getting down to some hard graft.
getting to know each other.
getting out n about.

Coming to Baan San Fan for the third time, I’m excited to see everyone and see what’s changed this time. Good job, because there’s a lot to be excited about.

Really should have had more sleep/ coffee/ carbs before getting stuck into today!

Working my way south in Bali, hopping across the water and then working my way north in Thailand.

We’ve learned, we’ve questioned, we’ve practiced. This week it was time to DO.

And it was time to let go… Final chance to rinse the body, mind & soul, and time to say good bye to routine, teachers, and almost SOSA…

I’ve said before that the SOSA team have this whole thing mapped out really well, and that becomes more & more evident with each day, and now week, that passes. It’s as if they’ve got, somewhere in their office, the most reliable mood and energy predictor ever made. We’ve started to work with all the different teachers now, this week we had more sessions with Uma, Cat and Tina, but we also had our last posture clinics, so, you see, they’ve started to ween us off the pattern too, clever eh.
The atmosphere in the group continues to be really good. There are some really clear mini-groups (emphatically not cliques) which is great because it’s another level of support that we need at this stage – being able to confide, troubleshoot, encourage.
This week I felt that I started to use some of what we’ve learned to make my own shape and feel my own way a bit more, just a little bit.

If you live in Spain and want to learn/ have learned to speak English then it’s likely you’re familiar with Richard Vaughan. Vaughan Systems includes intensive & long term courses, residential courses, radio & TV channels and the usual social media facilities.
I don’t really know how effective the education is, but recently I participated on the residential part of the system – Vaughan Town. The model is that a group of Spanish students spend one week with equal or higher numbers of native English speakers. The entire …

Games, eats and giggles from the days at Baan San Fan.

I visited back in December, and as part of my travels in Asia ‘popped in’ to say hi. I’m so glad I did, and I wish I had scheduled longer. But no worries, I’ll be back…

This is a diary post, so it’s a stream of thoughts, reactions and ideas. I’ll write some proper reflections and insights shortly.

Jan colouring, sticking, stamping outside House #2, Volunteers’ House

Night out at Slide cabaret for the official launch of the new charity, Softacare.
Wicked, wicked performances, good food, lots of white wine, good chat.
And rounded it all off at the Boat Shed, natch!

As I was on my way to day two of the Social Innovation Bootcamp I was feeling inspired by yesterday’s work and spoke to a friend, Charlie, to get some advice on next steps for Work in Thailand. Charlie is part of the committee for the Great Adventure Challenge. It’s an incredibly successful project, a great cause, and knowing Charlie a little bit a very inspiring story about how to make projects like this work. So the day started well… . And when I arrived there was …