Has it Really Only Been a Week?

My first day is over and it is now the morning of my second day here at Monte Vista. It is absolutism dumping rain right now. Beyond cats and dogs, it is raining whales and sharks.

Yesterday started at 6:45 and I joined two other women and the yoga teacher on the big open deck for 30 minutes of meditation. I have to laugh, anyone who knows my reasons for coming here were greatly inspired by the book Eat.Pray.Love, as cliche as that may seem to people who don't understand it. Anyone who has read the book or has seen the movie should remember the part where Liz has traveled all the way to an ashram in India to spend six months meditating, praying, studying, and doing selfless work. In one part, she is in the silent meditation room, trying her hardest to silence her mind and experience the self-discovery that she came there for. Instead, she writes about the impossibility of the task when all she can do is think of other things in silence and be bothered by mosquitoes. She is unable to quiet her mind for weeks, and becomes very frustrated.

But you look so tranquil, Julia.

There I was, in the most absolutely beautiful place I could possibly be meditating (not that my surroundings should effect my ability to quiet my thoughts) and all I could think about was home and my day and what was for breakfast, etc. The birds all around us didn't help me focus either. I am still in transition, I am sure it will get better.

 I peeped open my eyes a couple of times, and over the course of the half-hour, the teacher could have been made of stone, I swear. He is a an awfully small man, not sure where he is from but he looks like he could be from maybe Indonesia. Following the meditation was an hour and a half yoga class, I think there were a total of 7 of us plus the teacher, and it was wonderful. I haven't done yoga in so long, I felt really happy that it seems my body isn't completely back to square one. I still have those impossibly tight hamstrings that I have always has, but I still was able to do things that took me months to achieve when I started yoga. Needless to say, today I am sore.

Wax apples

After yoga was breakfast: a pile of tropical fruits and toast. The sugar load was more that I wanted, but my willpower to say no to food in times of chaos has always been small. It was delicious. There is something called a wax apple tree here outside, and one of the girls told me to go ahead and pick one and try it. It's kind of like a bland cross between a cucumber and an apple, pretty good.
Next was my work assignment. The owner didn't show up until later in the day and I was pretty much told to follow another girl and she will show me the kind of work we will be doing. Long story short, I ended up sweeping the walkways with a broom that is 3 feet tall for about 3+ hours yesterday and my back is also sore now. By the end of it, I figured out the technique that made it obvious that nobody should be sweeping for 3 hours. Ahhh, the fun of figuring things out.

A traditional Thai broom: horribly inefficient with leaves.

The walkways need to be swept every day because, I am told, centipedes and scorpions hide under them and if you step on one it's horribly painful. Great. Which leads me to the fact that I saw my first centipede yesterday, shortly after I was told that someone found a cobra in the garage last week. Grrreeeeeaaaaaaatt.

I finally met the husband of the couple that runs the place here. He seems to do most of the volunteer organizing, so it was nice to get a little direction of what needed to be done here. He is kind of an intense guy thought, only seeming to be in his late twenties early thirties. He is from Venezuela and he gave me the rundown of what I will be doing here. He was certainly nice, everyone has been here, but he must deal with a lot of lazy travelers that volunteer here, because he was firm to explain what he expected of me. Which in turn- between my fear of commitment and my dislike of authority- left me feeling like I needed to get the hell out of here. But I recognize that I feel that way about any new job- spooked and incapable. It's just the process I go through and I have had many new jobs so I see the pattern, and know that everything will be fine after the first few days.

That being said, I am not sure if I will be staying for the whole two weeks. I am mentally committing myself to one week, and we will see after that. The couple that I met on my plane to Bangkok have been emailing me since I got here and saying I should stay with them in Hua Hin for a few days.... sounding pretty good right about now. We will see how this week goes.

I also got my first real wave of homesickness yesterday. No bueno.

I had few hours in between my work yesterday and walked into town. the volunteers are not allowed to do their laundry here, so I was told to drop my clothes off to a couple of ladies at the bottom of the hill and they will do it for 40baht/kilo. I am really wishing I knew the metric system better- kids, pay attention in school! Reguardless, it is cheap. So I brought down my clothes, they gave me a hamper to put my things in, and simply told me "pick up tomorrow evening." I asked if they wanted my name or any information and they said no, it's fine. Normally, this would be sketchy, but in Thailand I have full faith that my clothes will be waiting for me this evening, clean and dry.

My shift doesn't start until 12 today, which is nice. I should have gone to yoga and meditation this morning, but I needed sleep something fierce, and gave myself permission to skip it this once and get some much needed rest instead.

-H