More english camp pictures

I don't have energy to write anything, but I wanted to post a new blog. So I'm uploading pictures, but i don't have many new ones. Here are some more from the English camp.

Upper left is a picture of some girls doing an dance at the opening cermony.

Above is a picture with all the trainees who came to help one afternoon

Left is a big group session. Playing some game.

New Home. Again.

Finally got out of my last housing situation. I have moved in next to my best friends in Uthai. It is such a different living situation. It was a tough first night here, but I have adjusted and really like it. Can come and go as I please. And it is so nice to be right next to Jeeda and Wendy.

I bop over there whenever I'm bored to see what they're up to. Usually on my way home from wherever I spend a while chilling there. Often to get to my back door when coming home, I just walk through their place. I stop in their back room to see what food is out and see what Munglee, their 4 yr. old, is up to. I often just plop down on their big wood bench by the fan and pull out a book, some language notes, or my phone.

I write about 5 or 10 text messages a day. It is a fun way to communicate w my friends all over thailand or Uthai. My friend Tara has been writing down all the funny texts she gets. The early ones are all about crazy bug interactions people had.

The new house is HUGE. It's four floors. The front of the first 2 floors is actually a store front for 'Baan Screen' [Screening house] the store Jeeda and Wendy have where they sell shirts they make. On the first floor I have a night kitchen w a full size fridge and freezer!! Second floor I have set up a big comfy chair and my computer. Third floor is my bedroom and bathroom. And up above that there is a room that I am using for storage and half the floor goes out onto the roof, which is nice for a night time hangout spot when friends come over. It's one of the tallest building around and it has a great view of the town and the hill w a Temple on top.

I had a thought to get a kitty pool and put it on the roof, but I haven't come accross one yet.

At the municipality

I don't have internet access at my house anymore. So today when i came to the municipality office I brought my computer to use theirs. i've been able to add a bunch of pictures from what's been going on in the last month.

There are some pictures of a bike ride where we went to see some of the trainees. The first one we met is a woman, Mary, who has been having a lot of culture shock living w a rural family in Thailand. She told us about her night the day before where she was at a party and a woman she met grabbed her breast. My friends and I, who have all been in the country at least a year, all nodded, as this is not very stange behavior really.

My response was: "Wait till they take your hand to touch their breast!"

Bike Ride Sunday Jan 22nd

Today I went on a bike ride w a few friends who are training the new volunteers. Cullen, Jon, and Vanessa were all volunteers in group 115. They were doing development work in the North East of Thailand and finished their service on Halloween day. Over the past year I have had a chance to get to know them all pretty well and was so excited they would be in Uthai for a few months.
So this morning the called and swung by my house and we went off for a ride. We went headed in the direction of some of the trainees homestays and got to see a few of them. They have been at their houses for 5 days now and today was the first day they had all day to be with their family. Lots were going on trips, but didn't exactly understand where they were going. Many were excited to see us so we could communicate some information they couldn't explain themselves. Like that they wanted to go totown that afternoon to use internet. Or that they can eat other things besides hotdogs.
It was a fabulous ride. They have a gorgeous area of town to live in. Lots of their houses are right on the river.

boy scouts

The Thai government has taken many cues from American culture, including boy scouts. Once a week all the kids and teachers at school wear boys scouts uniforms and from 3-3:30 they have boy scouts class. I don't really know exactly what this consists of, but you get the idea in this picture.

Yankees go home

Here I am (far right) at the airport w a bunch of fellow PC Volunteers. We are waiting to welcome in the new group of volunteers after their 20 hours on the plane.
I am holding the 'Welcome to Peace Corps Club Med' Sign that I made earlier in the week for this occation. Most of the other signs we made at the guest house earlier in the night, before we all hopped in cabs and raced to the airport when we heard the plane was coming in early. We had about 20-30 people welcoming in the group. They loved it.
Some of the signs read:
'Call your mom'
'Yankees go home'
'Welcome to Peace Corps Club Med'
'Welcome to Djbouti'
'You must be this short to enter'
'You are here. The beaches are here'
picture of a peace sign and an apple core

For the first week as I was meeting the new volunteers everyone responded with:" Oh, you were the one wearing the bunny ears. That was so cool that you were all there. We loved it."

Watching Sex and the City at my place

Co teachers at English camp on a break

My principal and coteacher at the camp

Teaching at the English camp

The girls who came to help at the English camp