Today is the last day that I will be in Watsriwisuttharan primary school. I just finished giving a small speech to the students and teachers in front of the flag, at assembly (very much like my first day of school). I thanked all the teachers for their help and thanked the students for being so fantastic. I applauded the teachers' determination in teaching and the students' eagerness in learning.
Ahhhhh, I really don't want to leave this school.. or Thailand. The students that I taught made cards for me and some even gave me gifts-- it was very thoughtful of them. To return the favor I brought along American flags, keychains and pens from my state (Hawaii) and I gave them out as prizes if they could answer English related questions. It's an understatement to say that they enjoyed it-- they were having a great time.
For the teachers who have helped me out and treated me so well, I gave them letters (+ a flag and keychain) that I wrote yesterday. I also added in my address so that they could contact me if they wanted to. Almost all the teachers expressed a desire to go to America, to which I always cheerfully replied, "Yes! Come and visit me!!!"
To end this blog and this day on a sad note, I am attending a funeral today. I went to one last week and it was quite interesting but very sad, as are most funerals. I don't know the deceased but my mom does so I'm going and good golly, I'm wearing yellow- of all colors! Today is Monday so I wore yellow for the king and my mom didn't tell me about the funeral, so hopefully my black jacket will suffice.
I won't be able to write much because I'm leaving for Bangkok to meet with the other AFSers tomorrow night. I'm traveling in a bus with the other 3 Americans for about 5-6 hours and will then catch a taxi to the hotel.
Gosh, it's all ending so quickly.
Look at all the different colors of rice! Purple, green, blue... yellow!
This is a picture of a student getting his head shaved by a teacher because the hair was getting too long. In the school here, and most schools in this area, the uniform as well as hair length has very strict rules and guidelines. However, as you can see, this shaving was done in good humor and everyone was laughing, even the shaved :)
I just got back from a three day trip in Chiang Mai and it was absolutely wonderful. There was definitely a surrounding change when I reached the city. There were much more people and my mother also told me that the northern dialect is a little different, and that they speak much slower than the people do in Phitsanulok.
In Chiang Mai there is almost a clash of time periods. While there are old wooden huts sticking out of the tallest weeds I've ever seen, there are also modern buildings that sweep up to the sky, surrounded by advertisements pasted on billboards.
We went to a temple there and it was a gorgeous ornate structure. I've noticed that much about temples is large and golden.
Ah! And at the famous walking night bazaar in Chiang Mai I sampled my first fried critter- I ate a bamboo worm! It was actually pretty tasty, believe it or not :) At this bazaar, things were sold very cheaply and the place was just crawling with "farang" or "foreigners."
Above: the bamboo worm i ate
Above: other delectable bugs (ranging from crickets to worms to cockroach looking bugs)
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