Isara Volunteer - Sean

[ZeroG]

Great work Sean!

That looks like an evil dictator grin you have. 

[star]

Oh..That government school is opposite my house.Can I take course to learn with you more? When I was young,I never studied English with the foreigner. Until I was a junior and it's only one time.It's a good time for thai children to study with the foreginer.Thanks alot for all your help.

[Sean]

Star! you are more than welcome to join me , though I think you could probably teach that class.  I taught the adult class on Friday, where were you!  I think it was a little difficult for them since I couldn't explain anything in Thai.  See you tomorrow

[Sean]

Former Intern and ILC regular Nok was kind enough to take me to her village about an hour outside of Nong Khai.  It was an awesome experience.  Nok, Sam, Kwan, Pan and I as well as her family had an awesome lunch and then went out to her familys rice fields which was quite interesting.  After about two minutes of standing in knee high stagnant water Nok and Pan who speak some English take off in a boat and leave me standing there in a very eerie canal with her Dad.  Mind you her dad speaks zero English, and I can only make out in Thai that he is either A)telling me that the leeches are dead (as he is holding one in his hand) or B)these leeches are going to attack you.  We literally sat there for 20 minutes him speaking Thai and me laughing because I have no idea what is going on.

          

          

Please check out http://www.seanisara.smugmug.com for more Thailand/Isara photos.

[KitKat]

Sean, I know you had an amazing time. You're having experiences traditional tourist never experience.
When I traveled to Nongkhai, PK took me outside of town on his moped and I stood in a rice field.  While we were there we met an old lady checking her rice fields. HA! I say old, she was probably just several years older than me.  A Thai woman that's lived a very difficult life, but probably stronger b/c of it.  She was dressed in traditional Thai clothing and carrying a large machete!    Hummm.....why did she need the machete?? Snakes maybe??  Ha!  I was having too much fun to ask PK.

[Ginafish]

Oh Sean! You've been holding out on us in the photo department! Thanks for the link to your smug mug.

It looks like you had a great day and a very memorable experience! Now, why is that guy in the tree? And did you ever figure out if you were okay with the leeches?

[Betty]

Sean, great pictures and I know a most memorable experience!  I can just see you standing there smiling  and laughing with Nok's father and wondering   Where is that boat........ Kit Kat, I never thought about snakes,
not my favorite!

[Sean]

I was invited to go to Khon Kaen University for a Valentines day dinner, which was very nice.

          

          



No I have no idea where the cowboy hat came from and no I have no idea why they made me where it..

[Soulessaint]

The dinner looks lovely, Sean. I know you had a really good time. Gbya

[LARCHER]

Hey Sean, Looks like you are having an amazing time.  we miss you, but we are very happy that you are getting to experience such a wonderful adventure.  Keep up the good work!  

[Sean]

Hey Aunt Lisa!

I think we have Florida beat, it was about 90+ here today.

[LARCHER]

Hey Sean....it has been pretty hot here also. Hey, I know you have a birthday coming up!  Any exciting plans???

[Sean]

Yes I do in fact.  A good friend of mine is coming to Bangkok for a law school project and I am going to head down there for about a week.  His sister is currently a volunteer teacher in India and she will be flying over to meet us.  It should be a great time.  We will probably head down to Krabi for the weekend and go to Ko Phi Phi.  If you have ever seen "The Beach" one of Leonardo Dicaprio's early films, that is the island.  I will have plenty of pictures from my mini vacation I'm sure.

[Sean]

Over the weekend my Dear and I visited a buddhist festival in her village near Udon Thani.  We took a bus about 10am to Udon which takes about 45 minutes.  She fell asleep and we passed the stop and long story short I am walking down the side of the highway carrying two giant 10 pound tins of cookies until we can find the place haha .  Once we arrived it was great.  Everything was free.  There were 20 or so stands set up with different types of food donated.  Dears cookies were a big hit and were gone within minutes. 

After the festival we took a tuk tuk for like 20 minutes to what seemed to be the middle of nowhere until we came upon a large man-made lake.  There were ten or so homemade rafts complete with tv and karaoke machine and one small table with some mats.  They bring you your food and then you use this pulley system to go out as far as you would like into the lake.  It was a great time, and I regret that my camera was out of batteries by the time we got there.

          

          

          

As always please check out http://seanisara.smugmug.com for more.     

[Ming]

Wow, this is surprised me!
I'm sure you're having a great time with your dear.   Good for you. The festival look fun. Giving food for the poor is a great project, I know how happy they and you feel when you doing this. Hope you find out the happiness for yourself by volunteering with Isara. G'day.

[Sean]

A farmer in a past life...
This little girl is so funny, her name is Bam like "bam bam".  She comes and colors during class and then goes outside and uses this hoe for 10 minutes...every time.  The hoe is about double her weight and three times her size but she still seems to enjoy whatever it is she is doing.  I think this particular day she was trying to fill the bucket with sand.

          
These three are her brother "Bes" and my friend "Thing" the teacher who I work with at Tesabon 2.
          

[Ginafish]

Are you teaching Bam the English words for the colors she is using? And have you taught her yet that what she is lugging around is a hoe?

Your friend "Thing"?? What's that mean?? I get "Dear" but "Thing"? Is that how it sounds when you saw their names, but not necessarily representative of how you view them? I'm so confuzzeled!

[Sean]

Every thai person has a really long name and then a nickname that are given when they are really young.  My friends nicknames happen to be "Dear" and "Thing".  There is a "Baby" in our class as well as a "Poo".  They have nothing to do with english they just sound the same as our words. "Thing" is probably spelled differently but it sounds just like thing so thats how I write it.  They never go by the long name unless its for signing something or its formal etc.

Perhaps Ming or Star can give an intelligent answer?

[Ginafish]

Okay, I get it. I had a friend whose name was Manoj, but in Jr.High he really liked Guns N Roses, so he took on the name "Axl". In America, everyone calls him Axl and doesn't know his real name.

If YOU ever happen to give someone a nickname, let me know the difference.

[thartley]

I have briefly considered calling Sean by the name Ra, but only because his link to his photo page reads in my mind as "Sean Is a Ra" instead of Sean Isara.

But I am told I am strange. 

[Sean]

I'll take the nickname "Sun God" anyday T.

[KitKat]

A farmer in a past life...
This little girl is so funny, her name is Bam like "bam bam".  She comes and colors during class and then goes outside and uses this hoe for 10 minutes...every time.  The hoe is about double her weight and three times her size but she still seems to enjoy whatever it is she is doing.  I think this particular day she was trying to fill the bucket with sand.

 

That's so sweet, she's trying to put the sand, that's washed on to the driveway, back where it belongs.    SWEET!!  She's smart!

[thartley]

I'll take the nickname "Sun God" anyday T.

Thought you'd like it. 

[Sean]

On Thursday I had no afternoon classes at Tesabon 2, but was told to come by for a concert.  I was assuming that this was a concert put on by the kids with the instruments I always see them playing.  In fact it was actually a concert for them put on by a poor family who travels around Thailand doing shows at schools.  The students and faculty give donations if they choose. The two singers were probably in their early 60's and almost completely blind, they were very good, and the keyboard player was awesome.  Everybody had a good time, and as you can see from the videos below the kids had a really good time with their impromptu dance party.

Song for the King
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/LqtXu9C16Tg&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/LqtXu9C16Tg&rel=1</a>
The start of the dance party...
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z8jSFzjerZA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Z8jSFzjerZA&rel=1</a>
What it turned into...
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/KWBXlCV8VJY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/KWBXlCV8VJY&rel=1</a>

[thartley]

Sean, that is amazing!  The kids look very happy to be out and enjoying themselves.  The entire school experience must be VERY different over there than here in the states.

I know you mentioned keyboards, but what other instruments were being played?