Rain drops keep fallin on my head...

When it rains it pours! These pictures really don’t do it justice, lots of people were calling it a monsoon, I don’t know if I would quite call it that, but we may as well jumped in the lake or taken a shower…so much rain! It was awesome!

The rain was really loud and every now and again thunder and lightning would come and light up the sky with a sound like a cannon (not that I have heard what one sounds like, but it was really loud :o) It was also really windy so our skirts were pulling a Marilyn Monroe

I’m sure we looked like a bunch of stupid Americans running around in the pouring rain!!

So much for dry clothes!

Monkey Land!

By afternoon we were all exhausted and covered in sweat and dirt and it was decided that it was to hot to continue work. So we jumped in our sweat smelling vans (i'm sure the drivers just loved us!) and went to a local monkey park... it was pretty sweet- there were monkeys running all over the place as well as signs warning people that the monkeys weren't nice and to not leave your stuff unattended because the monkey's would run away with it... I loved watching the mom monkey's with their babies!

Their signs are so much cooler looking than ours!

Sweet looking cave- you had to watch out for the low ceiling and monkeys running around

They have these all over the place, I think it is cool that they show so much outward dedication to their beliefs.
Awesome Rock/Mountain thingy- these were all over the area, they were gorgeous! They reminded me of the floating mountains in Avatar...probably as close to Pandora as I will ever get!
Mama Shawn and I- she's awesome- we needed a mom for the group!

These next pictures require a bit of an explanation... I'm sure all of you have gathered for a group picture where everyone insists on taking a picture with their own camera... (we joked that the most common phrase in this trip was 'tag me' because we didn't have time to take pictures with all 40 camera's)... So when we came across this mountain reflected in the pond we gathered up for a group picture... so instead of smiling we opted for a new pose for each shot...

The Models (yes-we were sexy in our disgusting work clothes!)

Body builders...

uh... Barbie?

Monkeys

Pirates

and awed by the great beauty!

Ya... interesting picture...but I wanted to show their play ground equipment- they were toy versions of exercise machines...it was like being at a gym for kids... I guess this is why the kids in the US are obese!!

swing, swing, swing

One of our projects was to make a play ground for the school. We started by laying gravel (I guess their playgrounds have gravel instead of our woodchips which probably wouldn’t last long with all their rain). We spread out the gravel on a Sunday so a bunch of the local kids came up to help out (which is why the kids aren’t in their uniforms).

Our dedicated little helpers...

Many of the kids opted to document our progress.... I know I definitely posed for many pictures like this one...and this one...Teaching Nut how to do some little hand slapping game... I love her look of concentration...

The final project!

This is one of 3 pieces of playground equipment. We bought the swing sets from a guy who started a non profit company after the tsunami making playground equipment. His whole business is run by volunteers who want to do a little humanitarian work while on their vacation. Cool idea huh?

What else do you need on a play ground but a tire swing...it's perfect!

There was a random cement tube in the middle of the playground... so we painted it and are putting a checkerboard made out of a old door on top of it!

Hoes and Holes

In Thailand their main tool was the hoe...they didn't have shovels or many other tools. Their 'wheel barrows' were these little baskets, it definitely takes longer with these tools, but I must say I am now very impressed with how much you can do with a hoe! There were definitely a lot of hoe jokes! We had to make a few deep holes for the septic tanks and grease trap to go into.

Some of the local kids came to help us out... here is a example of their 'wheel barrows'

It was so so SO SO HOT!! So Hot and humid- it was crazy- haven't felt anything like it! I can't imagine how much water we went through during our 2 weeks there! The local kids would come up and offer us 'water' which turned out to be this really sweet pink drink that tasted kind of like bubblegum....Chris and I taking a water breakOur little hole! Hahaha- it doesn't look deep but we worked on this for a long time! You can see how gross and sweaty everyone was...yummy! This was my group, we got to know each other quite well as we were with each other everyday going to and from the school in the vans.

6:00 wake up calls and Squid for breakfast

Though waking up at 6 was not the highlight of my day, the sunrising over the mountains and reflecting off the river was gorgeous!

They had some funky things for breakfast! Always fried rice and other sea food- I’m not the biggest fan of sea food, especially squid or octopus first thing in the morning! The hotel was cute to try to make American food for us… It didn’t take them long to realize that we ate a lot of French Toast in the mornings! I ate more for breakfast here than I ever do at home because I knew that I would be out in 100+ heat and 200% humidity! They had a guy there that would make omelets every morning, towards the end he would give us the omelets and say “thank you”. My breakfast normally consisted of a piece of french toast or regular toast with awesome jam, an omelet, fried rice, maybe some bacon and always pineapple and watermelon...yumm....

This picture of me is gross because I just drenched myself in 50 spf sun block and deet bug spray… I was a grease ball!

We ate breakfast on the patio over the river, it was way pretty. Motor boats were constantly driving by giving tours or transporting people to or fro

Eating breakfast- Aaron showing off his mini banana, me with my cool looking fruit (wasn’t my favorite to eat but it was awesome looking!) and Julia with her squid

Opening Ceremonies

We got to the hotel at 2:30 in the morning- it took awhile to get everything organized and headed to our rooms. Once we were setting down in our room I heard a scream coming from one of our neighbors. I went over to find one of the girls in a towel and said there was a gecko in their shower. I tried to get it out but it was to fast and crawled inside the door frame (yes inside-it was hallow)...one of the hotel staff came and got it out. A few hours later when we were in bed we heard another scream, after that we heard a knock at the door and someone asked us- "you scream?" What they must think of us wimpy Americans!

Since we didn't get to bed until 3 or 4 am when it was pitch dark outside we were able to sleep in- it was glorious! The minute we were out of bed we opened the blinds to this! We were right on the shore of a river-a very dirty river with needle fish, snakes and garbage floating around in it, but it was still gorgeous!
They made a sign for us that hung in front of the hotel the whole time we were there.

Panorama of the schoolyard and temple

1 of the 2 school buildings- 3 class rooms each

The old temple and cemetery

Close up of the temple...it was next to a small monk monastery

That day we headed to our school site. When we pulled up all of the kids were waiting to greet us. When we tried taking pictures with them we swatted down so that we were on the same level for the pictures- they would in turn get lower and lower to the ground- by the end they were practically lying on the ground!

After we got there the kids ran up grabbed our kids and we went for a little tour...

They took us to their temple and we taught them how to play down by the banks...probably not the best idea to do there... but we needed something to do with them to bridge the language barrier!
Our group with the school consulate and the president of their local rotary club

They played Thai music for us... very well prepared!
They dished up and served us lunch- this was probably one of my favorite meals of the trip, rice, fried egg and some kind of spicy-ish (they tamed it down so I didn't think it was to spicy) meat dish- way tasty!

Playing games- (duck duck goose, red rover) with them, it took bit for them to figure it out what to do, we would have to demonstrate it for them and help them.

They LOVED our camera's!! It was the best form of entertainment- they loved getting their pictures taken and especially taking pictures. This is kind of a weird picture of me- I look overly excited but figured you would get the point!