Last week: taught "head, shoulders, knees and toes," which the five year olds are now obsessed with. Played a hilariously labourious game of "put the alphabet in order" with the four year olds and expanded my Thai vocabulary to include "stand! please"
Yesterday: hee hee, I call role in the five year old class and there's a "Beem" who comes right after "Jim." I'm amazed by how much the teachers have to do here: they're not only teachers, they're nurses, lunch ladies, and janitors. Luckily, the kids have responsibilites too and are pretty good about them (i.e. putting away their chairs and cups after lunch, getting snack ready, etc.)
Today: I made the mistake of wearing a skirt today: too much temptation for five year old boys, several of whom try and try again to flip it right up. I'm learning kids' names, which is exciting, especially since it took me soooo long in Bangkok. I still miss the tiny class size there, though. 25 five year olds are sometimes more than I can handle, especially when they don't understand 90% of what I say.
My teachers took me out for dinner tonight, which was so so sweet of them. We can't realy understand each other, although I did learn the word for "frog" tonight, but we had fun anyway :)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Trang
So I realized I haven't written in over a week and my last entry featured me in the hospital, but don't worry, I'm still alive. I spent a very rainy weekend in very toursity Koh Phi Phi--not a complete waste of time but definitely not one of my better weekends here. We did brave the $6 a night guesthouse, so at least it wasn't a waste of money (and the guesthouse was...tolerable, although I sure missed hot water showers after be soaked in the rain).
It's funny having to adjust to a new place in Thailan; I guess I thought was I was getting all of Thailand when I was in Bangkok, but of course things are different here, from my placement to the other kids in the house. The placemen's great. I work at a daycare and so far have been hanging out in the class of four year olds. Next week I'm switching to the olest class, I think, so I can help teach them English. The little ones aren't quite ready--the teacher has been trying to get them to say "thank you" to me when I give them food, toothpaste, handouts, etc. but sometimes they et confused and say "you're welcome" or, even better, "good morning" instead. I miss the tiny class at APSW and the sort sweet general chaos. Thirteen little kids are a lot quieter and easier to handle than 75 little kids, but I'm having a good time all the same.
It's funny having to adjust to a new place in Thailan; I guess I thought was I was getting all of Thailand when I was in Bangkok, but of course things are different here, from my placement to the other kids in the house. The placemen's great. I work at a daycare and so far have been hanging out in the class of four year olds. Next week I'm switching to the olest class, I think, so I can help teach them English. The little ones aren't quite ready--the teacher has been trying to get them to say "thank you" to me when I give them food, toothpaste, handouts, etc. but sometimes they et confused and say "you're welcome" or, even better, "good morning" instead. I miss the tiny class at APSW and the sort sweet general chaos. Thirteen little kids are a lot quieter and easier to handle than 75 little kids, but I'm having a good time all the same.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
visit to the hospital: a tmi post
Things that are gross: colon infections, ants on your admitting wheel chair, peeing in cup, getting up in the middle of the night and accidently partially pulling out your iv causing your arms to spurt blood all over the floor and bed, not having a proper shower for two days
Things that are really nice: cheapness and generally quality of Thai hospitals, someone from the staff staying with me 24/7 for two days
Lesson learned: really, avoid that street food
Things that are really nice: cheapness and generally quality of Thai hospitals, someone from the staff staying with me 24/7 for two days
Lesson learned: really, avoid that street food
Saturday, August 11, 2007
uunngh
I kicked off my four weeks in Trang by being sick as hell all. I really felt the worst I've felt in a long, long time. Running a fever, my whole body was achey, terrible headache, etc. So I slept and drank water and durged myself up and hoped it wasn't dengue fever. Im feelin better now, althug stil with a massive headache and achey bones. An inauspicious beginng, but I cried the whole way the airport on the way to Bangkok and loved it, so I think it might actually be a good sign.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Last day
It was my last day at APSW today, and it was surprisingly sad. To celebrate, the kids did this sweet thing where they came up to me in turn and stuck a little heart sticker on my shirt and bowed. When the teacher Noi came up, she said, "This is my heart," and I started crying. It wasn't what I expected at all, but it was a lot of fun, and it made me so sad to think that I will never, ever see those kids again.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
This weekend
I was very sad to see everyone but Tom and Sarah go home. :( It's an entirely different thing to be with new people, especially right now because they're still doing all their orientation stuff which, obviously, I've already done, and since Tom and Sarah both went out of town this weekend, I've had a lot of time to myself.
Which turned out to be awesome, actually. Stuff I did this weekend:
-Chinatown dim sum lunch with everyone who was still around on Friday, wchihc was doubley fun because we accidently ordered about twice as much as we intended to but still finished it all and had to order more
-night out at swanky and ridiculous Q bar in Sukumvit with sketchy and ridiculous American expat Bangkok Bill
-sad goodbyes with friends andmeeting of newbies
-National Museum and (particularly cool!) accidently wandering into a packed market in which I was the only farang. Made friends with an older man who warned me to watch my bag and talked to me about the 35W collapse
-visit to Jim Thompson's house (very pretty, but kind of a grown-up attraction, like the kind of thing I did with my parents and grandma in England)
-trip to fun food court at MBK
-retrn to Siam Paragon for gfit buying and trip to Ocean World, Southeast Asia's largest aquarium (cool, but not the collest I've ever been to)
-and then last night one of the most fun nights of my trip so far: two of my co-workers at APSW who just graduated from university invited me to go out with them. We went to Chinatown and ate (and ate, and ate) food from street carts that I never would have been able to order by myself, practiced our Thai and English, respectively, I got to feed a baby elephant that was walking around, then we went to another Thai market (as opposed to all teh fun but pretty toursity ones I've been to so far). The city is SO alive at night, probabably more so at midnight last night than I've ever seen it.
And now I'm starting my last week at APSW. It's hard to believe I've been there four weeks already, and I'llbe sad to say goodbye to all my cuties in the daycare and nursery. But I'm goiing to make no-bakes as a goodbye treat, which I think will be fun, and buy flowers for the teacher and the nursery staff.
Phew. What an entry.
Which turned out to be awesome, actually. Stuff I did this weekend:
-Chinatown dim sum lunch with everyone who was still around on Friday, wchihc was doubley fun because we accidently ordered about twice as much as we intended to but still finished it all and had to order more
-night out at swanky and ridiculous Q bar in Sukumvit with sketchy and ridiculous American expat Bangkok Bill
-sad goodbyes with friends andmeeting of newbies
-National Museum and (particularly cool!) accidently wandering into a packed market in which I was the only farang. Made friends with an older man who warned me to watch my bag and talked to me about the 35W collapse
-visit to Jim Thompson's house (very pretty, but kind of a grown-up attraction, like the kind of thing I did with my parents and grandma in England)
-trip to fun food court at MBK
-retrn to Siam Paragon for gfit buying and trip to Ocean World, Southeast Asia's largest aquarium (cool, but not the collest I've ever been to)
-and then last night one of the most fun nights of my trip so far: two of my co-workers at APSW who just graduated from university invited me to go out with them. We went to Chinatown and ate (and ate, and ate) food from street carts that I never would have been able to order by myself, practiced our Thai and English, respectively, I got to feed a baby elephant that was walking around, then we went to another Thai market (as opposed to all teh fun but pretty toursity ones I've been to so far). The city is SO alive at night, probabably more so at midnight last night than I've ever seen it.
And now I'm starting my last week at APSW. It's hard to believe I've been there four weeks already, and I'llbe sad to say goodbye to all my cuties in the daycare and nursery. But I'm goiing to make no-bakes as a goodbye treat, which I think will be fun, and buy flowers for the teacher and the nursery staff.
Phew. What an entry.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
4 weeks already?
Sorry for double post last time. I was posting in Cambodia and the internet, although easy to find, was not a hundred percent reliable. It was an amazing weekend and I wish I had the tech savvy and free internet time to upload pictures. But you'll all just have to wait until I get on facebook.
On a less exciting note, it's been kind of sad feeling week:
-homesickness
-one of my kids at the daycare saying she wanted to see me everyday, but I only have one week left
-someone telling me they saw a pregnant woman performing in a pingpong show in Patpong
On a less exciting note, it's been kind of sad feeling week:
-homesickness
-one of my kids at the daycare saying she wanted to see me everyday, but I only have one week left
-someone telling me they saw a pregnant woman performing in a pingpong show in Patpong
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Today we drove two hours north of Bangkok to visit an AIDS hospice in the Lopburi province. It was as sobering as I expected, but not as...voyeuristic as I feared. They clearly had the little campus set up for visitors: there were big displays with information about about AIDS in Thailand and a couple of one room museums displaying bodies and body parts were aimed at reminding visitors to be careful with their bodies and that the victims of AIDS are people like anyone else. Ihave to admit, I found the displays more gruesome than edifying, but I do apprecaite what they were going for.
Then we had a big change of pace and stopped by the monkey temple, where a group(tribe? whatever) of monkeys have taken up residence in the ruins of a Khmer Temple..seeing the ruins got me really excited for Angkor Wat, and the monkey swere pretty cool, although I was careful to keep my distance (no monkey diesases for me, thanks).
Tomorrow, a 12 hours bus ride to Siem Reap and Cambodia!
Then we had a big change of pace and stopped by the monkey temple, where a group(tribe? whatever) of monkeys have taken up residence in the ruins of a Khmer Temple..seeing the ruins got me really excited for Angkor Wat, and the monkey swere pretty cool, although I was careful to keep my distance (no monkey diesases for me, thanks).
Tomorrow, a 12 hours bus ride to Siem Reap and Cambodia!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
APSW/Koh Chang
After I wrote that last post about the frustration at my placement, we had a great, great day on Thursday. Orasa, one of the CCS staff, came with Dana and I and we spoke to one of the women (only 14, it's hard for me not to call her a girl, but with all she's been through it doesn't seem right) who stays at the Emergency Home. She had a very sad story, but I felt like (and Dana agreed) that it was really important for us to hear it because it brought everything we were doing into perspective. You can be told that the women who receive support from APSW are victims of rape and abuse and HIV, but to hear about one life and see how the organization has given her the tools to make a life after being raped and becoming pregnant at age 12 made appreciate working with the kids even more. So that was awesome, I hope every CCS volunteer who goes to APSW gets a chance to do that.
For the weekend I went with 9 other kids to Koh Chang, an island in the Gulf of Thailand close to Cambodia. It was so, so beautiful. I can't even articulate how amazing it was to wake up literally 30 feet from the ocean. We spent all day Saturday snorkeling, which I've never done before. That was great too (aside from the cockroach population on the boat that took us out, ewwww). I don't have the time right now to describe it, but if I can figure out my camera, I'll try to post pictures soooooooooon.
For the weekend I went with 9 other kids to Koh Chang, an island in the Gulf of Thailand close to Cambodia. It was so, so beautiful. I can't even articulate how amazing it was to wake up literally 30 feet from the ocean. We spent all day Saturday snorkeling, which I've never done before. That was great too (aside from the cockroach population on the boat that took us out, ewwww). I don't have the time right now to describe it, but if I can figure out my camera, I'll try to post pictures soooooooooon.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
A week and half already?
I realized, thanks to Caitlin's comment, that I haven't actually written about volunteering yet, which is ostensibly the reason I'm here. I guess part of that is because it's been kind of a disappointment so far. I'm working at a women's organization that includes an emergency home for abused and abandoned women, many of them pregnant, and a clinic and training center, all very cool things. So far, however, I haven't had any contact with the women or gotten to observe pre-natal classes or help out in the clinic, which were all things I was hoping to do (and I've been trying to ask, but no luck so far). On the other hand, I do get to play with little Thai kids in the daycare in the morning and Thai babies (by far the best part of the day) most afternoons, although sometimes I end up practicing English with some of the staff. There's not a lot of structure, though, so it's sometimes hard to know what to do, and I occasionally wonder whether I'm not more of a distraction than a help, especially in the daycare.
In other news, we're going to the beach and to ride elephants this weekend! Tomorrow night we hop an over night bus for the coast and catch the first morning ferry to Ko Chang, an island that's part of a national park. There's a big elephant preserve and for something like $25 you get an elephant "experience" that includes feeding, riding, and bathing them. So pumped!
In other news, we're going to the beach and to ride elephants this weekend! Tomorrow night we hop an over night bus for the coast and catch the first morning ferry to Ko Chang, an island that's part of a national park. There's a big elephant preserve and for something like $25 you get an elephant "experience" that includes feeding, riding, and bathing them. So pumped!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Winning the battle
Small victory of the day: taking a cab home from Chatuchak all by myself, with just my very basic Thai and my love of airconditioning guiding me
Small defeat of the day: I have a cold. It's 90 degrees out and I have a COLD? Boo.
Small defeat of the day: I have a cold. It's 90 degrees out and I have a COLD? Boo.
Friday, July 13, 2007
wats and massages, hooray
Hard to believe I've been here a week already--it's flying by, probably because I'm so busy. I've already seen three of Fodor's Top 25 To Do/See in Bangkok, a book that Mark's parent's gave me. Yesterday we saw the Grand Palace where the King used to live, the wat that houses the most sacred Buddha image in Thailand, the Emerald Buddha, and another wat that houses the Reclining Buddha, which is 46 metters long and 20 meters high (to give you an idea of how big that is, one of his feet is bigger than my twin bed at home). I'm going to try and post some pictures, but I have a hard time with that so far, so we'll see.
Last night one of the guys in the house, Alex, and I went to the Thai massage parlor down teh street and got hour long massages for 150 baht (about 5 dollars). It was amazing--kind of like Western massage, but they also stretch your limbs out, which I loved. I'm sure I'll be back several times before I leave Bangkok. The women at the massage parlor were so cute. They speak enough English to have a little conversation with us, and they loved my hair cut. One said she wanted to follow me to America so she could get the same hair cut (so good work, Julia :)) We'd planned to go out for drinks or something after massages, but we were sooo relaxed that we ended up just coming back to the house to hangout in the air con and watch Babel. And I won't lie, it was great to have some down time.
Today it's off to the weekend market, and who knows what else the weekend holds!
Last night one of the guys in the house, Alex, and I went to the Thai massage parlor down teh street and got hour long massages for 150 baht (about 5 dollars). It was amazing--kind of like Western massage, but they also stretch your limbs out, which I loved. I'm sure I'll be back several times before I leave Bangkok. The women at the massage parlor were so cute. They speak enough English to have a little conversation with us, and they loved my hair cut. One said she wanted to follow me to America so she could get the same hair cut (so good work, Julia :)) We'd planned to go out for drinks or something after massages, but we were sooo relaxed that we ended up just coming back to the house to hangout in the air con and watch Babel. And I won't lie, it was great to have some down time.
Today it's off to the weekend market, and who knows what else the weekend holds!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Lists
Things I like about Thailand so far:
weird fruit like lychee, mangosteens, long gong, and dragonfruit
tuk-tuks!
cheapness of almost everything (fifty minute taxi ride = $5, then split that five ways...)
everyone smiles at me even when I have no idea what's going on
new friends
Things I don't like:
air pollution
traffic
pitting out every shirt I wear
weird fruit like lychee, mangosteens, long gong, and dragonfruit
tuk-tuks!
cheapness of almost everything (fifty minute taxi ride = $5, then split that five ways...)
everyone smiles at me even when I have no idea what's going on
new friends
Things I don't like:
air pollution
traffic
pitting out every shirt I wear
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Here I am
Going on 36 hours in this lovely and HOT country. The program is so well organized: after a delay in getting picked up from the airport (at least I didn't miss my flight like one girl did!) things have been very smooth. I'm bunking in a room with five other women and we have our own bathroom, then there are three other similar sized rooms. The house is beautiful and, even more importantly, has air con!
Yesterday morning we were sent out on what amounted to a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood, learning to navigate and negotiate with very little or no Thai. The neighborhood (part of the Bangsue district in north-central Bangkok) is very Thai--when we took the Skytrain downtown in the afternoon we realized how few tourists we saw in Bangsue compared with downtown. We spent the afternoon traveling by subway, skytrain (made me miss the El in Chicago, although it's WAY cleaner here) and river taxi, then saw Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) before a course after course dinner. Some people finished the night by going to a pingpong show....
My strongest Macalester-bred instincts had something serious to say about what is, in my opinion, dangerously close to sex tourism and I had to work pretty hard to keep my mouth shut and stay off my soap box re: women's rights, opression via exploitation, responsible tourism, etc. etc. etc. I think i managed not to come off as a huge prude, but obviously did not go. Instead I went out to a little bar near the house with a few other people and mostly chilled out and chatted. It's really an interesting group of people, but that's a topic for another entry.
Love from Thailand.
Yesterday morning we were sent out on what amounted to a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood, learning to navigate and negotiate with very little or no Thai. The neighborhood (part of the Bangsue district in north-central Bangkok) is very Thai--when we took the Skytrain downtown in the afternoon we realized how few tourists we saw in Bangsue compared with downtown. We spent the afternoon traveling by subway, skytrain (made me miss the El in Chicago, although it's WAY cleaner here) and river taxi, then saw Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) before a course after course dinner. Some people finished the night by going to a pingpong show....
My strongest Macalester-bred instincts had something serious to say about what is, in my opinion, dangerously close to sex tourism and I had to work pretty hard to keep my mouth shut and stay off my soap box re: women's rights, opression via exploitation, responsible tourism, etc. etc. etc. I think i managed not to come off as a huge prude, but obviously did not go. Instead I went out to a little bar near the house with a few other people and mostly chilled out and chatted. It's really an interesting group of people, but that's a topic for another entry.
Love from Thailand.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
t-minus less than 24 hours!
Oh man. At this time tomorrow I'll be sitting at a gate in the SeaTac airport, hopefully post coffee/breakfast with Gesse (somehow I scheduled myself a SIX HOUR layover in Seattle, but luckily I have wonderful friends there to visit me at the airport) and also hopefully sleeping, with just an hour to go until my flight takes off for Tokyo!
Mark and I decided to try and stay up all night tonight to help me get adjusted to the time changed--my five-thirty am flight out of Spokane leaves at what would be eight-thirty pm Bangkok time, which means I get to Bangkok at 8:30 am Spokane time, right when I need to be going to sleep. Eeep! So if I stay up alllll night I can sleep on the flight to Tokyo which is sort of approximately night time in Bangkok. I think if I were doing this all over, I'd plan to arrive at least a day early, because getting up at 7:30 for a full day of orientation is not going to be easy.
I'm so excited to go! There's just no way I can know what it'll be like until I get there, and I'm ready to find out :)
Also, if you're lurking--leave a comment! I'll be happy to know I'm not just writing into empty space (or send me an email, I think it's hard to comment on blogger?)
Mark and I decided to try and stay up all night tonight to help me get adjusted to the time changed--my five-thirty am flight out of Spokane leaves at what would be eight-thirty pm Bangkok time, which means I get to Bangkok at 8:30 am Spokane time, right when I need to be going to sleep. Eeep! So if I stay up alllll night I can sleep on the flight to Tokyo which is sort of approximately night time in Bangkok. I think if I were doing this all over, I'd plan to arrive at least a day early, because getting up at 7:30 for a full day of orientation is not going to be easy.
I'm so excited to go! There's just no way I can know what it'll be like until I get there, and I'm ready to find out :)
Also, if you're lurking--leave a comment! I'll be happy to know I'm not just writing into empty space (or send me an email, I think it's hard to comment on blogger?)
Monday, June 25, 2007
t-minus 11 (?) days = time to start freaking out
Argh! Traveller's checks,luggage tags, outlet adapters and making sure I don't fry my iPod, smaller-than-3 oz. shampoo/conditioner/face wash/toothpaste/lotion/sanitary hand gel, slip, do I have the right kind of shoes, why do I hate all of my swimsuits, should I have bought a one piece, I still don't have a TOWEL (do I even have room for a towel?), what if my credit card gets turned off, is it ridiculous to bring a GRE study book, I know I'm forgetting something.
Last night I had a dream that I somehow made it in to Thailand without my passport, but they wouldn't let me out.
Last night I had a dream that I somehow made it in to Thailand without my passport, but they wouldn't let me out.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
t-minus 18 days: a new wardrobe, my fellow volunteers, and all the things I still need to do!
I got my official placement email for Bangkok a couple of days ago--I'll be at APSW, or the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women. APSW has an Emergency Shelter, which includes a clinic serving mostly young, unwed pregnant women, a Children's Home/Nursery, a Rape Crisis Center, an HIV/AIDS shelter, and a couple of youth programs that do reproductive health education. Awesome! I'm sure it'll be sobering and difficult at times, but I'm feeling pretty pumped about it as well.
At the same time I got my placement, I got a list of fellow volunteers: there'll be 18 of us arriving at the same time, joining 3 people already in the house (which has an in-house cook and snacks--including fruit--available 24/7. I'm embarrassingly excited about both of those things. Fruit! All the time!) Today I got an email from a 16 year old girl on the list; the only Trang volunteer I've talked to thus far is a 17 year old Italian boy. They both seem very sweet, but I'm hoping there'll be a few people a little closer to my age (oh god, how old am I that 16 sounds young?)
Today I went shopping with my sister, mom, and grandma and added some very light weight skirts, a dress, and a couple of tops to my wardrobe for dealing with 80-90 degree heat coupled with 60-70 percent humidity. Yipes! Actually, though, it's been so cold and gray in Spokane that I'm look forward to being able to walk around the house without wrapping myself in a blanket all the time.
It feels like there's still so much to do! Trips to REI for hardcore bug spray and sunscreen, locating a backpack that's big enough for three day weekend trips but small enough to be managable when I'm dragging a suitcase, the beauty supply place with my sister for new shampoo/conditioner/"product," packing, un-packing, and re-packing to make sure I haven't forgotten something or brought way more than I need.
I can't believe I'll be in Thailand in less than three weeks.
At the same time I got my placement, I got a list of fellow volunteers: there'll be 18 of us arriving at the same time, joining 3 people already in the house (which has an in-house cook and snacks--including fruit--available 24/7. I'm embarrassingly excited about both of those things. Fruit! All the time!) Today I got an email from a 16 year old girl on the list; the only Trang volunteer I've talked to thus far is a 17 year old Italian boy. They both seem very sweet, but I'm hoping there'll be a few people a little closer to my age (oh god, how old am I that 16 sounds young?)
Today I went shopping with my sister, mom, and grandma and added some very light weight skirts, a dress, and a couple of tops to my wardrobe for dealing with 80-90 degree heat coupled with 60-70 percent humidity. Yipes! Actually, though, it's been so cold and gray in Spokane that I'm look forward to being able to walk around the house without wrapping myself in a blanket all the time.
It feels like there's still so much to do! Trips to REI for hardcore bug spray and sunscreen, locating a backpack that's big enough for three day weekend trips but small enough to be managable when I'm dragging a suitcase, the beauty supply place with my sister for new shampoo/conditioner/"product," packing, un-packing, and re-packing to make sure I haven't forgotten something or brought way more than I need.
I can't believe I'll be in Thailand in less than three weeks.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Placement news!
A very exciting e-mail from my program manager today. The program director in Bangkok is setting up my groups placements right now, and it looks like my request to work in women's health/women's issues in Bangkok is probably going to happen! This even more exciting given the more and more serious consideration I'm giving to going to nursing school to get a Master's in Nursing with a focus on Women's Health or on Nurse-Midwifery. Cool cool cool!
Anyway, there are two options for sites, one of which is a more common placement, and less outreach-oriented. You can read about that organization here: http://www.apsw-thailand.org/Intro.htm
The other organization, HAT, does a lot of sex ed work in the community and is a less common placement (which makes it seem kind of exciting), but also requires "many more hours" than a regular placement and might require me to work on weekends. You can read about that organization here:
http://www.hatfundraising.com/
I have to get back to my program manager about my preference pretty soon, and I'm leaning toward APSW because of the extra hours thing, but if you have thoughts or input, they'd be greatly appreciated!
Anyway, there are two options for sites, one of which is a more common placement, and less outreach-oriented. You can read about that organization here: http://www.apsw-thailand.org/Intro.htm
The other organization, HAT, does a lot of sex ed work in the community and is a less common placement (which makes it seem kind of exciting), but also requires "many more hours" than a regular placement and might require me to work on weekends. You can read about that organization here:
http://www.hatfundraising.com/
I have to get back to my program manager about my preference pretty soon, and I'm leaning toward APSW because of the extra hours thing, but if you have thoughts or input, they'd be greatly appreciated!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Travel Medicine
This is the first time I've ever traveled to a destination that actually requires me to know something about travel medicine. In Mexico it was basically don't drink the water and don't buy food off the street, orders which I followed to a T and never had any kind of problem. Thailand is different. First off, I'm getting a bunch of shots before I go, including:
-a polio booster (this not recommended by the CDC, but IS recommended by Group Health, so what the heck, better safe than sorry)
-a diptheria/tetnus/whooping cough booster
-a typhoid vaccination
These shots make me feel as if I am about to travel the Oregon Trail (You have Typhoid! What would you like to do: a) administer laudanum b)rest for two days c)do nothing)
I'll also be carrying with while in Thailand two prescriptions, one to treat "severe gastrointestinal distress" (because I'm basically seven in a lot of ways, I find this both gross and hilarious) and one to take while I'm in Cambodia and for four weeks following to prevent malaria. Not to mention as Pepto-Bismol (8 a day!) as I can fit in my suitcase. Lonely Planet tells me I can eat the food from street vendors, much to my delight, but I imagine it can't all be a hundred percent safe.
Then there's the question of preventing bug bites....
-a polio booster (this not recommended by the CDC, but IS recommended by Group Health, so what the heck, better safe than sorry)
-a diptheria/tetnus/whooping cough booster
-a typhoid vaccination
These shots make me feel as if I am about to travel the Oregon Trail (You have Typhoid! What would you like to do: a) administer laudanum b)rest for two days c)do nothing)
I'll also be carrying with while in Thailand two prescriptions, one to treat "severe gastrointestinal distress" (because I'm basically seven in a lot of ways, I find this both gross and hilarious) and one to take while I'm in Cambodia and for four weeks following to prevent malaria. Not to mention as Pepto-Bismol (8 a day!) as I can fit in my suitcase. Lonely Planet tells me I can eat the food from street vendors, much to my delight, but I imagine it can't all be a hundred percent safe.
Then there's the question of preventing bug bites....
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
a blogging conundrum
On the recommendation of my program manager from Cross Cultural Solutions, I signed up for a Google service that sends me an email every day with headlines and blog postings about Thailand from around the world (speaking of Google services, I found out yesterday that Google has it's own free 411 number: 1-800-goog-411. Cool, huh?). There's been a lot of stuff in my Google alerts about internet censorship in Thailand, particularly surrounding YouTube, which was blocked in the entire country because it was hosting videos that mocked the King--Thais treat their royalty with HUGE respect, even though there's also more-or-less democratic government in place. Yesterday one of the blog highlings in my Google alert indicated that blogspot.com is at least temporarily blocked in Thailand. It certainly wasn't an official Google or Thai statement, just a comment that indicated that the blog's readers in Thailand had been having a lot of trouble accessing blogs hosted by blogspot. This obviously wouldn't be problem for you all (gentle readers...) here in the States, but if I can't get on to blogspot to post from Thailand, you won't have much to read. Anyway, I'll keep my internet ears open, and see what develops.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
I don't know how to say "I love making lists" in Thai
In honor of a week in which I have spent too much time being afraid about my inability to complete a number of relatively simple tasks needed for graduation, a list of reasonable and unreasonable fears I have about Thailand:
Reasonable fears:
-something bad will happen to my dad or someone else and I won't know or be able to get home in time
-my reservedness will cause me to miss out on interesting opportunities
-my placement will be overwhelmingly stressful and not enjoyable and challenging
-I'll run out of time to see all the things I want to see
Unreasonable fears:
-the little Thai children will assume my haircut means that I am a boy and tell me such, in Thai
-my boyfriend will forget about me and fall in love with someone else
-I'll run out of time to see all the things I want to see (of course this will happen! I want to see everything!)
-swimming in the dark
-being bitten by something rabid or stung by a scorpian
These lists are both shorter than I thought, which is reassuring.
Reasonable fears:
-something bad will happen to my dad or someone else and I won't know or be able to get home in time
-my reservedness will cause me to miss out on interesting opportunities
-my placement will be overwhelmingly stressful and not enjoyable and challenging
-I'll run out of time to see all the things I want to see
Unreasonable fears:
-the little Thai children will assume my haircut means that I am a boy and tell me such, in Thai
-my boyfriend will forget about me and fall in love with someone else
-I'll run out of time to see all the things I want to see (of course this will happen! I want to see everything!)
-swimming in the dark
-being bitten by something rabid or stung by a scorpian
These lists are both shorter than I thought, which is reassuring.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
procrastination station
My newest procrastination past time is reading the travelpod.com blogs about Thailand. A lot of them aren't terribly exciting, but I like to think I'm building up a resevoir of things to do, see, and eat, and things to avoid. If I find any particularly good ones, I'll put the links up.
A couple of the blogs have mentioned the Emerald Cave, which is off on of the islands to the southwest. Basically, you jump out of a boat and swim through a tunnel to reach a pool that's unreachable any other way. Pirates used to hide their booty there (cooooool!). So that's high on the list, although one blogger also mentioned that doing this involves swimming in the pitch black for 30 yards or so, something I have a feeling I wouldn't be to into. I don't even like swimming underwater at night.
A couple of the blogs have mentioned the Emerald Cave, which is off on of the islands to the southwest. Basically, you jump out of a boat and swim through a tunnel to reach a pool that's unreachable any other way. Pirates used to hide their booty there (cooooool!). So that's high on the list, although one blogger also mentioned that doing this involves swimming in the pitch black for 30 yards or so, something I have a feeling I wouldn't be to into. I don't even like swimming underwater at night.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
OK, so...
I'm not actually in Thailand yet (obviously--I'm in the snowy tundra that is the 7-county metro area) but I'm going.
The nitty-gritty:
I'm going for nine weeks, July 7-Sept. 12 or so. I'll be spending the first five weeks in Bangkok and the last four in a small town near the southwestern coast, Trang. I'm going with an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions. They'll set me up with a Thai non-profit, hopefully an orphanage/preschool/something where I don't have to know a lot of Thai, and I'll be volunteering in the mornings and exploring/taking Thai language classes/going on what amounts to field trips in the afternoon, with weekends free to travel the rest of the country.
One of the things that I really like about this program is that they work with existing Thai non-profits. As much as I think it's a great thing volunteer anywhere that extra bodies and extra hands are needed, being an American going to a developing country to work with the underprivileged smacks of imperialism. That's at least partially mitigated by the fact that all my supervisors will be Thai and that I'll be doing work in the community that Thais think is important, not work that Westerners think is important. Of course my motives for going are not as altruistic as all that: I found the program because I was looking for a long term (well, more than a couple of weeks, anyway) experience abroad where I could be more directly involved in the culture than most tourists tend to be. I leapt into this one, there's no question about that. Less than two weeks passed between the time I found the organization and the day I called them up and gave them $500 to reserve my spot. But I'm really, really excited.
The impetus behind this blog was the realization that I won't be in close contact with a lot of important people for the two months that I'm there, and that last time I was abroad, and internet access was limited, I wasn't always great about keeping in touch via email. As much as I feel a little silly about putting my life on the internet, I like to think there are people (hi mom and dad!) who'll be interested, especially once I actually get to Thailand. So leave a comment, I'll be happy to know you're here.
The nitty-gritty:
I'm going for nine weeks, July 7-Sept. 12 or so. I'll be spending the first five weeks in Bangkok and the last four in a small town near the southwestern coast, Trang. I'm going with an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions. They'll set me up with a Thai non-profit, hopefully an orphanage/preschool/something where I don't have to know a lot of Thai, and I'll be volunteering in the mornings and exploring/taking Thai language classes/going on what amounts to field trips in the afternoon, with weekends free to travel the rest of the country.
One of the things that I really like about this program is that they work with existing Thai non-profits. As much as I think it's a great thing volunteer anywhere that extra bodies and extra hands are needed, being an American going to a developing country to work with the underprivileged smacks of imperialism. That's at least partially mitigated by the fact that all my supervisors will be Thai and that I'll be doing work in the community that Thais think is important, not work that Westerners think is important. Of course my motives for going are not as altruistic as all that: I found the program because I was looking for a long term (well, more than a couple of weeks, anyway) experience abroad where I could be more directly involved in the culture than most tourists tend to be. I leapt into this one, there's no question about that. Less than two weeks passed between the time I found the organization and the day I called them up and gave them $500 to reserve my spot. But I'm really, really excited.
The impetus behind this blog was the realization that I won't be in close contact with a lot of important people for the two months that I'm there, and that last time I was abroad, and internet access was limited, I wasn't always great about keeping in touch via email. As much as I feel a little silly about putting my life on the internet, I like to think there are people (hi mom and dad!) who'll be interested, especially once I actually get to Thailand. So leave a comment, I'll be happy to know you're here.
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