Daaa bears

Hi everyone! I am finally getting used to this place, and feeling very settled among the aminals and other volunteers. I'm also learning quite a bit about the illegal animal trade in southeast asia, and realizing the absolute importance of the place that I am working. Its too depressing to get into here, but I urge you to look it up on your own if you have the stomach for it.
In other news, i added some pictures of where I am staying(like the bathroom? quaint, isn't it.) And since we leave our shoes outside, most mornings there will be a toad in at least one of your sneakers. Thank god no scorpions yet.
Yesterday I spent the morning emptying the bear pool, scrubbing the algae off and then refilling it. Threw in a picture of that and also of Oompoom the bear, who live in a cage in fish market and never saw the light of day until he was moved to the center. There was actually a special on animal planet about it. He's not angry in the pic, he just wanted a banana. Day to day here is hard work, but laid back at the same time with plenty of time to get to know the other volunteers and take pictures of the animals. I got to be on monkey duty today, which means going around to all the gibbons, macaques, and langurs, and giving them treats. Lots of fun. I actually got grabbed by a monkey for the first time today too. Wasn't paying attention and he grabbed my arm and pulled me pretty hard against the cage. Then he let go. They think its quite a fun game, trying to catch the volunteers.
I've got my first day off on monday, and i'm going into Hua Hin on sunday night and about 8 of the volunteers are meeting us there monday night for some old fashioned drinking and pool. I'm very excited to see a bit outside the center. Well, gotta run and get a pancake from this lady in the village before i go back. She's got a stand on the side of the road and the pancakes are only 5 baht each(like 10 cents). AMAZING! Keep emailing me- i love getting news from home. Miss you!