It's been a little quiet over here on 'the rush', probably because i've been spending far too much time watching all three seasons of Community, but mostly because Becka I spent six weeks volunteering in an orphanage in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand.
The experience was equal parts
nerve-racking, confronting, challenging, amazing, inspirational, fun and hilarious.
In the four weeks we spent in Sangkhlaburi it became our home. We were besties with the hotel owner, were locals at the 7eleven and knew where to get the best kickass pancake roti in town (and were heartbroken when she wasn't there). We ate at Toi's almost every night and developed an obsession for Massaman Curry and Morning Glory (stir fried water spinach). After a week of going the long way round to P. Guest house like chumps, we found a short cut (even if it did mean climbing a hill). We took a weekend trip to Kanchanaburi, saw the Death Railway and sipped cocktails out of a bucket at Sugar Member. We were regulars at Blend Cafe, getting our daily dose of caffeine and wifi. We ate countless bagels and became addicted to chocolate milk at the bakery. We knew that the best place to get your laundry done was at Weaving For Women, where she would repeatedly fix the rip in the seat of a number of your pants because you spent so much time sitting on the floor. We walked the wooden bridge and made it all the way to second temple on the Mon side with a ridiculous hangover. We were taught Muay Thai by a former champion and nicest guy in town. We partook in karaoke, in Thai, after smashing a bottle of vodka in the 7eleven. We rode majestically upon the backs of elephants and bamboo rafted like a boss down the rapids and only sat in the river a little bit. We got wise to Thai's having a little giggle at us when learning the word falang meant foreigner. We got used to never really being dry, and we even used a squat toilet more than once. Let's face it, by the end of it we were basically Thai.
And the people we shared those adventures with? Mimi, Ellen, Chris and Felix, possibly the best crazy little makeshift family we could have hoped for. (Side note, Ellen is from Adelaide too, she caught the same flight to Bangkok as me and Becka, and went to primary school with my brother, small freaking world!). Thanks to these guys for making the four weeks a hilarious fun time. I dont think I will ever be able to wipe the image of the running chicken from my mind.
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| Cute Family Portrait (minus Felix :( who was in Bangkok) |
Then of course there was the Dream House. Run solely by Vic, the Dream House orphanage is a home for both orphans and impoverished children. As Sangkhlaburi is located in NorthWest Thailand along the Thai/Burmese border all of the children come from Burma and are victims of the military rule. There are currently 28 children at the Dream House and a new bigger Dream House is being built, by volunteers like Mimi, Chris and Felix, for Vic and the kids just down the road.
For children who come from such a sad and violent background, the kids at the Dream House couldn't be a more happy, energetic and joyous bunch of kids. On our final day I already began to miss them. I think I gave about a trillion hugs that day. The kids are aged between two and seventeen, with Happy as the youngest and Josh as the oldest (yes her name really is Happy, and Josh where's my facebook friend request!?).
Happy, Cherry, Joshua, Joy, Rain, Heart, Promise, Mary, Josh, Luke, Nathan, Lovely, Jonathan,
April, Honey, May, August, Blessing, Laura, Daniel, David, Jeremy, Jordan, Jess, Ezra.
I can't say enough about these kids, I just love 'em to bits!
And Vic, there aren't enough words to describe just how amazing and inspirational Vic is. Not only is she able to look after 29 people on 9 baht per meal (28 cents AUD) she is also in the middle of completing a Doctorate! The woman is a machine! Becka and I had many eye opening chats with her over the chopping of vegetables which just confirm what an amazing human being she is. Vic has devoted her entire life to giving these children a better chance and she couldn't be doing a finer job of it.
In the coming days I am hoping to put together an online fundraising site to raise money to send to Vic for her to use on food/clothing/household items and the improvement of the kids sleeping quarters while they wait for the new Dream House to be built (which could still be three years away). I will let you readers of 'the rush' know when it is up and running.
Our typical day at the Dream House was this: Before the kids came home from school we would help Vic with any housework and general chores she had, like ironing and sweeping etc. Someone would go and collect the two young'uns (Happy and Cherry) from nursery school, and we would all then prepare dinner by chopping up huge quantities of vegetables. By three thirty most of the kids would be home from school and we would just hang out with them. Us helping them with English and them teaching us a little Thai. Once Becka and I bought some wool from town and brought it in to make friendship bracelets and pompoms (but we will never speak of the pompoms). Turns out the kids are ace at making most kinds of crafts, all I could do was plait the wool, Ezra on the other hand was weaving some intricate patterns into his! We bought paper and coloured pencils another day and made masks and crowns, leaving the house covered in paper and sticky tape. Or they would just paint our nails. I dont just mean paint them one solid colour, ho no, I mean they would paint patterns and flowers on our nails all colour coordinated and perfectly executed. Their work rivaled professional high end nail salons and these kids were only nine or ten! Our day at the Dream House ended with a group singalong and prayer. I think that was my favourite part of the day. Everyone sitting in a circle and singing songs, some with cute little dances. I have video footage of some of their traditional Thai and Burmese songs, which I will edit and hopefully upload soon. The favourite game to play was kind of a name remembering song/game. It was difficult to get the hang of at first (and way to difficult to explain here in prose) but it served me well in learning and remembering everybody's name.
After ending the day on a super adorable note, with singing and dancing, Becka and I, and the two German girls doing the childcare program with us, were whisked away in the back of a van to another orphanage. We were there to teach English to a bigger group of kids who hadn't come into contact with many foreigners. It was the first day of this that I knew I could never be a teacher. Becka and I were split up and I was left alone to teach a bunch of wide eyed expectant high schoolers the ways of the English language. They didn't speak a word of English and I dont speak a word of Thai, obviously it didn't go well. I'm sure I was mere seconds away from simultaneously vomiting and fainting until Vic stepped in and saved me. It was definitely the most challenging part of the trip, goodness knows how hard it was for the German girls who barely spoke English themselves. But once I found the safety of flash cards the lessons went ok-ish. I had Vic to help me each day and Becka had a rotating catalog of Dream House kids who could speak a little English. Though im not sure I really taught them much in the way of the English language, they appeared to enjoy listening to me say the word banana and if nothing else hopefully they will remember the difference between 'head' and 'hands' and 'cheek' and 'chin'.
Im sure I could rave on about how awesome our four weeks in Sangkhlaburi were at great length,
but for now I will just let the photos speak for themselves.
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| Our Grand Palace in Sangkhlaburi |
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| locals |
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| 5 star accomodation |
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| Sangkhlaburi |
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en route through the jungle to the Dream House
with an entire family on a motorbike |
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| Welcome to the DREAM HOUSE! |
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| an enormous clap of thunder happened as I took this picture (Happy and I reacted accordingly) |
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| Heart, Laura, Nathan |
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| Joshua / August |
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| Happy's got swag |
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| Honey painting Becka's nails |
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| Vic and Happy |
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| Happy, Me, Nathan / Rain |
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| hot hot hot chillies |
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| the resident grumpy cat at Dream House |
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| Cherry wearing my glasses and being a super hero / and walking home from nursery school |
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| Promise, Becka |
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| cat in laundry |
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| Joshua and Rain captivated by 'temple run' / Felix handing out chocolate and being very popular |
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| Happy and Becka moustache you a question |
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| apparently i'm crap at Muay Thai, I can't possibly see how... |
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| nearly sliding off |
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| elephant trekking / i was the only one brave enough to get in the hot (boiling) springs |
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| floating houses on the lake |
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| the wooden bridge ( the longest wooden bridge in the southern hemisphere) |
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| family photos with me, Ellen, Mimi |
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| The Death Railway in Kanchanaburi |
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| views from our weekend trip to Kanchanaburi |
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| sitting in on one of Ellen's classes |
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| just being a hoe in the Dream House garden |
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| Happy loves to have her photo taken |
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| Cherry getting in on the action |
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| if only this photo had audio, Happy has the cutest freaking laugh! |
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| the kids sleeping huts |
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| Happy "helping" with the cooking |
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| Becka, Josh, Ellen |
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| a delicious noodle dinner at the Dream House |
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| the dog whisperer |
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| just like the lion king |
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| this photo was actually taken by one of the kids! |
Our time in Sangkhlaburi went so quickly, its hard to believe we've already been home for six weeks now. Even though there were tough times where I was close to throwing in the towel and didn't think I could continue living in Thailand, there were many more amazing, enjoyable, inspiring, amusing times. We met some awesome people and had the time of our lives. I couldn't imagine not having this experience to look back on. Plus we've got a mountain of inside jokes that will last a lifetime!
These guys = the best
Stay tuned for photos from our two week adventure in Koh Samui and Bangkok!
xx
photos by: myself, Becka Dry and the kids of the Dream House
