Tuesday

The group had a morning at the Orphanage. We were split into 3 groups, one with the babies, one outside with the toddlers and the third group went to the School for Deaf children, then we rotated. This was a very interesting experience. We saw the children learning to follow commands in sign language, they were learning colours, inside, outside, under and over. We then moved to a more advanced group who were having to sign family members from Thai script on the board. They took it in turns standing next to the board, whilst the rest of the class watched. It was all most inspiring.

In the afternoon we were going to Pattaya Park with the children from the Drop-In Center. It was something we had all been looking forward to having met them all yesterday. We went on the bus, and they were all waiting for us when we arrived. We bought the 47 tickets then all piled down the steps and found a great spot with 3 tables and loads of chairs. All the children had quickly taken off their shorts and t-shirts and rushing into the water. The Thai kids came down the slides standing (!) but came to no harm. Ours all came down sitting - much more refined and sensible. Everyone had a great time. Mr James and I went and bought 47 cans of Pepsi for everyone to have a drink. We got back on the bus at 4.0 p.m. and went past all the Thai kids getting back into the pick-up trucks to go back home.

In the evening we walked down to Carrefour pushing Mrs Amphlett in a wheelchair. She was so pleased to be with us all after being left in her room most of the time. We all had a good time - the coffee is especially good at one of the restaurants! We managed to get Mrs A back without incident one the road, no mean feat!