It's been a while.

First of all, I must apologise for not keeping up with this over the last few months. November - January has flown in - time seems to be disappearing out here. Being away from home over the festive period was, as you can imagine, quite difficult, but not as hard as I had expected. In preparation for the weeks before Christmas we planned several Christmas themed lessons  involving making Christmas cards, singing carols and playing games. It was lovely to get back into the fun side of teaching for both us and the students after a week of Mid Term exams. Before we knew it was the week before Christmas, which was spent attempting to decorate our house and making it feel a little like home. From the 25th - 28th the school held it's annual sports day, which, to our relief meant we didn't have to teach on Christmas day. Instead we made traditional Thai food in the morning with our host and some students at the school, then spent the majority of the rest of the day in Ubon eating pizza and ice cream, followed by a night in bed - feeling sick from so much food - with Love Actually and Elf. Luckily Mr & Mrs Claus aka Hels and Ken still managed to reach rural Muang Samsip and I was still able to enjoy the excitement of opening presents. Big shout out to all the other lovely people who have sent me packages and letters over the festive season - it's amazing how much happiness I get out of receiving post!

With Christmas over, it was time to reunite with the other volunteers and head South for a crazy week in the beautiful Koh Samui. The journey was pretty horrific, to say the least, and involved many mishaps of being taking to the wrong bus station, trying to use our little Thai to get to the right bus station, five of us being shoved in one taxi each of us carrying a massive rucksack, giving up on the taxi, running around Bangkok on foot, to finally finding the bus station with one minute to spare - there was several moments of panic were we all thought we weren't going to make it on time. With that panic over, we jumped on the night bus and headed to catch the ferry. Having spent many years of my life travelling back and forth to school everyday on a ferry, I expected to experience zero problems feeling sea sick. Well, i was wrong. The journey was 2 hours - 2 hours of feeling and for 4 of us even being sick, as the Thai swells picked up to a standard not even I could deal with. Thankfully, the seas calmed towards the end and we were able to take in the beautiful landscape of green seas and the glistening of white sand beaches in the distance. The week was spent catching up with the other volunteers, lying on beaches and experiencing the mental nightlife the Islands have to offer. On Hogmanay we headed over to Koh Phangan to experience the famous countdown full moon party it had to offer. Hands down the best way to bring in the New Year. Words can't even describe how mental and intense the beach atmosphere was. If you ever find yourself in Thailand, get yourself to a full moon party!

After unwillingly lugging ourselves back to our projects, It's time to get back into the routine of teaching and lesson planning again. With the stress of applying to university over with, I finally find myself with some time to relax and settle back into life in rural Muang Samsip. The next few weeks will be filled with teaching, teaching, teaching and the excitement of researching places to go to during our 2 months travelling from March - May.
Vietnam, More Thailand and Cambodia here we come!!

Muang Samsip - New home

After an amazing month in Chiang Mai it was time to come back to reality and start teaching again. I have now moved to a different project - working in a secondary school - in a slighter bigger yet still very rural and poor town called Muang Samsip. It's only the start of my second week here and I already feel very at home - thanks to my new partners Amy and Nicole who have kindly welcomed me into their not so pleasant house. Got to hand it to them though, their painting and de-cockroaching of the whole house makes the place that bit more attractive. I arrived here after an 18 hour bus journey last Sunday and started teaching on the Monday. The past week has flown in and I have been busy exploring the town and getting to know not only the school and my students, but some of the community as well. Everyone here - like most Thai people - are very friendly and welcoming.

At the weekend we attended a party that was going on at the school, which allowed me to meet more people. Like all the parties we have been to there was all sorts of amazing food to indulge in and beautiful Thai dancers. We were also invited to visit a ceremony at a temple in the neighbouring town Phana. We set off early and arrived at the temple, were we got several pictures taken and were made to carry a banner at the front of the small parade before entering the temple. We sat through the meditation and watched the monks receive offerings of new robes and money before they each spoke and chanted. It was a very interesting experience and I'm glad we had the experience to go and join everyone.

Really enjoying teaching  my secondary classes, planning lessons and also learning lots as I go.

"In learning you will teach; and in teaching you will learn"

Chiang Mai - October

From the start of October up until a week ago, all of the Thailand volunteers were staying in the north of Thailand in the beautiful Chiang Mai. The city, although very touristy still holds a strong sense of Thai culture - monks wonder the streets that are lined with fabulous markets and food stalls. While we were there we attended a Thai language course with lessons from Monday to Friday from 10-3. Thai, as we soon found out was not the easiest of languages to be learning, but having completed the course I am able to string a few small conversations together and should be able to get by to an extent - I hope.

After long weeks of being students again, we were very thankful to have the weekends off and to enjoy them as we pleased. We filled the time exploring everything Chiang Mai had to offer - from the jungle to the city - and of course taking full advantage of the amazing nightlife the city had to offer. The first weekend Hollie, Ellie and myself didn't hold back and straight away booked a bungee jump for the Saturday morning. Sensibly we didn't stay out too late on the Friday night in preparation for the early start - we were picked up at half nine, feeling slightly nervous yet excited. We arrived at the X Centre, filled out numerous forms and headed to get strapped up. We were lucky enough to watch around 5 other people jump before us which calmed the nerves and increased my excitement. After being weighed, legs strapped (extremely tightly) and briefed it was time to make our way up the massive crane to the top. We weren't allowed to go up together, so it was each of us on our own with the instructor. Me feeling strangely eager went first- I hopped in the crane and began ascend. The higher I got the more the nerves kicked in, but the strong sense of excitement remained. As I stood on the edge of the jumping platform I looked down over a line of tree tops, surrounded by mountains and covered in clouds - all of which was beneath me. "3,2,1 BUNGEE" the instructor shouted, and off I went! It was the most incredible feeling ever, I flew straight down towards the small lake of water  and was pinged back up into the air numerous times before my body could touch any water. It's definitely the craziest thing I have done since being here and  I will definitely be doing another one before returning home. As if that wasn't enough for one Saturday, we then travelled to Tiger Kingdom, where we spent the rest of the day cuddling tigers! The day finished with a plate of pad thai and a big night out - one of the best days of my life!

 

 

The next weekend was just as jam packed - 9 of us decided to book a jungle trek, which included; trekking 5 and half hours through the jungle, staying over night in a tribal village, elephant riding and bathing, a zip line, swimming in waterfalls and white water rafting. The trek was brutal (torturous at times in the mid day heat) yet beautiful and uplifting all in one. The views made up for the hours uphill and being able to see first hand the depth of the jungle and its wildlife made the walk go quicker. We arrived at the village where we were staying, which was literally in the middle of nowhere, deep inside the Thai jungle. We ate rice (of course) and sat round a big campfire, before hitting the hay in our wooden shack. Can't say it was the best sleep of my life, but what the next day had in store certainly made up for it. We awoke around 7, packed up our stuff and headed onwards. Elephants was the first thing one the list and probably the one we were all most excited for. We boarded the massive animals and set off for a 45 min stroll, taking hundreds of photos and loving every minute. We then bathed and washed the elephants which was also incredible - I now want a pet elephant haha! White water rafting and swimming in the waterfalls were just as amazing and very funny - especially Beth's face when she was falling out of the raft haha. It was a wonderful weekend and something I'll never forget!

 

The last week was spent sitting a Thai exam, celebrating hard and saying goodbye! 

Definitely been the best month so far, made so many memories with all these amazing people.

Roll on the reunion at new years! 

2 weeks in Kutchum

First of all, it’s hot here. Really hot here in fact and I love it. Even though it is monsoon, most days it is still very warm and when the downpours of rain come it is very refreshing. This past week I have learned a lot about Thai people. At the weekend, it is perfectly acceptable to eat and sleep all day - which left myself and Ocean stuck for things to do when we were invited to our hosts house for the full weekend – fully expecting a good 2 days’ worth of activities – when in fact the only things planned were eating and sleeping – and a lot of it! The food here is not always very nice looking but it is almost always guaranteed to taste amazing.  I have tried so many different things already! We have visited lots of lovely restaurants where you can eat a full meal for 30-40 baht (about 80-90p) – it’s almost cheaper (and easier) to eat out at these places rather than cook dinner at home.

The majority of people have motorbikes as modes of transport and it is not uncommon to see 3/4 people on the one motorbike! Ocean and I have bicycles which allow us to get everywhere we want/around kutchum easily as it is not very big at all. Most people are farmers here, and cattle and chickens are often seen in peoples “gardens” and wandering about the road side. The roads here are very different from in the UK:  people drive wherever they like and the hard shoulder is always used as an extra lane, Zebra crossing - although marked clearly on the roads - are irrelevant and commonly ignored. There are also a large number of stray dogs who are free to roam the roads/streets wherever and whenever they please.

Every Wednesday there is a market, which sells absolutely everything and anything you could possibly want – it’s probably been the highlight of these past few weeks.  

This week didn't start of that so great – especially for Ocean who spent the first 3 days ill and in the inside of the rather interesting kutchum hospital. The rural hospital was where the language barrier became more apparent than ever. Describing symptoms of sickness and other not so nice things proved much harder than we had initially thought – the use of actions didn't seem to help either. After half an hour of finally putting across what was wrong with her we were finally on the way forward on the road to her recovery.  By Thursday – after a good food shop at the Tesco - she was as fit as a fiddle, almost anyway. On Thursday we were taken to the nearest city – Yasothon – to apply for our work permits, after visiting yet another hospital, to get my blood pressure etc taken, we were granted our wish of becoming teachers in Thailand and given our permit.

On Saturday, we ventured into Kutchum to do some more exploring and clothes shopping. Thai people like to remain well presented at all times and therefore they are very particular about how smart our uniforms are and even how well ironed our shirts are – yes I can now successfully use an iron! After a successful shop we are now kitted out with shirts and pencil skirts and ready to at least look like smart teachers.

The next day, Sunday, was spent doing more exploring – this time we left the safety of rural, small Kutchum and headed to Yasothon alone. We successfully managed to find our way around and even found a shopping mall, where we ate lunch and tried out some of our Thai. The waiter unfortunately didn't seem to understand much that we were saying and found the whole thing really funny, we then had to result to pointing to what we wanted and hoping we got the right thing. The day passed quickly –something that doesn't happen often here- and we then headed home to Kutchum.

Slowly but surely getting used to Thai culture and everything that comes with it. Although their lack of having any concept of time can prove very annoying - who cuts their grass at half five in the morning!? Thai people believe it or not do, waking me up every morning in the process. It has to be said though, I'm enjoying myself nonetheless and it’s all part of the experience.

Kutchum

The thought of the 10 hour bus journey to Kutchum (my project) was worse than the real thing.  My partner – ocean – and I were given what seemed like the best seats on the bus with masses of leg room and reclining chairs.  I soon fell asleep and was later woken up by this Thai bus driver shouting “Kutchum! Kutchum!”

We were greeted by our hosts Pi Ann  and Pi Nat  who drove us to our house. It was very overwhelming at first when we arrived, everything is so basic, it really makes me miss home comforts – such as a kettle and a nice cup of tea. We are very lucky though, as we thankfully have a flushing toilet and a working shower.  

The next day; I started teaching.  We were taken to the school – a short walk from our house – and were immediately surrounded by children who shouted “teacher, teacher.”  We attended assembly and then taken to our classes. This week I have been co-teaching with pi Ann, who teaches Prathom 4,5 & 6 – upper primary. They are all very well behaved and I was shocked by how much English they know. Pi Ann is always organised with the lessons and gives me a brief plan at the start of each, which makes everything run very smoothly, before I know it an hour is over and it’s time for the next class. Most days so far I teach 3 hours from 9-12, all the teachers then meet for lunch 12 where me and Ocean try to make out the little Thai that we know. After lunch we are free to plan lessons/do what we want. On Wednesdays we organise a game for Prathom 4 and 1&2 and then on Thursday the same for 5&6. This week we played the fish game with Prathom 4 and made fortune-tellers with 5&6.

On Wednesday and Fridays me and Ocean also teach Prathom 1,2 and 3 together, which is much different from 4, 5 &6,  who remain seated at all times in the class. 1,2 & 3 are much more lively and like to do a lot of moving about – one boy even done a flip in the middle of our class! This first week we have been doing a lot of thinking on our feet , trying to fill the lessons with games and activities which incorporate a lot of student involvement to keep their attention. This next week we plan to get a copy of their text book to plan the lessons more thoroughly so we can organise lots of activities for them.

This first month we are only teaching in this one school – kutchum Tesseban school. On the 28^th of September, every volunteer in Thailand visits Chang Mai for 3 weeks to participate in a language course where we will attend 4 hour lessons of Thai a day. After this I will teach 3 days at the Tesseban and one day at a secondary school and the other at a nursery.

So far, so good on the teaching front!

The Tesseban school

 

BANGKOK - week one.

Sa wa dee ka! (hello).

 It’s been a surreal week and this is the first time I have sat down and relaxed properly. We all arrived in Bangkok at about 7am Thai time on Friday 30th were we greeted by our Rep Lucie. We were taken to the hotel we were staying in and we thankfully left to relax for the rest of the day. We were all shattered. After a sleep and dip in the pool i felt  freshened up and  was ready to hit Bangkok. Everyone was taken out for a lovely dinner by Lucie and Nick – our other rep. The food was amazing – Lucie had ordered a wide selection of food for us to try.  I can already tell I'm going to come back atleast a few stone heavier! We were then taken to an open top bar in the middle of Bangkok. It was called Cloud47 – 47 floors up and it really did feel like we were in the clouds looking down on the lighted city. It was so beautiful and breathe taking at the same time. After a  jar of Singha Thai beer, me and a few others stayed out and experienced our first taste of street food  on the 1am walk home (sober I add)–  pancakes with sugar and condensed milk – it was amazing watching the man flip the dough and chop the fruit so fast. The taste was sensational and a perfect end to our first night in Thailand.

view from Cloud 47

The next day we were left to go out and explore Bangkok to buy a phone and the necessities. We travelled on the Bangkok underground  a short distance, which was a much quieter and cleaner a experience than what I had experienced on the London underground the previous week.  After purchasing a phone a group of us went to a massive shopping mall, where every floor was decorated by influences from different cities. 

The day passed quickly and it was soon time for us to head back to the hotel and pack our stuff in preparation for leaving to our project that night.

Me and Annaliese on the plane!

Me, Beth and Annaliese

Tokyo floor in the shopping mall 

Training

On the 24th of July each Thailand volunteer made the journey to the Isle of Coll, where we all met each other for the first time. After waking up at 4am to catch the ferry, followed by the five hour ferry journey, we finally arrived on Coll. The week was full of intensity, lack of sleep and huge excitement. The staff at Project Trust put us through our paces, immersing us in all aspects of Thai culture, teaching and safety. Since returning home from training - at that time only a month before departure - the weeks have been manic, organising everything for setting off for a year overseas. I now feel very excited and just want to get out there!

 "The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page." So here goes, onto the next page! 

 Group photo of all the Thailand volunteers with our desk officer, Kate.

Some of the Thailand girls on the last night of training :)