17/09/08
Wearily dragged the protesting body out of bed this am at 5.15am to warm up before running, ran the full 4km without any stopping for breath; the first time have managed this! But I don’t feel any real sense of achievement as I was running fairly slowly to keep pace with my running buddies, who run slower than I do. Hazel has taken some running advice stating that should aim to run 5 times a week (not flaming likely, me old cockers!); incorporating endurance running (long distance but slower) and strength running (fast running but shorter distance). So I reckon for me, that means now including a long run of up to 7km but run slowly (maybe try this on Saturday) and a speed run of 4km like I did on the 8th. This is week 5 since I started running – so I should definitely be running longer distances now.
 
Yesterday I helped to facilitate a resuscitation training course with a Paediatrician for the emergency nurses in the hospital. Planning training here is simple, it’s very easy to put on paper aims and objectives, devise activities for learning etc; but when it comes to putting it into practice boy-oh-boy can it all go belly-up! In England we are so used to some kind of decorum in any training experience; the trainer is seen as the source of knowledge, is there to control the group and (generally) listened to. Maybe it’s just the language barrier, but here it can all get a bit rowdy. Everyone pitches in their own ideas and methods and keep harking back to how they were taught at school – seemingly afraid to change from this even if it was like 10 years ago! It’s incredibly frustrating to hear people focus on the insignificant details of a procedure and completely forget the bigger picture. For instance people are taught bizarre things like what side of the patient you should stand to give CPR (as in it should always be the left or right regardless of the situation), or which hand you should hold the thermometer in before taking a temperature when it actually matters not, and it wastes time to consider it as important! I have had a lot of time to learn so much more about training and learning, and when I am planning courses here I can picture in my head how well they would run in the UK – but know the course will be full of untold surprises when it comes to run here! I am getting even better at going with the flow and being flexible when plans change!

 Also getting quite talented at having peculiar conversations, like;
How does a snake pass waste products – do they have an anus??
If you had to lose your eyesight or hearing, which would you choose to keep and why?
If you had a magic power, what would it be? (Jen said she wanted the power to make people happy – that’s pretty cool).
(Obviously, I could be going a little crazy the longer I am out here (as the running and longing to socialise might confirm) but I am also preferring the simpler life of no TV, no newspapers, chilling on a hammock and contemplating the world at large – if it wasn’t for the fact I don’t really enjoy working here, I’d be tempted to stay…)

 12/09/08
Was even up before the alarm this morning to go running, that’s pretty amazing right!
Especially for me; notorious bed bunny. Pushed myself to run even further this morning, so ran passed the 2km mark of the RTC and on towards Mekong Blue. I knew I wouldn’t be able to run the full 6km, so I estimated the half-way mark and turned back home. I guess it was about 5km circuitous route. My wee legs are feeling it now and only managed the distance due to some really good tunes on the MP3 player… sadly the machine is about to pack up. Bugger. If I am to continue this new healthy and motivated lifestyle I’m gonna need to fork out for a new player. Thankfully I’ve saved a bit of cash this month (who needs food??) so should be able to afford a cheap thing next time I’m in PP. J

 Things are happening slowly here, we are planning a short training course for the teachers about using different teaching methodologies. The staff here have some good information, I am just trying to encourage them to use more interactive styles of teaching. I my head it could be fantastic – but I am also wary of pushing my ideas on them. On the other hand it’s my job here to advise on teaching methods, so my plan is to incorporate as many different methods while teaching the course as possible – this will allow the participants to see the methods in action, and also hopefully my facilitating colleagues (who have a lot of knowledge about the various methods, but who never seem to use them).

 10/09/08
Struggled with the run this morning, calf muscles felt really tight – maybe from running faster on Monday. Slept badly the night before, which also didn’t help matters! Even with groovy music playing, I only managed a 3km run… will I ever reach the 10km goal??