Think outside, no box required

We just finished our last full week of teaching -- how did that happen? Where'd the time go?

Annika and I with the elephants

This past week was our last full week of teaching the English class for the students, and we shifted our lesson plans to help the students prepare for their research proposals that they will begin this week. Rather than doing vocabulary games and Quizlets, we started to show videos teaching grammar and did more writing exercises. I've never really had to consider how hard English grammar is until I taught it, and then I realized that I have no idea why we speak and write the way that we do...we just do it. So, I had to dig deep to try and come up with good enough explanations for all of the students' questions. And of course, explain that none of the rules are concrete, because there's almost always exceptions.

Teaching English class

On Wednesday, I went with some of the students to Wat Chedi Luang as they celebrated the beginnings of Buddhist Lent. Buddhist Lent is where the monks no longer go out and do their daily morning walk to get food, rather, people must bring it to the temple. During this three month period, Buddhists are not allowed to drink or misbehave, and they have to worship a lot. Monks are not permitted to stay anywhere else except their home temple. It was really cool to watch my friends as they worshiped and participated in the holiday, and I learned a lot from them too!

To top off the week, Annika and I had a really busy weekend. On Saturday, we made my literal dreams come true and spent the day at an ELEPHANT SANCTUARY!!! It was everything that I wanted it to be. We started off our day by taking a Grab (basically Uber) to the city, where we then got picked up for the hour and a half ride to Happy Elephant Home (they normally will pick you up from your accomodation, but Mitharsuu is too far outside of the city). It was a long journey, as we had to drive north to get out of the city and into the rolling green hills and mountains. Once getting there, we immediately started by feeding a 49 year old elephant named Grandma some bananas. Who knew elephants would like bananas so much! 

With my new friend

Later, we had to prepare some snacks for the elephants to eat. By preparing snacks, I mean we used a machete and cropped up some sugar cane into smaller pieces, and then filled our baskets with sugar cane pieces and bananas. Then, we got to meet the rest of the elephants! Some were rescued from circuses, some were saved from riding. There was also a 4 year old baby boy there too! Elephants eat for 16 hours a day, so it was no problem for us to continuously put food in their trunks. It was really really cool!

4 year old boy elephant

The elephants got hot, so then it was time for a mud bath. They cool themselves off by splashing mud all over themselves, using their trunks to toss it all over their bodies. The little one decided that it wasn't enough, and he went all in and just laid down in the mud. It was really fun to watch, but it was more fun to get down in the mud pit with them! Annika and I went down and started hurling mud at the elephants, rubbing it into their skin to help cool them. But of course, we were not excluded from the mess. Any time an elephant would even flap their ears, mud would go flying, all over my face and arms. By the time we were finished, Annika and I were just as covered in mud as the elephants were! 

Mud pit!

After having a delicious noodle lunch, we walked down to the river and swam with the elephants! They laid down in the water, and we splashed them. Some of the handlers were taking the elephants trunks and using them like water guns and sprayed all of us. It was really fun, but we had to say goodbye and return home after that. Once back in the city, Annika and I got a Thai massage from women ex-prisoners! The organization works to help these women get back into the workforce. We each got an hour long massage for only $8 (250 baht).

Massage from ex-prisoners

View of the river

Sunday, Annika and I decided to hike up Doi Suthep to see the famous temple up in the mountains. Built in 1386, the temple stands tall in the mountains and has a great view of Chiang Mai. We hiked up along the "Monk's trail", and we went in the afternoon which was not the greatest idea because of the heat. Nonetheless, we did the two hour hike. Honestly, it sucked while we were doing it, but the Thai forest scenery was really nice. After about half an hour of hiking, we stopped for a bit at Wat Pha Lat, a serene temple on the way up in the forest.

Enterance of Wat Pha Lat

Stairs leading down the mountain

Then, we continued on our journey for another hour and 15 minutes, and it was a challenge for sure. It was like a never ending stair stepper. But, alas, we made it, and after taking about a break we explored Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. It had beautiful architecture with a giant golden Chedi in the middle. The balcony yielded beautiful views of the city, but a big storm was coming so we headed down. Once getting back to Mitharsuu, I took the most satisfying shower and relaxed for the rest of the night.

The Golden Chedi

Buddhas

View of the city as the storm is coming

I have two weeks left, and I'm getting to the point where it's tough to be away from home. Having spent a whole semester abroad already, I'm familiar with these feelings. I'm stuck between wanting to be home with my family, and enjoying being in Thailand. Also, I miss American food so much. While I'm sure some familiar food can be found here, it's never at Mitharsuu. I know this probably sounds whiny, but I am excited about going home. However, I'm not going to let that stop me from enjoying every last minute!

Feeding the elephants