Sarah
I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't this. I have never smiled so much in my life as I have I the past 2 and a half days. Everyone in Thandong Gyi was so welcoming from the minute our bus arrived, we had people crowding around our bus with large smiles and hands ready to shake. We were sat down and the children danced for us, 'a dance of welcome’ a lady told me. People were taking photos of us the whole time, on phones that are better than mine. We were welcomed into St Georges retreat were we would be spending the next week. They blessed us with a gift of a longyi (traditional skirt) and a traditional Karen shirt. The days are really hot here, but at night while staying within the mountains it is freeeeezzzzzziiiiiinnnnnnggggggg. That night we went to the bride groom house to share in a dinner before their wedding day. I tried most of the food, even when I wasn’t sure what it was, I found most of it delicious, except for the fat cubes that looked like potato. The next day we leave the retreat in the morning with our Longyi and our traditional shirts for a wedding at 7am in freezing cold air. We got to the church and were seated in the front on the left of the wedding party. One thing about the wedding that is different to a wedding in Australia was that the bridesmaid and the best man wore the same clothing as the bride and groom. Afterwards we were invited into the wedding photos, this showed how much they welcomed us and were happy that we could attend their special day. For the afternoon the 13 of us went to the church to spend time with the youth group, the language barrier didn’t stop us from having fun, as soon as we brought out the volley ball they found a rope and strung it around the poles and then we just played for two hours, we played badminton, frisbee and soccer. This morning we went down to the high school, the first class me and Spencer went into were year elevens, when they asked how old we are the were shocked that I was 17 they thought I was older. They enjoyed the different songs we showed them and they also enjoyed learning the Macarena. This afternoon we went to the middle school, this time I was in the year 9 classroom, the ages varied from 13 to 16. We played frisbee and blew bubbles with them, as well as teaching them about Australia. Last year when Helen and Father Noel came they met a 94 year old lady called Nancy and they promised that they would come back with 13 students. So they did, we went to her house which she has made into a bed and breakfast and for half an hour she talked about her life in Myanmar during the Japanese reign and what it was like for her family. These two and a half days have been amazing, I feel like we are a part of the community now because they were so excepting and kind towards us and welcomed us into their lives.