I'm Dreaming of a Thai Christmas...

Last weekend we and some of the other volunteers made a leisurely trip to Bangkok for a few days of sightseeing and, of course, Harry Potter viewing. We visited the King’s Palace, avoiding the many touts who annoyingly kept telling us it was closed and tried to steer us towards other places of business, and wandered around the grounds and museums and the stunning ‘Temple of the Emerald Buddha.’ The statue of the Buddha has three ‘outfits’ depending on what season the country is in. This being the cold season (lows of 23 degrees!) he had on a gold winter coat. During the rainy seasons he sports a large golf umbrella. I’m joking of course. The palace, including the temple, has a strict dress code and people caught in strappy tops, above the calf skirts or tight trousers are quickly shepherded off and lent more respectable garments before entering. So of course every tourist that stepped through the gates was met with ‘No short pants!’ or ‘Please borrow a free shirt!’ We volunteers, being members of communities who dress like that anyway (well they’re a bit more liberal) had much less trouble and caused much less offense.

The less cultural aspect of our trip was watching Harry Potter in a Thai IMAX cinema. Although this is not a particularly Thai experience, it was a new one to me and one which cost about the same as a one way ticket to the town centre back home. IMAX is amazing. If you’ve seen the latest Harry Potter film when I say that I thought I was going to be eaten by the snake. Seriously. The screen was so huge I almost fell over when I saw it.

Back in Lerng Noktha, we’ve been teaching the lyrics to Jingle Bells to children (and other teaches) so many times, I’m beginning to resent all one horse open sleighs though they provide some amusement when the students mispronounce the phrase. And it’s funny when they’re only interested in yelling ‘Hey!’ at the end if each rendition. I also taught one class to make Christmas cards and gave them stickers which they got very excited and quite violent over (the boys especially) at first but then seemed at a loss as how to use them. After showing them how to peel the backs off and stick them on things they produced some very lovely cards.

Our home has turned into a veritable Christmas grotto after we attacked it with tinsel, fairy lights Christmas trees and paper chains (thanks Mum!) and we’ve built up a respectable pile of presents each.  On Christmas Day, some of the other volunteers are coming over so we wanted to make it as festive as possible. (though we may have gone overboard as the tree is now more decorations than fake pine needles.) Christmas here is an odd feeling, like celebrating On Christmas Day, some of the other volunteers are coming over so we wanted to make it as festive as possible. (Though we may have gone overboard as the tree is now more decorations than fake pine needles.) Christmas here is an odd and feels like having Easter in November or happily celebrating your birthday alone. It’s wrong. But hopefully we’ll make it work.

Stuffing and noodle soup anyone?

Banana Leaves, Body Paint and Ladyboys

Last weekend saw the Thai festival of Loy Krathong (the ‘h’ is silent) when Thai people apologise to the river goddess for polluting the rivers. Now this is a bit ironic as they say sorry by floating little boats made out of polystyrene and banana leaves with candles and incense in, on the river which inevitably adds to the pollution. Anyway, while this is going on, big paper lanterns are and floated up to the sky and people perform traditional Thai dances in traditional Thai dress. Anna and I included. Thai dancing consists of a lot of walking around in group circles, making pretty hand gestures and tilting your head this way and that. It’s harder than it sounds, believe me! Your wrists and fingers are bent in unnatural and often painful ways while you have to smile away and step in time to the music. We’d been having dance lessons at the primary school, and all the children kept sneaking out of their classes to watch the two farang stumble around trying to appear graceful. Performing in front of big audience was going to be daunting.

The day finally dawned and we arrived at the dress shop to be transformed. The place was chaotic as pretty much every girl (and a few boys actually) in the town was getting dressed up for Loy Krathong. First, our arms, hands, shoulders, upper backs and upper chests were covered in a kind of flesh coloured body paint. On Thai people, it makes them look pale. We on the other hand looked a little like Morph. Next, ladyboys piled heaps of foundation on our faces and led us away to get changed. Thai traditional dress consists of a tight, ankle length skirt and a one shouldered top. After trying (and failing) to find skirts the right size, they ended up being altered in the shop which was fairly embarrassing. Then more ladyboys set to work on our hair. It was all backcombed ‘til we looked like flintstones and pinned up on our heads. They added fake, bun-shaped extensions which unfortunately (but of course logically) were only available in black so my appearance was just getting odder by the second. Add a fake lily and a tiara and the next step was complete. Another team of ladyboys (man, those guys are skilled) finished our make-up and the finishing touches of earrings, belts and beads were added before we were driven off to the river.

The performance went well (though my clip on earrings fell off) and my lovely male dance partner kept issuing words of encouragement. Afterwards, practically everyone in the entire town wanted photos of us and we obliged while watching lots of little banana-leaf boats drifting down the river. And because it was dark, this was quite a spectacle.

Also this week, we got a visitor from Project Trust (the charity we work for) and it was nice hearing another English accent for once. (Anna of course is Scottish) Nick,-that's his name- came bearing the beth gift ever. What was it you say? News from back home? Better teaching materials? The meaning of life? It was none of these. It was a jar or Marmite. I've never been happier!

Sawat Dee!

Don't Pray Near the Stove

So as promised last time here’s the quick story on my toenail: I stubbed really hard and it eventually fell off after the jungle trek. It’s started to grow back though it could be months until it is restored to its original condition.

As for the results of the language course I got thirty nine out of forty. (Gutted about that last one I know)

Anyway I’m back in Lerng Noktha and I thought I’d fill you in a few things. The word ‘farang’ means foreigner or, more specifically a western foreigner.  So when my partner and I are cycling around town we often hear: ‘oh, farang!’ and then ‘Hello!’ the first because the people are not used to seeing white people (especially females) and the second because that’s the only English word they usually know.  Other than me and Anna there are some farang in Lerng Noktha. There’s Ned the Irishman who lives next door to us and who is also our landlord. He moved here and married a Thai lady. He can often be heard shouting incoherent words down the phone to some unfortunate person. Then there’s Dave, the Englishman who came here on a golfing holiday and later moved here and married a Thai lady. There’s also John the Australian who runs a coffee shop and moved here and married a Thai lady (see where I’m going with this?) and Steve who recently opened a fish chip shop and who moved here and… well you get the picture. They’re an odd, grey haired bunch who are friendly enough. Well we think Ned’s friendly but we can’t really understand him.

Farang also means guava (it’s a fruit people!) So if you’re a westerner caught eating one, be prepared for lots of silly jokes.

Now back to teaching (that’s what I’m here for after all) we haven’t officially started yet but we get up in front of classes and take them through the occasional exercise. Like today students were learning about safety: do not play with matches or stray animals and be careful when you do the laundry as you may hurt your arm (that’s a direct extract from the textbook) etc. Then there was the issue of: do not play near the stove.  Now you may recall that I am in the Northeast of Thailand which is very near Laos, the neighboring country. As a result, people in the northeast speak a mixture of Thai and Lao. In Lao there is no ‘r’ sound so it’s substituted with ‘l’ and people here often mix their l’s and r’s around. So I am Freur and I like to eat lice. (with me so far?) So when Thai children speak of the dangers of stoves they say: do not pray near the stove. And they tell you to be careful not to: Fry kites near electric cables. It can be quite amusing but also frustrating. Especially the name thing. That irritates me. A lot.

So there you have another insight into the lives of volunteer teachers living in Thailand.

Sawat Dee! And remember- DON’T PRAY NEAR THE STOVE!

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle...

So during our three week stay in Chiang Mai we all went on a two day jungle...adventure. That's the word. On the first day, we got picked up from our guesthouse and driven up the mother of all scary roads (we actually dubbed it death road) it was so steep and twisty turny we thought we'd all fall out the pack of our truck and go rolling down the mountain. Anyway, we eventually stopped for a quick picnic lunch before beginning our three hour trek back down the mountain.Our guide was called 'Rambo' (and you better be reading this Harminder) and had actually met Sylvester Stallone himself. The trek itself I found long and hard (I'm not a great one for exercise as I'm sure most of you know) but- and forgive me if I get a little poetic here- the views were stunning. Forest covered mountains with little hill tribe villages dotted on them, stretching for as far as you could see. We also saw industrious termites, spiders as large as your face (no joke) and some odd fungus that Rambo insisted was 'magic mushroom.' Stop panicking! Not of us ate it. We were saving ourselves for the opium the following afternoon. (Part joke. Only Rambo had it and he could have been lying.) During the trek we stopped off at a couple of picturesque waterfalls for a rest and a swim which was very welcome and extremely refreshing. We later trekked on some more and made it to camp. And no jungle experience is complete without wooden huts, campfires and outdoor showers. It was extremely fun though and we fell asleep full of anticipation for the next day.

Day two was genuinely on of the best days I've ever ever had. It started with toast for breakfast and a quick walk to the next activity. The group was split into two here and mine went off to another waterfall whilst the other went to the elephant camp. We would swap over later as there weren't enough elephants to go around the eighteen of us. The waterfall was lovely and though we only dipped our toes in it this time I've never had cleaner feet. (Maybe apart from the time some of us went to a fish spa back in the city and had the dead skin nibbled off our feet by little fish- not as disgusting as it sounds I promise) Then it was our turn to elephant trek. You have to sit in a little chair/bench thing on the elephants back while it's trainer ( or Mahout) sits on its neck and nudges it behind the ears. We went two to an elephant and my pair got the only mother elephant whose baby followed her everywhere. This sounds very cute and it really was until mum wonders off into the jungle to pull down a small tree for its baby to eat. I've never been smacked in the face with a branch so many times! It was fun and surreal and terrifying and quite uncomfortable and totally amazing.

After this, it was on to the next adventure: river rafting. Basically three of us in a rubber dingy with one pole and one oar trying to navigate a river with low bridges, fallen trees and swimming dogs (it even jumped in our craft at one point) we did capsize when I found a spider in the boat and tried to kill it with the oar, while at the same time we all ducked to avoid overhanging branches whilst trying to get comfy. Disaster! We all managed to scramble back in and steer (drift backwards really) to the finishing point. Then, after a quick lunch it was time for.. Bamboo Rafting. This I recommend to everyone. It was like the previous activity except this time we had a boatman to steer. His name was Em, he was fourteen and he just loved capsizing us and rocking the boat and chucking us all in. We all stopped at one point to use a tyre swing to jump in the river with which all the locals (and Em) found dead amusing. We had so much fun that our raft and another groups were a full twenty minutes behind everyone else. When we finally 'parked' (and were thrown in all  over again) Rambo did not look best pleased....

Well that was my amazing weekend in the jungle. I have barely started on the rest of my time in Chiang Mai and though it involves me losing a toenail, being a total culture vulture and learning the results of my Thai language test... it will have to wait for another day.

Sawat De Ka!

Live and Learn Thai

See what I did there?

So we're here in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand for three weeks so we can learn some Thai on a language course. All eighteen of us met up and it was great to hear everyone's stories. Now those of you who have better memories will remember there twenty of us. Not so any more. Two people (or one partership) only stuck it out for a month and are back home in Britain. Chiang Mai as a place is very touristy and its weird seeing white people (or farang) again. There's so much stuff to do like 'Flight of the Gibbon' (like Go Ape but with more gibbons) and Tiger sancturaries and Elephant Trekking. We've seen a few elephants wandering the streets with their 'owners' and you can pay to feed them but it's actually quite a sad sight. But anyway, this should all make three great weeks!

The journey here however was not so thrilling. It took us sixteen hours on an overnight bus and although the it was very luxurious(built in massagers in the chairs and fully reclining seats etc) it was still a bus and I didn't get much sleep. We all went to a night bazaar on our first night and saw many pretty things for sale.

A few more cultural things:

• 
  
  If you're female, DO NOT touch a monk. My friend did (by accident) and the poor man was horrified.
• 
  
  Here it's the year 2553 (their dates are different) and I can tell you now people the future's bright. Though not so much orange.
• 
  
  If you so much as cough, you'll be bombarded by health questions and possibly be taken to a doctor for no reason.
• 
  
  If you don't like rice, don't come here. And it's easy to stay vegetarian (so I've been told) if you like seafood. Especially squid.

Well now I'm off to a walking market that I'm sure is not much different to an ordinary market but hey.

Sawat Dee Ka!

School's out Forever!

Well not quite, as a teacher I go to school four times a week. Tuesday and Wednesday in secondary school and Thursday and Friday in Primary School. It's quite fun. the other day me and Anna did our first joint lesson teching fruit to Battong three and four (years three and four. I think.) They're enthusiastic and totally loved playing 'slap the board' at the end. School on the whole is fairly laid back. The students don't do an awful lot of work, the teachers answer their moblies in class and the children just walk in and out all the time. As do stray dogs. And lesson times aren't really set. We gathered that they were all on the hour every hour but apparently it's perfectly normal for the whole class to turn up fifteen minutes late. But they're generally well behaved so I can't really complain. Except the boy we've dubbed 'Devil Child' already.

Okay Beth asked about lizards 'and shizz' they're very cute and we have loads living in our house. They hide behind bookcases, run up the wall and eat the insects so they're good roomates! And there are alot of insects. Ants are always around, as are spiders and mosquitos which are mysteriously attracted to clean laundry for some bizzare reason. There's also huge dragonflies and huge butterflies and huge bee/wasp/hornet things. The last two are the only ones that really freak me out though.

Lauren mentioned weather. It's really really hot all the time and it rains heavily everyday for a few hours- usually in the evening though so it cools everything down for the night. I have to sleep with a fan on still. It's getting colder though (hurrah) and temperatures my even dip to 24 degrees! (shock, horror)

My after school anglish class went fine but it's funny because Anna is Scottish so whatever she teaches them, they repeat in her accent. Amusing! She says the same about me but I can't see it myself. :)

Going to Mukdahan tomorrow ( check the Lonely Planet guide Mum!) for shopping and generally doing some touristy things for once. Sawat Dee Ka!

Blood, Sweat and...Rice?

Okay so there wasn't that much blood. Just a tiny bit from where I cut my toe on some grass. Yes grass. It was sharp. Today we went to grow rice with some of our Thai students/friends, two are twins and they live on a rice farm just outside the town where we're staying. We waded into the paddy fields and stuck green shoots in the mud. It was alot of fun but I couldn't do it for an entire day. I ended up losing both my shoes when I got stuck in the mud and so I am a pair of flip flops down. In November it's harvest time so we'll be back for more! (and armed with a much more secure pair of shoes) So beware, the next batch of rice you eat could have been grown by yours truly. Food for thought indeed.

In other news, me and Anna (my partner) moved out of our host family's house and into our own lovely accomadation. It's a three bedroom three bathroom bungalow with proper showers! ( we've been dunking our heads in buckets for the past week) Our host family threw us a kind of leaving party and many people came. They held a special welcoming ceromony for us which entailed every guest tieing a white string around each of our wrists and wishing us health, happiness etc. It was so nice but now I have aroung thirty white (well greyish now really) strings on my arm that I can't take off for three days otherwise I'll get bad luck.

That's it for now so Sawat Dee Ka!

 Oh and tomorow I'm giving my first after school english lesson so wish me luck...

First week in Loeng Nokta

All this week I'm staying with a Thai host family in their house before moving into my own on Saturday. It's quite hard to sleep at night due to a painful combination of jet lag, heat and really noisy cockrels but I guess I'll get used to it! The food is good though there have been some strange combinations cropping up such sweet waffles with sweetcorn in and pumkins filled with 'custard' -not one of my favourites I have to admit.

All the people are very kind and helpful and have trouble pronnouncing/remembering my name. They've given me a Thai one which I can't pronnonce/remember. Its a type of flower though, which is quite fitting. Our host (the person who basically looks after us for a year) took us to visit the primary school we'll be teaching at for three days a week. Now if you know me at all, you'll know I am not fond of children. At all. But even I have to admit Thai children are really sweet and dare I say it quite cute. They all stand up and 'wai' (bow) to you when you walk by and they always tell you how beautiful you are. (Though I'm not sure how much truth there is in this!) For the other days in the week we'll teach at the high school and help out at the Tessoban or local government.

Quick note about the weather- very hot with occasional heavy showers which last for 5 minutes- several hours, so very unpredictable.

Sawat Dee Ka for now.

Two Nights in Bangkok

So I met up with the other 19 volunteers at Heathrow before flying to Mumbai and then on to Bangkok. We'll stay in Bangkok for two nights before travelling to our individual projects.- Hello twelve hour bus journey!

Bangkok is... interesting.

All the taxis are bright pink and the cars are almost all Toyotas. Or Hondas. Instead of "The car in front is a Toyota" here it would be "All the cars in front are Toyotas. Or Hondas"

We visited the MBK shopping centre and discovered you can buy brand new portable DVD players for around 60 pounds, (I can't find a pound sign on this Thai keyboard) and I spent a grand total of 80p on lunch- It was quite filling too.

It's boiling hot and it isn't even sunny and its around 80% humidity. Though it hasn't rained yet so I'm not complaining. :) There's air con in every building but as soon as you walk outside, BAM! you're hit with a massive wave of heat.

Last night I had dinner in a place with lizards running up the wall which entertaining to say the least. Oh and I saw a Lady boy fixing mobile phones.

I don't know when I can write again so goodbye for now!

T'was the night before Thailand...

...and all through the house... people were in an absolute packing frenzy.

Okay so this is my first blog, I've set it up to keep you (and myself actually) informed of all the exciting advetures I hope to have on my gap year to Thailand. Here's a recap of why/who/where etc in case you forgot or because I didn't tell you (more likely)

A charity called Project Trust are sending me to a rural part of North East Thailand for a year to teach english to primary and secondary school children.

I travel and live with a partner and I have my own house too :)

At the start of my year I will take a three week Thai language course in Chiang Mai and I could come back fluent in Thai!

So here I am starting this new, exciting experience so a big thanks to everyone who's supported me and thanks for reading my very first blog and thanks to Dan for helping me set it up. I'm not sure when I'll have internet access so the updates might be a bit sporadic!

(Beth and Chantelle here's your mention)- They're now complaining they didn't get a sentence to themselves.