Folklore Museum

by Zy Carreon

The whole museum is stunning, it is perched on a mountain on an island surrounded by a lake and to get there, you have to pass by lotus flowers and a long bridge and finally a huge statue of a gold reclining Buddha.

The accommodation is comfortable with the view of the fishing village, the lake and the neighboring islands. It is peaceful and everyone else who is in the building is friendly.

I work from Mondays to Fridays. On Mondays, I go to an elementary school about 15 minutes away by car and help local children improve their English communication skills, it is a place with vibrant energy and I always look forward going there and leave with a wide grin on my face. On Tuesdays, I go to a different office in the museum and help clean recently acquired objects that will be displayed in the museum which is surprisingly a tedious job. These tools depict the daily lives of people in the South of Thailand, they are usually rusty and were used either in their houses or for their work. For the rest of the week, I usually am in the secretarial office that’s located near the entrance of the museum where I help translate articles and mingle with the local staff and we teach each other about our cultures and they teach me how to speak Thai and I help them improve their English as well. Everyone here is so warm and accommodating. Our coordinator has been nothing but kind to us and I could not ask for more. The food here is also great.

Sometimes we go out to other towns like Nakhorn Si Thammarat and Phattalung to reach out to different schools and also some Buddhist temples and teach them how to take care of their artifacts. We’ve also gone to Thaksin University which is where the museum is under, I presented facts about my country and discussed the similarities and differences with it and Thailand with the students. I’ve also been taken to other places to solely experience Thailand and not work, like Hat Yai and we’ve gone rafting in a river in the middle of the jungle and we’ve been on a boat on a lake hours away that only had lotus flowers everywhere and it is one of my favorite places on Earth.

I am really thankful to be a part of this project and I think I really learned a lot about Thai culture, especially the Southern part and it has all been very interesting.