the NIS Roots and Shoots Weblog

Hi everyone!

It’s Anna here, coming back to post my second post, which, I think, is long overdue. Well. Lots of things are going on at the moment, all concerning the Social coming up tomorrow (the 19th of May) We’ve been decorating and organizing and cajoling and forcing people to go. I really do think that this year’s social (which is the first we’ve ever organized) will be a blast. I just feel a little dissapointed at the fact that our school isn’t exactly jumping at going, but we’ll manage. 80 people is quite a big number, huh? I think that at least some people will have fun, and that though it’s a difficult thing to get a party started, once it’s on, then it stays on. 

Our theme is Summer Splash, by the way. I guess I forgot to mention that.. Ha! It’s going to be from 7-11, and there will be food, games, a dj and disco lights, prizes and a beautiful view! I’m really happy that some people from other schools are coming as well. I think we need them to come, or else things might get a little too tight. Grace couldn’t come though, which is a shame. I tried, and I do know some people who wanted to come, but the school was having another event on Saturday already and so couldn’t provide a chaperone or tell any of their students about it. I still think it’s because our school name spells SIN->>( NIS-Nakornpayap International School) Lol

Lanna, Prem, CMIS and APIS are coming, though in varying numbers. Some graduates are also coming, which’ll be pretty funny, don’t you think? Mr. Mic, our resident French teacher and drummer extraodinaire is going to be Dj.

Yesterday we spent around 4 hours painting the surfboards plus the other decorations at my house. I think they turned out really well! I think we’ll post some pictures of them once we have them, because they really bring you into the spirit of summer celebration baby~!

I think I’ll sign off now, but I’ll be back to describe the success (or failure.. *crosses fingers*) 

Love,

Anna

It’s nine pm, I’m sleep-deprived, my body aches, and I’m just a bit hungry. But as long as there’s music and this blog, I can get through another day! Hah! This is Yu again, finally posting the pictures of our shelter visit at the Care for Dogs shelter exactly one week ago (I apologize), and just some pictures of some things Anna and I did today.

This morning Anna and I helped out with an organization (I’m afraid I do not know the name) that focused on stopping the child sex trade. It was their first event, and geared towards raising awareness among foreigners, we had people get on rickshaws (otherwise known as ’sam-lors’, which translates to “three-wheeled”) with the organization’s banner on the back, and each passenger would wave a poster. It was really quite an interesting event — lots of foreigners and lots of rickshaws.

It was, however, extremely hot and we were wearing black shirts! We stood in the merciless sun for two hours giving out bottles of cold water, posters, and t-shirts. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get a picture of the rickshaws, but I did get pictures of Chiang Mai Coffee Cafe, the small cafe we got our water from. I love the decor.

Care for Dogs Shelter Visit

Finally, we come up to the good parts. Just a bit of a review before we get to the shelter. A week before our shelter visit, we organized a ‘Drive for Dogs’ week, in which we asked students, teachers, parents — anyone, if they could! — to bring something for the needy dogs at the shelter. We made announcements every morning, and set up our collecting area in the canteen. By Saturday morning, we had quite a load to bring with us! I was rather afraid we wouldn’t have enough space in the bus, actually.

Before we were able to reach the shelter, we actually got a little lost! Fortunately our driver noticed the tiny sign pointing to the shelter and we got there. It was a fun, activity-filled day; we washed the dogs, walked them, took care of their medical wounds, vaccinated them, and just had a wonderful time.

Here are some pictures! Watch this space as it is continually updated:

Mbote everyone! (Now you know how to say ‘hi’ in Lingala!) I’m sorry the updates have been erratic at best, but we did take a blissful two-week holiday, and well, life is, at best, pleasantly busy. Hardly a dull moment in our lives, one could say. Anywho, I (Yu) am here to write up a bit of an update on our going-ons. All of our projects are still.. running, and we’re doing our best to keep things going. R&S members are still dutifully collecting paper and plastic bottles to recycle in our school and are in the process of getting our canvas bags ready to be sold. We are also still in contact with Care for Dogs and will be heading to help with their adoption fair this Saturday, May 5th. However, in this entry I’d like to stress..

NIS Summer Splash Social — 19th May at the Royal Lanna Hotel

Today a few Roots and Shoots members and I (Monika, Fun, Toey were the members, others were there for comments) set off after our meeting in search of suitable hotels to host our social/dance at. We visited two hotels — the Duangthawan and the Royal Lanna — the owners/customers of which were good friends of Monika and Toey’s parents. Both are in the Night Bazaar area and both had very accommodating rooms, however, it was the Royal Lanna with their ballroom on the topmost (22nd) floor that had a great view and a perfect reception area for us. Another zing! factor was that people could access the room directly via a glass elevator; now is that just snazzy or what?

We hope that by arranging this social, we can raise funds for various charities and organizations (Care for Dogs being our main one) and just have fun in general. I think today we got a lot of work done and that the social event will come along just fine — especially with the enthusiasm of Monika, Fun and Toey and the other girls.