When Paper Cuts Aren’t Enough

I was walking down the street today and couldnt resist sharing… I dont think I’ve seen such a random sign in a while.

And oddly enough it wasnt even for a stationary store. No it was some boutique clothing store… go figure.

The Fleelings of Vietnam

This is an excerpt from an email I had sent out a while ago, but thought I’d post it up before I do a more indepth write up of Vietnam so that if for I missed anyone you can read it here…

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There were so many random and hilarious moments that I dont really know what to highlight. Most of the hilarity was due to our inability to speak Vietnamese. We got around the country with a phrasebook (we couldnt pronounce the words correctly so had to just point and hope), and a magical book called “fleelings” that was sadly lost the last day of our trip (it was a notebook purchased in thailand, that had as its title “Fleelings, Oh those Fleelings of Love”) in which we wrote phrases, prices and had stick figures communicate our inner most thoughts.

The guide books we brought provided us with great information, although at times when the writers meant “remote” they meant REMOTE as we found out, at night fall when we found ourselves on the side of a mountain in the jungle trying to get back to civilization (see videos getting lost 1-5 in Mai Chau album).

We got a chance to meet some of the Bahais around Vietnam which was great and got to really experience about as much of Vietnam as you can in 2 weeks. We got ripped off, covered in mud, sweat, ate WAY too much Pho (likely because we couldnt say anything other than that), saw beautiful villages, beaches and were kindly greeted and treated by vietnamese everywhere (aside from motorcycle xe oms, and pretty much anyone who could extract any amount of money from us, though once you did agree upon a price for things, people became very amicable again).

I will leave the stories then to the pictures and videos I have uploaded.

They are all at http://picasaweb.google.com/scottschaffter and facebook.

Here are some highlighted videos I thought you might like:

1. Kevin Fights a Kid
2. Stupid Pigs
3. Twirling Girls
4. Red Dzao Escort
5. Best Charity Ever

Anyway I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as my brother and I enjoyed the trip. It was by far the most intense travel I have done.

I would love to hear how things are going wherever you may be now. Hope life is treating you well!

Thailand Is In Asia!

Thailand is very much Asian (a real bomb shell there I know), for some reason Im not sure why, I seem to forget that fact some times while I’m here. Perhaps because its more toned down from say China where the omni-presence of random english signs that say things like “please remove the vestibule of the entering before the force will be having to make removal of self” smacked you in the face all the time. Here, its more subtle. Which is great honestly.

Here are some things I found to be in that category that I have found humorous:

1. The Way Milk Should Be:

Plain Milk

Why do we need distinctions (I actually personally love the simplicity of choice in third world countries, I just think this is the perfect example of that)? Why the 1%, 2%, skim and other permutations?

2. A Double Fish Burger at McDonalds

Double Fish Filet

Thats right, D OUBLE. As much as I would like to forget the eating of McDonalds while in Thailand, which to me is a sin almost tantamount to say murder, it did allow me to enjoy seeing how McDonald tries to adapt to local cultures in interesting ways. I however dont think I could deal with that much fish…

3. ATMs Make Life Interesting

Unfortunately I havent recorded it, but I think I am obliged to. Here, when you take out money from an ATM its not a every day thing apparently. Accompanying the withdrawal, or actually, whenever the machine really feels like it, it begins to play music that I cannot adequately describe, but I guess it would be a happy carribean dance ringtone type thing. I’ll record it and try and post it, it made my day. Why cant every ATM just be happy about life right?

4. Math on Snacks?

Fish Math

I remember getting bubble gum in places that would have weird facts or some kind of joke or something like that on the back so that when you are done you have something to read and enjoy. Here its math. And not even like some interesting kind of statistic. No, its math, cold, hard math. A formula and an explanation about it. And we wonder why kids in Asia consistently kick North American’s asses at math…

Well that concludes this somewhat random collection of things I have found funny here… there are others but these stuck out. If you have any other bizzare thai observations please feel free to comment.

Soi Praya Prasert Children Classes in Thailand

Pictures – Note some of these are from the Children’s Class at Aaron’s House

An oasis of Thai hospitality and kindness in a city that seems to have forgotten its roots amid the hustle and bustle of city life, “moo ban” Praya Prasert is a village within a city.

At the end of a street where banana and palm trees allow you to forget the surrounding din, a small thatch hut has been constructed and is the site of the Children’s Classes at Praya Prasert.

The open atmosphere of the class means that children will often literally disappear, you need only turn away for a few seconds and they have run into a neighbor’s house, or will be seen minutes later on a commandeered bicycle several blocks down. It makes explaining games, as I am sure you can appreciate, difficult to say the least.

I have only participated in the class twice now, but it has been a memorable experience and I will continue to go each weekend. The first weekend there were only five children that showed up. It took several minutes to get the children to come, sit down and begin class. The fact that this can even be achieved is admirable given the environment at which the class is held and the propensity of the children to run around or scream for no apparent reason.

While I haven’t been a real part of the class, given that my Thai is limited to a 6 year old’s vocabulary that has been rusty for over 16 years. I have tried to contribute through games and being the class’s mobile jungle gym (though at times not of my own volition). The first class I decided to try and play what is one of my favorite games for this age group, partly because children at this age group can understand the “intellectual” component (rock, paper, scissors) but mostly because it forces them to run and tires them out, making your life as a teacher that much better.

The game is called “Giants, Wizards and Gnomes” but can really be replaced by any three “creatures” of your choosing. You create two teams, each team then collectively chooses one of the “creatures” to act out (you must have decided upon the actions before hand). Each team is then placed on opposite ends of a “field” where there bases are. The two teams approach the middle and at the count of 3 act out their creatures. Each creature beats another, much like rock paper scissors, Giants beat gnomes, gnomes beat wizards and of course wizards beat giants. The rationale for this hierarchy I leave up to you. The winners chase the losers to their base and any that our caught join the winner’s team.

Explaining this game is usually moderately challenging, and is at times it’s down side. This was exacerbated on the first day by children running around and then disappearing for several minutes. My inability to speak Thai (working on it…) also didn’t help things but luckily this was remedied by the skilled translation of Arm. Once the game was explained though it was a hit and the children wanted to play again and again and… you guessed it, again. The kids also didn’t really understand the concept that you have to wait to see who beats who before trying to catch each other. The larger team would invariably just chase down the smaller one regardless of what creature they decided to act out.

This weekend we played the same game on the boisterous demands of the children. I figured it would be ok given that there were now 12 or so and half hadn’t played before. It was this weekend though that several of the children realized I was tall and decided they wanted in on it. Mid way through explaining the game again I was almost thrown backwards by an 8 year old who had jumped onto my back and was trying to scramble up it.

This weekend’s class though, especially in the areas that I was not a part of, was incredible. The children were able to memorize a whole quotation by the end of a class; one even came back afterwards to write down the quote so he could practice it! Their composure and respect was inspiring remembering the insanity that was children’s classes in El Salvador. Children would wai upon receipt of a snack and all sat quietly during prayers.

In the open environment that the class is in, the kind of order and respect that the permeated the class is a great tribute to the adept skills of the children class teachers who have been visiting Praya Prasert for over a year now.

Seeing the love and care that these children class teachers shower over their pupils has definitely touched the heart of the community and as a result there is a Ruhi book 1 and a junior youth group in the same community. After class when we went around to visit parents they were impressed at the truly multicultural nature of the Bahá’í faith as many other farang-dong had come to those parts to help with a few classes.

The Praya Prasert community is clearly an example of how the devoted efforts of a few individuals can have a major impact upon a community. It is inspiring to see the community change these hard working children’s class teachers have been able to achieve. I have been extremely grateful to have been a miniscule part of the efforts at Praya Prasert and hope that in the two months I have left in Thailand I can at least learn the names of the kids!