Amani means Peace - 01/08

Today we visited the Amani Centre for Street Children.  It is very close to our Home Base and can actually be used as a reference point for locals. 
We drive across it often but today was the first time inside for many of us. 
It was an impressive facility once you entered the main building, but it was the programme itself that blew me away.
The goal of the Amani Centre is to reunite children with their families and they have an over 90% success rate. 
Children are expected to follow the rules and schedule of the Centre while there and they have a team of social workers, teachers, staff and volunteers supporting them. Along with their education and basic needs, the children also develop life skills while in the programme.  Families of the children receive support to help achieve the goal of reuniting the children into their families - either immediate or extended.
After our tour we had time to hang out with the children.  There was a football match, some magic tricks and lots of selfie action! 
I am really interested in the 6 month English teacher/librarian position that's available... I'm just going to leave that there and see who actually reads the blog ;)

Luck of the Maasai - 23/07

Today we departed camp just after 7:00am heading for our destination of Ngoragora Crater.  The crater was once an active volcano and is now home to many members of Tanzanian wildlife, including all of the Big 5. For those of you unfamiliar with African safaris, the Big 5 are lions, leopards, water buffalo, rhinos and last but never least, elephants. The other inhabitants of the crater are members of the Maasai as they will live peacefully with the animals without hunting them... which sadly can't be said for all humans. There are rangers patrolling the crater rim on guard for would be poachers.
When we reached the top of the crater we saw a few baboons. Nixon  (Nick) informed us that we should keep our windows closed because the baboons can be quite dangerous. While we were waiting for our park pass we also saw some ants working away at something.  They were huge!
It was quite a drive getting to the crater's rim and then driving down to enter the park but it was about to be worth it.  I felt the anticipation a child does when they're about to visit Disney for the first time - was it going to be everything I hoped?!
I'm pleased to tell you it was an AMAZING experience!!! The roaming zebras and wildebeest were abundant as well as the warthogs and gazelles. There was an enormous flock of flamingoes in a salty lake, stretching further than the reach of my fancy camera lens.  We saw an elephant on its own (guess who spotted that first?),  which seemed a bit strange to me. Nick said it's herd was probably nearby. One big highlight was seeing lions mate!  There could be 2-4 little simbas running around the park in approximately 110 days! We spotted some water buffalo and those things are huge! They were mainly relaxing, hanging out, not up and about much.
Like I said, it was an amazing day. I'm sure you can tell by my overuse of exclamation marks ;). On my first ever safari experience I saw FOUR out of the Big Five!  How cool is that? Wonderful. Seriously wonderful. The group of volunteers that safari-ed before us had told us they saw a rhino in the crater and since that I was hoping I'd get the opportunity to see it.  I know- you're surprised I didn't say elephants.  Don't get me wrong. The ellies will always be my favourites, but at the rate life/humanity/human-animal interaction is going, who knows how much longer rhinos will be found in the wild. When we entered the park I asked Nick about the chances of seeing the rhino and he said he couldn't promise any sightings but we'd need to be pretty lucky to see a rhino. I joked and said the Maasai told me my bracelet was good luck.  When we were finishing up Nicole mentioned that maybe my bracelet is in fact lucky. Either way, tonight I am thankful for this amazing opportunity to see these wonderful creatures of God's creation. Asante.

Fighting Fears of Foot Fungus

Muay Thai Fighters

Dear Reader,
If you have a fear of foot fungus that you would like to face head on, I strongly suggest you spend some time in Thailand.  Thai custom dictates that shoes are often removed indoors.  This does not only apply to houses. In fact the students in my school walk around sock-footed most of the day with the main exceptions being outdoor play and the bathroom.  The no-shoe rule applies in some stores as well. Your hint is to look at the doorway for a pile or a few pairs of shoes - if they are there, then go ahead and ditch your shoes before entering.

The most important no-shoe places are the temples.  I can't imagine coming to Thailand and not visiting any temples.  The Golden Mount at Wat Saket is the only temple I can think of that allowed shoes inside the building.  So if you take the average amount of tourists per day and add it to the average amount of locals visiting any given temple each day AND take into account that all of these people are barefooted, you'll have an idea of how freaky this can be for a person who has a fear of foot fungus. 
This afternoon our CCS group went for a special training session with local Muay Thai boxers.

Ada and I before getting hot and sweaty

I knew we would be barefooted but what I did not account for was the excessive amount of sweat those floor mats are subjected to daily.  In the two hours we were there I think it's safe to say there was at least three gallons of sweat dripping on the floor.  Delightful (that was sarcasm).
I had a great time.  I haven't been able to work out for almost three months now so it felt amazing to work up a sweat. We had so much fun as a group cheering on our friends and laughing at ourselves.  The ever present language barrier added to the hilarious exchanges between the boxers and volunteers. My roommate Dana gave one of the instructors a run for his money! I'll have to see if I can add a video to the blog so you can watch her in action.  We had a fantastic time, but let's get back to the subject at hand. 

Delainey getting ready to show off her skills

I'll tell you now, my dear Reader, I have never scrubbed my feet with such intensity as when I came home from our training session.  Yuck. Double yuck! The soles of my feet were as black as tar. It felt like forever before I got them clean.  I did survive though.  I feel like after that experience I can probably walk barefoot just about anywhere. 
And that is how you overcome the fear of foot fungus.

Only men are allowed in the boxing ring - no females

Dana won!

My trainers for the afternoon

CCS Bangkok Group July 2015

Best Day Ever cont.

Chai Lai Café had something for everyone;  Sam had his favourite dish, French fries. Ada and Amanda had Thai dishes, Ryan had a drink and Heather and I went with dessert. After lunch we were told the local group had not informed Chai Lai that they had planned a tour with the elephants so we would have to wait for our turn. We were bummed to find out that the elephants were shared between both companies knowing that the other group uses harnesses. One of the partners of Chai Lai explained to us that the elephants are shared but they all sleep freely under the pavilions at Chai Lai. The local, family-run elephant business doesn't see the harnesses as bad things because elephants are so strong but both groups treat the elephants well.  It put a slight downer on the feeling of the day but after getting to know everyone at Chai Lai all morning I decided that I would still ride the elephants. My hope is that as more tourists use companies like Chai Lai that provide only bareback rides,  other companies will see that you do not need to provide a harness for tourist rides. I'm sure it will take a while but fingers crossed. Heather, Amanda and I went to feed the elephants while we waited.
When the elephants came back they removed their harnesses so we could head out on our bareback ride. Ada decided she was too sad about the fact the elephants are harnessed and she did not want to ride so she stayed at the café. I respect her choice and conviction but because I had good feeling about the practices at Chai Lai I went ahead with the ride.
Four of us headed out to meet our elephants.  I had the largest elephant in the herd who is actually the mama of the cute baby elephant. Heather had the older, bigger sister of the baby. Our elephants wandered away to munch on the vegetation while Amanda and Sam got on their elephants.  The atmosphere is very laid back at Chai Lai  (so much so that I hadn't actually paid for any of my food yet). The mahouts were a little too calm with the fact our elephants were doing their own thing for my comfort!  Heather and I had no idea if this grassy patch was even on the right route!  Reader, I'm not sure if you've ever ridden an elephant. If you have, you may know the nerve wrecking feeling that you might fall off as your elephant heads down a steep, muddy hill. If you haven't... think about how it would feel not knowing if you're about to fall off an animal that's almost as tall as a small building and not knowing where you'll land in relation to its very large and powerful feet. I think you get the picture.
Anyways, it turns out our elephants were right which I should have known.  They probably walk this same route every time and an elephant never forgets. It also turns out that we had the hungriest elephants. Thanks to the 'stop and snack' philosophy of our elephants, Amanda and Sam overtook us in no time.  My mama elephant wouldn't go too far ahead of her baby, Tom Po. If Tom Po stopped for a snack we waited. Such dedicated parenting.  
Despite their bulky build, elephants are amazingly graceful creatures.  At one point I witnessed Heather's elephant walk up a muddy bank by balancing on tree roots!  Tom Po hasn't quite mastered the art of gracefulness. One of the mahouts had to help her up the bank with a push!  It was funny to watch. Tom Po often sat on her bottom to scoot down small hills as if they were slides. 
As we approached the river I realised what was about to happen. I can't speak Thai mahout orders but I understood - they told the elephants to sit!  I tried my best to stay dry and I actually did a pretty good job.  Perhaps it was too good of a job because my mahout came over and splashed me until I looked like I had fallen in the water. Oh well, so much for the dry part of the day. After the elephants had cooled off we rode them back up to the pavilion. Our songtaew driver was waiting; my time with the elephants was up.  We cleaned up and checked our bills before heading back to the city. The internet was down for the moment so Chai Lai couldn't process payment with cards but the lady gave our driver a list of who owed what and instructions to stop at a bank atm. That worked out fine. As the mountains faded from our view, we talked about our day and looked at each other's photos.
All in all, I could not think of a better way to spend my day in Chiang Mai. I am truly grateful to have had this opportunity to get to know the gentle giants I have always loved from afar. After today, elephants will forever hold a bigger place in my heart.