last few days...

been quite a "tough" few days..trying to accept that Im going back...sobz..leaving this place in 3 days.
gonna miss the peepz.. not just the children n staff here..but the nice vendors at the mkt.... the neighbours... the minimart owner.. the 7-11 staff.. hmm..
managed to say goodbye to some of them.. told them im leaving... it's so sweet when they ask when i ll be back.. *aww* .. im sure i would wanna come back again..just to visit them even. the people are so nice... u wun get anything close to this in spore really..










the next volunteer, Katrine arrived today... was showing her around n letting her know bout the "must-knows" n bout getting ard.. sigh. makes me sad tat im going. booohooo.

gonna try get more pics of the kids these few days. suppose i wun see most of them anymore since most will be goin home for the weekend... oh well. all good things come to an end huh.

oh yea..my wound... doesn seem to get better. or worse (hopefully!) it's just the same..red.. sore..pain at times.. think it should be fine. taking my med regularly! =)

anyhow..id better treasure the last 3 days here. =P

with metta..
qiz

hospital visit.. but.

with da advice frm my parents...i went to see a doc at the hospital today.... =) yea.. my dearest mum lo...telling me bout how it will get infection..cause pain ...won't be able to walk.. n scar will be ugly etc.( she's good at scaring the shit out of me. =P but i appreciate it.).. heh. actually yea..tink it gotten an infection yest.. cos the skin tore off n i was pretty much walking around with an open wound..

anyhow.. though it wasn tat bad, i thought it would be safer to see a doc.

interesting experience at the Takuapa Hospital...

waiting..n queuein was pretty much like the polyclinic system in spore....register...wait.. collect card...move on to the another plc..queue...wait again... then get screened n brief examination by nurses....
then..move to another plc.. sit outside the doc room..n wait again... all in all, was there frm 12-3?
oh..anyway...according to doc... ive a 2nd degree burn wound on calf.. required med. n he suggested some injection thingy... i din take the injection though.. had a funny name tat sounded scary..
after consultation..proceeded to the "prescription" plc... then cashier... then to the treatment room where i got my wound dressed up..

was juz amused at the number of pp going to the hospital for minor illnesses, such as flu etc. which we usually go to our GP for.
n guess what... when i got back... i realise smtg... I FORGOT TO COLLECT MY MEDICINE! sheesh.. there were just too many counters to go to, that i din even realise i din haf any med with me. im such a goon. gotta return tom.

yup..tat was today..n bcos it's stupidly pouring non-stop AGAIN, i cdn go anywhere else to "eat air". sheesh.

oh yea..found a litter of puppies with their mum while taking a walk today..they were sleeping outside a vacant house nearby.. they r so cutee...bout 5 of them..but cd see they were sick n weak. bought some dog food to feed them in the afternoon...but by tat time, only 2 of the puppies were left...

surprisingly, i realise one of the other puppies was taken in by the peepz here. it was shivering non-stop (STUPID RAIN!).. really cold..n it cdn eat anything.. we tried using the hairdryer to warm it.. but it din seem to help. it looked like it's really sick too, some skin problem, n its ears were infected..
we prob might bring it to the vet if it doesn feel better tomorrow
will check on its family too... bring more food for them...

hmm..talkin bout dogs...i suspect the "abused" black-white dog died or smtg... haven seen him ard today.. he usually hangs ard...hopin for some food n attention even though it gets abused.. i wonder wat happened...

5 more days..sobz.

with metta,
Qiz

burn..wat's next.

ok..maybe im not fated to handle motorbikes well... guess wat.. last nite.. got myself a bad burn from the exhaust pipe of a damn nice huge bike. saw it few nights ago..a row of super cool bikes (kinda like harley..) found out last night tat the owners r friends of the nice peepz who helped me when I crashed the bike last time.

so... was darn excited to take a pic.. stood next to it...n ____! damn, the exhaust pipe is huge can! din realise my leg was leaning on it till I felt the burn.

this pic.....sigh..huge sacrifice... think it's a 2nd degree burn. feels like it.. the heat nv went away till today.. n it ll a reeally ugly scar ...sob. anywayz. had to keep poking it with a needle to "deflate" the blister.. (i know..eeks)
though burning the needle etc reminded me of the tattooing. ouch.
sigh. gonna end up with ALOT shit by the time i get back. hee.

1 more week left..booohoooo..

metta...

quiet sat..dying dog..

it's a sat .. most kids who still haf parents or relatives, go back to their home for the weekend.. so.. it's prob bout half of the 44 children left today. kinda quiet.. hmm..

oh,my toe stil can't wriggle much.. hurts like mad. can stil walk though.. dun tink it's so much of a prob tat i need to go to the hosp. wil juz leave it to heal =)
found out ve got lotta bruises though.. they juz appeared yest. all from the accident.. maybe i shd go for a massage..might help huh. hee. promote blood circulation right! =P

1more week here..sobz.. time really flies.. wish i cd stay longer.. im kinda stressed over going back really... cos i know then i haf to "get a decent job" or however sm ppl like to put it. going back to the stress of life.. the ridiculous pace n competition there.. it's very close to over-whelming for me..

dogs.. there's this particular dog here (the black n white one in the pic..)... tat I feel alotta sympathy for.. it's like a discriminated dog.. he's old n sick.. n we think he's close to dying.. he has been frothing lately..n looking very ill. but..unlike places where we can call up an "SPCA" or similar orgn. to take care of them..stray dogs here are often left to die if hurt.. there are just too many ..n most of them haf rabies..

this particular dog..his name is "NaPi"... i mentioned it's discriminated...cos it's often ill-treated by the peepz ard.. which i reeaaly dun feel comfortable with. it's always kicked ard..slapped or pushed off harshly.. even the kids learnt to do tat... (they really learn fast from bad examples...)
i dun exactly know why it's being treated so unfairly bcos the other 2 dogs are fed n pampered.
figured it's prob cos he's dirty n old. suddenly..it just came to me tat...alot of times, humans are treated the same way.. nobody wants u when u are old n dirty.. they find u useless.. while everyone loves young cute babies n clean children..

everytime i look at NaPi..i feel sad for him. i know he prob has rabies n it's not wise to stay near him.. but..honestly ...even if he's sick.. we dun haf the right to kick it, abuse it or bring him to death faster... sometimes unkind words used to describe these "unwelcomed" dogs can be little too harsh for me to take.. they are still lives after all.. they had their parents who love them.. they haf feelings too. (esp dogs..i dun need to say much..)

anyway.. found out smtg interesting.. was told when near death... dogs will "automatically" know..n they often wander far away from their "home" to die peacefully.. i was really amazed by how they do that... not sure why.. maybe they don't wish to be a "burden" to their owners (having to bury them or clear their carcass.) or maybe they don't wish to make them too upset... whatever the reason is..it's just amazing..
anybody here who owned a dog has such experience?? ve heard from friends whose dogs did tat....
it's really cool i tink... how sweet..

with metta,
Qi

crashed..

crashed today...well sorta...caused a little...bike accident...erm...tried to fetch my friend but..din work out ... the moment i started the engine..moved bout 20cm..n it fell to the side..the bike landed ontop of me...my leg...or feet was super "bent"...(i din even know im tat agile!).. thank god it din hit the lamp-post infront...

I was sorta stuck beneath the bike.. for a moment..i thought the bike might blow up or smtg...(too much hollywood stuff..)

gotten some scrapes...and tink i fractured or broke my toe-bone...or watever it is..it hurts like mad still...

feel kinda bad..bout disfiguring my friend's bike...(not the white one in the pic...tat's the bike tat marked my first solo ride! )

but..im fine..and was so touched to have really kind pp tat rushed out frm their shops to attend to me...dressed up my wound...n made sure i was safe... how sweet !! =) ( i insisted on taking a photo with the nice lady!)

well..cos the accident... the front tyre was kinda punctured ... had to change it... costs bout S$4 bucks la..not tat bad.. hee.

for the moment..I tink id better stick to riding alone... no kidding.. my toe really hurts like mad..it's quite swollen ..sobz.

hmm..1 more week here till im due home.. aww...sad.. hmm. dunno wat im gonna do when i get back though.. work.yea. how fun! =P

with metta..

Qiz

bike...i rock... =)

hmm. noting much happened these few days....my few canadian frenz weren' around..so din haf much english speakin pp to yak... =P time passsed really slowly though.. hmm..oh yea.. ironed the uniforms for the little sweeties.. packed their stuff a little.. taught them some english as usual....n tried to help as much as i can.. it gets a little tough when i dun really know what i can or cannot do.

OH YA...the most happening thing...(at least to me...) is I rode a bike myself dammit. haa. no lessons..no body with me.. all the "lessons" i had was 2 mins of asking about the "starting", "stopping", "accelerating"...then i was on my own..with my friend's super nice bike.gotta take a pic tom. damn shiok la.. was going down the road on 70 in 5 mins time.... haa. i tink i rock man!

i find turning a little scary though..dun dare to tilt much.. n i know nuts bout their traffic rules...(ppl dun even wear helmets for godness' sake...n 4ppl get on A bike)..wat rules matter...? so tempted to rent a bike now..so i can ride wherever n whenever i wish to..so fun lo.. the wind...the speed.. but no worries.. i had my helmet on..n i usually go on 40-50.. =)
alritey..more pics soon..the com is really slow in uploading..pls understand.. =)

with metta.. Qiz

phuket...crash...wat's happening...

Can somebody tell me why is Mother Earth getting so scary these days... juz a few days ago...Indo suffered an earthquake...tsunami warnings went off here in towns 10mins away from me... some days before that..Japan had a typhoon..

n yesterday...plane crashed in Phuket...89 ppl confirmed dead as far...which includes all the crew n 53 foreigners.. some still missing.. those who survived...r so badly burnt (60%)... when i heard about it yest..i was really shocked...lost for words..my heart goes out to those who were unfortunately in that plane...

furthermore..it took place so near to where i am.. it's really quite scary...

n today.. Typhoon Nari struck South Korea killing 16.. it's almost freaky... as if there's gonna be worse coming up ... *shudders*

Besides all the 'creeps'...was quite a different monday for me today.. went for a little shopping trip @ Khao Lak with my Canadian friends....it's bout 40mins away from here, and it's really quite a touristy place as compared to where Im..

Lotsa shops selling clothings, bags, n more touristy things, very similar2 Patong, Bangkok... n prices are probably 5-8 times the cost. So ended up only buying a top n some souveneir...while my friends seem to get lotsa stuff.. bleh.

Lunch....as expected..prices were twice-thrice that of the food stalls over here in the Takuapa area..*ouch* =P

Oh yea..only spent half a day there though..my friends went on to Phuket town for the night while I headed back to the orphanage..

still sick... throat sux... though a lady who lives nearby (we call her Meh Si-4th mum) gave me some honey-lime mixture(which she blessed...) to drink...hopefully it gets better soon..

had eye infection today too.. (as if i dun haf enough problems already...) started last night..eyes were sore...vision a little blur.. suspect it's the water.. of course it aint as clean as wat we r used to.. lucky not using contacts here..could be worse.. *phew*

oh yea.. juz this morning..after all the shock from the news yest... my day started with me witnessing a crab struggling for its life in a pot of boiling water... (ppl who understands me know i will wince n that i can't tahan seeing such stuff)..
it was dying such a slow death i was so tempted to pick it up from the water... i would prob have been whacked by whoever was trying to cook smtg with it..

sadly... when i returned to it 2 mins later (2nd pic)......it was dead.. thought i wd take a photo of it..put it up here.. sorta memorial ba. (yes i know.u tink im nuts.too bad.)

let us all spend a few mins to think about what's happening these days.. think about those who died ...think about how fragile life is...think about the ppl around us.. think about those we love....think about our own lives... do u have many regrets..? have you been happy? what are you waiting for.....

with metta..

katz

kindness matters...

it's saturday again! how fast...think it's my second last weekend here.. we had guests today.. well a very kind couple from the US, they brought A LOT of stuff for the kids.. toys..stationery..snacks... They were on holiday in Khao Lak actually. Theyve heard about the orphanage before, and wanted to help provide whatever they could.

The children were really happy when they received the toys and the food.


It's so heart-warming to see such kind and humble people, they do make this world a much better place to live in.

Guests or 'donors' visits are often quite a big thing here.. in fact, we had a clean-up this morning to prepare the place for the guests. Usually, the donors will be treated with a series of "thank you" songs which the children will sing. With all the items placed in front of them, the children are taught to appreciate and be thankful. It's something I feel very significant. It reminds all not to take things for granted. (Actually...I think many out there could do with this "teaching".. well I guess it's human tendency to take what we have for granted.. n probably only realise or start to appreciate when it's too late.. )

It's very different in making donations "indirectly", as compared to bringing specific gifts to the homes and giving them to the people. Simply seeing the smile and the joy in them upon receiving your donations, it's just amazing! the little amount that you are willing to give.. it's more than worth it..really...

with metta, Kat
karma....what goes around comes around....

pics: the white stuff on the kids' faces?...it's juz powder..they like to powder their faces after bath =) very cute lo.

where's my sunshine...

writing this frm an internet cafe @ Ban Mueang (bout 2-3km away I think) ..just had lunch and not feeling too well though.. was down with fever for the past 2 days, and having quite a bad flu still.. sigh.
hmm..parents n bro @ KL now..on holiday.. manz. im missing out the shopping! =P always feel bit of nostalgia whenever i get to KL...guess it reminds me alot bout my 1year at Monash Sunway.. was a totally cool experience i will never forget. though there r some lousy memories to it, but, overall, i can never experience better if i were to stay in spore! =)

here @ the orhpanage, it's really cool how each day passes by so slowly..and the pace is prob bout 1/10 that of spore's.... yet everyone's fine with it... though honestly i still can't get used to it.. having nothing to do..or doing things at 1/10 the normal pace.. everybody seems so at peace with it. amazing..
n the community-hood here. u hardly see any of that in spore... everyone knows one another in the neighbourhood.. they sit together to chill out, share their food...kids run around playing with others.. everyone smiles.. they smile even if they don't know you. well, ive tried that in spore..n all i often got back in response was a stare..(the 'siao ah?' type of stare) or maybe a frown on a good day (the 'do i know u?' type of frown). oh well. wat can i do?

oh yea..n prob 1 thing tat annoys me at the moment... the freaking rain.. rains n rains n rains non-stop... most of the time..it doesn juz rain..it POURS N POURS. sheesh, is there really so much water up there? i wan the sun.. my tan's fading away...sobz. =P

with metta, n badly missing the sun... Kat...MeOw.. the pics (left-right): 1. My new bag... 2. a tatoo that reads "meow" ...which is "kat" in thai.. n 3. my room...(which is actually one of the boys' room..poor guy..he must miss his room.. =P)

fear fear...

ok..yest was the most dramatic day ever since Ive been here.. cos of the indo earthquake..the tsunami warning went off in nearby towns (less than 1 km away from here) and the ppl were asked to evacuate.. it was pouring like crazy the whole day.. roads were kinda flooded.. i was totally freaked out when I heard bout it..
i was at my friends' place truout the whole evening n i din know bout it till 8 plus.. was super stunned when i found out. the kids were cuddled up in front of the tv to watch the news.. awaiting any warning to evacuate too. lots of things went tru my mind at that moment.. life suddenly seemed so vulnerable.. so unpredictable.. i wondered if i were gonna survive if a tsunami was to happen ...how bout the kids..esp those who lost their family to it 3yrs ago..
it was still raining like mad when I tried to sleep at night.. think we would have to swim if we were asked to evacuate...the roads were flooded!
luckily...we got tru the night peacefully.. i can imagine the havoc n chaos in indonesia.. i really tink most sporeans will never know how safe theyve been ...unless theyve been tru such situations...

actually i tot the earlier part of the day was happening enough.. never knew there was more awaiting! in the morning.. a friend brought some of us (Brit, Stef, and me...) to a tattoo parlour owned by his friend... haa.. check out the tattoo my friends got.. damn cool huh. me? wanted a sakura flower... but super painful lo.. hurts like crazy..needles jabbing in (yes..it's the traditional way..) din get the flower....but... hmm..

today! finally got to have my GiNger Tau HuaY!!! damn happy la.. i love the way my stomach warms up after the ginger soup goes in...... shiok! (dad>>>wish u r here huh! )
bought a bag too.. dun haf the chance to do much shopping here..so juz grabbed it while i can.. =) love it!

with metta,
Kat.. treasure the peace u haf.. cos u never know when it will be taken away from u..

PS: the photos at the top are of the tsunami (2004) aftermath.. found it at a memorial outside a neighbour's plc...