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Hat Khai village - day 2
WE slept long and still felt very tired. And cold. My sinusitis was getting worse. I guess the cold didn't help. I had to take painkillers and decongestant regularly. We didn't have much to do. I don't even remember what we did between breakfast and lunch. I think Pai came over and we had a short Lao lesson with her. It's pretty hard because there are a lot of similarities and differences between Thai and Lao so I find it difficult to remember what is what.
After lunch we had a nap. When we woke up we decided to go for a walk around the village but one of the boys asked us to play Tak Roh with them . Davis played, I watched too sick to get get involved. One of the teenage boys had his entire right arm misssing. I was wondering what had happened to him but, obviously, I didn't ask. Maybe I will when I get to know him better. We then went for a stroll through the village. The poverty is almost palpable. Some houses look better than the other but they all are very basic. Quite a few people have little stalls set up in fromt of their houses selling some drinks and snacks. I wonder how many customers they get. I buy pork scratching from them regularly as they are really delish.
As we were walking Pai came looking for us. Apparently our first lesson with village children was about to start. Nobody told us when we were to teach (or where for the matter of fact) so we were completely unprepared. WE played it by ear. We did introductions and numbers so thay they could tell us how old they were. It was amazing and crazy at the same time. We started with 9-10 children but they kept on coming. At the end there were around 30!!! Age ranging from 2 to 15. It was fun but pretty intense for us as we were not prepared and they all have different level of Ebglish, but generally very low.
WE finished to have diner and Pai said there might be the guides coming for a lesson later on. Again: surprised and uncertainty. They did come. It was unbelievable how little English they could speak. Dave and I decided we could only teach them essential phrases because there is never enough continuity so they can't really progress. And they have no solid basis to build their language knowledge on. And I don't think they have any motivation. In high season they get work whether they speak English or not and they don't seem to get paid more if they do. So why bother.
With the teaching finished for the day (9.30pm) we wanted to have a beer. But judging by the look on our host's face it must have been a bad time for drinking. The next day we found out why.
Anyway, we shared two bottles of Beer lao with the guides and went to sleep.
Day 3 - Tad Xai Waterfall
I slept quite well despite a sore throat a a headache. Still, I didn't feel like getting up. It felt warm going on hot for the first time in three days. So I dragged myself out of my mosquito net tent, brushed my teeth and went for breakfast. I forgot to mention that the day before a western couple had arrived for a 1 night home stay. So in the morning them and their guides were having breakfast. It appeared that there were two trips going that day. The couple decided to walk 7km to the Tad Xai waterfall and two American girls, that arrived just before breakfast were doing a 'challange trip' - cycling, trekkin and kayaking.
That day I was offered a hot coffe for breakfast for the first time. I happily accepted. David was up two and we were drinking our cofees with big smiles on out faces. It was going to be a hot sunny day. Pai was going back to Nong Khai which meant we were to be left without an interpreter.
After she was gone one of the guides offered to take us, by car, to the waterfall. 'Why not?' we thought and jumped at the back the truck. It was really king of them to offer.
& km felt like a 100 on that winding dirt road. I was feeling very nauseous but I was glad that I knew the distance so I could keep it in check. The heat was sweltering but I was doing wonders for my sinusitis.
The waterfall was ok. Not stunning I must say. We spend an hour there. Some people went swimming and climbed the waterfall but I was just relaxing and writing in my diary.The guides shared thei lunch with us - a BBQ pork - yum!
Felt sick again on the way back. And overheated. On return to the village we were welcomed by a very loud music and a bunch of drunk guides and villigers having a mid afternoon party on the veranda of our house. So that's when THEY drink. Midday. They very much wanted us to join them but we managed to escape upstairs for a nap. We then had to prepare our lessons which was almost impossible with the deafening music. It only stopped when our lesson was about to start, so around 5pm.
Both lessons went well but they were quite exhausting. Everybody turns up at different time so it's difficult to intorduce anything new. But we did learn something - only do the games in the middle of the lesson and never at the end - otherwise the kids will never leave. Quick dinner and lesson with the guides - telling time. A VERY difficult concept for them. Explaining the am/pm thing was atorture and took an hour. But I think we succeeded at least partially. Going to bed and hoping for an easy day tomorrow. Friday we will teach in the cschool in the morning and then we are off to Vientiane for the weekend. Welcome civilization!!!
Day 4 - more surprises
WE were having breakfast on Thursday morning, looking forward to half day of planning lessons and chilling when one of the guides (who speaks a bit of english) says: "You go teach school today. Now." So we were like: " No, the english classes are scheduled for tomorrow", and he goes: "No tomorrow. Today. Tomorrow holiday". So we had to rush our breakfast and go. That was really bad. We had no idea who we gonna teach, how long for and what. It turned out that we had to teach two separate classes so we couldn't count on teamwork and rely on each other. It was really exhausting and rather counter productive. When we finished at 11.30am the temperature reached 35 degrees and we just went back home foe a nap.
No school tomorrow and we are off to Vientiane. Yey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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