Thailand Newsletter #9 - April 8, 2001

 Cultural Lesson # ??? (We lost count.)

    During summer school vacation, Thailand Internet Cafés are full of 10-12 year old boys who block computers from adult use by playing noisy computer games all day!!  That’s one reason our newsletter is late.  The other is that Norbert and I were gone (our separate ways) to provide in-service training for Thai teacher for the past week.  

 Teacher Training

     All trainees were divided in to groups of 3 or 4 and sent off with a current Peace Corps Volunteer to provide training for schools around the province.  Norbert and three other trainees worked with U-Thong teachers.  Carol and three others worked 10 minutes North of Suphanburi…in case you have a Thai map.  For both of us, the experience was terrific.  Thai teachers were wonderful and appreciative.  Activities were fun, creative and furthered the cause of student-centered learning, our #1 goal here. Workshop training was centered around how to use games, learning centers, and other student-centered activities to integrate the teaching of English with other subjects, especially with health and environmental education. It was wonderful to experience just a taste of what our work will be like at site!

Cool Water

    Sunday’s R & R – optional activity was a day trip to Erawan Falls, a 7-level waterfall in the mountains north of Kanchanaburi and part of the National Park system.  The area reminded us of the Ozarks, only with banana trees.  Nearly all the signs are in English and Thai…a sure sign of a foreign tourist spot!  Sure enough, we saw plenty of “Farangs”  (foreigners)…some English-speaking, some German-speaking. The water was cool and clear and wonderful!

 Good-Bye U-Thong

     This is our last week in U-Thong.  We host a “Good-Bye” party for our host families on Wednesday replete with Thai cuisine, our “lovely” attempts at Thai music and dance performances, and our “farewell” speeches…in Thai…imagine that!

 They Say it is 111 Degrees in Esan!  (Northeast of here near the Laos border)

    Summer has arrived.  Temperatures are over 100 degrees F.  with high humidity.  After one night in our bedroom with temps of 98 degrees at 2 a.m., we talked with the trainers and managed to be moved to the “livingroom” to sleep.  That means we have to set up our beds on the floor every night with the mosquito net…15 feet or so from the family motorcycle parked just inside the door (so no one steals it!)  Since this is the main room of the house, there is traffic in and out at odd times.  Our rice farmer host often arrives home late.  His wife often leaves for the U-Thong market at 4 a.m.  Still, the family tries to tiptoe around us and we seem to be sleeping pretty well.

Songkran is Coming

     This is the biggest holiday in Thailand and it happens this coming weekend!  Trainers equate it to our Thanksgiving, when families travel to be together for celebration.  Instead of eating turkey, Thai’s spend the time partying hardy and dumping huge amounts of water on each other, days and nights, throughout the entire four days.  Peace Corps has asked us to remain in our villages for the entire period because this is the time when drunk driving highway accidents peak. 

 Pre-Songkran

     Just before this huge holiday, many new monks are ordained.  Several ordinations have taken place in our village in the past few weeks.  The last and biggest was for a monk who now lives in Bangkok but was born in our village.  Chants and songs could be heard from loud speakers all over the village for days.  The family hired a famous Thai country singer and his entourage to perform. Lights were strung along the road and on the temple grounds, connected to the 220 volt lines with safety pins stuck through the extension cord strength wires… so much for OSHA!! 

 What’s Next

    Easter Sunday, some of us will be attending a Christian service at either the Catholic School near our village or at a Christian church in a nearby village. Tuesday after Easter, we all travel to Bangkok for our last 10 days…or so of final activities…i.e. language tests, swearing-in, medical check-ups…etc.  This, plus the fact that we will not be able to get into the Internet café again this week, means that our next newsletter will not go out again for two weeks.

 Thank You!

    Again, thanks for all the news from family and friends.   Because of time pressure of training and the extreme, exhausting heat, we cannot always respond individually to each e-mail.  Once we are at site, we hope our contact can be more regular and personal. 

 Love to you all and Happy Easter!  

Carol & Norbert