14
Location: Kanchanaburi
Today we woke up before dawn for our morning exercises. Before breakfast, we prepared our lesson plan to teach 200 high school students in an auditorium for 2 hours. We did fun English learning games for the time and danced to Call Me Maybe for them. Despite it being very overwhelming trying to teach 200 kids our age English, it went surprisingly well, and the students seemed to enjoy it. When we returned home lunch was waiting for us. When we finished eating, we gathered as a group and did a Lifeworks forum which made us think about and discuss our impacts intentionally and unintentionally in the world. After the discussion, we painted key chains and made soap which is common activities for the kids at the New Life Project. It was very fun, and it was nice to be able to make something for our buddies. Before dinner, we had a few hours of downtime when most of us slept, and a few people started to get ready in traditional Thai makeup and clothing. Following dinner, we had a fashion show of the Lifeworkers that dressed up in the traditional clothing including three boys that wore the traditional women clothing. It was the highlight of the night seeing them in fake eyelashes and lipstick. Yesterday as our activity we made Kratongs which are made with leaves and flowers and after the fashion show, we went with the kids to a river to light them and let them float down. It was a beautiful sight to see with all of the Kratongs lite up and “taking all of our worries and stress away.” When we returned, we had our nightly dance party which is always fun and a great way to end the long days. Today was a long, crazy, memorable day yet again in Thailand. It is crazy to think that in 2 days we are leaving the kids here who we all have bonded with.