The news I've heard

Burmese Police and army in Myawaddy.


Hearing so many different things. The latest I've heard is that two people died this morning near the 'Friendshp Bridge' when an explosive hit them near their car.


10 others are injured and have been sent to the Mae Sot hospital.

Louise

Another link to Bangkok Post.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/205332/clashes-in-burma-hit-mae-sot?awesm=fbshare.me_AWamk

Scary and confusing morning.

http://www.dvb.no/news/fighting-erupts-in-border-town/12689

Today the Thai authorities asked all the Burmese schools close to the border (including CDC) to close. There was also a Thai school (opposite Say Heh's boarding house) that closed too.

This morning, fighting broke out in Myawaddy town (border town to Mae Sot, Thailand) between SPDC and DKBA, one explosive was shot over to the Thai side and injured a woman. The injured people in Thailand have been sent to the Mae Sot Hospital.

CDC foreigner volunteers (including me) were told this by a CDC teacher and also by Dr Cynthia Maung. When I asked Dr Cynthia about the boarding houses and she said that some were being moved temporarily. Say Heh's was going to be one of them because it's closest to the border, but Say Heh's boarding house cannot be moved because the Thai police are 'blocking it'. I think Thai police have been sent to the road leading to the border to wait and see what happens and protect. The Thai police are letting the Burmese come temporarily and are sending them to a Monastery and asking for food and water to be sent there.

I talked to some students and teacher's. One of CDC's high school teachers told me she's lived in Mae sot for 13 years and has never experienced something like this. She is worried for her future and said Thailand is usually a peaceful place for them. Today was scary and confusing, it felt like the school was being evacuated. I'm sure they're just being cautious because it's very serious inside Burma. But surely they have no reason to involve Thailand in this?

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19993

Louise x

Mairi from Campie school.

I am sorry I didn't reply to your comments. I only just went back to check if there were any comments posted that I didn't already see. That is amazing that you are doing to much for CDC school. I know the kids at CDC will be so grateful for everything you are doing!

If you write a letter to a student at CDC telling them about your daily life and draw some pictures that would be fantastic. Give it to Ms Laing and she can send it to me soon. I'll pick a really special friend for you, I know so many lovely girls at CDC. I will send it back to my mum and she can give your friend's letter to you.

Thank you Mairi for doing so many lovely things for the students at CDC school. There is a wonderful Burmese teacher coming to visit your school very soon, maybe she'll teach you some Burmese language!

Louise x

Telling you about CDC-Campie school partnership because a teacher from CDC is coming to Scotland on Sunday!

My Mum's school has a link with the school I'm working at called CDC. Their partnership is under Global Schools Partnerships which is funded by UK government. It's an exchange of projects and teachers. Burmese couldn't easily get visas for the UK before but since Tories/Lib Dems are in goverment it's nearly impossible for Burmese to get visas. But some Burmese who have lived in Thailand for a long time or were born here get registered as Thai (if they can pay enough bribe money).

CDC has a Daycare for 1-2 years, Nursery for 3-5 years, Kindergarten for 4-7 years, Primary school for Grade 1-6, High School for Grade 7-12.
The all have different head teachers. The head teacher of CDC Primary and KG (P Say Heh) has a Thai passport so she applied for a UK visa to be one of the exchange teachers.

She applied with a group of her and two other teachers who have Burmese passports and they all got denied for various reasons. Then the CDC teacher applied again with a group of other people (some Thai passports, some Burmese) but only P Say Heh got her visa approved. She didn't want to travel alone so 3 people from the rest of the group applied again and only 1 other Thai passport holder got a visa.

So this week, on the 6th of November, two teachers - Paw Ray from Sah Htoo Lay school and P Say Heh from CDC are coming to Scotland and will be working in two schools - Forthview and Campie.
Say Heh is lovely and so so kind. She's like an Auntie to me now. She's so nervous about travelling to the UK but she's really excited. She's an older woman and is really shy to speak English. Please all make her feel welcome.

Campie parents are organising a party for the teachers (at the Quayside I think) while they are in Scotland so go along if you want to meet them.

x

P.S.
If you want to send me any Christmas presents you can give them to Say Heh to bring back :)

Today I went to school...

...and everyone was having vaccinations.

I held some of the little ones' hands and tried to make them less nervous.

At the end of the day my Grade 12s were having their vaccinations and I was standing with them and holding their hands. Then lots of the teachers started getting theirs done. Teacher Myo Nyunt asked me if I was getting one and I looked at him as if he was mental and said I'd already had them done back home. He said "Hmm, are you sure. This is the H1N1 vaccine.

Myo Nyunt got his vaccination..
I asked loads of times to make sure it was definitely H1N1 and was persuaded into getting it done. I told the kids to watch to see that it didn't hurt. ...and it didn't hurt AT ALL. I didn't even feel it go in.

That's what I love about living here is that you can never tell what is going to happen next. Went into school to teach and ended up getting an H1N1 vaccine.

Chiang Mai blog soon! x

Friday at the Nursery.

We decided to do art on Friday the 1st with the materials Gillian from Campie nursery sent to CDC nursery. We split into 3 groups of about 7 kids.

We made different fruits out of tissue paper.

Ma La Chit took watermelons.

I took apples. One of the teacher's came over to help my group.

The kids really enjoyed themselves. Friday is always a play day.

Teacher Shellay Paw took Oranges.

This is Muku. He works in CDC office and comes to eat lunch at the nursery every day.

My group's apples. Ailsa did an orange.

The kids playing.

Cap Yo Win and his best friend. Cap Yo Win is the cutest!! He has such a lovely smile.

His friend is so sweet with the nursery puppies. He's so gentle with them.

This is one of the nursery teachers. Looking very wintery.

They took school photos.

I thought they were really funny.

Little baby Heh Blue Saw.

Cap Yo Win taking his lunch outside after eating.

Teacher Ma La Chit is known by everybody in CDC as the scary teacher. She is fantastic at keeping the kids under control. Lisa says that even parents at home tell their children that they better behave otherwise they'll get teacher Ma La Chit haha! I think she's fantastic, couldn't teach without her.

After lunch, the kids got a treat as teacher Ma La Chit did a funny dance for them. The video is so funny! The kids found it HILARIOUS!

These are teacher's Eh Na Paw and Eh Say. They both teach KG.

This is teacher P Say Hei. P means grandmother and she is the headteacher of the primary school at CDC.

Teacher Say Hei will be going to Scotland in October/November of this year as part of the Campie/CDC Global schools partnership teacher exchange. It will be a fantastic experience for her and it's nice to think that she'll be living in my house for 2 weeks. I'm jealous she gets to go and eat yummy chippies and Scottish food. Sooooooo jealous.

I'm sooo excited for her, she can visit Princes Street gardens. Campie parents are arranging a party at the Quayside for Say Hei when she visits. I wish I could come back and visit with her. It's sad she'll be there when I'm here!

That night, my old roommates and I went to Kung's bar. Played foosball and jenga and pool and such.

These are the barmen at Kung's bar. Naing, Saw and Htet.

The craziest one!

So many blogs! I'm sooooo behind.

Yesterday P Say Hei got her visa to go to Scotland. We're so happy because last time, all the teacher's got rejected.