thailand blog

Monday's are kinda like our "p-day" we had a lazy morning & just relaxed, & then had a preparation meeting. We planned projects & went to the store to get supplies for the week so that we are prepared & things run more smoothly. We didn't get to the Lahu village until about 5. We had so much fun there tonight! We painted the inside walls of a meeting building at their village. We kept the kids out because that would have just been obnoxious with them in there. But they just stood at the open windows the entire time & watched & occasionally called out our names & waved. "Mel!" 👋🏼 so cute. There are so many stinkin kids at the lahu village. We are going to be teaching some sex ed classes pretty soon so that the girls know what a healthy relationship is. The kids are the best though! I just had so much fun with them today! They make you feel so loved! I'm usually with the girls cause the boys just do their own thang but occasionally a lil boy will come jump on my back & I'm just like oh hey. What's up dude? Haha some of the older girls know very basic English so I can communicate a bit better with them. They love practicing their English with you. Occasionally I can tell a group of girls are talking about me so I'll ask David (a team lead) that speaks Thai what they are saying. It's always good things, like today one of the girls asked him what drugs I used to make myself so beautiful. I almost died. I just looked at her & laughed & shook my head. No no no. No drugs. It was so funny! They will come up to you & touch your face & say "so beautiful" if that's not a self esteem booster I don't know what is! AND THEN, the best part of the entire week was doing aerobics with them. It was seriously the funnest thing! We had music blasting through the speakers & everyone was dancing & following one of the volunteers up front. She has a little routine that we follow along with. When we finished we kept the music going & just danced for at least an hour more! They will just stand there & copy you. So it was like non stop dancing with a group of lil kiddos following your every move! So fun. So so fun. By about 7:30 we had dinner. Two villagers that I think are married made us dinner & ate with us. We were outside & bugs were everywhere, I guess you learn to just get over it. The food was AMAZING though. There was a very spicy dish I thought my eyes were gonna fall out! Every meal is my new favorite meal! Seriously it just keeps getting better! Then we ate Tim Tams dipped in milk. You bite each end of the cookie & suck the milk through it. It is heaven. I'm pretty sure you can get them in the U.S. But I'm gonna bring some back anyways! Today started out slow but ended with a bang! Such a solid night.

AEROBICS!  Sorry I sound so dumb in this & they don't even know what I'm saying. Oh well.