Another breakfast at the Sunshine Center then 45 minutes in the back of the truck. This time the driver avoided the huge bump in the road that made us all fly yesterday.
We got right to work where we left off – NixiRay painted a panel of fence purple as the background of a mural, Miss A & Littlest painted the far right wall light blue, & the rest of us started scrubbing and scraping the second half of the main wall. We were very grateful for the shade from the trees over most of the area. It’s hot in the sunshine!
Mid-morning a few elementary boys came out and said “Same kid” to Spud and asked his name & how old he is. Note helped translate when they struggled to talk back and forth. Then they asked if Spud would play football (soccer) with them again when they had their lunch recess.
Our lunch was not very appetizing today– mushy thick rice noodles with pork and a few vegetables. We all kind of picked through it for the good parts… Just have a hard time eating slimy noodles. In all of our driving around Thailand we have yet to see a pig farm, yet they eat a LOT of pork. Next most common is chicken, very hard to find beef (most “beef” is mixed with pork or is just about every part of a cow ground up together and gross).
We got back to work & Spud played soccer with a bunch of kids – they were all running barefoot on the field. Spud remembered to bring his tennis shoes today (we’re all wearing crocs for the painting project). He actually holds his own against these kids who are a year or two older and very good at soccer. Spud blocked a bunch of goals and scored a few of his own.
By the time it was time to clean up and leave NixiRay had finished 2 coats of purple and gotten the elephants started on her section of wall. Miss A & Littlest had finished the light blue on the right, Superman, Andrew, Spud & I had finished scraping the last half of the middle wall, primed it, and had yesterdays half painted light blue too. Not too shabby! Also included a picture of the kindergarten building.
This afternoon we got on a big bus with most of the volunteers and were taken into town to go to the mall. We discovered that the middle row on the bus (one bench down each side and one down the middle) was not bolted down when we went around a corner too fast and tipped over… The bench came back down on Miss A’s toes. Luckily she was wearing shoes and we got it off quickly, but ouch! We braced ourselves well after that.
We spend our time on the trucks and buses getting to know the people who are here volunteering. We’ve talked to people from Austria, Germany, England, Portugal & Norway, and Americans from multiple states and with Brazilian & Korean backgrounds. Everyone is very nice, but when we ask what their favorite thing they’ve done in Thailand so far is they usually mention a happy hour at a bar… Definitely not our crowd. It has stuck out to us that all of these people are searching for purpose in their lives- they are doing a good thing by volunteering, but they really don’t know what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Just out to have fun.
We enjoyed walking around the mall and got ice cream at Dairy Queen (first one we’ve seen here) and a crepe for Miss A because ice cream hurts her stomach (99% sure she’s lactose intolerant but can’t find Lactase here to help her).
Before we left the US we ordered Thai Baht from our bank. We also brought some US cash to exchange when we needed more. Malls and airports are the best places to exchange money, so we found a bank at the mall.
Warning for international travelers: Money exchange places can be very picky about what bills they will accept – some won’t accept the older version bills (green ones), some won’t accept bills if they have ever been folded or have any markings on them. The larger exchange places seem to have fewer problems and give a better rate. So don’t be afraid to shop around. Also, even though we’ve had to use cash just about everywhere so far on the trip, everything has been super inexpensive and we’re surprised how little money we’ve gone through even though we’ve eaten out and shopped a lot.
After the mall we played in the pool at the Sunshine Center and watched the sunset again. The sky turns an amazing lavender & pink behind the palm trees.
We’ve been working so hard that the kids are all ready and in bed by 8:30. Superman & NixiRay have had a cough for a few days that hasn’t let them sleep very well so even he was asleep by 9. Pretty quiet around here!
