27th of June to 29th of July, 2023.
Volunteer work in Thailand: Hua Hin
The farm has two small cottages, for volunteers, and the family house, where the mother of my host lives. I stay in one of the cottages, and another volunteer, from the Netherlands, in the other. There is a small pond in between the cottages, and it is full of tiny fishes and some big ones too. I can hear their big splashes many times a day.
My cottage has many openings all over, so bugs, insects and geckoes come and go freely. I have never seen so many geckoes in my life! It is extremely hot all the time. I have a mosquito net around my bed, and I manage to have the fan inside of it, so at least I can sleep at night. It is the first time during my travels that I have to sleep with the fan on, otherwise I cannot sleep at all.
The other volunteer is Bo, and he is his late sixties. He is a very relaxed, chill man. His volunteer work is only to teach English to the children of the village, and he does that for a few hours in the afternoon. During the weekends, he goes to Hua Hin and stay in a hotel there, just to enjoy the town. So, we don’t see each other much because during the day I am busy with my cores. But the few times we chat, over dinner or something, we have a good time. He also is very kind on sharing his food with me, and many times he bought me potato chips and other snacks. How sweet!
About my volunteer work, well… it is difficult to put it in words but I will try. Even though my host is a good person, and his mum is a lovely lady, I cannot say that this is a Workaway experience. Perhaps it used to be, years ago, when they started, but nowadays it has change into something else.
I barely see Jack. The few times he came to give me some work to do, we barely talk. His mum cannot speak English, so she can’t really tell me anything about Thailand or the farm. She cooks marvellously though, and for the whole time I will remain in Thailand, the food I ate with her, throughout the weeks I spent in the farm, is the best! She is an amazing cook! But for me, volunteer work is a lot about learning the culture of the country, and here, apart form the food, I’ve learnt almost nothing about Thailand with my hosts. I love spending time alone, and I love working alone. I am capable of taking responsibility for my task, and accomplishing them without any help, but a Workaway experience is about sharing the help with the host, working together in the projects.
The work is also very mild; and mostly I don’t feel as it is necessary, I don’t feel as they need me. I clean a field of Thail Basil from weeds; I dig dozens of wholes and plant more Thai Basil plants (that was a great work to do); I feed three baby goats, every morning and evening, with milk in a bottle; I collect the eggs from about 100 chickens (give them water and clean their outside space too sometimes); I clean the goats and sheep’s shed; sometimes, I wash the pig’s shed too, with a water hose; sowing; and I water the baby plants every morning. I know it sound like a lot, but actually it isn’t. But it can be hard, though, mostly because of the heat. I only start at 8 in the morning because before that I go for my daily walk. There’s no other way. So, I work until 11 a.m., finishing m last 2 hours in the late afternoon. But it doesn’t matter the hour, I am always dripping sweat whenever I am working. Seriously, I have never sweat this much in my life! It is like I am watering the plants while I am planting them. Laugh.
I believe that this is one of the reasons why I didn’t gain any weight for the whole 5 weeks I’ve been working here. The other reason is probably the food. Even though they prepare a lot of fried food, mother also prepares a lot of healthy food, and the portions are moderate, always with a reasonable amount of carbs. And almost no sugar! Apart from a few snacks I got from Bo and Jack’s sister, I haven’t had any cakes or cookies, and I can clearly see the difference on my body. Of course, when I came from India, I was already underweight, and I haven’t managed to go over 52 kg since then.
The sister of Jack who I mentioned comes over a few times and we have a good time. She normally brings some food and nice snacks, which is very sweet of her. One day, she takes me and the kids of the neighbour to visit some places around. We go to a very nice and fancy coffee shop, which has a wonderful green area outside, and it is very refreshing; then we visit a famous temple nearby; and end up the day eating a lot of ice cream. It is a good day!
I normally don’t go anywhere. As I said before, every morning, starting at 6 a.m., I go for long walks before work. I pass by pineapple fields and green areas. It’s peaceful here and there’s nobody around. Before lunch time, I do some work out. I finally find the time and the motivation to do it. I fill two big plastic bottles with small stones, and I use them to practice some biceps and triceps exercises. After a few weeks, I can see the result already, which is nice!
The village itself must have around 100 people tops, and everybody seems to leave a very quiet life. I think it is very curious how the neighbour, a senior lady, makes natural charcoal. It is part of their income. They prepare a huge pile of wood, all small pieces, and cover with soil and dry grass. The burning must be very slow, so the whole process takes a lot of time. The hard work comes actually after, when this lady must select and pack the charcoal into small parcels to sell it. I am shocked!
At some point, I am certain that I must find a job as an English Teacher here in Thailand, so I can raise some funds for my future travels. It will be mainly for: a new laptop; Visas for the next countries on my way in East Asia; and an emergency pocket money. When I left India, I had nothing more than a dozen of U.S.A. Dollars. And even though I love the freedom of living without money, I started to get worried about having a health emergency, needing a hospital or medicine, and somebody else having to take care of that for me. It was my choice to live without money, and I don’t want to be a burden to anyone because of my choices. That’s’ why I decided to have some pocket money again, just in case I need it. I start looking for a teaching job on Facebook, advertising in a few groups. At this point, Bo helps me a lot, with a few different things, which is very nice of him.
An agency for English teachers contacts me via Facebook and we start negotiating. I talk with a few different schools too, but nothing else seems adequate. It is very confusing, though. There are so many things to clarify, so much bureaucracy and documents to provide, that at some point I think that things will not work out. To make matters worse, they don’t have wi-fi here in the cottage. In order to get connection, I have to go to a small bar, about two hundred metres from here, which belongs to my host too. In the evening, many people come there, all locals, so I cannot really do much at that time. Only at lunch time, when the bar is still closed, is that I have two or three hours to sit there and do some proper research. But it is not pleasant at all, I mean, the conditions are annoying.
After a lot of talking and consideration, I finally choose one school in a small town in the countryside. But just to start with everything, renting a place, paying for documents and getting my diploma legalized, I will have to borrow a lot of money from my sister. Luckily, I manage to arrange everything with her for around the day when I arrive to Phanat Nikhom, in Chonburi District, where I will teach in a Primary Governmental School.
10 Years Around the World 