Week 20- I think? Nov.25th- Dec. 1st “It’s Starting to …. A lot like Christmas”
My title is a bit of a mystery. I
cannot say, “It is starting to feel like Christmas” because the temperature is
80 degrees at 10:00pm (one of the selling points when hired was that we have
four months of nice weather- I think I will have to contradict the recruiter on
that one). I cannot say, “It is starting
to look like Christmas” because it is not- for some reason a country that is
primarily Buddhist, they do not put a whole lot of stock in Jesus’ birthday. What
I can say it that the calendar has turned to December and I have a ticket home
(yes, I booked it this time) on December19th. I can also say that my toes look
like Christmas- red with a layer of sparkle glitter. More of my pimping- oh- I mean primping-
thanks Susan for bringing that error to my attention- No pimping going on
around here!
I am beyond excited to be coming to Texas to see my family and friends
and to feel some cold weather. Excited
to go to Chuy’s and see the Zilker Christmas tree all lit up. Excited to go to
the Armadillo Christmas bizarre with friends and listen to some great live
music. And I am so excited to hold my dog and have him jump off the couch
every time I take a step. It is not that
I do not like it here, I do. It is just
that home is where the heart is and my heart is in all those above mentioned
things- well maybe not Chuy’s but their Mexican Martini’s come extremely close
to my heart!
I was talking to Joshua the other day and he said, “ Mom, you are not
expecting me to hang out with you the whole time, right. I mean you will be
going to visit friends and stuff, right? ‘cause you know it will get old after
a few days.” I have to laugh, because I was just thinking about that. The first
day will be awesome and then my kids will be off with their friends again and I
with mine. I will cook all their favorites and hope that they do some cooking
for me, but we all fall into a routine quickly and take each other for
granted. My friend Shannon Skyped me the
other day and at the end of our conversation basically said, “Trish you just keep
on having your adventure; you aren’t missing anything here.” I really do
wonder. I think I am missing
things. Life is not one adventure to the
next. Life is what we make of it day to
day- the smiles we bring others; the little things we do that make a memory to
share for years to come. Life is about
our relationships with people and nature. Notice I left out things- it has been
good to be without things because it has shown me how little I ultimately need.
I am making due with my little stove top burners and a small convection oven
(not that I am cooking much). Now that is not to say that I have nothing on my
Christmas list- but I can’t really think of much I “need” and for the first
time- that I want. I guess this is growth.
As I look in my journal, I have many notes written. I will start with the disturbing and then go
on with the good. It is disturbing to say the least to think of the fact that
the snakes that I mentioned before are real.
Although the little guy in my drive is not full grown (I hear the babies are even more dangerous because they cannot control their venom!), to see him
slither across my driveway, rear up his ugly head and then disappear in the
mote around my house they call drainage is scary. I have one friend on Facebook
(a biology teacher of course) tell me to take a photo next time- yes- that’s
just what I am going to do. Scream for
my roommate (who is not afraid of anything) to get my camera rather than come
and save me! I think not. Now every time
I walk out and hear splashing in the “mote they call drainage”, rather than a
cute little sewage fish, I think of snakes. Not good thoughts. Update: Today (Dec. 2nd) another little
cobra is seen at the teacher apartments- they have a video I will get and send
out. The end story for that little guy
was not a nice swim in the drainage ditch- it will not be growing into a big
cobra to terrify us.
Next, I finally go out for the night (on a week night at that) for salsa
dancing- yes you heard it correctly, only to find out that salsa was moved to
Thursday. The bar is nice though and the
people gathered are amazingly well traveled- most all expats-great stories and
interesting reasons for being here. The ugly comes into play on my way
home. We get a cab—very late at night---
and I close my eyes for a second only to open them and discover that this cab
driver is driving probably 50 miles and hour ---wait for it--- WITH NO LIGHTS
ON!! It is pitch black outside- no
streetlights and no other drivers to light the way. Around here they shut off
their engine in traffic, and try hard not to use their headlights; they think
it saves their battery. Yes, on one hand I am amazed at the people who keep
their cars running for years, and give them props for ingenuity, but even I
know that the headlights are not a drain on the battery of the car engine is
on. I guess they have woken up to too
many dead batteries and have become jaded. The dumbest thing is I let him keep
driving like that and say nothing. I think I am in too much shock! Update: Tonight one of the admin. drivers took us to book club and he said he turns off his lights as a curtsy for the drivers waiting in line in front of him- now isn't that the kindest thing? Am I jaded already?
Some wonderful things also happened in week twenty. On Wednesday, I join a few other teachers and
see a group called Black Voices. The concert is amazing, but what is really
amazing is that the fancy hall where the show is held- is packed- standing room
only. This community is starving for the
arts and also supportive. I have been to
a Jazz show put on by the French Council that was also packed and
enjoyable. So far I have only been here
four months and there has been a French Film festival and one put on by the
Israeli Film society. I love that it is not all nuts and bolts; that the efforts
to build and support are also in the arts arena- oh and I hope to see Catching Fire soon; I just found out it
is playing at the local theater (not very artistic but still it is mindless
fun).
The much-awaited ABBA concert is held on Saturday Nov. 30th. Now I posted about this about a month ago. As the news started to surface, much
speculation occurred. At first I hear that it is only a couple of the original
members. Once I find out the tickets are
65,000 ky (approx. $65.00US), I think there is no way people would pay that to
see a cover band. WRONG. We go to the
concert to our $10.00 standing area (it had rained that day so I guess one
would call it a mud pit), pay $10.00 more dollars to get a seat, sit through
one and a half hours of the opening act (nothing g to write home about but the
saxophone player) and in the end see a tribute band. Now they were pretty good- but not ABBA. It was fun to see the Myanmar people try to
keep time with the music and no one got out of their seats until the last three
songs when the band told them to. I love experiencing this new culture- quirks
and all!
Like at all schools the end of a semester brings busy days. Last weekend
a fundraiser was help for the juniors’ Week Without Walls in Cambodia. They help their very own Color Run. So fun! This weekend we will be doing a community
service project called Help Portrait. Of
course I have volunteered and am looking forward to seeing the kids in action
gifting others with a family photo after a hair and make-up session. It is an international project so look it up
online if you want more information. We had a night of music from the staff as
a fundraiser- so much talent here as well as Christmas carols and cookies at
the church to which I have been attending.
On top of that I have eight inches of papers to grade (yes, I did it
again), and a full weekend with no time.
My finals are due Friday and I still have so much to cover- “Calgon-
take me away.”
I will not dwell on the bad because really when I look at my notes,
things are not that bad (or I am getting use to them). First, this was my first
Thanksgiving away from family. I will say
it was hard seeing everyone’s posts on facebook. It was also hard eating shrimp fried rice
rather than turkey (even though I had a feast on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
I had to work, however, so I kept busy.
What was good was that I talked to many family and friends; it is always
good to hear voices of those I love. I
guess the internet gods knew I needed a good connection. Speaking of internet-
mine is off and on kind of like my moods ( I am out of hormones and the SOS
clinic here does not have them). Next, I am still perplexed about the trash
system. I see kids throwing trash out of their windows all the time and it bugs
me to no end. Furthermore, I was awarded the Nemo prize for the stupidest story
(no airline ticket for Nepal) since the
last faculty meeting and the I then I lost Nemo so the whole day consisted of
emails back and forth with pictures of the captured Nemo looking for his owner
(actually it was extremely funny). And
last but not least- it is still hot.
I will end here because I think I did my reflections at the beginning of this post and do not want to get preachy. Life in Myanmar is good- hope you all are well.
Our view as we enter the ABBA concert. These pictures took 45 minutes to load. I give up. You will have to wait for concert pictures!
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