The Hill Tribes' School

I just returned from 4 days at the Hill Tribes' School. I don't know if it made the sitting and waiting in Chiang Rai worth it, but I definitely had a great time. I taught English to the kids. I taught the 6th graders all day Mon and Tues, and the 4th graders on Wed. I was sooo nervous the 30 minutes of Monday (especially since David didn't tell me I would be teaching them until 5 minutes beforehand), I don't think I've ever been so sweaty from nerves! lol But I got over it and after lunch I actually felt comfortable and like an okay teacher. I got attached to the sixth graders though, and when they told me I was gonna do the 4th graders on Wed morning, I felt cheated. I was just getting to know the 6th graders and they had really started getting stuff I was saying and teaching and then I never came back! I even had a spelling test for them that day! :-( Oh well, c'est la vie. The 4th graders were harder mostly because they would talk and not sit down and they didn't understand me as well. They just had shorter attention spans I guess and I think everything I was doing was hard for them. There were always about 5 kids who were really interested and trying to learn, but 5 others are talking and yelling and getting up it is hard to teach anything! Props to any teacher that does it full time cuz it is exhausting, and these kids were way better mannered than those I've encountered through school (or was at times...)
Outside of class time I played with the kids a lot. We played ping-pong and badmitton, and a kind of jump ropish game...it was wish a long chain of rubberband links and you tried to jump over it either without touching if it was low to the ground, or just to get over it when it was high (like above their heads!) I was pretty bad at the rubberband jump rope game, but the kids were awesome at it!
I also made friends with the teachers. They were all really nice, though most of them could barely speak english. It was okay though. On Tuesday, a teacher that speaks english showed up and translated for us sometimes.
Outside of the ppl, the hills are seriously beautiful. Here's a pic from the school area:

There is so much I have to say, or rather feel/think that I can't seem to express it. I will try.
First of all, David is incredibly caring and very open-minded when it comes to the poor, but it seems he is highly intolerant of more civilized people and choices they make regarding the Hill Tribe peoples. For example, a year ago a solar panel company came and put in a solar panel for each family in every village of the hill tribes. David is upset because many of the tribes don't even have proper toilets or water supply, so electricity is not really a top priority esp since a generator for each family would be much cheaper. I tried to explain why the solar panel company would do what they did i.e. (1) they make solar panels so thats what they feel they can provide, (2) they have never lived in the villages so they dont really know that they need water and toilets the most, (3) they imagine living without electricity to be very difficult and see that as a legit contribution and (4) as most of you know, petroleum use is essentially considered unsustainable and we, as humans, are working (albeit slowly) to cut its use. It's most likely just the different ways we have been raised, and different things we have seen and learned about, b/c to him, the poor hill tribe people are a huge part of his life and I think represent his family that he's left in Burma to him, so helping the hill tribes is how he can help the Burmese ppl (the hill tribes are refugees from the militant Burma/Myanmar...like illegal Mexicans in the US if they built villages in the deserts near the border...which is uninhabitable, but it gives you an idea anyway).

Another thing is how helpful the hill tribe kids are. They literally clean the entire school everyday. They have a little flag ceremony in the morning, and then they go in groups and each do a little chore, like picking up garbage, or sweeping and mopping a specific classroom. Since about half the kids actually live at the school, before dinner they do they same thing, but different chores like cleaning the bathrooms. Given things up there aren't as clean as your home because it's like a summer camp (lots of mud and dirt!), but they help a lot! And this is all the kids, ages 6-11. They eat in a dining hall, here's a pic:

A group of kids cleans up the mats and floor after every meal. Don't be alarmed that they are sitting on the floor to eat because everyone does that like me and the teachers and I think many families around here too.

Oh! And I did find a Thai boy mom....well not really, he is Burmese (from one of the hill tribes), and a teacher at the school and I don't like him at all. lol. well he is nice but yeah. anyway, he speaks very little english and yesterday he asked if i wanted to go to the store (a hill tribe store is essentially someone's hut that has some candies and fruits and spices to sell). It sounded fun so we rode his motorbike through the hills and he asked if i had a boyfriend and if we could be friends (he meant like boyfriend girlfriend). lol it was funny. it took the whole trip, there and back, for him to ask and for me to tell him no i dont have a boyfriend but no I don't want to be your girlfriend and for us both to understand! haaha. he was not upset though, but props to him for trying. there's guys that can fully speak english who are to scared to ask a girl out...and girls for that matter. short story: go for it! it's not that big of a deal to be rejected.

Here are some final pics from the school yard, just because they are pretty. :)