Back to work - Monday March 24/08

We actually have a Sunday story first-

We wanted to stay as long as possible in town, so we stayed in the night market till 9:00pm, grabbed some food and started to look for a ride home. That is when we learned that there are no sonthew (mini bus, truck with benches in back) did not run in the evenings. The only way to get around at night is to use a tuk tuk ( a three wheel bike) But we had 3 people , purchases and luggage to get home- So that was not going to work. We decided to go back to our last hotel - to pick up luggage and help find transportation home. When we got there the owner was gone and only there daughter was there, not knowing a lot of English. We had asked our tuk tuk driver to wait , as he watched our attempts for a ride home , he got on the phone to a friend. He motioned us top go with him, which we did, got back in the tuk tuk and waited to see what was happening( he spoke English as well as we spoke Thai) and where we would end up. We drove down unfamiliar streets to meet another tuk tuk driver, we both pulled over and his passengers got out and we switched drivers. Again more unrecognizable streets to a rented house. He got out opened a locked gate and pulled in to his house. We got out of our 2nd vehicle and got into our 3rd vehicle to go home. This car was a sight, it was rusty, it had Winnie the pooh sticker, cracked windows, doors that did not open, so we were feeling pretty safe( NOT). He had to start it 3 times before it would start and stay running- yup we were making good decisions. He was so proud of his car and told us he bought it for 10500.00 Baht- 300.00 Cadn!- it ran like that also!

He again drove down streets we weren't sure of and we were starting to feel a little nervous, then he asked for the directions- not sure but don't you ask for directions first!! As Esther communicated with our new friend- neither knowing the other language- we headed to Mirror. We arrived there to a locked gate and security guards, we payed him 400.00 baht- 12.00 Cadn- and woke the village up getting in so late!It was now 11:00 pm so much for 9:00pm curfew.

Monday-

We had to move rooms this morning- downstairs, we have windows, and a door for privacy now. When moving everything Norrie found a loonie sized spider crawling from her bed - YUCK. So we were very good about shaking out our blankets and beds.

The 3 of us taught a English lesson about jobs and what you would like to do when you grow up- we were amazed at the high career goals- vet, policeman, missionary,doctor, pharmacist, human rights activist, and many more. We wish we still had that ability to dream those dreams. Remember these children are living in straw huts, no or little education, economically poor, having not been away from there home or village, yet striving and hoping for so much more. The people who are interns and volunteers here are great role models as they have achieved some of these dreams, by attending university and going places, yet coming back to help their communities. This organization, Mirror Art Foundation, has had a profound effect on the community and its people. Every where we go we meet people who have benefited from being here , by learning English, or with citizenship. It is so rewarding to know and see the results of the work this organization is doing, and we are lucky enough to be involved.

The afternoon was filled with planning for the next day. After that we had supper and headed back up to do more work, as we were up on the deck it started to rain. We were admiring the lightning and the rain pouring down, just as there was no power in the office( so no Internet access). One of the camp managers, p-aye, came down and told us to go back to our rooms. As it is not safe to be out in the rain, as the snakes come out, and are in the grass since it was so dark we would not be able to see if we stepped on one.

Well that got some of the girls pretty worried, no power, lots of snakes, and a house with more holes and gaps than you can count. We went on gap patrol with our flash lights and stuffed as many floor holes as we could. One of the girls has a phobia of snakes- not terry- Ash really can't even handle watching Jungle Book because of the snake- YUP that's bad. So we had to triple check the walls, move all her belongings off the floor and check her bed before she climbed up and wouldn't come down.

In the dark, with only flashlights, most of us gathered downstairs to talk. One of the guys brought candles- we all cheered until we realized we had no matches or lighters. Again we had to shout to someone to bring us a lighting utensil- to no avail. Esther came to the rescue as she found a lighter. So we sat down and all hauled out whatever food we had , sat in a circle, talked girl stuff, avoided snake stories, and had a great time. About 10:00pm the rain was still poring down but the power came back on!! Some of the girls played Boggle- Norrie did quite well, and we did some reading, before carefully tucking in so we would be rodent,snake, and bug free.
We slept cautiously and woke up frequently to see if there was something else in our room or on our beds!!