Tuesday, 11 March 2014
26th February



Woke up later than the second day. We had porridge with egg for breakfast! Really great especially the you tiao that they provided. It's so much different than the ones we usually eat. Had a morning devotion before that and prayed together before setting off from this place.  Took a different ride to the school today as we had to go together with the helpers as well. The van had no space for all of us but it didn’t matter because the pastor rented a tuk tuk for us! All of us in the team agreed to go into the tuk tuk. Was quite the experience heh. Amazing that the tuk tuk could carry all of us to the school.

Today I felt less of the fear and the can't do attitude. Probably because I've already gotten through the first day of lessons and have already gained some experience from teaching so I know how it should be like.

Had mass games in the morning and it's lessons time after that. Aunt Nara came in and stayed mostly throughout the class. Half of the morning and then half of the afternoon sessions after lunch. She was a great help and I really thank God for her as things would definitely be different without her. From the way she handles and teaches you can just see that she has many years of experience in this area. I've learnt much from her as she gives me and Pearl feedback and what we should do to teach.

One thing I noticed right from the first day of class was that the Thai students are actually really open. They are not afraid/reserved to actually play with their classmates of the opposite sex and hitting each other playfully on the head. Quite contrary to what we were briefed. Also, it seems no one wears spectacles! They also pay quite a lot of attention to you when you teach especially those who have taken a liking to you.  For example, a group of 'fan girls' were fascinated and copying me when I was spinning my pen during the break.

Had an interesting exchange as well where we were not the only teachers in the classroom. We were going through vocab and after each word, the students would then teach us the Thai version of that word. It was amazing as we went back and forth learning the new words (especially for us) and it was an enjoyable experience with all the laughter (mostly due to our incorrect pronunciation of the words). Really liked the enthusiasm they had when shouting out the Thai words to us in one accord heh.

Ended the lessons at just the right time and I could see the students are getting more at ease and comfortable with us. At the end of the lesson, a few of them actually stayed back to help us with stuff. Although there really isn't much for them to help except carry the already light stuff that we have to carry to the van, the gesture was appreciated and I thank God for these little things.

After lessons we went back to the church and decided to get drinks from the cafe. Had a different ride as well! This time it was a lorry. The helpers wanted to eat cake so we just tagged along on the way.


The cake and ice cream shop we went to serve really delicious food. An amazing experience was that we actually got the owner of the shop to come to the Sunday service that we are going to. It was a really smooth transition from saying that we are currently staying in the church to her saying that she knows that church to us inviting her to just come over.

Left the shop and then got the drinks which were really good. And they are light on the wallet as well. Six times cheaper than Starbucks.



Ended off the day with an amazing dinner as always.

#12: The opportunity to ride in a tuk tuk heh
#13: For Aunt Nara helping us today when we had no one around to help us
#14: The exchange of language that happened. When we learnt the Thai words to the English words that we taught
#15: When some of the students stayed back after class to offer help
#16: The opportunity to ride a lorry in Thailand heh
#17: How we got the owner of the shop that we were eating in to join us in church on Sunday