Monkeys, Birthdays, and Lasagna

It's been a pretty busy week here, and definitely a bit interesting. Monday night we had a surprise birthday party for one of the volunteers at the house. Since my birthday was friday, we walked into the house and he assumed the surprise was for me. His birthday was in January so it didn't seem to make a lot of sense to him when they said his name in the Happy Birthday song. It was a lot of fun though.

Monday they asked me to take care of a highly autistic kid living in the government house for about an hour a day. The staff that works with him seem to quit shortly after their assignment, so someone (who shall remain nameless) decided I would be a great candidate to walk him around. Noone seemed to give me any info on the kid, or even tell me of my new assignment until the morning I was to start, so I wasn't too pleased about the idea to begin with. If I knew much about autism it might be different. But I don't even think I know how to spell the word right, and I defintitely have never worked with this kid before or knew what I was even supposed to be doing. I didn't find out till after the first day (which only lasted 20 minutes or so)that the kid loves to bite the new volunteers. Fortunately I strong armed him away from any attempts. The second day only lasted 15 minutes before he tore apart some poor guy's (and probably hungry guy that day) food sending it flying all over the place. I haven't seen the kid since that day and expressed my frustration with the whole situation so we'll see what happens. I hope they can find the new staff that will take care of him soon.

Saturday we took some ten kids or so to the zoo to see all the animals. Average age of the little ones was about 4 I guess. I was in charge of a little girl named Anna. I did have to chase her down a couple times, but I never lost her for too long. She did however manage to acquire a lollypop from somewhere...I don't even want to know how. I wouldn't have given it too her (she might've known that part) so she was able to get someone else to open it up for her. Most of the kids from the orphanage are like that since they always have random people coming in and giving them stuff. They never grow up with parents or anyone close enough to them to teach them the little things in life, such as taking something that isn't yours in the government wards might help you to survive (or at least be happy), but in the real world that's stealing and not really permitted.

This is me with Anna showing her one of the Hippos at the zoo. I think she liked the tigers the best. It was a ton of fun being able to work with the little kids for a day, since I don't usually see them too much. They tend to bite, pinch, cry, and run away more than the guys I usually work with who have cerebal paulsy. The kids were really cute though and it was great to see them getting excited at all the animals. Some of the other volunteers planned the trip and I was glad to be able to come along and help with one of the kids.

It was also my birthday on Friday. One of the girls that volunteers with the kids around the government homes brought a cake for me to the zoo. We had a short party/cake break with all the kids there. On friday I didn't do too much. One of the guys with cerebal paulsy gave me a t-shirt for my birthday which was really nice since they don't have much to begin with. I was just thankful to be here with the guys and spend it with them. Friday night I spent with a couple of the volunteers here, then the zoo all day saturday with the kids. Saturday night we went to an American lady's house in Bangkok. She volunteers time for CCD, mainly working in the office doing fundraising things. She made us all lasagna which tasted great. I'd been craving lasagna for a while now so it really hit the spot. After three pieces of that and 6 pieces of garlic bread (I like bread) they brought out a surprise birthday cake for me that one of my bosses had made for me. They also brought a couple pies. I haven't been that full since I left America!