Goodbyes Again

When we got back from Bagan we had to say goodbye to Andre and Heidi.  We say goodbye in style here in Myanmar.  We had a goodbye trip (that was to Bagan, and they went on to another place when we went back to Yangon).  We had a goodbye tea-break.  We don't skimp on snacks either!

Egg-rolls and sticky rice too!  The egg-rolls I like.  The sticky rice, well, I am trying to like it.  I want to like it.  But I am not there yet.  The tea-break was also for Kyaw Min who has been on construction since the beginning but who moved to another assignment in Bethel.  We miss him on site!

Kyaw Min, Morris and John our overseer.

That evening Andre and Heidi had organized an auction for their surplus things they didn't want to pack back to Australia with them.  Brian played the auctioneer and the rule was, whoever had their hand up first wins the item.  Some items were very popular.  Like this one:

Yup, that's a J.Lo CD.  And who wants it?  The boys.  They love them some J.Lo songs.  Laughs all around!  Other items were so popular that they inspired competitions!  I mean, demonstrations of strength.  The french press for instance.  It was so popular that the sisters did push-ups for it.  I could have beaten them all but didn't want to run out of steam and embarrass myself.  Later that night I checked to see if I could have and I did.  Rats.  Next time, confidence and go for it!  You wouldn't think that re-fried beans would be worth arm-wrestling for but as this picture shows:

They are!  Morris won after a championship round.  No party would be complete without some live music:

In case you were wondering I won a packet of chili powder.  I had my eye on that can of coconut milk but Sandar beat me to it.  Grr!

Thought you would like to see a picture of the progress.  It's different now but as we are proceeding in order..

We were awoken earlier that week by a massive rustling sound and boom.  Turns out a tree had fallen over in the neighbors yard.

We are in the white house.  Picture taken from roof of new building.

I was excited at first since it meant the stupid birds weren't right outside our window in the early morning.  Then the sawing started. To cut up the tree. It lasted a month and a half.  Then they started rebuilding.  Still no sleeping in.

Wednesday after meeting we went out with some from the congregation for the final goodbye!  Here are the girls:

 Well, it was almost the final goodbye because then we said actual goodbyes the next morning.  No pictures of that.  It is hard to say goodbye to people you have become so close with and have worked and lived with for months.  I don't even want to think about when we will leave.  Nope.  Too hard.

They made it home safely and hopefully we will see them again on a later project!  One thing about it, you always run into people again sooner or later!