50 Year Celebration

It was fun to be in Bangkok for the celebration of 50 years in Thailand.  Many volunteers from previous groups came to the parties and shared some of their stories.  We went to an open house at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence on Thursday night.  She has a beautiful home and several volunteers demonstrated their musical talent by singing and their language talent by singing in Thai.  One of the performers finished his service in March of this year and has returned to Thailand to be ordained a monk.  I really enjoyed a conversation with him.  Several volunteers who are headed into their second year were also available to share their experiences.  Puts some things into a bigger picture that I sometimes see at site.

On Friday morning we arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for another event that included the beloved Princess of Thailand.  She was one of the most down to earth people you could meet and thanked us all for our service and spoke so highly of the relationship that Peace Corp has shared in this country for 50 years.

We enjoyed a some snacks there after the princess spoke. 

The pictures include the room we were in.  The number of flowers was impressive and the whole room smelled so good.  The pictures there are of 3 volunteers from Group 1 in Thailand, a friend from group 123, Linda and me, Dr. Rit, another volunteer and me and one of many floral arrangements and the stage. I wanted a picture of Dr. Rit because he has been so amazing.  He deals with dog bites, vaccines, skin issues, Dengue Fever, sun burns, heat rash, etc. etc.  There is an impressive network of specialists associated with Peace Corp and we are referred easily and well taken care of.

We went to an open house at the Peace Corp office Friday evening and several volunteers spoke.  It was inspiring.  I met a man who served in my village, Ban Serm, in the 70’s.  He has stayed in Thailand and worked for the Red Cross ever since.  He was delightful to talk to and from his description of the village when he was there, there has been tremendous progress and I have it way easier than he did.  Hoping he will travel up for an English Camp and spend some time there later this year.

Saturday, today, has been fun, shopping, getting more familiar with Bangkok.  I have decided I really like this city.  It takes forever to travel around, but it is vibrant, full of markets, fun, interesting, good food and very helpful kind Thai people.  A tattoo is on the maybe list.