Nin

NIN

Nin’s name means “blue sapphire”. I don’t know exactly what that color looks like, but I’m sure that Nin doesn’t look like blue sapphire. However, he’s a great guy to be around and one of the first guys I see in the mornings. Chork usually gets Nin’s wheelchair and pushes him to CCD in the mornings before we go and pick up the other guys. Nin is more clever than most of the other guys and so he is lots of fun to talk with even though he can’t move his mouth very well which makes talking for him difficult.

He’s 25 years old however, like me, which I think adds to the fact that I like spending time with him even more. He’s good at concentrating on things when we do paper mache and play games like connect four or even checkers. Usually he sits in his wheelchair all day (which he has trouble staying all the way up in it all the time since his body is so stiff) but when we do activities like paper mache we’ll sit him cross legged on the floor until it hurts his legs too much. This is a little harder for him because he has to keep balanced, but it’s good because he’s able to work on the floor with the other guys instead of at a table by himself. He seems to enjoy it.

Nin seems to enjoy playing games most of all when he’s with us. He’s really smart at connect 4 and likes to play simpler games like dominoes. The also like to play this memory game that one of the other volunteers had left for them and Nin usually gets more than I can! He plays connect 4 a lot with me and with some of the other guys like Sen and Pitaya. I think they like playing each other a lot but usually I have to be there to put the pieces in for them. Nin can do it himself but gets tired after a time. I don’t know how much he’s played checkers before me coming here but he seems to have picked it up pretty quick when P O, one of the staff, was teaching him. He plays it pretty good with me, except sometimes gets the rules confused because I taught him American style too since it was a little easier to play. He still hasn’t gotten chess figured out, but he sits and studies the board sometimes when me and P O play during lunch. It would be great if him and one of the other guys can be able to learn it before I leave here!

Nin, like the other guys, likes to arm wrestle with me. He also teases my by calling me fat, after which I rough him up a bit. He seems to never get tired of teasing me! He also is a Christian and loves to sing various Christian songs and learn the motions to them. Me and Paul, the new volunteer, teach him some English in the mornings. He’s getting good at responding in Thai to the questions that I ask him in English. It’s amazing how clever he is, hopefully he never stops learning new things and joking around with the volunteers here. He provides a lot of fun for all of us.