So I've left Alice (weep) at possibly the worst hostel in the world, it was literally like being in the film Hostel, there were no windows and the entire block was made of concrete, and we were the only guests. However we'd had an amazing hostel-run previously so we figured we couldn't complain.
I bumbled off to the airport and flew up to Chiang Mai and then got to the coach station and sat around for a few hours waiting for the bus to Mae Sot, about which LP had some horrible things to say but was in fact fine, if slightly air condition. I was a bit worried about travelling to Mae Sot alone because I didn't know where I was gonna stay and wasn't meeting up with the Burma Volunteer Program until Monday so I thought I was in for a lonely weekend, but luckily an American girl called Hanna was on the same bus at the back, and at a rest stop we spoke to each other and it turned out that she was off to Mae Sot to work for the BVP too, and we were starting on the same day. So that was awesome, and we've pretty much been together ever since, staying at a guesthouse over the weekend and now in the BVP Volunteer guesthouse with 2 other newbies.
Mae Sot is a pretty cool town, there are tons of NGO workers so it'll slightly disproportionately white, but it's nice in that there's a fairly lively ex-pat scene and there's an Extreme Frisbee Team and a Quiz Night and stuff. That said, the town shuts down at 9.30pm on weeknights, so it's early nights all round.
We're just having orientation week this week so we've been at the BVP office a lot, at the Curriculum Project where they have tons of resources and books, and visiting places like the Political Prisoner's Museum. It's all really interesting, and weird stuff like having a twenty minute chat with a "badass Monk" just happens, so I'm learning a lot already! I'm being placed with The Burma Issues branch of The Peace Way Foundation (http://www.burmaissues.org/) so I'll be editing and writing articles for the newspaper mainly, and then I'm going to do a couple of evening classes a week too, because I do want to teach at least a little bit while I'm out here.
Anyhoo all in all it's going really really well and I'm having a fab time. More British people would help dilute the Americanity (I'm trying desperately to hang onto my accent!) - but you can't have everything!
Byeeeee x
(Oh and I met another 2 people from Bristol in Mae Sot, a backpacker and a BVPer who's based in Mae Sariang. So bizarre.)
