Week 4 in Review (6/14 - 6/20)

I find myself apologizing again for being such a bad blogger. Part of it is that I’ve been busy doing the things that I should be blogging about! But I confess that I’m also daunted by the challenge of trying to convey to you everything I’ve been experiencing here. For example, how can I possibly capture the glorious thrill of riding a motorbike along remote mountain roads with rice paddies and mountains as the backdrop? And as I fall more and more behind, I realize that it’s impossible to recount it all and say anything meaningful at the same time, as my blogger friend Emily so aptly put it.

Well, here's another weekly update. What it lacks in substance, I've made up with photos! ;P It was a relatively quiet week in the office, but there were lots of happenings around town. 3 parties in one week...MHS is the place to be! Hehe~

Sunday: Dao Turns 27!
Dao's birthday was on Saturday, so after worship on Sunday, her church family had a little celebration for her.

There’s Dao is on the right, with the children’s Sunday school teacher holding the cake. Singing a song of encouragement for Dao are her mother, the pastor and his wife, and a couple church members.

Thai birthday cake! How cute are these little critters?!

Sisters!

<3

Cutie patooties!

The pastor's daughter. She is so precious when she wais!

I don't know who this little guy is, but isn't he cute in his traditional Karen shirt?

Thursday: Yoel Turns 35!
A dinner party at Sheila’s is not to be missed! The food is always plentiful and delicious! Iskra from next door is an AMAZING baker and despite the scarcity of ingredients in MHS, she always shows up with something incredible! For this occasion, it was apple turnovers and cornbread like you’ve never tasted before!

Dear friends in MHS: Nadja, Yuval, and Astra

It was so good to see some of our Thai and Burmese LAC co-workers outside of the office! There will always be a bit of a divide among the different groups--it's natural, given the cultural and language barriers--but it's good fun whenever we do get together!

Happy birthday, Yoel! (Little Aleks, who’s juggling four languages at the moment, managed to learn to say “happy, happy!”)

Sheila somehow managed to whip up this impressive lemon tart, Yoel’s favorite, in a 700-baht oven that would be put to shame by an Easy-Bake oven. (Remember, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Thai kitchen that comes equipped with an oven!)

Saturday: GBV Party!
The IRC’s Gender Based Violence office threw a party on Saturday night to celebrate a number of things—farewells to a couple GBV staff, welcome to Su Su, congrats to Erin on graduation and to Hom on her marriage, as well as several birthdays, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s.

Mubi (right, front) graciously hosted the party—she lives in a traditional bamboo hut at the top of a really steep hill, one that even motorbikes can’t access! She and her friends cooked all day, so we stuffed ourselves with delicious Burmese dishes.
Here are our Dutch friends (L - R): Astra, Nadja, Eva, and Michael. They're not with the IRC--they're just good friends of the IRC, and if there's a party in MHS, they're there! ;)

Other LAC and non-LAC IRC staff.

Later in the evening, after everyone had had his fill of food and drink, Aung Aung Shein (one of the Burmese staff in the LAC office) brought out his guitar and the real fun began. In addition to the universal karaoke classics from the Beatles and John Denver, there were some Burmese favorites as well. Here’s a clip of a fun Burmese song. (Sorry, I don’t really know how to use the video recording feature on my camera, so you’ll have to be content with the audio.) Great fun! More than the glittering wats and bustling markets, I think these are the things I’m going to remember about this summer.