Getting ready to ship out.

I currently have 43 mosquito bites, or scabs in the case of the three-week-old ones; seven patches of heat rash; and one area of massive allergic reaction from dust (at least that’s what I think it is... it developed while I was at AIDSNet and coated with a thick layer of the gray stuff). It sucks. Really if the ten or so itchy bites would stop itching and the heat rash would stop itching, I would be golden... But, alas, that’s not how these things work. Oh yeah. And I got most of those bites while wearing bug spray. And my foot is still sore from being run over by the elevator three weeks or so ago. My baby toe isn’t as swollen anymore though, which is stellar.

Aside from wanting to rip my legs off just above the knee, this week has been pretty good. Big accomplishments:

- took the final in Thai Language...didn’t completely bomb the interview part (we covered the second half of our textbook in about a third of the time we took on the first half, which meant that the train of knowledge kind of zoomed past us), and our two skits went really well. Not as fabulous as Ian, Nathan, and Ajaan John’s, which was kick-ass and incorporated pre-made props, but all things considered, it was fun. Catherine played a puppy that I was selling to Jenna. She (C.) made this part of the skit 100x better by looking unhappy when I allowed myself to be bargained down, and “barked” with happiness at the big bag of dog food (ahaan maw) rather than the small one. After that, we cut to the Doctor’s office, in which the doctor-patient consultation ended with “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes” in Thai. That’s right. We translated it - tones and all.

- Since we finished our language class, we’ve now moved on to Thai Writing. We thought the language was difficult... yeah. Whatever. Speaking is easy peasy compared to writing. Aiy. If I learn any letters or am able to read any words, I’ll be impressed. I just have no idea how I’m going to master a new alphabet. (Tips?)

- I have all of my laundry clean. Yes! No needing to pack dirty clothes in my suitcase when we leave for Vietnam!

- I discovered a way of getting through HR class without leaving frustrated - doodling. I write and doodle my angry ideas, rather than get into arguments. Not only does it make me feel better, sometimes my ideas congeal into less angry and more coherent thoughts as I doodle and so not only do I not get angry, I’m also articulate. Woo!

- Today was my last “official” day at AIDSNet. *Tear* AND -- I finished the resource center project! I am the most proud about this achievement. I really wasn’t sure I was going to finish before we left for Vietnam and Cambodia, but I did. And they threw me a “going away party” and want me to come visit. Amazing. I understood little of what was being said around me in Lanna-Thai (the northern dialect they all speak), but everyone was laughing so much, that it was contagious. And they gave me a Thai nickname - Mahlee - which means “Jasmine,” which I find to be the perfect correlation. I’ve also gotten through both booklets on paper once, so I can hopefully finish editing for them in Vietnam.

- Really, I cannot express how much I loved working at AIDSNet...I wish I could take them up on their offer to go back.

“We don’t generally know what day of the week we were born on.”

- us to our Thai teacher

We’re learning days of the week and other calendar information right now.  I can now tell all interested Thais when my birthday is. Pretty cool.  

Apparently in Thailand the newspaper horoscopes go by day of the week rather than astrological sign. So rather than being an Aries, Cancer, or Pisces, to read your horoscope in the daily paper you need to know which day of the week you were born on. Magazine horoscopes go by sign, because they’re published monthly... or something.  

Right after she teaches us the days of the week, Ajaan Jang asks us “Wan gud wan aray?” - On what day of the week were you born?  We’re like “Jigga wha? Making that shit up...” and then said random days. Drex was happy we just answered the question rather than being honest and saying we didn’t know. He tried to stress that a lot before our midterm - “You don’t actually need to know how to say all the different dishes of food,” he would tell us. “Just learn one or two you can say right away, without thinking about it. That’s all you need to do in order to pass.”

This story came from a few weeks ago, but in the flurry of Emily getting sick, I forgot to post it.  

Emily and Holly are teaching Burmese orphan refugee children English for their volunteer project.  The whole group of children are rather unwieldy and petulant.  Something about being starved of attention and suffering huge trauma before the age of 5 will do that to children.  Even in the midst of all this rambunctiousness, a few particularly bad kids stand out.  The first I heard about was Oo-Oo.  They’re pretty sure his name isn’t Oo-Oo, but he wouldn’t tell them his real name.  And he thought misbehaving was just the funniest thing ever. But apparently he’s coming around; he saved Emily from small(er) child tickle-tackle attacks the last time they went to school. 

Along with Oo-Oo another stand-out is Rock Throw Kid. The gist of the story is that one child likes to throw rocks at other children. He also hits them and runs around class a lot. (Recently he did something bad enough to warrant a visit from the principal, who carried him off by his ear.) One day, when much rock throwing occurred Em and Holly came back and discussed for a while what a problem child Rock Throw Kid was. The conversation ended like this:

Emily: “As much as I give rock throw kid a hard time for acting out, he did get kicked out of his country.” 

Holly: “Yeah, but so did head rock kid.”

*giggling*

Emily “And that is one thing that we've learned - social injustice does not beget social injustice.”

*more giggling*

I think our next installment will have to be Holly’s Song-Taow Chronicles. She has some great stories. All the exciting things happen to her.  Included will also be Andy and Chris’s Great Tuk-Tuk Adventure.  

1 million displaced; 600,000 killed since junta came to power in 1990

- my notes from today's Thai culture class on Burma. 

Other highlights:

- average sentence for protesting the military government: 64 years

- 140,000 refugees are located in camps in Thailand

- Burma/Myanmar listed by the WHO as 190 out of 191 countries ranked on public health

- at least one-third of Burmese children are under-nourished in a country that has an over-abundance of natural resources

- U.S. and France still have companies building and utilizing natural gas pipelines in the country that are/were built by slave labor (the U.S. company - Chevron)

- military also uses slaves/forced laborers to carry supplies for them and as human mine-sweepers in mined areas

- rape is used as a systematic tactic of war

- any government project - such as gas and oil pipelines, hydroelectric dams - and areas they fear rebels travel - jungle paths, roads, past bases, ethnic minority villages - are heavily mined, making travel through the country extremely perilous

- previously opium, and currently production and sale of methamphetamines is the main source of income for most people and is tacitly supported by the government (because they can pretend to crack down for the international community, and continue to squander the country's resources for their own benefit)

- the government's arms providers: china, russia, singapore, israel

Links:

U.S. Committee for Burma

Burma Campaign UK

Burma Partnership

Shan Women's Network (Shan is one of the ethnic minorities being targeted and chased out of the country) - if all you can see at this link is the newsletter, look to the left and click on "about"

Burma Rivers Network (the rivers are one of the resources being exploited by the government with the support of - currently - China, India, and Thailand.  Slave labor is often used to build the hydroelectric dams, or the other countries - particularly China - import their own workers, doubly damaging the local economy.) 

I will post more about the week and our culture class later, but I needed to share some of this information as quickly as I could.