Volunteering.

I left Chiang Mai early Monday morning and 2 flights later (I couldn't be bothered to go by road or rail) I arrived in Nong Kai and went straight to Isara learning centre (ILC).
I had enrolled to volunteer on line to secure my place and was greeted by Kirk, the American founder of the project.
He set it up 5 years ago and it is growing with the help volunteers and  generous donations
Isara teaches English and computers to students of all ages at the free Learning Center, located in the heart of Nong Khai.
Isara also provides volunteers to local government schools and scholarships to students in the surrounding area.
There are currently 15 volunteers which is a lot, sometimes there are far fewer.
The children come after their school day between 4-7pm at set times according to age and subject and appear to love it.
They don't have to come, but as they really want to learn English for a better future they relish the chance.


This week the theme was Christmas which has been fun.
The smaller children have been very busy making Christmas trees, snow flakes/men, parcels and sticking glitter to just about everything.
I have been helping out, and enjoying it as much as they have, I was a dab hand at the snow men!
The children stuck them all over the windows



3 times a week a few of us go to a local rural school where the education is poor.
I sat with 2 boys teaching them their letter sounds. I have also been listening to some of the others read and generally getting stuck in where needed.
The boy on the left wanted to draw so I asked him to do a picture beginning with a 'b' and then a 'd'  he drew a buffalo and a dinosur, no idea what the bottom pic is!


You are asked to volunteer 15 hours a week but can do as many as you like as there is always something to do at the ILC or one of the other places.
This is 2 of the permanent staff that are paid a amall wage by an Amercan donator.
These girls work all day every day overseeing the volunteers, the office, and they also teach and keep the place running smoothly.
On the 23rd we had a Christmas party at Isara for the children and it was good fun.
Having spent all week making decorations and sticking them every where the scene was set.....

A girl arrives dressed up for the party...











                                                                                                                       Jingle bells







Pretty girls all in a row

All the children and teachers brought a present for 'Secret Santa'

                      I love this picture of Santa and reindeers.


Teacher Lisa and student in their party hats

These 2 little girls were watching the teacher playing Xmas tunes and below pass the parcel

Some of the volunteers
                                                                                                     

                                                                   My favourite picture, a Thai Santa in a t-shirt and no shoes!

Singalong at the piano,          a snowman with antlers!       and 2 little girls in their party dresses.

The pary ended at 7pm after 3 hours of fun and games, it was a fun end to my first week volunteering.

This town is a lot different from Chiang Mai, that is the second largest town in Thailand and alot of the people there speak English. Here there are very few foreigners and so nothing is geared up for them, ie restaurants, bars (apart from girly bars frequented by old, bald, fat Brits and Germans wanting their leg over)

In fact, all the western men over here seem to prefer Thai women, who are mainly half their age and at least half their size!

Its enough to put you off for life, seeing the men with girls young enough to be their daughters and at times grandaughters is just horrible, the most extreme was an 71 yr old English guy called Bill from Portsmouth, recently married to a 28yr old Thai girl who couldnt speak a word of English when they met 2 years ago. Ridiculous!

All the male volunteers here have Thai girlfriends. As I cannot compete with their beauty, age or size, all the time I am in Thailand I think its a dead cert I will remain single.

So the lifestyle is very different, but the work is quite taxing and takes some getting used to and so this week after finishing at around 7.30pm and getting something to eat in a local Thai place on the street, I have gone back to my room.

I rent a nice large double room with tv and fridge and large balcony in a guest house that gives a generous discount to Isara volunteers so I am paying less than £100 a month!

With food and drink only costing £3-£4 a day it's going to to be nice and cheap to stay here and it is right on the Mekong river.
For Christmas day a few of us plan a trip to the park and a gay bar in the evening which should be something fun and a different way to spend Christmas day!