Thursday, May 24, 2007
Thursday morning was to be a little different than the other morning CI days this week. Greg and I got permission to be signed out to go with our host mom to visit the slum area and see some of the places where she does volunteer work. Our driver drove us down by where we had been for the Home of Praise visit. The facility was a preschool as well as a place for people with mental disabilities to work doing silk crafts and such to sell to make some money. We also met a girl that my host mom has sponsored to attend university. We also visited her house in the slum; The conditions are very bad there, but the sense of community there is greater than can be found in most other places I’ve seen in our travels. Before heading back to the school, I tried some kind of fruit drink from a street vendor, it actually tasted something like rice pudding, had the consistency of very runny porridge, and had the colour of root beer. I’m sure it had some kind of health properties that made it good for you. Greg and I were dropped off back at the school where we had lunch. In the afternoon, I continued to work on the website with Louis, its pretty much finished, but there are always things to update and change; Its all Good™. The evening was spent packing for the trip Friday to Chang Mai. At supper, we finally met our host dad who had been away in the Ukraine for the past 10 days. He works for a telecommunication company which is downsizing. He had to fire a bunch of people and while we were at the supper table, he received a death threat on his cell phone. He went to discuss the huge amount of corruption in the Ukraine, the bureaucracy involved with getting anything done almost makes it impossible for outside companies to do business. He has lent me a smaller suitcase to take to Chang Mai as we are coming back to the same host families for the second week in Bangkok. Who knows what tomorrow will bring...

Wednesday, May 23, 2007
3:50:46 PM

Today I’ve finally had a chance to collect my thoughts on Thailand, to me it seems that Thailand is one giant tossed salad. I mean that, Although it is a developing country, there is still wealth and posh here greater than I’ve seen anywhere else, like yesterday when I went to Siam Square, the big expensive shopping center, I saw all the big brand and designer stores you could imagine, from Gucci and Dolce & Gabana, to Ferrari and Lambourgini. There was an orchid festival going on, and there were valets at all of the sparkling clean glass doors ready to open and hold them for you. On one of the floors, there was even a string quartet instead of recorded music. All this of course in stark contrast to the abject poverty and desolation that can be found on the doorstep of this high society. Not only is Thailand a mix of wealth and poverty, it is also a varied conglomeration of North American, European, and traditional cultures. Many traditions such as the “Why” bow greeting remain, but other things seem to have been borrowed, or rather adopted. For example, I saw that there were lots of people wearing those “Livestrong” yellow arm bands that were the concept of Lance Armstrong; but here instead of “Livestrong”, they say “Long Live the King”. Its funny how concepts can be transferred.
Anyhow, today was another early day; I guess I should stop calling them early days ands start calling them “normal days”. Anyhow, up for some fruit for breakfast and then off in a taxi to our CI site, Greg and I were the first to arrive (too much partying last night?, just joking, I’m just a party pooper/loner) Anyhows, I was the first upstairs for the big morning group meeting with song and dance. Today it was a longer session as we were also playing games. We played the games as a demonstration to the kids, then they themselves played them. This occupied most of the morning, I’m sure the kids enjoyed it cause they were all smiling. In the afternoon, I worked some more on the website, its coming along nicely.

One of the great things sometimes about being stuck in traffic, is that you get a chance to catch up on your journaling!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Tuesday was another CI day, these days it seems as though all we do is the same CI, come home and pass out from exhaustion, and do it again the next day. I worked with a class in the morning and we did some exercise activities as well as more paper bead making. Lunch was a not too spicy rice based dish (as seems to be common). In the afternoon I continued my work on the English website for the foundation and the school, its going quite well, and should be able to open it up tomorrow. After our wrap up meeting at the end of the day, I set off for home, well kind of, I was planning to stop to perhaps buy some sandals and so I ended up at Siam square. I was kind of lost I must say, and I’ve never been lost in a place where hardly anyone understands your language, the culture is completely foreign to you, and the temperature is near the 40°C range. I didn’t make it back home until later because as is usual with Bangkok, the traffic was terrible. Supper was some delicious sausage and mashed potatoes.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Today was another CI day, and I spent it at the school. In the morning, I worked with one of the older classes. I worked specifically with one student in particular, a guy about the same size as me. After the morning group meeting of singing and dancing, I walked with him around the building around an obstacle course of sorts. Following this, the class worked on a project where they recycle paper, then add latex glue and make beads out of it in order to make elaborate bead curtains. Its much like assembly line production. I started out making the holes for the string using a hammer and nail in the already hardened and coloured beads. Every bead is hand made from the start. Some students roll the recycled paper into tiny balls, some make the holes, some string the beads, and others are involved in the recycling process. Later that day, I was in the music therapy class, and they happened to have a fiddle so I played it and it was all good.
Seeing as it was Monday, we all wore the colour yellow in honour of the King of Thailand.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Sunday was our Host Family day, we took in all we could; this meant getting up just as early as ever in the morning; it has seriously been forever since I’ve been able to get a decent amount of sleep for what we are doing. Anyhows, we we up early and I downed 2 cups of coffee and some fruit and we were off. Our driver, Suraphan, was to be our tour guide for the day. We set off for a floating market, which is as it sounds, a market completely on the water. We drove some 100 km out of Bangkok, crossing 2 of the 77 provinces. When we arrived, we rented a boat (and driver) and we set off down a narrow canal through what I would call a jungle. All the shops are along the river, people are selling everything on boats, from fresh fruits to copied Rolex watches. Not even large boats either. The market just went on and on. It was crazy. One of the better things that I tasted was deep fried bananas. We spent most of the morning there on the water. For lunch we drove to this huge temple complex and it was crazy warm. We ate some chicken fried rice from a small street vendor; it was actually very good. The 5 of us ate a good meal for 150 bahts, less than 4.50$ Canadian. Later, Greg and I were dropped off at the Panti Platza, a huge 6 story mall devoted exclusively to computers and electronics, and most all of it is extremely cheap. I bought stuff that would have cost 10 times more back in Canada. All in all, I spent less than 20$. In the evening for supper we went to a local restaurant, the food there was very very spicy; I actually felt a little sick. For dessert we went to Swensons, a “Chicago Style” ice cream place before going home. Tonight Greg has gone for his second massage.

Heading to the Floating Market







UWP, you do meet them wherever you go.





Me and My host families Driver