Sport Day!!

          Last week was spent primarily in Chiang Mai with Ice and preparing for Sport Day with the school. During the afternoons, the whole school participated in preparing for Sport Day. Our school is split into colour groups and our group is "Si Daeng" (Red). It was fun because we learned the different team cheers and took many "Thai teenager" pictures with friends. I also started to discover which friends are the most fun and which ones are the most reliable.

Wasan goes western and I go Asian!

Kat and I with Nan, who is part of the "Dance for Health" team.

              In the evenings, Ice and I went with various people to help her mother’s food stall at a huge Chiang Mai festival. We helped prepare food, arrange it on the tables, and sell it. It was a really interesting experience because there is nothing like it back in Canada and we were right in the thick of it. It was a little stressful because it was so loud and there were always people surrounding us and shouting things in Thai that I couldn’t understand, and we generally worked from 4:30 in the afternoon until 4 in the morning, but it was still a great experience. I became close friends with many people in Ice’s family members and friends. There were also several ladyboy fashion shows, which were great. Not only were they often funny, but it was incredible to see a woman in a bikini, female in every way, and know they were born male; it shows that people aren't confined by the body they were born with.

See this delicious Thai food?

Well look who made it! (Ice's mom, Ice, and I)

Beauty is pain... ahah

Then Friday was Sport Day!! I spent the night with a friend and went to get my hair done at 7. We had to "doze" on our faces so it didn't get damaged, then makeup and costume at 4 in the morning. When the parade finally started, it was so thrilling to walk down the street in the most beautiful outfit I’ve ever worn, surrounded by other people wearing incredible outfits and makeup, and have people continually wave and smile at me and take pictures. It was definitely one of the greatest and overwhelming experiences of my life. The boy I was walking with, Nicky, was a gentleman and always asking if the sign was too heavy or getting Pop to carry it for me; it was so sweet! After changing into regular clothes, I spent the day with Pop and Nay, watching activities and participating in a bizarrely embarrassing eggplant game in front of the entire school (in which I had an eggplant hanging from my ass and had to push a pingpong ball across the floor with it, at which I failed miserably). The cheerleading performances were incredible; it felt like I was watching a professional performance! It blows my mind how much preparation and effort goes into Sport Day, and it is ENTIRELY organized by students. Canadian kids really need to step it up ;) Our team was very disappointed that we didn’t win the cheerleading, but it was still a wonderful day.

Carrying the sign for "Si Daeng" (Red) with Nicky and Om in front.

On Saturday, Ice and I went with her mom to the festival in Chiang Mai again and came back at 4 in the morning. Needless to say, I had a very bad cold on Sunday due to serious lack of sleep and slept the entire day through.

Teaching and Travelling!

Once again, long time no talk! Time to get back on track. The school break started at the beginning of October and ended toward the end. In that time, there was lots to do!
At the start of the break, I volunteered at Laohajit Wittaya, a local primary school, to help teach English. However, the students were around ages 5 to 9, so they really weren't interested in learning while half of their friends were also on vacation. The other teachers and I spent most of the time playing with the kids, keeping them out of trouble, helping them down the stairs, serving them all food, coaxing them to sleep during nap time, keeping them occupied, etc. A kindergarten classroom in Thailand is much the same as a kindergarten classroom in Canada, except the students are even more wild with each other, but more hesitant to talk to teachers as well. The teachers are so sweet! When talking with them, it's a mix between bits of Thai and broken English, but we communicate well enough. They're much more eager to learn English than the students, and I want to learn Thai, so there's a bit of language exchange too. Near the end, the students were much more comfortable around me and I made good friends with all the teachers, so I hope to go back once in a while during the school year.

When kids get a hold of the camera

Then came RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards)! It was a 3-day camp with all the inbounds(students on exchange in Thailand), outbounds(Thai students going on exchange next year), rebounds(Thai students who've returned from their exchange year), and many Rotarians. Everyone was energetic and there were so many activities planned! It was interesting how even though this camp was focused on involving teens from all over the world, it was still very Thai; for example, we woke up at around 6 every morning for meditation, all the meals were Thai, the final ceremony, etc. One day, when we were separated into our colour groups, our group climbed up a huge set of steps to clean a temple! This turned into a well-needed water fight. Near the end there was a talent - the Mexicans/Brazilians, the ladyboys' song, and the mimes stole the show! It was a little unfortunate how all the inbounds tend to cluster together rather than integrate with the Thais, but we build such a strong bond together, it's really hard not to. The activities helped us separate a bit more though!

Water fight after cleaning the temple

Our drummer <3

The final ceremony: we were each given a candle and passed the flame around to light each other's.

Then we stuck our candles to cardboard in the centre of the room to spell "RYLA".

The whole group!! An incredible weekend.

And then the northern trip with all the inbounds! As mentioned before, we build an extremely strong bond because we are in the same situation; we all are so interested in travelling and learning different cultures that we've dreamt about this our whole lives, spent a year planning, and finally made it here. Travelling with these kids is amazing.

We went to so many different places; a Grand Canyon-like place in Nan, the Chiang Rai night market and Wat Rongkorn, the late queen mother's mountain palace and gardens (which is MUCH different than castles in England. The palace looked like a giant bamboo cabin and the gardens looked much more jungle-like. The whole place was astonishingly beautiful), The Golden Triangle (where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet), crossed over the river into Laos, and then went shopping in Mae Sai (the northernmost point of Thailand). We drove up a mountain road famous for its countless curves and switchbacks, until we came to Pai. In Pai, we crossed the giant bridge where an important battle with the Chinese took place.

Wat Rongkorn temple in Chiang Rai

At Wat Rongkorn: the start of our many travels!

The late queen mother had a great view...

The palace gardens

At the Golden Triange: to the left is Thailand, straight ahead is Myanmar, and to the right is Laos.

Children in Laos asking for 5 baht. 

Driving up the curvy road into Pai

Guy who made tea in the night market in Pai; he was so great!

Then we moved onto Mae Hong Son, where we spent two days. In Mae Hong Son province, we visited a Chinese colony, took a tour of a huge cave, visited a mud spa, and met the Karen tribe! The view of Mae Hong Son was astonishing. The way back down the mountain was QUITE difficult however, due to there already being hundreds of steep curves added to the fact that several students were suffering the aftermath of a certain incident the night before... but we all made it alive haha.

The Chinese colony in Mae Hong Son province; so Asian!

The astonishing view of Mae Hong Son city from a temple...

Meeting the Karen tribe!

Most women in the tribe make these scarves, the traditional source of income for the tribe.

Many scarves made by the Karen tribe.

The tribe is also know for having stretched earlobes.

We finished the trip in Chiang Mai, where we went to Tiger Kingdom to pet and lay down with real tigers, my friend Talia and I went Zorb balling as well. When we got to the hotel, we all prepared for a fancy dinner at the tok, to celebrate our final night. The tok dinner was incredible! Although I had to laugh at the fact that  although the tables were close to the floor with mats to sit with your legs folded behind you, in the traditional Thai way, there was also a hollowed out section of floor beneath the table for the foreigners to put their feet. During the dinner, there were many Thai dances being performed beside us in the section cleared of tables. They were beautiful and every tiny movement was perfectly timed, giving them all perfect synchronization. As people were finished up, many of us walked outside, where the dancers were selling giant paper lanterns for 100 baht. Of course, we bought, lit, and released quite a few - a great way to remember the night! When we returned back to the hotel, we dressed up in whatever costumes we could come up with and had a Halloween party!

A lion at Tiger Kingdom...

So amazing!!!

Nice kitty

Zorb balling! Exhausting, but tons of fun.

Dinner at the tak.

Setting off paper lanterns :D

Upon returning home, I was greeted by a VERY happy family because... my host mother had her baby!!!! :D My new host sister's name in Peem - she is so tiny compared to Canadian babies!
Adios amigos! (I can be Spanish in Thailand, because this is Thailand, and literally anything will happen in Thailand).

Anneke