So, I’ve been busy since my last blog, but I’m afraid there
are no tales of fried insects or bamboo rafting - the week seems to have gone
far too quickly!
I’ve more or less been working all week, so I figured it was
about time to do the standard ‘day in a life’ post…
3am-6.30am: I get woken up by one of the following: Cockerel #1 or Cockerel #2
7.38am: My alarm goes off. I have a superstition not to wake
up at a time that ends in a 0 or 5 – to my horror, I’ve recently discovered my
Mum has the same superstition. Ironically, I also set all my clocks 3 minutes
fast, so it’s all pointless!
7.38-7.55am: Shower, clean teeth, cover myself in ‘Jungle
Fever’ (no, not a new range from Lynx, but insect repellent), put clothes on
etc. In the UK I clean my teeth in the shower (ingenious time saving ploy)…but
the Shower holder has broken here, so I can nooooooo do that.
8:00am: Cycle to work.
8:01am: Avoid dogs!
8.10am: Arrive at work and set up!
8.11am: First Cup of Tea.
8.16am: Second Cup of Tea (let me know if im going into too
much detail!)
8.17am – 12pm: Work on the various tasks and talk to Staff!
12pm – 1pm: Lunch, this is my favourite part. Everyone sits
around together for lunch – I don’t think I’ve had a bad lunch yet. No eating
sandwiches at the desk like back home!
1pm – 5pm: Continue with tasks.
5.30pm: Go home! I usually go for a cycle around the area, a
different direction every evening.
5.42pm: Avoid dogs!
6.30pm: Have dinner. I’m usually pretty tired by this time.
I usually walk down to the local shop to get some food. To prevent developing a
rice belly, I usually get various snacks from the shop - I’m trying to try
every different chocolate bar and cake – so, I may still get a ‘belly’, but I won’t
be able to just blame the rice!
7.00 – 9.30pm: Either; go for another wander, chat to the
guesthouse staff, read, do some exercise, do some more work, or catch up on the
football news from back home!
9.30 – 11pm: Fall asleep at some point.
11.03pm: Wake up, panicking I haven’t locked the door.
12.02am: Wake up, air conditioning isn’t on, it’s too hot.
1.34am: Wake up, air conditioning is on, it’s too cold!
Monday evening I decided to go for a jog. I looked at my
watch, and decided I would run for 10minutes, and then turn back. I hadn’t seen
any ‘joggers’ since being in Thailand, in Brighton, you can’t move for them! An old man started jogging with me when I ran
past, I smiled and ran off, as a) I didn’t want to start a Forrest Gump
situation and b) I didn’t want to give him a heart attack! Anyway, at the risk
of sounding like a broken record, the run lasted longer than I expected (I definitely
didn’t get lost/go round in circles), as the map shows, I was close to doing my
planned loop, but then inadvertently took a wrong turning and added 2 miles
to my run!
I had 40baht in my sock, that I planned to buy dinner with
at the end of my run…but then, whilst approaching the stall, I realised the
feet are considered the lowest and dirtiest part of the body in Thailand…and whipping my
money out of my sock would be impolite, rude and a cultural taboo (even if I
hadn't just gone for a run!)…so, I went home first and changed my money. I decided
to throw the 40baht away!
The next day, I started to feel a cold coming on…I think the
mixture of getting pretty hot from the run, then having the air condition too
cold messed me up a bit!
After work on Tuesday I was shattered…but in the
evening I had an epiphany on a way to progress with one of the tasks…so I
worked on that!
This evening (Thursday!), after my daily cycle, I went to
the local market. There is a food market nearby every night, but tonight there
seemed to be more stalls, so I popped on over. I’m glad I ate before I went, as otherwise I would
have tried everything in sight! It was pleasant walking around, and there wasn’t
another ‘farang’ (Westerner) in sight. I didn’t buy anything, but it was
pleasant.
I then decided to check out the interesting temple nearby…
Tomorrow I’m off into the mountains for a couple of days, to
check out some potential work for the Rain Tree Foundation, and to meet up with
the other volunteers for some canoeing!
As mentioned earlier, the time is flying by, and i'm enjoying myself, but I have a
nagging fear I won’t be able to achieve everything I want to in the time I have
left, we will see…
No comments:
Post a Comment