Chiang Mai Part I

Chiang Mai Part One.

We reached the school at late evening and after we settled down, the Thai teachers and staff treated us all to buffet/steamboat/bqq dinner, which cost only 149 baht per person (less than S$7 okie!). And man, the variety of food available is overwhelming. Love the dessert section especially. =)

*** *** ***

Rise and shine on day 2!

A tour around the school to get us familiarise.

This is their parade square where morning assembly is held.

The long stretch of corridor where we were supposed to paint the walls outside the classrooms.

View from Level 2.

Their classroom. Super old school right... And they're still using blackboards and chalks, if you haven't notice.

Wooden doors that were decorated by the students, I suppose...

Students having lessons. They were super attentive and concentrating on their work while we were walking around the room. And it was very quiet as well, cos they can't talk. You can't get that in Singapore schools.

I think this was taken at the science lab.

Real starfish!!!

Huilin, Xinxin, me, Corrinne and a gigantic clam shell.

A drawing done by a student that left us all amazed... It's a Converse sneaker, btw.

More pictures of students having lessons...

The school has students with age ranging from 5 to 21/22. Some stay in the school, even over the weekends, but some don't. Fyi, the school that we were attached to is the only school for the deaf in Chiang Mai. There are 400+ students who are hearing-impaired, either totally or partially. Most can't speak while some can, but they all prefer to use sign language to communicate cos it's easier for them to sign than to speak.

These are the younger kids... They are all so tiny!!! *hehs*

Computer lesson for the younger kids. The children took turns to play the computer. And they did not fight with one another for the turns. Unlike our children here. Singapore kids are so fortunate. *tsk tsk*

Learning sign language of simple vocabulary. Some of us sat down with them for a while and learning sign language is tough but fun at the same time too! =)

Checking the conditions of the playground and wall mural paintings that the previous team did last year.

My bed in a little corner. The bed at Pasir Ris Dr 6 is more comfy. =)

Lovely.

Wonder what they were queuing up for??

Ta-da! They lined up to wash their utensils after eating. It was a sight that none of us from a clean and hygiene-first country will get use to it. They all rinse their dirty utensils in each huge basin and the water was just...gross. But to the Thai children this is nothing to them. At first we followed suit, but after a few washes, we couldnt take it so we got a bottle of detergent and washed our own utensils in another area. *hah*

The two little girls who would give me a hug every time they see me. And the girl on the right is especially attached to me, and dun ask me why.

My ah girl and I. =)

A shy girl who always smiles warmly at us...

Morning assembly...

Day 2: First art workshop. We taught the students how to make puppets out of socks. They learnt pretty fast, cos their art and craft is very very good. Or maybe our teaching is not bad too. *hehs*

While waiting for their classmates to come, the two of them 'entertained' us all by dancing. Btw, it was their Scouts' Day so that explained the uniforms. And btw again, the boy is actually a girl at heart. *hint hint* We call him Favourite.

The art team (Xinxin, Eleanor and I) with some of the 2-3 students. They are only 14 years old, btw... We are sooooo old!!! *ahem*

She has a twin sister in the school as well! So cool. We saw quite a few pairs of twins, and we never failed to be amazed. *hah!*

The student appeared to be like the teacher, while the teacher appeared to be like the student. *hah!*

This girl made a lovely necklace and gave it to me on the 2nd last day, which touched me greatly cos I have never expected anything from the students...

Trainee hairstylists (I suppose) came down to the school to cut hair for students who needed a haircut. No wonder the girls have all the same hairstyle. *shakes head*

Eleanor's ah boy and me.

Okie. That's Wangwang, the dog that lives in the school. Caught him stealing food from the dustbin after lunch one day. Poor thing. Had to resort to this to get food. *tsk tsk* BeBe should see this and realise that she's a superduper lucky dog that has me as her owner.

Wangwang licking his mouth, looking satisfied after stuffing his face into the dustbin full of, erm, waste. Grossssssss....

More and more puppet lessons... The students had to put up a puppet presentation on Cultural Exchange day, so we had to spend a bit more time making more puppets and props. Favourite was super enthu about making his puppet that he came back after lunch to continue his work.

Went out for ice-cream after a day of work... Till this point, the whole group 'appeared' to be united, cos we could still talk to one another.

Me and Huilin. After this, you won't see some people's faces here cos I never have the chance to take photos with them. Because they belonged to the other group. That's what happened when the leaders did not communicate with their teammates and initiated the disunity and caused much unhappiness as the days went by.

The ice cream that cost S$1.50... Cheap cheap cheap!

Saw a cool vintage lao ye che called Mafia parked outside the cafe... So cool lah!

The next day...wash clothes loh! My mother will be so proud of me, cos I washed my own clothes can!!! And I washed in the traditional way okie! Washing board and scrub. *hehs*

Hung the wet clothes at the rooftop, where air was fresh and cooling!

More puppet lesson...

Because the puppets were more or less done, it was time to get started on our wall mural drawings. The three of us spent the whole night drawing the drafts, until about 3am Thai time... But I dun think we were tired, cos we had three cups of iced coffee/tea each in the day (courtesy of the Thai teachers).

Me and my three drawings...

But some people thought we were stupid to draw out the drafts when we could simply have printed out the soft copy. Maybe, but at least after trying to draw out the pictures, I know how to draw them on the walls. So thank you very much for your 'concern'. *sarcasm in the air*

One last picture before I go...

The props and all the puppets that the students and us made together. Fyi, all of them were handmade okie...=)

To be continued...