Wai Nam means SWIMMING!

Wednesday, May 4 - Saturday, May 7

Well, it seems my Thai is improving despite myself. Today I had several conversations with the kids in my class and I actually understood what they were saying! I learned another 10 letters too. Let’s see if these ones stick in my head. Right now I can write 24 letters and I know the names of about 20 of them. I think I know the order of those 24 pretty well too. I just need to work on pronunciation. So, after today, I have 34 of 44 consonants almost memorized. Then I need to work on the 33 vowels. It’s neverending! I will hopefully know the entire alphabet by the time I leave in a year. Haha.

This morning I printed out some worksheets for the kids to study the letter A today. I have no idea if they are actually going to absorb the concept of the different sounds or not, but I am going to try! I made a list of words that make all three sounds for A, like can, cane and call, bat, bake, ball, etc. I also had them memorize a Bible verse that has all 5 vowels in it and all 3 'a 'sounds. Those kids are good with memorization on the spot!

I played some guitar with Sophie today and she played all the way through a Thai worship song without me correcting her chord changes once! I was so proud of her. I’m a bit worried about the kids Facebook pages. They almost all have Facebook, despite the fact that they don’t have computers at home for the most part. That’s not the worrisome part though, it’s the fact that they have over 1000 friends. I only have about 500 and every single one of those is someone I know for real. I have no idea who these people are that are friends with the kids. Maybe they’re all kids too, but you can never be sure. I want Field to get them all to change their privacy settings to fully private for only friends and to delete all the people they are friends with who they don’t really know. It’s so dangerous to have that many strangers as friends when they are only 11 or 12. 

Today we signed kids up to learn to juggle, so the madness begins tomorrow. The older kids all picked their beanbags today and put them in plastic bags with their names on them. I think I might need to pick up some more juggleable things because I think there might be more kids who want to do it than I have bags for.

May 5, 2011

Today was a relatively good day. I’m not sure how much the kids are absorbing about the vowel sounds. Who knows if they will be able to read by the end of 3 months, but we shall see.

Today began the juggling lessons! Last night I had the older kids pick their beanbags and today they all gathered round and found their names on the ziplocs to get their sets. I started them with just one bag, and they had to throw it 100 times from one hand to the next without dropping one! Even the littlest ones were able to do this successfully. Of course, they probably don’t throw them high enough to really juggle. Anyway, when the older kids came and told me they were done with that level, I showed them how to hold one beanbag and toss the other one back and forth. This time I made them throw it higher than their eye level so they get used to that rhythm.

After the older kids accomplished this, I moved them up to the next level, which is tossing two balls at once. This I think is the hardest level when you are learning. Getting that rhythm down is tough and doing it 100 times without dropping any is super hard! Aaron was the first one to really get it. He’s going to be the first one to fully juggle I think. But I think I could have all the kids juggling by the end of the month! The older girls are really into it too, other than Sophie and Gabby. It’s so funny, Sophie always wants to grab them and toss them, but she doesn’t want to actually learn how to do it. I keep asking her and she keeps saying no and then taking some other kids beanbags! Haha I think of the little kids, Buddy is the one who will stick with it and get it. I don’t think the other ones will have the patience to actually learn it right now, but we’ll see. Maybe they will surprise me.

Today was also fun because I wanted to do a jeopardy game with my class as a review and studying of the letter A but I needed index cards. I also wanted to get some proper Ziploc baggies that I could write the kids names on and not have them wipe off easily. So, Judy decided we should go to Big C (a Costco-like place) and go shopping so she could pick up some stuff too. We brought Lucy and our new volunteer Marie-Clare. Yay! Free Thai lesson day!

It was the funniest thing to see Lucy all excited. She was like “I LOVE shopping!!” When we got to Big C she was running around like a little kid. I was cracking up, like, uh, are you sure you’re 17? She was so excited to see the hula hoop display, but they were SO heavy that it was impossible to use them! She was also enamored of the little inner tubes they had on display and was overjoyed to find a Winnie the Pooh one. She ended up getting stuck in one because she was convinced she could fit in it, which she did, but then she couldn’t get out of it! I had to wriggle it off her. I could not stop laughing.

Then, I fell. Today I was wearing shoes that have no grip on the sole, and the floors there are smooth concrete. So, Lucy and I were looking for Lime Soda in a can for me and couldn’t find it, so we asked someone who worked there. We passed Judy and Marie-Clare twice in their aisle on our quest for the Soda Manou, and on our second pass, Lucy turned the cart abruptly as I was pushing it and I tried to turn sharply, but totally just slipped splat on the ground. It was hysterical. Lucy and I could not stop laughing and then when we got to the end of the aisle, Judy and Marie-Clare almost ran into us while we were still laughing. They were like “We saw you pass and then we heard a crash. What happened?!” Well, we found the soda manou eventually anyway!

 

So, this coming Saturday, Judy and Rob invited my class over to go swimming in their pool. Part of the reason we needed to go shopping was to get supplies for this event. We’ll have 8 kids I think. We got 8 of those inner tubes for the kids to play with since I don’t think they really know how to swim, plus spaghetti supplies and soda and snacks for them all. Lucy is coming to help manage the kids and make sure they don’t drown since she does know how to swim. I am excited; I think it will be fun! I just hope it doesn’t storm like it did today. We went into the store and it was bright blue skies and puffy white clouds and by the time we were checking out, I heard this crazy pounding on the roof and slowly looked up, asking “Uh, is that rain?” Yep, it had turned from a hot, sunny day into a full on downpour in a matter of minutes! By the time we got back to Taw Saeng though, it had nearly stopped. That’s the way the tropical climate is I guess.

This morning, Inna and I went to the guitar shop so she could get new strings and get her action lowered on the guitar she is borrowing from our friend Mint. I asked if she was going to come swimming too, and she said she needs a day off. She said, “I don’t know how you do it! It’s like 24/7 for you.” Which isn’t entirely true. It’s more like 10/7. Usually it’s only 10/6, but this week I will have swimming on Saturday, so it will be a full 7 day week with the kids. Inna said, “I love the kids, but I need a break!” I get that, but I explained that what she had to understand is that there is no place I would rather be than hanging out with a bunch of kids, whether it’s here, America, Africa, wherever. Plus, you have to take into consideration the fact that I am used to working 16 hour days, so only getting to be with the kids for 6 hours a day is like less than a half day for me. To me, it’s not possible to spend too much time with them. I think of it this way: if I were a parent, I would spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with my kids, right? So, if you consider that these are like my kids, then I am hardly spending any time with them. Plus, there’s the fact that there are so many kids and I think they each need individual attention for at least a portion of every day. So from that point of view, I’m really not spending enough time with them at all. Plus, why would you not want to spend lots of time with people you love?

Yet another cute story: Sunny and her little sister Francie, who is super adorable, came back from the mountains today! I was excited to see them because they’ve been gone for about 3 weeks. Just before dinner, Sunny came up and asked me if I was going to teach her class today. Awww, I wish I could say yes, but hopefully I’ll get to hang out with her more during the other times of the day when we are not doing English class.

Up til now, I’ve really been showering the girls with more love and one-to-one attention than the boys, but today, Nat was giving me hugs too. Such a sweet kid. He’s almost as tall as me, so I keep thinking he’s going to just pick me up one of these times! It’s pretty unusual for middle school boys to give hugs at all, so I thought that was pretty cool. He’s also going to be one of the kids that learns to juggle first I think. He’s got it down!  

 

Friday, May 6, 2011

Good day: Pouring rain when I went with Ning to order the t-shirts. Had a great talk with her, got her short life story, talked about the future of Taw Saeng, what we can do to make it stronger, plans for the future. Good stuff. I would really, really, love to be able to stay and run this great ministry with her. I think we would be an awesome team. Well, after ordering shirts, we went to get lunch at Wawee Coffee, which is the name of the mountain where Ning grew up! As we were walking there, it started raining, which turned into a deluge and then a flood! It was pouring like I have never seen; the water was so high that it was about half way up the tires of the cars parked on the side of the road. We finally got a Song Thaew and they pulled right up on the curb so we could pull ourselves in by the ladder and into the bed of the truck. It was crazy! I wish I had my camera! 

 

Also great to see the kids worshipping and singing their little hearts out. Since it’s Friday, we don’t have English classes, so today they sang some songs before dinner and then we all ate together. The middle school girls are wanting me to eat with them every day now, and it’s funny because I used to sit on the steps with Inna and the other volunteers, but since I teach the Penguins English class, the Tigers kids are always wanting me to hang out with them at dinner time and free time. So, most days, someone like Inna or Judy is trying to ask me a question, and a 12-year-old is dragging me over to sit on the floor with the kids. I mean, I think it’s great to hang out with them, and it certainly helps my Thai, because they just speak to me in Thai constantly and expect me to understand. I’m about 40% right now of being able to work out what they are saying, but I can’t answer in Thai yet, still only English. 

Tangent:  Miriam came back today! I haven’t seen her since I got here because she has been in the mountains at her grandparents for the summer, but she’s back just in time for swimming tomorrow! I ran down to say hello and she was like “uh, who are you?’ but then Willow and Faith reminded her of when I was here in November and she was like “Oh, yeah!” I remember her being hard to get a smile out of back then, so I was excited to have her come swimming so we could get some bonding in. J But then I found out she had to do something with her parents and couldn’t come. Bummer! Oh, well, I’m sure I’ll get to know her in class.

Then, song time. First, we sat around in a circle and Field played a song while people passed around a plastic ball. When she stopped singing, whoever had the ball was out (theoretically) kind of like musical chairs. So fun. I sat with Gabby and Nat and sweet little Nat was patting my knee keeping time with the music. Sophie came and sat with me too. 

Then, we actually sang a song I know from when I was a kid! It’s the one about building your house on the rock and not the sand. It was super fun to do with the kids because of all the hand motions. Some of the motions are different so I was cracking up watching and participating in them. Finally, we sat down in a big circle, everyone together, and sang songs in Thai. (Well, I didn’t sing, I just listened). Little Francie came over and crawled in my lap and just cuddled into me. I love when little kids do that. There is nothing better than just loving on kids and giving them the attention they crave.  

Oh, I almost forgot! I bought a bike! I found it on the CMCC Classifieds and when I called this morning, it was still available! So, now I am the proud owner of a Honda Wave, bright red, kickstart manual scooter. Now, I just need to learn to drive it. And get the papers transferred over. Details. The lady who is selling it is from Ontario and has been teaching English to Chiang Mai University students for 4 years. Now she’s going back to the States to go to school for her Master’s. Got a much better vibe off her than the British dude who was selling the Dream for 10,000. I am happy with this one and it looks and runs awesome!

 

Before worship this morning, I met with Lucy for our “Thai lesson.” I didn’t tell her, but today I planned to help her study for her test on Tuesday. She has one more entrance test to get into university and it’s on Tuesday. I looked online for some sample math questions because she said she hates math and isn’t good at it, which is all the more reason to practice it! I figured she was pretty well versed in the basics, so I found some algebra and geometry questions. We went over them for a half hour, and then I had her practice her English reading for a half hour. Last week, I gave her a cd with a mix I had actually made for another friend, but I can just make another copy, so I let Lucy have it. When I asked if she liked it, she was like “Yeah, but it’s all in English and I don’t know the words.” I laughed, because of COURSE it’s in English. I don’t speak Thai! Anyway, I asked if she wanted me to print out the lyrics for her and she said yes, so I did. She wanted to know if any of the songs were Christian songs, so I starred the Switchfoot and Toby Mac songs. Today, I thought “Only Hope” would be a great song to practice English with.  And yes, I am aware that it was co-opted by the Mandy Moore movie. That does not mean that the original version is not awesome. 

I had her read each line individually and then explained what it meant, translating the words that I knew into Thai. I found out that I knew more Thai than I thought, and Lucy was actually understanding it. She was so excited when we got to the chorus because it’s repetitive, so she was like “I know this part!! I didn’t know what it meant but I know the words!” I love that song a lot, because it’s about finding your hope in God when you feel like giving up or that your dreams are too hard to attain.   OK, so this is going to sound super cheesy, but there was a moment in there when I was explaining the lyrics and how they referred to God and his plan for our lives, it was as if the Holy Spirit was right there in the room with us. It was palpable. It was kind of amazing actually. It was then that I really understood what Judy meant when she said I’m not there to teach English, I’m there to share the love of God. I know Lucy is a Christian, but we’ve never talked about God or anything spiritual before, so it was a pretty cool moment. 

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Finally, swimming day is here! All week the kids have been talking about Wai Nam, or swimming. It’s so cute. But then, out of the blue the other day, Willow announced she wasn’t coming. I couldn’t pry it out of her why, so I took her away from the other kids to Judy and made her tell Judy why. Turns out, there is a kid who is friends with Faith and he has been picking on Willow so she didn’t want to come if he was coming. We assured her that no matter what, she would come, even if that meant this other kid couldn’t come. He’s not even part of the program, so really, he wasn’t even eligible. But then, last night, he got sick, so this morning he wasn’t able to come because he had a fever. Anyway.

Luckily, I woke up to beautiful blue skies! I figured if it is going to rain, it will happen in the afternoon, so we should still have a fun time. I stopped for some fruit at the market on the way since we had only bought junk food for the kids the other day and I think they are probably fruit and veggie deficient. I caught a song thaew quickly and as I pulled up to TS, the kids surrounded the car and were shouting “P’Heather! P’Heather!” It was quite the welcome wagon. J

It was only 9:40 but they were ready to go!  Willow, Faith, Peyton, Elliot and Bastian were there already so we just had to wait on Flynn and Lucy. Much to my surprise, I saw Flynn’s mom come around the corner with Miriam in tow too!! Yay! I was not expecting to see her today. I was like “I’m so excited you got to come!!” and gave her a big hug and actually got a smile out of her. Success!

Well, the last one to arrive was Lucy and finally Rob and Judy pulled up as all the kids ran screaming to the pickup and piled in the back. Lucy and I jumped in with them to make sure nobody fell out. It was SO hot but it was nice driving down the highway with the wind in our hair. It was “Sabai” according to Lucy.

We got to the house, got the kids set up with swimwear and Lucy and I hid the Easter eggs my mom had sent that I had stuffed with candy and baht coins. Well, the plan was to hide the eggs, get the kids in swimwear and have them find the eggs so the candy didn’t melt before they went swimming. Somewhere along the way there was a communication breakdown because by the time we finished dressing the girls, half the kids were swimming already! Rob thought we should just let them all swim and find the eggs later. I was unsure of this plan, but there wasn’t a lot I could do to drag 5 kids out of the water to find eggs, so I jumped in! Then it was an hour and a half of swimming lessons, diving lessons, and just playing in the water. It was so nice to go swimming in this huge pool with just us there. The kids had a blast and so did I. I even taught Lucy to dive and do handstands underwater. All the kids wanted to swim with me and practice their stroke or just hang on my shoulders while I swam under water. Miriam was so cute. She wanted to swim, but she just sank like a rock! Bastian is the best swimmer of all of them, but Elliott and Faith are pretty good too.

Then we got out for lunch and had the kids find the eggs before we ate. Disaster! All the candy eggs had been devoured by teeny tiny red ants! The poor kids found them and opened them only to get bitten by ants. L All the candy was ruined and even if not for the ants, it was all a melted mess and not salvageable anyway. Oh, well, another day without knowing what Reeces Pieces taste like is not going to kill them. They were happy with their other eggs full of coins anyway.

We traipsed back to the pool area for lunch of spaghetti and fruit. Yummy!! After lunch the kids jumped right back in, so I did too. That whole “wait an hour after eating to swim” is hogwash in my opinion. We played in the water for another hour and then Judy brought ice cream and cake over to celebrate Faith’s birthday, which is this week. Judy made a banana cake with chocolate chip frosting! Soooooo good.

It was about 2:30 and I had told Flynn’s mom we’d be back at 3, so we tried to wrangle the kids and get them back in their clothes but were rather unsuccessful. Then I noticed a HUGE storm cloud headed right toward us. After the rains of yesterday, I didn’t want to get caught in that and I couldn’t imagine fitting 11 people in the cab of the truck, so I was trying to get the kids to hurry but they were so into swimming! Meanwhile, the thunder and clouds were getting closer and closer. I was sure it was going to storm on our way home. Most of the kids wanted to ride in the back because they got motion sickness, so we grabbed blankets and tarps and stuck them in the back with the rest of us up front. Unbelievably, it didn’t rain until we got back to Taw Saeng! A miracle.    

Thankfully, as the rain started to pour down, Rob and Judy offered to drive me home. I was glad I didn’t have to walk home from the song thaew station in the pouring rain, that’s for sure. Of course, it poured for about 30 minutes and is now beautiful with the sun setting over the mountains.