Final Days at Mirror

My last weekend in Chiang Rai was SO depressing.

I made sure to get out and experience absolutely anything and everything that I haven't yet

and I come to find out there is something about the city itself that I did not realize 

Every hour the clock tower has a light show!

Fun Fact: every major city in Thailand (Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Chiang Rai) has a very elaborate decorated main street. 

In Chiang Rai the main road has the clock tower and gold fence sort of thing following the road

and Chiang Mai has a river and water fall sort of thing.

Anyways.

I wasn't able to film the entire light show

since well the thing lasted for ten whole minutes

I will just give you a summary though

A lotus flower thing from the center raises up and comes to the top while a song about 

Thailand and the Monarch blasts in the back ground.

It sounds like it could be the theme song for Mulan

In fact, the whole thing seems like it would be a great addition to Disneyland.

I'll call some people about it. 

Since it was my last weekend, I splurged.

The entirety of my weekend I felt was spent in the Saturday night market 

or the walking night market

But don't you worry. I wasn't only shopping for myself!

Sheesh.

But really though, I bought a lot of stuff.

Ok.

And I indulged in some snacks.

This delicious wrap of joy is a

deep fried pancake

topped with a mixture of

sweet condensed milk

butter

and sugar

I fondly refer to it as the heart attack snack

I had it three times that weekend

sorry mom

While munching away I got to enjoy the most curious of shows.

see the diva in the middle?

working the skirt, makeup, and 6 inch heels?

Yeah, that's a little boy.

For whatever reason this is a very common thing in Thailand

I can't even count the amount of girl-boys/boy-girls I encountered.

after awhile it's just safer to not guess genders for anyone. 

I got to say though,

I have not seen a lady boy that doesn't have nicer legs than most woman I know.

Just saying. 

I just have the best luck with rain storms around here.

I was in the middle of my biggest shopping spree to date

and it starts to completely pour like it has never poured before.

It turned out to be ok though.

The amount of rain made it quite chilly outside.

In actuality though it probably only dropped to like 80

so it gave my fellow volunteers and I the opportunity to try some herbal Thai tea.

It was quite good.

Excuse my utterly beautiful wet dog appearance

 I was getting quite sentimental about leaving Chiang Rai

until I ran into this infestation. 

It reminded me of how maybe it won't be so bad to go home where there aren't

any rats, cockroaches, mosquitos, and an exotic array of other insects with an insidious agenda

I will miss this though.

Teaching english has been the most amazing experience of my life.

This is at Huay Fai School

we were teaching them hobbies, and reviewing body parts.

I love these kids

So much fun, every time

so many personalities!

Most Thais are notoriously shy

but that is not the case for this guy

This kid was such a little punk!

He would never do his work and delegated his fellow classmates to do it for him.

basically he is a real piece of work.

Clearly.

My face tells it all

But at least it never got boring

This is how another kid asked to go to the rest room

Because he didn't know how to say it in english.

classic.

This past week was 'respect your teacher" week

but we had no idea when we originally showed up.

All we knew is that we were being ushered into these chairs and being ambushed with kids showering us with flower bouquet things.

then they all proceeded to all get on their knees and bow to us

it was quite startling/awkward

I didn't really know what such an occasion called for.

do I bow back?

Break out in a dance number?

Kob kun Kaa? (thank you in Thai)

females end in kaa, men end in krup

So I just resolved to smiling.

works I guess, right?

They smelled fantastic

And lastly, it was my last week at mirror as well.

I will miss everything about this place.

yes. even the squaters. 

And like all volunteers before me,

I put my handprint up on the wall in the volunteer room.

I wish I could of taken a better picture showing the magnitude of how many 

hand prints filled this place.

the sight really is mind blowing,

to know that you have been part of an effort that is so much bigger than you,

 involving people all around the globe.

seriously fantastic.

On my final morning I was presented with my certificate and a scarf

where I proceeded to say how thankful I am to have spent the last 6 weeks among such great people

experiencing such amazing opportunities

Thank you Mirror Foundation

Hopefully I see you again down the road.