I went to Burma!

and...I LOVED IT!

I'll post the great story tomorrow.

X

Hi!

Great idea mum, Rummikubs for Papa's Christmas. Don't let him see this post!

Currently making mince and tatties and have plans to go to Burma tomorrow. Have to renew my Visa every 90 days.

I don't have any pictures of today. I visited the school and tried to do emails with Thazin, but the computer wouldn't load anythingggg, very annoying. I bought fruit on the way and we went round all the family and teachers at the school feeding them haha. They all thought it was my birthday, lots of fruit doesn't happen often.

Listening to Christmas songs, I'm excited! Mum, send me tinsel! Fairy lights would break in the post I think..unless you bubble wrap them? oh pleaseee!

Oh, I have decided to come home on my original date, the 14th of January. Not long now and I'm very very sad to leave..especially as I'll only be coming back in July!
I am going to try to find work in Scotland for 6 months and come back out with mumma in July. I reckon she'll stay a month and then I'll be staying on for another year.

So I'll be home in 9 weeks, count down the days :)

x

I'm in a very Christmassy mood.

Listening to lots of Christmas songs and about to watch Elf.
Kay Thi and I.

This is May May, Sylvia's (the Homestay owner) daughter. She is Taiwanese. We played Rummikubs! Rummikubs is an amazing game and everybody who plays gets addicted. I reckon Papa would love it.


Sylvia and May May.

Children love cameras!

I went into Grade 2 to teach the other day and they were all freezing cold. It's the cold season now and I'm so happy! It's so breezy and nice outside, like a hot summers day in Scotland.

I thought it was hilarious that they were all wearing wooly hats in Thailand, so I took some photos.

Hahahaa, so cuteee.

My puppies playing.

Such a funny photo. 3 of them fighting at the top, another dragging my bag away by its teeth and the other trying to steal my purse!

See mum, only puppy bites, no need for rabies jags! The bracelet I'm wearing was a gift from one of the Grade 3 boys, I love it because it's so colourful and sweet. I was talking to his sister who is in the same class when he gave it to me. There's are so many siblings in Hle Bee, it's hard to keep track!

I just got back from Sylvia's house, she had some people over for dinner and she made me pasta, very nice of her :)

x

Just got back from....

GOLF!

This is Katie, the woman who just moved out of homestay.



My fabby swing.



Katie's friends.

I liked golf, good stress reliever and a lot of fun. Will do this more often.

x

Forgot to say..

I think it's mainly a Thai festival, but a lot of Burmese people come over from Burma to join the festival. The idea of the little rafts with candles and the hot air balloons is that you send away all the negative things in you life with it as it floats down the river/into the sky. Some people also put a little money and something inside for whoever finds it. It's a beautiful festival and it was extraordinary to be able to see it.

x

Loy Krathong festival.

It's been months since the fireworks for Loy Krathong festival have started going off at nights, but on the 2nd of November, it actually happened!

There was a beauty contest of the Burmese women on the 1st and the Thai's on the 2nd.

Loy Krathong is the festival where people float small rafts with candles and incense sticks on the centre (beautifully decorated) down rivers. Guardian Angel and I went to the Moei river (the border of Thailand and Burma) to send our little rafts down. We lit them and put small change inside for the children who swim in the river to collect what little money they can find. Unfortunately this all happened very fast so I didn't get any photographs.

We watched all the woman for the beauty contest arriving on floats accompanied by people from their towns.

Then I bought a Khom Fai which is like a hot air balloon. You light the base and wait for it to heat up enough to fly awayyy.

The little girl really enjoyed it. The base got so hot it was burning my fingers.

This is me trying to send it off, but the sank and we had to catch it before it landed!

And.......off it flew! fly away little khom fai! The sky looked so pretty with them all, but you can't really see them in my pictures.

There were lots of fireworks.

We tried to watch some of the stage but couldn't get anywhere good enough to see. Then they lit these fireworks across the tfront of the stage.

We bumped into Phyu Phyu Win, who has moved back in with her Sister and family now.

She was all dressed up, her hair straightened and wearing makeup.

Nic, here is your puppy, it has lovely blue eyes.

Miss you all x

My job offer.

The other day I went to the Mae Tao clinic, and I was introduced to a man working in the office. He told me that he teaches Burmese to the kids at the Thai high school and that they were looking for native English speakers to teach English. He asked if I would be interested as it offered a work permit and a salary and I said maybe but I already had a commitment to the Burmese migrant school.
The guy said he'd call the vice-principle and let her speak to me. She asked where I was from etc and didn't sound pleased when I said I'd just left high school (as if this was my idea and I was begging to teach at the Thai school). She took my number and called back about 5 mins later to tell me to meet her "right now" at the school. I unwillingly went to meet her and she opened with "so, you want to teach at our school?", my reply - "ummm, maybe?".

The thing you have to realise about people like this is that they will not force you to do anything, but they guilt trip you like hell. She told me that the classes are 50 mins long and there are 18 classes per week. Grade 7-12. This would mean I'd have to give up teaching at Hle Bee school and when she asked me to, I told her I wouldn't do that. She then asked why, and I told her that I about my Mother's link with the school and about her new link with CDC school. Then she got very excited at this prospect and said "mabye next she'll link with us".
Then she brought down the head of the English department and said that the woman would generously work my 18 class schedule around my hours at Hle Bee if I cut them down to 6 hours per week.
I was unwilling to do this and she went on a tangent about how the Thai government are extremely kind to let the Burmese into their country even though it's not what's best for their own people. She said the Burmese schools were very lucky that the Thai officials let them exist (not that they aren't getting bribed insane amounts of money to do this).

I told her I would speak to my Mother about the whole thing and call her the next day. But she didn't let go of the guilt rope that easily, pleading and calling me her "daughter".

All of this happened within about 1.30mins - can you believe it?!


The next morning, I got a very lovely wake up call from this woman, which I didn't answer because I do not like to be woken up with harrassing calls in the morning. Especially because I told her I would call her when I had made my decision. She called me maybe 14 times that day, which only made me more annoyed. I eventually answered and I told her I could not take the job at her school, I had many reasons but she didn't ask for any. She only asked if I would help her the next day as she had a parents meeting in the morning to discuss what the children would be learning this year. It would apparently last for 30 minutes so I told her I would go along, think I would only have to sit there. She told me to meet her in her office at 9am.

When I went the next day - 9am sharp - I went to her office and she wasn't there. About 5 minutes later she rushed in and said she had been looking everywhere for me and I reminded her she told me to meet her in the office. She said okay and pulled me by the arm to the auditorium where all the parents from grade 7 - 9 were waiting. She introduced me to an old Canadian man who was creepy as hell. As I sat down he slid his arm around the back of the sofa where I was sitting and said something about me being blonde and having blue eyes, I said "no I actually have green eyes". Seriously, ew.
I felt saved when Canadian Dave turned up, he had also been roped into this.

We sat for a while listening to a guy speak Thai and the woman told me I would be interviewed and I was very confused. What could I say? I have no link to this school. These parents came to hear about what their kids would be learning this year and I'm not even teaching them! I couldn't exactly say that I was working in a migrant school because the majority of them would seriously dislike that.
"Why am I here?" was the question running through my mind the entire time I was waiting.
So I got up and had to introduce myself, the woman told me to say that I was filling in for someone who was teaching later, but hadn't arrived in Mae Sot yet.
I escaped as soon as I could after that, went to Canadian Dave's for breakfast and unwinding.

Phew! There you go Mum.

x