As our backpacks were loaded onto the large song-thaew outside the English department at Ubon Ratchathani University, I had no idea what to expect from the coming weekend at English Crazy Camp. I had some wonderful conversations with students as we drove down the road and watched the sun set. When we arrived, we were warmly greeted by the school staff with a beautiful meal ready for us (the first of many!!) and we all dug in. After dinner, we got straight to work learning the new songs and games. I was especially pleased to learn of the Thai rendition of "rock, paper, scissors" entitled "girl, ghost, monk." In our get-to-know you game, it was also interesting to learn that the older students are addressed as "Pee" and the younger students as "Nong" I hadn't known that! After lots of laughter and already many interesting conversations with the students, we were ready for bed. I hadn't been traveling with a sleeping bag, so luckily the school gave me a very warm and fluffy bright pink blanket and matching pillow to sleep on. I slept like a baby.
The next morning, we woke up bright and early. I was absolutely shocked to see children already arriving by bicycle at the school hours before we were scheduled to start, and on a weekend at that! It was really beautiful (and refreshing!) to see kids so eager and excited to learn!
The day was filled with lessons, games and songs. I helped out with the Nature group, mainly assisting with correct pronunciation of different items in nature and colours. The kids had to find the different objects we asked them for, like "pink flower" or "yellow leaf. and then later, they had to draw pictures of what we described and tell a story about it. Thanks to the translating skills of the students, I got to appreciate the kids' creativity in their storytelling.
That night we were up late again, but got to watch the great film, Pay It Forward. It was nice to hear the discussion that followed the movie about everyone's different conception of what "paying it forward" means: in the world, at English Crazy Camp, etc. A great discussion, but after a long day in the heat and mountains of beautiful Isaan food (I love Isaan food, by the way!), I was ready to sleep again.
The next morning we started early once again, and I think - if it's possible - the kids were there even earlier! They couldn't get enough! We started with a walk to the nearby temple. Netting taught me a lot about Buddhism in Thailand and a bit about the forest monastery tradition in Ubon. After some more games back at the school, and another HUGE lunch (I was feeling quite full at this point), there was a beautiful Isaan closing ceremony during which I had tens of little white bracelets put around my wrists for good luck. It was a very special experience: I kept those bracelets on for over a month!
The weekend ended with a walk around the children's villages, a game of dodgeball, and then the group of English Crazies left for a stop in Netting's village and a walk over the dam. We tried looking for monkeys but couldn't find any, unfortunately!! It was a nice relaxing end to a great, albeit exhausting, couple of days.
I was so pleased to have stumbled onto English Crazy Camp. I had lots of fun playing with the kids, and in the meantime learned so much about student life in Ubon, and about Thai & Isaan culture and politics from the other students, not to mention making many lasting friendships. I can't wait to come back to Thailand join the English Crazies again. Thank you for including me!!
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