Final preparations

School holidays have finally arrived and our children have excitedly handed over letters , drawings and photographs to be given out to their friends in Mae Sot. Some of our parents and their families have been working together with an experienced photographer on a great school/community art project and we have samples of their lovely photography to share , as well as powerpoints put together to give a snapshot of the life of Pirniehall and of our local area. The impressive photographic banners from the project will be on permanent display in Pirniehall in the new session.







Friendship banner




The Gillespies will be armed with cameras and video recorder to capture all those great experiences we hope to share and we have plans to involve our friends in Say Ta Nar. We will have to wait and see what is possible , taking account of language barriers and resources in the area. We have small presents for everyone (Pirniehall engraved pens for each child and a great tartan tie for the Headteacher) but we are now having to keep an eye on the weight of our luggage (all eyes are on my case!).




The British Council belatedly agreed to support Pirniehall and Say Ta Nar in a reciprocal exchange and we are now officially part of the DFID Global School Partnerships. This will allow a Burmese teacher to visit Pirniehall and both schools can work together developing curriculum projects to link our communities.


As school ends we have had our vaccinations, applied for work permits and insurance, organised our four flights and different hotel accomodations not to mention trying to figure out how best to travel from Bangkok to Mae Sot...looks like the six hour bus journey is the best option as there are no longer any flights there ! So we will be travelling from 6.00am on Tuesday arriving 1.00pm on Wednesday at Mae Sot. Quite a marathon ! Lewis has just returned last night from Switzerland where he spent a week at international camp with the scouts and in total , the whole journey was 60 hours on the coach...so he is a veteran at this.


The taxi is booked to pick us up early tomorrow morning and all cases are firmly closed. With family and friends wishing us well we are ready to travel and with any luck the next time we blog we will be in Thailand. Watch this space!