Tuesday at Mirror

After a restless night for Norrie on snake patrol (she actually felt some critter crawl across her in the night) we had a treat for breakfast - macaroni!! No cheese but it was a tasty concoction nonetheless and a fine break from rice.
Our lesson for the students today was on time, days, months, etc. and made kites with them. Again it was fun and another chance to get to know these amazing kids more. My (Terry) favorite part was working with the advanced students to write their life stories to use in appeals for scholarships. The boy, Jay, that we have been so impressed with all week, with his good English and dedication to learning from us, stole our hearts today with his story. He is 21 years old from an isolated Karen tribe village (typically very shy). Finished high school and dreams of being a pharmacist "so he can get medicine to the poor people". He is very bright and has already passed the entrance exams but his mom says they cannot afford the $6000 tuition (includes rooming) for his 4 years of University. He has had to change his career plan to the more affordable vocational college in marketing, but has no interest in it. He would be the only one from his village of 45 homes to ever attend University. How does a kid get that kind of dedication when he is not surrounded by parents and friends that speak any English or have career goals at all? His parents I believe farm rice. The foreign volunteers here have begun discussing how we can help him achieve his dreams. There is a scholarship coordinator here we will work with tomorrow to see how we might be able to contribute. It will be so rewarding to follow his progress and know that we made a difference of such huge magnitude, and even more when he proceeds to contribute back to his village. Thats what Mirror Foundation is all about. Several young adults here have listed Mirror as one of the influences that got them where they want to be. More news on that as it progresses.

After our lunch of eggs, curry and rice and the best mandarin oranges you've ever had Esther did some teaching with the Ebannock women who market their crafts here. Terry and Norrie did some planning work and some phoning to plan the rest of our Thailand visit. Our volunteering days are done earlier than we expected due to no students scheduled the rest of the week. We say farewell to our camp students tomorrow then we are free. So we went to town today to arrange a Thai massage course for Wednesday night, then we went to a travel agent to rearrange flights, and will spend the rest of our trip on the beaches of Phuket. A definite detour in our itinerary - but not a bad one!!! So we will be in transit after tomorrow getting to Chiang Mai by bus to the airport, then flying to Bangkok, to catch a flight to Phuket.

We had another somewhat eventful trip back to Mirror because the travel agent visit took us past the 6 pm curfew for truck taxis (songthews). We had to take a Tuk Tuk all the way back, 20 minutes outside the city, and hit RAIN on the way and the dark. But here we are safe and sound. Had a great Thai language lesson this evening. They taught us 2 songs. So 8 volunteers with our 2 Thai staff (Nu and Naan)had a good old sing song including guitar. What a uniting experience. It was a great evening. Our last at this "home away from home" with our friends that became like family. An interesting point from the women in our group - we all came here reading the same books!! And we have never even met each other before now.

We were talking about how some day we'll miss rice 3 times a day, wet toilet seats, toilets you flush with a bucket of water, having to carry your own toilet paper with you, remembering not to flush it down, doing spider checks when you enter the shower, wiping sweat off your face all day long, feeling sticky 10 minutes after a shower........

Stay posted for life on the opposite end of Thailand!!