Yes.

Well, I was suprised! Not that I said yes, of course, but that the proposal even came! As to how he proposed... for now, that's our little secret. A really big thanks to our friends and family for all of the congratulations, well-wishes and open-hearted acceptance about our decision, especially since most of my loved ones have never met Brett and vice-versa.

If you're curious about plans, here's what we've come up with so far:

Date: 2010
Location: USA
Attire: shoes optional.
Food: Lots of it.

If anyone's got any good wedding location suggestions, please throw them at us.

Surprised?

I am.



Maya said 'yes'.

Maya: This is rundown of relatively recent events.

I wrote this smack dab in the middle of week three of the new job. The 1st week: training. The 2nd and 3rd week: trial by fire. My first trip was to a refugee camp in Sangklaburi, in Kanchanaburi province in Thailand. The area is covered in lush mountains, postcard worthy rural scenery and stunning national parks. Here's what the view from our resort looked like:
















The first day of real work, I woke up in our Sangklaburi resort on Tuesday and piled into our SUVs with my co-workers at 7am. We headed to the local market for breakfast and to pick up a lunch. We then drove about 45 minutes, much of it off-road, up windy, muddy, bumpy mountain “roads” to find my office waiting for me. Here's what it looked like:
























And here's our tech guy with a monkey:

So there I was. I was sitting in a grass hut on a plastic chair in front of my laptop and surrounded by an interpreter, a family of 3 and one large, empty case folder staring me in the face and the only thought that came to me was, “Huh. What do I do now?”


So, I did what any normal person would do… I introduced myself. The rest flowed somewhat naturally from there. The job is filled with small details, a dictionary’s worth of acronyms, exotic names that defy English phonetic transcription as well as my pronunciation abilities, not to mention a procedural maze that you could get lost in for days. That said, recognizing that it’s very early on in the job to be making such bold statements, I love it. The people I interview, while not always able to tell me what I need in the most succinct and efficient manner, are fascinating. My co-workers are all lovely. This particular camp is stunning. The children running around the camp, waiting for their parents to go through the process bestow upon you the best smiles when you stop to notice they’re peeking at you from around the corner. I feel privileged. There hasn’t been a day when I’ve been hesitant or reluctant to go to work, yet. Like I said, this is just week 3. Week 14 might have me singing a different tune. I’ll cherish this while I can.

Thankfully, Brett, despite his scraped-up state, was able to join me for the weekend in Sangklaburi. Brett, my co-workers, and I rented motorcycles and spent Saturday cruising around looking for waterfalls. We scooted down to the border town of Three Pagodas Pass and stood in awe of the surprisingly minature nature of said famous three pagodas.

We finally made it to our original destination, which was Khao Laem national park. While hiking in Khao Laem, Brett and I met our first leech. Well, leeches, to be accurate. They are surprisingly cute wormy creatures for being such bloodsucking, well, leeches. My leech never made it past my shoe. I was special in that respect. The rest of our little gang were not so lucky. Here's a picture of one of the waterfalls in Khao Laem:

So. It’s going to be a whirlwind of a time. I return to Bangkok for a weekend and head out to Kuala Lumpur so-early-it-will-still-be-dark Monday morning. Three weeks there then back to Bangkok for a week. I hope to have more pictures up on Picassa of our Sangklaburi adventures as well as pictures of the refugee camp after KL.

Maya: This is just to catch you up

The semester came to a close and I tried my hardest not to cry when saying goodbye for the last time to my angelic little munchkins during our parent/teacher meetings. One student’s parent reported that he cried when he found out I was leaving. I, in turn, cried then and there. I miss them still.

Towards the end of the contract, I had a bit of a decision to make. The decision: to continue to teach kindergarten (which I’ve discovered that I really, really enjoy) at what seems to be a fabulous little international school just a short distance from our new, wonderful apartment or to get back on the NGO track that I had aimed for with a solid NGO doing really interesting work.

My first thought was, “Damn, I’m lucky to have the misfortune of having to decide between these two fantastic jobs.” I had interviewed at both places. I was immediately excited about the international school. The administration and the grounds were impressively warm and welcoming. They seemed psyched about me. I was psyched about them. There was some mutual psychedness all around.

Then, later that same day, I interviewed for a 6 month caseworker position for the International Rescue Commitee. It would be assisting Burmese refugees apply to the US resettlement program. The job sounded fascinating, meticulous, fun, exciting, scary, monotonous, and being constantly in flux, all at the same time. The catch: I would be traveling 3 weeks out of the month, mostly to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Now if I were an unattached, carefree gal, this would pose no issue. However, I am an attached, carefree gal. This would mean that I would spend 1 week in my new and wonderful apartment. 1 week out of a month with Brett… the same man with whom I’ve spent almost every waking moment for the past 6 months.

I mulled it over, and then mulled it over, alternating between decisions every 5 minutes. Poor Brett, who had to listen to me mull it over incessantly dragging a month out into an eternity. But ultimately, when the official job offer came from IRC with a really sweet compensation package, I couldn’t pass it up. Brett, being the fabulous and amazing person he is, is taking it very well. Only the occasional guilt trips about leaving him alone and his sure-to-be sudden change in diet come up now and then. I am still in contact with that fabulous little school, leaving the door open should, in the future, something might work out.

Ps. Having just reread this, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the overuse of the word “fabulous”. I blame it my recent viewing of “Sex and the City: the Movie”. This also serves as my public apology to Brett for having suggested we watch it together. I'm sorry, Brett.