I spent all of my morning blogging or rolling around my bed. Life in Mae Hong Son is very chill out. I start school at 4:30pm today so I have literally the whole day to roll around. I took a stroll along the lake and stumbled across Sunflower Cafe. I was famished and ordered the infamous Pad Thai. Pad Thai is a must try in Thailand. I also ordered a lemon soda drink. The view from this restaurant is just amazing, the colourful trees and flowers semi-obstructing the lake view gives it that very garden like feel. I feel a splash of colour in my life. It's a nice feeling. After a delicious meal, I chilled out at the benches in front of the lake - it started to drizzle a little but it didn't bother me at all. I enjoyed a few moments with the gorgeous view before making my way back home - which is a lovely stroll through the park.
We learnt how to tell the time today. It was my first official lesson. Arjan Chatchawan (Thai teacher) gave me the text book and I taught from that. It was probably a little confusing for the boys to learn the different ways of reading the time but surprisingly, after a full lesson - they got the gist of it. I drew a clock on the board and wrote out the different minutes. We did plenty of exercises where I wrote up a list of digital times and they had to write the times in words. We emphasised on the difference between quarter to and quarter past and when it was appropriate to use, matching it up with the digital format. All the boys, one by one came up and wrote the correct answers - I was really impressed. Towards the end of the class, we touched on some fruits and vegetables vocabulary words. I elicited the words and wrote them on the board, we went over the words ensuring that each were pronounced correctly - cabbage was a hard word for the boys. My first lesson went really well and the hour passed by so quick. I didn't even have a chance to look at my watch.
After class, I went to look for Hans and found him in the hall where all the monks met. In this hall at the front of the room, sat a big golden buddha. They chanted before the buddha, singing some beautiful mantras in Thai. I think this is a daily ritual for the monks, as I overhead them say in Thai (I managed to translate the time only) whilst heading over to the hall. They had two young boys aged approximately 9/10 years old chanting into the microphone. They had such sweet voices.
I was introduced to two of Hans' friends - Gina from Portugal and Charlie from America. They met us at our place and we headed out for dinner. We chose 'Meeting' by the lakeside. As we were walking through the park, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful the lake and temple looked at night. The temple lit up across the lake with amazing colours reflecting in the water.
At dinner, we ordered a bottle of Chang beer each. I tried the Pad See Ew (Flat rice noodles cooked with soy sauce) and a spicy mixed salad. Thai food in Thailand has never let me down, it was yet another delicious dinner that I enjoyed with my new friends. Gina and Charlie works in Mae Hong Son as paid teachers at the local schools. They will be staying in Mae Hong Son for one year with free accommodation provided for them - sounds like an interesting year ahead of them. As we were leaving the restaurant, I noticed these cute little figurines hanging by the tree - adorable little happy faces - it quite symbolises my current emotions being a volunteer in these countries. I am currently at a very happy place in life. I feel like I have done some good deeds, volunteering in these countries - seeing the children's faces lit up with extraordinary smiles - smiles that causes the face to hurt - really gives me a sense of satisfaction in myself, I can finally say that I have done something good for the children, even if it isn't anything such a great deal. But I've learnt that the tiniest efforts offered makes such a great difference in these beautiful children's lives. It is honestly such a beautiful feeling to feel the warmth and appreciation of the children that I have encountered with over the past 2 months.
Good night world.
XOXO
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