Orientation - 17 July

Dear Reader,
You'll be pleased to hear I slept well under my princess canopy (aka mosquito net). I woke up earlier than necessary at 5:00am so I checked my messages and did some reading before drifting back to sleep.  Breakfast was at 8:00am so I was able to get some rest before I needed to get ready. 
Breakfast was yummy - we had omelette style eggs simply called eggs, a pastry similar to a donut but better, boiled sweet potato and fresh local bananas.  We also had fresh mango and passion fruit juice- delicious! You're missing out on that one for sure.
After breakfast we had a full group introduction including all CCS volunteers, CCS in- country staff and local volunteers. As volunteers can choose their placement length there's a good overlap - this group's placements range from 2-7 weeks. After all introductions were made the new volunteers stayed behind for orientation with Mama Thea and George. I won't go into detail as it was a very thorough orientation meeting.
Orientation was followed by lunch.  We saw (and smelled) our chef Andrew cooking it while we were in the tour of the house.  We had beef stew, rice, lentils and veggies. Another satisfyingly tasty meal!
After lunch we met with our placement partners. I was pleased to meet Evarist, coowner of Hope Haeva Daycare. Evarist and his wife Haika started the school three years ago. Haeva is a combination of their names. He told us all about the history of school as well as their schedule.  I'll fill you in on that later.
I'll be volunteering at Hope Haeva with a family group that came on the same day as me- young Ben, his mother and grandmother. We'll be joining Karen and Maddy, a mother daughter duo who have already been volunteering at Hope Haeva for 2 weeks. This will be their last week. 
Once all formalities had been taken care of we headed into town.  I withdrew some Tish  (Tanzanian shillings) and picked up a pair of Moshi pants since it's a lot cooler than I expected and I can wear pants to work. We priced a weekend safari then stopped at the grocery market.  I picked up some hand soap as it wasn't provided in our bedrooms. I have been leaving my bar soap at the sink and carrying the container to the shower but for about  $2 USD I got a bottle of soap that will last longer than my three week placement- well worth it. I also topped up my snack supply with some cookies, banana chips and ice cream.
As mentioned it is cooler than I expected so grilled cheese and mushroom soup was a welcome dinner.  We also had pumpkin, green beans and onions and salad. Have I mentioned I'm pleased with the food? 😉
It was a full day with the promise of an exciting morning ahead so I decided to get everything ready and have an early night!

Confessions of a Shopoholic

My dear Reader, you may have heard of Bangkok's famous weekend market, Chatuchak or Jatujak {can be used interchangeably}. My friend Talia recently travelled to Thailand and raved about the offerings at this particular market.  Of course during my prep for this trip I did some "research" on Pinterest and what I found excited me.  By all reviews it was basically a shopper's dream as long as you are into market style shopping. Now I love a good mall as much as the next shopper but I enjoy the barter experience from time to time as well.  Okay wait, I also love online shopping... maybe it's safe to say I simply love shopping! <-- br="" confession=""><-- br="" confession="">One of the articles I read said the food was equally as impressive as the goods for sale.  So when Heather, Sam and I arrived at Jatujak the first thing I did was purchase the yummiest looking mango and sticky rice I came across. Delicious! You might know that I have a sweet tooth so I don't think that'll count as a confession. 
Next up we located the Clock Tower so we all knew exactly where our meeting point was and made a plan to meet again at a set time.  Heather and I started off together with Sam going his own way - I don't blame him at all! 
About the actual shopping - as promised, this market had a little something for everyone!  I found myself picking things up for people I knew at home based on their taste but had to make myself step away from the goods!  I did not have the space nor funds to buy something for everyone.  I hope what they say is true and it really is the thought that counts. 
I had a few souvenirs that I definitely wanted to get so I had prepared a list to ensure I didn't forget anything. I like to have a list when I'm shopping for specifics and not just browsing. <-- --="" confession="" nbsp="" p="">

So it probably seems like the day was going as well as planned with no surprises, and it was.  Right up to that moment when I came across a school supply stall. {My teacher friends all know what comes next}. The time between stumbling across this lovely little piece of market heaven and the approaching meeting time was spent looking through the beautiful display sets and trying to narrow down a reasonable amount of items to take home.  I had to factor in the cost of many items which are inexpensive on their own but quickly add up when purchased together.  I also needed to think of the space they would take up in my luggage.  It was a struggle! I should confess that I had packed an extra duffle bag in the event that something like this happened. <-- a="" confession="" former="" girl="" guide="" i="" is="">always

prepared!<-- a="" always="" confession="" former="" girl="" guide="" is="" p="" prepared="">

Finally I made my purchase and headed out to meet the others.  We found a nice, air conditioned restaurant and had lunch before continuing our shopping. Sam had finished his shopping but he was a great sport about hanging out with the girls a little bit longer.  Since both Heather and Sam had completed their shopping I decided to stay behind for some solo shopping. I don't enjoy feeling like other people are waiting for me and even though they would have browsed with me I didn't want to make Heather and Sam wait on my account. 
I would tell you more about my purchases but this is more about the experience not the final result!
Verdict: Should you ever find yourself in Bangkok on a weekend, make sure you go to the Chatuchak Weekend Market - be prepared to be pleasantly overwhelmed by the amount of vendors and variety of goods and food, then get ready to shop till you drop! Happy Shopping!

Thai 101

Top: My Thai attempt

This afternoon we had another Thai lesson. We were shown the basic steps in a traditional dance in preparation for the upcoming holiday.  We also had a chance to ask for any phrases we found we needed so far in our placements. "Stop" seemed to be the most popular request. ;) 
We then moved on to our first lesson of written Thai language. The Thai language has 44 consonants and about 32 vowel sounds with 4 tones... I'd like my students to think about that the next time they fuss about learning 6 syllable types!
After being introduced to the alphabet we were instructed to write our names in Thai as best we could.  That's a pretty tricky task! I made my best guess.  Orasa wrote our names on the white board so we could see how our attempts faired.
Because of the extensive alphabet there can be more than one way to write a name phonetically. Orasa showed me the two ways to write "Nadia". I think I did pretty good for my first Thai writing! 
Later on in the evening Allison and I walked over to Big C which is probably the Thai equivalent to Walmart. I found a Thai beginner's handwriting workbook so I grabbed that up. I was excited about my find.  Big C also has some Thai composition notebooks which I plan to purchase before I leave for my students at home. My sister had suggested I use the website 'Go Fund Me' to raise money for this trip and if I had listened I probably could have kept it active for school related purchases! She's such a smarty pants, I should have listened. 
In any event, at least we have our Thai handwriting book to enhance our study of the Thai culture!

My name in Thai and mew Thai handwriting book

The Kingdom of Thailand

Today we had a crash course in the history and geography of Thailand.  We also learned about some cultural norms, which I was already well aware of thanks to my pre-reading. I'm so proud to be a nerd!

We had our first official Thai language lessons this afternoon.  Slow and steady are definitely the key to participating in this race!  The importance of intonation, rolling of "r"s and new letter combinations are proving to be a challenge.  Don't you worry, Reader- quitting isn't my style!


To familiarise ourselves with the neighbourhood we were randomly spilt into teams and sent out on a Scavenger Hunt.  It was hot but fun.  One of my team members is here with her son.  This is their fifth CCS trip together.  I think that is amazing!  I'd love to make this into a family trip. I've already tried to recruit some of my teacher friends as well.  I sincerely hope this is the first of many CCS programmes for me.
After working hard all day, a group of us headed out to the Night Market after dinner.  Obviously I'm tired because amazing is the only adjective that comes to mind!  I didn't make it through half of the market but here were my favourites:
The clothing - elephant pants galore! Can one ever have too many elephant pants? I'm sure we'll find out.

The gifts - I had to remind myself that the purpose of this trip is not shopping. Even though I saw gifts for almost everyone, I am here to assist the students in Thailand, not the economy.

The ice cream - need I say more? I'm also happy to report that Allison, one of my roommates is a sweet lover as well. We went separate ways at the market but both of us chose the same ice cream spot before we left for the night.

The fish spa! - Tiny little doctor fish cleaning away dead skin for a truly natural pedicure. I first saw this in Europe but have never tried it until now. I had a 15 minute treatment in a private tank for less than $5 US dollars.  It was an interesting experience to say the least.  I would suggest trying it. If you can get past the creepy factor it is pretty cool.

Overall it was a informative day followed by a pleasant night out with the group. So far, so good in Thailand!