The First Farewell

Today marked the first official farewell of the trip.  We unfortunately had two volunteers leave a week earlier due to unforeseen circumstances. Today was the last day for my roommate, Allison, and travel companion, Amanda. In the morning they'll be flying back to the States.
I'm glad our paths crossed and Allison has already pencilled in Bermuda on her places to go list!  I look forward to our reunion.
When in Bangkok, there's no better way to end things on a high note than by going to a rooftop restaurant. We enjoyed our night out at a lovely place called "Octave". Sometimes I forget that Bangkok is such a big city but looking out over the city lights tonight makes me think this must be the biggest city I've ever been to in all my journeys. I guess I'll have to check out the statistics and get back to you on that!

Allison S., Allison G (Roomy), Me, Amanda and Heather

Today we visited the ancient ruins of Ayutthaya, the former capital back when the Kingdom of Thailand was known as Siam or the Siamese Kingdom.  It was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in December 1991.  Our tour guide for today was a very warm, cheery and knowledgeable man named TicTac, I promise you I did not make that up, my creativity isn't that good! According to the video TicTac showed us in the museum there are a few things you should do in Ayutthaya.  Here they are, in no particular order:

• Maha Ut Chapel
• Take in the many Buddha images and paintings
• Visit the Reclining Buddha 
• Admire the Royal monuments, ancient palaces and architecture
• Visit any of the various museums, including the Bang Sai Arts and Crafts Museum
• Explore the history of the foreign settlements
• Browse Ayutthaya's markets
• Cruise around Muang Islet
• Take your choice of tour by elephant*, bicycle, tram car, tuk-tuk or rickshaw
• Enjoy a Thai meal at a riverside restaurant

Despite the intense heat, I enjoyed our day in Ayutthaya.  The highlight of my trip was seeing the Buddha head surrounded by Bodhi tree roots.  I had seen photos before coming to Thailand and it was amazing to see in person.  It didn't look exactly like I expected and when reviewing my photos from today I realised it reminded me of a particular Disney movie.  I wished I had noticed before so I could have posed more appropriately 555. I hope you enjoy my photos from today. 

How good is your Disney knowledge?

* I would not endorse the elephant tours.  While I would like to spend all of my time with the lovely ellies, these ones are made to wear harnesses which makes me sad. 

Students visiting a temple at Ayutthaya

My second Reclining Buddha of this trip

Head of a ruined sandstone Buddha image surrounded by tree roots over the years

Feelin' hot, hot, hot!

I do believe I've mentioned the heat prior to this post, but this post is not about the infamous Bangkok heat. This post is actually to say thank you to my darling not-so-little cousin, Brittany.  You might be wondering why she gets a special thank you post and I'll quickly get to the point.  Back in May, Brittany and I took part in the cancer fundraiser, Relay for Life.  At this event a local cellular company was selling handy hot weather items like fans, cell phone carry cases and flip flops.  The fan reminded me of an updated version of something my Grandma would have used in church before the air-conditioning was installed. I wasn't completely convinced I needed it though, I was pretty sure I needed all of my money for the cake pops that were being sold at another tent! My stomach almost always gets priority. :-) 
Back to the matter at hand, Brittany decided to buy me a fan seeing as I would be travelling to a very hot country during the summer. 

Pop-up Fan from Brittany

THANKS, BRE!!!
I've carried my fan almost daily and I have almost always regretted it whenever I haven't.  It folds up to a size that conveniently tucks into the pocket of my bag and produces a pretty refreshing breeze when needed.  I am glad that Brittany had the foresight to provide me with such a handy gift. 

This is my "I'm so over this heat" face

Meet the Roommates

Roomie Roundup 

Allison - Allison comes from North Carolina. Much like me, Allison was drawn to CCS by the opportunity to experience a different culture and influence the lives of other people.  We bonded quickly and our two weeks together flew by even faster. Although it was only a short time we had a ton of fun.
Delainey & Dana - The Dynamic Duo
Dana and Delainey are here with a group from the United States Military Academy at West Point.  The girls are extremely friendly and easy-going.  They signed up to volunteer in Thailand through their school and then later found out they would be joining CCS. I'm glad they did.
The four of us settled in perfectly as roommates.  Even though our schedules are different, the time we have spent together has been full of laughs. The memories we are building will last a lifetime. 

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

The Cuteness in Kindergarten

Today was fellow volunteer Rachel's last day at school.  We headed in early to teach  a kindergarten class before our regularly scheduled classes.  We always see the little ones around campus but the youngest grade I've had so far is grade/pratom 1.
Since the kindergarten class doesn't usually get volunteers we were a new novelty item in the classroom. The children were full of giggles at the "farang" which is Thai for foreigners. Pitsuda introduced us as Teacher Nadia and Teacher Rachel then we got to it. We sang the alphabet song and counted from one to ten. We used coloured balls found in the classroom to review colours. The children were very good with their colour names.  After our review, Rachel and I handed out 3 Uno cards to each student. We played a few rounds of my go - to colour/number game. The children seemed to enjoy it immensely. We also introduced them to the 'Hokey Pokey'. Left and right were trickier than the previously covered topics but still good fun. Pitsuda sang the elephant song which reviews the concept of big and small.  Class ended with a few group photos.
Fun fact: The children are told to say "Pepsi" to smile rather than cheese. This makes sense as cheese is not something often included in Thai meals.  In fact, I can't think of a time that I've had cheese since I've arrived! 

Falling in Love

I am in love with this experience. I'm surrounded by beauty found in the places I've visited, the people I volunteer with and of course the teachers and children I interact with daily. 
I am so grateful for this experience.