This weeks activities

Eating some weird Thai dessert

Last weekend it was just me in the house Friday night and Saturday. On Friday night I attempted to find my way to the home group, and of course, got lost! It was POURING rain and dark so it was hard to see what house I was trying to find. I ended up walking into 2 different peoples' houses before I found the right one. And in one of them I had to speak to someone who was sitting in the room I'd just walked into (they don't lock their front doors there). So that was awkward. But I persevered and ended up soaking wet but had a nice evening getting to know some more people from church.

How we get around here

On Saturday morning I did jobs around the house, getting the volunteers (who arrived this weekend) beds made up for them and doing some shopping. I went to see Madagascar 3 in the afternoon with a friend and his daughter. It was so funny! It comes out in the UK in October, so you'll all have to wait til then. So a big group of volunteers arrived at Sirin House on Saturday evening and another volunteer. After church on Sunday there was a TexMex pot-luck lunch which was really good. Lauren, I had GOOD refried beans (none of this tinned stuff :) ). A few of us then went to a little island on the river which has a market. So we cycled along to the ferry and had a wander around the market. Then went for a painful Thai massage at a school for the blind.


My friend and her boyfriend have arrived now and it's lovely to have them here again! And they are both settling into work too.

So we were in the adventure room yesterday afternoon again, with a different group of children. We have a new boy who arrived to CCD daycare on Monday so he came along, and seems to be settling in well to the routine of the daycentre. Some of them can find it really quite difficult. And today we went to harrow this afternoon and again had fun running around. Unfortunately one of the boys I work with hasn't been well the last couple of days (he's now in hospital) so he missed out on the trip to harrow today and is going to miss a big exciting trip tomorrow which is such a shame!

What a poser he is!

Yeah, so tomorrow I am going with CCD staff and children to 'Dreamworld' which is a theme park place, a bit like lego land except without the lego! I'm looking after one little boy for the day, which will be hard work but good fun. The new volunteers have been told they can't come (they're too new) which is a realy shame as it means we can't take as many children. So I think there will only be a couple of other volunteers but they will have different aged children. So I will probably spend most of the day with the staff. And going into work for 7.40!!

These two boys getting excited for the adventure room and both playing the 'high five' game!

Our new boy enjoying soft play

He wanted to pose for a photo but didn't quite sit still for long enough!

Harrow International school

I just want to say thank you to everyone for your prayers and thoughts again. I received a lovely email from someone at church the other day and it just made me realise again how blessed I am to have such support from a church like Carrubbers and I can tell you, as with everything, nothing here is possible without God being at the centre of what we do, particularly with the government orphanages like Fuang Fah and rachawadee girls and boys. Yesterday was a real demonstration of God at work in CCD's ministry. There have been a team here from all different countries and they are all some sort of engineer. They gave up their time to plan a new build that CCD are raising funds for. It is going to be a vocational training centre for the older children and adults. And one of the engineers said 23years ago the director of CCD said that he wanted to set up this facility and now all that time on, the plans are laid (and look fantastic) and with LOTS of fundraising it should be on the way to being built very soon!

And yes, I rode on the back of a motorbike for the first time on Tuesday night....I vowed I would never get on the back of one over here because the motorbike taxi drivers are a littel bit crazy. But it was a bit of an emergency and it wasn't on the main roads. A guy from home group drove me on his motorbike and where they live is very big wide roads that have sensible (usually western) drivers! So it was fine.

On Wednesday afternoon we took a group of children to Harrow International school. I caught a few action shots of Jew scoring baskets. 

I spent some time on the ward with the children this afternoon. We just took them outside to the covered patio and played with them. I tried doing some positioning with one boy and played the tamborine with him which he foound hilarious particularly when I banged it on his stomach. It is lovely seeing the kids smile and laughing is even better.

So this weekend is when all the summer volunteers arrive. A group of 5 of them will arrive tomorrow night to Sirin house and then my friend and her boyfriend arrive on Sunday night, which I am very excited about, I haven't seen her for over a year, and she is as excited if not more for coming back out to Thailand again. So it's going to be a full house by Sunday. I spent this afternoon making up all the beds and got very very hot doing so!

Playground and adventure room

This weekend I just enjoyed relaxing. I went with a friend and her daughter to a pool which is on top of a very tall shopping centre so we had an early morning swim there which was really nice. It's very refreshing swimming outside here. And Sunday was church and in the evening we went round to a friends' house to watch highlights of the Jubilee (patriotic family!) but it was nice, still feel a part of the celebrations in the UK! I also moved my stuff out of my friends' house and into Sirin House (the volunteer accommodation) and in the process of unlocking the front gate got absolutely soaked. Rain here is nothing like rain at home. You just have to be in it for a minute and you might as well have been for a swim!

It was lovely to go back into work on Monday, I feel so at home there. In the afternoon we took some of the children outside into the little playground that CCD have outside the day centre.

These three boys were loving the swing!

Today, three visitors that are here for another two weeks came to Fuang Fah with me. One of them is very musical so he was asked to play and sing songs for the children this morning. It was good fun, and some of the English songs  we sang, we also sing them in Thai with the children. This morning we did tac-pac which is a sensory experience for the children using different things to touch the childrens' skin with like sponges and fur. This was set up by a previous volunteer a few years ago, so it's great that they still use it. Then this afternoon we took the children to a reasonably new adventure room which has been donated to the government orphanage by some people. It was great! Such a development for the orphanage, now it just needs the government staff to use it well. So the kids had great fun going in and out the ball bit, playing on the swing and raunning around. As did all the staff and volunteers, throwing balls at each other all over the room! So much fun! I didn't get any good pictures of the adventure room (too much runnning around) but here are a couple to give you an idea.

Mid throw!

First weeks thoughts

I am covered in so many mosquito bites right now...they must like fresh blood. And there's plenty flying around the room just now!
Just a little update on work.
Just want to say thanks to everyone for their thoughts, prayers and messages over the last wee while. They have definately worked, as I've settled in really well and had a wonderful first week back at work.

Yesterday we took out more children throughout the day, all of whom I knew two years ago, and they are all just a bit taller. I have been able to go right into all the wards this time to pick up all the kids.
Today I did a bit of physio with the physio at CCD. We used a tilt table! But it's really hard to do stuff with a lot of the more disabled children because they don't understand instructions very well (not that I can say any physio related Thai words anyway) and they have very tight muscles and just require a lot of support. Though the boy who was very very ill for three months when I was here last has made such progress. Which is fantastic because there was a stage everyone thought he wouldn't make it.

Reading a book. He tried to get me to read it but unfortunately for him I don't read Thai!



Standing in the tilt table!

This was Pee Tee just after he came back from sick ward 2 years ago, after I left.

And this is him now. Put on a lot of weight,

grown a lot and able to move around himself.

The physio is now working on trying to get  him

four point kneeling and crawling. And he's much

more aware of his surroundings than he was after

he was ill. 

Last night Lily asked if I could watch her taekwondo so this morning I went to school with them to watch her perform in assembly. She was great! And it was good seeing the school they are at. Then I headed to Fuang Fah for the rest of the morning and just showered the kids and played with them and did some physio stuff. I had lunch in the government staff cantine with a friend which was a new experience. I'm finding eating with the staff a lot of fun and I also don't have to think about what to order elsewhere. Maybe I'm a bit more adventureous this year!

Then this afternoon I went to Rachawadee girls (government orphanage for older girls and ladies) because the Fuange fah staff had a meeting, and just spent some time with some of the girls doing colouring in, playing pairs and other things like that.

So it has been a great week!

First days of work

Yesterday was my first day back at work with CCD and I started at Rainbow house. It was lovely seeing quite a few of the children I knew at the government orphanage 2 years ago, doing so well at Rainbow House. And I also saw one of the staff I used to work with. It was great, just getting a chance to chat to her. A lot of the children I knew who are now at Rainbow house daycare really have progressed! One of them is now talking and the others just seem a lot happier and alert. So I spent the day at Rainbow house yesterday and then at the end of the day got the information I'd been hoping for. I am at Fuang Fah!

So today was my first day back at Fuang Fah (government run orphange) where CCD run a daycare centre for some of the children in the orphanage. It was so nice to be back and once I was about half an hour into the day, it felt like I only left yesterday! Three of the staff are the same, so good to see them again, but trying to find out what each other have been doing over the last 2 years is a bit difficult with limited Thai on my part and limited English from them (though, their English is better than my Thai). I was asked to describe my 'class' (uni) well that's what I understood anyway, so that was some random story. Two of the kids remembered me which was lovely. So there were quite a lot of kids still the same so it was great seeing them again, how they have grown. But I also met a lot of new faces, so it'll be good getting to know some more children. It's great being back with them all.

This morning we did a structured activity which was painting which involved the children (and us) getting very messy, and trying to avoid getting paint absolutely everywhere! Then this afternoon was a bit different from a normal afternoon. We took a few of the children on a trip to Harrow international school where the students at school take our kids to run around a big gym hall and just play with them. It was good fun especially for one wee boy who just runs and runs everywhere. So, thanks to Kru Saen (one of the staff), I have some photos of painting this morning,

Attempting to stick the paper to the table when they're all trying to grab it!

The more artisitc ones...we were just slapping on the paint.





 

Getting reading to go to Harrow.

Thailand!!

So, I have arrived! After a total of about 13 hours on planes and then a 4 hour car journey from the airport (it should have only taken 1 but it was so busy!)
And yes, for all of you who have been asking...it is hot! Not perhaps quite as hot as I remember being the first time I arrived two years ago but it's getting into rainy season now, so a bit cooler. I just have to get used to feeling hot and sticky all the time. And remember and sort of effort gets you very hot! Cycling a bike here is a whole different experience to Scotland. You just have to sit on it to feel hot, far less peddle any distance. Ah well. Such is life here ;)
I have had the weekend to relax and just back into the way of life here, that mainly being the heat! And today has been a bank holiday so I've had an extra day. The weekend has been pretty relaxed, meeting friends for lunch/dinner and went to church yesterday. It is very different from Carrubbers but I'm hoping to try and listen to Wayne's online sermons so I still feel part of that :)
I head to rainbow house (CCD's-run orphanage) tomorrow to meet the volunteer co-ordinator and hopefully find out where I am working (I am really hoping for Fung fah again). So prayer would be welcomed for starting work and see difficult situations here again.

Rachel x

Packing

Well, here is the first blog entry for the summer! I've decided to re-start the blog that I had last time I was in Thailand to try and keep you up to date with what I am up to and to give out specific prauer requests too.
So I have been trying to pack for a few days now, and I am almost there I think. Most things are packed and the rest will somehow been squeezed in tomorrow morning. My flight leaves tomorrow evening and I will arrive in Bangkok at 3.30pm local time on Friday (9.30am here). One of my Thai friends will be picking me up from the airport which is very kind of her.
So I've checked-in online and have printed out my boarding passes now. This'll be the first long haul flight I've done on my own and even before when I went to Thailand the charity organised our boarding passes, so this is the first time. Thankfully it's obviously been made even for people who can't use computers, so that's a relief!
I heard just the other night that I will actually be the only volunteer in the house when I arrive, which I'm not too keen about being as I'll only just have arrived. So prayer for a solution to that would be good. Whether it be staying with friends or something else that would be great! And also prayer for pain-free ears on the flight as I have just finished antibiotics for an ear infection. Thanks for all your support and prayers.

x