Day 1 - Team Maple Sugar Ready and Raring to Go

content from joanne

Sunday - 11 November

Today was our first day as a team and we are all happy, healthy, and (as far as I know) all with our luggage intact. Interestingly enough, some people travelled east to get here, some travelled west, and I personally went north then south - so I guess we have covered the four corners of the earth so far.

Our hotel is really very nice. It is in an enclosed garden area that is quite separated from the surrounding traffic and it seems quite peaceful except for the occasional buzzing mosquito, and the calls to prayer from the nearby mosque. Our group of 17 has taken over one of the buildings beside the pool which I expect we will make good use of, and we are just a short ways from the resaurant / breakfast area as well as the open-air room where we will be holding our team get-togethers.

View of the pool through the plumeria trees outside our rooms

Our first official activity was a welcome session from the local Habitat affiliate staff. We met Aommy, Mai, Mint, and Wii (perhaps an incorrect spelling - I will check tomorrow on his name-tag to be sure). They described how Habitat works in Thailand, the two families that we will be helping, and our general workday. This was followed by a welcome supper at the restaurant - with chicken, rice, spicy mushroom salad (although it was generally not spicy unless you hit that one little bit that burned your throat out), some curry, cabbage soup, a couple of items that we were not quite sure what they were, and fresh fruit for dessert (love that fresh pineapple). One final team meeting and some getting-to-know-you activities, and we were off to bed.

Apparently Thailand Global Village builds all have names - ours is team Maple Sugar. Perhaps that is because we are all so sweet, or maybe because we are avoiding hockey references due to the lockout - I'm not sure....

That's it for this short day - Bus leaves tomorrow at 8:00 AM sharp.....