I have officially left the orphanage and am currently in Bangkok for a couple of days, whilst me and Nat gather our things, plan routes and work out what we can reasonably dump on some of her family friends out there so that we don't have to lug EVERYTHING round Thailand for the next couple of weeks.

Anyway, whilst I have a LOT of photos of the babies from my last days with them, the internet here is not cheap and the photos take a LONG time to upload, so I think I'll wait until I'm home and the internet is free being paid for by my parents before I try to put them up.

I don't know how often I will be able to update whilst on the road, so this may be it for the next couple of weeks. We shall see!

My immune system decided to kick in in time for the anniversary!

No video this time around, however, because of the deaded laptop. :( Still - photos!

The coincidence of the final death of my laptop power cable and the emergence of a particularly endearing hacking cough have kept me off the blog and out of the baby room respectively.

When I finally DID re-enter the baby room this week, (having gone four days and decided that if I WASN'T past the infectious stage of the virus then I was going to die of boredom soon ANYWAY so getting killed by the baby room nurse for bringing in a contagon would probably be worth it), of course, they all had the exact same cough and rattling chest that i did, which cleared up that little mystery.

Not that it was ever much of one to begin with.

Unfortunately, the death of my laptop power cable means that my laptop is out of use for the foreseeable future and this will make uploading pictures much harder. Not impossible, but definitely a more painstaking and generally irritating process. Fear not, however, gentle readers! It shall be done! Just so long as I can get to grips with this utterly STONE AGE cable connection. Seriously, the wireless internet was hardly lightening speed but the cable is going at a rate comparable to that of a rather dozey slug. I mean, the slug might actually be passed out in a gutter somewhere - it's THAT bad. XP

In other news, all the volunteers went out for dinner tonight, at a Thai restaurant, because the first lot of us are leaving this Sunday, and by the end of the month we will all have gone, and the next lot will have arrived. How weird is that?

Oh, and I nearly got myself locked in a Catholic grave yard in the dark. But that's another story. And far less entertaining than it sounds, I promise.

As of the first of march, our volutary placement at the orphanage officially ended.

For anyone not paying attention to the smattering of posts I've written on this subject, here's a basic summary:

I am a volunteer for a Catholic Charitable Foundation which acts as an umbella organisation for a number of charitable projects in the area. One of those projects was the orphanage where all the babies I post photos of here live. I spend the vast majority of my time in that orphanage since I teach the orphanage pre-school (or I DID) and have bonded with most of the babies.

The orphanage was situated on land owned by the local Thai Catholic Dioscese. The Catholic Charitable Foundation I work for was renting that land. The dioscese was not happy with how the orphanage was being run and decided not to renew the lease on the land at very short notice (they were meant to give at least two years notice if they did not intent to renew the lease). As a result, at the end of 2007 the dioscese took the land back from the Catholic Charitable Foundation and took over the running of the orphanage itself. All the staff employed by the Catholic Charitable Foundation, many of whom lived at the orphanage with the children, were moved out and redeployed elsewhere. The last to go were us - the CCF's volunteers. We lived on the orphanage grounds too, and finally moved out last month. The dioscese announced that they no longer wanted us to be involved with voluntary work at the orphanage - we were no longer to teach English to the pre-schoolers, or take the two disabled girls who live there on outtings. We could return to visit the toddlers and babies if we wanted to, but we would need to get visitor's badges.

While glad to have been moved out of the orphanage to the CCF's centre fascilities, which are MUCH nicer, nobody here is particularly pleased with the way the Dioscese uncerimoniously turfed us out without any seeming concern for the welfare of the kids we were helping. I suspect there's a lot of bad blood between the CCF (which is American) and the local dioscese. Apparently, the relationship between them and the head of our organisation has always been rocky.

However, four days into our 'no longer helping at the orphanage' phase, the Dioscese is back peddling.

What they seem to have realised is that there is literally NO ONE ELSE to do what we were doing. The pre-schoolers have a teacher who gives them normal pre-school lessons, but she speaks no English and the kids need to learn at least a few words before they start real school. The two disabled girls (wards of the orphanage who cannot live independantly because they have multiple physical and mental disabilities) have NO ONE to interact with any more except their two nannies. Which means they spend ALL DAY sat in the bottom floor of the building they occupy, doing nothing, because the volunteers no longer take them out twice a day. Both girls have been exceptionally unhappy as a result and have been making their displeasure known by being increasingly aggressive with their nannies.

So the Dioscese has been making sheepish noises towards the idea that we could... you know... take the girls out every now and again... if we ask at the office first... and - perhaps do a lesson with the pre-schoolers... just once a week.... or... something...

Yes, if I were a mean person, I'd be saying 'HA HA HA.'

But instead I'll just go back to teaching my pre-schoolers English and taking Nimmy and Bonnie out for ice cream in the afternoons, thanks much - and hope the dioscese is over it's little territorial tantrum enough that we can all get on with providing these people with a decent quality of life like we were MEANT to be doing all along.

There is only one english speaking channel that I can get on TV here that is not a news channel.

It's a south African tv channel called M-Net Series, and it broadcasts crappy American reality shows, crappy British soaps, frankly bizaar African reality TV shows ('Stand Up Zambia', anyone? 'Kenya's Next Top Model'?) and semi-watchable American dramas (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practise, Lincoln Heights - nothing hugely thrilling but it's good background noise).

It's the one channel I can watch and just absorb myself into for a couple of hours each night  enough to firmly tuck me away from the events of the day.

And of ALL the channels to unexpectedly go awal today, THAT was the one that did.

JUST as the last episode of 'The Manwhore Bachelor' was about to be broadcast. And 'Top Chef'! I don't know any of their names but they all hate each other and cook really good looking food. It's entertainment for your appetite! Friday is the BEST night of TV and I'm missing it! All that channel is currently broadcasting is a silent, endlessly repeating advert for cable tv. NO TOP CHEF!

WHHHHHHY?!

I'll let it go for tonight but if I get up tomorrow and it's still not back I'll o down to the reception and attempt a little Thai-glish negotiation ('Mnet where kaaa?') I have no idea if they'll get it. After all, it's one, very obscure TV station out of thirty five I have to choose from. However, those other thirty five are ALL either in Thai, German, or are American news channels.

I need crappy American reality tv for my sanity, damn it!

So today, we took the pre-schoolers swimming.

We went to the same water park we took the toddlers to WAAAAAY back on my very first day with the kids, and it was as crazy and filthy as I remember it being, but this time we had the pre-schoolers instead of the toddlers, so there was at least less worry about the kids losing control of their bowels in the water this time round.

We were there for three hours, in which time I was climbed on, nearly drowned, used as a slide, used as a pack horse, used as a barrier between two screaming, infuriated five year olds as they fought over who got the big inflatable whale next, ridden about like a train, and had my towel stolen by a tiny, trembling chipmunk who used it to store her enormous collection of food.

Funto is Thai for 'rain'.

As in - HOLY CRAP THE OCEAN IS FALLING ON US!

Which is what apparently happened this afternoon.

This is the first time I've seen real rain in a good three months. The last time I remember seeing a downpour like this was back in OCTOBER. So it would appear that the Thai 'summer' (aka monsoon season) has arrived early this year. It's been getting steadily hotter and more humid as February as progressed, which is expected; but the rain isn't meant to start until late April/May.

Which kind of makes me wonder what the rains in late April and May will look like (and makes me equally glad that I wont be here to find out!)

Also, I did two weeks worth of dirty washing this morning. Which finally got all the dirty clothes offmy floor, but also means that my entire room now sells like damp laundry, since I have no balcony to hang drying clothes on any more. I'd post pictures to demonstrate the lack of non-laundry-occupied space in my room, but frankly, I'm reluctant to put pictures of my freshly laundered underwear on the web, so if you could just imagination the inside of a hat box stuffed with stuff, most of which is laundry, you'll be along the right lines.

The good:

Musee's teeth are coming in! She has two tiny white tips just starting to poke through at the front on the bottom jaw. I can't imagine her with teeth! Warawit is pretty much an official walker now. He's not out of the infants' room more than two months!

The bad:

My bike has a puncture in the back wheel. I find this suspiscious because it did NOT have one yesterday evening, I haven't been ANYWHERE that could cause punctures, and at least two other bikes have back wheel punctures this morning. I think someone's been going round vandalising them. :( There's a public pool on the grounds of the centre and we have nowhere to store our bikes but right outside the centre in the open, so they are obvious targets. It's HUGELY irritating 'cause I have no idea where I could get the bike fixed, and suddenly the trip between the orphanage and the centre is taking ten minutes instead of two because I have to make it on foot.

The drooly:

Comonint is adorable. And her name sounds like a posh brand of tea. XP

1. Fishermen pants. Basically, brightly coloured sheets of fabric with legs and ties at the back. They fit anyone, can be bought everywhere, are very cheap and very comfy and come down to just past the knees. All the volunteers wear them pretty much every day, me included.

2. Stray dogs who want to eat you. Particularly if you are on a bike.

3. Thai-glish. Which basically involves saying anything in English and adding the polite Thai word 'ka' onto the end of any sentence directed at another person.

4. Drinkable jelly. Mmm - yummy.

5. There is a wart on my right knee. It's VERY attractive.

6. Non-existant road laws.

7. There is a cut on the nail bed of the big toe on my left foot. It wont close up because the edge of my nail keeps forcing it open. It 's been there for nearly two weeks now. And it HURTS.

8. The insanity that is The Mighty Boosh keeps me sane.

9. Roadside washing machines that WONT TAKE MY GODAMN TEN BAHT COINS.

10. Rice.

11. Adverts for obscure, African-made tv dramas on TV.

12. The recurring dream I've been having about getting home, but only being allowed to stay for twenty four hours.

The above is the sound I make, accompanied by a deft slapping motion, at the beginning of almost every lesson while I'm handing out the pre-school kids' folders as we begin that days' lesson.

This gesture is almost exclusive aimed at one or both of two of the older boys - meat Four and Wut.

<this is Wut. I don't have a decent picture of Four. XP

I have this problem where I keep getting Four and Wut mixed up. They're the same age and height, often sit side by side and have an identical cheeky grin. It reminds me of this problem I had when I was back in P7, where I kept getting two of my class mates mixed up. Though they didn't look THAT much alike, they both had dark hair, were about the same height and had at least vaguely similar personalities, enough that it took me a good couple of months to get them sorted out in my mind.

This wouldn't be a MASSIVE problem with Wut and Four, were it not for the fact that both boys have cottoned onto the fact that I can't immediately tell them apart with any certainty. And they now try to confuse me on purpouse at every chance they get.

I am now PRETTY good at getting the boys right first time. But I'm not at all helped by the fact that whenever I try to give Four his folder, he shakes his head and points at Wut like its HIS. And I've fallen for this not once, not twice, but COUNTLESS times. He, of course, thinks it's hilarious - as does Wut. It gets even MORE confusing when I get mixed up first time round and try to give Four Wut's folder and he actually takes it to pretend that it's his and then Wut corrects me and tries to get his folder back off Four and Four exchanges it and then they swap AGAIN and keep pointing at each other when I try to address one or the other until I'm TOTALLY confuse and just start pointing going 'Monkey one! Monkey two!'

And let's not even get started on what happened when I came in accidentally wearing my trousers back to front and the kids noticed before I did...

No one tells you how children can run rings around you, even when they don't speak your language.

Let's talk about Maprang.

If you told me that I could take just one of the babies home with me, no strings, no questions, just wave a magic wand and make it legal and do-able and give me the time, money and emotional capability to raise a child - I know exactly which one it would be.

And it wouldn't be Musee, despite how closel I've bonded to her and how much I adore that kid (she is so, SO close to walking! She took five steps all by herself today! FIVE!).

See, Musee's up for adoption; in fact, apparently she's already been tentatively matched with a family in Germany. Tenatively beause children cannot be legally adopted out of Thailand by foriegners before they are a year old; but so long as no Thai families come forward and apply to adopt her before her first birthday, she'll be going to Germany.

No, if I got that 'wave a magic wand and make it happen' moment and someone waved a hand at the babies and said 'pick one'; I'd be grabbing Maprang and running before anyone had a chance to change their minds.



Maprang isn't elligible for adoption. I don't know why - either she is an abandonment case, so they have no papers for her, or her parents placed her in the orphanage but chose not to terminate their rights. Some parents do that and come back to see their kids regularly - Prawit's mother comes in every week; there's a young woman who looks no older than me who comes in and cries over one of the infants in the infants' room every couple of days. But if Maprang still has parents with rights to her, they haven't been in to see her while I've been here.

Lately, Maprang has bonded herself to me. The older babies are like that - they move from volunteer to volunteer, depending on who is flavour of the month. Apparently, for February, I am Maprang's. She's been all over me the past couple of weeks, having not been that interested in me at ALL for the past four months.

Maprang isn't everything I would want in a daughter. If I were picking the kid who would be my IDEAL daughter, I'd be taking Koerapin home. She's tough, smart, funny, a TOTAL tom-boy already, rambuntious, cheeky, NEVER listens to authority figures, totally stubborn - EXACTLY the little girl I want to raise.

But Maprang is small, and sweet, and dainty. She's shy, and she spooks easily and she's sensitive. She likes cuddling and hiding rather than play-wrestling. But she's SO sweet and SO funny and smart - really smart. And stubborn in her own, tricky way. She thinks everything is HILARIOUS and she plays the Thai equivilant to Peekaboo (Dah-AAAAAY!) behind my back every chance she gets.

And, without the magic wand, she'll grow up in this orphanage. No family for Maprang.

And that makes me incredibly, unbearably sad.

Since I took several BILLION photos this week, I'm just posting my favourites.

Enjoy!

Did I mention that itty bitty gorgeous little Palatra (who I do not, by any means, refer to as 'My Little Bumble Bee') has a bald patch?

Guess where I am?

I am in my room. In my ant-free, clean and cleaned,air conditioned, hot shower, fridge and tv posessing, non-FLOODED room.

I can actually get wireless up here! It slow but it's HERE.

Our co-ordinatuer saw the photos of the flood, smelt what the bottom floor of the volunteers' house currently smells like, pulled some strings and freed up just enough rooms in the foundation centre to get us moved.

And because I wasn't away for a long weekend, I got to move TONIGHT.

So here I am.

And life is so much better already. ^_^


An illustration of the stairs in the volunteers' house at the height of the flooding...