Where in the World is Meredith?

Monday, June 30th 2014 Today was our last day in Thailand. We started off with a light breakfast and packing at the hotel then an early lunch at a delicious vegetarian buffet. Then we spent our afternoon at the airport mall before. I got a massage for a little because I didn't have much shopping to do and got some snacks for the plane at the grocery store. We all got beaded bracelets together to remember each other by, even though we knew we would have remember each other anyways, and we all pitched in and got one for Julia too! Then we went to the airport and checked in. On the way to Hong Kong I'm sitting with Dani and Sam and for the rest of the way home I'll be with Megan and Tatum. I am so not ready to go home and I am going to miss this place, these experiences and the people so much. I had such an amazing time and I am so glad I was able to do it. 

Sunday, June 29th 2014 Today was one of the longest, sweatiest, and most rewarding days I have had. We started off our day with an early breakfast and then began our long trek up the mountain to the Doi Suthep Temple. The first half took about an hour, hour and a half or so and we thought that part was hard! The second half took about two hours and was crazy steep! There were points where we were more climbing than hiking and essentially going straight up, but we did it! It was so rewarding and I couldn't have done it without my girls (and of course the music we played over portable speakers helped!). We were all so encouraging of each other and I honestly don't think any of us could have done it without each other, much like many parts of our trip. Even though, or maybe because, I was drenched in sweat by the time we got to the top lunch was delicious. But we weren't quite done yet, we still had 300 steps up to the temple, that we had to climb in temple wear (shoulders a

Saturday, June 28th 2014 This morning we went to the Tiger Kingdom!! It was such a blast. We got to go into the medium, small and smallest tiger enclosures and pet the tigers and take pictures with them! They are such amazing animals and we went around and saw the big tigers and the baby ones, but we couldn't pet them. I took tons of pictures and will be posting them when I get home! We also got to feed the macaws! After the Tiger Kingdom we went to the Orchid and Butterfly gardens (which is also where we had lunch, they had delicious fried bananas!) which were so beautiful! They had tons of colorful butterflies and rare orchids. After lunch we went to the Chang Dao Temple and caves. Dan taught us about temples, Buddhism, and some Thai history while we were visiting the temple. Then we hiked in the bat caves! It was so cool! The cave was so big and just kept going on, was full of bats and it was just awesome. For dinner we went to a Thai/Burmese restaurant and we had quite a scar

Friday, June 27th 2014 Today was cat day!!! We went to a cat shelter to do a neuter. First we learned about how to restrain cats, typical diseas and problems they have, and did some physical exams. Unfortunately there was only one cat to neuter but everyone got to do something!  I injected some pain killers and monitored the cat while he was under anesthesia. The shelter was like cat heaven! Most of the cats got to wander all they wanted, there was tons of food for them whenever they wanted, there were beds and things to sit in/on all over, and there was a room that was outside for them to get sun. I loved being able to cuddle with cats all morning! After lunch we went back to ARK to check on the dog that had the emergency surgery yesterday and to play with the dogs of course! Then we went back to Spicy Thai to relax before the mall. At the mall we spilt into two groups of 5 to eat and shop. My group decided to buy a whole cake for our dinner! We also had smoothies and fried rice, bu

Thursday, June 26th 2014 Today was surgery day!!! We learned about anesthesia and neutering then got into two groups of five to do the neuters. We did one before lunch and one after, my group did anesthesia and monitoring first and surgery second. Anesthesia and monitoring was fun and during the first surgery I took pictures for Dan (one of the guys from Spicy Thai) on his phablet! For surgery we all distributed the jobs between us and I got to cut and expose one of the testicles! After we were done with the neuters we watched Julia and Christy do an emergency surgery on a dog that came in with a huge wound on his left hind leg. It was really cool to watch them do it and to hear their discussion about what they were going to do. Then we headed back to Spicy for a night in with take out and a movie. It was a really great day and I can't wait for tomorrow!!

Wednesday, June 25th 2014 Today was blood day at ARK! We learned about fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, the diseases they can transmit to dogs, and how to test for and treat them. Then we all got to draw blood so we could test the dogs for heartworm, Lyme disease, anaplasma, and erlichia. I loved drawing blood! After lunch we went to Santisook Dog Shelter and watched Pong and Julia do surgery on a dog there. Pong neutered him while Julia did some eye surgery to open his eyelid so he could see. The dog's other eyelid is completely shut and she didn't have the right tools to be able to open it safely. After showering we went to dinner at Jeh Auan, which is Noom's favorite restaurant, and had amazing Pad Thai! After dinner we went shopping at the night Bazaar and I got almost all of the souvenirs I wanted to get plus a bunch of elephant pants of course! It was a pretty late night but it was still tons of fun!

Tuesday, June 24th 2014 Today was swab and slide day at ARK! It was so much fun! I remembered to charge my speakers last night so we could listen to music in the back of the truck on the way, so the car ride seemed much shorter. In the morning we learned about aspirates, mast cell tumors, lypomas, ear swabs, mites, skin scrapes, mange, parasites, schirmer tear tests and blood! After we learned a ton we got some dogs and did some skin scrapes, ear swabs and practiced blood smears. After a delicious lunch at ye same local restaurant we went to a clinic and used their microscope to look at all of our slides. First we had to stain them and we all ended up with purple fingers. While some people were looking at slides the others were practicing figure 8 knots and sutures for the cat and dog neuters later this week. We finished pretty early and headed back to Spicy Thai and looked at blood cells, mast cells and lypomas on the computer and listened to heart sounds. We went to Dinner at a resta

Monday, June 23rd 2014 Today was our first day at the Animal Rescue Kingdom (ARK)! When I woke up to air conditing I was so excited! We had breakfast of toast, cereal, eggs, bacon and coffee and headed off to the shelter. Most of the time before lunch was spent learning about how to do physical exams. We have work books with all the information we are learning in them and Julia is a great teacher. Everything is really interesting and she always makes sure we understand. We went to lunch at a local restaurant, I had chicken fried rice and it was so delicious, then we went back to the shelter to perform physicals in groups of two on the dogs. While the others were doing their physicals we practiced with our terms for placement on an animal. After our day at the shelter we came back to Spicy Thai, showered and headed put to dinner at a local restaurant. After a delicious dinner we stopped at the grocery store for ice cream before heading back to the hostel for movie night! We watched Fr

Sunday, June 22nd 2014 Today we left ENP. This morning when we woke up there was a baby bat flying around in one of the rooms but it landed on a big net and we captured it and let it outside. Then after breakfast we went to the elephant vet, walked over to see Jungle Boy and Hope (who threw a banana peel at Amanda!), and went to the shop (I bought an elephant shirt!). After lunch we went on a good bye elephant walk and each room gave a presentation on a different elephant then we got in the van to go back to Spicy Thai. Once we got back to the hostel we gave our laundry to the laundry lady and went to the market. At the market I had a smoothie, a dumpling and pad thai for dinner then did some shopping (I also had a chocolate coconut waffle for dessert). Then it was time for a shower and some well deserved sleep in air conditioning!! Tomorrow we go to  the shelter! 

Saturday, June 21st 2014 This morning we weeded the little corn field ENP has on their property. It was fun except that we all got attacked and bitten by ants and I'm pretty sure we all came away with rashes on our arms! Most of them went away within a few hours because they were just irritation. We only did that for a few hours and then we had some time to relax before lunch so I read of course! After lunch I went to the elephant and got to see an abscess cleaned. We started really late there because someone brought a tour through and we can't work with the elephants when there are people there because the elephants get too freaked out so I didn't get to see or do much. I did get to go tubing again though!! Tubing was wonderful but unfortunately I lost my toe ring, so I am going to look for a new one. Tonight was the farewell dinner with traditional Thai food (all too spicy for me except for the fried sweet potato) and dances by the village children. After that we all g

Friday, June 20th 2014 Our chore today was cutting corn! We had to wear long pants and long sleeves so we didn't get irritated by the corn or pesticides (I did get a rash on my neck from carrying the corn though!). We all climbed into the back of a truck and drove to the corn field. On the truck I was talking to one of the other volunteers and we found out that she goes to school in Scotland with one of my friends from camp! Small world!! Once we got to the field I got a machete and started cutting corn. We put the stalks in piles, the Thai men tied them up, and then we carried them to the truck. Once we finished up there we had snack time and then moved to the next field. This field had much bigger corn stalks and I just carried them to truck, no machete for me at this one! Once we finished cutting we had lunch and waited to get picked up (we wouldn't fit in the truck with all the corn!). A pickup truck came and we all got in the back and went to 7-eleven on our way back for

Thursday, June 19th 2014 Yesterday at the dog clinic the tech said she could use two extra people this morning if we could spare them because it was the other techs day off, so Julia decided it was a good idea to draw names out of a hat because we all wanted to go and I was one of them! The other 8 scooped elephant poo in the morning and Cassandra and I went to the clinic to hep out. We made dog medicine balls from rice and canned dog food and helped give morning medications. Then we all went to the village school to play with the kids, we changed first because we needed to have our knees and shoulders covered out of respect. We made and bought bracelets, played games, had tea and cookies, some people got foot massages. One of the little boys had this pet beetle that was maybe an inch/inch and a half long and was carrying him around and showing him off to us, he even tied a string to the beetle's leg (the other end of the string was tied to a stick) like a leash! After a deliciou

Wednesday, June 18th 2014 It rained so much last night and this morning we woke up with cooler air, no electricity and a toad tangled in the bottom of my bug netting. We tried to get him out and he went under my bed and we couldn't get him so we just left him there. There was electricity in the main building (they have a generator) but not in the houses. This morning we worked in the elephant kitchen washing pumpkins and melons, seperating out the ripe bananas, and making medicine balls. The medicine balls were made from mashed banana (hand mashed by us), ground corn, and rice meal. It was super fun to mash them! Then we unloaded a truck of bananas before lunch. After lunch eight of us went to the dog clinic and two of us went to the elephant vet. I was at the dog clinic and we did some wound cleaning on our own then the vet nurse (they have no vet) showed/helped us with some harder cases. Julia is going to come with us to the clinic tomorrow to give her some veterinarian opinion

Tuesday, June 17th 2014 Today was our first full day at ENP. I woke up way before my alarm so I read for a while then showered and went to breakfast (toast, fruit, cereal). After that we did our morning chore which was elephant walk today. Our Volunteer Coordiantor Jane (he is amazing! He is so funny and very nice) walked us around the park to meet some of the elephant families (the babies are so freaking cute!!). The youngest ones like to chase the dogs around and it is so funny! Then we helped feed the elephants and unloaded a whole truck of watermelons, which will only last for two days with forty elephants in the park! Lunch was really good today, they have so many different kinds of noodles! After lunch we met one of the elephant vets, watched one of the baby elephants and his family take a bath in the river, walked to the dog shelter, and saw the other animals they have at the park (like water buffalo and pigs).  The dogs got really  excited about all of us being in their run s

Monday, June 16th 2014 Today was my first morning in Thailand! After a breakfast of eggs, cornflakes, toast, bacon, and juice we headed out to the Elephant Nature Park (ENP). We all got volunteer t-shirts (they are really nice!) and water bottles with cloth holders so you can carry them over your shoulder like a purse and watched an elephant documentary on the way there. Once we arrived we learned the rules, met and fed some of the elephants, and had a little tour. We had a few free minutes before lunch so I walked through the gift shop and got an elephant ring!! Lunch was buffet style and had tons of different kinds of Thai food. Everything at ENP is vegetarian so hopefully I get enough protein! After lunch we moved into our rooms. There are two rooms of two and two rooms of three, I was in one with three people (including myself of course!). The four rooms are all in one small, square building and there is a bathroom across from each room with a toilet, sink, and shower. It is rea

Saturday, June 14th/Sunday, June 15th 2014 Today we left for Thailand! We started out with a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. It wasn't too bad, especially because I had already experienced a long flight like that going to New Zealand. I switched off between reading, watching movies & TV shows, and sleeping (I started and almost finished a whole book on the way here!) so it didn't seem too long. We got two meals on the flight, brunch (ham frittata with bacon and potatoes) and dinner (chicken with mashed potatoes and carrots) and they were pretty good! We got snacks along the way too. I am getting along really well with the girls so far, so that's good! After our layover in Hong Kong we took a bus to the plane to Chiang Mai and boarded it right from the runway! We got food on that flight too, I think I have eaten like 6 meals today! Once we arrived in Thailand we were greeted at the airport & brought to Spicy Thai in tok toks! The tok toks are so cool and hard to expla

Friday, June 13th 2014 Today marks the start of another journey. This one is shorter but so adventurous and a little bit more scary than the last one. Today starts my journey to Thailand. I am going to be working alongside a veterinarian, and other pre-vet students from around the country, taking care of homeless dogs, elephants at a nature park, and even baby tigers! I know no one else that is going, well, not really. Some of us have chatted in facebook ok and one of the girls goes to UD, but I don't really know her. So even though with great staff and great girls it is kind of like going alone in a sense. I am going to be in a  foreign country where I don't know the language or truly know the culture, with no one to lean on, but I know I can do it. The journey started off a little rocky when my to JFK this evening got cancelled. JetBlue put me on a flight out in the morning but since we leave for Thailand from JFK tomorrow morning at 10am I needed to be here tonight. So, I g