Today I woke up with the sun shining through the windows, not a bad way to wake up! Today I leave for my placement so it was sort of a day where I wasn't planning too much to do. I packed all my bags up and left them down at reception and headed to jomba cafe for some breakfast. I ordered granola, fruit and yoghurt and it was delicious! I sat and listened to my iPod for a while and talked to dad as he had just got back from his midnight walk :)
After breakfast I decided to walk around and see what was going on. I purposefully left my map behind and dandered aimlessly . I found the west lake were I sat in silence and just thought about the next two weeks at the orphanage, and how I would enjoy it. I am really excited for It but also terrified incase I see the kids in poor condition or being mistreated. After an hours contemplation I left and headed back to the hostel where I left my stuff. Just as I walked past I noticed a massage place that was advertising a foot massage for the equivalent of 6 dollars for 70 minutes. Perfect!! I pointed to what i wanted and was sat down and given some tea. All of a sudden the lady starts massaging my back, neck, shoulders, and I was beginning to wonder if she knew the foot was on the other end of the body. I wasn't complaining though. She was like a little hobbit masseuse, climbing on top of my back and cracking it on weird places. After about 30 minutes I was beginning to wonder when the foot massage was going to begin. After the best massage of my life, I left and was terrified incase I had been scammed and had to pay for a full body, but luckily enough they made the mistake and I was only charged for a foot massage. Sweet!
I left a tip and then headed back to the hostel, ordered a taxi and headed to my placement! I arrived at the block of flats which reminded me of something from shameless. I half expected frank gallagher to walk out the door with a bottle of Bucky. I carried all my stuff into the entrance and was greeted by someone and taken to level 13; the doorm room! Fuc (thats right) showed me around and showed me my room and bed. It's certainly not luxurious. I have a wooden slab as a mattress and sheet for a duvet. Luckily it's so warm there is no need for it! I plonked my stuff down and saw a girl walk through the door. I recognised her immediately. Her name is dee and we got chatting on the volunteer Facebook page a while back! Shortly after, Anna , flo, and ju Lynn joined. They all seem awesome. Anna is a kiwi and dee is Australian. Both girls are 27, had bad break ups, sold their houses and left to go travelling. One of my favourite things about travelling is listening to everyone's 'story' or the reasons they want to travel. Ju Lynn is also ace. She's a 37 year old woman from Singapore who looks about 20. We nearly died off when she said 37! We also have a gay guy called Luka who is hilarious. His sense of humour is great and he seems so much more mature than most 18 year olds! We all had a nice group and got to know eachother.
We then headed out for dinner to the cafe at the bottom of the block which consisted of rice, tofu, egg and cabbage. It was tasty! We then went to the supermarket to pick up some essentials like water and iced tea. Back to the dorm and then bed for our first day!