Friday, August 30, 2013

Let's get caught up!!

Main street through Lonely Beach area of Ko Chang

Lonely Beach

                Directly following our Reconnect Conference, Zack and I headed down to Ko Chang in the province of Trat for a couple of days and stayed at the BEAUTIFUL Oasis Guesthouse. We had really expensive (in relation to our Peace Corps monthly allowance) western food, special drinks and some amazing volunteers as company. It was kind of tricky to get to (a five hour van ride from Bangkok, followed by an hour-long ferry then a forty-five minute song taeo ride plus a small trek up the mountain to our bungalow), but completely worth it!

Check out the album HERE.

                After returning to our site in Chaiyaphum Zack and I were involved in a whirlwind of English camps. The first was in Nong Khai province. The camp was wonderfully organized, and since it took place on a Thursday and Friday, we were able to spend the weekend at another great guesthouse, Mut Mee, along the Maekong River in the town of Nong Khai. The highlights of our visit were "story time" with Julian, the owner of Mut Mee Guesthouse and our trip to the sculpture park, Salakaewkoo. 

A little "Rock, Paper, Scissors Evolution" 
to get camp started! (Led by Nolan)






Check out the entire album HERE.

My friend and fellow PCV, Christine, posted an awesome video of the "Wheel of Life" at the sculpture park. Check it out HERE.

                The next camp we helped with was in Kalasin. It was another Thursday/Friday camp, so we were able to spend the remainder of the weekend in Khon Kaen. We discovered an AMAZING restaurant called Didines that carried CRAFT BEER!! This is virtually unheard of in Thailand, so it was REALLY exciting for us to say the least! 

                This past week I traveled to Chiang Rai to help with a Genki English Camp. (Traveling alone on the twelve-and-a-half hour night bus to get there was an experience in and of itself!) The camp was so much fun, and it inspired me to start the planning process for implementing Genki English at my school next term. In Thailand, every first grader receives a tablet with Genki English (among many other programs) already installed on it, so I'm excited to hopefully start putting those tablets and the Genki program to good use!!


Genki = FUN!!

For the rest of the album, click HERE.


                Traveling so much over the past couple of months has been draining, but it's also been a really great opportunity to check out other sites, learn about what other volunteers are doing, and broaden my perspective on Thailand and Peace Corps service in general. It's an adventure, that's for sure!!

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