A Constant Learning

e I joined Ajan Jim at her school today in Phetchaburi. An all day event in which i caught the public transportation system (for the second time, the first was yesterday and was quite and experience, a packed bus while Emily and I had groceries and a large case of bottled water: a different story). Pretty simple, the bus was blue and white, a low-scale greyhound, yet every bus in Thailand is decorated with colorful curtains looped from each window, adorned with lace tassels. This teaching experience was different from that on the mountain. We where in a small room, tables, chairs, and fans to keep us cool. The younger children where very enthusiastic as before, and so intelligent. A few shy, but ironically the boys where much more vocal than the girls. My opinion is that the girls are more concerned with actually learning and see it as such, take it very seriously; whereas the boys are in more of a play-time/hang-out mode. We'd have a break about every hour and just outside the door was a woman who appears to be there every Saturday for these kids to buy snacks from during the breaks. bags of chips, soda, even sushi! I had a delicious one of crab and another of seaweed. Apparently it was Thai sushi, i'm not really sure what the difference is other than the size and i don't recall seeing a sushi with seaweed strips on top before; but i have an inkling it's out there. I am amazed though that within this single day, Every single person that participated learned something new, and from a culture that isn't their own. Obviously the kids, but i also learned a few new words in Thai (phet=spicy and i could use a brush up on Thai fruits) , as well as a legend of the mountain that is the sleeping giant, that Thailand doesn't have a program for children with learning disabilities, and that slapstick is the way to go for foreign movies (we watched Home Alone). I ended up teaching Ajan a new slang phrase "Okey Dokey" and there is just so much more to go around, but truthfully these dates I have with Ajan have and will be some of the best and very cultural experiences i have while here. Ajan makes sure we get a little bit of authentic Thailand each visit in taking us to lunch (and dinner tonight also) and just being this wealth of information. Each time will bring something new and with it a whole wealth of memories! Ajan thinks i could be a very good teacher!