Summer Camp

I spent 4 days last week in Erawun, teaching at a summer camp in a school near the waterfall. It was so much fun! we didnt actually get a chance to teach them that much english, it was more of a fun sort of camp with loads of singing and dancing and shouting. there were 15 volunteers who came from all the different teaching placements all over thailand. we split the kids up into 4 groups and i was one of the leaders of team 1 which basically meant acting like a big kid and making a fool out of myself all the time. Suvanna who is our project coordinator ran the camp but to be honest i think alot of it was made up on the spot so she would call up the group leaders to entertain the kids quite alot. we ended up doing loads and loads of dancing, also forming a band in 5 minutes (i was on piano) and performing man in the mirror which was interesting! we did a talent show aswell and i taught the kids a dance and then stood at the back of the room and did the dance so they could follow me...probably looked like a bit of a weirdo but it meant the kids could perform it on their own on stage without me standing in front of them. i was so proud of them! had some really good dancers in my group and any of you who know me know that choreography is right up my street. on the thursday we took all the kids to the waterfall which is just up the road, and seeing as there were around 100 kids that was pretty interesting! as the loudest leader of team 1 i spent the whole afternoon shouting trying to get my kids to gather together and not wander off, but they were actually surprisingly well behaved and it was a really good trip, apart from when the yougest boy in the group (he's only 6) decided to strip down completely starkers to go swimming. in thailand modesty is a big deal so literally everyone was staring at him and giggling and i had to wade into the water to fish him out and put some clothes on him. bless him, he was completely oblivious. on the last day we played the board of directors at football and tug of war and won both! all round a really good few days. and we were lucky enough to stay on these really cool floating houses on the river kwai. we could go swimming in the river whenever we wanted and most nights we would lay out on the floating bamboo raft under the stars and just chill out. it was lovely. oh and we did looooads of karaoke as there was a karaoke machine in the restaurant which was such a laugh. at the weekend we went up the waterfall again but all the way to the top this time (my 2nd time up to the top now) and bumped into some of the kids from the camp and had ice cream with them. then ryan, one of the other volunteers, dared me to dip my feet in the pool where all the big fish were, and they all started nibbling at my feet.
So after i really great weekend we made our way back to Suphaburi for a free week. By this point it was just the four of us- me, Jenna and Ryan who are brother and sister, and Jacob who has been volunteering at the school for the same amount of time i have. We all get on really well so we decieed to make the most of free accommodation at the school and keep ourselves occupied in the village and local town. Then this weekend the 4 of us went to Ayutthaya, the old capital of thailand. It was a really nice place, lots of old temples and ruins scattered about and we visited a non profit elephant camp which i obviously loved. we turned up right in time to watch the newborns getting bathed which was absolutely adorable. After that we went to the floating market where they have lots of muslim thai food such as roti which is my favourite and extremely fattening. On the second day there, 2 of our other friends from the summer camp came to meet us and we all went out that night, got roped into watching the FA cup final in this dingey thai bar and then the owner of the bar ended up taking us in the back of her truck to a nightclub in the midle of nowhere where, again, we were the only white people and everyone stared at us and touched our skin. But it was a really good and spontaneous night and we all enjoyed it, apart from the ride home where the lady had about 10 shots of whisky right in front of us and then got behind the wheel. Never been so scared in my life!
Anyway now i am back in Suphaburi for one more week of teaching, Jacob has moved on so its just the 3 of us now and we're teaching at proper school as opposed to summer camp, and on the side we are working on a year long lesson plan structure for future volunteers to follow. Next week, as long as i can get back into bangkok (protests are in full swing again) then i will be meeting with my dear friend Miss Caoimhe Withers and taking her to elephant village for 4 days, so that i can say goodbye to my elephants before i go home in just over 2 weeks. SEE YOU ALL SOON! lots of lovex