Volunteers trespass In Prince of Songkla University

The 23th and 24th June, 9 volunteers from VSA (4 French, 2 Spanish, 2 polish and one Japanese) met students from the veterinary school of Prince of Songkla university. It was initiated by the university, as an intercultural exchange. The goal was for Thai students to practice their English.

In the morning we began with a little presentation of everybody. Then we did some games: we mixed VSA volunteers and Thai students in four groups. For the first game, Thai students had to make then guess some English words according to a theme to the volunteer (for example an ambulance, without saying the word). 

Then we had a break.  After it, we had another game. We had to form a queue. One person was told a sentence in English in the ear, and had to repeat it to the other till the end of the queue. The last person of the queue had to write the sentence on a board. The groups who had the exact same sentences as the one of the beginning won. It was more difficult than it seems! Especially with our different accents (Thai, French, Polish…).  After this game, the morning was over, and we had lunch together.

Then, direction to the Zoo of Songhkla! Still in the same group (Thai and foreigners mixed), we had a scavenger hunt.

Each group had a clue and had to guess an animal. Then we had to go where the said animals were, to find another clue for another animal. At the second place, we met someone who told us the last test. We were given a film and we had to take a selfie in front of two animals who were in the movie.  (Animal zoo)

After that, we went to the night market at Songhkla, and we ate delicious Thai, Chinese and Japanese food before to go to sleep.

The next morning, departure early! We departed at 6 a.m (which was a little difficult for some of us), to clean a Buddhist temple. We went to the temple by foot, it took approximately 30 minutes.

The temple was on an island, the view was very nice. We could see the fishermen on the lake. We cleaned the temple and had a nice breakfast. We did some recitations of Buddhist “prayers” with a monk.

After that, we went to visit the biggest mosque of the province. The mosque was empty so we were able to visit freely. The mosque was beautiful with a lot of geometrical decorations. In front of the mosque there were big water basins. To finish this two days, we took a lunch in a small restaurant on the road.

These two days were interesting, because we were able to discuss with Thai students of approximately the same age of us. In addition, few of them speak very well English, the communication was possible. We were also able to visit the zoo of Songhkla, which is a very big place with numerous animals. The students in general was motivated, and the games interesting. The event had also a cultural aspect, with the visit of the mosque and the cleaning of the temple, so we were able to see the religious aspect of the daily life of inhabitants of the province. The event mixed culture and games. Furthermore the sun was here, and we hadn’t a lot of rain, which was appreciable.