Melanie’s site is in Jangwat (kinda like a state) Lampang which is a 4 hour bus ride from my site (in the direction of Chaing Mai though Chaing Mai is 6 hours away). She picked us (there were 2 other volunteers helping out) at the bus station and then we had about an hours ride to her village. Her house is totally cute & I am completely jealous. It is on stilts and is about a third the size of mine (which is perfect because cleaning a large house here is a pain!) She has two bedrooms & a bathroom (with western toilet & shower). Although, I am glad that I have a “kitchen” (even though my stove doesn’t work) & I don’t have to wash my dishes in my bathroom sink.
We stayed the night at her house & again my reputation is in ruins as gasp I slept in the same room as two males. Her landlord was shocked that people of the opposite sex were sleeping in the same room & commented on it repeatedly. We woke up early in the morning & left for the national park (which was where the camp was being held). The park had a waterfall (which we did not see because we were too lazy to hike up there) and some hot springs (which we did see & they were not the kind you could swim in).
There were about 140 students ages 10-12 at the camp and 40 Thai teachers helping out. The camp was surprisingly well planned out (I say surprisingly because it is common to be told that everything is planned and then told that you have come up with a 2 hour event in 5 minutes). But they broke the kids into 7 groups and had different stations for the kids to go to. We just had to do some large group activities which involved playing games with the kids & then we were free to “help out” at whatever station we wanted to.
They also gave us stickers to give to the kids if they spoke English. I was a bit “mean” in that I would go up to the kids and start asking them questions like “How are you?” or “How old are you?” and if they could answer then I would give them a sticker (but most commonly they would look at me with sheer panic and run away). One time, I was heading to the restroom when I came across a group of girls that I knew could speak pretty good English so I stopped to ask them questions & they all received stickers. Then one of the girls stuck out her hand for me to shake (they get a big kick out of this) and then they all had to shake my hand…when I got to one little girl she just smiled at me and then “leapt” into my arms to give me a hug. After that a few other girls also gave me hugs and did the sniff (the sniff is a bit like a kiss on the cheek except they sniff you…I have no idea why). I then went to the restroom & when I came out I found another group of kids to ask questions and as soon as I pulled out the stickers I was mobbed by kids…I seriously had at least 75 kids all clamoring for stickers. I ran out in like 5 minutes & headed back into the building to get more (and I also told the other volunteers that they needed to get out there to start handing out stickers). As soon as I stepped outside I was again surrounded by kids (I can only imagine that this is a bit what celebrities go through). Finally one of the teachers made the kids get into a line so that it was somewhat orderly. When I ran out of stickers (again) I looked over & two of the other volunteers were also outside with long lines of kids waiting for stickers. I headed over there & as soon as some of those kids saw me they handed me their name tags for stickers. I explained that I was out & they asked me to sign their tags…so I stood out there & probably signed all of the kids’ nametags/books (again I felt a bit like a celebrity giving autographs).
As the camp was two days, we stayed the night in a really nice guesthouse that was near the park (this time the females were in one room & the males were in another).
We ventured out into the village (looking for ice cream) and came across a really neat Wat (temple) and by the time we got back they had dinner ready for us – which I have to say was excellent.
At the end of the camp, a driver took the guys into Lampang to catch a bus to Chaing Mai & I went back to Melanie’s (if I had taken the bus that night, I would have gotten into Nan at 10:00 at night and would have had no way to get to my house). Mel & I went and got our hair blown out at her neighbor’s house (she runs a salon) and then watched a movie on my computer…very relaxing after all of the activity of the previous two days.
All in all, it was great…my only complaint would be the number of mosquito bites I got…I swear I am going to get dengue at least once before my service is through. (You can get dengue more than once because there are different strains of the virus.)
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