Pankam village,

Home to Palaung people,

cultivating tea,

for drinking and nationally celebrated

fermented tea leaf salad

Farmers harvest plants

every fifteen days,

Communal clay steamers and drying area,

unusable during wet season,

Add value

School house,

equipped with notebooks and whiteboards,

unlike southern slates.

Four teachers, one classroom

Teaching English, Math, Burmese

Students rush out,

Interrogate

"Where are you from?

Are you happy in Burma?"

without understanding answers

My conversation-starting question,

confuses the shy teacher

Teach! encourages KL

The Scot sings Ring around Roses

Different tune and lyrics

My over thought choice:

If you're happy and you know it