More Goodbyes

Wednesday

When I arrived at work this morning, I saw Gelong come down the road on his pretend motorbike, skipping along as if he did not have a fear in the world. A songtheaw approached and he nearly ran out in front of it. Instead of worrying, he pretended that it hit his motorbike. He always makes me laugh but I worry about him.

In my adult class in the morning we spent some time talking about the difference between the Thai year and the Canadian year. In Canada we say this year is 2008. In Thailand, the year is 2551. If you were to ask a Thai person when their birthday is, they would give you a date that is still in the future for us. The reason why their year is different is because they go by the day the Buddha was born. My birthday in Thailand is August 4, 2529.

I really enjoy my morning class. Even though most mornings I dread waking up for it, they always turn my day around. Each class begins with a small conversation of what happened over the weekend, or in the evening. We then continue on with my planned lesson, and usually end with a conversation on a cultural difference. Most of our conversations come out of the readings or something I have noticed in the past few days. They are just as interested in learning about my country and its people, as much as I am interested in learning about theirs.

After class we had a meeting with Emma. Emma and SiJie later joined us for lunch at McDonalds in Tesco. On an aside note, the prices at McDonalds went down. Now for a chicken nugget meal it is 90 Baht, which is a 9 Baht difference from before. We figured that the adjustment to the price was due to the decreasing portion size. Now when you order a meal your fries are smaller, as well as your coke. We had to laugh as we said that this would never happen in Canada. Either the prices would increase as the portions increased, or the prices would increase as the portion size stays the same. I am not sure if I mentioned this in previous posts, but the portion sizes for most fast food items are significantly smaller than at home. If you go to Dairy Queen and order a large blizzard, it would be equivalent to a small at home. I wish we had these portion sizes.

I had a long chat with one of my students in the evening about her studies and her future. I think I mentioned in a previous post that there are a lot of changes in store for her life. Unfortunately a lot of these changes depend on the decision making of others as to whether she is ready for these changes. I have to give my input on them as well, and mine will carry a heavy weight as I teach her everyday. I have chosen to base my decisions on assessments so that I can back up my opinion with some of her actual work. She is well aware of her progress and where some of her weaknesses lye. Together we are going to try and sort through some of the things she has difficulty with. I emailed the school she may be attending for help as to what they are expecting her to be able to do and know. Hopefully the information provided will allow me to make a better assessment. I have also asked Heather to sit in on an interview with us this weekend. Heather is studying secondary education at Acadia too and is doing her teaching placement in China. She is coming back for the weekend for a visit. It will be nice to have an opinion from someone who is not involved with Mercy and some of its politics.

After classes, along with the students, we took SiJie to the seafood buffet. They wanted it to be a surprise for SiJie as she is flying back home to Malaysia on Sunday. The girls hailed the cab and gave directions while we tried to keep SiJie away. All six of us crammed into a taxi and off we went. Because of traffic we took a different route than normal, so although SiJie thought she knew where we were taking her, the route kept throwing her off.

There was a clown walking around at the restaurant so we joked that we hired it for SiJie. It came over and made her a flower out of balloons. Honestly though, it was the creepiest clown I have ever seen. Not based on the way it looked but the way it acted.

We met Chris later in the evening to go to the airport. SiJie’s mom was also flying in at the same time Chris was supposed to arrive so it worked out. We met Chris and traveled with his taxi. He had a pretty nice driver who not only used the meter (which is rare when traveling to the airport as they like to over charge you and make you pay twice as much as you should because they claim they will be driving back from the airport with an empty taxi…ya right! His driver even stopped off at McDonalds so Chris could grab something to eat. The driver came inside and shut the car off so it did not continue to charge him. Once inside the driver left us with the keys and told us he had to go to the bathroom; very trusting. Poor SiJie got to hear his whole life story on the way to the airport. I guess there are disadvantages to knowing Thai as well.

Well we dropped Chris off at the airport tonight to go home to Melbourne, Australia. It was difficult to say goodbye, as it is another one of those goodbyes that just may be forever. I had such a great time with him. Since my family is unable to come to Thailand, it give me the chance to share my life here in Thailand with someone else. I was able to show Mercy to Chris, as well as some of our favorite hang out spots. He also came along for one of our milk runs. I am going to miss him, not only because of his companionship but also because I was able to step outside of my role at Mercy. For once all of my conversations did not revolve around the work I do here, or the children. Instead I was able to talk about and reflect on some memories and things back at home. Thank you Chris for the much needed break. Hopefully some day our paths will cross again.

Sometime we also enjoyed doing was laughing at the differences our accents put on words. We found out that we say Adidas completely different. In Australia it sounds more like ADD-id-as. Did I get that right Chris?

Being at the airport brought a flood of different emotions. It reminded me of the excitement when I first arrived in Thailand, anticipating meeting all of the children, and wondering what the next couple of months would be like. I also remember thinking that the next couple of months are going to fly by, which most of them did. It also reminded me of flying to Chiang Mai for Songkran. I was really excited to see another side of Thailand. But being at the airport also brought along sad emotions; that our time left here is very short. Next weekend Misty’s mother and sister will arrive, and stay for two weeks. After they return we only have 10 days left and we will be following suit. In many ways I am not ready to go. I feel like there is so much of this side of the world left to discover, thankfully I am still young. I am also not looking forward to all of the goodbyes that need to be said. I feel like I have my own little life here. Even though it is not filled with as many luxuries as we all have at home, I am comfortable. Every day I step outside of my room is an adventure, and I feel there is so much exploring left to do. I have mixed feelings about my role at Mercy. I have had a wonderful volunteering experience, and I am glad to have been fully immersed in the culture not only of Mercy but the slums as well. I have got to see and experience things that most people cannot even imagine. However, I feel that there is only so much room in this organization to make changes. I do not feel that there would be an ability to make any drastic changes, no matter how long I spend here. I came here with the attitude that I may not make huge changes, or that I could save the world with this experience, but that little changes could be made for individual children. That I feel has happened.

As much as I have given, I feel I have learned. The children and adults at Mercy have taught me and shown me more about life than I would have ever learned in a classroom or at home. For this I am grateful.