MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. I have just uploaded a new video blog.

http://youtu.be/LVCNnwRXpJA

We are setting off to Ko Chang tomorrow night, for a few days of New Years celebrations, and to meet the new volunteer Charlie. It is all very exciting.

B x

The day before, the day before Christmas.

This past week has been rather quiet, we have not had any lessons due to mid term tests, so I have kept myself busy with painting and cleaning the house.
I have received a lot of what seems like positive feedback to my video blog, however I am not sure if it is sarcasm or not. Overall, I am pleased with how it went and ave already started on the next.

I am going to give you all a little message for christmas, I may even sing, so make sure to keep the volume on your computers down if watching. I do apologise in advance.

This weekend has been lovely, we have met up with 6 other volunteers to celebrate Vicky's 18th birthday and Christmas. There is a big party at our school on Tuesday which should be good, as the teachers like to party. Me and David have been asked to perform, so we kindly accepted and have been practicing. David on vocals and keyboard, Me on standing up in front of everyone, forgetting the words.

Two weeks ago we helped to run an English camp at a monastery. It was a strange experience as I am still a little unsure of the cultural no no's when it comes to monks. It did turn out to be very productive and the novice monks had a great time learning english. They all had their heads and eyebrows shaved, so I gave myself a challenge of finding the one who looked most like my dad. There were a few close contenders, but then one came in wearing glasses and blew them all away. It did make me laugh.

I am learning the names of more students a school, which is a difficult task. I know the names of my favourite students, I know you shouldn't have favourites, but you just can't help it. One of my students has a remarkable resemblance to a friend, Phil Waite, so even though his name in Vun, I can't help but call him Phil.

I have received a few presents from home which is amazing, thank you so much to everyone who made the effort to send one, it really does mean a lot, you are making my Christmas. There has been a bit of a problem with the parcel from my parents, and it is somewhere in Thailand. It has all been sorted now, so I am just hoping that it arrives before Christmas.

I will post again on Tuesday...

Stay classy ... World

B x

Video Blog

I have now posted a new video on my youtube page.

Please take the time to have a look, it is only 5 minutes long.

http://youtu.be/u8Z6htRn7ZA

Hope you like it...

B x

Christmas is coming...

This month has been really exciting so far, with Christmas quickly approaching. I have been busy with making cards lots of cards, all by hand and doing a few paintings to give as presents.  I decided to use glitter on my cards, I should have remembered from past experience that it never works out as planned. Glitter is just a shimmery pain, it is harder to get rid of than sand. I have turned up to school with it on my face and clothes after trying to keep clean.

The teaching is excellent, I love all of the students, and I am starting to remember more names which is good. Since Christmas is coming, I am doing various activities to teach them about Christmas, getting them to make cards for each other. It is all very fun.
I had an incident the other day though, I was playing a game which involves swapping chairs and as I was about to sit down, I slipped and then got taken out by one of my students, everyone was really worried, but I just got up and laughed. I also accidentally called one of my students a s**t, in Thai. His name on his name card is kie, which I pronounced as key, but it was meant to begin with a g.

I am going to start doing more video blogs, well I want to anyway, but I keep putting it off. Mainly because then I will be able to say more, show you how great everything is and I don't really like writing that much.

Keep posted and I will post a link to my Youtube channel.

B
x

November

November has flown by, it only seems like a couple of days since we were in Bangkok, but then I looked at my calendar this morning and realised how much we got up to, we were busy pretty much all of the time!

Last weekend was interesting, robyn and claire came to visit and we had a little party, it was a good laugh and nice to get drunk in our house with someone else, rather than just me and david.

We painted a Union Flag on one of our walls and it looks amazing, there will be photos on Facebook.

I had a horrible migraine on Monday and spent the entire night with my head under the shower and head in the toilet. Tuesday was equally as fun as I was feeling pretty dead, I did start to feel better in the afternoon and ended up going to a wedding. I hadn't eaten for a while, and got drunk with al the teachers from a small amount of alcohol.

Wednesday was Loy Gratung, a Thai festival to give thanks to the river, we made our Gratungs and floated them on the river. It was quite a spectacle as there were hundreds of floating decorations on the river and lots of lanterns and fireworks.

Teaching for the past two weeks has been amazing, I am really enjoying it, I have started to use more games and activities to make the lessons more enjoyable for the students and they really get into it. The best part is that they are all becoming more confident at speaking in English. There are a few students that wouldn't even talk to start with, but now they are happily joining in with the activities.

I still love how bad the little pictures are in the advent calendar, I got a little train yesterday. The paper ones are much better than chocolate!

Thanks for stopping by.

B x

Nakhon Sawa and other things...

We had a brilliant time in Nakhon Sawan meeting up with Beth and Holly. We were helping them with teaching in their schools which was really interesting as it allowed us to pick up some new teaching techniques. All of the teachers were very welcoming and were pleased to have us at the school, some of them even wanted us to stay for longer. I was having troubles with budgeting and was left with very little money which was rather stressful, my Mum kindly gave me £30 which is enough to last me till the end of the month.

Budgeting my money is a new experience for me, and one I am not too good at. I have found that to be able to afford food for the whole month, even if I am just spending my money on food, I have to buy less than I need to fill me, so I am generally hungry most of the time, unless a meal is bought for us.

We are going to start cooking soon and get taught how to use our very basic equipment to cook some lovely thai meals. This should help my money problem.

After receiving the TRX from home, I have gotten David into it, he seems to be enjoying it, but then if he isn't he just has me shouting at him till he finishes the workout. I am also feeling a lot better as it really does give you a good workout, something I have missed. Before, I had resorted to using makeshift weights which were impractical and sore on my hands.

I have also been doing some painting which is very relaxing, it allows me to forget about everything else. It is a nice feeling to paint because I want to and not because I have to have it inspected by my teachers. I saw some oil paints in the Arts and Culture centre in Bangkok and was tempted, but was discouraged by the price tag as 4 tubes would have amounted more than a months wages. Its a good job I stocked up from school and will have some waiting for me when I get home.

I am loving teaching at the moment, mainly because I am jut playing different games with the students which have them practicing their English, and laughing hysterically for an entire lesson.

We went rice picking the other day, I was sort of dragged into it against my will, but ended up enjoying it. We worked for about an hour and a half and were dripping with sweat.

It is so hot all the time, it was almost 40 degrees a couple of hours ago, and in summer, if we go down south. Peter said it could reach 50 and that we would burn in a minute or two. I will have to stock up on the hats and sun cream. It will be a shock to the system returning home next year when it has rarely been under 30 degrees and 25 degrees is seen as very cold.

I am sat in the coffee shop at the moment, saving my money as we get free cake and coffee, I have not spent anything since monday. So I might be able to afford tea tomorrow night!

Love and Kisses

Ben

x

Presents.

I wanted this to have its own post because it was so amazing! I received a rather large parcel from home the other day and as soon as I opened it I was ecstatic. My hands were shaking I was that happy. I didn't know what to do with myself, I was running around like god knows what. I think I got a bit too excited with all the sweets and scoffed half of them almost immediately, it was the best. I did feel a little ill later on though.

I was so happy to have art materials as I had been really missing painting. I realised that the last time I had done any painting was in my Art exam for my A2. I did another on monday night and was quite pleased with the final outcome, I stuck to sunsets and landscapes, but missed out the birds.

I had quite a hard time explaining the teachers that the picture on my T-shirt of me, the one Kate Whiteside got me for my 18th, was actually me. David tried to back me up but they still didn't believe it. I didn't want to take my top off and show them as this would have been highly inappropriate, so I just left it there.

I rang my mum to say thank you and it was lovely to hear her voice, and my dad's as well. Nancy said hello, but in a very shy manor, unlike her.

I am still delighted about everything in the parcel, the TRX is great. I am getting David on it, he is not really used to excessive amounts of excersise, but hopefully I will be able to change that. I might take note of my Mum's motivational technique and just scream "COME ON" in his face. I may even add in "PAIN IS JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY". David is going to love it!

HOO RAHH!!!

B

X

Travelling!

We have been rather busy since the last time I posted and it has all been very exciting. We have been having troubles with our visa and it has been rather stressful trying to sort it all out. The problem is that our school and town has never had to do anything like this as the project is new, and last year, Ali arrived with 3 months left with his visa already sorted. Therefore nobody seems to know what they are doing which led our teachers on a wild goose chase trying to track down the right documentation. This did lead to us making a visit to the immigration office in Bangkok at the end of last week with two teachers. It was quite tiring, but good to get out and about, the trip was pretty pointless as we didn't really need to go to Bangkok, but we ended up having a lovely lunch and going to the suit shop for a fitting for the suits we ordered on the first day in Bangkok.

We arrived back home on Friday rather exhausted after a day on the bus and I ended up reading pretty much all of eclipse, from the twilight series, which has been finished now and I have moved onto starter for ten.

Saturday was very exciting as we were meeting up with 4 other volunteers for a film, James Bond, and a good night out. I got my hair cut and ear pierced in the morning and we all met up at around 2 to check into a cheap hotel. We paid 150 baht each for the night. After the film, we retreated to the hotel to start drinking, I attempted to face time family and friends, but the wifi in the Hotel was poor and wouldn't allow it.

I drank red cock, which is a cheap white spirit that I picked up at Tesco for 130 baht. I proceeded to drink far too much and have memories of being up on stage in Mix Club without a shirt on and being applauded by lots of Thais. It was a very enjoyable evening, however, the morning after was not pleasant as a hangover plus the excessive heat can leave one feeling rather queasy.

We managed to get our visa sorted yesterday and last night, we had a lovely meal with Brayung (our host) and her family. She is an excellent cook and has promised to teach us how to make my favourite Thai dish, Panang Gai.

We caught a bus from Ubon last night and arrived in Bangkok at 5.30, which is really too early to function. So after monging out in a coffee shop for an hour or so, we dropped off our massive rucksacks at the train station and set off into the heart of Bangkok, coughing through the thick fog of fumes.

There is not much open until 9 or 10, so we visited a very extravagant temple, which isn't really my cup of tea, much like visiting museums or going on walks, or getting a jigsaw as a present, but I was rather pleased that we didn't have to hang around too long. We are now sat in a little coffee shop, using the Wifi and passing time so we can explore Bangkok more enthused.

We are heading North to Nakhon Sawan this afternoon to meet up with some other volunteers, Holly and Beth and to see their project. Amy and Robyn are also going this weekend, so I can see us having another big night out, I think ill stay away from the spirits this time.

Stay classy England,

Ben  x

Remember remember the 5th of November.

We decided to throw a little party for bonfire night and after telling our host, the ball started rolling until it seemed as if half the school would turn up at our humble home.
I decided that I wanted to enlighten some of the teachers to toffee apples, so after buying all of the ingredients, which isn't an extensive lift, I began. For my first batch I used muscavado sugar so the toffee would be more like treacle, it was very stressful as I had to heat it to 140 degrees, and I had a limited selection of tools, so i was trying to do it all with a metal spoon. The toffee was bubbling away in the pan and looked rather terrifying, I then just went for it and started to coat the apples in this bubbling mixture and overall was quite successful. The next batch worked even better, I am not sure whether it was due to the fact that I used different sugar, or just improved after my first attempt.

They were delicious, the best toffee apples I have ever tasted and everyone else enjoyed them as well which was good. We invited some volunteers from near our project and the teachers supplied the food, which was lovely. So, along with a quaint little bonfire that just made us sweat and an assortment of fireworks, we had a nice night. There were some problems with the fireworks and one I set off went straight towards Lewis, hitting him in the ankle and he just managed to get out of the way before the final explosion.

I did the gentlemanly thing and offered my bed to the girls, which the eagerly accepted, which left me on the floor, leading to a very poor nights sleep, meaning that I was not in the best state for teaching. Apart from my two lessons, I have been asleep pretty much all day, waking up about an hour ago feeling much fresher, but also with the realisation that I might not get to sleep so early tonight.

We went to Phana on Saturday to see Robyn and Claire, it was nice to catch up with them and after some free food and some whisky, we settled down to watch a film. We know how to PARTY!

This saturday should be somewhat more eventful as we are going to Ubon with all of the volunteers in the area for a night out and are going to stay in a cheap hotel.

Next week we are going to Bangkok for a day, then to Nakhon Sawan to visit some more volunteers. We are not teaching next week because most of the students will be helping at home with the rice harvest.

Everything has been good apart from one thing, the death of my phone, I was on my back and it fell out of my pocket. I assumed it would be fine as it had survived a similar trauma without a scratch. To my dismay, it just would not come back to life. The worst thing is that I had to buy a new one, which has made a rather large dint in my months allowance. It is much more difficult to live off £90 or 4500 THB than I had originally thought it would have been, money just seems to vanish, even though I am being very anal about what food I buy and making sure that it does not go to waste.

The biggest worry for me is that I will not be able to afford a substantial amount of food to keep myself in shape, so I might be returning home next year actually fitting my Grandads description of be of being a long, long... pipe cleaner.

B
x

Back to school.

We arrived back in Muang Samsip on Sunday morning after narrowly avoiding another nights stay on the hard, uncomfortable bed at Mister Nick's house. We spent all of Sunday around the house, apart from a trip to Tesco for our weekly shop. We slept, cleaned and planned for our lessons this week.

I was nervous about teaching again after having more than a month off but also rather eager to return to the classroom. I was feeling a bit down at the start of the week and I couldn't put my finger on why. I was feeling a little homesick and really wanted to be at home in my own bed. However, the change from the busy life in Chiang Mai, where we were doing something different everyday, to returning to the comparable monotony of life around school.

Things started to pick up as the week went on and I started to sink back into the life of a teacher, enjoying the company of different teachers and being able to make simple conversation with some who I had never had the chance to speak to because of the language barrier.

Tuesday was exciting as we found out about a festival where the monks came out of the temples after 3 months, the celebrations involved a lot of fireworks, which I was more than happy to be a part of. A quick trip to the market and we returned home with bags full of assorted explosives. Miss Brayung then took us to a school just outside of Muang Samsip to let off our fireworks and she also bought us some huge flares, which were great fun. We visited the temple to pay respect to the monks and were suddenly attacked by a gang of young children armed with firecrackers. We chased them away and they ran as fast as they could as they were screaming with laughter.

We have also planned a little party for bonfire night and have invited teachers and some other volunteers, so we have some fireworks left over and have been searching for marshmallows to toast over a bonfire.

I have had some very successful days of teaching this week, on of my lessons yesterday involved a very heated competition of Chinese whispers.

I had my first Muay Thai lesson on Wednesday and it was great, I am still feeling a little sore as the constant moving, kicking and punching really takes it out of you, I am still looking forward to next weeks lesson though!

We went to Ubon last night to meet up with Claire and Robyn, we were planning on having a nice dinner at a floating restaurant, but these thing never seem to go to plan. We realised that Skyfall had been released, so we hurried to the cinema to watch it. I had a moment of panic when I realised I didn't have enough money for the cinema, as well as the taxi home, and I was not able to get any from the bank, so I resorted to borrowing some from David, which I have yet to pay back. Skyfall was excellent, it is one of my favourite films and hopefully I will be able to budget another visit.

I received my first letter from home the other day from Kate, which was lovely, even though it was quite difficult to read, it was a breeze in comparison to my Mums, or Davids. Enclosed was a scratch card, which I ended up winning £2 on, which was great until I realised that I can't change it over here.

It would be lovely to here from more people and to get more letters or packages, so if you fancy sending me a letter my address is:

Muang Samsip AmphawanWittaya School

Amphur Muang Sam Sip 

Ubon Ratchathani 

34140

Thailand

They don't celebrate christmas here, but we are going to have our own celebrations. I would absolutely love it if I received a few gifts to open on Christmas morning.

That's all for now,

Ben 

x

Busy Times.

So much has happen since my last post and I have busiest I have ever been.

First I have to share my bungy jumping experience. It was the best thing I have ever done, the feeling of throwing yourself off a platform 160 feet in the air is both terrifying and exhilarating. I highly recommend this experience to anyone, even if you are scared of heights. There were 14 of us there and more than half had to be pushed because they couldn't bring themselves to jump. I get butterflies now if I think about standing on that platform, looking down at the water I plunged into with my friends shouting from the ground. As soon as you leave the platform all you experience is pleasure. It is quite similar to Oblivion at Alton Towers. When the ride stops on the edge and you get that tension running through you, but as soon as you start to fall, you just love it. However, the all of the feelings are heightened as it does not feel like you are strapped in safely, it feels as if you are standing on the edge, with nothing keeping you safe and then you have to throw yourself forwards...

Would you do it?

We finished our language course on Friday and the AUA bought us pizza and gave us certificates. We all celebrated in our own way on Friday night. Everyone was leaving on Saturday which was rather sad as we have all become very close and there were a few tears as a large group set off to go travelling.

My bus was scheduled for 12.15, according to David, so we arrived at the bus station to find that the bus was at 12.15, on Sunday. So we went back home and I went to bed. I woke up and was really quite unwell, I wont go into details.

This fever ended up with me in hospital, where I am now. Thankfully I feel much better now and I am being able to practice my Thai with the nurses. The doctors are not sure what is wrong with me, so I have to wait in my luxury hospital room for a diagnosis.

x

Fluent in Thai already...almost...well, not really.

We are half way through our language course and it is very difficult, it is like trying to speak a new language and sing in tune at the same time. The tones are so hard to get the hang of, I struggle to even pronounce the rising tone.

Chiang Mai is still incredible and we have had some great trips to various place. We have been swimming in various outdoor pools around the city and yesterday we went to the zoo to see the pandas for Holly and Stephen's 18th birthdays. I have never really taken an interest in pandas before, but they were amazing to watch running around.

We had such an amazing time on saturday as dad booked in for a day of adventure. We started with a visit to an elephant sanctuary and fed some, we then climbed aboard and rode them for about an hour through the mountains of Chiang Mai. We dismounted and headed off on a trek through the jungle, which was much more fun than I thought. We walked unit we reached a waterfall which was spectacular, with cascades of water crashing down on us, it gave a nice massage, but felt a bit like getting repeatedly punched. After walking back, we went white water rafting, which was great, the boat was thrown around like a toy in the powerful torrents. There was a point when our rafting guide said we could get out and swim, so I jumped out to find the water was much shallower than I had expected and ended up scraping my legs and back on some sharp rocks.
We finished the trip down the river on a bamboo raft, which was rather strange as it floated just under the surface of the water, which made it difficult to stay on.

It was a day I will never forget, especially fraternising with the elephants. We have bungee jumping planned for Saturday and I would like to do a massage course on Sunday.

I got a message from one of my friends from school saying he was coming to Thailand and will be in Chiang Mai on the 14th, which is perfect timing to take him to the UN irish pub and watch Leicester Vs Toulouse on their massive TV's. This will go down very well with a steak sandwich and a trip to 'town' afterwards.

However, this will be a special treat as I am trying to save as much as I can. For example, today I have spent just over 100 baht, on food and drink, which is around £2.

Toodles,

x

Trauma in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is a brilliant place and we have already had some fantastic nights out. We went out last night on a 50 baht challenge, which equates to a pound. We had a laugh, then walked home as we couldn't afford a taxi.

The language course is really intense and I feel as if my head is about to explode, I feel like I know so much, but can never recall the right words at the right time, which is a pain when some Thai man is trying to charge me twice as much for some food!

We went to an Irish pub, which was incredible. I never realised some things I would miss about home, like Pies, Guinness and Rugby on the TV. The three together were a match made in heaven!


I was horribly sick the other day and had to miss the afternoon class, after stumbling home in the heat with a pounding head, I stripped off and got in the shower, I then sat on the floor and proceeded to be sick, lovely. I went to bed and woke up feeling much fresher.

I left David with my laptop last night so that he could watch a film and when I saw him again in the morning, he seemed a bit shaken. He started apologising profusely and I was a little confused, until he pulled my laptop from the wardrobe. I was stunned, I couldn't speak at all, all I did was go for a shower in silence. Turns out he had put it in the case and it slid out and fell to the floor, dinting and scratching the top and leaving a lovely array of cracks across the screen.
He has promised to get it fixed, and as it is only superficial damage, it should be fairly easy!

After all this, we had finished our lessons for the day and came out to find that Holly had collapsed in the other class. She was really not with it and everyone was really worried, however, Stephen was saying that she was having a seizure and might die. Me, Beth and Simon escorted her to hospital to find that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her. It was quite entertaining in the hospital though as we were just allowed to wander round whilst Holly was getting tested. We went to get her an ice cream, but by the time we got it to her, it was more like a strawberry milkshake.

The 4 of us have formed a 'Wolf Pack" as we bought bracelets with it written on. This came from our outing to 'BEN' cocktail bar and this women approaching us with assorted bracelets.

All the other volunteers are obviously mega jealous!

Love and Kisses from the land of the Thai

x

My week off.

Since we have the week off from teaching, we have decided to do a lot of exciting things before we head off to Chaing Mai.

Yesterday we got up late and did nothing all day apart from a bit of cleaning, it was rather nice to have nothing that needed doing.

Today however, we got up early and went to the hospital at 7.30. We then had a physical to check that we were healthy enough to work and a blood test to check that we weren't carrying any diseases. After struggling to determine my height as they didn't have a scale that went as far, the nurser had an effort to stick a fat needle into my arm, which was made worse as I watched it slowly pierce my skin, lovely.

Physical done and we have been dragged round Ubon trying to sort out all the paperwork, the school did not have all the necessary documents, so we have to try again tomorrow.

Tomorrow should be an improvement though as we are meeting Stephen and Lewis in Ubon and since they have not been before, we get to show them all the sights, and then there is a staff party tomorrow night, which hopefully will be more fun that I am expecting it to be!

We are also going to a party on Friday, then staying at Mr Nick's in Ubon. Then leave for Chaing Mai at 12:15 on Saturday, so my next update will not be until Sunday when I arrive in Chaing Mai.

Until then, farewell.

x

PS. I have just downloaded an entire album of Elvis, not sure why, but it is great. Also I have been listening to 'Natty' and 'The Cat Empire', both of which I recommend!

A weekend to remember...

This weekend has been a bit like a roller coaster, so many ups and downs I feel dizzy! We left the house at 6.30 am Saturday morning to go to Pha Dem. Which is on the boarder with Laos. We started at the waterfalls, which were spectacular. In England, if you went to see a big waterfall, you would probably have to appreciate the aesthetics from a platform with 10 foot high fencing, for health and safety reasons. However, we got to climb all of the rocks and explore all of the pools and waterfalls first hand. After getting sweaty climbing up as high as I could, I decided to go for a swim, so stripped off and jumped into one of the various pools. It was so lovely and refreshing as was made even better than the small waterfall that flowed into pool gave a great massage! I then persuaded David, Robyn and Claire to join me. The girls were apprehensive at first, but could not help themselves after seeing me and David getting so excited. After a couple of hours and putting my head in many different potholes and getting pummelled by the cascades of water, we left to get some lunch.

We had lunch on the river than separated Thailand from Laos and was lovely, until the bus driver began to egg me on to eat some very spicy food. Of course I rose to the challenge, which I soon regretted as I was in pain for the next half an hour.

We then visited the painted cliffs and mushroom rocks which were both spectacular in their own way, not as entertaining as the waterfalls though! One thing that surprised me on our day of tourism was the comparison to England. There was virtually no health and safety measures in place, we were allowed to climb everything, even the mushroom rocks and stood on the top of the painted cliffs, which was quite scary. One thing we didn't account for was a 5km walk to got and see the actual paintings on the cliffs, which were at the bottom. This doesn't seem like much, but is rather difficult when it is 35 degrees and very humid.

We got back to Ubon just after 6, which gave us time to get ready before going out at 8. We started at a bar for a couple of drinks and some food, then moved to U-bar. One of Ubon's hotspots. I was just having a nice time being introduced to Doni's friends and getting free drinks. David on the other hand was on a mission, what this mission was I will never know, but it lead to him becoming very drunk, being rejected by numerous girls and then 'accidentally' flirting with a ladyboy.

We were all laughing at him when we left at 4 in the morning, but one of my highlights was when he made a move on an American girl by pretending to be French, she saw through it straight away everything got a bit awkward as he thought she was loving it. 'Oh dad' was used often by both me and
Robyn.

After an amazing Saturday, Sunday was not so fun. I woke up feeling a bit rough, as expected, but I wasn't as bad as David. At first I thought he might have been dead, but a huge fart, which he woke himself up with proved otherwise. He then progressively got worse throughout the day and ended up in hospital. He had gone for a late night snack and turned out to be some rather uncooked chicken. I felt quite bad for him as he was firing from both ends. He still managed to cheer me up as he asked for a towel, I asked if everything was ok and he replied in a very weak voice. 'I didn't make it to the toilet'. However unfortunate this was for him, it had me in stitches till I had tears in my eyes. I think I paid for it though as I was made to clear up his sick a couple of hours later.

I spent most of my day sat watching Touch, which was rather nice as it has been a while since I have watched TV.

He is feeling much better now, which is good and we have just had our last day of teaching for a month. There are exams for the students this week, so we don't have to teach, and then we leave for Chaing Mai on Saturday.

I almost forgot, something rather peculiar happened on Friday night. We went to the market as usual and went to our favourite stand. I was given a note by the women who works at that stand and it was her number and name, she is called max. She told me to ring her, but I have not as I am a bit scared and since she speaks very little English, I doubt we would be able to have a meaningful conversation.

Tata from Thailand

x

Blogging...

One thing that annoys me about writing these blogs is that I always forget what I have been up to. Just before I started this, my head was going through everything that I wanted to say and now, it has just gone. It is really rather frustrating!

Last night was rather interesting as me and David were cycling through Muang Samsip when we passed by one of the teachers from our school. She stopped us and invited us round to her house. We arrived at her house, which was very nice, and were not sure what to do. We were given a coconut each, and they were delicious. These coconuts are not the same as the ones I am used to in England. They were fresh off the tree, the milk was lovely and the flesh inside was soft and sweet!

We were then taken to the towns radio station and sat in the studio as the teacher was one of the towns DJ's. It was rather confusing as it was all in Thai, David and I just sat there until it was over. We returned to her house and played with her puppies, as in small dogs. One of them was only 2 weeks old and reminded me of when my dog had puppies and how equally clumsy they had been!
We left the house at about half 9, so had been there for a good 5 hours, and returned to our home.

I slept very well last night, it is one of the best nights sleep I have had in a long time. And then I had a lovely breakfast which consisted of French toast and an omelette.

Nothing else has happened since my last post, but even so, I am having a brilliant time, I decided to wear my bow tie for school today and have received compliments from a fair few teachers, male and female.

Whilst I have been sat here, some student have brought me a plate full of food, which I cant complain about. There was a sandwich, salad and a fried egg, a lovely snack between lessons!

I apologise if I talk about food a lot but I cant escape it. Food is a massive part of Thailand and they talk and think about it all the time. I get asked if I am hungry or if I have had lunch at least 15 times a day!


x

WOOOOO!!

I am feeling so good right now! I have been doing so much exercise and eating very healthy, apart from the occasional pleasure.

I have been playing a lot of volleyball recently, not really a sport I was expecting to play whilst oversea, but is is great fun, and I am improving the more I play. I played for nearly 3 hours yesterday and for about 2 hours this morning. I was even told by my teacher of my second class this morning that the students had asked if I would play volleyball with them. So I ended up teaching them sport, rather than english, but it was great fun and everyone got involved. One problem I have found is that I tend to almost fall over people as I am jumping to smash the ball down and end up directly above one of the students. Don't worry, I have only landed on them once.

I am also doing a few strength workouts a week to keep me in shape, I am afraid that if I wasn't doing anything, I would return to England as a bit of a slob, and that isn't good for anyone.

One thing that has surprised me is that I am not constantly looking into a mirror anymore. My lack of hair might have a hand in that, or because I have a small mirror at about stomach height. Still, I see this as an achievement!

I have been talking to people at home, which was lovely, and sort of had a conversation with my dad, but the connection was poor at my end, so it there was not too much talking, just nodding at my dad's questions. I tried to talk to my mum on FaceTime, but every time I tried her email, my dads face appeared on the screen, even though I was trying to reach her on her mobile whilst she is in Turkey, I did not account for her still being signed in on the computer at home.

That is about all that has happened this week, so far. I am going to add some photos to keep you up to date on all the amazing places I have been and the people I have been with.

One of my classes, this was just before we all stated doing the cha cha slide.

   

I am not sure what was going on, but we were dragged into the photo. 

Lunchtime with the teachers. The director of the school is the guy at the end holding a peace sign.

A restaurant, floating on a river.

Me, Robyn, David and Claire after our meal on the floating restaurant.

A Buddist temple. They are so much more interesting than churches. 

This was the spectral ring which encircled the sun this morning. It was a sight to behold.

Me with some of my students. I was just sitting there minding my own business and then bam!

That is all for now.

x

Snakes, cooking and floating restaurants.

We have recently been given two electric woks so that we can cook our own food, we were delighted by this and immediately went to the market and bought some already cooked food that we didn't have to cook, for a lower price than the ingredients.
The first time we used the woks was last night, I got some eggs and bread from Tesco, and I was really tired, after a long day so decided that eggy bread would go down nicely. Ooh it was lovely!
We also made pancakes today and they were very nice, having a mixture of sweet and savoury. However, all was not well when I accidentally dropped half a pack of sugar onto my pancake as it was still cooking. It wasn't a disaster as I was left with a hard, caramelised pancake, that I have yet to finish.

On Thursday night, Mrs Brayung took us to Ubon to book our plane tickets. We then found that it was more expensive than we thought, so decided to get a bus to Chaing Mai instead. Before heading to the bus station, we went to the mall to buy some of Lucie's cakes. She was re-stocking her cakes when we arrived and chatted to her for a while, as Mrs Brayung perused the aisles.

The bus tickets are booked and the excitement is building for Chaing Mai. One of my main worries is money as Chaing Mai is much more expensive than where we are living at the moment as it is a tourist hotspot. So I might find myself on the streets begging for food, or on the phone home asking for money.

I was awoken quite abruptly by David the other morning as he had apparently found a snake on the stair case. He was quite panicked and I was a bit confused and not fully awake. It had disappeared before I had time to see it, so either the snake made a quick escape, or David is going mad. I hope it's the first option of the two.

We met up with Robyn and Claire again in Ubon yesterday and went to have a look at the river which runs through Ubon, it is pretty impressive, but is spoilt by the colour, which is similar to the water in Morecambe bay. We found a floating restaurant and had some difficulty in ordering food. Collectively we managed to get rice each, and three dishes, one fish, and two chicken. They were delicious and most importantly left us with only a tingling on our lips, as opposed to the burning left by most food served in Thailand.

We then squeezed into a tuk-tuk and went to Sunee Tower, to go to the cinema. We found a couple of English films and decided to watch Ted. It was hilarious, I Loved it! And the caramel flavoured popcorn was delicious.

Yesterday was all in all a good day, one of my favourite points being Davids face after he bought an electric keyboard. However, there were two things that put a bit of a downer on it. The first is when I lost my hat. As we were travelling to Sunee Tower, the wind picked up and took it off my head and onto the road behind us. Don't worry, I bought a new one this morning!
Secondly, David is a very enthusiastic keyboard player and even though he is very good, he stamps his feet against the floorboards and really thumps the keys, which makes it rather difficult to read, no matter where you are in the house.

Today has been very nice and relaxed and we have had another clean and been planning for our lessons this week. A gecko just excreted on my foot, just as I was writing this.

Only in Thailand!

x

Bits and Bobs

Me and David have just been bought new bikes, they are so much better than the one we have been sharing since we arrived in Muang SamSip! Although, they didn't have any big enough to fit me properly, I got the biggest one in the shop.

I alos have a new hat, which is made from wood and straw, it is probably one of the coolest items of clothing I have ever owned.

One of the great things about being here is the response you get from the children, a lot of them are very eager to talk and I have joined in a few games of netball and footsong whilst I haven't been teaching. I have quite an advantage at volleyball as the net is just about head height, so I am good for defending at the front. Footsong however is a different story, it is similar to volleyball as each team has to get the ball over the net, but it is played like keepy uppies and with a small ball. I am useless at it, not as useless as I was and hopefully I will improve with practice.

We go to Chaing Mai at the end of September for our language course which is rather exciting as it means that I will be able to develop my Thai skills and also meet up with the rest of the Project volunteers. We have been given a choice of a 17 hour bus journey or a 1 hour flight. The flights are more expensive, so we would have to contribute 1100 Baht to the price, which is about £22.
The flight sounds like a much better option, even though the coaches here are very luxurious!

I have been asking around the teachers where I could do some Muay Thai, and it was rather difficult to get an answer. After some persistence, I have found that one of the teachers does after school classes, I have yet to speak to them, but hopefully I will be learning Muay Thai soon!

There are lots of things that I want to do, but most require a fair bit of travelling, which means that I cannot do it during school times, visiting a temple for example. As we have not been here long, our weekends have been booked with invitations to different teachers houses up until we leave for Chaing Mai, at least I am here for a year!


I am missing everyone more and more as the days pass, but am not really feeling homesick, that is still to come and is one thing I am dreading. I know I have David to talk top, but it isn't the same as talking to someone you have known for years, and I am not too goo at talking to people about feelings anyway. I will just have to get over myself!

Bye

x

The Shavin' and the Mavin'

I had a shave for the first time in Thailand last night. Since we have to look presentable for school, I thought that I would shave every time I got some noticeable facial hair. Last night was the first time I have shaved since I have left England and my moustache could only be classed as noticeable if you were looking for it.

That basically describes how follically endowed I am when it comes to facial hair, however, it does make it much easier and cheaper when I only have to shave once a month. I feel for those who have to shave every morning.

I taught a lesson this morning which consisted of me handing out pieces of paper and then getting the class to make paper aeroplanes and then taking them outside to see how far they would go. I threw mine straight into a tree, which caused my plane to fall into a puddle, I lost....not good.

Last night was horrible, it was so wet and rainy and the insects seemed especially loud, I think they were trying to compete with the thunder. We keep the shutters open all the time to prevent our house from becoming an oven, so i was covered by water as the mosquito net turned the rain into a fine spray.
We were then awoken at 5 by a neighbour that thought it was an appropriate time to cut the grass with a not so quiet strimmer.

The food here is still great and it is really cheap. We go to the market every night to buy tea, and end up spending just over £1 each. We have now got some electric woks, which I have yet too see, which i rather exciting as it allows me to practice creating mouth destroying dishes that I will test on David.

As for washing our clothes, the several months of ironing I had at home has not aided me so far as the school provides a maid service. So we just put our dirty washing in a basket on Monday, Wednesday or Friday and there it is the same evening, all clean and nicely ironed. It's lovely.

However, we still have to wash our underwear ourselves. And after hanging up some to dry on the balcony, I returned home to find to pairs of underpants in a muddy puddle at the side of our house. Yay!

As for the title, I have no idea.


x

Ubon, DAD and Conjunctivitis.

I apologise for the time I have let pass since my last post. The internet at the school has been down and it has been repaired this afternoon. That is an issue with Thai people in that they never have an urgency to get anything done. I have still not moved into my room and am still currently sleeping on my mattress in David's room, this is because I still have no mosquito netting across my windows. I have ben promised by a few teachers that it will be done. I am not sure when, but I hope it will be soon as I am not quite comfortable as I cannot be in my own space, which for me is rather important.

My head is spinning with everything I want to say. So much has happened since my last post and I have no idea where to start.

At the moment, I am still recovering from conjunctivitis which I contracted due to an insect colliding with my eye, causing it to become irritated and infected, not the most pleasant experience as it feels as if there is something stuck in my eye constantly, and it looks like I am always crying. You know how it feels when there is something in your eye and your eye just twitches, that is what I have had to put up with since last wednesday night.  It is much better now thanks to the help of the director of the local hospital. Oh yeah, and whilst I was waiting in the hospital, I was asked to pose for a photograph by a few nurses, even though I am not comfortable with situations like these, I though that it would be rude to say no.

We had a very interesting weekend as we visited the girls who were volunteering in Pha Na, which is about 30 minutes drive away. They then met us in Ubon to go shopping, we went to the Sunee Tower, which is a big mall in the centre of Ubon and bumped into Doni, the 22 year old from our host family, and he was working at a modelling contest, so he took us to meet some of the models backstage, one of which was his sister. After many photographs, being the tallest person in the mall by a few inches gets me a little more attention, we watched the show and were laughing at the hot of the show who was a really obvious ladyboy.

David then insisted we explored Ubon to find food, but the rest of us were quite happy to get something to eat at Sunee Tower, but he made us feel guilty by reminding us where we are and that we had to go out. So he managed to gain the nickname 'Dad' as he led us around the town, which is even funnier when he has a horrible sense of place and his short term memory is just as bad.

We eventually found somewhere to eat and chatted over a variety of strange foods. The meat surprise on a stick was very nice, not too sure what it was though, could have been pork, or rat or dog..... one of the issues of the language barriers.

We went into town on Saturday night to the mix club, which was quite seedy, but we hung round till Robyn and David had been sick and wanted to go home. The next morning wasn't so nice as a hangover is just accentuated by the heat. However, we got some coffee and were fine by ten. Mrs Brayung then took us to see her friends and a 1 month old baby, who was incredibly small and cute.

We were still with the girls and were craving cheese so we went to the pizza company and I devoured a bowl of lasagne and some fries. I was however defeated by some enormous onion rings, that were basically donuts with a little onion inside. After the meal, Mrs Brayung drove the girls back to Pha Na and took us home. We also bought The Other Guys and Gladiator on dvd, which I have watched already, I forgot how funny Will Ferrell is.

That brings me up to date with everything that has been going on. I just want to say that your responses are welcomed greatly and I am sorry again to disappoint you.

The teaching is still excellent in every way, I love the response I get from the students and it is such a good feeling when someone who is obviously shy comes and talks to you, even if their English isn't great.


Sa Wat Dee Kap

x

DJ Casper's Cha Cha Slide

Where to start...

I was going to post earlier but I have been rather ill yesterday and today and spent more time than I would like on the toilet. At least my legs are getting a good workout, I have never done so much squatting. I wont go into any more detail.

I am starting to feel better now but the heat is making me feel worse, so I have migrated from our house to a nice air conditioned office.

Friday night was interesting as it was the last night at our hosts house and Doni, who is 22 wanted to take us out into Ubon. We set off to town and went to a place called U-Bar. It was halfway between a club and a bar and was sort of strange as there was a live Thai band on. We started off with a tower of Heineken and met a few of Doni's friends. It was all very nice and we got a bit merry. Then we met some TEFL teachers from UK. One was from Birmingham and the other from Northern Ireland. They were very nice and pleased to meet some English people. The language barriers caused us some problems as we tried to tell Doni to take us home and we thought he was, until we ended up outside his girlfriends house and he left the car and told us to wait.
We eventually got into bed at 3 in the morning.

Saturday was unusual as we had to teach. This was due to days missed due to teacher training. Luckily I felt fine, maybe a little tired, but still had some very good lessons.

My favourite lesson was when the other teacher told me we were doing directions, so we were playing games where the class had to guide their friends around the room. The teacher then mentioned the Cha Cha slide and wanted the class to do it. I got really excited and got my laptop out and started to load it on Youtube. I then performed in front of a class of 40 16-18 year olds. They loved it!
I then got everyone to get involved and even got other teachers to join in, it was hilarious. I am going to continue with my dance lessons this week.

The weather here is quite similar to England, apart from the intense heat that is constantly around 30 degrees. It is the wet season from June to November and we currently have a small moat around our house and a swamp at our back door. This is not too bad, apart from all of the insects seek refuge in our house, so we are constantly finding them dead, in piles around the house after they have walked through our insect defences.

One of the past times I have come to enjoy is the extermination of mosquitos and other flying insects. I invested in one of those electric tennis rackets to deal with our problem. I was not sure what to expect, but it is shockingly good. (sorry, I had to do it.)

The students here are all very interested in us. In one of my lessons on Friday, I was getting the pupils to introduce themselves to me and in a class of 14 year olds, one girls said she loved me and asked for my number in front of the whole class.

I wasn't surprised. Everyone loves me. :)

Missing you all.

Love and kisses

x

Pictures.

Thank you all for the comments you have posted, each one makes me smile! I am trying to be much more careful with my grammar and I apologise if any mistake of mine offends you.....

I am just posting a few pictures of what I have been up too to show ow much fun I am having.

First time in a tuk-tuk with my partner, David.

This is where we have been staying for the last week. It is lovely and wet at the moment.

A fish dish that is apparently 'not too spicy'. Couldn't taste a thing after 1 bite.

Eating deep fried insects. There are actually delicious, as long as you don't think about the fact that you are eating an insect.

This is the bag of insects we ate, and shared with our hosts, they were a bit shocked that we were eating them, but were very pleased to know that we enjoyed them!

And my sunglasses broke after 2 days.



Keep posted.

Amphawan School

We have been coming to the school for three days now and today was going to be my first day of teaching, until I found out that both of my classes had gone on a trip to Ubon with a different teacher. This was kind of a relief as it allowed me to observe how the students behaved and how much english they knew, so that I can prepare more thoroughly for tomorrows lessons.

We are also preparing to move into our new house, which is actually quite nice, it has a 2 up 2 down set up and is being refurbished with new furniture. David and I bought some industrial strength insect killer and got to work spraying it in all the nooks and crannies that might be hiding any ants, cockroaches or termites.
We returned to the house a few hours later to find hundreds, if not thousands of ants littering the floor in our bathroom. There were also plenty of cockroaches to be swept up and disposed of.


The children at the school are all very interested in us and are very respectful. In Davids second class, a number of them were taking photographs. I feel like a celebrity already.

The teachers are all very kind as well. Mrs Brayung took us for lunch and then to Tesco to buy us some essential supplies, such as coffee, chocolate and oreos.
David got some shaving foam, and asked if I would like some aswell, I just laughed as I shaved a week before I left and wont have any noticable facial hair till next month.


I am not too nervous for my lessons tomorrow as David has shown me that you can fill 20 minutes explaining simple phrases as the level of English here is quite poor. I am a little anxious about teaching student who are my age, or older.

I am missing home more and more, but still loving it in Thailand. If anyone wants to go somewhere different and exciting, it is most certainly the best place to go!


TTFN (Ta Ta For Now - Winnie The Pooh)

Ubon and MUANG SAMSIP!

I have to say, Thai transport is the best, the coach from Bangkok to Ubon was the most luxurious I have seen. We had reclining chairs and even I had room to stretch my legs. The Tuk Tuks are hilarious and there are buses, which are basically pick up trucks with a cage attached to the back.

My head is so full of things I want to talk about, so much has happened in such a small amount of time.

Thank you for the comments, they make me feel like this blogging business is getting through to people, I got so excited when I saw that I had comments!

Joe, I thought travelling half way around the world would allow me to escape your pedantic ways, I guess not. I love you bro.

We have not moved into our new home yet, and we have been living with a host family, who are very nice, and serve delicious food!

FOOD, literally the best food ever, apart from my mums cooking of corse. I have learnt a few phrases in Thai, but due to the multi tonal language, it is very difficult. 'ฉันไม่ชอบอาหารรสเผ็ด', or 'Mi Shon Kin Pet' (phonetically), means 'I don't like spicy food'. This is because a lot of the food is spicy, and spicy by Thai standards would be eating something equivalent to fire.

We have arrived at Muang Samsip today and am currently sat in the school, loving how we have easy access to wifi all year.

Our house is a lovely little building, and is all in all well kept, apart from that it is full of ants and we share our toilet with a snake.

We are not moving in yet, because it is the wet season, the fields outside are flooded, which makes access rather difficult.


One thing has upset me today, and it is my incompetence at rock, paper, scissors. First was in South Africa when I lost out on a double bed to Barghy, and now, David beat me to win the bigger bedroom with a balcony. However, all is not lost as he agreed to clean the bathroom.

Sa waa de kap.

Hello Thailand!

The last two days have been so busy and exciting, I began my journey to Thailand with my family on the way to London. We went to watch the Lion King in the Lyceum theatre, which was amazing, a definite must for anyone. 

Then on wednesday morning, we boarded the train to take us to Heathrow. I arrived at Heathrow, preparing myself to meet a group of strange new people, hoping that they would be lovely, which they were, and still are.

After initial introductions, we went to the bar for a drink, however I had yet to met my partner to be, David. It turns out that he had gone through security without us and had been wondering around on his own for an hour. 

David is such a nice guy and we are getting on great already! The plane journey was tiring and uncomfortable, but my excitement for reaching our final destination could not be dampened.

We arrived at Bangkok last afternoon, at around 7pm Thai time, which is about midday in England, we had been booked into a gay hotel, which is quite funny as David was propositioned at the breakfast table this morning. 

This country is outstanding already, and I have only been here less than a day. I am really looking forward to getting to my placement in Muang Samsip and to meet my hosts.

Thank you for reading and ill keep you posted.

Last Day in England

This is it.

8 hours left on this island I call my home. I can't think straight due to the masses of conflicting emotions coursing through me. 

It has been so difficult saying goodbye to everyone. I was welling up whilst saying goodbye to my dog.

I guess this is a farewell to everyone whom I am leaving in the clouds ad rain of Great Britain, whilst I will be jetting off to the tropical heat and humidity of Thailand, teaching for a year, half-way around the world.

Goodbye for now.

New Video

I have just posted a new video on my Youtube page. It is basically a recap of what has happened so far, but now you get to see my wonderful new haircut.

Please check it out.

Would you be nervous?

There are 16 days between now and when my plane departs from Heathrow. After this short time, I will leave home and not return for 12 months.

I havent really thought about it in great detail, therefore I have never really been worried, but it is so close that it is impossible to avoid.

The process of buying clothes and equipment is painful as it reminds me when I am leaving and that I will have to leave all my loved ones behind.
I know I will love it, as many people have told me, but at times I know I will just want to come home.

How would you feel if you were in my position? Or my parents position?

New Youtube Page

I have created a new youtube page so that there is no confusion with me no longer going to Malaysia, you will find my new channel at:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjAvuWfPajWOcR0IHCgJwlA?feature=mhee

Videos

I posted a video of the early stages of my fundraising on my old youtube account.
To view this video, please go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUfPpb_yXaA&feature=plcp

The year gone by.

This last year has been crazy! Starting with my selection course for project trust, this time last year.
I was originally selected to go to Malaysia on an outward bound project which I was really excited for. Then I began my mammoth journey of raising £5100.
I had a lot of support from friends and my main event was a 24 hour spinning marathon. This was very successful and an enduring and unforgettable experience which managed to raise around £3500 towards my cause.

I also had a lot of help from different charitable trusts, and generous donation from some individuals which has allowed me to reach my target before the end of June this year.

There have been some problems with my project which has caused my destination to change several times. I was originally going to Malaysia, however I could not go to the training due to my rugby tour to South Africa. I was transferred to Rwanda, which was a new project this year, this fell through as Project Trust were not able to gain INGO status in Rwanda.

Me and my new partner, Adam were then placed in Ghana, this was all happening whilst I was in South Africa, and I thought that everything had been sorted and we were set to go. All of a sudden, Adam decided that he wanted to only do 8 months instead of 12. This left me with 3 choices.
1. Join Adam on an 8 month project.
2. Stay in Rwanda for 12 months on my own.
3. Go to a project in Thailand with somebody who I have never met.

I chose option 3, which put me with David, who I have never met, but can't wait to meet him on the 22nd.
I am now really excited, but also terribly nervous about leaving and am now doing research on the culture and customs in Thailand. I know the next 18 days will fly by, and I still have a lot to do.