Right now, I am still in the preparations stages for my trip. Plane ticket, check. Visa, check. Thai phrase book, check (its daunting. and scary. there are tones!) Service project, semi-check. As part of my program, I will be teaching English 5 days a week at a school in my community, but I will also be in charge of setting up a "sustainable" service program. Right now, the other volunteers and I are still brainstorming and trying to come up with something actually useful and helpful, but it's difficult seeing as we really have no idea what the needs of our communities will actually be.
I just got information about my host family! Yay! I am going to be in Taphan hin, in Phichit province, Thailand. Phichit province is in the North-centralish part of Thailand and is about 4 hours by car north of Bangkok. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phichit_Province).
My host family has two teenage boys, ages 15 and 17 (I think) and seem really nice. I thought I would be "roughing it", but they said their house has a swimming pool, internet, and 3 white poodles. I don't think this is going to be a typical volunteer experience at all. I am going to be teaching grades 7-12 at the school, which I think will be a good fit for me. Hopefully, these kids will have a basic grasp of English, since my Thai is completely nonexistant. People keep asking me how I am going to teach English when I don't speak a word of Thai. Good question...I'm hoping that will all work itself out. dot dot dot.
