Kau Yai Trip (national park)(click)

Four days in the wild...

The cold shower in the wooden villa... the fire place with planks of woods...warming the hearts and souls...

They always circle around the fire, sharing experience , learning from activities, teaching, giving advice.

Being in a group allows me to know the boys better. We made masks ,coloring, cooking, playing football..cheering (in thai)

The deepest impressions from the camp:

-Groups were to perform how Thai peole are easily contented with their lives..even if they are poor. Group A: they sell rice for their neighbours without earning profit, as they just wanted them to have food for the day; Group B: Teacher teaching the kids to save money for their future; Group C: the important five things: Rice, Fish, Veges, Chicken and ( i don't remember) in their lives that they won't live without

- during the performace, they always have Fight scenes. I asked why they had to show it, then I was told that almost all the boys come from difficult backgroud: with family in prison, surviving the streets, its who they are and what they are accustomed to. They always joke about thai boxing, just like we joke about masak-masak.

- no one, i mean NO ONE is afraid of the BUGS. One boy ties a small string on a grasshopper and many have a little pet of their own for the four days. They set them free just before we left.

- There was a ceremony of blessing on the first night. The adults ( including me ) will tie white strings on their wrist. I don't understand before that, and many boys just ran to me and asked for more than two strings. Some said five. Apparently the string represents happiness.

- The last dinner from the trip was supposed to be meaningful. But my group accidently got off control and got into a food-fight. Me and the other facilitator were out of veges. He got angry and left the group. The next morning, a plate of rice full of veges and meat is prepared next to him.

- One boy called me "Mommy" . I thought it was illusion, until he repeated it for the second time.

- Two boys sharing one pair of snickers in the football game.

- Bird, an authistic boy can actually called out the scent of the mosquito repellent on me."Lemon grass", he said.

- the mood swings all boys have . They can be extremely happy and then suddenly sad.

- The praying ceremony to end the nights. They are always thankful to what they have been through the day. both Happy and sad.

Hip-hoping with shyness: How much do they already know?

It was during the sending off party of Tat’s, that I starting to discover hidden talents. The kids learnt hip hop steps, secretly, from somewhere. Some knew some break dance turns, flip over, standing on their hand that totally freaks me out. And here I am trying to teach them some moves!

But they usually don’t show off. Opportunity like this is so rare, that they are willing to show me. Usually after one round, they went to hide behind the refrigerator, or just simply stop dancing. I have to think hard to remember who knows what, to put it in my choreography.



Reminds me of Xuan’s visitation trip, where the boys danced excellently. I bet it will be the same high standard performance if they are willing to show.

I can’t wait for the day to come.

Sticky Rice Incident

Kau Niaw, Sticky rice is quite a normal side dish for all kinds of food. It could be eaten with BBQ chicken, Coconut, Eggs, Mango etc. How do I know it?

It’s simple. First I know about it is when my student, Ning from fundraising department, bought me sticky rice as a thank you gift for correcting her email. Then I said,” Its good!” then I announced I like sticky rice.

Since then, this high cholesterol, fattening sticky rice appeared in front of me wherever I go. I got it for the next day, for breakfast. Then I mistakenly bought raw meat (it was wrapped the same way in leaves), thinking that it was sticky rice by the street. Pi Deng(woman in red, Deng means red in Thai), heard of the story when the raw meat was sent to her office, the next two days, she came with Mango sticky rice with extra coconut extract. That second day was the day that I ended up with 4 packets of sticky rice on my table.

I have to shout that I am on a diet to stop all this sticky rice from keep coming to me. God knows when I am on diet.

A Football artist and a send off party

A young healthy football player cum skillful artist was put on bed, paralyzed after huffing “glue”. Basically it is a cheap alternative of drugs that can be bought easily. It could be the thinner that we use in wheels of the engine, or the ‘fragranced’ petroleum.

PIC2: THE BOYS AND THEIR HOUSEMOM, AN PAN
On the other hand, we just send off Tat, a talented football player to a boarding school where he could expand his football skills in Phuket. No wonder that day only two turned up in my English class. I thought they were all lazy, but they were helping in the kitchen, preparing for the send off party. I felt guilty for being angry afterwards realizing that is the reason they skipped class. What could I do, I do not understand the announcement during dinner the day before.


That is how I came up with drawing portrait of Tat as a send off present. Since then, I am overbooked for more portrait-drawing.

PIC4: TAT THE FOOTBALL PLAYER

A Home in the Shack

Kun Sombat invited me to their routine community outreach. They do it once in a while, to ensure the aid is available for the need. So out we go with packets of daily products and food. The ice-cream like cookies in the plastic bags, wow, never seen it again since I live in Kuala Lumpur.


We dressed in Yellow and walked around the slums of Suan Oi and Ban Kuay, with two big plastic bags on our hands. It was a very hot sunny days. The staffs in yellow look like angels as I see them seeking for the needy ones and hand out the plastic bags. Yeah, they don’t just give everybody. If so they are not doing their jobs. They asked the people in the slums the name of people that are in trouble. Then they surveyed about their family members and what they are doing.


One family of ten we visited were basically living in a shack, barely 6 x 4 feet square, consist from new born baby and up till the old grandmother. The young teenage girl is studying with the scholarship support from Mercy Centre. The slums are mostly built roughly under big highways and dirty still river. I took a picture at a bridge right on the still river, filled with insects and eggs, never seem so on a photo. One staff joked that it is yet another Venice.





These were the support Mercy Centre gives to the community besides the Home for orphanage and HIV/Aids Hospice. Some people thought they have got enough money because of the big office building and the Aid Hospice house accommodating few hundreds of staffs and children. Is aid ever enough for the community that is filled with drug problems, family problems and poverty?

The “what do you do?” conversation

I remember an ex-MD of Microsoft said on Oprah, “As I quit the job from Microsoft to work on donating books to Nepal, I am not a popular guy in functions anymore,” and he chuckled.

Deb told us during her last English class before leaving, that “What do you do?” is always the right way to start conversation in parties in the states. Then people will start telling you their life story, what they work as, where do they come from, where they got their degrees…

My brain starts spinning quickly as the staffs start asking the question among us. Give them an answer about myself in a simple sentence. After all it’s only an English class, but I was serious about it, thinking that it is a practice before going to the States.
Until… Te, the Computer teacher, asked me.” Are you married?” and asked again for several times.

You don’t need to teach a man how to flirt.

Paper frogs

The kids always make me think. They are so tiny, yesterday when one hopped on the other and stood on the scale; they added up to 50 kilos (not even a full Si Jie).

They chose to be crazy about paper frogs over expensive toys. (Yeah, nobody buys for them). I sat down two days ago one evening watching 7 kids blowing the paper frogs from one end of the table to the other, repeatedly, for one hour, giggling and laughing.

Then, all would get distracted from their Cartoons and gathered around to check out on a bug, flying moth, or any insects that is unlucky enough to be seen. When they are watching cartoons, I am invisible (they usually approach me asking where I’ll be going). When they saw a bug, the TV will turn invisible.

So, by deduction, I am less than a bug.

Then you thought they are all cute and innocent. But one manage to survive in a garbage dump after the parents passed away for a year before was found by social worker. One manage to live alone in a Market since 3 years old, then ran away from the centre 5 years later to 20 km away to see his family out from prison.

I brought 8 to a park yesterday, to join a farewell of a staff.

Food + Soft drinks + chocolate ice-cream + paddle boat trip + taking pictures + outdoor = a Happy day to remember!

Galong ( a 35 year old man with a form of down-syndrome) was dressed up since 8 am to go to this trip which started at 1.30 pm.

Bus and Song Theaw

Never really tried taking a bus back home, I was breaking my own rules by trying on buses to save cost. I prefer to shop for stickers and Cartoons these days.

When people thought what could be cheaper than the bus, there is this special service called “Songtheaw”. Anyone who has tried hitch-hiking will know how to do this. The Songtheaw truck is bigger than a tuk tuk, more efficient than the bus ( it goes all around the main road and stops at bus stops and whenever you say stop!) and 2 baht(RM 0.20) cheaper than the bus!

So here, people hop on and off from trucks. You wave to stop them. Having one terrible experience taking the wrong bus when it was raining cats and dogs, I decided to stick with the later. Although, I still have problems identifying one (most vehicles used here are trucks!)

Thai massage : Overrated

Having heard so much about thai massages and how the Farongs (foreigner) love them, I decided to spend 250 baht ( RM 25, 50 kroners, 8 dollars…) on a full body massage. Deb and Mike brought me to their regulars, where it is next to a cozy bar.

I could hear the songs from the bar in the private room of the Massage centre. It was totally overrated, as I came back with a pain on my spine, not to mention how clumsy I was in following instruction in their Thai-accent-English. Then again, I do got the sense of satisfaction after hearing some ‘Clag and clug’ as she twist my waist and arms.

As I am about to leave, Deb and Mike told me that the lady who serves you will stand right at the front door. I asked “For what?” “Oh, for the tips!” So another unspoken rules over here, and I am telling you guys.

I followed them, paying 50 baht to our lady. Heartache.

‘Venice’

I am lucky enough to have been to the real Venice. However, these two weeks, I have also visited some really incredible actions in the other ‘Venice’. Mainly all these ‘venices’ serve only one purpose, to fill our stomach!

One boat after another passed by or stopped to carry their ‘good’s with a ‘fishing net’ to the customers by the deck. From teh tarik to Kuey Teow, pop corns (an exceptional item that is thrown), the floating market sellers busy cooking on their wooden boat, making the sell of the day.

I thought I am proud of the varieties of the food that I have tried in Malaysia, but as I entered the buzz of another floating market in Wan Nam Pheung, my eyes popped! From Chinese dim sum to some nyonya-like coconut cakes, Cookies, food wrapped in leaves, my colleagues took me from one stall to another TRYING the food.

Looking at the Chinese Thais, more questions came about: How could they remain their traditions and food but not their mother tongue? As the worst hokkien speaker, people are still pretty amazed I could understand ” ku di gor “ “Jiak ba beh?”

Third World Country and my childhood:

Ever remember how the tools in our house has advanced into those we have now? Microwave oven, Cleaning Machine, Electric Stool, Vacuum Cleaner replacing the feather duster, fire stool, coals, bamboo sweeps, rattan baskets… Things can be really clean and shinny!

I was once told, “Thailand is too third world for me, I came here because of the cheap living expenses.”

The world third world reminds me of my childhood. After all, we progressed from there. When I was four, I watched my grandparents swept the dirt with bamboo sweeps and feather dusters; I am still hearing rattan sticks hitting on my hands from primary school and my naughty days. Once in a while during Chinese New Year, I will see neighbors opposite back in my hometown making cookies with coal on the fire stool.

So whenever I see a bicycle full of bamboo baskets rides by, I will ask myself, “What’s wrong with third world?”

Emotional Roller Coaster

1 going away...for good this time, a football career!
I was just having loads of fun by the beach and thought that i got to know more and more people, but it seems that I only expect the good things but not the reality.

some ran away, some manage to come back ,healthy , and some come back with sickness.
some remain in the centre, happy and obedient. Some never manage to behave...

that is what keep the centre busy each day, dealing with different happenings... but feeling the sincerity in everyone in their job, I am comfortable here.

The girls went to camp, so I don't have the afternoon class. Watched some marvelous films in the 1940s - ' citizen kane' and ' rear Window'..I am very impressed by how the movie's plot developed from the most simplistic setting... and simple idea, for example a person's life and spying on the neighbours.

The market here is always exciting to look around. I wanted to buy little stickers for the boys but ended up buying myself yet another top. maybe i have to wait a little for my sisters to come join me before i start the real shopping.

The little girls are having fun dancing with me everyday. Hip hop and salsa today. I wonder they will be willing to put up a performance that i am planing now??

have my lunch with the most random ppl today.. dunno them...just noe that they are staff.but during lunch, they just asked me to jump on their bikes, and then off I left with them to a place near the Klong toey temple for lunch. Typical spicy papaya salad, plus some fish and meat..... my life is full of FOOD surprise...

Ampawa and Cha-an Trip (click)

Teaching Nightmare

And you said teaching was fun???

Today is the day when everything seemed to go wrong!
It’s good that I am able to observe their intentions behind their attitude, like the little kids are jealous of anyone who would get my attention, fighting over an odd color notebook.

The older girls are not doing the exercise properly or making fun of the girls among them.

Kids are really spoilt today, even in the orphanage! They have almost everything! Sponsors, computer rooms, volunteers, yet they didn’t really know the deep meaning behind all those care and love.

Lastly, the little boys I am teaching. I have no idea, what I have run into. Maybe I will remain just a friend of them rather be a teacher that require much more patience, shouting and ‘understanding’ if not you will definitely getting a heart-attack every minute!

The reason I am still going on, because there are always some of them who are caring and understanding enough to make your day.

4 girls helped me carry my books and teaching tools after the class. One man opened and closed the car door for me. The house parent who has little English help translates for me. Yesterday when Alison (new volunteer from Wales) and I went to 7 eleven just across the street, one boy came with a baseball stick to protect us from the wild dogs!

And WHO mentioned Thailand is chaotic?? Never believe the newspaper. I am so serious about this now. I am making a statement here! I feel that its safer and classier than KL because of the people. (Quality tourists and locals, yeah you will know what I mean)

I went to one of the nicest (first) night market in Lumphini today with Alison, Deb and Mike. The price of a quality meal is so affordable even for me! All, I mean ALL the things are pretty and CHEAP, yes I mean it!( pretty clothes(normally 40 ringgit) range from 10 to 25rm) It will be stupid to shop in KL( or HK) at all!!! Streets are clean, safe( police are everywhere)its cozy, easy access (metro is right next to it, and many main shopping places) quiet to walk around, all the shops are very organized, its not wet and dirty at all! And there more than hundred of them to spin around!

I can’t wait to wait for anybody (you know who you are) to come!!! So Come! I have known some really nice hang out place from INSIDER!! And this weekend I am going to the beach with the kids!

updated Pictures of the week

Enjoy!

"Fantastic 4 " with the boys

I know the boys more and more as the day progress and as my Thai progresses as well.

Today is the third day, after weeping over the touching stories of Father Joe’s, I thought I could see through their innocent faces, smell the sweat and tears that hopefully have long gone.

It was the big day of Andrew Bigg’s Academy visit. They came for a one day workshop, giving the kids interest and confidence to learn English. In between the workshops, I brainstormed with Deb with more Interesting materials for our coming English class. Then, I met John, during the lunch break, and talked a lot of him living in Bangkok and how I ended up in Bangkok. It’s like the 3rd John I met in 4 days? Mine!!

He said he is 25, how am I to believe that when he has white moustache and that mature look? I see more than 5 years difference! But the Power Point workshop he conducted was more than exhausting! It’s a step to step guide from downloading pictures, to saving the pictures in folder, then creating a Power Point presentation about Thailand. Of course, it’s a very good method to make them interested in the skill itself. Two kids under my provision got a cap for the colorful presentation they did.(only 4 got it!)

My motivation of learning Thai increases each day as I came back to Mercy 1 to the kids. Now I understand why Neung’s nickname is Mercy one. I love them dearly, each and every actions from dinner makes me laugh. They tease at each other, yet still know how to respect, they wanted the Potato Chips i bought but still know how to share and get only their own portion. They know I can’t speak Thai but still try to communicate with me.

We sat in the TV room watching “Fantastic 4 “today, and I planned to have Boat and some other kids with rhythm to perform in Father Joe’s birthday. It would be such great fun.

First day in HDF, Bangkok

They asked me to go home at 4 pm. But what?
Its only three hours after my wake up time!

God knows I am active at night! haha

Yeap, I woke up at 6 50 am today, something I have not done for two months. Bluey....
Came to the Centre and meet dozens and dozens of staff who are working so hard to make sure the smooth working of the whole Foundation.

I can always pronounce their name, but it took alot of time to remember them. So I wrote them all down....name and post, i wanted to take a picture of them as well as I have my camera with me. but it felt a little too much so I didn't do it ...

Surprisingly, i am already helpful on my first task-- interviewing possible candidates for Singapore UWC Grade 8ders. Giving them courage to speak in English is so important as all of them are quite nervous facing me and the other volunteer, Deborah, who has been here on and off for a few years, together with Michael, her husband.

After lunch, I joined Deb's class of Staff English class. The staffs who turned up were the Art and Computer teacher. The class was so fun pin-pointing the countries on the Globe. Really, they are cute when they speak english....i almost forget they are teachers.:P

Speaking of lunch, it was kinda like Laksa, but it wasn't spicy at all...for desert i had Pumpkin soup which is abit like BU BU CHA CHA. Suddenly i came up with teaching the girls to make Pumpkin fried rice. Yeah, I am cooking, which is something i never do at home!

people tried speaking hokkien and cantonese and mandarin with me...of course..i could understand everything. Father Joe, the founder of HDF , tried to catch me with words that I may not know...but its his accent that is confusing!

Please entertain me at night.. call me or something..so that i will not be that boring!!!
my free time is after 5 pm onwards!! can u believe it!!!

my phone number +66838857751