On Friday night, the power shut off around the house for about an hour. The blackout started some time after dinner, so around 7:40ish, then resumed at around 9. Summertime in California translates to roughly 9pm sunsets, but over here, the sunrises rather consistently at 6:00am and sets by 6:40 or 7pm. The luxuries of living at the equatorial line abound.
Anyway, Kyaw Eh and Ko Myo (two of my 3 eighth graders) usually do their homework out in the pagoda. By usually, of course, I mean that Kyaw Eh has been out here doing homework at night pretty much every weeknight since I’ve arrived, and since Ko Myo moved over to board at the old campus Tuesday, he has been joining Kyaw Eh outside. Which means it is no longer too awkward for me to come hang out in the pagoda too, since I don’t have to worry about intruding on Kyaw Eh’s “alone time”. Intruding on both of them is much easier.
Back to Friday- the boys were copying some Burmese text out of a book for homework, and I was too lazy to do any more lesson planning and not patient enough to wait for the internet to start working, either. I therefore took out the guitar I’ve been practicing with (restrung two days ago, with the help of KE, 90 Baht, and my bicycle) and was sitting rather lamely on one end of the bench while the kids hovered over the book closer to the other end. Just as I was lighting some incense to keep the mosquitoes away—lo and behold— the electricity shut out.
Someone came and ask
ed me for the lighter, some candles went up, and the girls (who usually study inside the house) came out and joined us on the pagoda. Kyaw Eh, with all his determined work ethic, tried to continue copying his text by candlelight, but as I fidgeted awkwardly with the three chords I could hardly play, the cheery-faced kids asked me to sing something…
I botched up the words to some Chinese songs, did worse with the chords, and handed the guitar over. We ended up singing the rest of the night away by candlelight, and when the lights went back on, it was more fun to flip them off again to continue singing. Good times.
About Me
- Florence
- Florence is a third-year university student pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Neurobiology at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. In December, after weeks of scouring volunteer opportunities, she found the Global Art Exhibit and fell in love with its fusion of art, humanitarian work, and ambition to enhance global education. As a summer intern for the Global Art Exhibit, she was assigned to Thailand for 7 weeks and Hong Kong for 3. Thanks to the generosity of the Fung Foundation Scholarship, she is able to volunteer her time (not to mention pay for airfare!). She is currently in Mae Sot, Thailand teaching science classes in English to Burmese refugee students (most of the Karen ethnic minority), and is boarding at the school campus along with the principal's family, the office staff, the female boarding students, and some other teachers. Florence is having the time of her life.
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