On planning our travels through south-east Asia, we both knew we wanted to participate in a volunteer project. We knew we would be learning a great deal about Thailand and its culture so yearned to give something back to the country’s people before our return home.
After hours of scrawling through Google, we stumbled across a website called helpxchange.net. And there it was; a post from Netting, (founder of learn2give project) offering English teaching volunteer work in the North east of Thailand, in exchange for board and food. It sounded perfect. We instantly messaged her and waited eagerly in the following weeks for a reply.
We received an email from P’Pang and P’Aom thanking us for our interest and asking us to fill out an application form to assess if our personalities would be suitable for the mission. The Learn2give project impressed us greatly with the challenging ‘English crazy questions’ which boggled our brains for hours! After studying our applications, learn2give welcomed us with open arms. It was confirmed we were to teach for one month, we were very excited and honoured by the warmth of the project. They were very flexible and forthcoming. This was great for us as it was made to be as easy as possible to incorporate the volunteer project into our travels.
So our journey began. We spent time in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia and loved every second of it. We made every effort to take in the surroundings which proved to be so different from our own. This made our hearts big and ready for anything! While in Cambodia we got in touch with the learn2give gang again to confirm our arrival dates and their reply made us tingle with glee.
We began the long journey from the Cambodian border crossing of Aranyapathet to Ubon Ratchathani with an overnight stay at Nakhon Ratchasima or as the locals call it; Korat. The journey was exciting with the tropical sights passing by and heat blazing through us. We arrived in Ubon late so decided to crash for a night at the Rivermoon guesthouse. The next day we had a right adventure trying to get to the University campus. We had been told to catch a bus that runs straight to the University but it had only a Thai symbol to identify it. This was hilarious; we had two police officers and a wide variety of locals helping us out. Eventually, a Thai lady organised us to go on to the correct bus and we were on our way. We love the way Thai people travel in such diverse formations on buses to pick-ups to scooters. These things just aren’t allowed in England.
At the Faculty we received a warm welcome from a student called Em. We helped each other with our native languages whilst waiting for P’ Aom to finish her class. She asked if we wanted to go straight to where we would be living or if we would like to participate in the English crazy camp that weekend even though it was short notice and we hadn’t attended the meetings. This didn’t faze us; we wanted to experience the English crazy club! Off we went on the back of some more English students mopeds to the Boss dormitories so that we could leave our bags while crazy camping.
The English crazy crew were amazing! We were introduced to club veterans and newer members and also some fellow travellers from Hawaii University who were teaching in Ubon University. Oh what an experience! We were given endless amounts of food and fruits to snack on at free will. We were looked after amazingly by the teachers and had great fun with crazy club members. They taught us their songs and involved us in rotations so we could get involved when camp begun the following morning. It was fantastic and we really appreciated the good people we had managed to get involved with during the project. The children loved it, the staff loved it and it was blatant how beneficial this work was to the school. The main thing was that the children went home with enthusiasm to learn English after meeting the crazy club and spending time with ‘Farang’.
On returning to Ubon, Kwan hosted us for one night. She was our introductory teacher into the land of Isaan! She took us to the market and encouraged us to try many new foods. I remember trying Durian, the king of fruits, for the 1st time that evening, what a happy memory – Kawp coon Krap Kwan na! The following morning we met our host teacher P’Boonkong for the 1st time. It was a long car journey to our school in Khunhan in the Si Saket province, so the wise P’ Boonkong gave us a lesson in the Thai language. He then took us out for the first of many meals at this lovely local restaurant that we always left imm ma. We finally went to the secondary school of Khunhanwittayasan. The school was very nice with an incredibly warm atmosphere that you rarely find in schools in the UK. It was huge with children chatting and playing sports everywhere.
Once in the English department we were introduced to the many wonderful teachers. We were given a tour of the school and introduced to many people. The head of the department, our very own P’ Boonkong, was keen to get us started and we were thrown in at the deep end with a class to ourselves. We both said our Thai greetings to the 40 pupils who all spoke Thai, Laos and Khmer but little English. We managed though and with each lesson we progressed as teachers and thoroughly enjoyed it. After School, P’ Boonkong took us around the market and this is what we did on many days wandering round the local market and choosing what we fancied. It was a fantastic market, the Isaan food is out of this world. We then went to see where we would be staying for the next month.
Auntie Lee is a wonderful “retired” teacher who lives not far from the school. We were given the whole top floor of the house as our own space and that’s all we needed. On a weekday we would wake up between six and seven and cycle to school for no later than half eight. We usually spent the day up until 3 at the school but actually taught for only 2 – 5 hours a day. On our first and last full day at the school we stood with P’Boonkong on the al fresco stage in the beautiful mourning sun and spoke to the 2000 eager and lively students. This was done after the daily ritual of the school singing the Thai National anthem.
By the end of the month we had both grown a great deal. We fell in love with the school, its teachers and its pupils. There were so many friendly and legendary characters we met in that summer month we would have to write a book to show justice to the heartfelt and extraordinarily worthwhile experiences we shared. Highlights include sharing a meal with Buddhist monks and the many with P’ Boonkong’s huge family, swimming by the waterfall, farming the rubber trees and picking tropical fruits. The second English crazy camp playing Boom’s “around the world” and “see the moon” was brilliant and as we were the only farang for this camp there was even more Thai excellence. We loved the Candle Festival, which is well worth seeing. Cheers to the caring pisshead; the man of mystery Gai, and Jill who looked after us and showed us a great night out in Ubon.
We would like to say a big thanks to the schools who gave us such classic times and iconic gifts and for all the local food. The Learn2giveproject was a really valuable experience for us. We had travelled around SE Asia for three months and we learnt, and enjoyed more from the Thai people volunteering through learn2give than anywhere else. This project really is worthwhile; you guys are a credit to your country and heroes of your culture.
We thank you all for making the experience what it was.
We miss you!
Big love
Marco and Jo
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