Happy February 5th to everyone. I hope you are all doing well and that whatever cold weather has been sent your way is not too unbearable. Here, it is about 30 C...possibly 35. I am slowly getting used to the heat, however. I am also now accepting the constant sweat on my back and face. The evenings here are picture-perfect: warm with a nice breeze. I am not at the end of a very long week. Orientation week is over and now I will begin my time at the orphanage on Monday. This past Wednesday we traveled to a local school and played with the children for a bit. Amazing. Their screams of excitement as we walked up to the school was too much, and their smiling faces and giggles were heartwarming. They were fascinated by blond hair and cameras. I am excited to start at the orphanage and have been told that if I wish I can teach at the school that we visited. I am sure it may be nice to switch things up once in a while. Along with the school, in the past couple of days we have visited numerous temples and markets. The temples are so ornate and sometimes overwhelming and the smells of the markets...well, I wish I could bottle them up and bring them home for you: fruit, fish, fried food, etc. This week we also went to an elephant village and to the monkey temple. Hundreds of monkeys were roaming the city and you really had to watch your back and bag. I have also had some Thai lessons and practice with my roommate, Hen, every morning--I think we are doing quite well. :) Last night we also had a Thai cooking class where we made three different dishes--a papaya salad, fried noodles and egg, and coconut milk with bananas.
Tomorrow, I will head to Bangkok with a couple girls. I am not quite sure what we are planning on doing there, but it will be nice to get back to the city. Every weekend I have off so I am sure there will be many trips taken all over Thailand. I know that the next seven weeks are going to fly by and I am simply soaking up every minute of my time here.
The conversations had with the other volunteers is also amazing. There has been much discussion about politics, schooling, culture, language, thoughts on how life works, etc. Hen and I have stayed up talked about American culture, politics, how we live from day to day, Israeli politics and culture, the way they view America and Americans, etc. I truly love it. Who knew I would come to Thailand and sit around a table with Israeli, German, Swedish, and Swedish/English (born in Sweden, lives in England) girls. I am learning so much. We are all getting closer and I am finding true friendships here. We all laugh, sometimes, about the pure randomness of it all... how all of us, from different countries, wound up in the middle of nowhere in Thailand in hopes of teaching orphans. :)
Life at the Eco house is quite simplistic as well. Drinking out of bowls, washing our clothes in buckets and having them air dried, cold showers, a bed and a fan in our rooms, etc. I love it. Refreshing. However, cold showers in the morning are always a bit shocking, but in the afternoon/evening I would have it no other way.
Again, I hope you are all doing well and that you have not frozen to death yet. I miss you all and please! keep me updated!