Okay it's been awhile, but I'm still here.

I haven't gotten lice, but I did cut off my hair and (sorry) dyed it black. The kids asked me "Why?! Now it's not pretty!" That's all for my personal life for today. Now to processing school.

Being with Thai 3rd graders has caused me to really want to go back to 3rd grade in the US, because I simply can't remember for sure what it was like. Was so much time wasted? Likely yes...

I've had a few flashbacks. For example, the other day I remembered doing something silly in 3rd grade, expecting a laugh from the teacher and instead getting a stare-down. Because that's just what happened to a poor 3rd grader here.

I remember, after a long time forgetting, that my dream community would have not had any money. More like my dream world. Everyone used to stare at me like I was crazy when I said that. Just like a 3rd grader did the other day when I told her -- she looked at me and said, "You wouldn't want to have any stuff??"

The kids made models of their community in their dreams. They came up with things like:

• no cigarettes
• no lying
• no gas, only energy from the sun
• lots of trees
• happy family
• no trash (many of these kids' parents scavenge for livelihood)

I can remember what it was like to wake up every day to a world I didn't want. Finally I decided I'd have to get used to it (about the middle school/high school/Georgetown era). And then I found an environment where people were hopeful for changing things, and had the energy to learn skills to do so. But I still hadn't remembered the community in my dreams until this assignment with the 3rd graders.

Sometimes I think I can tell that some of these kids are at the "waking up every day to a world I don't want" stage.

The most successful activity we've done so far has been acting. We were going to have the kids write scripts in their small groups but at the last minute decided to do it as a whole class. We've been searching for ways to get the boys to participate in class, as most of them basically won't participate unless they are drawing individually or they are using tons of energy. If the activity doesn't use enough energy they run off and play fight each other or something.

But the full-group play writing and acting worked out beautifully! Everyone was so into it, and wanted to do it again and again to practice. They evaluated their work well. And the activity used everyone's energy. So I think we need to work with this method to teach. Everyone wants to do it again anyways. It's also the first time I saw the teachers participating/"playing" with the kids in a facilitator kind of way, which is what every NGO around here will tell you you need to do to teach kids: play with them!

There are a lot of programs that integrate theatre into education in the US. These would be good to look into, too.

I have more, but again will stop for now. Forgive the delay. Maybe I'll do better next time.