The Point of (Know) Return

So, last blog was Sunday... That's a lot of catching up for me to do.

First, understand that we have had quite a few late nights and early mornings recently. Still, I'm sorry I couldn't get online to share the week with you.

The first half of the week was business as usual. Things started heating up as we all began to realize how quickly our stay in Trang was coming to a close. Last night's farewell dinner in Trang Town went quite nicely. We didn't go anywhere fancy, just an average Thai restaurant where we filled their back room that, I imagine, doesn't see a party full of farang very often. We ate way too much food, as usual; Sam brought us a surprise from her host family's garden, too. Have you ever heard of those little miracle berries that mess with your taste buds? Excitedly, Sam introduced this to us by offering a tiny slice of lime. If you've ever tasted lime on its own, it's not the greatest flavor in the world. After getting an idea of it in our heads, we ate the berries, spitting out the seeds. Three minutes later, she told us to try the lime again, and to our surprise it was sweet and delicious. I became unusually chipper post-berry eatin', so I imagine they might have some effect on endorphins, too.

After dinner, we took a few minutes to stretch our legs in the alley next to the restaurant (where, by the way, they were doing some major heavy-duty and noisy construction during our party). Then they announced that they had a few words to say. Dr. Hal and Yuwaddee expressed their thanks to each other and the school directors for making this experience with the Dana students possible, and we (the students) were each presented with a certificate of gratitude and achievement. (This first picture is a group photo plus Tanawan and Matmee. I didn't get any good ones of the certificate hand-off.)

The certificates, by the way, went back to the directors so that those not in attendance could make the final signature. We haven't seen them since. :P

Afterwards, we decided there was still time for some partying, so we finally did what I've been waiting for since Chat mentioned it: karaoke! Japanese-style even, so I knew how it worked. We got to this place where they have scantily-clad women open the door for you, and as you walk in there is one big room with a stage that no one used all night surrounded by smaller private rooms. We started in one of the private rooms, then moved to a bigger one with more seating. I started us off with "Let it Be" by, who else? The Beatles. We sang whatever American songs we could recognize in the book, and we enjoyed many Thai songs as well. (This second picture is Ariel singing, I'm pretty sure, "The Banana Boat Song.")

By the end of the night, several people were falling asleep, so we called it quits. The drive home was long as usual, since we all live in Yantakhao or Had Samran. It was midnight by the time Thamonwan got us home, and I couldn't bring myself to get online. I'd been up since seven and would be up at the same time for Scout Day, and I figured it was gonna be a long one.

Quick explanation: This Scout Day thing is a Thai activity that usually consists of three days of camping and militaristic practices interspersed with games for the lowest grades of high school (1, 2, and 3, or 6th, 7th, and 8th in the States). This year, however, the Thai government mandated that, because of the swine flu scare, Scout Day would be cut down to one day. We were invited by the director (principal) to come and coordinate some activities for the afternoon, so we happily obliged.

Well, when we finally got to Had Samran beach the next morning, most of the students from Had Samran school had showed up for their morning assembly. We pretty much sat and watched the whole time, not really knowing what to do. Eventually the students dispersed, and we were loaded into a pickup that took us to one of the base camp locations, where an obstacle course had been set up. (This third picture is a shot of the students stampeding toward us after the assembly.)

We had a little picnic breakfast of bread and jam and some snack foods (we had these coffee-flavored peanuts that didn't taste like coffee so they were awesome). At some point, we saw a large group of girls walking down the road we'd driven, that had to have been at least a mile and a half. Troopers! After the students applied some haphazard face paint, the teachers began to instruct them to go through the course; it involved crawling under palm leaves about a foot off the ground, shimmying across some ropes, and finally walking a barrel under another rope using their feet. Most of them handled the first two challenges pretty easily, but the third presented several problems, the least of which was tumbling off the barrel and plummeting to the ground. They all came out on the other side and headed off for lunch, though.

We were loaded back into a truck and taken farther down the road to where a few groups were preparing fires to cook their lunches. It all smelled good, but the teachers didn't sound too reassured that the students could make anything edible. After being told we'd be eating with the kids, we were taken back to the starting point to eat at the beach's restaurant. (Ha!) We found out that the cook there used to cook at Had Samran school. I'm sure the students must be missing her, because that fried rice was pretty delicious. Before lunch, however, Tanawan said ice cream and we rushed a man on a motorcycle ice cream cart. I treated us all to some coconut milk ice cream with various toppings I didn't recognize. I know there was some bread and rice, and peanuts, and some kind of sweet potato thing...Either way, it was delicious, and Dr. Hal and AJ really missed out. (Ha ha!)

After lunch, we went back to the far camp and watched a few tug-of-war games between the boys and girls. I think it was fairly evenly-matched, but the boys ended up winning through sheer organizational skills. The girls were too busy screaming, literally, to really call out "heave-ho" in the way the boys had thought of. I wish they'd been that ready to accomplish something in class!

Again, we loaded up, stopped at the halfway point to pick up some infirm students and the barrel, and then headed back to the main area to plan our activities. Everything went swimmingly. Sam and I plotted an obstacle course, directing students to help a blindfolded partner through using only English words. They responded surprisingly well, and we even finished with two minutes to spare. AJ said his activity went as planned (Simon Says in a huge circle), and I gather that the teachers with Ariel and Jennifer were a little too eager to do whatever they had been doing and so they didn't get to try their human knot game. :(

Well it wasn't long before the day was concluded, and we all headed off to prepare for dinner and other evening activities. Yuwaddee and Chalong plus family plus their peeps plus Chat and AJ plus me and Thamonwan plus a woman we met tonight had dinner at the Trang Hotel in Trang Town. I guess she was the director of another, larger school, and her English was fantastic. At the end of dinner (we only knew it was over because instead of more food they finally brought ice cream) she gave us all keychains from Chiang Mai with traditionally dressed Thai dolls on them. She assured us she would see us off tomorrow, so we will all get another chance to thank her.

We finally got back home, and now, less than five hours before I have to be up and ready to go, I am finishing what may be my last blog post from Thailand. I will reserve final comments until Chiang Mai is past, as I plan to see much more of Thai culture while I'm there. I think it worked out for me that I missed out on the touristy stuff early, because the culture immersion came first. Hopefully I'm ready for the bustle of the big city. Wish us luck!!

By the way, in case you're wondering, here is our flight schedule inside Thailand this weekend. You can check times on www.nokair.com and http://www.fly12go.com/en/home/index.php.

Saturday
DD7401 Trang to Bangkok dep. 8:55AM arr. 10:20AM (Nok)
OX8124 Bangkok to Chiang Mai dep. 2:20PM arr. 3:30PM (One-Two-Go)
Monday
DD8311 Chiang Mai to Bangkok dep. 12:40PM arr. 1:45PM (Nok)

Monday night we will have a final farewell dinner, and then the majority of us will leave right away for a 12:55AM flight home. Jennifer and I aren't leaving until later, so we get a few more hours to freshen up and get comfortable for a long ride.

Until next time, which will probably be from Omaha!