Isara Volunteer - Terri

[PK]

Terri (thartley) and Laurie (Sneaker), recently arrived in Nong Khai for the start of a six month stay. While volunteering they will help teach at the ILC and also at a few government schools that need native English speakers. Not only that but they will also be recording video footage for a documentary being made about Isara.

Thank you, Terri and Laurie, for donating 6 months of your life to helping others. ...And we promise it won't always be 100 degrees outside.

[Ginafish]

Congratulations Terri and Laurie on starting your six month volunteer life! We look forward to hearing about your views of the projects and Thailand, helping Isara do some follow up's on past projects, and pictures of you both teaching English!

And don't forget to document the foot massage experience.

[Ronnyboy]

Congrats. Those 6 months will definetly help out alot. Hope you guys have fun while your doing it.

[Sneaker]

It is really, really hot here. )=

Like, Florida, but about two inches from the sun. Perma. white girl afro, yes? q=

[ZeroG]

Maybe that is why the food is so hot. Makes the outside temp seem cool 

Welcome to Nong Khai! I admire you guys!

[thartley]

Yes, I have also put in my request to Hades that they adjust the temp just a tad this side of dead. 

We should be posting some good stuff in this thread soon.  We have lots of pictures, and I have some stories to tell.   

(don't I always?)  LOL!

[Ginafish]

ZeroG, I think you jest, but south of your border, where it's hot, Latin countries are also known for spicy foods...but Ireland and England, wet and dreary, boiled foods and bland.  Weather = type of food.

thartley and Sneaker? Where are zee pictures?

[thartley]

thartley and Sneaker? Where are zee pictures?

They are still in the camera.  Laurie and I were busy today.  We went by ourselves to Mut Mee House for breakfast.  Its hard to describe that place.  Its sort of the hippie zen backpacker yoga travel agency restaurant floating karaoke place.  Oh, and there is a bookstore there where you take a book in and you can take a book out.  Like a different sort of library.

After that, we came here to the ILC and checked e-mail, did other online business, and then PK helped Sneaker and I get our own place.   So there is now a Casa Hartley here in Nong Khai.  It is a room with a bed, a wardrobe, a livingroom table where a tv will go when the landlord brings it to me.  After Song Kran we will get internet hooked up.  Then I will be able to do a lot more on here with the pictures.  But I am sooo glad to have my own place.  It has air conditioning. 

[KitKat]

Welcome to Nongkhai and the Thai volunteer experience!!
Have lots of fun!   
Now you understand why they take cold showers!!  100 degrees = cold showers!!

[ZeroG]

hippie zen backpacker yoga travel agency restaurant floating karaoke place

I knew I could count on you for a descriptive account of what you experience. I can actually picture that place.

[Ginafish]

Congratulations on getting your own place with air! Bed, wardrobe and table? Is this the same place pk used to be? I remember his room/apartment having about the same amount of things, but also a mini fridge, and a Western bathroom. I like it's name 'Casa Hartley'. What's the Thai word for house?

And the Mut Mee sounds just like I imagined. Relaxing with intimidating karaoke thrown in. My alternate granola girl ego would really enjoy it.

Still anxiously waiting for pictures!

[lambie83]

So cool that you guys are there!  I look forward to seeing pix and hearing more of your adventures.  Mut Mee House sounds awesome, especially the "library" part. 

[thartley]

Now you understand why they take cold showers!!  100 degrees = cold showers!!

What is so unbelievable is that even just turning on the cold water, it still comes out warm because the temps are so hot.  We leave our shoes out in the hallway of the building, just outside our room.  the hallway is actually INSIDE the building, in its center, and when we put our shoes on, they are hot.  Shoes, hot.

[KitKat]

  Where are you and Laurie staying? Is it by the river? Thank goodness you have a/c.  
I wish the upstairs LC had a/c. Well, maybe one day......

[Soulessaint]

I'm happy to hear you and sneaker made it to Thailand safely. I pray during your six months there you both will gain knowledge and learn from the culture, also, have fun fun fun!!!! Gbya

[thartley]

Ok, some things I dont know if I have mentioned....

Outside of the 7-11 (known simply as 7 here) one of the first nights we were here, PK points down to the ground saying LOOK!  and right there on the sidewalk skittering towards the sewage drain was a black scorpion about 4 or 5 inches long!     I think I've come a long way by not screaming when the giant cockroaches run over my feet, but I simply HAVE to draw the line at scorpions.  I'm sorry, but I do.

I already told ya'll about the elephant on the interstate in Bangkok.

OOPs, I have to run.  Laurie just came in to tell me that we are all going to go eat at the home of the owner of the ILC building's home.   

More later!

 

[M3R1IN]

You saw a scorpion Thartley? I never saw one when I was there, I much prefer scorpions over the hand-sized spiders that frequent the ILC.  Have you seen any rats yet?  I saw the first rat I have ever seen in my life when I was in Thailand... (there are no rats in Alberta, if you dont believe me look it up on the "Ratatouille" DVD)
Have you seen that young elephant that is in Nongkhai? keep an eye out for it at night.
You have to take some pictures of your place and post them on here, you are so lucky to have A/C in your place , I envy you!
You mentioned 7-11 is called "seven" there, we just call it "sev" in Canada.
have you been to salakaeoku yet?
Oh yeah make sure you go to the fishing pond if you like to fish those things are monsters there.

[Ginafish]

Ok, some things I dont know if I have mentioned....


I already told ya'll about the elephant on the interstate in Bangkok.

First off, 'ya'll' doesn't have an apostrophe. If you are going to be lazy and say it, be lazy when you spell it yall.

And NO, I have not heard one iota about an elephant on the interstate. You've been telling your stories in too many places I see. Now if you used the blog to tell all your stories and then just emailed the link, all of your homies would get the same stories and news. Think about it, one blog versus six different emails.

[KitKat]

I can see by Terri's lack of postings that she's R-E-A-L-L-Y busy.

I also discovered when I was there, things are rarely planned. They don't have any future tense words, so everything is in the present. (If that makes any sense at all?)
This all adds to the normal everyday confusion and the huge adjustment they're making to the cultural changes.  

After Song Kran Terri and Laurie will have a chance to site see more.
Terri, have you been in a Tuk-Tuk?

I never saw any scorpions when I was there, thank goodness! 

Can't wait to see pics of where yall are staying. 

[M3R1IN]

Thartley, have you used the kitchen at the ILC yet?

[thartley]

Ok, yes Ginafish I should blog about everything.  I am way behind.  (I've ALWAYS spelled ya'll with an apostrophe since it is a contraction of the words "you" and "all", granted, it looks a little 'off' placed just there, but go read a really southern book and you will find the apostrophe stands)    

I got sick the night of the very first day of Song Kran.  Montezuma's Revenge.  I think I must have ingested some of the festival water or something.  Who knows?  But I refused to believe I was ill, even going on a bike ride early the morning of the second day, but quickly found myself back in my room.    For the whole rest of the fun.  Laurie was so sunburned on her poor feet and arms!  She blistered on her arms a little and couldn't even walk through a sunbeam in our room without hollering.  Anyhoo, by the second full day of being sick, I waited until what I hoped was a decent hour and had Laurie walk across the hall to Sean's place with mu pill bottles the dr had given me to use his internet to find out which one was for the stomach bug.  Neither bottle had any indication of what the med was for and it had been so long I just didnt know anymore.  We found out which one it was, but Sean graciously gave me two of his Cipro tablets.  I feel all better now, and Laurie started with it lastnight.  We are just a mess!  I watched Song Kran the rest of time from my balcony, and even started trying to zoom in and get video.  I am standing on the 8th floor balcony totally absorbed in trying to get some video when Laurie walks out and says "RAAARRR!"  I nearly dropped the camera she scared me so bad!     I left her sleeping in the bed when I went out to shoot.

It has taken a little (ALOT) of getting used to the heat.  I really thought it wouldn't be so bad on us since we are from one of the hot and humid climes in the states, but there really is no comparison.  The mornings are just about perfect here.  So beautiful, coolish, the birds seem to wake up the whole world right here.  Just after the birds, you will start to hear people sweeping the sidewalks and streets. And then the tuk tuks and bikes start hitting the streets.  And strewn sporadically in all this heaven are the screams of some guy down the alley below.  I dont know if he is drunk, praying, singing, or pissed off.  I recongized him yelling "THANK YOU!" in thai once, to no one in particular.  I can see him from my balcony, and I have no idea what his story is. And I'm not gonna ask.  He is just part of my morning music.     This morning, from my balcony, I could see a group of about 15 or so monks going about their business of collecting what I think is food from people who give to them.  One person rode up on a motorbike with a big bag of food and gave each of them some, and then rode off.

My pants are falling off of me, and while that makes me happy, it is also a bit of a double edged sword.  If I lost fifty pounds, I still couldnt find pants here to fit me. haha!!!  Moomoo, here I come!     At the moment, my pants slide off when they are buttoned and zipped.  I had to wear a pair of Laurie's the first day of SongKran.  I spent part of this morning trying to sew darts in the back of one pair of my capris.

So, yes, there was an elephant walking down the interstate in Bangkok the night we arrived in country.  The scorpion was outside of the 7-11.  A lady named Apple gave Laurie and I a pink wall clock with the King on the face of it in the Udon airport and also her cell phone number and invited us to her house for dinner (we passed).  Laurie and I are learning a bit of thai.    I bought a set of sheets at the mall today for our bed and did you know a sheet set comes only with the fitted sheet here?  Four pillow cases and one fitted sheet.  haha!!!  Laurie's sunburn has kept her temp at the boiling point at night, so like lastnight, the a/c was a little chilly without a sheet to cover up with, so I took our shirts out of the closet and used those to cover up with.  LOL!!!!

And to answer a question I think Ginafish asked somewhere, yes, Laurie and I are on bikes.  The kind you pedal.     Its that or walk for the most part, except today when we went to the mall.  We bought ourselves a microwave for our room and a broom, and sheets and a big radio/CD/DVD player that ended up not having a power cord in the box (we got that because we had not gotten a tv in the room yet and needed something besides our own voices to listen to while confined to bed and toilet)and when we got back to the room, the landlord brought up a brand new tv!     I thought ours was being repaired, but he brought us a new one!  When I was at the mall. I had to call PK and ask if someone could come up there and help us get a tuk tuk back to our place.  I still don't know how to explain where we live to the tuk tuk drivers.  I can't say the name of the road, but I think PK said to tell them Chaiporn Road or market or something.  Thank goodness, he came up there.  Laurie had to ride on the back of his bike and I got in the tuk tuk with all my "nesting" supplies.  It feels great to feel like I have a home again. 

[KitKat]

Thanks thartley for the update and I hope you're feeling better now.  Laurie I'm so sorry you're suffering from severe sunburn, all I can say is PLEASE "wear lots of sunscreen" always!  I'm sorry you guys had a rough start to your amazing experience.  Saw some photos of you guys during SongKran, glad you got to be a small part of it. 

I remember very clearly the morning sounds you described. Beautiful, peaceful, cool mornings. I took my morning walks then. 
Are you staying in the same condo PK once called home?

Terri, my advice is just to eat fried rice until you get used to the Thai spices.
Rice is a perfect diet and bike riding and walking is excellent exercise.

Did you have dinner at the owner of the ILC's house?  Whenever PK and I were invited to eat at someone's home we always asked what the dishes were before we tried them. They use every part of the chicken, even serve their feet.  Most dishes we didn't  sample.    Thai food is delicious, but very spicy!  Ming can tell you the very spicy dishes.

[Ginafish]

I found out this morning that thartley and Sneaker are now staying at the same condo Pk did and that Sean is also living at.

I mentioned to her that even though she isn't connected to the internet, she can still write down stories in Word and then paste them in the blog.

[ZeroG]

Glad Terri is on the mend. We'll just assume Laurie screamed 'RAARR' because she momentarily exposed her arm to sunlight and it had nothing to do with her trying to scare her Mom. Hope it gets better for you Laurie.

Please write more Terri! I liked the way you described the morning. I always wondered what it was like there. You made me feel like I WAS there. Thank you!

Despite all that has happened, you still sound like it is all worth it. It must really be something over there.

[thartley]

Laurie in fact had yelled "RAAARR" in an attempt to scare me, she was safely wrapped within the quadruply (is that a word?) lined window drapes.  I will have to back the tape back over the part where I let out all the expletives just before shutting off the camera.  She said she thought I was just using the camera for watching, with the zoom. 

When I was at the mall yesterday, I tried to find a small four cup coffeemaker, but they dont sell them here.  Everything is instant.  So I broke down and bought myself a jar of Tasters Choice coffee, some real CoffeeMate powdered creamer, and some sugar.  Got home and realized I didnt have a coffeecup.  So I decided I would just cut the top of an empty water bottle off and make one.  Except I realized I didnt have anything to cut with.  When you look to buy utensils here, you get a little pack of one fork and one spoon.  Maybe next time I go to a fast food restaurant, and they give me plastic knife, I will keep it.  But for the coffee cup, I actually went to the little street market and found a stall that had a load of mugs with lids and bought myself one. 

I want to get some pics of the market itself soon.  It is very different from anything I've ever seen in the states.

Well, I have to go rouse my daughter from her slumber.  She got an extra two hours of sleep while I have been here. 

More later...