We're Playing in the Rain!

Laura contributed this post...thanks Laura!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a long and eventful weekend, we returned to Salesian on Monday, rested, finally adjusted to the time zone and prepared for another week of school and the first day of our after school program! One of our fearless leaders, Dr. Kingston, was still in Bangkok finishing her teacher workshop so Dr. Hartigan planned our schedules for the day.  I spent the morning in the anuban again, Meg was in first and third grade EP math, Kara, Jess and Winette were in fourth grade EP math and second grade EP social studies, and Erica and Kelly were in first and second grade EP math. Everyone was finished with school by 11:30am and we had until 4:00 in the afternoon for free time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first day of the after school camp was an adventure. It took awhile for everyone to find their classrooms and teachers but we eventually settled in and were off expanding young minds once again! During the after school program, we plan “camp” activities for the students to participate in. Winette, Kara and Jess planned to sing songs and play Simon Says, Meg and I planned an outdoor kickball game and water balloon toss and Kelly and Erica planned to have the students make cootie catchers. The program went extremely well for our first day in spite of the teachers having not known about it until earlier that morning. Unfortunately, the torrential rain cancelled our outdoor activities so improvising was necessary. Thankfully, us education majors are good at thinking on their feet!

Since the rain cancelled the children’s outdoor activities, our teachers decided to take full advantage of the materials. We certainly couldn’t let an entire basket of filled water balloons go to waste! Soaked from head to toe, we had a blast giggling, laughing and dodging the indestructible balls of fury. Afterwards, we headed to the basketball court for a quick game of three-on-three with Winette as our referee. Kelly, Laura and Meg (team Gannon) defeated team solid shirts (Erica, Jess, and Kara) with rookie MVP Meg leading the team into victory. A rematch has been demanded - next time in soccer. The Thai's, as a people, do not like the rain. They believe it is a surefire way to get sick. On the other hand, we Americans, unlike the Thai’s, are praying for more rain so we can play outside again without having heat strokes.

For dinner, we were interested in how Thailand interprets American food so we went to Market Village and enjoyed french fries at the Sizzler. Admittedly, Tim was missing his “man time” but he is having a blast with his seven new adoptive daughters. Dr. Kingston returned later Monday night with lots of exciting stories for us. We are having a blast in Hua Hin, Thailand and the end of our time here will come all too soon but in the mean time, we’re living in the moment and enjoying every second of this experience!