July 29, 2006
Saturday was the first day of English for Tourism Camp at Ban Triem School. The day began early as usual getting to the school before 8 AM. I arrived and saw a very nice set up – formal registration with a tablecloth on the table, packets for the students that not only included the handbook that we developed, but a folder, an extra notebook, pen, pencil and ruler for the students. There was a stage set up in the open air auditorium as well, flanked by plants and a nice sign “English for Tourism Camp”. Students arrived pretty quickly, indeed there were some already there before Director Boonmee and I arrived. I worried that there would be many more than the agreed upon 25 – but actually only 27 were there. They were however from 6 different schools, rather than four and kids were aged 8-14 rather than 11-14. Saturday was spent surveying with the students. Kim from Kenan came in the morning to film a bit of the camp for Kenan and I think got a good show.
The day started with opening ceremony – Moosa, Boonmee and I each speaking with a microphone to the group of students and the teachers from the schools who came as well. It was of course all in Thai, except for what I said, and seemed to take a long time as usual. I smiled and talked when handed the microphone. I received many blank stares, but Mai Pen Rai, no worries, what else could I do…
The schedule was officially out of the window, more of a suggestion than a guide. Moosa started a game with the students, not really filling me in on what was going on and I had to keep asking to have a clue of what he was doing. I just went along with what I could. We visited Pak Triam village first and the students learned about tie dye. Unfortunately the volunteer that does the best tour and description of the activity was not there (I doubt she was contacted too far in advance) and so part of the time kids just wandered. Not sure if Moosa really had them answer the questions that I asked…
It started raining a bunch and we headed back to the school for lunch. As we had talked earlier, I thought we would have a bus, but transport was basically 3 pickup truck beds of kids! Lunch was great and the weather held for awhile.
It was decided that it was still possible to go to Thung Nang Dam Island with the kids. We headed to the Kuraburi pier to head out. We took 3 boats for all of us – a fun adventure for the kids. The weather was descent and we walked through the village, a local guide described the history to the kids (in Thai), we visisted Home Stays and got to play on the beach for a little. We did not get back to the school until around 6 PM! Dinner it was and then showertime. The girls were cute in their sarongs and towels. They all wear sarongs after the shower before they change – not sure if they actually wear them when showering…
Many of the girls are Muslim and it was interesting to see some wear headscaves all of the time and then decide not to wear them after awhile. There was only one girl that wore one the entire camp, even to bed.
I took my cold bucket shower and we met in the room I was to sleep in. There were 3 beds and a tile floor. Originally it was the plan to have some teachers spend the night, but all of them bailed. I was elected to stay with the students ( I knew earlier in the week) but forgot to consider that most students would be girls – thus 25 out of the 27 students were girls and my responsibility through the night. Surprisingly enough I did get some sleep: interrupted by giggling girls, some sleep talking in Thai, anxiety over the next day’s activities, loud bullfrogs and the pouring rain!