Buggery, scrubbers, animals in the garden,old habits die hard, zen and the art of bicycle maintenance, lest we forget, no strings attached

Spot the ex teacher (thanks Kerry, the educational CD Roms are a hit). Spot the guy following the maxim - start with the little problems first.

The first week involved quite a bit of orientation, getting to know the people, the organisation and its culture. (Writing this at week 3 and we are still doing that). Our accomodation is a new 2 bedroom bungalow. It is very well appointed with furniture and fridge  and over the course of the week we topped it up with a few things like electric jug, mats, broom, toilet brush, dishcloths etc. Showers are cold, just how we like them?!

Alyson an English expat from Phuket is a regular volunteer has been involved with BTNC from almost the begining post Tsunami.  She speaks Thai and has a vehicle and this made our orientation relatively easy.  First night she took us to "the buggery" in Takua Pa, the town 5 mins away by car. The buggery is in fact a very pretty, leafy outside bar and restaurant. It also sells icecream and has a bakery. Bakery apparently is very difficult English word for native Thai speakers to pronounce.

We shared the week  with newlyweds Aaron and Christin from Massachusetts who came each day from their hotel to give some time on their honeymoon. Nice idea. Nice people. Amongst other things we scrubbed mossy walls in the rain at  an associated community centre, cut out stencils for the kids to assemble into Xmas cards to sell, and made a start on fixing the kids bikes that have unfortunately fallen into a sorry state of repair. Seeing this through will be something of a challenge.

 On Friday animals turned up in the garden and in the afternoon Sue helped returf around them. Later that day we went to Baan Nam Khem the beach and community that copped the full force of the Tsunami. The kids love swimming and the truck was packed with excited noisy children.... and 4 farangs. We parked outside the Tsunami Memorial , a long wave shaped wall of names of some of those who died, farang and Thai. Without prompting some of the kids took us by the hand and walked us silently down the wall. It was very poignant. Ten minutes later we were all swimming in that same sea. Shallow warm water, with gentle waves, and the sound of children's laughter everywhere.

 On Saturday morning we went to BTNC's temple for a Bhuddist ceremony marking the end of rainy season. As well as prayer lots of eating was involved. Hope it works. The temple is relatively new and is functional rather than elaborate or ornamental. The head monk started it after the Tsunami and it is on the site where the orphanage began its life as tents for Tsunami survivors, hence it is their temple.

Sunday marked the end of our first week. There was a party, but  not to mark that occasion, rather to see off 3 girls ( aged 12 -15) and one staff member who are being sponsored over to Austarlia for 2 weeks, and another staff member who is going to study English in Oz for 3 months.  Trips of a lifetime for some and they are very excited. Teachers, relatives, local politicians came, ate, watched dances and skits, made speeches and tied good luck strings around the departees wrists. We  sat at the top table etc and also tied strings. Seems that being resident farang comes with some reponsibilities, and some strings are attached.....