Our stay in Thailand was over the span of two months. During this time we stayed in 2 communities. One was about 40 minutes outside of Bangkok, Khlong Chinda. We stayed in Khlong Chinda for about two weeks and our worksite was at a secondary school. My worksite partner, Andrew and I shadowed our teacher and watched her teach English classes and helped out with pronunciation. On the weekends another Thinking Beyond Border student host family adopted us for the most part. My roommate, Emma and I didn't have the best homestay experience and we often felt neglected so we joined Ben and Lucas's family. We were taught to never say no to anything the locals wanted us to do and often found ourselves in the back of pick up trucks going to nearby temples, manmade mountains, and trips to the "supermarket" AKA 7/11. For Thanksgiving, we all went out to Sizzler's (yes, you read that right) for a very abnormal dinner of sliders and salad...
After our time in Khlong Chinda, we made our way to the northern province to a hill tribe called Kun Sathan . Every morning my worksite partners and I had to commute 40 minutes down the mountain to a local primary school. We continued to shadow teachers and watch them teach English once again. In mid December, we had to chance to travel on our own and many of us made our way to Chiang Mai. I have no photos of Chiang Mai as my camera was STILL broken and so I had to purchase a new one on our last day there. In Chiang Mai we enjoyed biking around the city, going to yoga classes, and exploring temples. We celebrated the Hmong New Year (in traditional style) and enjoyed singing for the locals of Kun Sathan and danced for them. Lucas and I were so brave that we decided to do a duet to "White Christmas". For Christmas we traveled to Nan where we got Thai massages and got to see the new Star Wars movie, huge Star Wars fan but this may have been the worst.... We said bye to our host families a week later and travelled back to Nan where we celebrated New Year's Eve. Our last night in Thailand was in Bangkok and we got to see Coco! Everyone in my mento group absolutely loved it and many tears were shed :)
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| TBB at a local temple with our awesome monk, Phillip! |
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| Exploring Khlong Chinda with my roomate, Emma |
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| Manmade Mountain Temple |
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| Ben, Lucas, Emma, and I singing for a fortune teller |
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| My seltzer water shot out of the bus one day and shattered on the street |
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| Students at the primary school near Kun Sathan |
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| Primary students |
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| Claire dressed warmly for work during our cold spell in Kun Sathan |
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| Ben and Lucas's little host sister, Neng who loved getting piggy back rides from yours truly |
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| Seminar space |
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| Sunrise in Kun Sathan |
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| Claire taking notes on Thai words in Math |
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| Morgan playing with the kids after lunch |
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| Caroline and Gabi at worksite |
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| Lucas and I rapping Ice Ice Baby |
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| Hmong New Year |
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| Cla(i)re squared! |
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| All ready for Christmas! |
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| My Christmas gift from my secret santa, Rhea :) |
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| Lunch in Nan! Probably one of the best meals.. |
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| Christmas celebration at the Primary School |
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| Gabi and I after sunrise |
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| A student in Primary :) |
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| Panama dance (New Years Eve) |
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| New Years Eve |
Cambodia post up next!
Clare Irene McKenna
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