Day 18; Beach walks & Cooking School!

Today I was on the morning shift. We introduced 3 puppies to one another, they have all been dumped at the centre over the last few weeks, they are of a similar age and at the same stage with their vaccinations. They all got along well so will now live together until they have had all of their vaccinations. I walked some dogs on the beach with Lindsey and Juliane, Lindsey is adopting one of the dogs, Fuji. They will be going home to the States in a couple of weeks and Lindsey wanted to get some pictures of Fuji and her on the beach. Later we walked another group to the river, which now has water in it for the first time since I got here! Just before the shift ended I helped Vicky the vet give vaccinations to 6 of the dogs.

After work Lindsey and I went to Time for Lime to take a cooking class. Each volunteer who is staying for 1 month or longer gets to take a class for free. We cooked Pad Tai, papaya salad (which actually IS supposed to have shrimp in it! Opps!), and a chicken dish. The class was so much fun, and the dishes I cooked were actually edible! I'm not sure it means that I can now be trusted in the kitchen but, there was a very big knife involved and I came away with all of my fingers, so that's a start!

After the class we came back to the centre and I took a power snooze, then later went to the beach with the other volunteers. I like the beach at night, the moon light bounces off of the water and everything is quiet, apart from the waves, sometimes a beach dog or cat will come and sit with us... it's all very chilled, very Thailand.. Everytime we do this, I cant help but notice the shape of the moon and wonder what is happening on Koh Phangan, a part of me is clearly still there.

Just before bed I spoke to my best friend Kim on Skype, it was the first time I'd spoken to her since she dropped me off at the airport, so it was really good to hear her voice and catch up on the gossip from back home.

I don't miss home, I miss my friends and family (that statement obviously includes the horses and dogs!), but I don't miss being at home. England in the rain, where everyone is miserable and we work our asses off just to earn enough money to be skint... Or Thailand, where you can have a 3 course meal, with beers, on the beach for less than £4.. A place which they call 'the land of smiles' .....no contest really!!