Thought for the Day 2

An appropriate attitude, it seems to me, as I step off into the great unknown of my placement. At the moment I do not know how I will be travelling to Mae Sot, where I will be living when I get there, or indeed quite what my job is going to consist of. And in the longer term, I have no idea where these two years may end up leading me...
I had been hoping for a degree of enlightenment at the employer workshop in Bangkok on Tuesday, but I have now been told that no-one from my organisation will be attending, so I will arrive in Mae Sot none the wiser as far as my job is concerned. Still, I am sure it will all become clear in the fullness of time and I am trying to be as Zen Doggy as I can!

I don't know what sort of access I will have to internet, so the blog posts might not be quite so frequent. Thank you to everyone who has posted comments and sent emails - it is very sustaining to have that contact from home.

A special mention and thank you to Andrew, for first introducing me to Zen Dog (of whose philosophy you are a most shining example!), and to Ruth (so much more like myself) for that wonderful phrase that I am still learning to put into practice: "Let things unfold!"

Bye Bye Bang Saen

We finished our language training today and will return to Bangkok on Sunday morning. It feels strange to be leaving Bang Saen, which has been our home for the last month, and where we have had our first taste of the friendliness and hospitality of Thai people.
Last weekend we were invited to dinner by our new friend, Ann, at the vegetarian restaurant. We had a lovely evening, with the chance to put our fledgling language skills into action amid much fun and laughter.

Our teacher, Waraya, took us to visit a local Buddhist temple on Wednesday. It is quite an unusual temple, with huge sculptures representing scenes of heaven and hell. The hell scenes are incredibly gruesome, showing the horrendous punishments for committing different wrongdoings. I did take some pictures, but have decided not to share them here!
Instead, here is Waraya attempting to throw a coin into the belly-button of a huge Buddha. Given my usual total lack of hand-eye coordination, I was astounded when my 5 baht coin went in first time!

There was also a series of sculptures representing different Thai proverbs. This one, with a toad being carried along by four servants, illustrates how, when people get to a high position they often forget their lowly beginnings. (I am sure there is a similar sort of saying in English, but I can't think of it at the moment.)

We said goodbye to Waraya today. She has been a fantastic teacher, not only helping us start to get to grips with the language and culture, but also being so understanding and supportive of our situation as newly arrived volunteers. Thank you, Waraya! I am sure we will keep in  touch.

We have also said goodbye to the wonderful, friendly staff at our regular lunch place. If nothing else, we have learned how to order a range of dishes with a certain degree of proficiency!

Now the adventures really begin!

Health Matters

VSO takes the health and welfare of volunteers very seriously. In the spirit of "fore-warned is fore-armed", volunteers are inundated with a whole range of information throughout the training and preparation process, including a half day workshop covering issues such as water-purification, food safety, malaria prevention, managing diet and exercise, emotional health and safe sex. (We were shown a very sobering video of four volunteers talking very honestly about how they had ended up returning from their placements HIV+)
Part of the recruitment and placement process includes a thorough medical check to assess any physical or emotional health issues that could present a challenge or require monitoring. Before leaving, there are a whole range of inoculations to complete, including for my placement a couple of particularly nasty ones - rabies and Japanese encephalitis B. (Given the number of stray and semi-stray dogs roaming the streets, I am very glad to have had the rabies injections. It was worth the horribly sore arm!)
VSO also provide a suggested list of medicinal and first aid items to take, so before leaving I dutifully went and bought up half of Shrivenham pharmacy. I probably didn't need to bother, as most items are easily available here, and many medicines that require a prescription in the UK can be bought over the pharmacy counter. As part of our orientation in the first few days we spent a morning at the Bangkok Nursing Home for a briefing with the local doctor who acts as medical adviser to VSO. The name is misleading - it is actually a very modern, state-of-the-art private hospital that looks more like a hotel. Dr Irene gave us a very detailed breakdown of the causes, symptoms and treatment of the various horrible diseases that we could potentially succumb to: malaria, dengue fever, typhoid, typhus, amoebic dysentery, giardia, leptospirosis, rabies, encephalitis.... If a volunteer were to become so seriously ill that they could not be treated at their placement, they would be transferred to the BNH. It looks like a wonderful place to stay, but on balance I think I would rather not get so ill that I would end up staying there!
Up to now I have been pretty well, and most of my copious supply of medicines has remained untouched. However, one thing that I was very glad that I had brought was a course of antibiotics for urinary tract infections. It meant I was able to treat a rather nasty infection last week very promptly, with the result that I only spent half a day in bed with a temperature feeling sorry for myself before I was up and about again.
I am starting to feel quite tired now. It is getting hotter and the intensity of the language training is taking its toll. Hopefully, I should have a fairly gentle start to my placement, as schools are currently on holiday and there are a couple of major public holidays in the first half of April, including several days for Songkran, or new year. It seems Chiang Mai is the place to be for this celebration (one of the main features of which is throwing water at people), so if I can get my act together it might be a good opportunity for a trip there.

Striking the right tone

Half way through our language training now, and learning vocabulary at quite a dizzying rate. Each word has to be learned along with its correct tone. We are now starting to come across quite a few words where saying the same word with a different tone gives a completely different meaning. For example:

• khaaw (falling tone) - rice
• khaaw (rising tone) - white
• gao (falling tone) - 9
• gao (low tone) - old
• sii (low tone) - 4
• sii (rising tone) - colour
• khao (high tone) -he/she/they
• khao (rising tone) hill/mountain
• haa (falling tone) - 5
• haa (rising tone) to look for
• yaak (low tone) - to want to
• yaak (falling tone) - difficult

Plenty of scope for merry confusion! One of the trickiest things is remembering NOT to raise your voice at the end of a sentence to make it a question, as this is likely to affect the understanding of the meaning of the sentence. There is a special word for this purpose: mai (high tone). Not to be confused with mai (low tone), which means "new", or mai (falling tone), which means "no/not".

Today we also started to learn some of the characters of the Thai script, which has its own complications! Each vowel is positioned in a specific place in relation to the consonant that it follows. For example, it might be written above, below, before or after. We learned one of each today, plus three consonants, which was enough to be able to write a few simple words.

It's just like being back at school and doing spelling and handwriting practice!

Thought for the day

"Different people have different ideas, but they can live together happily."

 

An excellent thing to keep in mind when getting used to living in a new country and culture! Went out shopping for a dictionary yesterday. Completely failed on that front, and came home with this little notebook instead. Just the right size for carrying in my bag and writing down important-things-I-need-to-remember!

More on food...

Most weekdays, when we have lessons, we go for lunch at a place near the hotel. The staff there are getting to know us, and each time we go we are able to order a little more proficiently and engage in slightly more conversation.
However, we have also discovered a lovely little vegetarian place a bit further down the road, so just to ring the changes a bit we occasionally go there. It also means I get a bit more choice of food! Today I had a lovely noodle soup, to which I bravely added a small (nid-noy) amount of chilli. We have been advised to build up slowly to Thai levels!

Today I also tried a dragon fruit for the first time. This is not a native fruit of Thailand, but comes from Vietnam. It takes some getting in to, as it has a very thick and waxy skin. Inside, it is rather like a large, white kiwi fruit, in terms of texture and appearance. It is quite juicy, but, disappointingly after all that effort, doesn't actually taste of very much!

Beach Aerobics

Now here is something that is worth doing at least once in your life. With the sun going down and a bit of a sea breeze, the temperature had probably just about dipped below 30, which made it moderately bearable to be leaping about so energetically. It is many years since I used to do aerobics, and I had forgotten just how much coordination one neesds! The Thai people all seemed to be taking it pretty seriously and knew all the moves. I would just get the hang of one move before he was on to the next one! Great fun though, and a welcome bit of exercise after much sitting and studying!

Notice how completely synchronised we are!

 

VSO in Thailand - a brief history

Today we had some more briefings with staff from the VSO office in Bangkok (or Grung Tep, to use the local name), and we learned more about the history and background of VSO’s work in Thailand, and about how our placements fit in with the current programmes.

VSO have been working in Thailand since 1961 – almost from the very beginning, as the organisation was founded in 1958. In the past there were projects in a range of areas, including education, disability and environmental issues. In 1999, VSO first began working with migrant people from Myanmar (Burma) in Thailand.

In 2005, the VSO Thailand programme was closed, but it was recognised that there was still a need for support for the migrant communities, so the Thailand/Myanmar programme was set up in 2006. The two Programme Areas are Education and Peace-Building and Governance.

From 2008-2011, the Programme Area Plan for Education was called Education for All, and included:

·         Access for migrant children to school

·         Education in the refugee camps

·         A focus on inclusive education for children with special needs

·         Advocacy work with the Ministry of Education

From Jan 2012 to Dec 2014 there is a new Programme Area Plan for Education, called In School, In Society, which focuses specifically on improving the access to and quality of Early Childhood education and care for migrant children in Thailand. Some of these children access education in learning centres set up by the migrant communities; others find places in Thai schools. In our role of Early Childhood Development Advisers, we will be working mostly with Thai schools, to support them in providing quality education to all their Early Years students, Thai and migrant, and in building more positive relationships between Thai and migrant communities.

It was very exciting to hear about some of the positive changes that have already been achieved, and to start to get a bit more of an insight into what we will be doing. We will each be paired with an “ECD school and community organiser”, who will provide support in various areas – most crucially, to begin with at least, as a translator! When we finish our language training, we will return to Bangkok for a couple more days, where we will meet our respective employers and ECD school and community organiser (hopefully – the recruitment process is happening at the moment!) and begin to do some planning together.

It is all starting to feel so much more real, now. I’m really looking forward to it!

What a difference a day makes!

 

Bang Saen Beach

We chose the wrong day to walk down to the beach to watch the sun set. By the time we got there, the sky had clouded over completely with dark, threatening storm clouds and a strong wind was blowing. If it wasn't for all the coconut palms, you could have imagined you were at Blackpool!

We had our first introduction to sticky rice in bamboo, and I think I am in danger of becoming addicted! This morning I went to get some fruit at the market (bpai suu pon-la-mai tii dta-laad), and couldn't resist buying another one. The sticky rice, which is sweet and usually has some kind of fruit mixed in, is sold inside a bamboo shoot, which they smash open for you. It is quite delicious - a-roy!

Tomorrow some of the staff from the VSO office are coming to Bang Saen and we will have some more briefings. Then back to language training Tuesday-Saturday, and a further two weeks after that, by which time hopefully we'll be able to say something a little more sophisticated than "I went to get some fruit at the market"!

Friday Treat

Tonight we had dinner at a little roadside establishment very close to where we are staying. The main speciality is barbecued fish, which is served with noodles and a selection of aromatic herbs and sauces. We also had fried rice with crab, and mixed fried vegetables. All for somewhere between £3 and £4 each. It doesn't sound much, but on our volunteer allowance which now has to last us until next pay day on 21 April, it will definitely have to be a special Friday treat!