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It’s all about what lives in the water. Whether it is the sea or fresh water, Marlie wants to experience what lies under the waves. The other day I took her to the Aquarium here in Chiang Mai, I think this is the tenth aquarium she has dragged me to in various cities around the world. John and Hannah gave them up some time back.
As mom, I am willing to feed her passion and peer into more tanks full of jellyfish or seahorses, and, if we are lucky, walk through a glass tube surrounded by fish. I might not choose another aquarium to fill a day on my own, but Marlie’s love for marine biology borders on obsession. How could I not want to encourage that?
Not all of the things the girls learn on this trip will fit into the school district’s boxes for curriculum credit, but I am sure the experiences will become a part of who they are. Hannah spent two days this week in a Thai cooking school. She loves to cook, and often makes dinner for the family. She already had down a mean Tom Kha Gui, now she knows so much more.
Focusing on what is most interesting to each of the kids in these different places means they’ll get so much more out of the experience. While neither the aquarium nor the cooking classes will teach them some of the other things about a country that are important, like history and politics, they will be remembered by the girls forever. Bits of knowledge feeding a passion.
