We started the day at 7:30AM. We took 2 longtail boats to the fish farms, which was about 15-30 minutes away from the MRI.
This is the view from the MRI porch.
Suzie and Fadi sat at the head of the boat.
The rest of us sat in the back of the boat.
The floating fish farm.
Myles and Suzie looking at the fish in the nets.
This is one of many species of lobster they are growing in the nets.
Most of the nets had various species of grouper. In one of the nets, we saw about 5 groupers that were about 5 feet long, weighing 150 lbs each. In this pic, you can see a school of spotted groupers. Grouper sells for about $30/lbs (wholesale).
We got to feed the fish and lobster with these small fishes.
One of the islands adjacent to the fish farms.
After the fish farm, we took the longtail boats to another pearl farm about 10 mins away. Here is Fadi showing us the oysters they are growing.
Opening one of the oysters.
If you look closely to the right, you can see the pearl. Myles and Fadi took a bite of the raw oyster. They said it tasted salty and needed some lemon.
On the way back to the MRI, we raced each other on the longtail boats. Here is Fadi navigating a longtail boat.
After the fish farm tour, we headed to the school at 9AM to teach the kids. We totally smelled like fish, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Here's Suzie and Kio with the 4th grade kids.
Here's Katie and I with the 5th and 6th grade kids. The kids line up before each lesson. The kids also wear different uniforms each day of the week. For Thursday, their school attire resembles a boy scout/western cowboy outfit.
Some pictures of the kids. They got really excited and posed at every camera opportunity.
Some of the preschool kids. They were identified by their pink and baby blue outfits.
After lunch, the kids put on their Muslim attire and have an organized time of prayer.
The 5th and 6th grade kids holding up a black and white cat.
On the island, dogs are seen as unholy creatures so therefore, there are thousands of cats everywhere. Here is one of the cats at the school.
Katie and I playing sharks and minnows with the 1st and 2nd graders. In this game, the kids need to get across the field without being tagged by the sharks in the middle of the field. The sharks can only move from side to side to tag the kids (minnows). Once tagged, the kids then become sharks and can only move from side to side. We played until everyone was tagged.
This was one of my favorite kids maybe because he looked more Chinese than Thai. The teachers told us that he had a mental disorder, which was why he was slower to react during our games. However, in one of the games, he won and when I taught him how to give a high five, he got really exicted and his face just lit up. He had the cutest smile. He high fived me 10 times at least.
Here's some of the kids' artwork hanging above the classroom doorway.
Each bead had 3-4 origami cranes.
After teaching, we headed to the swamp at 2PM to finish the fence. We put up approximately 200 concrete posts, each weighing about 75 lbs each. We also strung about 200 meters of barb wire.
Taking a break with the local foremens. It was so hot, the only shade was under this tree.
We ended up breaking lots of the tools. This is a hoe that I broke.
After work, we went to the beach to wash off the dirt and mud. Here is Kio enjoying the sunset.
Another beautiful sunset.
Right off the beach, there was Yao Yai Resort where we had dinner. We met up with another foreigner named Charlie and his wife and kids (we met them on the ferry to the island). Charlie is originally from Tampa, Florida and moved out to Koh Yao to hopefully retire and start a business. Charlie is also a Christian. We also invited two teachers from the school, Sophia (the head instructor) and Norma. Before dinner, we went to some local fish markets and bought fish and crabs for the restaurant to cook. We had about 10 crabs for dinner.
After dinner, we had a bonfire on the beach where we played some worship songs until 11PM. We invited Norma and Sophia to join us (middle of pic in white) and other foreigners who were staying at the resort also joined us in singing worship songs. Fadi said that Sophia is open to Christianity and I was glad that our team was able to share a bit of our faith with her.
