2 weeks in

Hello all!

I apologize for not updating this these last couple of weeks... evevr since the day I arrived in Baan Nam Khem I've just been so busy! I kept saying "I'll write tomorrow..." and it just never happened. But anyways, it's been a great first two weeks. 

To talk a little about the area I'm in, it's a small village called Baan Nam Khem.  It's one of the areas that was hit pretty hard by the tsunami, and it shows even today. When you walk through the village there are some areas that still have boats on land that were washed ashore during the natrual disaster and then just never removed. There are lots of tall, cement abandonded buildings that used to be something but are now just vacant and dark.  Birds have taken up living in all these buildings so when you walk down those streets there are hundreds of birds flying everywhere, it's pretty eeri.  The people are so sweet though, and the volunteer house is right in the middle of the community so we live just like them and interact with villagers everyday - it's not like we are segregated or in our own little volunteer bubble at all. Every day for lunch, we go to this reasturant that's run out of a married couples house, their names are Bob and Nam. They make the best food I have ever had...two weeks and I'm not sick of it, I don't think I ever will be! Not to mention that each meal is usually 50 baht which is under 2 US dollars... we don't pay for it, GVI does, but still, that price just can't be beat.  Everything here is incredibly cheap. You can live like a king in Thailand for under 5 bucks a day, no joke. 

There are about 20-25 people who live in the volunteer house.  There are two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. There is really no privacy.  It's not really an issue though, I thought it would be difficult to adjust, but it really isn't as bad as I was expecting.  When I first arrived I was little shocked about the whole bucket flush toilet, only cold water thing and how the bathroom is literally in the backyard and the bed bugs and the handwashing your own laundry etc... but after a couple days I adjusted and I love it.  It really puts things in perspective, I have to admit.  I love cold showers now, clean clothes are a privilage, and having a bed at all is also a gift.  With all the people living in a small space, it's actually very fun.  It's like a slumber party every night! Haha but no seriously, it's really fun, and everyone is like one big family.  I love it so much.  We all take part in the cleaning, and once a week someone cooks dinner for everyone, the rest of the time it's provided by a local woman who comes and cooks for us.  Not that there is much of a kitchen, haha it's basically just a gas stove in the backyard.  I love being with awesome people all the time, and while I am someone that likes to spend some time alone, its's also really fun to be surrounded by laughter and friends day and night. 

The project I'm on is conservation.  In the volunteer house, everyone is part of one out of three projects. There's community, which is teaching healthcare to children, working with kids with disabilities, and teaching/spending time at the orphanange.  Then there is TEFL, which are the people who get their teaching english as a second language certification and teach adults english.  Then there's conservation.  (while we are all on our own projects, every other Friday is a community project day where we all do something together. For an example, last Friday, we all went to the beach with some kids with different disbilities from the center that the community program works with) I arrived at the end of the wet season, so for conservation what we've been doing is going into the rainforest (yes, even when it's pouring) and hiking and looking for animals then when spotted, we record onto a data sheet and then identify once back on base.  We also clean turtles and their tanks once a week at the Thai Navy Base and also at a turtle conservation area about an hour away.  We do a beach clean in the national park once a week, where we just pick up all the nasty trash that people leave.  Since I've been here we've started a new project that focuses on protecting whale sharks from the tourist diving industry.  We just created the web site and put it up, and right now we are working on raising money.  After that we will go to the dive shops in surrounding nearby areas, (Khao Lok) and hopefully eventually Phuket.  We will talk to them about the rules and regulations we want them tot follow, hopefully they agree, sign the contract, and then they would be certified by us and Shark Guardian as a whale shark friendly dive shop, which is getting more and more popular with the eco friendly tourists these days. 

Today we started training for teaching out on the Similan Islands, and tomorrow one other volunteer and I are going to observe a lesson before we start teaching our own.  I'm really excited but also kind of nervous! I've never taught before.  

The weekends are really fun.  The weekend before last we all went to Khao Sok treehouse resort which was amazing, and then on the second night we stayed at this "lakehouse" that was basically floating shacks on this absolutly breathtaking lake in the middle of nowhere.  Words can't describe how amazing it was! Last weekend I went with a friend to Phuket to do some shopping and that was fun, it's always nice to get out of the Baan Nam Khem bubble, haha.  This weekend we're all going to Krabi  so that will be fun.  I think those are the main highlights for now, I will try and post a little more often.  Thanks for reading !!!