Do Calor e das Chuvas

Nao, eu nao abandonei o meu blog, nem mudei a lingua dele para ingles, eh so que por enquanto como eu tenho menos tempo de conexao do que eu gostaria, e tenho escrito e-mails em ingles ( ja que assim tanto meu marido, e familia, e amigos podem ler) contando as minhas aventuras por aqui resolvi posta-los. Prometo que assim que estiver num lugar de conexao melhor vou voltar a escrever em portugues tambem. Por enquanto seguem o meus ultimos textos.

South East Asia 10

Today i was once again left alone in school. By now this is not even remotely surprising anymore. During the morning i divide my time between years 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. And as usual we play games. One of their favourites is having me write words (ball, book, fan) on the board, dividing the class in two groups and call out the word while one person from each group races towards the board in order to circle the correct one. Just like the number game i played yesterday, but way more difficult for them as i realized they can't actually read English. They just memorize what it sounds like, scribble a map of the board in their notebook with the Thai spelling of the words and when they have to find a word it is mayhem, and completely random. It actually took me a while to realize they couldn't read English, and to understand how difficult it actually is for them to play this game. Year 5 and 6 understand a bit better how our alphabet works, so it becomes much easier for them to play the game. But my very megalomaniac dreams of teaching them grammar is gone down the drain.

The reason why i was left alone again today was because 4 principals from neighbouring rural schools had come to have a meeting with Horm, to organize an English camp next week for about 200 students in the area. It is not really what you would expect from a camp, basically all students of the surrounding area come to our little school to learn English with me! I have no idea how this is going to work out. But Horm, who is always very kind, told me not to worry, it's just good for them to meet farang. So i did not have lunch with the kids today, but instead with the principalsF and teachers of the visiting schools. It was quite an interesting lunch. They all wanted to take pictures with me, commented on my beauty, the shape of my body, and other things that i couldn't understand... To celebrate the end of this promising camp they will take me to karaoke next week. Judging by how much they love Thai pop music around here this will be quite an event. I am now taking a break while Horm is teaching Thai to the kids. She told me that the teachers are quite happy about running the camp. And then she said something that i thought was really nice: 'Look Non Ju, how they are very happy to study wih you'. The other principals were really impressed seeing the kids playing unafraid of a farang. She continued: 'You know, they don't have to know a lot and be at the top. I just want them to be happy'. And i had to think how much other schools could learn from this little, tiny, poor school here in the Tahi countryside.
As some of you have asked me whether you could send something to the school, here follows the address:

Ban Nonpho School
206 Moo 15 Ban Nongarm
Naphiang Sub-district
Chum Phae District
Khon Kaen Province
Thailand 40130

Please, don't send anything big or expensive, because here everything is very simple. If you want you can send pencils, colour pencils, pictures, or a little book or maps (there are no maps in the school at all). But nothing much, they will appreciate anything. If you do, just write 'from a friend of Kun Kru Ju', and put your name as well.
I better go back to the class room, i am already behaving like a Thai school teacher (just leaving..:)

South East Asia 11

I know this will sound repetitive, but today was the hottest day ever! I thought that yesterday was already too hot and that a storm was about to break out. But to my surprise the day started with no clouds in the sky, and by 10am the temperature was absolutely unbearable. I did not move and still could not stop sweating. As i was letargically laying down on the wooden divan/sofa outside, i couldn't help but feel like i was in a movie of those westerners who go to the east and "picturesquely" try to survive the heat by doing nothing while outside they still can see the farmers, the countrymen going about their work just naturally. As i was laying down on my wooden couch Oye, a 7 year old little girl who was visiting, came to check what i was doing. As usual she just started speaking Thai to me, completely oblivious to the fact that i do not understand Thai. She eventually pointed at my ipod and i understood that she wanted to hear what i was listening to. I chose a song by Monica Salmaso with many clarinets, which i thought was quite child-like and that she might appreciate. She put one earplug in and then laid down next to me, so that we could listen to the music together. She was so cute, because she was very tiny and i could even notice when she liked one song more than another. Not that she said anything, she just paid more attention. She like Monica and she liked Debussy.

When it is that hot there is literally nothing that you can do around here. Even the garden bungalow, which is usually quite cool, was extremely hot. So i just alternated between the wooden couch on the porch and the bungalow trying to practice equanimity while just looking at the very slow pace of life around here. At some point it was actually quite enjoyable. And then of course when i gave up on fighting the heat a storm broke out. Horm was sitting in the hammock while the carpenter was building a swing and Non Nen was watering the plants. As they all moved into the bungalow to not get wet i went out wishing that the storm left me entirely soaked. It was just sooo wonderful!

Non Nen was really worried about me in the rain. In fact she is always very puzzled by my farang behaviour. For instance i always Way everybody. She explained me many times that i cannot Way her because she is a student. I can only Way people older than me. I tell her i like Way-ing everybody, but she just doesn't understand. Yesterday, I finally gave her the little book about Brazil. On the cover i wrote 'from Kun Kru Ju to Non Nen'. It actually took her a while to understand that i was giving the book to her. And when she did she was extremely thankful and happy. A few minutes later she came to me with two laminated pictures. There was a very young couple in both of them. She said "my father, my mother". As i knew from Horm that her mother had disappeared and her father had left her to be taken care of by an older lady in the village who used to hit her and not care for her at all, when i saw the laminated pictures my heart shrank. I did not know what to say... All i could say was "they are beautiful". She said "thank you", smiling. Really sad...
There are always many people stopping by at the house. I don't think i have actually told you who lives here and who comes by every day. Well, there is of course Horm, her two sons whose nicknames are 'Book' and 'Brain' (she explained me that it was because she's a teacher that she chose those nicknames), Hans (the Danish guy) and Non Nen and me. Book and Brain are 17 and 18, and are very very shy. I rarely see them and when i do they avoid talking to me. Also here on a daily basis are Oom (Horm's secretary, which is the lady that is married and that is having an affair with Hans), her two daughters, the carpenter, and Oh, the masseuse. One hour of massage costs 100 Thai Bhat, which is less than £2, and which basically means we're having massages almost every day.

Oh came today to give me a 2 hours massage. While she was massaging me the storm that had subsided broke out again more violently than ever. With the storm the power went down. So i actually had a massage by candlelight and amazing lightning outside. I would love to tell you guys about how much i learned from Oh about Thai culture, Thai men, Thai prostitution, but as the power is down, and it is Haiko who is kindly writing down what i am dictating to him over the phone i cannot elaborate much more.
Lots of love form a completely dark house in South East Asia