Adventure Time with Keri!

Monday, April 01, 2013

Yes, I am back in my beloved motherland and although it is still hot and humid here, it is, by no means, as hot as Bangkok was! It actually rained today and the breeze that came along with it was so amazing! Since there is still a bit of uncertainty I’ve been hanging out at the house with lots of family. The latest drama that happened actually had to do with a few of the downtown shops that caught on fire around the same time I was waking up in Bangkok to leave for the airport. No one was hurt, thankfully, but my uncle’s friend did lose stuff in the fire. They managed to salvage the three big safety boxes (worth ~$700,000) after the fire died out (they let it run its course to the cement building), but since it was in the fire the whole time, it was very much charred and the key/lock had burnt off or something. So they had to get guys from the next big town an hour away to come and bring their special saws to cut through all the layers. For some reason this all happened in our front yard…so there was a bunch of people coming in and out of our house this morning. 

Anyway, that’s not what this whole post is about. 

Friday was my last day at the center. I couldn’t help but be sad that I probably won’t see these kids again (unless of course, I somehow miraculously get to visit before I leave). I just pray that their lives will somehow turn around and that they all make it in this big world. I know that I only got to volunteer for three weeks, which won’t make a huge difference in their lives, but I hope that it at least made a little impact in someone’s life. I’m not sure why God brought me specifically there, but I know He has a greater plan in mind for all of us and that we should never question His will. 

There were more visitors/donors that came that day and since they were an fitness club, they were promoting exercise with the kids and it was slightly amusing b/c it looked like one of those exercise videos with the music playing and the exercise leader was extremely enthusiastic and even had one of those personal mics on him. I was trying to smother my laughter. 

I bought candy for the kids (I know, I’m a horrible health person) and it was so funny b/c the smaller ones followed me around after I had given them a piece already and looked up at me with those soulful eyes of theirs. Hahaha. The sad puppy dog look. I just wish I had taken a picture of it. 

I went around taking pictures with the staff afterwards. They are a bunch of amazing ladies!! I will miss them very much. 

Our chef

She caught me snipe shooting. Haha.

The center gave me a picture collage trophy for volunteering there. I couldn’t believe it b/c there were some pictures on it that they had taken just that morning and I hadn’t the slightest clue! Haha.

Presenting me with the collage

They had a small “camp” for the junior volunteers Friday and Saturday. I mentioned in the beginning that there were younger helpers that were always around…apparently they call them junior volunteers and there are a lot of them that help out with various daycares associated with the center.  I’m not exactly sure what they were doing in the communities but they had different teams and stuff like that and it was so funny watching them compete upstairs. 

Love these girls!!!

Junior volunteers

The two on the left were volunteers at our location.

Ahhh, I’m going to miss those kids and staff so much! Even the naughty ones. Haha! I started learning the naughty ones' names since they're always getting called out. Haha. I’m going to miss their hugs, surprise attacks, songs, hearing “Pi Ka/Kap!!!” yelled over and over again, food and water being flung all over the tables/chairs/floors, getting soaked while drying the kids off after their shower, patting the kids to get them to go to sleep (yes, they pat them instead of rubbing their backs), running after and catching stray curious kids, forever telling kids to sit down, helping the kids change their clothes, and their smiles and laughter.

Also, Friday, the majority of them had on traditional clothing (not exactly sure why) instead of their usual uniforms.

The main room.

Poom being uncooperative.

Supposed to be meditating and reciting something...haha.

Alligator song?

I'm going to miss this kid SO much.

My kids!!!! =D

In their little Thai outfits. =)

Racing!

Elleen. The naughtiest girl you will EVER meet.

Stretching and exercising it up!

The kids not being cooperative at all per usual. Haha.

The laundry!!! Hahaha.

It’s also a miracle that I finally learned a handful of words in Thai. The Thai language is very difficult, in my opinion. I will now share with you what I managed to learn after three weeks. I will write it out phonetically and without the correct intonation (since I can’t actually remember…it’s sort of like Chinese though). The word ka (said by females) and kap (males) is not really translatable. It’s said at the end of phrases and sentences to make it more formal/polite and can also stand alone as an agreement form (yes, yeah, of course).

Sa-wat-dee ka/kahp = Hello/goodbye (you must wai when this is said)

Kahp kohm ka/kaph = Thank you (the kahp has a different intonation than the other one)

Nam = water

Nang loong = sit down (very effective when said to little kids)

Pi = Brother/sister

Na = Aunt/Uncle

Khon = Mr. or Ms.

Kow = rice

Gai = chicken

Chai = yes

Mai = no

And a few other words that I cannot seem to summon to my brain at this moment.

A lot of good that phrasebook did me. Haha. I’m glad I was able to give it to someone that had more use for it, even if it was for learning English and not Thai.

Anyway:

Thank you, Foundation for Slum Child Care (FSCC) for letting me volunteer and observe with you all. I had a blast and learned so much and gained new experiences. Thank you also to Na Goi and Na Wan, my in-country coordinator for all your help, my host family for their amazing hospitality, and to World Endeavors for organizing everything for me. I HIGHLY recommend volunteering in another country because you experience new things, you learn SO much, you get to travel, you get to immerse yourself in another culture, you meet new amazing people, and you expand your worldview.

If you, too, would like to volunteer, I really recommend using World Endeavors (https://www.worldendeavors.com/). They have programs all over the world for different things as well as intern and study abroad programs too. Their help from beginning to end was nothing but organized and professional.

If you would like to volunteer specifically at (or donate money to) FSCC you can go directly through them (http://fscc.or.th/). It’s a great way to help out an NGO in another country!

Now that I’m done with those two plugs, we can move on. 

Saturday, I decided to go to a church more downtown than the one I had gone to last week. I was on my own this time and partially wanted to go to the Bangkok Int’l SDA Church b/c I had already contacted them and partially because I wanted to see if I could effectively use public transportation by myself. I had a few directions from the pastor and went totally off of that. I took the bus to the MRT station, MRT line to the BTS station, BTS line and then a taxi. The taxi driver and I had trouble communicating (thankfully I had a map) and we ended up making a U-turn twice b/c he thought I wanted to go to another international school (I needed to go to the Ekamai Int’l School). It was so good to sing praise songs again with a congregation! It took forever and a day for me to get a taxi and then the taxi driver didn’t know any English and didn’t understand me when I said I needed to get to the BTS station. So he drove me out to the main road and I hailed another taxi. This one knew a little bit more and ended up taking me to the airport line instead of the BTS! Lol, thankfully I was able to connect to the BTS line and then to the MRT line. It was quite an adventure for sure. I’m glad I made it there and back in one piece.

For those of you who are wondering what buses over here look like, these are the gov't (no AC) buses that are only 6.50 Baht (~$0.25) and the AC buses are 12 Baht (~$0.40).

Inside of the bus

Packing was a nightmare b/c I had brought a small suitcase and bought a lot of stuff. Lol, not a good combination! I’m pretty sure I fell asleep in the process. Lol. I finally managed to get everything stuffed in there, thank goodness!

I had to wake up at 5am in order to leave the house at 6am to go to the airport. Auntie made me eat a hot bowl of juk/jook/rice porridge before I left. I had 10 mins to scarf it down…I was sweating b/c it was so hot. Haha. 

Na Wan and Na Goi dropped me off at the airport and didn’t have much trouble on the first leg of my flight to KL. I had a few hours to spare at the airport there so after checking in (and assuring them that I did, indeed, have a ticket back to the US…they’re fickle about that) and getting a bite to eat I browsed around the stores and walked around. The LCCT portion of the airport isn’t nearly as exciting as the main airport, unfortunately. I got through security and ended up just reading for the remainder of the wait. On my second leg of my journey I sat next to a Chinese lady that ended up asking a ton of questions about diving and companies and islands and everything else. Haha. Thankfully, that’s right down my alley and I love talking about that so I was able to help her and even directed her to my uncle’s dive company. Haha. 

When we arrived at the airport I definitely went the wrong way and bypassed immigration somehow…and a bunch of people followed me. Hahaha. We got rounded up and went through immigration and then waited for our luggage. Auntie Belinda and Uncle Paul picked me up and when we got back home went to have dinner. Have I ever told you how much I love food? Cuz I do. =)

It’s good to be back. I just hope I get to dive very soon!!

Thanks for joining me for my Thailand adventures. I can assure you that I will have many more adventures in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!!

Annnnd. The power went off just as I was about to upload pictures......not that you needed to know that b/c it will not affect you in the least bit. Haha. We have power outages over here quite frequently.....sigh.

Also. I was holding my favorite little boy (during the last day I was there) and he was squirming and laughing and was happy as could be and in his joy decided to BITE me on my shoulder. Haha. I yelped in pain b/c it took me by surprise and when I went home that afternoon and too a shower, I saw that he had given me a nice red bruise. That little booger!! Hahaha.