As a family, we decided to take our summer holiday and volunteer somewhere in Asia. Since my parents are missionaries and know a lot of missionaries, I did not think we would have a problem finding a place to volunteer. However, all our contacts ended up in closed doors, until a friend of ours from our small group at church told us her brother had volunteered in Thailand a couple times. Rupert got us in contact with a lady and her family who live in a remote village in Thailand. I'll be honest, I was {and still am, as I'm writing this from Thailand} a little nervous about going to a place sight unseen and not knowing anything about this family. We were told that they are a family that has a home for kids, we could build concrete buildings for them {manual labor}, help with soccer camps, and teach English in the public school.
The day finally came that we were to make our first trip to Thailand. With a little trepidation, we were packed and on the bus headed to the airport when my husband realized he had forgotten to bring along our Thai money that we had taken out of the bank the day before. After a quick plan that we hastily put together, my husband got off the bus and the kids and I continued on to the airport where twenty minutes later we were reunited and headed on our way. We ate a breakfast at Starbucks for the kids, and had a caffeine fix for my husband and I while we waited for our flight to board.
A thirty minute layover in Manila meant we literally ran through the airport without much time to say hello to the mother land. The Ninoy Aquino airport is undergoing renovation, and we had to go through some declaration point instead of just being able to run to our next flight. Three stalls in the ladies bathroom for all transfer flights was also a bit inconvenient, and we never did get to relieve ourselves before we had to board.
Once we landed in Thailand, we met the family whose village we are staying at to help them. We all immediately piled into a taxi van for a four hour ride to the village. Forty minutes into the ride, both my kids passed out just to be awakened twenty minutes later for dinner. After our first meal in Thailand... can we say spicy food?!? With my son having a melt down and embarrassing my husband and I in front of our new friends, we then got back into the taxi van where everyone shut their eyes and the driver took us to the village, arriving at 1:30 in the morning.
The day finally came that we were to make our first trip to Thailand. With a little trepidation, we were packed and on the bus headed to the airport when my husband realized he had forgotten to bring along our Thai money that we had taken out of the bank the day before. After a quick plan that we hastily put together, my husband got off the bus and the kids and I continued on to the airport where twenty minutes later we were reunited and headed on our way. We ate a breakfast at Starbucks for the kids, and had a caffeine fix for my husband and I while we waited for our flight to board.
A thirty minute layover in Manila meant we literally ran through the airport without much time to say hello to the mother land. The Ninoy Aquino airport is undergoing renovation, and we had to go through some declaration point instead of just being able to run to our next flight. Three stalls in the ladies bathroom for all transfer flights was also a bit inconvenient, and we never did get to relieve ourselves before we had to board.
Once we landed in Thailand, we met the family whose village we are staying at to help them. We all immediately piled into a taxi van for a four hour ride to the village. Forty minutes into the ride, both my kids passed out just to be awakened twenty minutes later for dinner. After our first meal in Thailand... can we say spicy food?!? With my son having a melt down and embarrassing my husband and I in front of our new friends, we then got back into the taxi van where everyone shut their eyes and the driver took us to the village, arriving at 1:30 in the morning.
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