To Work

This morning I got to work early. I've decided I love the wind in my hair and I love my motorbike. Nothing gets my day off to a fabulous start like zipping through the narrow winding roads in my neighborhood in the 'suburbs' of Chiangmai. I think that if all my transportation was this fun, I'd be late a lot less.

So I’m at work, at my desk, in front of my computer. Funny that I had to travel halfway around the world to get a normal job. Things here are good. I feel settled and have a good sense of what my experience here will be like in the weeks to come. Today is a big day at SDF but I’m out of the loop. Today SDF is conducting training for the tribal and provincial representatives so that they can clearly and forcefully articulate their perspective on the relevant issues during the conference with the Thai bureau of land management that will go down this Saturday. Then Sunday, SDF will hold a session to discuss how the trainings and the conference went. Then Monday and Tuesday, SDF will be developing its 5 year plan. The people at SDF have been preparing for the activities of the next five days for one year. And what happens will affect how I can best help SDF. It’s huge. Yesterday I was invited to join in all the activity but now I cannot find anyone. I think the training is being held at nearby community center but I don’t know where exactly it is. It’s kind of frustrating. I am quickly learning that there will not be much hand holding and direction.

I think I’ll blog and begin to collect my thoughts on my time here. The one thing that is clear is that I will be writing a report on the activities of SDF so that the next volunteer can hit the ground running and be as productive as possible. I also think that SDF needs help to specifically describe the skills that the next volunteer needs to have. Because it is becoming clear to me that I am a bit of a poor fit for the current needs of SDF. That said, I am interested in being as helpful as I can be. I am also beginning to think that a big part of being a volunteer here is to just be around, to be a white face seems to confer organizational legitimacy.