Kuraburi - June 26 14:00

It is Saturday and I woke up from my internal alarm at about 5:40 AM, just like I do every morning. Anyone who knows me well knows how weird this is, but it is true, I swear! This is my ONLY morning to sleep in until next weekend - even then I don't think I can - so I put a pillow over my face and tuned out the noises of the morning people. I did get back to sleep and woke up to start my day at 9:00 am, a much more acceptable hour in my opinion. I wrote in my journal until Andrew came knocking to see if I wanted to run errands with him and go to the office. About 11:00 am we started out and dropped off/picked up laundry and went to lunch.

It was the weirdest thing. As we were walking, we both felt weak, light-headed, and dizzy. Eating and drinking water helped, but we had dinner last night and should not have been in such a bad way. It is more explainable for me, because I have had a major loss of appetite. Most of the food is good, but I eat a few bites and feel full. I am dropping some weight - mostly water weight, I am sure - but nothing to cause alarm. I think my appetite is suffering from the heat. It is just too hot and too much work to eat. We had long tong (spelling is a guess, we ordered it phonetically with a long O in both words). It is a noodle soup with stewed pork, bean sprout, cilantro, and a hard boiled egg. I added some chili to it to give it a little more pep. This soup is a traditional Thai dish. More on the foods: Last night Karen and her (Thai) boyfriend made us a wonderful dinner with grouper (fish), rice, a spicy fish sauce with a lot of lime in it, and a mushroom/vegetable dish. This is the second or third time I have had fish here and it does not taste like fish. There is nothing fishy about it. Therefore, I am really able to enjoy it. The mushrooms were the really long skinny kind. I don't know the name. I really like the tom yum soup, which is spicy but not too much so for me. There are pork balls on a skewer that are served with some kind of delicious chili paste sauce that is sweet and spicy. At the school we ate traditional Burmese food which usually had a fried egg dish kind of like an omelet but was flavored or something. Then usually a meat and vegetable dish and rice. Pork is the most common meat here. It is always available, but chicken is not. I would have thought the opposite with the muslim people around, but you know when you get to a muslim owned place because they say no pig, no moo. I never thought to take any food pictures, but if anyone is interested, please let me know via FB or something and I will start taking some.

Our last day at the Burmese school was not an ordinary school day. There was a parent meeting held and we did garden planting. After the morning prayers, the kids were free to play. I took a lot of pictures, about 350, on Friday. So far I have about 600 - 700 pictures from the entire trip. There is a planter by the painted wall where the new garden is going in. There is no drainage, however, so tires were brought in to raise up the plants. The tires were filled with soil and then roots or small plants brought by the parents were plated in the middle. This shows the kids really digging in to help (pun intended). They are all food plants and I did not recognize any of them. Neither did the Thai teacher who was asking me what they were.

Judith brought some seeds from Austria. She demonstrated filling bowls with water and tissue and sprinkling seeds on top to get them started. These seeds were "krause" ??? Miraculously, by the end of the day, some of the seeds appeared to be splitting open with green starting to show through. Very impressive!

The work being done, it was then play time. I was having a bit of a rough ankle day and tried to take it easy. After an hour or two of standing, I took pictures and played games that I could play sitting down. Several of the kids found chairs and placed them next to and around me and we "hung out." It was great and I really wish I could share those pictures. They are just so precious. I emailed my mom, Dave and Devan a few, but there are so many. The clapping game is really popular for all ages and Andrew got his share in as well. They never tired of it. The little boy on my left was my cling on for most of the week. When it comes to posing for pictures the peace sign is the number one pose. The sign language "I love you" is number two in popularity. Not many pose without hand signs of some sort. This one little preschooler though always seemed to make the rock and roll sign that I think was coined by Dio (but I am not sure). I don't figure his intent is rock and roll but it was funny to see nonetheless. He is the picture I put at the beginning of the blog above. The yellow stuff on their faces is a powder that has different meanings or purposes. Traditionally, different patterns were used to designate their tribe, but that meaning is mostly lost now. It is used for protection from the sun and as an antibacteria.

Judith bravely took on the preschoolers, very much taking her life into her own hands. She was instantly popular after dancing with them. I am not sure how the dog pile got started, but now looking at the picture, perhaps I should have rescued her instead of just taking pictures of it. She came out okay, maybe a bit on the exhausted side.

These pictures do not demonstarte the happy-go-lucky, bright shining faces I saw every day last week; I can't post those. These kids are amazing. They have almost nothing, therefore almost anything becomes a toy. A wooden block becomes a rubberband shooter, a boat, a train, a tool, etc. They have big, beautiful eyes that you feel you can see into the depths of their innocent souls in. Their sense of community, sharing, caring, and looking out for each other is unlike any of our kids at home. The head teacher, who is a Thai engineer, works a labor of love with these kids. He could be working anywhere, perhaps in some nice airconditioned office, but he comes to the Burmese school everyday to try to help prepare them for life in Thailand. He loves the kids and the kids love him, you can see it in their interaction and his ever-present smile. He is the tall one playing jump rope. I did not think to ask permission to use his name, so I am ommitting it here.

The school itself, as I described before, is bare bones. There is not much funding for it, so it runs on a pittance. Thai children wear uniforms to school and the Burmese school tried this, but parents could not afford to buy them so it is impossible to require a dress code. They used to have funding for a lunch program, but that has recently been lost. Some kids bring a lunch of rice and some main dish that looks like leftovers from dinner maybe? A few eat food brought in by a local woman but I think maybe this must be purchased and not everyone can afford it. Many kids live on sugar tablets, candy, popscicle-type things, and dry ramen noodles. There are a few flat balls and one large cardboard puzzle that is popular. Badminton is also a favorite. But if I could do just one thing for the school, I would not try to get supplies or toys to them; I would try to raise funds to continue the lunch program to ensure the kids got at least one really good meal. I have no way of knowing what they eat at home. I just see the junk they come to school with. Some how, some day...

Tomorrow the Thai high school in Kuraburi and then the Muslim village. I am not sure what the internet situation will be there. I will be away Monday through Friday and staying in the home of one of the families. I will see if there is an internet cafe. If not, don't worry if you do not hear from me for a week. Right now, Andrew and I are going to see if we can rent a motorscooter.

Kuraburi/Burmese Learning Center - June 23 18:00

These are some long days. They start early and end late and, even though they are exhausting, I would not have it any other way. I just realized I have not remarked on the state of affairs in Thailand. I hear no news, so I cannot speak for Bangkok, but Kuraburi is so far removed - if not by distance, then by functioning. Most people ride scooters and only seem to travel very locally. It is an outing to go to Phuket or Bangkok and buses run there. Everywhere I have been, the people are peaceful, friendly, and very patient. They lead a laid back way of life that reminds me of Jamaica, but without all the ganja. People are already starting to recognize me and get friendlier the longer they see me around. I think that maybe some foreigners pass through without staying long and they have no reason to get to know them. There is nothing political that I have seen. There is law enforcement (I partied with them) but they do not seem to be kept too busy. I have not heard a single siren in Kuraburi and I had only heard one in Phuket. No, everything is safe. I walk around alone frequently and love it. I am starting to learn the way of things.
Ok, back to my adventures. So we have gotten to know the kids pretty well, although their names are impossible for me to remember since the sounds are so unfamiliar. They love to see us and get all excited when we arrive. They also love cameras and having their pictures taken. Here they have taken Andrew's camera and were taking pictures of each other. One of the girls was showing the picture she took. Today they were sad when their English lessons were over. We get 45 minutes with each grade 1st through 5/6th combo, five classes. Tomorrow is our last day teaching English - and Mom, we use games and associations to teach, a lot of pictures. Our game for tomorrow is Match - matching the words to the pictures on cards turned face down. It should be a lot of fun. Then on Friday we are planting an herb garden with them by their picture wall. The wall was painted by the kids and is a lot of fun.

Saturday Andrew and I are going to spend the early part of the day recuperating. Then, if it is not raining in the afternoon, we are going to rent a motor scooter and see some of the local sights at our leisure and take pictures. If it is raining, it will not be such a good idea to teach him to ride then. However, it is a good opportunity for him to learn before a big group of us from Andaman decide to rent scooters for a bigger outing. Sunday we are volunteering at the high school and then next week we are going to the Muslim village for a homestay experience. It is not located in Kuraburi and is quite some distance away. There we are going to learn the crafts that they use to supplement their household income with and work in their garden (I think). I admit I am a little nervous about the homestay part, for food and bathroom reasons. Haha.

Burmese Learning Center – June 21 15:00

Note: Here I must be careful about pictures. I only have one with kids that is approved for use.

The morning started early. I woke up before my alarm, which was set for 6:00 am and the school “bus” was picking us up at 7:30. It took me much longer to get ready to go than normal. My ankle had swelled a little more during the night, but mostly it just became sorer. They gave me the option to stay home, but I only have one week with the kids and they were expecting me, so I definitely wanted to go. I am not sorry. They are beautiful, sweet children. Their shyness lasted most of the class time, but was completely gone by the end of the day. Some of the kids seem to be training to give Thai massages and used me for practice. I didn’t complain, but felt a little weird about it. Other kids just wanted physical contact. The cuddlers came to me when I sat in a chair and one grabbed an arm another a leg, one my waist, and two others wherever they could squeeze in. This was decidedly quiet time – by the kids, not me, but again not complaining – and they all laid their heads on me to rest. It was about the sweetest thing ever.

The school is a simple concrete rectangle, sectioned off cross-wise for classrooms. There are wooden row tables and bench seats and a white board. This is all there is in the room. The entire school is sparse – no décor, that would be an unnecessary luxury – with few to no supplies. It is quite sad. But these children, who have virtually nothing, shared their morning snacks with me, offering what they had. I brought some pencils and crayons to donate and, though they are appreciated, it feels like a lame gift that does nothing for them. The best gift I am giving them is my time and an opportunity to get to know a foreigner. They are so high energy and I am so not, that the experience is quite exhausting. The hardest part is trying to find out where they are with their English and how I can further it. We are not going to work miracles in a week, but I hope to do something to help.

At the end of the day the school bus dropped us off at about 4:00 pm. I wanted to rest, but we need to plan our day tomorrow and report on how today went, so we walked to the office. My ankle is now so swollen all the skin is pulled shiny tight all around it. It is almost the size of three golf balls now. I am sure it is from being on my feet a lot today. Tomorrow I need to try to sit more, but that makes it very difficult to be interactive. I don’t know what I can do for it. Will an ace bandage help or hinder? Forget about ice. It is a commodity that is not in abundance around here.

It rained today most of the day, which was fortunate for Andrew and I because the classrooms were not so hot. Tomorrow could be a totally different story, but I can’t wait to go back and see my new friends.

Kuraburi - June 20 20:30

What a wonderful weekend I have had. At the office I was able to get my blog posted and see Dave on the webcam. He got to “meet” Judith and Andrew. I also worked on my class a bit. The three of us decided to go to the beach and hired motor scooter taxis. It was great fun but a bit extreme of a first time for Andrew to be on a motorbike. Just as our drivers arrived, it started to rain. Along the way it turned into a downpour. Fortunately for us we decided to keep going anyway as we were going swimming and would only be getting wetter. The water was so warm and nice.

Unfortunately, I was caught off guard by a huge wave. It picked me up and slammed me back down and I landed with my foot turned in and all the pressure was on my bent ankle. Now it is turning green and about the size of a golf ball. I can walk on it, so I know I didn’t break it, but I do have a sprain for certain. So now I have a mystery rash and a sprained ankle. Hopefully that is as bad as it is going to get. I am a little worried about going to the school tomorrow, since it seems to be getting worse as time goes on. Well, we will see what the morning brings.

Despite the injury, I had a wonderful time. Our drivers stayed and played at the beach as well until we were ready to go and they took us to a National Park on the way back. We trekked through the jungle on an almost nonexistent trail to an opening at another beach area. It is so beautiful there! I took a few pictures, but not a lot because the threat of rain was ever present. I am sure my pictures will not do it justice. I wish I had learned how to use the panoramic picture function. We could not stay long because it was getting dark, but at least the ride back was sans rain and very fun.

When I came back to my apartment to get ready to go to the beach, there was a baby gecko in my bed. It was so cute! I tried to take a picture, but it didn’t seem keen on holding still and posing. I checked my bed when I returned and the gecko was gone. My only worry is that if it runs across my in my sleep, I might hurt it with my knee-jerk reaction. That was not a problem; it did not pay me a visit. They like to hang out in the bathroom. I am glad to have them here because they eat the mosquitoes and other bugs.

Kuraburi - June 20 Noon

Note: You can click on any picture to open a larger version

After a utility day spent in Kuraburi yesterday, everyone else returned from Ranong - I opted out of the trip so I could get supplies, move in, start my online class, and practice some Thai words. The only interesting thing to tell was that I had to order my own food totally solo for the first time for lunch and managed quite well; perhaps only because I chose a place we had already tried the night before (the Tom Yum soup). Oh and I took a picture of a great flower. When Judith (an intern from Austria) and Andrew returned to the apartments, they invited me to dinner. We had no idea where to go and walked aimlessly until we decided to try out the new bar that recently opened. I think it is the most happening place in town. It is certainly our new hang out for Friday and/or Saturday nights, but we cannot go on weekdays and expect to be able to work well the next day. We are all a little sluggish today. Here's my story...

We were the only foreigners in the place and the people were rather stand-offish with us. Fortunately I practiced my Thai, because none of the restaurants have menus. You just tell them a Thai dish and they go make it for you. This is nice because you are assured everything is made fresh. However, if you are unfamiliar with Thai dishes, it complicates things greatly. I asked for rice (khao) and chicken (kai), so she asked khao pad kai? Which would be fried rice with chicken. Everyone agreed that sounded good, so we ordered it. She came back and apologetically said she had no more chicken. So I asked for khao pad moo, which is fried rice with pork and that she definitely had. We also ordered tom yum kung, tom yum soup with shrimp. I guess we should not eat the shrimp here, but we didn't know. It is farmed with chemicals and antibiotics and such. It is not only bad for the environment but not good for your health as well. Ok, no more kung.

A little later everyone in the bar stood up at the apparent instruction of an announcer and raised their glasses as if to make a toast. A man tapped me on the shoulder and made a motion for me to stand as well. So we all did. We raised our glasses and... the entire bar broke out in the longest rendition of "Happy Birthday" I have ever heard, lasting at least five minutes. Joining in the festivity seemed to endear us to the people. Suddenly we were like locals. Andrew and Judith were dancing and I made a new friend. She was very shy at first but wanted ever so badly to join us. After quite a bit of coaxing, she warmed up to us as well. Isn't she beautiful? She tried to teach me some Thai words and I tried to teach her some English. Her father and almost all the other men in the bar, we found out, are police officers. The two of them are very photogenic. Her father wanted her to befriend us as much as she wanted to herself. Everyone was so very friendly. Someone sent us a place of some very spicy mystery meat. I asked a lady who worked there what it was and she said rabbit. It was so extremely laden with chili peppers that you could not recognize anything but the chilis. Yes, Dave, I DID try it. It was very spicy, indeed, but I took small bites and did fine. Andrew and Judith, however, loaded their mouths with a large scooped and suffered the consequences. More beer! More water! Ha ha ha. It was quite funny. Then someone sent us a plate of mussels. The mussels were served raw and closed tight in their shells with a side of some very spicy sauce. No, Dave, I DID NOT try those. But I found I had a talent for prying them open and helped out Judith and Andrew. Then beer started appearing. They hid our Singha beer and said it is not real beer. They brought us something else that I can't share because it was written in Thai characters. I should have taken a picture of it. Next time. Here is Andrew and Judith joining in dancing with some of the locals. While they danced, I learned how to do a dance that uses hand movements. If you compare my hands to hers, you can see how awful I was at it. But she was very sweet and patient and kept trying to teach me. Afterwards she tried to teach me a hand clapping game. I am not very good at it. I have the coordination of a new born colt. I am sure the beer did not help any, but I did not drink too much at this point. We did not intend to party it up quite so much but, once the people accepted us, it was taken a bit out of our control. We enjoyed the attention, the acceptance and hospitality, and did not want to insult anyone. However, if we return, we will need to take it easy and make sure things don't get out of hand. I am not worried or afraid of anything, but I do not care to have a hangover! We had so much fun. It has been a great experience so far, but tomorrow Andrew and I start working at the Burmese school. There is no airconditioning in the concrete classrooms and only one fan in each. I expect to be very hot and sweaty all week.

Kuraburi - June 18 18:45

Moved into my apartment last night without any problems or hoopla. However I woke up this morning to find tons of tiny bugs crawling around the floor. They looked like about three different sizes of ant and perhaps some other little mite like thing. Went back to the apartment tonight and they are gone again, so they are diurnal. At least that makes me feel better about sleeping, but I need to figure out something to do during the day. I am no fan of sharing my living quarters with bugs. Bugs are everywhere, much more so than Costa Rica. They had big monster bugs. Thailand has tiny to small bugs. Did I mention I got bit by mosquitoes yesterday? Well, so far I am not sick, so hopefully I got lucky. No new bites today, but my insect repellent balls up when applied on top of sunscreen and it is too greasy to put on first. I need to find another option, perhaps a spray on repellent?

Anyway, I went to the Burmese Learning Center and met the children I will be working with. They are aged 7 to 12 and are of a very happy disposition, just as cute as can be. Two particular little trouble-makers were teasing me for attention. I gave a short chase and that seemed to satisfy them. I cannot post pictures of the children or Burmese people for legal reasons - protecting their identities. However, I did take some pictures of their village, so I am posting one of those. What is interesting about this picture is that the ocean tide comes in and fills their backyards with water - as shown. When the tide goes out, it is more like a swamp. The Burmese immigrant workers live here and work on commercial fishing boats, which dock nearby. It is their children that go to the Burmese Learning Center. They cross the bridge in the picture and it goes right to the school. I have a really neat picture of some boats that are to the right of this picture, but I am not going to post it here. I think it will be one I post on FB after I get home.

I believe I mentioned monkey mountain. Well, now I can post a picture. I did get several pretty good pictures, but I think I will only post one. These monkeys are actually macaques and they do not have a long prehensile tail. It is only about 6 inches or so, a little longer for the big ones. The closeup gives a really good idea how their faces look but not the rest of them, so maybe I'll post another showing the whole body.








This is a female adult. She is either pregnant or has a baby. I can't remember which at the moment.

Ok, what else? Oh yes, I have a rare picture of myself. I was goofing around, swinging on a liana. Tarzan could not have swung on vines, too weak, but he would have swung on these woody versions. They are very strong and hang all over the place haphazardly. I wish I could have gotten a picture of me riding on the back of Chana's scooter. I am sure that was a hilarious sight. Ok, I am at an Internet cafe and need to draw to a close, so I will post one more picture - since visuals make it so much more interesting. My new friends at Andaman Discovery, Andrew and I went bicycle riding up a hill to a waterfall about 8km from the office. It was a lot of fun and gave me a great opportunity to see the countryside. This picture is taken at the bottom of the waterfall, which I unfortunately did not get into the picture. Laura, from France, is closest, then Nan, who is Thai, then Tui, also Thai, and Andrew, from UCLA in the cap. There is so much more to tell and I am trying to write as much of it as possible in my journal, but this blog would be so long if I tried to put everything. I think I am bginning to get past the culture shock. It is so very different and I feel so out of place and lost here. Fortunately, I have some very nice people to help me acclimatize. This is absolutely invaluable being a stranger in such a totally foreign country/culture. One thing I can say is that ALL of the food is amazing. I have liked everything I have eaten immensely. I need to take a picture of a fruit I tried today. It does not look edible but tastes absolutely delicious. I had a fruit in the airport I wrote about in my journal if not my blog, but anyway it is called dragonfruit and it is great, too - rather the texture and flavor of a properly ripened kiwi - maybe lighter. Fruit! Yum. Noodles. Yum. Tom Yum soup. Yum here, way better than Tom Yum at home!!!! Different flavor. Ok, until next time.

Kuraburi - June 18 14:30

Just checking in. I will find an Internet cafe later to post my happenings and pictures. I have taken over 250 pictures. The subject matter is amazing in some of them even if the pictures themselves are not. I am at the Andaman Discoveries office and using their computer, so I cannot access the photos. But I am here at my final destination all safe and sound. I start working at the Burmese Learning Center on Monday, but went to meet the kids today. I will blog about this later.

Phuket - June 17 05:00

It is still dark outside. I may try to sleep more, but I slept for the better part of 12 hours. Since I did, I am confident I will have the energy to walk around today before the driver comes to get me this evening. From the air Phuket looks like a very bumpy surface - if anyone knows what Karst topography is -- where some areas sank and others stayed up depending upon the rock materials. This makes it look like humps miscellaneously left around, some standing up out of the ocean and inlets, very unique and interesting. I probably can't get a picture of it now, but I am sure I can later when Dave and I come back. By the way, the humps are covered in beautiful green foliage except where it is to steep to stabilize with any soil, then bare rock show through.

It is raining outside now. It would be nice if it gets it out of its system before I go out today! I should probably buy an umbrella, being the green/rainy season. Every day is going to be a bad hair day for me here. The local people have that beautiful thick, coarse, oriental black hair that is much better suited to the humidity. My hair takes on a life of its own and is totally confused which way to go. Ha ha! Small price to pay, so I just won't bother with styling or even blowing dry. Hats and ponytails are the name of the game for me here.

I wish I had taken a Thai language course. Many people speak broken English, but it is certainly a barrier. I have a handbook with important phrases but I do not understand the pronounciation rules, which makes it virtually impossible to learn, speak, and understand. Your typical tourist can by, because the people who cater to tourism have a better grasp of the English language. However, those are not the areas I am going to be in for the next month. I hope I come out with a little, but I will need a small amount of instruction on pronounciation compared to spelling. Spelling, that's another thing, they use characters on their signs - but my handbook has it spelled in western letters. So confusing.

I will take pictures while I am out today, so I will try to blog again later to post them. Oh let me describe where I am. I think I only wrote it in my journal. Approached from the outside, a Californian might describe the place as a flea-bitten, rundown, roach motel. But after you enter into the courtyard, it transforms into a tropical paradise with a pool, lush foliage, and cute little cottages. The room is no frills for Western standards, but for Thai? Wow! I have a Western toilet; running water in the sink; a shower that even has an Insta-hot; air-conditioning; and a stocked refrigerator with water, soda, and beer. Oh, I do have a picture of the inside courtyard - I'll try to post that for practice. Looks like it worked. That is the view from my room. My next pictures will be better and more meaningful, I hope. This was just practice to see how to do it. Now I wait for daylight to start a new adventure I can talk about.

Phuket - June 16 15:00

Tired. Beautiful, amazing topography. But tired...

Taipei June 16 6 AM

Free wifi in Taipei! But everything is in Japanese and/or Chinese characters. Took me about half an hour or so to figure out how to get signed in, but once I did the blog switched back to English. Shew! That was tough!

The flight left about 35 minutes late, but arrived about 30 minutes early. It was a great but long flight and I think I watched 6 or 7 movies. I took an Ambien after they served the meal early in the flight, but sleep still eluded me. I don’t know why I can’t sleep on an airplane.

Arrived in Taipei sans any paperwork to complete for immigration. Transfer passengers were routed through a quick screening and sent to the gate. I hope my luggage transfers, because there were no instructions to pick it up for customs or rechecking; there was no immigration check, and no check in procedure to go through. Super easy! Then, to really make my day, the bathrooms were clean, had western toilets, and even had seat covers provided. It’s the small things in life, you know?

I could tell it is humid here by the mugginess of the tunnel thing you exit the plane on (not a technical term) and by the mildew smell, which I assume is ever present. Once we broke through the clouds, I saw a lot of green and some nondescript modern buildings that could have been anywhere in the world. Since this is all I will see of Taiwan, it will leave no impression on me.

I still have two flights ahead of me (to Bangkok and then Phuket) before I get a break over night and then a 3 ½ hour drive to Kuraburi. This was the longest and hardest stretch and it is nice to have it behind me, but EVA Air was nice. My flight left in darkness (1:00 AM PDT) and continued in darkness the majority of the way. It seemed to take forever to see the sun come up. It is weird going between major time zone changes!

Anyway, arrived safe and sound into South East Asia and continuing on after a break. I’ll write again in Bangkok or Phuket, as time permits.

US Travel Warning Lifted

It is a shame that UCLA canceled the trip prematurely! The UCLA students that are currently studying there were not sent home and other universities did not cancel their summer programs. At least this means there will be plenty of other students around while I am there. I am still working with Andaman Discoveries, who has put together a nice program for me and the ONE other UCLA student going with me. We will still be learning as if taking the UCLA classes, but we will not be getting the credit. Personally, I think the experience is more important anyway.

We will be studying in Khura Buri, north of Phuket on the Isthmus Kra in Southern Thailand. During week one, we will be working at the Burmese Learning Centre and Nursery offers education and help for political refugee children from Burma (Myanmar) in Thailand. These children are not recognized by the Thai government for education, economic or medical benefits -- so volunteers at the center play an important role in these kids' lives. We will be helping to teach them English, grow a kitchen garden, and learn to be self-sustaining. Week two is a homestay and community assistance program in Ban Talae Nok, a Muslim community. We will be working with a youth group to help put in place an ecotourism cooperative in the fishing village, jungle and mangrove with nature trails and educational signage. Week three is on the island of Koh Prathong, where we will work on a river restoration program and monitor the sea grass and wildlife of the ecosystem. During our last week, we will live/work/learn with Buddhist monks at the temple and nature/wildlife conservation area in Mae Nang Kaow. As I learn about Buddhism, I will help teach English and plant identification.

This program takes me so far out of my comfort zone, I can't even explain. However, my mind and heart is open to these new experiences and I am very excited about it. I need to prepare by learning some basic Thai and also some basic Burmese. Challenging! Not sure if I will blog again before I leave, since I still have to finish my research and Devan is now here visiting -- it's good to have him home! At the latest, I will blog again when arrive in Phuket, where I am spending the first night to recover from jet lag.