Walking Through My Day
Late this morning I taught Noy, the neighbor boy, for an hour and a half. He is one who has had very little training in Engish, so we are going through a picture dictionary and learning about telling time, and recognizing shapes and colors. After the lesson was finished, HE began instructing ME--in Thai--about various wats in the area. He used my whiteboard to write in Thai what he was saying and was actually a very good teacher. He had the patience to explain and repeat as often as needed.
After lunch I went grocery shopping at Lotus. As I was walking out with my purchases to catch a motorcycle taxi, I saw this group of Thai dogs. A very common sight in Thailand.:)
Also, as I was walking out, I noticed several workers pushing water around on the parking lot, presumably to get rid of it. I approached one young lady and asked if I might take her picture. She asked why, so I proceeded to tell her I like to show my family and friends life in Thailand, and she seemed OK with that. Her name is Daa; she is a real sweetheart like most Thais I have met.
I took this picture myself, and almost missed my lovely face.:)
After I arrived back home, I did a bit of reading; as time went on, it grew dark, and I looked out the window to see this:
Sure enough, it POURED down rain, lasting several hours. My wall and glass sliding doors still leak, so I have about 3 large towels sopping wet in my room right now. I have gotten used to that, though, so it's not that big of a deal anymore.:)
While it was still raining, I received a phone call regarding Nim, a new friend who wanted to come sit in on my English class tonight. Since she had never been here before, she wanted me to meet her at a soi approximately 15 minutes' walk away from here. I donned my umbrella and inched my way through the masses of street vendors on the sidewalk and the customers walking through with their umbrellas. Talk about having umbrella collisions....!:)
I arrived at the designated meeting place and waited as long as I felt I could before needing to return to let my students into my apartment. My new friend had not yet showed up, but no one else knew where I had gone. About 5 minutes after I returned to my room, Nim called me to let me know she was waiting for me. When she realized I couldn't come meet her, she managed to find my street, and then I went out to meet her to walk her back to my room.
I am beginning to think that my classes will never be the exact same people. Some people called and cancelled because of traffic jams caused by the rain and one person was back in her home province. But I had two regulars, Lak and Pen, and then Nim came as well as Gop, Lak's 12-year-old brother (those two came mostly to listen in).
Here is the group minus Lak, who is getting tired of my perpetual picture-taking and volunteered to take the picture for us.:)
And finally, here is a picture of more FOOD! Nim brought the mixed fruit and sticky rice stuffed durian fruit. Durian is the fruit that smells REALLY bad. I've heard it is said that durian tastes like heaven but smells like, well, you know, that other place. I tried some of it, and with the sticky rice it wasn't too bad. It is certainly not number one on my list though.:)
One more note: I offered tonight to study the Bible/eat lunch together on Sunday for anyone who is interested. No one committed, though one or two seemed mildly interested. I hope to invite a few more people before Sunday. Feel free to pray that God would have His way in this. Thanks!