I’ve spent the past five days in Lamplaimat working on the Barefoot MBA project. Originally the plan was to conduct two pilot sessions this week, but the decision was made to postpone the sessions for Monday and Tuesday of next week. The extra time will give us a chance to translate all the material and make sure everything is set. That being said, this week has been busy for Anita and Thin who are working on translating into Thai all of the documents that are already in English, and I’ve started working on the finishing touches like an introduction page, table of contents, and a concept note that can be used as informational material for PDA.
Anita has been great in helping me combine my efforts so that the work I’m doing for the project can also be used as my final report due at the end of the program. My goal is to finish all the work by next Thursday, and be able to enjoy a weekend in Laos and the last week in Bangkok. I’m a hopeless procrastinator so I’ve enlisted Anita to help me out and give me some discipline. I think staying here at the village center this weekend will keep me focused and distractions at a minimum.
To keep us entertained at night, Anita bought the first season of Brothers and Sisters, so we’ve been watching the DVDs for the past few nights. To give you an idea of how bored we are: we have already gotten into a routine of finishing up work around 6; coming back to our room; fixing something to eat; setting up my laptop on a vanity stool; and plopping down on our beds to watch some episodes. Neither of us had seen any episodes of Brothers and Sisters before this week. We only had one recommendation to go off from. Needless to say, if we had seen even one episode we would’ve never bothered to commit to the entire season, but it’s all we’ve got right now. In the beginning we kept watching, hoping it would get better and making excuses about how the actors “just need time to gel.” It’s kind of pathetic how we can sit and watch hours on end of bad acting and get a kick out of actors who cannot evoke emotion on their faces because they’ve had too much Botox injected into their foreheads.
We finished season one tonight. We’re going into town to get season two tomorrow.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Adventures in Khao Yai
*I’m warning you right now, this is a long entry, but it recounts one of my favorite trips in Thailand. I’ve already posted the pictures in an album. This just tells the stories behind them.*
The following excerpt on Day One is taken from my journal this past weekend. I thought, rather than re-write everything to post it in my blog, why not just type up my journal entry?
Khao Yai: Day One
“We successfully found our way to the bus station, from the bus station to Pak Chong, and from the Pak Chong bus stop to a hotel—The Pak Chong Landmark Hotel. Traveling today gave me a little glimpse of what my after-program travels are going to be like. I think it’s going to be harder than I thought, but not enough to keep me from being excited.
Tonight for dinner we ate at the “Texas Saloon.” I felt transported back to the US. There was Texas memorabilia plastered all over the walls in English, and when I read the opening paragraph on the first page it was flawless grammar. The cheeseburger reminded me of home because it had minced onion mixed in with the meat—just the way my dad makes it at home.
After dinner we came back to the hotel room and wanted to watch tv, but of course there was nothing in English. It was 8:30 pm. We weren’t tired. Neither of us brought a book or anything to keep us entertained, so we decided to walk down to the 7-11 and try to find a magazine or something to read. The magazines there were deceiving because there were a couple which had English covers, but only Thai writing on the inside. The only thing we could find to read in English was an English conversational book. We opted out of teaching ourselves conversational English as entertainment, and went for a journal and a pen. I thought it might be a better use of my time to get some of my journaling done. We also each picked up a Nutrageous bar and deemed it our “protein bar” for lunch tomorrow—very important to starve off hunger while hiking in national parks.
I’m not quite sure how tomorrow is going to go, I don’t have any expectations—except that transportation once we get to the park is going to be iffy. I just want ot see some nature and get to spend some time outside. If that’s all that happens I will be a happy girl.”
Khao Yai: Day Two
Saturday morning we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and made our way to the train station in town. We found a 4:30 train back to Bangkok, and decided to plan to take the train back that evening instead of the bus. Next we went off to find the truck that would take us to the entrance of the national park. The park is about a 15 minute drive from the town, and we passed numerous guesthouses and hotels along the way there. Upon arriving at the entrance, we met a woman that greeted us with a smile and asked us if we had a car that we were going to take into the park or if we were on a tour. Because the park is so large, it’s impossible to just walk through. Most travelers without transportation hitch rides with other visitors that do, which is what we were planning on doing. I took a chance and asked if she had a motorbike we could rent for the day, ad she said she did. Kelly and I were so excited—our first motorbike experience!
Then a second amazing thing happened—I gave the woman my passport, an as she flipped through it she found my Thai visa. She asked if we worked here, and I told her we were students. She informed us that because we had a valid visa we were able to pay the Thai rate for our entrance fee which is 20 baht (about 60 cents) compared to the 200 baht ($6) fee for foreigners. We were ecstatic! It was only 9:30 and our day was already turning out to be one of my favorites.
Kelly and I hopped on our bike and started the 14 km ride to the visitor center near the center of the park. As we were riding along we found some elephant footprints on the road and several pile of you-know-what, but we didn’t spot any elephants. We did see many monkeys. They don’t seem to mind people. I think it’s because people bring food.
We actually saw a group of monkeys antagonizing a family. There was one big one in the back of their parked truck at a viewpoint we stopped at. The rest of the monkeys were watching nearby as the big one got out of the truck and started toward a woman holding a bag of tamarinds. She got scared and dropped the bag, and the monkey was successful in scoring the stash. Kelly and I didn’t want to be the next victims, so we didn’t stick around. We continued on our way to the visitor center where we spent time at the souvenir shop and picked up some t-shirts and stickers.
Then we headed for some waterfalls that were about 12 km east of the center. We saw Haew Suwat waterfall first, and it was only a few hundred meters away. One of the best ones I’ve seen here. Then we set out on a hike to see another waterfall nearby. It was a 2.3 km trail along the water, and we were able to see some wildlife along the way. I also had my first encounter with leeches. They weren’t big fat sluggish ones—only about the length of a fingertip and pretty skinny. Hey would attach themselves to my shoes and then crawl their way up into the opening between my shoe and my ankle. They didn’t hurt. I actually couldn’t even feel them, so I had to continually take a leech-check to flick away any that had taken a hold.
We made it to the second waterfall which was also very beautiful. Then we made the hike back to our bike and set of on the road back to the entrance in order to catch the truck back into town.
We returned the motorbike to the woman, and she found us a family that was leaving the park and driving through Pak Chong. They offered us a free ride to the train station. So sweet! Basically, the park ranger woman made our day—she’s amazing!
We made it to the station just in time to catch the 4:30 train. The cars were packed, and there was barely room to stand, and definitely no room to sit. The people pushing their way through the crowded aisles selling drinks and snack made the already bad situation worse, so when one of the train conductors stopped to punch my ticket I asked him if he spoke English and where we were supposed to go. He motioned us to follow him, and he led us to the very front car. I peered into the boxcar as he opened the door, and my eyes took in the scene. We were in some kind of storage car. There were several people already sitting around on bags of rice and other boxes, and the man pointed to a wooden bunk bed that we could sit on. It looked like we had it in good with the conductor, and he made us two of his groupies…or he just took pity on us…Kelly and I just laughed, gave the usual “when in Thailand” look and plopped down on the wooden frame. The boxcar had no doors, only a single rope that was tied a crossed the wide opening. I actually enjoyed the openness—it made for an awesome view during the ride.
We made it back to Rangsit and were very satisfied with our Motorcycle Diaries—Boxcar Children Day. It was a day of firsts—filled with adventures—that will probably keep its spot on my top three of my time in Thailand.
The following excerpt on Day One is taken from my journal this past weekend. I thought, rather than re-write everything to post it in my blog, why not just type up my journal entry?
Khao Yai: Day One
“We successfully found our way to the bus station, from the bus station to Pak Chong, and from the Pak Chong bus stop to a hotel—The Pak Chong Landmark Hotel. Traveling today gave me a little glimpse of what my after-program travels are going to be like. I think it’s going to be harder than I thought, but not enough to keep me from being excited.
Tonight for dinner we ate at the “Texas Saloon.” I felt transported back to the US. There was Texas memorabilia plastered all over the walls in English, and when I read the opening paragraph on the first page it was flawless grammar. The cheeseburger reminded me of home because it had minced onion mixed in with the meat—just the way my dad makes it at home.
After dinner we came back to the hotel room and wanted to watch tv, but of course there was nothing in English. It was 8:30 pm. We weren’t tired. Neither of us brought a book or anything to keep us entertained, so we decided to walk down to the 7-11 and try to find a magazine or something to read. The magazines there were deceiving because there were a couple which had English covers, but only Thai writing on the inside. The only thing we could find to read in English was an English conversational book. We opted out of teaching ourselves conversational English as entertainment, and went for a journal and a pen. I thought it might be a better use of my time to get some of my journaling done. We also each picked up a Nutrageous bar and deemed it our “protein bar” for lunch tomorrow—very important to starve off hunger while hiking in national parks.
I’m not quite sure how tomorrow is going to go, I don’t have any expectations—except that transportation once we get to the park is going to be iffy. I just want ot see some nature and get to spend some time outside. If that’s all that happens I will be a happy girl.”
Khao Yai: Day Two
Saturday morning we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and made our way to the train station in town. We found a 4:30 train back to Bangkok, and decided to plan to take the train back that evening instead of the bus. Next we went off to find the truck that would take us to the entrance of the national park. The park is about a 15 minute drive from the town, and we passed numerous guesthouses and hotels along the way there. Upon arriving at the entrance, we met a woman that greeted us with a smile and asked us if we had a car that we were going to take into the park or if we were on a tour. Because the park is so large, it’s impossible to just walk through. Most travelers without transportation hitch rides with other visitors that do, which is what we were planning on doing. I took a chance and asked if she had a motorbike we could rent for the day, ad she said she did. Kelly and I were so excited—our first motorbike experience!
Then a second amazing thing happened—I gave the woman my passport, an as she flipped through it she found my Thai visa. She asked if we worked here, and I told her we were students. She informed us that because we had a valid visa we were able to pay the Thai rate for our entrance fee which is 20 baht (about 60 cents) compared to the 200 baht ($6) fee for foreigners. We were ecstatic! It was only 9:30 and our day was already turning out to be one of my favorites.
Kelly and I hopped on our bike and started the 14 km ride to the visitor center near the center of the park. As we were riding along we found some elephant footprints on the road and several pile of you-know-what, but we didn’t spot any elephants. We did see many monkeys. They don’t seem to mind people. I think it’s because people bring food.
We actually saw a group of monkeys antagonizing a family. There was one big one in the back of their parked truck at a viewpoint we stopped at. The rest of the monkeys were watching nearby as the big one got out of the truck and started toward a woman holding a bag of tamarinds. She got scared and dropped the bag, and the monkey was successful in scoring the stash. Kelly and I didn’t want to be the next victims, so we didn’t stick around. We continued on our way to the visitor center where we spent time at the souvenir shop and picked up some t-shirts and stickers.
Then we headed for some waterfalls that were about 12 km east of the center. We saw Haew Suwat waterfall first, and it was only a few hundred meters away. One of the best ones I’ve seen here. Then we set out on a hike to see another waterfall nearby. It was a 2.3 km trail along the water, and we were able to see some wildlife along the way. I also had my first encounter with leeches. They weren’t big fat sluggish ones—only about the length of a fingertip and pretty skinny. Hey would attach themselves to my shoes and then crawl their way up into the opening between my shoe and my ankle. They didn’t hurt. I actually couldn’t even feel them, so I had to continually take a leech-check to flick away any that had taken a hold.
We made it to the second waterfall which was also very beautiful. Then we made the hike back to our bike and set of on the road back to the entrance in order to catch the truck back into town.
We returned the motorbike to the woman, and she found us a family that was leaving the park and driving through Pak Chong. They offered us a free ride to the train station. So sweet! Basically, the park ranger woman made our day—she’s amazing!
We made it to the station just in time to catch the 4:30 train. The cars were packed, and there was barely room to stand, and definitely no room to sit. The people pushing their way through the crowded aisles selling drinks and snack made the already bad situation worse, so when one of the train conductors stopped to punch my ticket I asked him if he spoke English and where we were supposed to go. He motioned us to follow him, and he led us to the very front car. I peered into the boxcar as he opened the door, and my eyes took in the scene. We were in some kind of storage car. There were several people already sitting around on bags of rice and other boxes, and the man pointed to a wooden bunk bed that we could sit on. It looked like we had it in good with the conductor, and he made us two of his groupies…or he just took pity on us…Kelly and I just laughed, gave the usual “when in Thailand” look and plopped down on the wooden frame. The boxcar had no doors, only a single rope that was tied a crossed the wide opening. I actually enjoyed the openness—it made for an awesome view during the ride.
We made it back to Rangsit and were very satisfied with our Motorcycle Diaries—Boxcar Children Day. It was a day of firsts—filled with adventures—that will probably keep its spot on my top three of my time in Thailand.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
week two at the village center
i'm back in Lam Plai Mat after spending the night in Nang Rong because there weren't any rooms available here. monday i had the day off, and yesterday anita, mike, and i left the PDA office in Bangkok around 10, and stopped by the airport to pick up two architects from Singapore that designed the new secondary school that is being built here in Lam Plai Mat. we were dropped off at the center in Nang Rong around 3, and the two others continued on to Lam Plai Mat for the night.
we checked out some other income generation projects, one of which was focused on the elderly people that can no longer farm because of their age. these pictures show the bunches of thin plastic strands that are brought in from Bangkok, and then the workers will tear the plastic into smaller strands of a certain width and cut the newly split strands into lengths of about one foot. they can also bundle up the finish product, and send it back into bangkok. each of these steps will earn them about 50 cents. i think the figure we ca
lculated had them earning about 1-2 dollars per day. it's not very much but in this case something is better than nothing.
After our regular afternoon ice cream break, Anita, Mike and I visited one of the Village Development Partnership (VDP) villages that is currently in Phase I of the program. Anita is helping to raise funds for the second phase right now, and she wanted to check in and encourage the villagers in what they are working on. Oh i almost forgot! we stopped at the school before the village and the women there insisted we 
eat with them. they also showed up around. here are some pictures. the first one is of the basketball court at the school. the kids there really want to be able to play, but as you can see, they've got some work to do on it still. they need to find some funds to buy new backboards, rims and nets. for now, they just play futbol. the other is a picture o
f the garden. they grow food there for the school lunches and to sell at the market in order to have money to buy the food that they are not able to grow.
eat with them. they also showed up around. here are some pictures. the first one is of the basketball court at the school. the kids there really want to be able to play, but as you can see, they've got some work to do on it still. they need to find some funds to buy new backboards, rims and nets. for now, they just play futbol. the other is a picture o
f the garden. they grow food there for the school lunches and to sell at the market in order to have money to buy the food that they are not able to grow.Then we went to the village, and the people there were so happy and very enthusiastic about the projects they've already started. one of the projects was actually started by the kids in the village, and it's a garbage collecting business. they go around to the homes in the village and collect the garbage, take it back to the village meeting place, sort it, and make all the necessary prepartations for it to be picked up by government workers once a month. they make a profit because the government pays them for the recyclable material. 
we checked out some other income generation projects, one of which was focused on the elderly people that can no longer farm because of their age. these pictures show the bunches of thin plastic strands that are brought in from Bangkok, and then the workers will tear the plastic into smaller strands of a certain width and cut the newly split strands into lengths of about one foot. they can also bundle up the finish product, and send it back into bangkok. each of these steps will earn them about 50 cents. i think the figure we ca
lculated had them earning about 1-2 dollars per day. it's not very much but in this case something is better than nothing.by 7 pm we were all tired (we call this "country living" mode) and drove back to Nang Rong to have a drink (we were still full from the meal with the villagers). i watched some episodes of The Office until my laptop battery died (i forgot my outlet adapter at AIT). Then this morning we said good bye to Nang Rong and hello to Lam Plai Mat. this morning/afternoon it poured rain. i haven't seen it do that since i came to thailand. it rained for about two or three hours, and it's made the temperature much more bearable. for now, anyways.
the plan for this short week is to work on some more of the curriculum tomorrow, and try and finalize the lessons so that next week when Anita and i return we can conduct two pilot sessions. tomorrow night we're going to take the overnight train and head back to bangkok for the weekend. i think that Kelly and I are going to take a trip to Khao Yai this weekend. it one of the Thai national parks, and it's only about a three hour bus ride outside of Bangkok. actually, its a little over half way in between here (LPM) and Bangkok--we passed through the city on our way here, so i've already had a little glimpse at the mountains.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
the beginning of the end
i know i said that i would have pictures and a full field trip update, but as i was trying to upload my pictures i noticed that i forgot my memory chip adapter back at AIT, so you are just going to have to be patient and wait until this weekend to check out the photos and read the stories from last week. sorry.
sunday was supposed to be my day to relax before leaving for Lamplaimat, but instead it got filled up very quickly. in the morning i was excited to check out a church service on campus that i found out about a couple weeks ago. i've been missing church lately. more than just church, i've been missing being around other people that share my faith beliefs. so sunday morning, when i found the lecture hall that the AIT Christian Fellowship meets in every week, i was so happy and i actually starting crying. it was so comforting. the people were very friendly, and asked me to join them for lunch after, so i did. then after lunch Kelly and i went into bangkok to pick up my laptop, and after, we met up with Lauren and Kaitlyn to see a movie. Kaitlyn and i watched "The Reader." it was good, but i wasn't really in the mood to see a show. when we got back to AIT i had to pack for the week, and all four of us hung out in my room, drank wine and ate bananas. haha. that sounds so ridiculous, but it was just what i needed at the time.
monday morning came too quickly, and after a six hour long ride on the train from Bangkok to Lamplaimat, i made it. i was covered in soot. anita bought our tickets before i arrived, and chose third class without air conditioning. i was a little leary at first when she told me that we wouldn't have a/c for the whole ride, but then she tried to reassure me we would be okay because there would be open windows and fans to keep it cool.
it ended up being not very cool at all, and the open window meant that the soot blowing off the train flew in through the windows and covered us all over. dirt was caked on our bodies by the time we reached the village, and even after showering i was still rubbing black stuff off my skin.
traveling took up all of the work day on monday, and when we arrived here in Lamplaimat we stopped by an income generation project before we got to the community center. the project is called the Lamplaimat Water Park, and it has some paddle boats that are shaped like ducks and swans. they're trying to start a zoo, but there was a flood recently that wiped out most of the animals. the newest animal arrival is an elephant that made the water park it's home about two months ago. we also stopped by a community homestay to check it out, and then finally arrived at the community center around 6ish. we washed up, ate some food, and then i had some time to check emails before going to bed.
today we got started on adapting the curriculum and lesson plans of the Barefoot MBA. we chose to tackle the topic of Saving first, and decided that combining the topic with interest and debt would be fairly easy. after brainstorming some ideas, we decided that it would be beneficial to have a skit for the activity during the lesson, so that was my big assignment for the day. i wrote a 5 page skit about two borrowers--one borrowed from the Village Development Bank, and the other borrowed from a loan shark. we wanted to show an example of how interest accrues both as debt interest and savings interest. i think i did a pretty good job. i'm actually expecting a call from hollywood any day now.
our goal is to come up with four complete lesson plans by the end of this week. i think we should be able to do it.
i've decided that i'm going to go back to Bangkok for the weekend. Anita is going back to meet her fiance, and she invited me to travel back with her. we're going to take the sleeper train, which will be nice because we can stay all day on friday and then sleep in the car on the ride back home. then when we wake up, we'll be in bangkok! it'll be good for me to get a break from Lamplaimat and some time back at AIT with my friends.
i think i'm going to have some extra time on my hands during the evenings here, so that could quite possibly mean more blogging. i can't make any promises, we'll see. :)
sunday was supposed to be my day to relax before leaving for Lamplaimat, but instead it got filled up very quickly. in the morning i was excited to check out a church service on campus that i found out about a couple weeks ago. i've been missing church lately. more than just church, i've been missing being around other people that share my faith beliefs. so sunday morning, when i found the lecture hall that the AIT Christian Fellowship meets in every week, i was so happy and i actually starting crying. it was so comforting. the people were very friendly, and asked me to join them for lunch after, so i did. then after lunch Kelly and i went into bangkok to pick up my laptop, and after, we met up with Lauren and Kaitlyn to see a movie. Kaitlyn and i watched "The Reader." it was good, but i wasn't really in the mood to see a show. when we got back to AIT i had to pack for the week, and all four of us hung out in my room, drank wine and ate bananas. haha. that sounds so ridiculous, but it was just what i needed at the time.
monday morning came too quickly, and after a six hour long ride on the train from Bangkok to Lamplaimat, i made it. i was covered in soot. anita bought our tickets before i arrived, and chose third class without air conditioning. i was a little leary at first when she told me that we wouldn't have a/c for the whole ride, but then she tried to reassure me we would be okay because there would be open windows and fans to keep it cool.
it ended up being not very cool at all, and the open window meant that the soot blowing off the train flew in through the windows and covered us all over. dirt was caked on our bodies by the time we reached the village, and even after showering i was still rubbing black stuff off my skin.
traveling took up all of the work day on monday, and when we arrived here in Lamplaimat we stopped by an income generation project before we got to the community center. the project is called the Lamplaimat Water Park, and it has some paddle boats that are shaped like ducks and swans. they're trying to start a zoo, but there was a flood recently that wiped out most of the animals. the newest animal arrival is an elephant that made the water park it's home about two months ago. we also stopped by a community homestay to check it out, and then finally arrived at the community center around 6ish. we washed up, ate some food, and then i had some time to check emails before going to bed.
today we got started on adapting the curriculum and lesson plans of the Barefoot MBA. we chose to tackle the topic of Saving first, and decided that combining the topic with interest and debt would be fairly easy. after brainstorming some ideas, we decided that it would be beneficial to have a skit for the activity during the lesson, so that was my big assignment for the day. i wrote a 5 page skit about two borrowers--one borrowed from the Village Development Bank, and the other borrowed from a loan shark. we wanted to show an example of how interest accrues both as debt interest and savings interest. i think i did a pretty good job. i'm actually expecting a call from hollywood any day now.
our goal is to come up with four complete lesson plans by the end of this week. i think we should be able to do it.
i've decided that i'm going to go back to Bangkok for the weekend. Anita is going back to meet her fiance, and she invited me to travel back with her. we're going to take the sleeper train, which will be nice because we can stay all day on friday and then sleep in the car on the ride back home. then when we wake up, we'll be in bangkok! it'll be good for me to get a break from Lamplaimat and some time back at AIT with my friends.
i think i'm going to have some extra time on my hands during the evenings here, so that could quite possibly mean more blogging. i can't make any promises, we'll see. :)
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