Monks

Last night we taught the monks at the temple. There were about 8 of them, all under 23 years old (I believe the youngest was 14 years old). To our delight, two of the monks were from Laos (and just our luck, they spoke English very well) so we asked them many questions about Laos, since we are headed there this weekend! The monks were very helpful. Some of the younger monks asked us about American movies, we were told they like James Bond and Lord of the Rings...one of the monks told us his favorite type of music is hip-hop and that Linkin' Park is one of his favorite bands. After leaving the temple, we met our Belgian friends at a local restaurant to get some green curry and some Leos (local beer, not Papa).

Teaching at school was fun today and lunch with the director was entertaining as usual...I asked him how his weekend was and he said (in broken English) "I get drunk." Yesterday he said, "Ryan you are a very cheerful man" and I responded by saying it was because of my wife that I was so cheerful (because it is true and I felt Julie's frustration mounting), he looked at Julie and made a sound like "Hummmmph" and then walked away...I have no idea what that meant, but it obviously signaled the end of our communication that day. [Insert Julie's comment: the Director LOVES Ryan and when talking to 'us' only looks at Ryan, compliments Ryan and starts conversation with Ryan. . . so now you know why I get a little frustrated as I try to be a part of the conversation as well! His favorite thing to say is "Ryan, you are GENIUS!!!!"] So we got on our bikes and drove out the long driveway, and each time we do so, we get bombarded by our students who yell "Bye-Bye!" and try and slap you high-5!! It makes us feel like mini-celebrities.

After we have tried so many times to upload our photos we have created a Flickr account, please cut and paste this link into your browser to see our photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanandjuliedunn/

Sawadee Krap ("Hello" in Thai)