Goodbyes and scars.

Now that the previous school year is over, some students have had to head back to the places they have come from (although they don't want to). One of my students had to leave quite quickly and unexpectedly so I invited him and some other students over to my place for dinner. We played guitar, made some popcorn, drank chocolate milk and talked about what lies ahead. It was one of my favorite nights so far. When it got late and it was time to go we all biked our friend back to his place. Before we said our goodbyes he ran inside and came back with a brand new shirt that he said he had just got. He came out and gave it to me as a parting gift. I was floored and I wanted to give him something of mine in return. At this time I actually had nothing so I gave him the shirt I was wearing...

When I gave it to him the first thing he did was told me that it smelled bad.

...I mean, I had been wearing it all day and it's freakin' hot here...what did he expect? A lot of my students are very conscious of their appearance and it it common for them to have multiple showers during a school day and change their clothes each time. I have no idea what they think of me (wearing the same clothes all day and sweating about 345x more than them..)

The shirt he gave me is skin tight and I don't think I'll ever be able to wear it in public, but regardless I put it on and wore it home...and then peeled it off. I am very grateful: it's a beautiful gesture.

Playing soccer with the students is aggressive. I love it. Everyone goes in hard and no one complains, it's all for fun. Last week I went up for a header against one student and hit the ground hard. Our heads collided and I didn't think too much of it but as I getting up to get the ball the guys were all yelling at me, " Greg your face!" I had my eyebrow split open and there was blood all over the place.

I got on a motor bike to the hospital and got 5 stitches. The crazy thing was that earlier that morning I was talking to my friend Andrew back home and he was saying how I always get sick or hurt when I go to a new place...I blame him for the whole thing.

The stitches came out after 4 days and now I have a constant reminder of my time here. It has actually healed very well. I went to the hospital with one of the managers from the school and he got to watch the doctors fix me up. When it came time to pay the total cost was $65 - which is a lot here. When he saw the price he responded:

"Phew, lot of money! That's ok, the doctors did a really good job - they only used new materials on you - everything out of a new package!"

This made we think about what healthcare must be like in Burma...