Done and done

My leadership term has come to an end.

I didn't imagine it to go by as fast as it did. The girls had their first full week of 30 hours worth of work, and then 10 hours that include language lessons, activity planning, and transport. Journalling is something they're suppose to do by themselves as well. I've been keeping track in my leader journal/report as well as my personal journal.

We had a great Dim Sum dinner and a movie on the last Sunday. Well..okay so priorrrr to this, we took a stroll down Pattaya 2nd road and low and behold, we find Maddog Tattoo, and yes, I have a bamboo tattoo. It looks wicked and it says "family" in Thai. He did an amazing job and I have footage of it as well.

The girls got me a kickass key chain for a gift, and an awesome card. I'm sad to leave them, but also very confident in their abilities, and it's their time now to shine and to try new things in terms of their activity planning and implementation. We are so fortunate to have 11 different organizations to work with, each with a unique population of students, and children.

I'm off to Cambodia now, to visit the children from last year. This year the students are only visiting 4 places instead of 5 since one place has now turned into a "tourist orphanage" and didn't really need us to do play activities with their children since they need more funds than play time.

On the move

Things have been moving a long fairly quickly in the last few weeks. I've barely had time to post, but it's been an amazing journey.

Our leaders went to Koh Samet Island for 6 days as part of our leader retreat. We had some down time, but also a chance to talk about the logistics of our group, the program, scheduling etc.

It was somewhat nerve racking, and I don't know why I was so uneasy to travel to the island, but once I managed to get settled, I waited by the beach for about 6 hours for the girls to arrive. They took quite a roundabout way of getting from Bangkok to the island and luckily made the very last ferry to the island. We stayed an amazing little bungalow resort called Tubtim. The people were friendly and it wasn't as touristy as I though it would be.

At night time, the restaurants and hotels were lit up with bright lights and the three young boys walked from restaurant to restaurant entertaining people with their fire shows. I couldn't believe how young they were, playing with fire. There are a ton of dogs and cats on the island too and we befriended a white labrador-like (might be a mix) dog nicknamed by a NZ'lander Milky Jo. She followed our Dutch friend Mascha around during her stay and then migrated to us, when she had left. Mascha had tears in her eyes when she had to leave. They seriously need to spade and neuter more animals on the island, because it's getting out of hand. (Below is my favourite picture of Milky Jo under a table with a Thailand book above her head on a seat...a long with a few good ones)

The best part was the pancake man - roti pancakes are the best. I enjoy then very much - Banana and Chocolate. The food was great - nice and fresh, and lots to choose from. I love fresh coconut as well.

Our snorkeling expedition went well. Due to the rain we couldn't do the 12-5pm trip so we went out at 2pm until 5pm. We went snorkeling twice and after the first time I was somewhat sea sick. The second time was phenomenal but we were stung by something in the water...either a fish or a plant that released a chemical when we got too close - yes I need to google this phenomenon. We visited fish farms where we saw sharks and turtles, and yes it was somewhat sketchy but nonetheless educational - since I've never seen a real life turtle or leopard shark.

Over all, Koh Samet was well worth it. I discovered an amazing market down by the Pier once I came back from Koh Samet. I bought some Thai pants, and a few bracelets for the girls back in Pattaya. My bus driver was early, which was surprising so the man from the station stopped beside me with a motorcycle when I was walking back and gave me a short ride to the van. I had arrived back into my hotel room right as the girls were finishing up their Thai Language lesson with Judy. She's an amazing instructor!

The Projects

Our first work week is almost behind us. Last week we made all the connections with prior PAW organizations and went for our initial meetings.

The girls have been doing amazing; although, there were some challenges in terms of working with the younger children ages 3 through 6 at several of our locations. They seem to have permanent ADD, and I mean that in the nicest way possible, but then you realize, they’re little and don’t understand a single word you’re saying since your Thai accent sucks, and you still pronounce words terribly wrong because they use tonal sounds in everything they say and do.

Our projects – 11 in total:

1. Mercy Center was started by two Canadians from Calgary. The children come home from school around 4pm and the ages range from 3 – 14 years of age. Play at this location can’t really be structured since the younger ones do their own thing and the older kids like to do jump rope games or ball games. I had an opportunity to play here twice and I loved it. I had an instant attraction to a little girl whose just the cutest thing and talks to me like she’s been my friend for years, and all I can do is say “yes” or shake my head to pretend like I understand.

2. Houy Pong is a government run school in Rayong – about 45 minutes away from Pattaya. They have a boys section divided by a highway with the girls quarters on the other side. The facilities are spacious. The majority of boys and girls that we’ve seen so far have been between the ages of 12-15. Apparently they have been having issues with girls as young as 12 getting pregnant so they constantly implement sex education classes to prevent teen pregnancies.

3. & 4. Baan Khao By Si and Community Center are linked - The Community Centre is down the street and consists of a school and facilities for children with disabilities as young as 2 in one separate class, and then from about 15 and up, for the older group (the ages might be slightly off, but the second group varies in age). They are an amazing bunch of people and I love seeing them interact with our students. Khoa By Si is the grade 1-3 school and the girls have had to deal with up to 100 children between the three of them. I forsee this to be one of the most challenging projects. The children are cute and playful, but it makes organized play a bit tedious.

5. Camilian Center is a centre for children and people with HIV/AIDS. The girls will be visiting them on about 3 Saturdays in the next two months. They are located in Rayong as well – 45 minutes away. As we walked in the gate one little girl clung to me with a giant smile – it made me very happy. Some of the children arrive here in the worst shape – are expected to live for a short period of time, and then survive to live for many more good years.

6. Kho Pai is in a location in what we would refer to as a slum area, or to be more politically correct: maybe more of an area less occupied by foreigners and a bit more far away than the tourist or upper class establishments (I prefer the latter). The children are about 4-6. Very cute, with their little uniforms and they were a hoot to play with during the initial meeting. This school supports children from impoverished families.

7. Baan Jing Jai is an orphanage and has bout 80 children varying in age. They have two houses they utilize for play, and living. They have one averaged size play ground and I have yet to meet the older children but was fortunate enough to meet a few toddlers that were staying home due to a chicken pock outbreak.

8., 9., & 10. Father Ray Foundation : Use to be partnered with the Pattaya Orphanage but has become completely separate. Father Ray’s story is amazing in itself and requires a whole different post. They have 10 projects under their realm. They support children and individuals with disabilities, as well as children from impoverished circumstances and orphans. Our students have been swimming with some of the students with physical disabilities, and will be working within the special needs classes as well. We’ve been trying to organize dates with the school for the blind, but have only been able to manage 1 hour of play time during one week. However, we were able to take them to the beach for a swim during the first week.

11. Fountain of Life: Now also has a centre in Sihanoukville, Cambodia (I’ve been there with PAW during our retreat - a bit of a tourist town). They also help impoverished families and now, women on the streets (new womens center). Parents drop their children off for a low fee everyday where they get a uniform, an education, breakfast and lunch. For the low fee, it encourages their parents to go out and work for the little some of money they need to accumulate to care for their child’s needs. The kids range from 3-8 years of ages grouped in different classes, with only a few children with disabilities.

"The City Orphanage" and School for the Deaf: We went for a day visit since the orphanage requires it’s volunteers to apply a year in advance, which means that we will not be volunteering here at all for this year. They also have an abundance of donations, as well as sponsors and support from volunteers around the globe. We were given a tour of the facilities (it’s very close to where we live) and the children from the school for the deaf were very amused by the girls’ sunglasses, so we stopped for a short giggle and high fives on our way to the nursery. We weren’t expected to play or hold any babies, but we were in there for an hour with maybe up to about 15 toddlers. They have up to 60 orphaned babies in this nursery. The children are cute, sad, but well taken care of.

The Day we met Sam Cohen.

We’ve made so much progress in the last few days.

First of, we met Tiew, whose taking us to two of our projects on Tuesday and to her own home (Our Home) where they have girls with disabilities that make quilts and bake for a living. Tiew is about 60 years old now and speaks English very well. She’s been involved with Play Around the World since it’s inception in 2001. Tiew’s brother will be our driver to some of our projects, which is super awesome since we don’t want to be paying an arm and a leg for transport. She showed us where three projects were located – about a 10 minute walk from where we live (Pattaya Orphanage, Vocational School for Disabilities and Fountain of Life)

Now, Sam has been here since 1982, and he was back for about 7 months in 1987 but found his way back to Thailand and has lived in Bangkok since. He is now 84, owns a condo on Jomtien Beach in Pattaya and comes down on weekends with his motorcycle. He’s a geologist and has done his masters – been in the dog food industry, meat industry, oil etc. etc….his experience is ridiculous. He took us to the yacht club for breakfast but it turned into a day’s event. He gave us a quick look at the Buddha on Pattaya hill which we visited today during our Scavenger Hunt. We drove along Jomtien Beach to his condo that has an AMAZING view of the Gulf of Thailand. He pointed at a high peaked lone mountain and asked if we’ve been there to which we all replied no, and he spontaneously decided to drive us out there – Khao Chi Chan carved Buddha Mountain (in gold). He drove us along this narrow path since the forest started growing onto the road on either side leaving nothing but the middle yellow line. He drives his motorcycle on this road behind the carved golden Buddha and he told us that people dump their cursed spirit houses in the forest since they brought their owner bad luck. We saw very many old remains of spirit houses littered in the forest. He took us to a local side road restaurant and we had about 4-5 different Thai related dishes that were ready the instant we sat down. We paid for this meal as a group since he drove us around all day. He kept saying “sex” instead of “cheese” when we were taking pictures, and he insisted that having four women in his car would only cause trouble. He was a hoot!

The scavenger hunt started off at 9 am and we made it to Pattaya Hill where the Big Buddha sits, around 1pm. We had a late lunch at the Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant by the Birds and Bees Resort. AMAZING! The food was great, the view was outstanding and the people all too friendly. The girls shot an exercise video in the back of a songtao (taxi truck) as one of their items to complete for the scavenger hunt. It was hilarious, and so was the picture that was supposed to make me laugh – which it did and we shall not mention what the picture entailed. What happens in Pattaya, stays in Pattaya. We had a few pictures that included “something you would not see in Canada”, which we then relabeled as “T.I.A” – This Is Asia: As in, you will only see or find THIS in Asia.



- The Golden Carved Buddha



- Our friend Sam



- The Big Buddha on Pattaya Hill.



- Overly enthusiastic to have lunch and free condoms.

New Beginnings

Waking up at 7am, on a rather humid, 30 degree Friday morning...is starting to feel a bit more like home. We're in a hotel - Nantana Garden View - only with a bunch of European, pot bellied men. It's a little strange...but after our expedition to the beach yesterday we realized just how prominent white men with their Thai ladies can be in this part of Thailand. We also mistakenly sat in the gay part of the beach, hence a giant rainbow flag posted behind us which we didn't notice. Caroline: "Did you notice, that it's only men with their Thai boys all over this part of the beach?" Sure enough, as we ventured down the beach we noticed a few more women.... only a few. Not too much of a shock for me, but it's strange to be out numbered.

In terms of projects...we are meeting with Tiew today so she can help us make some phone calls to projects that don't speak English very well. I'm hopefully meeting a gentlemen named Paul from the Camilian Centre, as well as the Canadians that run the Mercy Center in Pattaya. I feel like I needed to establish connections right away, but we've only been here for two days, and we still have jet lag. Patience I guess.

On Saturday morning Sam Cohen - a Brit, will be picking us up and taking us to a yacht club. This is an opportunity for the girls to be able to ask him some questions about the city and culture since their fairly new to pretty much everything here. Our language is starting to come a long, but the different tones on some of the words is a tad bit confusing. The food has been, from my point of view, amazing. There's a giant mall - Carrefour - close to our house that has everything, including a Subway, DQ etc. Very convenient but at the same time I'd like to venture more into the Thai parts of the city than the westernized parts.

Later Saturday - will be our scavenger hunt around the city. The girls will get their objectives to travel around the city and take pictures with certain objects, and find certain facts - an Amazing Race type idea. Because there's only four of us, I decided that we'd stick together as a group of four and then I'd stand back and let them take over so I can see how well they communicate with the locals and how they negotiate taxi fees and songtao rides around the city.


A few beach pics below...and a job posting lol



Right up my alley!

Organized Chaos

Things are looking great. The bags are all packed - equipment all organized in 9 different bags, 3 per group. They are all patiently sitting in my living room which leaves me with no space to move right now lol. Going out last night was probably not the best idea since I feel like I was hit by a truck and I have to still pack my own stuff. Love how Gogi's freaking out because I haven't even packed yet. Ha.

Mom and Gerhardus called me today so it was good to speak with the family before my departure. I miss them.

Below are some pictures of our shenanigans in terms of getting equipment ready and packed up.

Departure

Soon to depart to Pattaya, Thailand on May 16th.

We have a few things to get done still. I have yet to make connections with a few schools and orphanages but thanks to Tiew whose our main contact over in Pattaya - she will be calling them on behalf of PAW this week.

I still have to figure out if I am actually going to travel with my small little back pack. I want to travel as light as possible and not struggle with a 60 L backpack.... I figure if I travel with a weeks worth of clothes I only have to do laundry 5 times while I'm there :P which would barely cost me anything.

I can't wait to meet the children, feel the warmth of the sun on my skin and see places I've never fathomed, existed.

Can't wait for the food.

I'll reach Cambodia again as well...here's a picture of Piset from Sunflower: