Mad dogs and Englishmen….

The aircon ran all night and it was cranked down so low we were at risk of frostbite as the new day dawned.
Sam had worked his magic in the kitchen and cooked his staple rice and fried eggs for everyone. Morning Bible and life skills sessions proceeded and by late morning the temperature was really climbing. We took an opportunity to go grocery shopping at a Thai version of Costco called Makro. There were some interesting sights in the meat section where you just help yourself and bag up your own raw meat.
After lunch, Abi continued her ‘barista’ course for all the students. This is one of the skills that might help them gain employment when they leave and Abi was very careful to teach them the Thai way of making coffee.
Grounds are weighed precisely (14 grams single shot, 19 grams double shot), the tamping done in a very precise method and the duration of the water infusion had to be within strict time limits, indicating a proper espresso outcome with correct crema separation.
She used the ‘show one, do one, teach one’ process which seemed to work well and tomorrow they will do the milk frothing process.
The students here have generally very little formal education so training like this will help to give them job prospects other than the most menial types of employment which would otherwise be their likely pathway.
By the time it reached 41 degrees outside in mid afternoon, the obvious way to spend some free time was for us to head down to the local soccer field for a 5 a side full-on game.
The Thai boys displayed a lovely quality of being competitive but fair. They were especially good at including everyone and giving the young boys plenty of ball.
At the end of the game I headed back to the air conditioned room and sat there in the icy blast for about 20 minutes before showering. As I sat there bringing my core temperature back to within normal physiological parameters, I couldn’t help but think that the words to Noel Coward’s famous song should be modified to include ‘Thais and Aussies’ along with Englishmen and rabid canines…..
Tim and Leah’s boys had actually sent Loss in to check on me as they thought I might have collapsed as I was a couple of minutes late for dinner ….
The evening session was run by the guys - ‘God as the Potter’ was the talk, followed by some hands-on clay modelling. They all seemed to enjoy it - but perhaps not as much as the girls’ enjoyment of the evening - who had nicked off after dinner with unseemly haste (before dishes were washed up I might add) for an appointment with some Thai masseuses.Read more