Thursday (3/12)

Today we woke up and started the day with our usual breakfast of fried rice, eggs, sausage, and tangerines. 

We then watched the eighth graders from La Salle Sangkhlaburi graduate. The ceremony was marked with singing, gifts, and lots of balloons and confetti. 

After the festivities were over, we changed and drove over to the start of a hike. We walked about fifty minutes through the jungle, crossing a river and hanging bridge, to a remote village that one of the Blue Sky girl’s family lives at. For lunch, in addition to the rice and chicken that we packed, we were offered locally grown mini bananas and fresh made khao tom (a Thai dish of steamed sticky rice and sweet banana) which we happily ate. We walked back with sweat dripping down but got to our truck and enjoyed some refreshing ice cold water. 

When we got back to the school, we showed and then played a heated game of volleyball. A few of the kids from the La Salle school joined us. We all noted that we’ve definitely been improving since the first volleyball game we played with the La Salle students.  After our last bumps, sets, and spikes, we got dressed up and drove to a dinner out with the Blue Sky girls for our last night in Sangkhlaburi. 

We went to a restaurant with a karaoke setup that was right on a river. We ate fried rice, sweet and sour stir fry, fried crab, fish, and tom kha soup. The Blue Sky girls gave two dance performances (one with the younger girls and one with the older girls) in their traditional Thai garments. Both Saint Mary’s students and Blue Sky girls gave stellar karaoke performances as well. To end of the night, we played a huge game of mafia before heading home to wind down after a fun yet long day.