Fundraising for the candle festival

On Thursday we spontaneously went along with some of the school kids to collect money for the candle festival which takes place next week. We drove to a huge market area where they were selling fruits I’d never seen before, vegetables, flowers, fish etc. Two boys played the drums; the rest of the kids walked around with bowls and asked the people for money. What surprised and impressed me the most was how giving the people were. Almost everyone gave money without hesitation – the old woman peeling onions, the street cleaner, the fruit seller… People even stopped their cars and motorcycles just to give money! And yet it wasn’t like most of these people had lots of money. Compared to Switzerland, where most people – including me – just ignore the people in town asking for donations for something.

For lunch we stopped at a small restaurant. I had papaya salad – the spiciest food I’ve had until now in Thailand. I thought my mouth would never recover! Luckily most of the food we eat at the school isn’t spicy at all.

When we got back to the school we all helped count the money. I don’t know how much they got, but it looked like a lot. They’ve been doing this all of this week and continue until the candle festival next week, so seven days. The money goes to the school, for school supplies, renovations etc.

AIESEC camp and waterfall

After a week in Thailand I’ve already experienced so much! On Saturday morning we went to the induction camp for new AIESEC members of LC Bangkok University. The adventure started at the Bangkok University, where we all got on the funkiest looking bus I’ve ever seen. It reminded me more of a bus for school kids because it was so colorful: the outside had pictures painted on it in vivid colors, the inside was decorated with lots of colors too. I enjoyed the scenery on the way there. We started the camp with some AIESEC roll calls. After a get to know each other session and some teambuilding games we had some sessions, mostly in Thai… which continued on the next day. That evening we had a party, though it was nothing compared to the AIESEC parties I’m used to. Still, I realized it’s really hard when almost all the songs are in Thai and everyone else is singing along but you (and there was actually more singing than dancing…).

The best part of the weekend – other than meeting lots of very nice people – was the Nang Rong Waterfall we went to on Sunday afternoon. It was located in a beautiful park/forest where the vegetation was so different! At first I was just going to get my feet wet, but the water looked too tempting and I got in with my clothes on. There were about 25 AIESECers all in the water splashing around and having fun. While everyone else thought the water felt cold, it felt good to me, probably warmer than most pools on a hot day ;) And of course the air is also always very warm. We were able to “slide” down a tiny water fall which was quite fun. That evening we took the colorful bus back to the university. The bus ride home wasn’t boring at all: there was Thai music blasting the whole way home, a poker game going on in the back of the bus, and everyone walking around taking pictures. I did finally fall asleep when we got stuck in traffic - imagine a traffic jam on a Sunday night at 9 pm!

Amazing Thailand - frist impressions

So here’s my first try on the blog. To sum up my first few days in Thailand: AMAZING! My trip started Monday evening in Zürich. After a long flight and not a lot of sleep I arrived in Bangkok, passed immigration and customs and stepped out to the arrival area, where there were lots of people standing around with signs. I started walking, and just as I was feeling quite lost and worried that I would never find the person picking me up I saw two smiling faces holding signs that said AIESEC and Natalie! Eve and Tee (at this point I want to apologize for any misspelled names in the blog) helped me and were so friendly and welcoming. Later two more AIESECers arrived, and one of them took me to the school where I’d be staying. I met the other three EPs: Thea from Indonesia, Judy from Taiwan and Melody from China. Despite the fact that I’d only had about 3 hours of sleep the last night, and not much more the nights before because of packing and a conference in Germany, it was just too exciting to go to bed right away, instead we stayed up until almost midnight talking. The next morning the school had exams, therefore we had some time to walk around the neighborhood in the afternoon. Everything was so new and different and obviously I had to take pictures of everything – the small shops, the busy highway, a temple, an old bridge… Of course being the only non-asian it was probably 10 times more “exotic” for me than for them. In the evening some AIESECers came to eat dinner with us and we moved to a teacher’s apartment to where we’d be living. The last intern, An from Vietnam, arrived on Thursday.

The kids ready to take their exams. 

Free hugs :)

The kids are all so cute and loving, but after a whole day with them – think of eight kids coming up and hugging you or wanting to do your hair at once – I’m quite exhausted! The teachers are also extremely friendly. After telling one of them that we wanted to try some mango from Thailand and some other fruits, they went out and bought us a bunch of different fruits that I’d never seen before and don’t even know the name of. They were all so delicious! The mango was yellow and crunchy or green and sour, totally different than what I’ve had.

exotic fruit: mangoteen, crunchy yellow and green mango,
and two other fruits I don't know the name of.

Thea, Melody, Judy, An and I at the Big C (=big store like Walmart)