Passion to Purpose: My Journey

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

MARCH MADNESS!!! =)

Disclaimer THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BASKETBALL JUST THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A CUTE TITLE SINCE ITS MARCH AND I HAD ALOT GOING ON HAHA!

Helloooo! Its the end of March already and I am back!!!! Everything is going pretty smoothly. 'I Love You' Group is still coming consistently and progressing very well, which I am very excited about. School is out which means the kids have found themselves at my house more often but I love it. The majority of my day is spent at the school, now that school is out, most of my time is spent at the SAO, Sub district Administration Organization, the village government office. Although I love the people here, I have never been one to simply sit. I don't think I know how. I think it is more exhausting then running a 1 million mile race. I dread it. This has definitely been a major struggle thus far and it has only been 2 weeks ha, i cant imagine a month more. The great news is next week is Midservice Conference!!! We have been here for a whole year and now we will all connect and discuss our experiences at site. Most importantly, Ill be out and about, not sitting at a desk!!!! EXCITED does not explain the way I am feeling haha.
This month I feel like I have been 'thai-napped'( when a Thai person comes, picks you up with either partial knowledge or no knowledge at all about what is about to happen, where you are going, or how long you will be gone) about 10000 times. Since they were 'Thai-nappings' I was not prepared and did not have my camera. I went to a number of great places. Although this is true, this month has been filled with fun and some cultural events that I did catch on camera! In this blog, I will post pictures of the events I went to and try to explain a little about each! I will see you all next month! With an update on Midservice Conference, Son Kran ( Thai New Year) and much more! As always thanks sooo much for all your support! All the emails, calls, texts, videos, skypes, letter,cards, and packages!!!! If you would like to send me something or call shoot me a message and ill send the contact info!

This is the wedding of P' Kat and P'Art ( some of my favorite people)

The grooms family and the brides family come together. The grooms family enters the brides family home bearing gifts.

Close up! lots of people and P' Art was crying it was sooo sweet because I have never seen a man cry since I have been here.

The groom must present a 'gift' to the brides family that was agreed upon prior to. As a thank you for allowing me your daughter and taking care of her all of these years. This is 800,000 baht which equals almost 25,000 dollars

Family and friends are praying for them and send well wishes

This is sports day! this is a major part of Thai culture it happens on different levels A LOT throughout the year. I also realized sports day pretty much trumps all other events that may be going on at the same time haha.

Sports day! each school entered in this manner! everything must start with a parade!

At sports day with some of the little dancers

Getting made up... yes these are 1st and 2nd graders

One of the activities I do here is visiting all the kids 0-14 with any disability .. He loves me now haha

Playing with my Ipad

'I LOVE YOU" KING AND QUEEN. Have not missed one classed and answered all their test questions without assistance! Queen Nong Porn and King Nong Six

Little trophies! haha

FUN DAY!!!! Reward day for the kids who came to a majority of the classes and tested well! Baking! Only english! They had to retrieve the ingredients by saying may I please have _____? By the end of class they were using the sentence in other ways without me asking! They are great!

Group 1 made cookies

Group 2 Brownies!!

DONE!

This was the 5 day monk coronation. In Thai culture, 21 yo males must become a monk for a varying amount of time. This was very interesting to watch. First family and friends came to cut a piece of their hair

and then the monk cleaned them up shaving all the hair of their heads

including eyebrows

Random pic of me and my babies ( note the people in the back staring and pointing that is pretty much my life here lol )

Parade time!!! We are dancing our way to the temple where the 3 males will pray as well as a monk will pray for them and with them.

Walking and dancing around the temple

us again haha

Praying at the temple

And he is ready!!

The end of night 4!

PARTYYY TIMEEE

Randomness again! I YouTube'd how to braid my own hair!! WOOT WOOT! saved about 60 dollars! it will get better with time this is only my 2nd time!

and me again!!! love you all see you next month

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Introducing the new and improved "I LOVE YOU" Group!

Hello!! I hope you are all doing well. I have fulfilled my promise for the month of February! (thanks ENITSIRHC!) And here it is. The blog of the month =). A little update; life has been moving and progressing smoothly. There were several changes that I wanted to make in 2014. I have started a number of them successfully while some of them are still a work in progress. One of the, so far, very successful changes this year, is my refresh, reinstated youth group.

Last year I had an English group that I would eventually turn into a youth group. I started it because children would show up to my house at all times of the day. I then decided in order to have a little “me” time, I should give them a specific time to show up. It was fun for a while, but due to the way I started this group, I believe it lacked structure. And that is where the problem started. One week there would be 10 kids, next week 5 kids, another week 6 kids but never a consistent number and never the same kids. I realized NOTHING could be accomplished if they are learning these new skills without the opportunity to build on to what they previously learned. It would be pointless; except playing fun games with P’som, which, although fun, is not what I wanted. After a few moments of complaining about how the kids in Thailand do not understand consistency and structure. I decided to stop, regroup, and rethink this whole process. I started thinking ,“What could I have done different?”, “What could I have done to instill those things into the children earlier on?” I then ended the group.

This time around I made sure all my ducks were in a row. I went to each school, all classes, and places in the community with sign up sheets. I also handed out a letter for parents explaining what I would like to do, where, when and even why. I knew that in doing this, lots of children would say yes simply to please me, but I explained each time, that I love them all and will still love them if they do not come to group because I wanted only the children who would commit.

Fast-forward to now, the group has been great. We meet once a week for at least 2 hours; often they stay longer ha. There are 2 groups; 1 group grades 3-6 and another grades 7 and up. There are about 30 children in the first group (with about 24 consistent every week) but only 3 in the older group. The plan is to make them the leaders for some of the activities for the younger kids.

First day, we discussed the structure of the group as well of rules and regulations, allowing them to suggest rules they felt were appropriate. They also chose a group name, “ I LOVE YOU GROUP”. I thought it was cute. As of now we are still in the trial period of the group, which ends this Saturday. We haven’t started any large projects because I want to make sure these kids are here to stay. I am really happy with the way this group is progressing and see them doing some amazing activities in the community soon.

One of our life skills activities was combined with a bit of cultural exchange. Since it is February, I chose to teach about Martin Luther King. The children did not realize that there are people from all countries in the United States. It was really amazing to hear some of their responses and to see them fully engaged in the conversation. We discussed Martin Luther King and why he is an important figure. We then did an “I had a dream..” activity which you can see in the video posted below. After all activities were completed, we conversed about what important characteristics did he have that they could apply to their everyday lives’. A number of them stated that you should treat people well no matter who they are or where they are from and if you see someone doing something wrong you should help or tell someone. I was really very happy with this activity and cannot wait to do more. For activities such as this one, I enlist the help of community members. One of my hopes is to find one consistent community member so that when I leave, the group can continue. I love to see the kids thinking, engaging, and learning all while having fun.

There you have it a little snippet into one of my projects at site! Here are a few pictures of life since my last post as well as pictures from the “I LOVE YOU GROUP”. See you next month!!!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH!! Martin Luther King Cultural Exchange! with 'I LOVE YOU' Group

CLICK HERE TO WATCH!! Me and my first Yii(grandmother) in Supan she is funny Translation: I am trying to get her to say hello and she keeps laughing i asked her why are you laughing and she says because her eyes are closed lol!

Now 'I Love You' Group!