Chalawan the Crocodile King

Local legend (Phichit province) tells the thrilling and horrible tale of Chalawan the Crocodile King. The story begins with Chalawan, a half man half crocodile with a love of pretty women, living in his grotto with all his loyal subjects and wives. One day he sees two girls swimming and is entranced by them. He steals the older one and sweeps her back to his layer. This girls father just happens to be a millionaire and offers a huge monetary reward as well as his other daughter to whomever can kill Chalawan. The hero, Krai Thong, hears about the dilemma and reward and is willing to accept the challenge. He corners Chalawan, kills him, and brings back the millionaires daughter. He is handsomely rewarded. (This is a retelling of Tang's version of the story).

When we got to Phichit and started teaching we realized that only three of the kids were actually old enough to be in the ILP program. The others are still benefitting from interaction with English speakers but they are not progressing as quickly as the three boys who understand what we are trying to do.

Ongry

Phuvit

Fei-Fei

This post is really about them. The reason I began with the story of the Chalawan is because when we were discussing our end of the summer program, recreating this legend was one of our options. These three boys would fit perfectly into those roles.

Ongry

2. Ongry:

Ongry is a very polite boy. He knows what he is supposed to be doing and he does his best to ... well .... do it. We all love him because he makes our lives easier and he is adorable. 

• We did once catch him peeing in a bush at the garden home. When he noticed that we had noticed he looked ridiculously ashamed of himself.
• Ongry may or may not be in love with Sarah our head teacher. He always picks her for duck duck goose (which is pretty much love if you are five) and he likes to grab her butt with his tickle fingers.
• Last week Ongry was trying to get Laura's attention, "Teacher Teacher" he said. Laura said "Yes Ongry?" and Ongry said "Yes Teacher." That was that.

Alisha, Whitney, Pordee, Phuvit

3. Phuvit:

Phuvit is the oldest child at the nursery, he is pushing five and a half. He is tall and skinny and loves girls. He is always trying to hold someone's hand. He also spends much of his time outside of his body. We pretty much beg him to pay attention, not because he is disruptive more because he is just not there. Wherever he goes inside his head must be far more interesting then class.

• Yesterday, Sarah was watching me teach the boys and I looked over and Phuvit was holding her hand. It turned out that she had actually been trying to remove it from her thigh.
• The most alive I have ever seen Phuvit was when we were swimming. It's like he turns from a boy, who spends his time on Mars, to a stealthy little ninja. He was doing tricks and attacking people for the whole hour.

Prea, Ivy, Fei-Fei

4. Fei-Fei:

Fei-Fei is brilliant. He generally catches on to any activity faster than the other boys but he is a little rebellious. He loves to play guns (well actually they all love that), they make their guns out of blocks and run around shouting "Bong! Bong!" not bang bang. Fei-Fei also like to put Phuvit in his place; when Phuvit acts up Fei-Fei tries to bring him back. He is very sweet and makes sure to tell Teacher Jenna hello in the morning.

• Fei-Fei's mom rode past us on her bike today. Fei-Fei was in the back basket, he pretended he didn't know us while grinning.

Anyway, we figured that for the play (if it happens) Phuvit could be the lady loving crocodile king, Ongry could be the bereft millionaire, and Fei-Fei could be the dashing hero.

Ongry is in the whitey tightys, Phuvit is in the blue body suit, and Fei-Fei is on the end in his speedo.