Tuesday December 2nd. DAY 12

This is my room mate, Dale. The group photo is "TheFamily".

The political situation in Bangkok has dominated the CCS house for many days now, and caused much stress. Four of our number were due to leave on Friday, but all flights out of Bangkok are cancelled. Any flights that leave from the army base are dealing with the backlog of tourists. Unless the main airports open, it will take weeks to clear these tourists. Consequently, the phones have been running hot as our volunteers try different ways to get home. They have at last succeeded. Tomorrow they will catch a bus to Singapore and from there they have all managed to book connecting flights home to their respective countries. Unfortunately the other side of this is that the next lot of volunteers has cancelled. Fifteen volunteers were due on December 13th. From tomorrow, there will only be three of us left, my Canadian room mate Dale, Melissa, another Australian, and me. The good news today is that the courts have ruled that the Prime Minister must stand down. We all hope this means that a replacement will be found quickly, and that life will get back to normal, that the airports will re-open, and by the time the 21st December comes, my flight home will fly without a hitch. I am staying calm for the moment.
The routine at school is settling into a clear pattern. Unfortunately, my sidekick, Brooke, is one of the 4 volunteers who will be leaving tomorrow. I will be on my own again. I write out a lesson plan each day, and make sure I have plenty of material to keep them occupied. There are lots of colouring in games, singing and dancing, along with the serious stuff. It is enormously satisfying when you realise they are actually learning some of the teaching. It is very demanding, and will be more so when I am on my own. The staff are fabulous. They have very little English, but they are happy to greet me each day, and are obviously pleased that I am there.
At last John. I thought you had forgotten all about you little sister. Remember it's your birthday soon! Helen and Liam- I hope you are enjoying your visit to Perth. You will love Krabi, it is right up your street. Melissa, the Australian volunteer, did an Intrepid tour in Chiang Mai. She described it as "Awesome". It sounded very similar to the one you did. Keep up the comments. They are really good to read. Thanks.