Back in the U U UK!

I'm back home now and everything's a bit strange to be honest - there's a lot more fat people here for a start!

It still hasn't really sunk in yet what I've left behind - I guess that will come with time - but it does really help that I've got my PGCE to look forward to...I can't imagine how depressed I'd be if I had to go back to my old job now...

So, I would like to say once more, thanks very much to all of you for your support over the last 6 months. It really did mean a lot to me.

The whole experience has been great, better than I could have ever hoped for and I would recommend doing such voluntary work to anyone...was it life changing? I don't know...was it life enhancing? Without a doubt.

Cinema...CINEMA!

Today I took a guy called Biaow to the cinema.


Biaow is Thai for "wonky" and refers to his mouth...the Thais can be so cruel! There are quite a lot of people here who's nickname is "uan" which means "fat"!

He doesn't actually come to our day care centre except in the morning when he brings a few of the boys to us from his ward. I don't know how old he is: 40+ I think...he's always really friendly, when he drops in he shakes everyone's hand and we have a little chat - I have absolutely no idea what he's saying (nor does anyone else for that matter) but that's not really the point!

He's one of the guys who helps out the staff on the wards, doing most of the dirty work, and for that reason I don't think he gets out very often and I didn't think I'd get permission to take him out today...but I'd say they are very grateful for the job he does and they were happy for him to have a bit of fun.

Anyway, he had a good time and it was a great pleasure for me to be able to play a part in that.

Dream World

This week we took a load of CCD kids to Dream World which is a theme park outside of Bangkok...

We had 2 from Rachawadee Boys (Rachanook and Nung) and I think they really enjoyed themselves.





They couldn't go on all of the rides (not that there were that many) but I made sure we got them on the log flume which was excellent - we got absolutely soaked...it was actually pretty bad planning, cos straight afterwards we went to Snow Town and nearly froze to death! I didn't get any decent pictures - with the frostbite and all...

One of the girls we took is called Kanok Tip...she's been adopted by Mae Tim (who's the head teacher at Rachawadee Girls) and I just wanted to put a picture of her on the blog cos she is just so cute! She can't physically smile because she doesn't have the muscles in her face to do so - so it can be quite difficult, when you're playing with her, to work out if she's enjoying it or not...it's really funny when she's running around, obviously having a great time, with a completely deadpan expression on her face...

So anyway, this time next week I'll be back in Blighty...I guess it won't sink in until I'm actually there...a part of me is happy to be coming home (there's no place like it afterall) so I can catch up with everyone - especially the new wee man in the family. And in many ways what I've been doing out here feels like it has run its course...there have been some internal politics within the organisation that I'm pretty tired of to be honest so it's nice to be able to get away from all of that...I know though that it is going to be pretty emotional when I finally say goodbye to the boys...the whole 6 months have been a fantastic experience but without doubt the best thing has been the boys I have been working with and the relationships I have formed with them...a few of them have already told me that they'll miss me and the feeling is very much mutual...

The dogs

In Thailand there are LOADS of stray dogs...apparently people feed them - I think it's got something to do with them being sacred in Buddhism...that doesn't explain the number of times I've seen them being kicked, but never mind...

Anyway, during the day you don't get any problems from them - probably because it's too hot for them to be bothered chasing you...after a certain time though they do become pretty aggressive and it's not unusual to be chased by a few of them down the road - especially if you're on a bike...I haven't been bitten myself but a couple of the other volunteers have so they're not as harmless as I thought.

As you can probably imagine, a lot of them aren't in the best of condition...this one though, that we saw on a trip with the guys to the Wat, is by far the most disgusting one I've seen! I don't know how it was still walking...