Tuesday 19th August: Tried yoga for the first time. I am not doing aerobics at the moment. Alice is away and I will not walk to the class without her and her large stick with which she fends of the dogs! I have been meaning to try yoga for a long time but never got around to it. I am not quite convinced that I have the patience for it, but maybe it would do me some good to do something that really forces me to stop my mind for a bit occasionally!
Wednesday 20th August: Up to now we have not worked much with the teachers of the very youngest children, as they do not technically come under the remit of the project. However, having discovered the teacher of the under-twos at one of the centres attempting to teach them the alphabet, we held a special mini-workshop for the teachers of the youngest students, looking at developmentally appropriate teaching and learning for children of this age. Part of the problem is inappropriate parental expectations, so we are also going to work together with the directors and the local education department to create an information leaflet for parents about development in the early years and appropriate teaching and learning.
Friday 22nd August : The throat infection I had at the end of July triggered a major flare-up of my psoriasis, sufficiently bad to warrant making the 8 hour bus trip to Bangkok to see a skin specialist. I decided to make the most of it and make a couple of other appointments at the same time.
Saturday 23rd August: I spent most of the day at the luxurious BNH in Bangkok. First stop, the dermatology department, where the pre-appointment vital signs check revealed my weight as 48.8kg and my blood pressure at an all time low of 85/54 - I wondered how I was still vertical! The dermatologist was excellent, and I came away with a whole selection of lotions and potions to treat my skin. It just means starting my getting up and going to bed routines about half an hour earlier!
I also had appointments with the ENT department to have my ears cleaned out with their state-of-the-art suction machine - a surreal experience as you get to watch the whole procedure vastly magnified on a large flat screen TV above the bed - and in the breast health centre for a routine check up.
Sunday 24th August: I spent the day with fellow VSO-volunteer Jennel, who had made the 9-hour journey from Ranong to Bangkok, also for medical visits. Being a total of 17 hours apart, we have seen very little of each other during our placements, apart from the occasional VSO meeting in Bangkok and the study visits to each other's placements, so it was lovely to have the chance to catch up and spend a bit of time together.
We went to the famous Chatuchak market in the morning where, browsing through a bookstall that appeared to sell absolutely everything, I discovered my A Level chemistry text book (not my copy, obviously!) Later I also found the molecular cell biology textbook I used at university. No doubt all terribly out of date by now.
Monday 25th August: Travelled back to Mae Sot.
Tuesday 26th August: 2nd yoga class - some progress...
Friday 29th August: We held a meeting in Burmese for migrant parents at one of the centres, giving information about early childhood development and how they can support their children's development at home.
We also received the news that the centre that took part in the contest organised by the Ministry of Public Health won the final provincial level round! The teachers and school committee will all be heading down to Bangkok at some stage to receive the prize from the wife of the prince. Maybe our singing did impress after all!
Saturday 30th August: We held a 1-day resource-making session for the teachers. Attendance was voluntary, but most of them came, apart from a few who had been struck down by conjunctivitis, which seems to be rampaging through the centres. They worked incredibly hard making a range of visual resources and games, which I hope they will use! I spent most of the day covering things with sticky-backed plastic, which is surprisingly tiring; I was exhausted by the time I got home!
Friday 5th September: Repeated the parent meeting at another of the centres.
In the afternoon we delivered some toys we had ordered for the centres. It has taken the company such a long time to process and deliver the order that the teachers had forgotten we had ever ordered them, so it was an exciting surprise!
In between all this we have been continuing our usual rounds of visits to the centres. This month we are doing reflections with all the teachers on the changes since the start of the project, in preparation for the evaluation workshop we have scheduled for 27th September. We are also in the final stages of developing an ECD handbook for teachers, based on the key learning points from the training we have done with them, plus a few other activities we want to fit in before the mid-term October break. After that the project will be essentially finished, with only the final partnership review and report-writing left to do. I can hardly believe it is all coming to an end.
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