So on the 11th of October, I left with Jenni, Hannah, Carol and 3 other Thai students from my city for the 8 hour drive to Chiang Rai. We arrived at some Institute for International Development, and were immediately greeted by music and dancing and smiles. The leader for the camp were set up outside a big open hall filled with abuot 200 Thai and exchange students. Before we were admitted, we were given some war paint looking stuff on our faces and had to give a little dance. Thats one way to break the ice I guess... :)
The camp went on with lots of games and activities to get to know everyone, but also to give students the opportunity to lead, possibly a new experience for many students, considering how shy the majority of them are. That day and the next went by much the same. We had a few speakers talk about leadership (in Thai...) and we watched a movie about the education system here, and how many rural communities lack the funds to give their children a good education, which just further worsens their situation, as the rest of the world progresses, yet they're stuck in a perpetual cycle or farm work and labour intensive jobs throughout the generations. It was interesting to see such an in-depth look at this problem, and although many of us were already aware of these issues, it was really good to see it from a solely Thai perspective, and not an "international aid" point of view.
The following day, (the 13th) we all headed a couple dozen miles down the road to the Hall of Opium; a museum dedicated to the history of the illegal drug trade and its impact on the Thai people, especially in the regions surrounding the Golden Triangle. It was actually a really cool place, and I learnt way more about drugs than I ever thought I would at a Rotary sanctioned event.
After that we split up into 3 groups who all went their separate ways for the day to each do different volunteer activities. 1 of the groups went to a temple to help clean it up a bit, the second I'm not entirely sure about, they too might have cleaned a temple, and my group went to a nearby primary school to repaint their playground. We spent the afternoon doing our good deeds and painting each other almost as much as we painted the park. You gotta remember to have fun too! However the Thai way to get paint off your skin is... well... paint thinner. So I had to scrub down my hands, arms and bits of my face with paint thinner. That wasn't much fun. That night we had a big talent show for all the attendees. The Canadians, Americans, French, and Taiwanese put together a dance to "Journey-Dont Stop Believing". Im not going to lie. It was fantastic, especially considering we only had about 2 hours to create the dance from scratch and practice it. That was a heck of a blast!
The final day of RYLA we were presented with certificates, had a big hug circle things where every person hugged or shook hands with every other student. That took over an hour, but I guess it was a good way to make sure you got to say goodbye to everyone. As of like 10am that day, us Kamphaeng Phet-ers still had no idea how we were getting home. We we're able to check our email, where our Committee chairman had sorted things out for us. The 3 girls were to go together to Phrae with another inbound student, and I was heading back to Lampang with 2 of the guys to stay at one of their houses for the 1 day we had between RYLA and the Northern Trip.
It was kinda strange to leave the girls from my city, because I had spent so much of my time in Thailand with them, and had never really been away from them, but I figured it was due time for me to get out and have some good 'ol guy time. You know, do stupid, immature things that girls don't really condone. :)
That will have to be all I recount for now, as it's back to the books tomorrow, and it's getting late. Stories from my Northern Trip should follow in the next couple of days, as well as a video and some more pictures!
Much love,
Cole
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| View from my room... Jealous?? |
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