hi all! everything has gone surprisingly well, considering we don't speak, read or understand a word of any of the languages spoken here, and had almost no plans or reservations. and we almost missed our flight out of new york city. our night in bangkok was fine, got up early and took a 6 hour bus ride to tak. at tak, we took tuk tuks to the bus station, and got on a little orange bus for a 1 1/2 hour ride up into the mountains, through the jungles, it was very beautiful. there was a moment of panic when we arrived in mae sot at night without our hostel address and unable to communicate with anyone, but after some hand gesturing we were able to convey that we were headed to the clinic, and everything worked out. our hostel is great and run by a really nice lady - running water, a pseudo-shower, and a fair number of mosquitoes, geckos and mosquitoes. but our bed nets work great. and today we got bikes to scoot around mae sot in. mae sot is a cute town, and we were quickly directed to places like borderline cafe, the local hangout for NGOs, expats, and activist types :) this morning was our first day at the clinic, it was pretty overwhelming. eth war gave us a tour of the medical village and then, a la immersion therapy, just stuck us in different departments - yumi was in labor and delivery, i was in outpatient pediatrics. its unbelievably sad, and the language barrier is wicked frustrating - we have found that even our little thai phrasebooks are useless, as everyone is speaking one of the three burmese dialects. so we're not sure what we'll be assigned to do yet, but we're meeting with dr. cynthia tomorrow morning.
alright, off to dinner. we'll write more later, and figure out how to attach photos

much love from mae sot
annie and yumi

Departure

Finally it is here. We leave in less than 24hrs. At least I (Yumi) am experiencing a mixture of emotions that is hard to describe with words. Definitely a bit of fear, a bit of homesickness, a bit of excitement, and a bit of determination. I am still worried about catching the right bus in Bangkok on Saturday to head out to Mae Sot. Neither one of us could find clear information as to when the bus leaves, how much it is, where the bus station is relative to where we're staying on Friday night, etc. At least the flight is non-stop so we can just sleep and may be I will worry about it some more when we land...

I guess the next time we write, we will (hopefully) be in Thailand!

FOUR days left...

We are finally counting down the days. We finally have everything sorted, from vaccinations to our place of residence to the bed nets. All we do now is go!

Thank you so much for those of you who have donated needed items for the supply drive. We are delighted to be able to bring what we received to the clinic.

So... just a little map here to show you exactly where we will be. City of Mae Sot is home for many Burman refugees (mostly Karen, some Hmong), and international relief workers who work at the refugee camps and the Mae Tao Clinic. Burma is still under a dictatorship and is a military nation, with a social hierarchy that discriminates against hill-tribe people such as Karen and Hmong. Many of them flee Burma in a hope for a better life in Thailand, a semi-democratic nation, though the effect of long-lived caste system still prevents tribal people from accessing any medical care. As a result, many refugee children are used as child labor force, women resort to commercial sex work, and men migrate in and out of urban centers of Thailand for work. Mae Sot is truly a "boarder town" in a sense that it acts as a "home base" for many of these people who do not have a "home" elsewhere, and also as a place for foreign aid that support the refugees and their local allies.