The Chili Bomb Diaries: Back to Work, as the Boss

It’s been ages, I hope everyone had pleasant holidays and that the new year, two months old as it is now, has been excellent.

I did go home for three weeks over Christmas. It was restful once I got past the jetlag but my first few days were rough and involved a lot of random naps and a complete meltdown in the linens department of the Bon Marche. I didn’t get to see everyone I wanted to, and I’m very sorry for that but I did get some good quality time with a few and that was really wonderful. I went back for arguably my first proper visit to Holy Names and spoke about my last couple of years’ work to Sister Mary Annette’s seniors. I felt old. One class used a YouTube video for prayer. I don’t know what to say about that.

Anyway, I’ve been back in Thailand for just over a month now and it’s been intense. I moved houses and now live with two great friends and a puppy named for Martha Stewart. It’s very homey and healthy to live outside of the office. The move was prompted by an unfortunate incident with the largest spider I’ve ever seen outside of a zoo. It was huge and hairy and brown and FAST like lightning. I found it hanging on one of my shirts. Horrifying. I couldn’t stay in that house and moved with the guarantee that my new housemates would deal with any beasts found in my living space.

Work has been crazy. The situation here has been becoming increasingly difficult in the months that I’ve been here as more and more Burmese new arrivals are coming into the camps, changing demographics drastically. The ethnic tensions can be fierce, though they rarely become violent, and while they are frustrating to work with, it’s not difficult to understand why the Karen majority feels threatened by the rising numbers of Burmese when the Burmese military is what put them in the camps in the first place.

I’ve been working like a nutcase, the big boss wants to restructure the program completely and this has taken a lot of time and energy. Blah.

Tons of people have been leaving Umphang, which has really changed dynamics. It recently occurred to me that, come March, there will be three of us who have been here for more than 6 months…I’ve become the old guard faster than I expected.

So, basically that’s it. Work work work and challenges galore. I hope everyone out there is happy and healthy. Drop me an email if you get a chance!