And the path is rocky (I mean boulders, not pebbles you had to watch your feet the whole walk). But when we reached the top-

Enchanting

*Insert Hallelujah chorus here*

I forgot my swimming costume. So, here I am, in my best dress, after swimming/frocking/posing/climbing the waterfall. That was fun. Imagine being so hot and so tired and so sweaty and then reaching a paradise. That was the best shower I’ve ever had.

Weekend Adventures!

We get time in the evenings and weekend to do what we like. It’s fun- the girls on my last placement were English, Irish, American, Australian, New Zealand and India so dinnertimes sitting round talking about gun crime felt like a UN meeting with all our different accents. We’ve been visiting 7/11’s (like a corner shop) and stocking up on oreos and things. Oreo is now a food group in my diet.

 Visiting the White temple (Chiang Rai). It is, like it's name suggests, a white temple.

 The Night Bazaar in Chiang Rai. Here's where I bought some pants we all wear out here and it's full of Asian food to try (Sam, Lisa and I got some deep fried banana. You should try it)

 Lilly and I out in Chaing Mai (everyone went out to celebrate Kate's 20th birthday). I didn't know the cocktail matched my dress until it came over. Cute!

We stayed out until 3am. I told Kate in Britain it's still technically her birthday so we should keep celebrating. So we all (Josh, Tom, Alex, Martin, Lauren, Kate, Lucy, Laura, Arthur and I've forgotten a name...) went to nightclubs and rain dances in the street.

 10 of us in a songtao (pronounced song-toe). You can also have two people hang off the back on rails. There's no safety standards in Asia.

 

Behold: This weekend's hostel. It costs 400baht for two nights (almost £9! And it's gorgeous!)