Going into today, we knew it was going to be a half day of work with lunch at the beach and a school visit to the local village school. I have obviously been looking forward to this day to see how the classrooms are and see all of the adorable Thai kids!!!At the work site today all we had to finish before lunch was setting the concrete for the final touches of the foundation. This was a very repetitive day, the usual process times 50! We ended up finishing the entire flooring in about three hours.
For lunch we headed down to the ocean near the 
build site; it was a very different perspective because it was open water versus a bay. The surrounding area wasn’t dirty per say, but had a lot of garbage around. It is very interesting how littered certain places look – we aren’t sure if it is the weather blowing it around with lack of trash cans…. They burn their garbage in cauldrons out by the street; can you say pollution! Or if it is just still a mess from the Tsunami and it is one of those never ending cycles of clean up.
Off to the school we went – it was very small, only three classrooms for the older children, ages 6-10 and one classroom for the 4-6 age group. There was also a building that was the designated activity, recreation, gym area. The activity room is where we were at half of the time with the children. When we arrived they were all in there and we introduced ourselves to them and told them we were going to teach them a few songs/games. 
They do not speak a lot English, they are learning so they do understand a few words which was really fun to see what they did understand. We did a clapping game that was sort of weird and hard for them to follow. Next we did the Hokey Pokey which got them and us more involved – it was silly for them “shaking all about!” We also sang Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes; I was shocked because a couple of boys actually helped to lead it and knew all of the words. After we did our thing, a couple of us really wanted them to teach us something, myself included – they sang two songs with funny little motions, one was about an old duck and not wanting to look like the duck. The other was about killing and grilling chicken! Ha They were pretty cute and we did get them on video… I think so I will have to show you! 
With all of us raising money for Habitat, our expenses were cheaper than usual and we actually had a little leftover. With that money, we bought and donated to the children sports equipment for them to use at school. They were in need of this and it was so cute to see them because they didn’t really know what to do! We shared snacks and had a keg of ice cream for them to all have an ice cream cone or two! They all lined up and after we would give them the ice cream they would bow and say Kop-Coon-Kah….Thank you….. SO SO CUTE! The little ones, 4-6 joined us for this – they get nap time in the afternoon so that couldn’t be interrupted! LUCKY! While outside when I was done scooping ice cream, we got to interact with the kids and try to talk with them. They treated us like celebrities!! The ten-year-olds had post-its out and pens and were going around having all of us sign them like we did in Disneyland! The boys were SO silly!! I wrote my name and I asked him what his name was, he wrote down Ron. So we went back and forth talking and he asked me to sign his hat! We took a few silly pictures and after I went back to trying to talk with the girls (very difficult having the language barrier). Apparently, as Ron was walking away, Ashley overheard him say, “A-Mannn-Da” in a cute little sigh voice! Haha how cute…. I was also told by one of the girls that I was beautiful and my heart just sank, they were all amazing, amazing kids. As we were walking out a few of them signed to us (including Ron!) I love you!
It is a totally different culture, partly the age I am sure – but the children are very respectful, they listen, they are polite, they are fun, and DARLING!! I am so happy that I got the opportunity to go see the schools over there. Just the little interaction I am sure made a big difference in their day – I know it did in mine!
Later that afternoon, Ashley, Diana, and I made appointments a little massage place across the street. It is quite popular with our group because they offer a variety of massages and they are FABULOUS! Ashley and I decided for our first one to get an Aloevera Thai Massage. This is a more tradition Swedish massage where they massage you from head to toe…. One thing I learned is that they are VERY VERY intimate and you don’t find that in the States. I joked around that afterwards I don’t need a mammogram this year because they are all over the place. I guess that is very common – our leader is a massage therapist in Wisconsin and said in many other places around the world they literally go from head to toe. The price for this….. $10.00!!!! With a tip we ended up paying about $13.00 which is still better than anything you will find in America. A traditional Thai massage, which I am planning on this weekend is more stretching of the body. Several people have done it and it too is very intimate, physically climbing on you, and it feels like Yoga being done for you. Those who have had it done said that it was great and they were a little sore but that was because their bodies were actually stretched out! We will see… the cost for that, $7.50! Crazy, crazy!
Love and miss you all!
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