And then there were four

Allison and Dana have arrived! They both hail from Princeton and graduated two days before hopping on the airplane and crossing the Pacific. 

We met up with them after teaching a English teacher training workshop for all the teachers in Nan Province.  There were about forty teachers, thirty-five of which were women, ranging from 26 to 58 years old.  We led some listening activities for a while, then had them do a speaking warm up with each other.  This is all it was: each person in a small group talking for 1 minute about themselves in English. Simple enough, but they loved it!  It was so fun to walk around and listen to what they said, especially the ones who were laughing a lot.  This one woman was particularly hilarious.  She was not shy about jokingly calling out “Teacher, I don’t understand!” and her group was having the best time speaking to each other.  I caught a snippet of her 1 minute speech, in which she said, “I hangover.” What a gem.  Then we played competitive taboo. So fun. Not bad for a mandatory Saturday workday.

After teaching, we met up with Allison and Dana and biked around Nan and to a coffee shop.  For whatever reason, coffee shops are all the rage here.  And they are really nice, usually with nice gardens or AC. We came back to Katie and my apartment, as Dana and Allison are currently living in a guesthouse.  We are still trying to figure out how we can all live in the same place (which is usually the case in Nan), but Ajaan Prakop has not found a place yet… But it was fun to hang out in our downstairs, which we really hadn’t done yet, and play some ukelele/banjolele, and hoola hoop.  I’m pretty into Saturday Hobby Hour.  Or actually, it is more like Hobby Day.

We met up with the Thai friends and the other farang at Kad Nan, the bar central of Nan.  Apparently, it used to be a strip mall in the daytime, but then a bunch of bars moved in.  So is sardine-can bar after bar, complete with competing music. But it is pretty fun.

Today, we are off to see some of the temples that Nan has to offer, and probably hit up a coffee shop, maybe do some reading or painting. Sunday is Hobby Day too.