First Day of Volunteering in Thailand!

I slept better last night (with the help of some Tylenol PM) and was up at 7:00am and downstairs to meet Prachit at 8:00am. At 8:10am she still wasn’t there so I called and then texted her to see if I got the time right. We ended up leaving at 8:15am and walking the 10ish minutes to the bus stop.

The bus is nothing more than a pickup truck. The bed of the truck is covered and has benches on either side and if that’s full you have to stand on the back and hold on (like a fireman!) I think I am at the beginning of the route because I have to show the man a card with where I am going and he points to the correct bus. Oh and it has to be yellow! I take the yellow trucks!

It took about 35 minutes to get to my stop and I am NOT a fan of the bus. It’s hot, you’re sitting at an awkward angle and you can’t really see out (which I do not like).

Once we got dropped off it was about another 10 minute walk to the orphanage! I don’t HATE the commute, but I do hate that I will be spending 2 hours a day traveling when I feel like it could be better spent. But, I am thankful that my hostel is in a good location so I think the commute is worth it!

When we arrived at the Vieng Ping Children’s home I had to hand in my application and passport! Talk about well run! I have never had to do either in all the places I have volunteered! The application asked all about where I was from, what qualifications I have, passport and visa info and references (I forget who I put but if they call you say nice things!) They also made a copy of my passport and visa and I had to sign both!

The home is HUGE and is actually more like a campus (it probably takes 15 to 20 minutes to walk the whole thing). The children start in the baby rooms and continue on to different rooms all the way up until they are about 7 and then they get moved to girls homes and boys homes (I saw rooms but they are actually all different buildings).

Prachit said I would be working in the baby room where there are 25 kids from newborns to about 2. Since it was the morning they were outside in these..well they were big carts and at first it made me laugh but then it made sense as they couldn’t have all the kids running off!

It reminded me a lot of the Home of Joy..picking up the crying ones and trying to console them. I had a long talk with John who I think is in his 50’s and is from Australia although has been living in Chiang Mai for the past 10 years. I have no idea what he used to do for work but now he spends a lot of time with NGO’s helping out with adoption. He said most of the children here have parents but they either can’t afford them, had unwanted pregnancies, drug problems etc. He said about 40% are adoptable (although he mentioned he didn’t know of any who were adopted from the U.S.) He then said how he has been volunteering here for about 10 years now and he told me he didn’t think they were taken care of very well (although I disagree). He said how the Buddhist belief is that “orphans” are being punished for something bad they did in their past life. He didn’t think the staff gave them much love, etc.

Anyway I then went to the lunch room to help three kids practice eating on their own. Pretty soon these kids will leave the baby room and move on to a big kid room so they have them practice feeding themselves.

I then went back to the feeding room to help feed the babies, although I think they are the hardest ones yet! They don’t seem to want to eat and are just squirming all around. Between 11:00am-11:30am they try to finish eating and put them down for naps (sometimes a bath as well). Prachit stayed with me which I thought was GREAT (none of my other coordinators have done that).

It was then diaper folding time (which I have never done before) although at most of the orphanages I have been at they do all use cloth diapers.

At this point I was starving so we headed outside to get some food (which ended up being a tiny little stand). The food was cheap (good) but I did not like it (bad). Here is the thing..I TRY anything and I TRY to like it..but I just DON’T! Prachit said I could eat there every day, but in my opinion life is too short to spend 5 days a week eating a lunch I don’t even like! So I will have to figure out something..either bring my own lunch or eat somewhere else. But there aren’t a lot of options in the area and if I eat there it’ll be by myself (the staff doesn’t really speak English).

After lunch it was rest time. Now I am ALL about resting, especially with these kids, but it was awkward. Prachit said the normal schedule was volunteering from 9:00am-11:30am, have lunch and nap and volunteer again from 2:00-4:30. Now I don’t MIND long days BUT I liked it better when I could switch it up. The kids are GREAT and cute, but I feel like I need a little break (am I complaining too much?) The thing I liked about Cambodia was I had long days (like this) but I had time to relax by myself at lunch and I did two different things so I felt like I was changing it up enough to stay fresh.

She said I could take a nap upstairs, which ended up being this mat (not too comfy) on the floor in the play room that the kids throw up, pee and poop on. Sorry but it’s true. I felt sort of awkward (the room is HUGE and it was so bright out) so I don’t think that’s going to work out. I appreciate the fact they give me time to rest (the staff rests too but I think somewhere else) but it just feels awkward. I couldn’t fall asleep because it was just weird. Prachit said the staff sometimes rests in the room with the kids or they just relax and chat which is great, but since we don’t speak the same language it really is just me!

So that, combined with lunch, makes me think I might not stick around during that time. That is the one thing that has been hard about ALL my placements is there is a huge chunk of time for lunch and naps. BUT since I am so far away it doesn’t really make sense for me to go back to the hostel and then come back, but it also doesn’t make sense for me to stay and literally do NOTHING for 2 hours. I don’t know, I will play it by ear and see what happens.

After our “nap” the kids were awake and we got to play with them in the room, which was fun! There was more to do than in the morning when I was playing with them outside.

I was pleasantly surprised with how great the staff is (so I am confused as to what John was saying). They give the kids lots of attention and love and are always playing with them. I also see they check diapers regularly, etc. so that was great to see and I think they are being treated well.

A nurse in training came to visit, Mahena from France. She is in her final year of school (she seems a little older than me) and I don’t think she is exactly doing nursing things at the orphanage (she was just playing with the kids like me) but she has been here for two weeks and will leave in another two.

I also met Sally who is from the U.S. but has been living in Germany for the past 10 years. She said how she was here last year for 4 months and is now here until June. I have no idea what she does for a living (if anything..she seems in her 50’s) that she can take that time off. I asked her if she was working here or just volunteering and she said last year she did both but this year she is just volunteering because she is also taking Thai language classes. Oh and she has a furnished apartment here!

Around 4:30pm Prachit and I headed out and I was exhausted. I could already tell my back was going to be sore since most of the day was spent holding kids etc. We walked and had to cross a highway (no joke) so we could pick up the bus going in the other direction. Since it was the end of the day there was more traffic and I already know I am going to hate the commutes on this bus!

I was SO happy to get back to the hostel to rest and could have stayed there all night. But I ventured out to find some dinner and just ended up at some no name place and then the fun began. Prachit told me there is a dress code at the orphanage (nope, never had that either). She said I couldn’t wear anything above my knees (and this is when I was wearing the special capris I bought to wear at the orphanage) and she asked if I had pants. I told her I had one pair (the purple ones I bought for zip lining and elephants) so I wore those today. She said something about how there are boys there, but I didn’t see any boys over the age of 2! Who knows, maybe they start early in Thailand! I am tempted to wear the longest pair of capris I own tomorrow, but I thought tonight I would pick up another pair of pants so I don’t break the rules.

Now I HATE shopping in Asia when I need something. I was exhausted and just wanted to take a shower but I was out pant hunting. It took me a while to find something because my original hope was to get something I would actually wear again (didn’t happen). I was in NO mood for bargaining so when I found a sign that said 99 baht for pants (I wasn’t willing to pay more than 100 baht) I bought them and left! Sheeesh this orphanage is a lot of work!

Hugs and kisses from my first day of volunteering in Thailand!