July 14th. That would have been the day that I returned to the States had I not changed my contract to stay another three months. I'm glad I'm not going home yet. Not that I don't miss my family and friends like crazy, but I feel like I'm in the middle of something important and I only just started being useful here. In another three months it'll probably feel like a more appropriate stopping point, but for now, I think I'm supposed to be here. Since Lorna left, the three remaining volunteers have taken turns teaching the night class she used to teach. It's a night class for the entire community of Mae Sai. At one point it used to attract a whole array of people like monks, high school students, sex workers and refugees. At the moment it's mostly highschool students and a small handful of amazing bright aliens from Burma with four languages under their belts. Some of them work for 15 hours a day, 7 days a week and then they STILL have the motivation to come to an English class afterwards. I don't think I'll ever meet such incredible people in my life.
I came to Chiang Mai yesterday to meet my brother Winston, because he's in Thailand for the week! I am so lucky.