Time for fall break

Hi all,

We are well, and things have really settled down for us and gotten back into a groove. It's pretty much all quiet here these days. We've been continuing to work hard, what with parent teacher conferences, doing report cards and such, so now it's time for a break. Most teachers are leaving the country, which will be a big test of all of the rumors we keep hearing about people being deported and such. I'm guessing everyone will be fine, but I suppose one never knows. There's still a lot of disappointment over what happened, but life goes on.

It's been interesting to know the people and to watch these protests happen, because as I said before, I really don't think there were as many people protesting as there seemed to be. Nobody I know personally would ever participate in one, simply because they felt it was too dangerous. One of my students told me that during the protests her family shut the doors, turned off the phone and played games the whole time, because they didn't want to be asked to join. Talk about burying your head in the sand! When I went out and looked a few times, what I saw were the protesters, and a lot of people watching from the streets. They would clap on the sidelines, but they weren't getting out there and joining. It's understandable when one thinks about what the short-term results of a true uprising would be--breakdown of the economy and food distribution, and perhaps life becoming even more dangerous and tenuous than it already is. For me all along what I most wished for was that everyone would behave in a morally compassionate and caring way. So there's been some disappointment there. To see all the monks marching one day, and for them to have all vanished the next was very very disheartening.

Now we plan to take care of ourselves, and go to a forest monastery for a few days of meditation. Then it will be a few more days of rest and planning before school takes off again. If anyone is interested in our images from that tumultuous period, send us an email and we can link you to some. I won't post the link here, because quite frankly, I wouldn't want them to go to the general public. Perhaps in the future we'll also put pictures up here as well, since I'm a bit blocked for pictures these days. We'll see.

Take care all!

love, Meghan