“Next we have Poo singing a special song,” I announced with simple smirk and a Jr high giggle. I was MC’ing during the practice for our mother’s day program that would take place the following day and reading the bulletin that had just been thrust into my hands. This was a week of very random phrases.
“Ten, I heard that you got stung by a jellyfish, can I see?” I asked Ten as I knelt down beside him along the trash lined beach of Pataya during our overnight camp. He showed me the side of his foot that was swollen and red from the sting. “Do you have to go to the bathroom?” He shook his head no. “This is going to sound funny but you need to pee on your foot.” He looked at me with his shiny brown eyes studying my face for the joke. “Im serious. The only thing that will help the sting is if you pee on your foot. You can pee on it and then go into the ocean to wash it off.” He searched my face again and then got up and started to walk away.
“Ms Colleen, it still hurts!” Ten said as he found me talking with Aaron, Craig, and Jeff. Aaron piped up and said, “that’s because you need another person to pee on your foot, I’ll do it.” Now it was my turn to look at him in disbelief. “Really? I didn’t know that!” He looked at me and shook his head at my gullibility. “No, I just wanted to pee on his foot.” Again, phrases I never thought I’d hear or say.
Then there was the water balloon toss where my grade 9 girls were not participating. “Come on ladies, this is a great game!” With loud and unashamed voices they reply in unison, “We have our period!” I looked at them in wide-eyed shock once again at the normal Thai tactless behavior of sharing more information than necessary. “Why don’t you say that louder, I don’t think the entire camp heard you,” I said jokingly. Unfortunately, I then hear the loud cries rise up around me as they screamed their excuse in unison so the whole camp did in fact hear them. I scuttled away with a red face determined not to try and call their bluff again. Ahhh, Thailand.
Overnight camp was on the whole, a success. Unlike all the previous years, we split up the school into the young kids and the old kids. Grades 6-10 went to Pataya, a beach that is about 2 hours from school, and the younger kids will have theirs on campus. We had a mission team of about 24 high schoolers come from PA to help us plan and run the camp. They were a fantastic help and I got the pleasure of getting to know quite a few of them as well. The best part of the camp for me was just having the job of playing, eating, and bunking with the kids. We had lots of laughs and lessons on choosing attitudes and sharing concerns. On the bus home as I looked at our kids, I felt pride in how they conducted themselves and showed maturity when they could have chosen otherwise. God is working on these kids and I love being able to see the progress! I praise Him for it!