Wednesday June 5, 2013
This was the first day of volunteer work and it didn't end up going as planned because our boss was sick and so Kati and I stayed in one classroom for the majority of the day. It was a tad bit difficult because we weren't prepared for a full day of activities that we had to do and plan so we simply improvised and played jenga, basketball, flashcards with the alphabet and numbers and other games along those lines. The kids loved it and the day was still super fun and exciting! After the day at the work site we left for our cultural activities which included an interactive museum to learn about the history of Thailand and the Golden Mount which houses a pagoda and holds a relic of the Lord Buddha. The views from the top offered a 360 degree view of Bangkok. After those two activities, we left for a group dinner at a restaurant which was delicious although the meals at the house are equally just as delicious! I love Thai food! The combination of spices in every meal just adds so much to the flavor of all the food that you eat.
The view of Bangkok from the top
Thursday June 6, 2013
Once again it was an early morning waking up at 7 AM to get to the school by 8:30 (the traffic is insane... its less than 5 miles away and literally takes about 45 to get there). Our boss was still out due to illness but he left a schedule so that we would be able to go about our day in a more structured way and know where the most help was needed. We started with an exercise lesson in front of the whole school. There is a courtyard in the middle of the school which can be seen from every part of the school. We taught the kids the word "family" today and get to bring in pictures of our family next week when we teach them "mom, dad, brother, etc". After that we had to help the swimming instructor out in the pool for two hours (so two classes of 10 students each). We helped the students kick and splash around for muscle movement and guide them on how to swim. It was definitely a work out because we would be directing movements such as kicking and holding kids up, etc but it felt extremely nice because Thailand is so so so so so hot and humid that there is no comparison for me to even explain to you how hot it is... its just sweltering heat all day every day. After swimming we helped out in one of the classes and played basketball, did flash cards, and made bracelets. Lunch came and then we helped out some more and were off to the home base. We had another language lesson and the language is still extremely hard because it is based on tones; there are five tones and saying a word with a different intonation completely changes the meaning of the word. There are no tenses, but rather cue words to imply the tenses. Today was a relaxing day because tomorrow the weekend begins!
Nine out of the ten people are flying out tomorrow to Chaing Mai which is in the north of Thailand before noon. The plane ride is only 50 minutes and then we will be there over the weekend for Friday and Saturday night and leaving Sunday morning to come back to Bangkok. We all decided to go here because there are fantastic elephant sanctuaries where you can ride elephants, swim with them, wash them, everything basically! And the best part is that they are humane and treat the elephants well. I am SO UNBELIEVABLY excited because I finally get to be with my elephants!!!! jfidajfidjfiasjfs (If you didn't know already, I have a serious obsession with elephants). Plane tickets were relatively cheap.. 70$ one way. We tried to book an overnight train ride which was cheaper but it was all sold out, so we had no other option. We are all staying in a hostel and rented out a dorm style room for 10 people so this will definitely be an experience since we are all literally sleeping in the same room! (Oh and the hostel is 6$ per night, not bad eh?!) Anyways, I literally cannot wait. Sorry Mom and Dad, I feel like I am spending more money that I had originally planned, but who knows if I will ever be back and I will be working for the rest of my life so I am sure I will be able to pay you back some day soon. Overall, I don't think I have spent too much for being away for 5 weeks. I love you guys :) I will also not be bringing my laptop with me so I will definitely blog about Chiang Mai when I get back on Sunday when I come back with all my elephant stories that will be very well documented by camera!
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