Every two months Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation (PHBGTUF) puts on a birthday party for the kids that live at the school. Let me explain this a little. There are 150 kids who are currently living at the school in Kamala. Some of these kids are orphans others may have family that are just unable to raise them. This past Saturday the general manager at one of the new beach clubs called Bliss was kind enough to let us bring the kids and host the birthday party. Around 35 kids showed up and got a chance to swim, play games and cook pizza with the head chef. The kids were broken into groups and rotated between stations. We had a large group of donators come and see the event. My job was to make sure that if any of the teachers needed help I would jump in and if not I got to talk to the donors. The kids had an absolute blast and Bliss is a spectacular location. The highlight for the kids I am sure was getting to make the pizza with Chef Alex. Alex could not have a more perfect personality for his role. After the children had eaten, played and swam they were each given a backpack with gifts in it. Everyone loved what they got and then shortly after there was a big birthday cake for everyone. It was delicious. When everyone was done eating they jumped back in the vans and headed back to school with big smiles on their faces. It was a great first day and it makes working for organizations that do education and outreach work really rewarding.
I get into the real office work next week. I hope that you all get a chance to visit Phuket because although it is very touristy, it is beautiful. Plus I want to see some familiar faces.
Side note Chanta has put up some great photos on the CLI Library Boat blog which I have a link to. Check it out. I will get some photos up when I get a chance.
Luang Prabang
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Made it!
Hello Everyone,
As the title would suggest I have made it to Phuket. I am writing you on my second day. I was picked up at the airport by Arati who then drove me around Phuket and we ate at the Reggae Bar. The photo shows just how ridiculous it was. We pull up and we ate on the beach at this funky little bar and it was spectacular. She continued to give me a little driving tour before we pulled up at the office/my new home. It is a nice clean 3 story building. The office is the bottom floor and the upper two levels are basically my apartment. The second floor has the two bedroom two bath apartment with a kitchen. I am in the room that has a balcony and over looks the street. The third floor has a bathroom and that is basically it. The rest is barren. I got to meet Graham who is Tina's husband. Arati took this opportunity to push me off onto Graham who then gave me a driving tour of Kamala and then we went for a walk on the beach and talked about golf. I was really surprised at how large the island is and how many tourists were here. Also a shocker for me was all the speedos and topless women......I think that sometimes you see things that you wish you could unsee. Some of the people on the beach I would have rather not seen. The Kamala beach is 100m from my house and 3k long. It is beautiful in this little bay that is surrounded by mountains with hotels up their slopes. After the walk Graham gave me the keys to my motor bike and took me to the market which is wednesdays and saturdays. The market sold everything from clothes to cow tongue. Graham picked up some food for dinner and then let me drive home by myself. I didnt get lost luckily. Back at the office I met Tina Grahams husband who had just come back from a meeting. When Arati leaves Tina will be the only one in the office with me. She is very nice and well traveled. Graham said that he and Tina had been to around 50 countries. They are a lot of fun and interesting. I was told that I dont officially start work until Saturday so I get a few days to settle in but I have no idea what I will do with myself until then. Later Arati, Tina, Graham and I went out to dinner on the beach. A good little spot but I wasnt very hungry having just endured a grueling multiday trip from Scottsdale. We had some dinner and beers on the beach. After dinner I went home put some things away and then passed out around 8pm. I was up at 6:30 am and unlike Luang Prabang most of the city wasnt. I decided to go for a walk. I walked down along the beach and basically around the whole city before arriving back at the office. I was in search of breakfast but nothing was open until 8. I picked up some eggs and chili sauce from the 7-11 (there are 6 in town) and when I got back to the office Tina had picked me up some food. For breakfast I had fried chicken with sticky rice and chili sauce. Good eats but if I do this everyday I might put on 50 pounds. Now here I am after breakfast eating and writing the blog.
I know you want them so here you go Photos:
My first meal in Phuket.
The Reggae Bar.
My office/home. Office first floor, my room second and then third floor bare.
Me in front of our sign.
My room full with big bed, chair, TV and en-suite bathroom.
My view.
The Kamala School. just 75m from my house.
A view up north along the beach this morning.
The boardwalk with the beach about 12 meters to the right running parallel.
A map of the beach. Notice at the bottom the different tsunami evacuation paths. Tourist and locals have different paths.
The main highway through Kamala.
My kitchen and the second bedroom.
A view from the boardwalk to the water.
Looking at the south end of the Kamala beach.
I will update you when more stuff happens.
As the title would suggest I have made it to Phuket. I am writing you on my second day. I was picked up at the airport by Arati who then drove me around Phuket and we ate at the Reggae Bar. The photo shows just how ridiculous it was. We pull up and we ate on the beach at this funky little bar and it was spectacular. She continued to give me a little driving tour before we pulled up at the office/my new home. It is a nice clean 3 story building. The office is the bottom floor and the upper two levels are basically my apartment. The second floor has the two bedroom two bath apartment with a kitchen. I am in the room that has a balcony and over looks the street. The third floor has a bathroom and that is basically it. The rest is barren. I got to meet Graham who is Tina's husband. Arati took this opportunity to push me off onto Graham who then gave me a driving tour of Kamala and then we went for a walk on the beach and talked about golf. I was really surprised at how large the island is and how many tourists were here. Also a shocker for me was all the speedos and topless women......I think that sometimes you see things that you wish you could unsee. Some of the people on the beach I would have rather not seen. The Kamala beach is 100m from my house and 3k long. It is beautiful in this little bay that is surrounded by mountains with hotels up their slopes. After the walk Graham gave me the keys to my motor bike and took me to the market which is wednesdays and saturdays. The market sold everything from clothes to cow tongue. Graham picked up some food for dinner and then let me drive home by myself. I didnt get lost luckily. Back at the office I met Tina Grahams husband who had just come back from a meeting. When Arati leaves Tina will be the only one in the office with me. She is very nice and well traveled. Graham said that he and Tina had been to around 50 countries. They are a lot of fun and interesting. I was told that I dont officially start work until Saturday so I get a few days to settle in but I have no idea what I will do with myself until then. Later Arati, Tina, Graham and I went out to dinner on the beach. A good little spot but I wasnt very hungry having just endured a grueling multiday trip from Scottsdale. We had some dinner and beers on the beach. After dinner I went home put some things away and then passed out around 8pm. I was up at 6:30 am and unlike Luang Prabang most of the city wasnt. I decided to go for a walk. I walked down along the beach and basically around the whole city before arriving back at the office. I was in search of breakfast but nothing was open until 8. I picked up some eggs and chili sauce from the 7-11 (there are 6 in town) and when I got back to the office Tina had picked me up some food. For breakfast I had fried chicken with sticky rice and chili sauce. Good eats but if I do this everyday I might put on 50 pounds. Now here I am after breakfast eating and writing the blog.
I know you want them so here you go Photos:
A view up north along the beach this morning.
I will update you when more stuff happens.
Monday, January 23, 2012
First Post of A New Journey
HELLO WORLD,
Let me start this off by saying I am sorry to those of you who were only following the blog to keep up on the happenings of Community Learning International (CLI). I have moved on but not away from CLI. I wholeheartedly stand by what CLI does and the real change that it is having on the ground in Laos. This being said I jumped at the opportunity to take my talents to Phuket Thailand for the next six months. I feel that the change of scenery and a new organization will only increase my abilities to do outreach work and if I returned to CLI it would be with more insight from another organization. As some of you know I have accepted an Office Fellow Position with Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation. I guess I just have a things for organizations that are a mouthful. Try translating either of them into Lao for CLI and Thai for Phuket. Fun stuff. PHBGTUF is also in the education outreach arena but much more focused on a few locations/schools where volunteers come to teach English to kids. They also operate a kids camp on weekends called the coconut club. Obviously I cant give you more detail or photos because I am still sitting at LAX.
Over the past year I have written quite a few of these posts from almost this exact seat actually. These posts are filled with my deepest, darkest and most intense thoughts about going abroad.......or I normally just say I am really nervous about failing. They are basically the same, right? As trying to maintain some stability I will continue that here. I am nervous, scared, and excited about this. Unlik Laos I go into this having never seen the city I will be living in, having never met the people I will work with, and an actual contract, that has stamps and everything. In SE Asia stamps mean everything. I always want to succeed and I want to bring my best to the table every time. I tried hard in Laos and I sure some people would say I succeeded. If this experience turns out to be just 50% as successful as Laos then I would be pleased. I will not stand for that though. I am making a first impression on PHBGTUF and the people of Thailand. My job will be a volunteer coordinator along with overall problemcauser solver. I will be the first smiling face volunteers see each day and that day starts a little earlier than I would like i.e. before noon. I will have more details as I receive them.
I will try my best to keep the blog going but it might be hard to match the output of last year. This will be more focused on my thoughts but I hope to keep you all interested still. As always I love comments and questions. For those of you saying I commented and you never responded the reason for this was one of two things. 1. I thought your questions were rhetorical or 2. they were about my non-existent love life with all those Laos women. Sorry. I will let you all know if I get married thought but other details seem kinda classless. That being said I will be sure to send you the link to my future wife's modeling profile. I just haven't met her yet.
Things to think about for all you followers and I would love posts. In baseball each player who walks up to bat has a walkup song. This 30 second clip is played to pump up not only the crowd but the player. Some players use Jay-Z other prefer country. Its open to whatever they chose as long as they are playing at home. On the road no one gets their song. I want you to think about what your walkup song would be I will tell you my top 3.
3. Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix
2. E-Pro by Beck
1. 20th Century Boy by T-Rex
Post your walk-up song in the comments section if you like.
If you click on the any of the links they will open in a new page.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Extra brownie points if you post a comment!!!
Let me start this off by saying I am sorry to those of you who were only following the blog to keep up on the happenings of Community Learning International (CLI). I have moved on but not away from CLI. I wholeheartedly stand by what CLI does and the real change that it is having on the ground in Laos. This being said I jumped at the opportunity to take my talents to Phuket Thailand for the next six months. I feel that the change of scenery and a new organization will only increase my abilities to do outreach work and if I returned to CLI it would be with more insight from another organization. As some of you know I have accepted an Office Fellow Position with Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation. I guess I just have a things for organizations that are a mouthful. Try translating either of them into Lao for CLI and Thai for Phuket. Fun stuff. PHBGTUF is also in the education outreach arena but much more focused on a few locations/schools where volunteers come to teach English to kids. They also operate a kids camp on weekends called the coconut club. Obviously I cant give you more detail or photos because I am still sitting at LAX.
Over the past year I have written quite a few of these posts from almost this exact seat actually. These posts are filled with my deepest, darkest and most intense thoughts about going abroad.......or I normally just say I am really nervous about failing. They are basically the same, right? As trying to maintain some stability I will continue that here. I am nervous, scared, and excited about this. Unlik Laos I go into this having never seen the city I will be living in, having never met the people I will work with, and an actual contract, that has stamps and everything. In SE Asia stamps mean everything. I always want to succeed and I want to bring my best to the table every time. I tried hard in Laos and I sure some people would say I succeeded. If this experience turns out to be just 50% as successful as Laos then I would be pleased. I will not stand for that though. I am making a first impression on PHBGTUF and the people of Thailand. My job will be a volunteer coordinator along with overall problem
I will try my best to keep the blog going but it might be hard to match the output of last year. This will be more focused on my thoughts but I hope to keep you all interested still. As always I love comments and questions. For those of you saying I commented and you never responded the reason for this was one of two things. 1. I thought your questions were rhetorical or 2. they were about my non-existent love life with all those Laos women. Sorry. I will let you all know if I get married thought but other details seem kinda classless. That being said I will be sure to send you the link to my future wife's modeling profile. I just haven't met her yet.
Things to think about for all you followers and I would love posts. In baseball each player who walks up to bat has a walkup song. This 30 second clip is played to pump up not only the crowd but the player. Some players use Jay-Z other prefer country. Its open to whatever they chose as long as they are playing at home. On the road no one gets their song. I want you to think about what your walkup song would be I will tell you my top 3.
3. Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix
2. E-Pro by Beck
1. 20th Century Boy by T-Rex
Post your walk-up song in the comments section if you like.
If you click on the any of the links they will open in a new page.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Extra brownie points if you post a comment!!!
Monday, January 16, 2012
New Link
As some of you have found out I have changed the link to my blog. Instead of CLIlaos.blogspot.com the new link is dmbtravels.blogspot.com.
The reason is that I currently am not working for CLI but still find the blog as a good way of keeping in touch with everyone while I am abroad. I will be living in Phuket Thailand starting in probably 2 weeks. I hope to keep up with the stories and poor grammar.
Thanks for reading!
The reason is that I currently am not working for CLI but still find the blog as a good way of keeping in touch with everyone while I am abroad. I will be living in Phuket Thailand starting in probably 2 weeks. I hope to keep up with the stories and poor grammar.
Thanks for reading!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Games and the future
Hello Everyone,
Let me start off by saying that I am very sorry about the long delay. My last few weeks not to mention the time during the games was rather hectic.
First off the Games
These games had everything and because it was a few weeks ago I wont be able to truly do it justice, sorry. They went great for the distance team and not as great for my sprinters. We had some great and smart races in the mens 1500m and 800 along with the womens 5k. All said as the days wore on we were really impressed with how most everyone competed. My top guy ran a great race in the 200 meters and got 6th but considering he was 7 years younger than the winner I will take that. Our Vientiane ringers did almost everything they set out to do. Tui won the 100m and 200m. Et won the 110 hurdles. Pole won the 400m. As a group they won the 4x100 and got second in the 4x400m. Obviously money well spent. They were really pissed about the silver though. The distance team came home with second and third in the 10k mens. Third in the mens steeplechase, and 5k. The girls ran a terrible 4x100 for 4th and the day of we found out that the womens 800m runner would be our first leg. I frantically ran around trying to teach her how to use blocks. Didnt really matter with how bad our handoffs were. The womens 4x400m got third. The speed-walkers tried hard but were given bad race strategies such as the person who wins the first 100m wins the race...we proved that theory wrong. They were so depressed about not getting a medal that they both came up to Tom apologized and then bowed. The teams did good and if we had them for another few months I have no question we might have done better atleast I know the sprinters would have.
After the games the parties began with a big track and field party, where I almost felt bad showing my face considering how bad my team did. We celebrated our victories and it was a joyous occasion. The next day Somlath killed a cow and we continued the party. Somlath looking visibly weary by that point. The cow was delicious. It was the first time in my life that I knew I might never see any of these people again. Growing up in a facebook/email era it is easy to just add some one on facebook or get their email and keep in touch over long distances. None of these kids have email or facebook or even home addresses for that matter so I have no way of keeping in touch. It was a sad moment saying goodbye but I gave them my email just in case they ever get one/learn enough english to email me. A few days later Tom and I left Luang Prabang which was sad to leave my home for the better part of the last year especially not knowing what the future held.
Now for some photos:
Some of the guys after they got their numbers.
Me and some of the girls on the team on the outside of the stadium.
Phou after the 1500m.
Avisong after her 3k.
Girls 4x400m team.
Jeap and Tui with Tom and I after the hundred.
Me with the mens 4x100m.
The coaching staff after the last race. Head Coach Somlath in black.
Tom and I with the womens 4x400m team.
Lieu and some of the guys at Somlaths after party.
I went from Luang Prabang to Bali where I had a rather nontraditional christmas with my mom on the beach. It was a great time and a very relaxing way to end a year. With my excursion to Bali over I headed to LA where my friend from college was getting married. Tom and I were able to reconnect after our long time apart. The wedding was a beautiful, quick ceremony followed by a lot of fun. It was non traditional meaning it was Peter Pan themed and it had a bounce house. I was excited to be able to reconnect with some college friends. From LA I headed with some friends to Boulder CO where we spent new years. We stayed at some friends houses then drove up to Vail where I spent a few days before finally arriving in Arizona. There was almost no snow in Colorado until the day we tried to leave then we got like 7 inches. I came to Arizona to find out that I had gotten a job which I had applied for in December. I have been spending the last few days dealing with the paper work and visas for living and working in Phuket Thailand for the next 6 months. I will be working for the Phuket has been good to us Foundation. You can check out there website here http://www.phukethasbeengoodtous.org/ . I may keep the blog going but change the link. I will let you know more as I know more.
Christmas in Bali. I like the statue of santa on a vespa.
Men fishing in Bali with motorbike helmets.
We saw a traditional Balinese dance show on christmas eve.
Giant sculpture in Bali.
The views of the rice fields on a bike tour we took.
The group who went on the bike tour after we got rained on.
Thank You for all of your support and viewership during this past year. I took this up not knowing what it would turn out and around 90 posts later here we are. I would not have kept this up without your readership.
I hope you all have a Great 2012!
David
Let me start off by saying that I am very sorry about the long delay. My last few weeks not to mention the time during the games was rather hectic.
First off the Games
These games had everything and because it was a few weeks ago I wont be able to truly do it justice, sorry. They went great for the distance team and not as great for my sprinters. We had some great and smart races in the mens 1500m and 800 along with the womens 5k. All said as the days wore on we were really impressed with how most everyone competed. My top guy ran a great race in the 200 meters and got 6th but considering he was 7 years younger than the winner I will take that. Our Vientiane ringers did almost everything they set out to do. Tui won the 100m and 200m. Et won the 110 hurdles. Pole won the 400m. As a group they won the 4x100 and got second in the 4x400m. Obviously money well spent. They were really pissed about the silver though. The distance team came home with second and third in the 10k mens. Third in the mens steeplechase, and 5k. The girls ran a terrible 4x100 for 4th and the day of we found out that the womens 800m runner would be our first leg. I frantically ran around trying to teach her how to use blocks. Didnt really matter with how bad our handoffs were. The womens 4x400m got third. The speed-walkers tried hard but were given bad race strategies such as the person who wins the first 100m wins the race...we proved that theory wrong. They were so depressed about not getting a medal that they both came up to Tom apologized and then bowed. The teams did good and if we had them for another few months I have no question we might have done better atleast I know the sprinters would have.
After the games the parties began with a big track and field party, where I almost felt bad showing my face considering how bad my team did. We celebrated our victories and it was a joyous occasion. The next day Somlath killed a cow and we continued the party. Somlath looking visibly weary by that point. The cow was delicious. It was the first time in my life that I knew I might never see any of these people again. Growing up in a facebook/email era it is easy to just add some one on facebook or get their email and keep in touch over long distances. None of these kids have email or facebook or even home addresses for that matter so I have no way of keeping in touch. It was a sad moment saying goodbye but I gave them my email just in case they ever get one/learn enough english to email me. A few days later Tom and I left Luang Prabang which was sad to leave my home for the better part of the last year especially not knowing what the future held.
Now for some photos:
Jeap and Tui with Tom and I after the hundred.
I went from Luang Prabang to Bali where I had a rather nontraditional christmas with my mom on the beach. It was a great time and a very relaxing way to end a year. With my excursion to Bali over I headed to LA where my friend from college was getting married. Tom and I were able to reconnect after our long time apart. The wedding was a beautiful, quick ceremony followed by a lot of fun. It was non traditional meaning it was Peter Pan themed and it had a bounce house. I was excited to be able to reconnect with some college friends. From LA I headed with some friends to Boulder CO where we spent new years. We stayed at some friends houses then drove up to Vail where I spent a few days before finally arriving in Arizona. There was almost no snow in Colorado until the day we tried to leave then we got like 7 inches. I came to Arizona to find out that I had gotten a job which I had applied for in December. I have been spending the last few days dealing with the paper work and visas for living and working in Phuket Thailand for the next 6 months. I will be working for the Phuket has been good to us Foundation. You can check out there website here http://www.phukethasbeengoodtous.org/ . I may keep the blog going but change the link. I will let you know more as I know more.
Thank You for all of your support and viewership during this past year. I took this up not knowing what it would turn out and around 90 posts later here we are. I would not have kept this up without your readership.
I hope you all have a Great 2012!
David
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