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Thailand Newsletter #5 - March 4, 2001First Hot Shower in 4 Weeks…
The school (Anuban Nakhon Sawan) showcased its organic gardening project that integrates every aspect of curriculum. The teacher of this class has been awarded National Teacher of the Year, but was not initially welcomed by parents at that school who tend to be wealthy and to believe that “agricultural” class work is beneath their children. They were in for a big surprise. Now students and parents alike can’t say enough to praise the teacher. After school, several teachers accompanied us to a wonderful retreat center. The owner of a successful indoor shopping mall in the town developed it. When the economy turned sour several years back, this man became very distressed and turned to monks for help. He found much peace and comfort in the “walking meditation” he learned and decided to give back to the community by creating this lush, tropical oasis.
This was the first we’ve seen of local wild life. Monkeys are protected at this temple, where local people seemed to feel comfortable walking around among them. Our teachers, however, suggested that we not leave the safety of the van. Luckily, we were able to get a couple of photos from the window. Local food vendors put large stuffed alligator toys (state fair type) on top of their carts. Monkeys are afraid of alligators and, apparently aren’t bright enough to know the difference between real and stuffed.
Shortly before 6 p.m., we gathered for a picnic at the foot of one of the area’s many small mountains. As the sun set red behind a line of coconut trees, millions of bats emerged from caves high up the mountainside. Locals say the time they emerge never varies more than 15 minutes during the year. They continued to trail out of the caverns steadily for 40 minutes. It was an amazing spectacle. Another highlight of our trip was Fairyland, the local shopping mall. We had lunch at McDonald’s, never our first choice in the U.S. but a fun change here. We had dinner twice at Pizza Hut, one time pizza, and the next time spaghetti. The mall supermarket had Jiffy Peanut butter – smooth AND crunchy, so we grabbed a small jar along with some bread and jelly to help out on those rare days when we are truly tired of eating Thai. Our hotel wasn’t a 5-star, but it was real decent…clean, air-conditioned (rooms, not halls), TV, daily replenished soap and shampoo…everything you would expect in the States. Several other guests at the hotel were English-speaking but we never had time to learn more. BBC – Asian headquarters are in this town. Perhaps there was some connection there. Back in the Moo-Bahn (Village)… It was awfully hot with no let up for the past three days. Our Thai teacher said it was over 1000F. Our bedroom hovers at 90 most of the night but drops to a cool 87 by morning. Actually, mornings and evenings are not bad but from noon to 3 pm, staying awake and functional is very difficult. Our Schedule We have only about 14 days total left here at the village. Tuesday we will learn the location of our site. March 15-17 we visit a current volunteer near our site. March 18-21 we travel alone to our future site and then return to our village. April 1-6, we go somewhere for more teacher training. April 17, we leave our village permanently and travel to Bangkok to finish up our training and for swearing-in ceremonies. April 22-24, we move to our site. Health Update Norbert has a little cold otherwise we are fine. Karen is back with us in class as are the other two trainees who had Dengue Fever. We have only one more shot to go! Training… Norbert and I signed up to lead a ½ hour training segment next Wednesday on classroom management strategies…not our first choice but other topics were taken. It’s been a while since we had to organize our thoughts about this, so we plan to take a look on the Internet tomorrow to help us with recall and ideas. Opportunities to come… Lots of trainees have enjoyed 1-2 hour massages for only $5. The two of us usually feel so hot and sweaty that we can’t imagine anyone putting hands on our clammy bodies, but still hope to take advantage of the R&R everyone seems to be enjoying so much. In Nakhon Sawan, I bought a 2-meter panel of cotton fabric with beautiful Thai designs on it. Tomorrow I’m hoping to find some fabric to coordinate with it and to hire a seamstress to make a dress for me. One trainer said that a seamstress might cost as much as $15-20 dollars…maybe we can manage that! I only wish I knew measurements for each of you so we could order something special. Those of you who come to visit will have to plan on having something made to order. That’s all for this newsletter. We hope you are all well. Much love, Carol & Norbert
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but that wasn’t the only highlight of our
trip to Nakhon Sawan three hours north of our village. The model school we visited there would rival the best U.S. elementary school. Four of us (trainees) and two trainers joined up with a
delightful British couple for the two-day visit. The couple, on vacation, had come to know a local high school English teacher because they helped coordinate student tour groups between the two countries.
The school also had terrific programs in music (with classical Thai
instruments), computer science (40 PCs), environmental studies, and cultural studies. During our two days, students taught us to tie-dye t-shirts. They prepared and served us three typical
Thai foods. They performed instrumental music and dances, and demonstrated traditional games. 6th grade students explained all of this to us in more or less understandable English. 
After several hours relaxing under banana
trees, strolling through the beautiful traditional Thai teak guest houses, and sampling delicious fruit, we drove half an hour out of town to the “Monkey Temple.”