So Ben and I get to Lampang Saturday night and meet up with the people that are there. We end up at the weekend market because that is the thing to do in any town in Thailand. Char, Ben, Alli and I came early so we could hang out with folks but it ended up that they all went to bed and we stayed up with Kera. Who went home on Sunday night :(.
Anyhow, we get up Sunday hoping to hang out then, but everyone just kind of sat around and nobody really did anything. Finally, Ben took Kera to the elephant conservation one last time and MC, Char, Alli and I went with Nabil to the Central Plaza, which is like their big mall. There was a huge show for Doraemon, which I have never seen. It's some kid's show and they had a huge stage with folks in suits and all. The best part was the big blow-up of Doraemon that we saw all the kids taking pictures with, and decided that we absolutely needed a picture with it too. They also had Burger King style paper hats with a pop-up Doraemon that we managed to find and wear around the mall for a bit. MC wore hers all day. She may well still have it on.
The day itself was fairly unremarkable. We did find Skippy peanut butter, though. The very best kind. That night proved to be reason to never visit Lampang again. Dr Nirund had told us to come back whenever we liked to visit and that they would have a room in the townhouses on campus (Yonok Foundation is housed at Nation University in Lampang). Apparently that means there will be a mattress or maybe couch that you can sleep on, which may or not be covered in rat/mouse shit just like the room around it. You might have a fitted sheet on a mattress, but you also might not. I unwrapped the mattress I slept on Saturday night from the factory plastic and hoped that the pillow from the bed next it would not give me some crazy tropical disease. Sunday evening we walked into the living room and there was a pile of fitted sheets and pillowcases on the floor, which I hoped were clean as I had to put them on the bed I was sleeping on. And use a fitted sheet to cover myself for the night, because I hate not having a blanket.
Monday was also fairly uneventful. We went to the labor department, where literally all we did was sign our names. Huzzah, work permit. Then we were all taken back to Nation University, where Dr Nirund treated us to lunch in a little log cabin-y restaurant on campus. I got some driving practice in with the moped, but apparently not enough because I still managed a mini-crash. The damned thing has more get-up-and-go than I anticipate from full stop. It's super sensitive and can get right up from under you in nothing flat. So I went to start it and turn around a tree after lunch, and ended up running it (read: my leg) along a low concrete wall. Holy concrete burn. And now it's slightly infected. But I'm working on that. Cleaning every few hours with iodine, peroxide, and triple antibiotic ointment stuff. Hopefully my leg doesn't fall off. If it isn't better in 12 hours, I am going to the hospital. I know there are germs and bacteria here that my body isn't used to. The only reason the tailpipe burn I got last week didn't get icky is because it was essentially cauterized, which cleaned it pretty much instantly. This scrape? Open and not cleaned the whole hour and a half ride back to Lamphun.
On our way back to Lamphun yesterday we decided to stop at a Wat along the way. There's a huge golden statue of a monk that we had been seeing from the road, so we decided we would check it out. Still have no idea who the statue is, but the temple was really cool. I think it was some sort of religious happening, because there were a lot of people coming and going. There was even a band on stage, and a guy singing stopped and said "Hello! Welcome!" when he saw me and Ben walk up. The temple itself was absolutely gorgeous. There were flowers everywhere. I really wish I could read Thai or that some of the signs were in English, because I have no idea how old anything was, but some of it looked pretty old. There were dog statues guarding what we think were the original stairs and there was crazy lichen and rainspots on them.
Today was back to teaching. I taught my 4s body parts (wrist, elbow, thigh, calf, etc.) and sicknesses (sore throat, toothache, sniffles, etc.) It helped using myself as an example, at least for ankle, because i have injuries on both mine. Way to go me.
My 1s had a blast learning the time. I explained the basic concept of a clock, and then drew two big blank clock faces on the board. I would shout out random times and whichever team got it fastest got a point. The whole class was getting involved, yelling and screaming at the team member drawing at the board. I think it was a great time. I need more classes like that.
Today was club day, and I am one of the advisors for Spelling Bee club. Suffice threw those kids for a serious loop. They kept trying to spell it s-e-r...and ...i-z-e. They are super smart though so they ended up getting it after I helped them break it down. I need to ask when the competition is, I get to chaperone which I am actually already looking forward to...
So that should catch us all up, I think. See you in a few days with a new report.
Anyhow, we get up Sunday hoping to hang out then, but everyone just kind of sat around and nobody really did anything. Finally, Ben took Kera to the elephant conservation one last time and MC, Char, Alli and I went with Nabil to the Central Plaza, which is like their big mall. There was a huge show for Doraemon, which I have never seen. It's some kid's show and they had a huge stage with folks in suits and all. The best part was the big blow-up of Doraemon that we saw all the kids taking pictures with, and decided that we absolutely needed a picture with it too. They also had Burger King style paper hats with a pop-up Doraemon that we managed to find and wear around the mall for a bit. MC wore hers all day. She may well still have it on.
The day itself was fairly unremarkable. We did find Skippy peanut butter, though. The very best kind. That night proved to be reason to never visit Lampang again. Dr Nirund had told us to come back whenever we liked to visit and that they would have a room in the townhouses on campus (Yonok Foundation is housed at Nation University in Lampang). Apparently that means there will be a mattress or maybe couch that you can sleep on, which may or not be covered in rat/mouse shit just like the room around it. You might have a fitted sheet on a mattress, but you also might not. I unwrapped the mattress I slept on Saturday night from the factory plastic and hoped that the pillow from the bed next it would not give me some crazy tropical disease. Sunday evening we walked into the living room and there was a pile of fitted sheets and pillowcases on the floor, which I hoped were clean as I had to put them on the bed I was sleeping on. And use a fitted sheet to cover myself for the night, because I hate not having a blanket.
Monday was also fairly uneventful. We went to the labor department, where literally all we did was sign our names. Huzzah, work permit. Then we were all taken back to Nation University, where Dr Nirund treated us to lunch in a little log cabin-y restaurant on campus. I got some driving practice in with the moped, but apparently not enough because I still managed a mini-crash. The damned thing has more get-up-and-go than I anticipate from full stop. It's super sensitive and can get right up from under you in nothing flat. So I went to start it and turn around a tree after lunch, and ended up running it (read: my leg) along a low concrete wall. Holy concrete burn. And now it's slightly infected. But I'm working on that. Cleaning every few hours with iodine, peroxide, and triple antibiotic ointment stuff. Hopefully my leg doesn't fall off. If it isn't better in 12 hours, I am going to the hospital. I know there are germs and bacteria here that my body isn't used to. The only reason the tailpipe burn I got last week didn't get icky is because it was essentially cauterized, which cleaned it pretty much instantly. This scrape? Open and not cleaned the whole hour and a half ride back to Lamphun.
On our way back to Lamphun yesterday we decided to stop at a Wat along the way. There's a huge golden statue of a monk that we had been seeing from the road, so we decided we would check it out. Still have no idea who the statue is, but the temple was really cool. I think it was some sort of religious happening, because there were a lot of people coming and going. There was even a band on stage, and a guy singing stopped and said "Hello! Welcome!" when he saw me and Ben walk up. The temple itself was absolutely gorgeous. There were flowers everywhere. I really wish I could read Thai or that some of the signs were in English, because I have no idea how old anything was, but some of it looked pretty old. There were dog statues guarding what we think were the original stairs and there was crazy lichen and rainspots on them.
Today was back to teaching. I taught my 4s body parts (wrist, elbow, thigh, calf, etc.) and sicknesses (sore throat, toothache, sniffles, etc.) It helped using myself as an example, at least for ankle, because i have injuries on both mine. Way to go me.
My 1s had a blast learning the time. I explained the basic concept of a clock, and then drew two big blank clock faces on the board. I would shout out random times and whichever team got it fastest got a point. The whole class was getting involved, yelling and screaming at the team member drawing at the board. I think it was a great time. I need more classes like that.
Today was club day, and I am one of the advisors for Spelling Bee club. Suffice threw those kids for a serious loop. They kept trying to spell it s-e-r...and ...i-z-e. They are super smart though so they ended up getting it after I helped them break it down. I need to ask when the competition is, I get to chaperone which I am actually already looking forward to...
So that should catch us all up, I think. See you in a few days with a new report.
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