Doing My Part

December 3rd finally came after weeks of discussion: it was time for the Pattaya Beach Cleanup 2009. About 250 students/teachers boarded 5 buses (in matching P.B. Cleanup shirts) at about 8 am for the 2 hour journey where we met students and teachers from a bunch of local area schools. Josie and I got the best bus by far. We had M1 (grade 7), so they were too old to want to play travel games which is awesome (cuz Ryan and Katie had to entertain a bunch of little kids for the whole ride) and we got the best teachers. We had two of our favorite Thai teachers, Pay and Yok and the 2 Chinese teachers, Ann and Cherry. The 6 of us sat in this VIP section on the bottom floor of the bus and just hung out/slept/talked for the ride.

It turned out it was a pretty big deal--there was a huge stage and tons of tents/displays. We got off the bus to find no beach, however. Shocking that we would have a beach cleanup without a beach. The kids were let loose on the sea wall/rocks that were along the boardwalk to start cleaning up while a few others headed around the bend to a 'beach' which was actually a filthy little sand trap where boats pulled in to tie up. We all just did the ol' head shake and laugh and proceeded to enjoy the sun and being by the water. Why we were cleaning up an area that people clearly don't swim in is beyond me, but the kids had a great time and ended up picking up a lot of trash. It was funny watching everyone run around with latex gloves and trash bags trying not to get splashed by waves as they pulled in everything from dead fish to tires to used condoms to bottles to...well you get the picture!

After a 'hearty' lunch we drove over to Pattaya's floating market. It's been really cool to see these types of markets in a bunch of different cities to be able to compare them. This one is really touristy but laid out in a cool way with boardwalks/huts over the water. It also had sections devoted to all the regions in Thailand so you could see crafts/products from all over.

All in all the day turned out to be a good time (and a great excuse not to teach). Still looking back I'm not sure how much we helped the environment when we drove 2 hours each way to the beach, gave each kid a shirt that came wrapped indivually in plastic, ate styrofoam box lunches and only cleaned for 45 minutes. Still, it's the thought that counts right? :)