First I had to get through Monday and Tuesday. They were my nothing planned days. I looked at it like I was volunteering my time to the house; but this definitely was not a charity! I didn't mind since I knew most of my time would be away from the house for the rest of the week. I took advantage of the time and finished my laundry (really boring) and did a few other small things around the house. In all honesty, I spent a good portion of the days watching TV waiting for the laundry to finish. I did actually pull out the ironing board and ironed a lot of clothes since our combo machine tends to leave wrinkles no matter how quickly you pull the clothes out. I really hate ironing! I'm thinking it might be worth it to find someone to do that for me...hmm...
Finally Wednesday came! I got up at the same time I used to get up to go to work...that really sucked! I'm just not used to that anymore! I took the train in to KLCC and met up with my friends. That is when I found out that our plan of attack was to go to China Town...woo hoo!!! It was only going to be Pauline and Sharon going with me since Vicky wasn't feeling that well. Our mission was to find Christmas gift bags. Now you would think this would not be that much of a problem, right? We needed A LOT of them. They were for gifts for children at two different orphanages so Pauline (the leader of this expedition and the Director of the charities committee at AAM) wanted some bags that were nice but fairly inexpensive. Hence the trip to China Town. I took a couple of pictures while I was there...
These are a couple of temples that are right in the middle of China Town. The top one had much more to it but there was no way I could fit it all in the frame.
Pauline and Sharon showed me some of the really cool shops and I was also shown where Central Market is. I had no idea it was in China Town! Since we were on a mission we didn't spend time shopping but I've been looking for an excuse to go back... =)
Before we left there we had lunch. The name of the restaurant was Swiss Inn (or something like that) but it had all kinds of food. I had the chicken satay, which is a local dish, and stir fried vegetables. The vegetables came as more of a soup which caught me off guard but whatever...they were still good. The satay was very good...
The sauce in the small square bowl is peanut sauce. I've been told that it can be very spicy so I'm always cautious when I try it. It was good on this day. The serving came with eight skewers...I was so hungry that had two before I remembered to take the picture. In the long rectangular dish there are cucumbers, chunks of sticky rice and onions. I left the onions alone! This was a really good meal!
When we left China Town we went back to Pauline's to make up small bags of personal hygiene products to be part of the gifts for the teenagers at the orphanages. Many of the products we used in the bags were donated...really cool! I left there that day feeling really good about the day's work. I was also excited about the next day...
I got up at an ungodly hour yet again Thursday so I could head into KLCC. This day it would be just Pauline and I heading out to our destination. We were going to the Sisters of the Poor to play bingo with the elderly people. We met up with three other ladies from AAM so there were five of us total there volunteering. There were at least 20+ elderly people that were residents that came to play bingo and most of them knew the other ladies I was with so I knew they were regulars to the game. The game only lasted an hour but they loved it! AAM supplied small prizes for them to choose from when they won and they enjoyed being able to pick out their prizes. I'm not usually a fan of homes like that but I could see myself going back to play bingo again.
After this we met a few other AAM members for lunch. There is much going on this time of year at AAM so I have been learning. The annual Christmas Bazaar would be happening in a week and plans were starting to kick off for the annual ball in February. This meant that there were meetings going on at the AAM Villa so we headed back there after lunch to attend a planning meeting for the ball. I'm starting to learn a lot of behind the scenes stuff...
After that we headed back to Pauline's and I headed home, once again with a good feeling inside knowing that the day was a success. And again, looking forward to the next day...
Pauline's place and found out when I got there that the original plans for the day had been changed. We were going to go to the hotel where the Christmas Bazaar was being held to finalize some decisions and start discussions about the May Sale (whatever that is...). Instead, Pauline and I wound up going shopping to start filling the wish list requests for the children at the orphanages. We shopped for close to three hours at one of the hypermarkets here, Carrefour, and completed the full list for one of the orphanages.
We headed back to Pauline's where we were met by Sharon and Vicky. We then spent a couple of hours filling the Christmas bags with the gifts and getting them ready. I know all of this seems a little early but Pauline is traveling back and forth to Vietnam right now because her husband is doing a job there. Since she is essentially in charge of this, she wanted to make sure that everything was done early. The parties to hand out the gifts are usually done in the beginning of December. This way, she can rest assured that it is all handled.
Another day down and what a fitting close to the week! Another weekend is upon us and there is nothing necessary going on. Perhaps Patric and I get to explore some more...
See you next post!!
Monkey update: They aren't known for their giving nature...as a matter of fact you are told to watch your belongings very closely when you do come into contact with them. They are cute little thieves so not seeing them at volunteer opportunities was not a surprise! =)
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