Looks like I'm really terrible at blogging, only being able to post once a week or so...I'll have to do better about remembering all the details of what I've been doing. As you could tell I was so excited to get to go to Bangkok, get western food and head out on the town with my group....and that's exactly what happened. It was really great but the enormity of Bangkok and number of other farongs (foreigners) there was overwhelming and annoying. I took a night bus (on Friday) to Issan with another volunteer (Susan). We tried to sleep but ended up swapping life stories. Her's was a little more incredible than mine (ie, she knew Dr. King and spearheaded the civil rights movement in Oregon! I was in awe). We arrived somewhere (who knows) just in time to miss our next bus. We slowly made our way from town to town on a song tao, a covered pick up truck, to meet up with the current volunteer we were assigned to visit. It was so great to get to spend some time with her, Sherri from GA also a Religious Studies major, and we definitely were able to have some fun. We met up with other people from her group, my group and her colleagues for beers and lunch on the Mekong River overlooking Laos. Pretty amazing, no swimming though, the weather was freezing! Susan and I got up early the next day and flagged a bus own by Sherri's house to get our next bus station. There we parted ways to visit our respective sites. My trip wasn't too long and I had the bus driver stop right in front of my SAO, where my office will be for the next two years. I was met by a large amount of the staff, even though it was Sunday and talked with them as much as I could before I absolutely had used all my Thai and needed a nap. I stayed on the property with some of my younger counterparts and we had a lovely dinner and went to bed early. The next day began early to go over the SAO's six month plan after my arrival; also I was treated to tons more introductions. Then off to look at houses and the area. We all piled in a truck, one teacher came with and she could speak English, and we headed out. Most of the houses were so-so but not ideal. I have decided on a homestay, where I will have my own room with an older couple that have a beautiful home, garden and farm. Best of all they are one of the loveliest families I have ever met. The father is a retired soldier that used to work for the US army and his wife is a retired teacher; they also speak English! This will be extremely helpful because in my area most people speak Lao, which I obviously have not been learning in Central Thailand, haha! All in all the site visit was a sucess and I feel very lucky and excited to be going there. The community is extremely receptive to having a Peace Corps volunteer, as a couple from Peace Corps lived there a few years ago. 

I am now back at my training site with my Thai homestay family, who I missed a lot. They really have been amazing. After several overnight bus trips, some confusing commuter buses I finally made it back to bike home in time for lunch. I feel a little strange, because I now have two lives in Thailand, one at training and one at site, and I miss the other when I'm not there. It will be hard to so goodbye to my training community come April 9 when I move to site. 

That's all to report for now. This week and weekend the community development group will be putting together and running a life skills camp for the local teenagers. Should be interesting, will update again soon!

Peace, Sarah