You say goodbye, I say sawasdee...

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Hello/sawasdee from Thailand! I hope this finds you all well, and I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for the love and support you continuously provide. I'm writing to share my experiences and ask for your comments and help making sense of it all. I'm not sure where I'm headed, but I know it will be a smoother journey with your input and encouragement. As I learned today in teacher training, "Birds can fly because they think they can."

After a warm, fun welcome in Bangkok with my friend Jenisa (pics attached), I settled into Krabi on Sunday Feb 20. For the next month I'll be living with my host mom, Pi Nong (a muslim woman from Bangkok), her two teenage sons (they don't speak English), and 3 other volunteers for Projects Abroad (my roommate, Cecilia from France, Julie from Denmark and Tanja from Germany- pic attached). Krabi is a small and poor town 1 hr south of Bangkok, but it gets many tourists for it's amazing beaches and diving (pics attached). I hope to get my first dive in with the conservation volunteers Friday!

I'm very happy with my accommodations and decision to take some time off and volunteer, and I'm slowly learning to enjoy the bathroom situation... cold showers (no hot water, but it's incredibly hot and humid here) and flush-less toilets (we pour water in with a bowl- pics attached). The food here, however, makes up for it, and Pi Nong's cooking is dangerously delicious. Hopefully I'll return with some Thai cooking techniques in my toolbox.

I've enjoyed meeting these wonderful people from around the world and learning about their schools and teaching experiences (pics attached). Looking forward to starting my teaching assignment on Thursday! I'll be teaching 2-4 English lessons every day to 7-12 year olds in a public school. And in the afternoons and weekends I'll be exploring South Thailand! I hope this context helps, but in the future I'd like to share more pictures than words. Thanks for reading, and feel free to email any time or call/text me at (+(001) 66 800777843). Lots of love xo

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Photos

Hostess with the mostess
First night BKK- Kaosarn Road

Feeding the fishies & river-goers
Taling chan

River residences
Boat ride down the river with temples, houses of all shapes and sizes, and many people swimming and smiling

Big Buddah
Watching over BKK

Labua Hotel
The view from Sirocco bar

Noodles for brekkie? Bring on the bowls
Most amazing spot in Jenisa's town... J taught me to order Senlek w/ Mo...bowls of heaven...

En route to Krabi!
Patrick our driver for Projects Abroad who takes us to and from school

Our housemates
Tanja, Pi Nong, Cecilia and Julie

Our room
My totally awesome twin bed on the left, a sleeping roomie on the right and two fans surrounding us and saving our sanity

Our bathroom
...slowly getting warmer... my feelings about this situation and not the water obviously...

Krabi night market
First night... perfect time for weekend markets with some of the volunteers

Induction!
Ruang shows us the map of Krabi before introducing us to the program and our new home

Krabi pier
Where James Bond was filmed (the one w/ Pierce B.) and where I'll be heading out to many surrounding islands

Krabi intersection
Most interesting stop lights I've seen yet...

Krabi Buddhist Temple
Just down the road

Ao Nang beach
Beach stroll after induction

The inducted
Sophie and I celebrate with a stroll before the rain rolls in and completely soaks us

Krabi rain
...no umbrella or poncho can handle this...

Julie & her kids!
Working the camera... loving the peace signs

Stephanie & her kids!
Their expressions were even cuter when they saw themselves on camera!

Comments

[vicki]

[e-mail]
Hi what inspired to do this? Love to hear! Vicki

[Annie]

hello
Hi Laura! So happy to hear that you have started your new adventure. I can't believe you are already on the other side of the world. The pictures are great . I specially loved the pictures of the kids. I think many people will be jealous of your decision to do something so interesting and fulfilling. All the best! Annie Togni

[Corey Gilbertson]

It's like you are at camp!
I love this!

[Laura London]

Intl Community Service Camp
...it really is! Only we do a bus load of community service, it's always free play, and we can eat at whatever canteen whenever we want ;-) Great observation!

[Laura London]

Thanks, Annie!
So good to hear from you. I do feel extremely lucky to experience Thai culture while helping the community and people... very different from the backpacking that I'm used to! I know it's unrealistic for many people, yet those who want to and can really should! Projects Abroad has some locations with 2 week projects too...maybe you and your hubby could do it?! They are in serious need of volunteers of all types and so, so appreciative... helps when negotiating too ;-) Please keep me posted on shenanigans at the fort! xo

[Laura London]

My inspiration...
Hi Aunt Vicki! My work trip to Malaysia for the FBI-NAA APAC Conference in early 2010 definitely stirred things up for me both personally and professionally. The connection between global education and security became even more apparent, and I quickly wanted to learn more about public education systems around the world. I started researching graduate programs in International Education when I returned to the states. Thanks for your question!

[Anne]

beautiful pix
What a fantastic beginning. Hope you had time to visit Phuket, Chiang Mai and Bangkok. It was one of my favorite trips.