January 9, 2010

Today was my first day in Ao Luk (pronounced Ow Look) and I already feel at home. This is precisely the change I needed. It is so nice to be away from the need for material items and concern about physical appearance. Here, everyone looks the way they look and they have what they have. GVI explained that their purpose of coming to Ao Luk was/is to help them maintain their beautiful sense of community while simultaneously developing the area to help them become more financially stable (through teaching the community how to speak English). The locals really respect and appreciate us for being here to help. Teachers are supposedly respected on a higher level than policemen, but the English teachers themselves can hardly speak English...

the GVI house

street view