Open your eyes and the world will open up to you

Note: This blog is basically yesterday's journal typed up with some photos slotted in because I know people back home like to 'see' stuff. I'm having a great time, but I want this blog to be a real reflection of this experience- not all saccharine and twee. So I'll leave the stories of massages and gold temples for another blog. Here's a very different story-

"I knew I was volunteering in a third world country. But the poverty is hard to understand. I was angry at first to see skinny cats wander round the foundation. I pointed this out to Momo and she said “that’s what a cat’s supposed to look like Georgia, that’s how they look in India too; you feed them too much in England”. And I wonder which is true?

Then there’s the stories Thai staff told us about stray dogs in Chiang Rai getting driven to Vietnam and sold as meat. Wait, what? Cute fluffy stray dogs… but then I remembered horsemeat and Tesco and I wonder just how similar or different the East is from the West.

We were told in Orientation that we’ll be teaching in the poorest parts of the country. You don’t see that when the classrooms I teach in are pastel painted and decorated with children’s work and paper flowers. But the kids sleep on blankets on the floor in their homes and the nearby stream I’ve seen the hilltribe kids play, bathe and dive in is a murky brown. It could hold any number of diseases or snakes. But they are happy.

It’s hard to say what I really want to say here. It’s fascinating, for sure, this world so far from home. And weirdly, I’ve felt calm all the time I’ve been here- I’m happy to leave all my valuables in the back of a taxi for the day and trust the driver will return when we phone him, or dance in smoky clubs all night with people I met that morning.
If that’s one thing I’m learning, it’s that people are people. And however crazy it sounds, trust everyone you meet, everywhere you go; you’ll never be lost, alone or bored."

 

 

Questions and Answers

Since my last blog I've began telling people my travel plans. Like all conversations, there's a certain rhythm to these conversations with these questions being frequent. Here's my thoughtline if you're wondering the whys/how/what of my volunteering :D


Why Thailand?
Well it's gorgeous: hello waterfalls and jungles (I have a weakness for pretty things..) and I've never been to Asia. I want to experience another culture but not go somewhere I think I won't feel comfortable for a month, like Africa where I would eat nothing and whine about the heat all day. Thailand caters well for vegetarians as it is a Buddhist country: the staple diet is rice so I know I won't starve there :D and it will be the monsoon season, which will prepare me well for living on a welsh coast this autumn!


Do you want to be a teacher then?
It's something I've considered but not as career plan. You see, I hate routines and curriculums so schools don't seem like a fun workplace, I'd get bored and restless after a year. But I'm keen to help others learn things I'm passionate about and mentor people so teaching itself appeals to me and the people I'll be teaching are eager to learn English so I think it will be great!


Are you going on your own?
Yes. I'm going on my own but I won't be on my own. I'll be staying with a group of young people- volunteers who come from all over the world the average age being 18-25. Most volunteers sign onto the programme as individuals too so I won't be on my own. I'm so excited. At the start of the year my friends and I tried to arrange a holiday together but it quickly became impossible with so many conflicts- boyfriends allowed? City break or beach? Hotel or Hostel? England or abroad? That we got nowhere. So I researched and booked this myself :P


How did you afford this?
I'm not rich. I'm so not rich. I don't have a job. The last time I earned money I was 15 and had a paperound! I don't have an ipad and I don't go out much so already I don't spend money so that's pocket money savings, haha. I've saved up money from Christmas and my Birthday, and am fundraising (selling books at a Church coffee morning and my Nan's having a fundraising quiz).
My grandparents saved up money for my 18th from my birth which they gave to me for driving lessons, uni accommodation or the like. As I won't need to drive or be able to afford a car for the foreseeable future and have a maintenance loan for Uni I decided to make the most of having a long summer, being young and having no commitments so spent the money on flights instead :)
Between saving, fundraising and using savings I'll get by. This is something I really want to show: that you don't have to come from a rich background to be able to do these projects. Be determined, have initiative and be savvy- check student deals and countries with cheap currency...


Don't you think it's dangerous?
Whenever I mention I'm solo flying to Bangkok eyes widen, maybe it sounds risky but if I thought everyone in the world was a murderer/rapist/terrorist/pimp then I would never leave my house in Milton Keynes! I want to see the world and I can't do that if I don't open my own front door. I believe most people in the world are good people. It's also worth saying that thousands of young people go abroad each year and return safely it would be somewhat egotistical to think I'm any different to them!


Do you think you'll get homesick?

There are things I know I'm going to miss like flushing toilets (don't think squat toilets are going to be my favourite thing) and Cadburys Dairy Milk. And yeah, I'll be missing my senior prom. But for me the benefits by far outweigh the costs. Cadburys won't close up in my month absence (hopefully!) and on my return I can eat as much of it as I want. I also trust my friends will give me a minute-by-minute breakdown of Prom accompanied by photos and sarcastic commentary...so I won't miss out too much.