Fire!!

Every weekend we do cooking with the kids in the morings and today we lit a fire and did spuds and corn in the coals and little frankfurt type things on the end of sticks. It was all lots of fun but tomato sauce ended up everywhere... Including all over Pornpiroons clothing, i have noidea how she got it into some places she did.
Tonight is New years and as usual its a quiet night in. Tomorrow Conny and I have a day off together and and planing on having a picnic and then exploring "old town" which is the middle of the city. which should be lots of fun.

5 things

well, i was tagged to write 5 things that many people dont now about me. So after much thought i could only come up with 3 but i will keep thinking till i have 5

1. Im afraid of butterflies; go ahead laugh at me but there is just no way to explain it appart from that they are absolutly gross and never look like they are in control of where they are going. Have you ever taken the time to look at one up close? you wouldnt think its so beautiful then.

2. When i was younger (maybe 10) i stole a button from a material shop and when mum found out (as mums always do) she made me go back and pay for it. I almost cried when i faced the owner of the shop.

3. I broke up wit my long term boyfriend 2 months ago and have noidea how to tell anyone. so if you dont know you have now officially been told and no i dont want to talk about it or go into it.

Christmas day

Let me just start by saying on boxing day i slept till 2pm without even realisining it.
Christmas eve all the volunteers went to Agape at about 5 or so to play games and muck around with the older kids. There was donuts from the washing line, the chocolate game, passing circle chips along staws in the mouth and fruit salad (conny and i were lychee). After games the volunteers had pizza dinner and the kids went upstairs to watch a movie. When i asscended the stairs to finish watching the movie after dinner i heard

"Twas the night before christmas,

when all through the house,

not a creature was stiring,

not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung,

from the chimney with care,

in the hopes that saint Nicolas,

would soon be there..."

An old family tradition of ours and somethings that I knew I would miss. When all the kids had settled down to sleep it was time for us to get up again and go to midnight church which was interesting. We had communion and hung around after to sing carols. Back to Agape by 2.30 to lay out the gifts for all the kids to find in the morning. Around 2 hours of frequently interupted sleep later we are all up and downstair having breakfast of this ricesoup that is far too flavoursome for a ferlung and toast with condenced milk.

After breakfast off came the carefully wrapped paper and out came the gifts. Play with mine for a bit before i decide i like my neighbours better, but thats ok because my neighbour like mine better also.

For me, after that, it was off to Rimping (the local supermarket) to buy some lunch and then home to find out Connies boyfriend delayed his flight for a few days. Lunch with them was great and i introduced them to a Tim Tam Slam.

Dinner was with the staff and volunteers at Avis (the boss's) house. Nibbles and desert, lots of fun and food, always great for christmas day.

Little Cherubs

My Kids

Im not allowed to post their names next to their picture so if you want to match names to faces you'll have to email me to ask who they are. I appologize that I am missing one face but this is the best I could do. Do you know how hard it it to get 13 2-3 yearols to sit still and look at a camera? I am still amazed we get two or three smiles.

Christmas Tree Pictures

Pictures, as promised, of us putting up the christma tree at my new home. This is me attempting to untangle the Christams tree lights and I am proud to say they are now strung, tangle free on the tree. The other photo is Conny, my house mate after braving the dusty cupboards behind the beds to cut down (out of the box) our magnificant plastic tree. We spent all afternoon looking for the decorations and untangeling them and decorating the house. I was pretty useless becaue I could hardly walk. You can see in the picture of me the end of my crutches sticking out from under the tree.

Just around the corner

Merry Christmas

Only 5 more sleeps!!

Tonight is Agape's Christmas party/show type thing and the volunteers and soem of the nannies are doing a thai dance. We arent very good so i hope noone gets offended but it will still be lots of fun. The last few days we have been going to the few local shopping centers to buy christmas presents for the kids. It has been lots of fun deciding what each of them would like with their own personalities. Over the next few days we are wrapping the gifts so to be placed out Christmas night. Christmas eve is a sleep over at Agape and Christmas lunch is a traditional hot turkey meal. The last few days have been cold, cold enough to put on a light jumper in the middle of the day so perhaps a hot meal will be a nice change. At carols by candle lite last week they were talking about the changes we will face this cristmas being in a new culture and most laughed when they said it will be a hot christmas but the aussies just looked at each other in cofusion and everyone laughed when one of us stood up and said, "What are you talking about, this is cold". Carols was nice, people from all over got up and sang a traditioal song. When it came time for the Aussies we all got dragged up to sing a song we have never read that was written the day before to the tune of Waltzing Matilda. It turned out quite nice but i would have prefered the Aussie version of Jingle Bells.

unconditional love

After almost two weeks of laying around the house, I finally saw the kids again. I went to agape with Sheree and Yevonne (two volunteers who are leaving soon) and their parents, who are in town for a few weeks. Its was great, when i walked in the door, May, a gorgeous girl with a tracheotomy, came running up to me with her hands in the air. After i had picked her up and put her down again to climb over the gate she noticed my bandage and wouldnt let me pick her up again for fear of hurting me. I sat down and 4 or 5 crouded around me pointing at my bandage, asking "jeb mai" with is "pain?". I was amazed that none of them touched it or scambled onto that leg with is normally what they do as soon as you sit down. It was great to sit in the shade and watch them play, with them occasionally coming up to me pointing and saying "jeb mai".
I loved these kids before i left Australia, and now, knowing them and begining to learn each individual and their personalities, I love them more each day. Even their stobburnness and their tantrums, whatever they can throw at me.

In other news

We put up our christmas Tree today!!! It was lots of fun, we went searching through the dusty cupboards and found it and lots of decorations. I have some photos but still not sure how to get them onto the computer. I will have to find a place that will let me do that.

Bad News

Well, I didn't get to the markets on sunday because I had a motor bike accident on my first lesson on Saturday and spent 3 days in hospital on a drip. Nothing too serious, my bike tilted while going, and instead of breaking i accelerated and ended up sliding along a brick garden bed wall with most of the weigh of the bike on my leg. I spit my leg open down to the flesh in a small area just on the inside, next to the bone on my shin and then made a huge long graze type thing running all the way around the front of my leg, about 3 inches wide. My ankle is also twice the size of the other one, but nothing broken. I was very lucky to escape with just the injuries on my left leg and a few scratches on my belly when i had to untangle myself from a rose bush. They only kept me in the hospital so long because it was a really dirty wound’s and they wanted to make sure it was all ok and because I’m a white foreigner. The hospital was nice and clean but they aren’t doing a very good job when I go back to have the dressing changed every day, so we went to a different one today and they did a much better job and for only an extra 100 baht ($3AUS)














The three days in hospital were so boring, here is a view from my bed, it was all very clean, similar to something you would find in a public hospital at home.














The view from the window next to my bed was quite nice and the sun setting over the mountains was beautiful, especially good through all the pollution. I came home on Tuesday and all the girls at home have been really good to me. I bought some crutches from the hospital for 600baht after searching everywhere for some to hire. But now that I have them I can get around much easier. I’m still not going outside the house too often though. I have gone through the collection of DVD’s and sat fiddling with the cables and buttons on the VCR until I got it to work.
I miss the kids already and I still have at least a week until I can even think about going to see them.