Isara Learning Center: Phase Two

[Ginafish]

Hmm...I'm not convinced...you could slip on fruit barefoot or with tennis shoes on, but with tennis shoes, you can't cut your feet on nails or metal...

But I am grateful you are willing to get on the roof and do the much needed job with Babe. And that alls well that ends well...

[M3R1IN]

Ming, how did u clean the roof without getting bitten by all the fire ants that walk around up there?
u know PK, u might be able to rust proof that roof by throwing on a layer of tar and 10 mesh size gravel... should extend the life of the roof considerably... but i dont know if they have that kind of roofing over there or how expensive it would be
There are a few farmers here that use bio diesel in their machinery...they actually make it themselves... i know making bio diesel isnt as simple as filtering used cooking oil... theres a little bit of chemical treating and blending to do to stabilize it but apparently it only costs pennies per gallon for the additional chemicals....
If i happen to come across someone who knows how to make it i will let you know

[Ming]

Ha ha M3R1IN I think ants don't like me cause I'm Thai.

Thank you M3R1IN, please let us know cause you always have a good tip to deal with those stuff.

[PK]

When the ILC was renovated last year there was a room which was previously used as the men's room, when the place was a pub. There were urinals on the wall and ...well, let's just say it didn't smell very good. We removed the urinals and cleaned and painted it the best we could but the odor still remained. Since then we've just thrown random junk in there and made minor attempts to remove the odor (lighting candles, etc.). Nothing has worked so it slowly became known as "the room we dare not speak of".

Well today we made one last attempt to reclaim the room from the dark-side. All the junk came out, the water hose came in, and we scrubbed all afternoon with the strongest soap we could find. Once the tiles were clean we clogged the drain, flooded the room, and just let the soapy water sink into the cracks. Ming then lit some vanilla scented candles which are still burning as I type.

   
Fake Nike sunglasses courtesy of Sean. Tan lines courtesy of the Sun.

If we succeed in getting the odor out (we'll know tomorrow) then the room will make a nice storage room for emergency supplies (water, food, helmets, etc.)  The big storage room is still leaking so we need something until it can be repaired.

Cross your fingers ...And if you know of anything that gets bad odors out please let us know.

[Ginafish]

I'm assuming the stench is in the grout of the tiles? When I did a search for urine smell in grout, there were a few recommendations that seemed to make sense to me. One that you might economically be able to do is straight up white vinegar. I'd pour that all over the floor and let it soak into the grout for a bit. Since it's probably also in the grout on the walls, I'd recommend a spray bottle and spraying those pretty well.

I'm not sure how much success you'd have, but another option is to find a remedy geared toward urine stains caused by pets. If there is a pet store specifically in the mall, you might find something...look for something that says it targets urine enzymes.

[thartley]

I'm not sure how much success you'd have, but another option is to find a remedy geared toward urine stains caused by pets. If there is a pet store specifically in the mall, you might find something...look for something that says it targets urine enzymes.

This was going to be my suggestion, so I second this.  Its sold all over the place in the states, but not sure about here.  I couldn't even find lysol spray here.  So I had some sent from home.

[PK]

So far the smell seems to be staying away. But we'll keep the white vinegar idea on file just in case.

We built a shelving unit for the new storage room yesterday. We even stocked it with some supplies (water, paper, etc.) The only thing it's missing are some Little Debbies.



Cost: $40

[Ginafish]

How horrible is it that even half the world away, I understood PK's hint for Little Debbies and really rolled my eyes waAAyy up at the ceiling?

Good news about the smell

[KitKat]

I'm glad the offensive smell is gone.  If the smell returns, the vinegar idea was an excellent suggestion.    Vinegar is a safe and natural cleanser.

Poor PK, no Little Debbies.      Where's the Little Debbie company when you really need them.   

[PK]

So far the storage room still smells ok. Not great, but good enough for a storage room.


Ming has been doing a great job with the kids class, even though there's more kids than chairs and the little fan in the room keeps the temperature just below boiling.  Because of the lack of comfort in the classroom we decided to put some of the karaoke donations to good use today. We upgraded our classroom furniture ($260) and moved the old tables and chairs out onto the patio where we are making a new classroom for the kids.

   
 

The library also got a new bookshelf ($30) and computer desk ($20). We'll be doing some major decorating tomorrow, to get the classroomS ready for classes on Monday.

Total cost: $310

[KitKat]

   The new classroom tables look amazing and the chairs look a lot more comfortable.  The ILC is growing and it was  time to have better furniture for the school.   Using the porch for another classroom was a very good idea.       

[Ginafish]

Great News! Two classrooms! I'm sending out positive thoughts for volunteers to teach!! With two areas available, this opens the door to teaching English in one area, and teaching another topic at the same time in the other class! AWEsOME!

[PK]

The students really liked the outdoor classroom on Monday.



Believe it or not, it's actually cooler outside than it is inside. With 20 students in the small classroom, and with only a small ceiling fan to cool things off, it feels like a sauna inside the ILC classroom sometimes. But not now!

[KitKat]

  The students and Ming look very happy to be cooler outside.    Adding the new larger white tables was a great idea.  WhoHoo!!   

[hillscott]

Regarding the purchase of a van:

I haven't been to Thailand yet obviously, so I'm not sure what the viable options are. I'm a big green fan myself, so I did some research on biodiesel / vegetable oil. There is some really valuable information here:
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel.html

Some questions to keep in mind:
- Are there any biodiesel providers available in Thailand? Biodiesel doesn't require engine conversion. If there are, this would be the best option.

Raw oil also has some very serious downsides like possibly destroying your fuel injectors. Even the kits you can purchase still require you to run the engine for a while on diesel, which would mean you wouldn't even be using the cooking / vegetable oil except on long trips .

What about electricity costs?
I'm sure an electric van isn't really affordable, but using a conversion kit may be. Solar powering the ILC partially would also cut costs and help with the green initiative. Are there solar kit providers in Thailand? All of this stuff is available in US, but that may not be the case there.

[PK]

Thanks, Ian.

We looked into all of the bio-diesel options here a while back and I'm kind of leaning away from bio-diesel now. There are bio-diesel producers here but not a lot. It's more expensive than regular diesel and not readily available. Also, there have been reports of farmers changing their land from rice production to palm oil. Which is not good.

Someone suggested that we use all the used cooking oil (there's plenty of it in Nong Khai, where there's 5 restaurants for every person). So if there's an easy way to treat cooking oil and convert it into bio-diesel ourselves then that might be something that could be much cheaper and also help recycle all that used oil.

We've also thought about having the local Technical College convert the van to be all electric powered. But since it would be a "never-been-tried-before" project for them it might be too risky for our first (and only) van. lol

We've also recently sent letters to all the solar powered cell manufactures in Thailand asking them to donate kits to our school so that we can be completely green by the end of the year. Keep your fingers crossed.

Please keep the suggestions coming. We need all the ideas we can get.