5 September

I miss you all. I miss my family and friends, my step-daughter, my boyfriend, and of course my dog... I appreciate all the love and support you are all sending me. Thank you. You mean the world to me.

Dylan sent me a link... check it out: http://www.globalrichlist.com/
Thanks Dylan!

I miss home and in particular my people who I call home. I hope you all are having a great week. Happy Friday to you! Literally - hey we are on the same day right now!! It's 2:40 pm Friday afternoon here and 12:40 am Friday in Seattle.

Today Professor Reinnoldt from the University of Washington (Seattle & Bothell) stopped by with a business class. It was great to see the students and to talk to Americans. I'm finding that my English is already after one week becoming gestures and partial phrases. I've been saying less full sentences so that I can be understood and it was funny making the switch. Kellie the family manager gave them a tour of the school and the hotel. Yaowawit has a beautiful hotel. Please come visit. The cost is 900 baht to 1500 baht per night. The rooms are beautiful. We are not your typical resort but this is a really nice place to stay in paradise and to also contribute to helping the school become sustainable.

Yaowawit School and staff have already done so much in three years and yet there is much more that is needed. This school provides a launching pad for children to get an education and to be able to go to universities or colleges or get vocational training. There are organizations that are linking with the school to provide scholarships in hospitality education and various others. The school currently relies on outside funding but the hope is that within several years the hotel and restaurant will relieve some of the reliance on donations.

I am grateful for the opportunity to help here. In addition to teaching the kindergarten class and 5th/6th graders occasionally I will also begin to help the staff to learn English. As the hotel gains greater recognition we will need more staff to speak English to help the guests. I hope to be able to help in other ways too and will begin to find my way with this. It takes a little time to find what skills and talents one has that can be most helpful.

Big news of the day... ? Not a lot except for the UW visit. Last night I did not blog because I wanted to spend time with the children. They have free time in the evenings and can be found playing games (similar to some played more in the US 20 years ago). There is a rope game where the kids jump in and out of the rope that two kids are holding. I can't remember the name of this game but do remember it was played when I was in school. There were children reading books so I jumped on the chance to read to them. This was one of my favorite things as a kid and as a babysitter in junior high, going to the library myself as well as reading with children. Cuddle up, grab a lap and let's read!! They loved it! And so did I.

Yesterday I got the chance to make dolls with a couple teachers and students. It was fun and they are so sweet. I am struggling with remembering their names! Which I think must be frustrating to them as well! Oh - and while I was taking a picture of them I leaned out the window against a bush full of ants that BIT me! I touched it for a second!!!

I also did my laundry last night. The washing machine is the old style (works better than mine at home)! You load one side with water with the faucet (making sure the drain is plugged), add your soap and clothes, turn on the wash cycle and then turn on the machine. This takes about 15 minutes. Drain the clothes, add more water to rinse and wash, then drain again. Then remove the clothes and put them on the right side of the machine in the spinning part. Turn on the spin for 5 minutes and it spins the clothes better than my machine! We have two working washing machines and lucky!! we have two dryers. A treat - otherwise you have to dry your clothes on the line or clothes rack and with the volume of rain we get and the quantity of children's clothes that have to be washed, this would be impossible to get them all dry. I missed out and didn't get the dryer before someone else and didn't want to stay up too late. I took all my clothes back to my room and laid them out for the night. Most were dry in the morning.

There are puppies at the house/room next to my building. They are CUTE but they squeal occasionally at night. I can sleep through the people noises and the music (sappy US songs and Thai music) but puppies at 1:00 am no! Sound carries really well. I am on the 2nd floor of my building but when people walk by or talk it sounds like they are on my doorstep.

I will probably not be posting every day as I want to spend more time getting to know people here and acclimating. I'm finding the internet to be a bit detracting from what I'm trying to do. SIGH. Although I'm enjoying blogging. Maybe what I'll do is just type in my room at night and post later.

Tonight is a huge goodbye party for Kellie the family manager at Yaowawit. She is going to Bangkok shortly and will be missed!

I hope things are going well for all of you.

Love and hugs,
Joyann

Rain this morning... Dylan this is what kept interrupting the connection!! Bugger rain!! And yes... for those that want to know... my English is turning into English with a British accent!!









Hibiscus Flower (I think)










Puppies at the house room next to mine. (There are 9)









Ants on a tree... like the ones that bit me. Ugh! And no - the bugs are NOT in my bedroom thank goodness. Although an occasional small gecko gets in!










Kru I and I - making yarn dolls. Roll up a ball of newspaper, wrap yarn around it, sew the face, take sticks (a special kind) and wrap yarn around them ... cute!































The bug from the other night... to give you perspective on size!









A class from the University of Washington visiting. James Reinnoldt was my professor for the Global Environment of Business. He is in the back row in white between two tall students - about 4th or 5th in from the left.

Kellie, the family manager who is leaving Yaowawit (and a wonderful lady)! is in white, second row behind the children next to the woman in the blue shirt.
Her dog is the little terrier named "Mafia."