The Weekend and Beyond

Last Thursday Jiri invited me to “Worship at The Well”. It’s weird how I always seem to find out about some of the kewlest places to go right before I have to leave. The Well is a free lounge place for volunteers to hang out and chill in. There are couches, chairs, tables (luxuries to me since I’ve been living in the V-STAY house), a TV with a DVD player and DVDs, a kitchen and a guitar!...I could’ve been cooking this whole time.

Friday was a great day at school. The 6th graders have learned the alphabet letters and sounds well enough that we were able to do a spelling bee with them. They seem so excited about learning now. Friday was probably the most rewarding day of teaching for me since I’ve been here. 5th graders were standing outside the 6th grade classroom, watching the games we were playing. Then when we began teaching 5th grade, they kept saying “six, game”. They wanted to play the same games as 6th grade. Hopefully, this will motivate them to learn the alphabet and to pay attention better in class.

After school, I quickly packed for a wonderful weekend trip to Khao Sok National Park (www.khaosok.com), about an hour and a half north of Khao Lak. Limestone mountains covered in diverse rainforest foliage surround rivers and a gorgeous lake. Jiri went too, but it was great to make some new friends. There were 7 of us total, Jenny and I being the only girls, a guy-to-girl ratio I’m sure the fellas would’ve liked to change. We went tubing down a river and had great fun knocking each other off the tubes and into the water. Our guide looked for snakes in the trees hanging over the river after we stopped at a rock with a rope swing and all had a chance to be Tarzan or Jane.

Left to Right: Ed, Jenny, Andy, Eddy, Fred and I just outside Khao Sok


King Rama at Khao Sok

There was supposed to be a spot on the river where people throw bananas in the river and monkeys dive for them. We went after the tubing, but were unlucky. Turns out the monkeys only show up some days.

The river we went tubing on. This is where the monkey diving takes place

Still, we enjoyed hanging out at a restaurant on the river and played card games like S&%$ Head and Speed until the rain stopped. Once the rain stopped, we were all keen on getting a Thai massage. I was so excited about the massage, but I ended up getting sick during the first 15 minutes. I think the lady working on me may have released something that had been stored up for a while. I ended up in the bathroom for almost the entire hour. The Thai lady didn’t understand when I asked for water, so I asked for Ed, who was in the middle of experiencing his first massage from a guy. After some water, deep breathing, and a release of which I’ll spare you the details, I felt much better.

After our massages at different locations (none of the places could do 7 of us at once), we met up at the Poor Bar and relaxed. Some of the guys practiced muay thai on the punching bag hanging in the corner of the bar. And later, Ed continued to practice the Thai form of kickboxing with a tiny Thai guy until they interlocked and just appeared to be hugging for a few minutes- very entertaining.

Before we headed back to Khao Lak, we attempted to find the lake and go for a swim. After being lost for a while, we found an edge of the lake. It looked a bit dodgy, but everyone jumped in before a man in uniform came to tell us “no swim”, everyone except me. The man arrived immediately after I had changed into a bathing suit and walked down to the water’s edge. Still, the ride back was beautiful and peaceful.

The Lake at Khao Sok

Later that night, was the weekly poker tournament and an English Premiere soccer game. I played some pool at the Marlin Bar and then allowed myself to be talked in to joining the poker game. I ended up winning 100 Baht. I was also told by a great pool player named Beth that I should pursue pool if I’m not pursuing any of my other talents because I “have what it takes”. She said she could see that I was thinking through things, working it all out in my head, and that I was a natural. So by the words of drunken Beth, I’ve decided to stay in Thailand and fine tune my magic pool playing skills. (The last sentence- True/False).

And that takes us to Monday…

Monday was a holiday, the king’s birthday. In addition to the sales of alcohol being prohibited that day, there was no school, so I joined my new friends from TVC on the Tap Tawaan project of building houses. I helped mix cement, lay bricks for a toilet and a step, filled in the step with sand and cement, and sealed the pipes to the septic tanks. At lunchtime, a freelance journalist who said he was seeking the source of compassion in people interviewed several TVCers at Tap Tawaan. I wasn’t feeling his vibe, so I declined an interview. On a different note, an English bloke named Jamie almost sawed his leg off with the circular saw. He was miraculously lucky in that he suffered a mere flesh wound on his thigh instead of having accidentally amputated his leg.

When I went home to shower after Tap Tawaan, I met 5 of the new V-STAY volunteers (1 guy and 3 girls from Australia, 1 guy from Malaysia) who had arrived earlier that morning. They all seem nice, and it was comforting to have some new energy in the house.

Natty Dreadlocks…

Sebelle (Aussie) and DJ (American) working on my dreads

That’s right, I have finally had them done. For the past 2 days, I have been blessed with the giving spirit of an Aussie named Sebelle. She and I hung out at The Well and watched ELF last night while she began to dreadlock my hair. It has taken about 5 hours so far, but there are only 2 locks left! After that, she says I’m supposed to keep messing with them, knotting them and putting dread wax or beeswax on them every chance I get. I’m also not supposed to wash my hair with anything moisturizing for the next 6 months. That’s when they should start to look like solid dreadlocks. I had no idea it was such a long process with so much maintenance involved, but I’ve always wanted to have them for a while, so I’m committed.