Santa's Little Helper

The owners of our house have the world's most stupid dog...because of this and the physical resemblance I call him Santa's Little Helper after the dog on the Simpsons. His real name is Kang but it sounds far to strong and regal for such a stupid animal.

I have never seen Sandy as excited to spend time with anyone or anything as this stupid dog. She literally prances up to the dog with a huge smile and gives him this baby/dog talk.

As you may know, we have chickens next door which I despise because of the noise they make. This morning one jumped the fence and was in our yard. This set SLH off and he began to chase the chicken. The young girls who are maids at the main house began chasing SLH. The chicken ran into the house followed by SLH followed by two screaming girls. Somehow the chicken and SLH escaped the house followed by the girls who were now laughing. I found myself cheering for SLH and calling him Kang. At one point he had the chicken cornered and was getting ready to give it a little bite (I found myself smiling at this point) when the girls caught up with the dog and chicken. Damn girls!

Ultimately, the girls stopped the dog and caught the chicken and threw the chicken over the fence. I can not believe it but I am now a fan of SLH.

Food Safety at its finest

How do you take care of meat to be sure flies do not lay eggs or other nasty things? Refrigerate... silly idea! Put in any sort of case?... absurd! Have someone stand with a flyswatter... that is old fashion! Hook up a piece of wire with some plastic tassels on the end to a fan motor... perfect! It does seem to keep the flies away but it is not so good about keeping the meat from spoiling (and smelling like it!).

Miscalculation

Yesterday I went to a soccer game and I saw one of the little girls from the home by herself. She is quite cute, but always a little melancholy. She came over to me and wanted to sit and watch the game with me. I thought I would be a nice guy and buy her a soda. One slight miscalculation...there were 40 other kids from the home at the game and they all wanted soda of course. I figured what the hell, and bought them all soda. I think I was just as popular with the soda vendor as the kids.

An interesting meeting

Meetings are strange when you have no idea about what is appropriate and what is being said during the meeting. I had an interesting meeting today with the community leader, the headmaster of the local school and my friend and translator Pone Pone. We were discussing the future of the kids at the children's home in a town called "Three Pagodas Pass". These children have nothing...no food, very little clothes, poor medical care and poor education. I think that some of the people at the meeting want to help, but others are less interested because all of the children lack Thai Nationality.

I think that we got permission for 12-15 (out of 40 or so) of the kids to go to school starting next year (March). It is not final yet, but it looks good right now. The NGO that is going to provide food support needs to make a longer term commitment before the school will allow the kids to come to school. I am hoping to set up a meeting in another week.

Still on the agenda for the home is more clothes and medical care. I am still working on getting their bathrooms repaired/replaced. One NGO has agreed to help and I am still looking for support from other donors.

With a little luck, things will get better for these kids soon.

Good Timing

I had decided to try to find some support for the homes in the area that are in desperate need and I just spoke with an NGO which had decided to support the temple where the children live that need to beg for food. The monk who is running the temple was not aware that they were preparing to support him so it was a nice surprise for him. It is nice being the bearer of good news. Now I need to find support for their other needs.

Great day

A friend of mine took me to this school that is kind of remote...you have to go by motorbike than by boat to get there. The children can not go to the government school yet so they study in this little bamboo school. 15 of the children live there also. The kids look like they are in pretty good shape.

As I was getting ready to leave, the village head offered me coffee so I sat down and started to enjoy it when I noticed the women next to me wearing western clothes. So I asked one woman if she spoke English which she did. It turns out they were there to make a show for Animal Planet on a female Mahout (elephant trainer).

After the trip, I went back across the river to one of my favorite places...this waterfall that literally spills out on to the dirt road. It is beautiful. You can climb up the many terraces to the top of the water fall and at the top there are all of these beautiful orchids all over the place. What a great day!

Visiting another children's home

I visited yet another children's home yesterday. This one was very different because of the philosophy they use. The children are responsible for many of the day to day decisions for "their community". The community has meetings twice a week where the children decide a variety of things from tasks that need to be done in their community to punishment for children who have acted poorly. They can decide that a child can not live in their community any more if he/she is dangerous to other children. The adults have one vote each, the same as each child. Kind of a shocking concept, but it seems to be working.

In two years, a volunteer from the UK has set up a home which cares for 50 children and a school which teaches and feeds 200 children for free.

Pretty amazing to me.

Chatting with the monk

I met with a monk yesterday to talk about the situation with the kids he cares for at his temple. It is a really difficult situation for the kids and I am going to try to help him in the near future but I am trying to make sure I understand what is happening before I decide how to help.

I went with my friend and translator Pone Pone. Usually I ask a question then it takes several minutes of conversation between the two people before I get an answer to even a simple question. This was quite different. I asked difficult questions and Pone Pone asked him and he barely made a noise and then Pone Pone gave me his long reply. I am not sure but either the monk is a master communicator or Pone Pone is having a little fun by making up answers.

I will write more about this temple and their children later because it is really a terrible situation...I just need to understand it better before I ask friends to help the kids.

How to lose a kidney or two

One of the women who I have mentioned that I have taken to the hospital has had severe kidney stones for the last couple of years. Apparently she did not have money for an operation and,because she is not Thai,she can not get the care through the government insurance. At the start of this year they said one of her kidneys was badly damaged and she had to have it removed which some one agreed to pay for. Now the second one has the same problem and they said that they will try to remove the stones but due to the number of stones it may be too damaged to function. My friend found a donor to pay for the surgery but it may be a little late. It is tough being poor.

Coup Day 2

It is the second day of the coup and I can honestly say nothing seems different...kids are in school, the traffic is normal, the people are somewhat interested in the coup but in the day to day stuff, no difference.

Another bonehead move!

I was traveling to a children's home that is about 50 meters from the Thai/Myanmar border and decided to do a little exploring on the surrounding dirt roads. Some men waved me down at one point and I thought about driving quickly by them until I realized they had guns and I did not. I told them I was going to the temple (which also has the children's home) and they let me go. I realized I made a wrong turn when I saw a Burmese police station. Of course, I had forgotten my money (for bribes) and passport at home so if the police stopped me I had a problem. I decided to go back the way I came and when the same men waved me down I smiled and pointed towards the temple and hoped they knew I was a moron and just lost. Either way, all was fine and I made it back with no problems.

You Call This A Coup?

You may or may not have heard there was a coup today in Thailand. It appears to have the support of the king who is surprisingly popular. You may wonder what happens in our little village when there is a coup. ..not much different. Fewer cars on the street and no school for the kids. Outside of that, all is normal. It is hard to believe there was a coup.

Many in need

I have gone to look at a couple of new children's homes to volunteer at.

Last Friday and Saturday I went to a temple that is about 50 yards from the Thai/Burmese border. It was a difficult situation. There are 60 boys who must go beg for food every morning because the temple has no money for food. They often return late in the morning and can not go to their school (which has 70 children in two classrooms). The roof over the toilets has partially collapsed and the kitchen has totally collapsed. The boys bathe outside with no enclosure. There are 2 women to care for the children in addition to the monks. It is not a good situation. I am not sure what we will do to help, but we will probably do something.

The second home I went to is very different...located in the jungle, it has about 40 children. There is enough food and they do not seem to lack the basic necessities. The women who run it are buddist nuns. The children were having fun and enjoying themselves while I was there. The children (both boys and girls) live in two big rooms, one for boys and one for girls. Not much privacy, and very little light, but not so bad. They need money for food ($100 dollars a month), a battery so they can store electricity from their solar panels (there is no electricity in that area except solar electricity), some mosquito nets so the children will not get malaria and a couple of proper teachers. Again, I am not sure whether we will end up helping them or not, but we will probably help a little at least.

On Friday I will go to a very remote children's home to see what they need and how we can help.

What is going to happen?

I have decided to stop volunteering at Baan Unark. I just decided that the situation was not right for me right now. I still like and respect everyone there...just not the right place for me right now.

20 Years and counting

Yesterday was our 20th Anniversary. Hard to believe.

One of many things I do not know

I was walking in the market in Burma the other day and this kind of rough guy was looking at me. I thought, "this could be trouble". As I passed by him he stepped towards me and I thought something bad was going to happen. Then, he said in perfect English, "you have a nice smile". I guess I know nothing

I have a boyfriend

Update on holding hands with a monk (see below post)

It turns out that women are close physically in Burma not men, so it was quite strange that the monk wanted to hold hands. I am not sure, but I think I have a boyriend. By the way, Yue and Hiroe found this tidbit of information far too entertaining.

My visitors

This week I have had two wonderful visitors from Japan. Yue (with the blue helmet) was a student of mine in Japan and Hiroe is her friend from University. They came to Thailand to learn about refugees and people in need. I think they have been a little overwhelmed by some of the things that they have heard and seen, but I think that they have really enjoyed themselves. I am not certain their parents are going to be so pleased that we went everywhere with three people on a bike but when in Rome...

A visit to another home

I took Yue and Hiroe to another children's home which is very different than ours. The man who runs is with the same organization as our home but he really runs his home on a shoestring and it is in desperate need of money. I will probably try to help him a little on this front. I think that he is probably much more laid back then the women who founded our home.

One thing that was shocking for both Yue and Hiroe was there was a little boy there whose father was Japanese and mother is Thai. They both felt ashamed and were very upset that a Japanese man could leave a child in this situation.

Walking down the street holding hands with a monk

Yesterday I went to Burma with Yue and Hiroe. We made a few stops along the way (see below posts for details). I knew that I had a full day when, at the end of the day, I was walking down the street holding hands with a monk...ok he is not a monk yet (December he will be one) but we were definetly holding hands and I am talking fingers locked together for 10 minutes. I knew that physical closeness is normal for Burmese people so I should not have been surprised. I have never felt so uncomfortable but I figured I should go along with it.

A funny note is Yue took a picture. I hoped she took a picture so I could show it for my most awkward moments on the blog. I asked and she thought I would be upset so she said "no". Later in the night we were talking and she laughed and showed it to us. Quite cute.

I have a technique of getting to know people anywhere...dumb luck. Well not exactly, but pretty close. I just walk around and smile at everyone and sooner or later, someone wants to practice their English with me.

As I mentioned before, we went to a temple/children's home in Burma yesterday and we walked around for one hour no takers. Then, as we were ready to leave, a monk greeted us and invited us into the monestary. We sat and talked about what was going on in Burma and how desperate the situation was regarding the complete lack of freedom and the continuing guerilla war with the Karen Guerillas. He was surprisingly open and told us if the government knew what he said he would go to jail (hence the adjustment to the photo).

Cute kids

As mentioned in the previous post, we went to a children's home in Burma. I used my usual trick with the kids who are a little nervous; I took a digital picture and showed it to them. I have done this many times with kids who have either never or rarely seen pictures of themselves and they are always incredibly excited. In a moment, they go from shy to crazy!

Will that be snakes, big lizard or deer (hoof on) for you maam

Walking through the market in Burma was not too surprising except for this nice group of items...snakes (live), frogs (live), 2 foot long lizard (dead and roasted), deer thingy (guessing here because you can see the hind leg but not a lot more). All of the items unrefrigerated as you might guess. You can click on the picture for a larger version if you like.

Another thing I know

I was driving on my motorbike the other day with a friend of mine on the back. A dog came up and started chasing the bike (not so unusual) so I followed proper Thai motorbike driving ettiquette and I moved the bottom of my foot up like I was going to kick the dog with it. It you kick with the top the dog can grab you and bad things can happen. Usually the dogs know they will get kicked and immediatly back away. This one did not. He got too close and, while driving slowly up a hill, I kicked it pretty good on the tip of its nose with the bottom of my foot. The damn dog did not care...apparently he knows nothing of Thai motorbike driving ettiquette. Either way, I made it to the top of the hill and ended up going down the hill and he got tired of chasing me.

No need to get really sick

I was taking someone to the hospital yesterday and got on the scale for the heck of it. I have lost 30 pounds (about 14kg) since I got back to Thailand. Still not skinny by Asian standards but not a fat pig anymore. I have no idea how I lost it and had no intention of losing weight. The only way I thought I would lose so much weight is to get some nasty sickness; I guess this is the better way.

New Friends

One of the best parts of our life is that we end up making friends with so many people we would not meet any other way. We are hoping to cash in on this by visiting friends all over the world...it remains to be seen whether they will let us visit.

Julien and Camille are a couple from France that we have become friendly with the last few months. It is really rare to meet couples that are volunteering and even rarer that everyone enjoys each other's company.

Julien has just left Thailand to work for the Red Cross in Congo helping children. I think this is a little crazy given the unstable political situation but he seems to be excited about the opportunity. Camille will stay here for a while. They are both wonderful people and we are really luck to have met them.

Another crappy day

Another crappy day. I still love the kids and the friends I have here, but I can not say I am enjoying my day to day work so much. Hopefully it will get better.

Havin a baby

There is a shop that Sandy goes to pretty often and has become friendly with the shop keeper. The lady was pregnant and Sandy asked her when she was going to deliver. The lady said, "Today". How did she know? Her water had broken and she was starting labor. She said she would go to the hospital later...once she finished some things at the shop. We told a friend about this and she said that this is very normal here.