Week 3 - Immersion Week

This week I lived with a Thai family outside of Chiang Mai. In the mornings I would kind of hang out around the house, though some days were filled with little surprises, and then I would head to a local school where many of us interns would be giving English lessons. After that, I followed my family to a local market where they sold spices, fruits and vegetables, and sauces. They would tell me things to say and I worked out how much most everything cost. I'm sure it was quite a sight seeing me behind the table.

The school was really enjoyable because it gave me a chance to teach, which I really enjoy. And the setting, though different in many ways, reminded me a lot of the school I taught at in Guatemala. The kids (I taught 13 year olds) enjoyed the classes and it was cool to see how the kids were so similar to other kids I've taught. We can talk and talk about differences, but there are so many more similarities that people share than we often recognize.

It was such a great week. Things were definitely very "different" than how I am accustomed to living, but I really have to talk about how spoiled I was all week. They treated me so kindly and generously, it is hard to even describe how hospitable they all were. Despite all of the new foods I was eating, I'm pretty sure that I gained 3 or 4 pounds. And that is difficult for me to do.

Notes about the pictures.
1. this was the family that I stayed with. That is the dad, mom, son (10 years old) and daughter (16).
2. this is a tradition in Thailand where you light these lanterns that are like little hot-air balloons. we set them off the last night we stayed with families.
3. they call this Korean style barbecue, and a little fire is started in an insulated bucked and meat is then grilled and eaten from the grill that is set above it. lettuce and other vegetables are boiled along its edge
4. those are teachers at the school we taught at. like everyone, they were so nice and wanted to talk about my life in the U.S.
5. this is a picture of the school and fellow interns that were eating lunch before we started our classes.
6. many families grew flowers to sell and by placing lights over them at night, the flowers would bloom much faster. it was a pretty sight seeing such lights scattered throughout the fields.
7. rice fields behind my family's house