I am getting settled in here in Thap Sakae. I have been set up in my own house to stay for the next 6 weeks. In the photos you will see that it is very modest with an upstairs bedroom and no kitchen, but it has a small bathroom with no shower or sink. I sleep on a small mattress on the floor. It has electricity and the school has wireless Internet. It has an Asian toilet, which has certainly taken some getting used to. Because there is no shower or bath tub, to bathe you basically pour fresh water from a large tank over yourself and it is pretty cold so it's best to do this in the afternoon during the heat of the day. The house is on the campus of the local high school and I feel very safe here and cozy here. Every morning when I open my door I am greeted hello by nearly 10 dogs. They are very sweet and I love hangin out with them. There are 2 very small puppies... they are too cute. The school has about 40 stray dogs that live here. Some have terrible mange and one is blind. I am pretty sure by their skittish behavior that they have been abused. It's very comforting having them around. The bugs are crazy here. Giant cockroaches, centipedes, flying things that I can't describe. It takes a fair amount of telling myself each night that none of them think I am food when I go to sleep. I think this will get easier the longer I am here.
This school has 600+ high school students and I have been very well taken care of by one of the head teachers here, Miss Kru Lek. Kru means teacher in Thai. She has been waiting on me hand and foot. I can't go 3 or 4 hours without her bringing me food or bottled water. I have had to really let go of saying no or trying to pay for anything. I think Kru Lek has gotten tired of arguing with me about her paying for everything. Every meal, every soft drink, even things like a bar of soap. We had an interesting and emotional discussion about this today over lunch. I told her that I have some money with me and I don't need for her to always pay for me but as tears welled up in her eyes she told me that she knows I have money but that for me to be here for her students means a lot to her and the school and although they cannot pay me any salary they have some money to pay for my meals and such and she wants to make sure that I am always comfortable and happy. I am at that. She went on to say that many volunteer teachers don't like it here in this province because it's too quiet. I think that most volunteers are young and would rather be in a place with a great night life and more sights to see, like Bangkok or Chiang Mai. I love the quaintness and I love the people. It is a great place. I told Kru Lek with sincerity that I am blessed to be able to be here and to be in service to her and her students.
Kru Lek knows I have a major coffee "problem" so she set up my room with an electric thermos and instant coffee that actually isn't too bad. She has picked me up every day to take me somewhere new to eat. There are 2 great little restaurants in town here that I can eat and the school pays for my meals. The food is amazing. Everything tastes better here, the fruit, the veggies, and the chicken. This must be because of the lack of chemicals, pesticides and genetic engineering.
Yesterday was teachers day at the school. It is an annual celebration of the teachers. In the morning the Mayor gave a speech followed by a Monk chant and blessing. In the evening there was a huge dinner in the gymnasium with amazing food and lots of it. There must have been 10 courses and I wish I had known this because I was full by the 5. Then they had a a DJ play Thai disco tech music until midnight and everyone danced. It was a blast.
Tonight I am going back to the cottages where the Power of One stayed during the last week of the program. It is about 30 mins from here and has really cool little private bungalows that are newly remodeled with hot showers, air conditioning, and is located about 300 yards from the beach. I plan to head there every weekend for one night to shower, rest and spend some time on the beach. The room only costs 400 Thai baht per night. This equates to about $12.
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