Still am getting days mixed up

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Trip Start Sep 04, 2010 Previous
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  Sangkhla Buri, Thailand
Thursday, September 16, 2010

Had a lovely time the other day out playing with the dogs!
We put Potato into her wheelchair and were trying to teach the dogs how to fetch!!
I never thought about them not understanding games like that!
But Potato loved it!! She can fly around in that chair!!
her and Daniel were the best at the game, and when Potato got tired she just flopped onto her back with her legs still in the air!!!
Times like that are really annoying when you don't have your camera!
But it was fantastic to see them all running around and playing and to see Gemma enjoying it too.

Had a very difficult night a couple of nights ago. While i was cooking, Gemma had a puppy brought to her that had been
attacked by a St. Bernard in the same house. Think the puppy had tried to eat his food or something. And Gemma came here to
tell me that it was going to die at any moment so she didn't want to leave him. I knew it was going to be bad, but nothing could
have prepared me for this. i didn't see him at first because i was expecting an older puppy but this one looked to have been maybe a
month or 2 old so was still very very small. Gemma had warned me that his eye was hanging out so i wasn't too shocked by that.
He was wrapped in a blanket and looked fast asleep, all you could hear was the bubbling and crackling as he was breathing from the internal bleeding.
Then he started to come around and just screamed and thrashed around. The screaming i will never forget. When i held him to try to calm him and
while Gemma gave him some more pain medication he seemed to be comforted by chewing my thumb a bit which is when i could tell that his jaw was
also badly broken. It was so far over the other side. Every now and again he would let out a scream and then drift off again.
It was obvious what needed to happen but i think we were both hoping he would pass away while he was in and out of consciousness.
So Gemma went to the school to go and get this medication that would euthanise him and i held him. I just cried and cried
it was so hard knowing what we were about to do. What if a vet had been here,  would we have been able to do anything?
When Gemma got back she was very calm and gave him the injection and we watched his breathing stop. All the dogs inside just looked at us,
there was no noise, like they all knew what had just happened.
I can only imagine how hard that was for Gemma. She isn't trained for anything like this and it has all become her responsibility.
I had no idea what to say to her about it, no words seemed right. It was obvious this wasn't the first time something like this had happened as she kept herself together but that made it worse. The more i get to know her, the more i like her and the more i want to help her.
This project isn't just about the dogs of sangklaburi, it's about Gemma too. She needs help like the dogs need help. And i find it disgusting that more people haven't. Even those that have been here before, just carry on with their holidays and then go home. They don't realise that this is Gemma's life. Her world. She lives, sleeps and eats with these dogs. And there are no sick days! It's a bit embarrassing writing this because she will probably read it at some point but I think it's important that people know how it is for her too.

It is now the 17th,the Internet went off last night so couldn't post the blog i wrote yesterday but just to update, Cat has now gone back to the monastery. We tried to find him a home but we found out that in the Thai culture, they don't like black cats, they are like bad omens so that left us a bit screwed. And also he had started to bite you for no reason and it bloody hurt!! So i think even if we did find him somewhere he would probably just get thrown out so at least at the monastery he had animal friends and is fed. I had some food for the monks to give him anyway but they might have eaten it instead. Not sure if they knew what whiskers was...hahaha

Gemma decided we needed to do something fun today so she took me to Son Kalia to this restaurant on the lake, it was these little hut things on stilts by this amazing lake. Usually at this time of year the water is quite high so you can dangle your feet in from the hut but for some reason everywhere is pretty dry. But it was still gorgeous. There was quite a fast current and the water looked really pale blue/green and so clean i could have just dived in. I may have to see if we can go back one day for a swim :]
It was there i think i got bitten by lots of ants, i noticed the odd one and you can feel it nip!! But I've just got out of the shower and seen where else they got me.

We visited a place called Generation Journey on the way which from what i could understand is a place where Burmese people can come and live and work on the farms, they have mud houses which by the way are incredible!! With all these glass bottles in the sides to shine light through, and painted in natural paint. I want one! It was a lovely place too it was so so quiet, there is no electricity and they are fully self sufficient which is pretty impressive! I'd love to live like that but i know I'm too used to a lot of western things. Like a toilet haha I think that's the main thing and a sink, yes i am missing those!!!
I think Pone Pone is cooking us Thai Green Curry tonight which will be delicious, she is an amazing cook. I will have to watch how she does it!
My legs are making me laugh too, i have the whitest legs!!! and a stupid flip flop tan line!!!! I did have lines from my bag when I'm on the bike but they aren't so visible anymore. But my feet just look constantly dirty, which they usually are to be honest, especially when it rains.
I;m waffling now so shall go see if i can help with tea!
Miss you all lots of love emily xxx

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