English Camp 48 hour Road Trip.

PARTY BUS!!!
How did we get here? we're sitting on a bus filled with 16-17 year old thai students who are dancing like there's no tomorrow, disco lights are flashing, and tecno music is blaring out the speakers. We've slept a total of 8 hours in the last 2 days, and now students expect US to DANCE?!?!? As we stop at a bus stop for a break, the music keeps blaring and students jump out into the parking lot to continue the party. This is crazy, and, how did we get here?

Well, as foreigners with white faces (farang) and English as our first language, we got the great opportunity this week to "volunteer" to go to help with "English camp" with 85 students from Chai Nat. Wearily, we accepted this great opportunity to be a part of Thai culture we had yet not seen, and left home at 2pm on tuesday for the 4 hour journey to Chai Nat.
After meeting the other teachers in Chai Nat and still having no idea of what exactly we would be doing on this trip, we loaded up onto 2 buses at 9pm for the overnight 10 hr bus ride to Chiang Mai. As it turned out, "English Camp" was really a 48 hour road trip with very little time for english or sleep. We went to Chiang Mai University for breakfast, stopped and "payed respects" at a temple, drove up to a temple on top of the famous Doi Suthep mountain, then did a short 30 minute English activity. We drove back down the mountain, stopped a fresh market to buy snacks, then drove to a souvenir "handicraft" market, then on to a umbrella making factory, and lastly, to the Lamphun University of Buddhism for dinner, activities, and to sleep. We had a nice dinner, watched dance performances by a local school, our students, and then participitated in a hip hop dance by the teachers.
Jonathan stayed up late singing songs with students (who Love singing) and sharing about his beliefs in the God who created us, the world, and loved us so much that He came to save us from our rebellion against Him. Then Jonathan went to the guy teachers room to sleep with the buddha (our room had a big gold buddha statue in it), thankful that Jesus is with him wherever he goes, and again asking, "how did we get here".
Students woke up starting at 4am (thai students apparently don't need to sleep), ate breakfast at 6am, did a 45 minute english worksheet (which most students copied later on the way home), and then set off for home with a hourly temple, market, or gas station stop on the way.

So, here we are, sitting in a bus with flashing disco lights and loud tecno music. We can either try to sleep, or we can try to bond with the students and take this once in a lifetime opportunity to party on the english camp bus. What would you do? Check out our pictures to see what WE did.