Bucket List...

On my last night in Brighton, me and a few friends went to a local Thai restaurant for a few farewell drinks and to get me (and my stomach) in the mood for the trip! As per usual, a couple of us tried to ‘out spice’ each other with an ‘extra hot’ Jungle Curry (it ended in a draw) - I can only imagine the rest of our friends at the table/all the other customers were impressed! All in all, it was a pleasant evening (thanks friends!). As a side note, and to put how nice the Thai meal was into perspective, I also went to see some mates in London the night before departing, we ended up getting a Burger King at London Bridge Train Station, and as per usual, we tried to out ‘large’ each other (it ended in a draw!)

Anyhow, I digress, the ‘bucket list’…the waitress at the aforementioned Thai meal, got wind of my imminent departure to Chiang Mai, partly because some of the people told her, and partly because I was trying out my limited Thai language skills – at this stage* all I could say was ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank you’. It transpired that the waitress and some of the chefs are from Chiang Mai (or nearby!)…and they presented me with a ‘bucket list’ (see pic) of things to do whilst in the city. Time permitting; I will attempt to complete this!

*Update: This remains all I can say!

A few days to go...

Sawadee...

As I'm only a few days away from my volunteer placement, I thought it would be a good idea to start my blog!

Since stumbling across AfID a couple of years ago, its always been my intention to volunteer abroad...I've just had to wait until I qualified!!

I've wanted to volunteer for a number of reasons; to challenge myself, to get out of my comfort zone, to learn new skills, to experience different cultures etc...but the main (and cheesiest) reason is that its always been my ambition to use my skills & experience to help others!

I've felt a number of emotions since securing my placement; relief, excitement, doubt, anxiety, doubt, anxiety, excitement, and then some more anxiety! The anxiety and doubt stem from the fear that:
a) I wont be able to achieve much in 3 weeks; and
b) I wont have the skills required to help The Rain Tree Foundation as much as they (or I) would like.

I believe the above concerns are the 'common fears' for volunteers, so hopefully my blog will help prove that although these fears are common...they are unfounded!

I've never been to Thailand or travelled alone before, so the whole time should be an experience and hopefully a positive one!

I'm sure there will be some tough days, but I'm equally sure these will be outweighed by the good days. I plan to experience, help and learn as much as I can over the next three weeks. I'm sure there will be things I miss, like work (just in case my manager/colleagues are reading!), and playing football with my 5-a-side team, in fact another concern of mine is c) My football team will win all their games without me and realise I'm not needed!!!

Finally, thanks to AfID for making this happen, work for letting me have time off, The Rain Tree Foundation for agreeing to have me!

Anyway, enough of me talking the talk, time to walk the walk! I'll update this blog when I can!