One of the reason I love teaching in Myanmar at an international school is because in one small way, I feel like I can make a difference as they try to make changes in their country's government. The students we teach will probably go abroad to a university and then return to help build a nation. That is the hope anyway.  Here is an example of what teaching a student to think on their own and not just memorize facts can produce. Unfortunately for me, I never had the privilege of teaching this young lady and I will have to admit, when she asked me to help her edit, there was not much I saw that needed to be changed.  Hats of to you Zooy! The world need more who can reflect and correct.  Thank you for your inspiring words.  A university would be crazy not to snatch you up!

She made up her own prompt (it was a supplement to a private school application).

If you don't know what's happening in Myanmar, here is a brief article. Make sure to read the comments also. http://news.yahoo.com/us-warns-myanmar-over-growing-religious-tensions-110015152.html

US, UN warn Myanmar over growing religious tensions

Prompt: What does the fox say?

             When I was young, the Muslims were always coming to get me. Cry too long and the Muslims would eat me. Stay up too late and the Muslims would burn me.

            I didn't realize I was raised to be a racist until I was much older. Looking back, the scare stories my parents told me were not overtly or even remotely racist compared to those of our next-door neighbors. In fact, this is a countrywide racial prejudice.

            Years ago, I had a bizarre experience with racism. Every weekend, I teach at a monastery with my friends. Around the time that the Burmese-Rohingya conflict first started, we had an influx of escapees from conflict zones.

            One of the new kids said, “I would kill the Rohingya and burn them, so I can make sure they are really dead.”

            The weirdest thing was, I understood him. I knew this seven-year-old had seen more death than I have, and that his pain stemmed reasonably from his experiences. His stories deeply resonated the scare stories of my childhood. He had lost his whole family, and he might never go back home, and to him, it was all because of the Rohingya.

            As a friend, I empathized with him. But as a teacher, I could not side with him. The following week, I took my students on a field trip to visit disabled persons and sick patients at a nearby hospital. We spent the day drawing cards, playing with the disabled kids, and laughing with stage three cancer patients. Only when we were about to leave did I tell my students that the people we met had a different religion, that they were Rohingya.

            As much as I would like to romanticize the idea that I was a young teacher who managed to influence everyone’s beliefs, I can’t. The next day, no one showed up to my class except one kid—a shy girl named Asha.

            I asked where everyone is and she shook her head. I nodded and told my friends to go back home. I stayed behind with Asha, with her staring at the floor while I nervously walked back and forth.  

            “Thank you for what you did yesterday. It was nice.”

            “If anything, I only made it worse.”

            “No. Something changed.”

            They always talk about how change only needs one person. Did I really do it?

            “What did?”

            “The boys. They don’t talk so much about killing anymore.”

            Most people think the root problem of racism is other people. It’s not. It’s us. It does not start from other people unless we let it. And the way we let it is by believing what the nearest person says and by waiting around for a different truth to come to us. The truth isn’t spoon-fed, so if we seek the truth, we must go look for it. My sole intention was to show my students that the truth, the Rohingya side of the story, is there if they were willing to tear down the wall they built with other people’s fears.

            The fox does not need to be given a voice. The fox is actually really loud. But foxes are always small in number, and it is both your duty and mine to silence the majority, and listen to the voices of the minority that we have drowned out incessantly.

            I told Asha that the boys not showing up would not stop me from telling them that they’re wrong. Even if it takes me years to fully convince them that the Rohingya are people too, I am willing to do so, because I can’t think of a better way to go insane.

Bali and Singapore- A different kind of Christmas.

January 11^th 2015--Christmas in Singapore and Indonesia/Bali- The temperature was wrong but the sights were fantastic!

I had a hard time deciding not to come home for Christmas.  Having a holiday without family is not something I was looking forward to but I could not get on a plane for a 22-hour flight unless it was to come home for good.  So I occupied my negative thoughts with trip planning- a great form of therapy.  I convince Jody to come along and even Angela, a friend from Texas.

Before Bali, I have five days in Singapore.  I am meeting an exchange student who lived with me 16 years ago-Irene.  She is from Holland, but is currently living in Laos teaching elementary school. Irene was like a touch of home. We exchange gifts nightly, so there is a little of the commercial side of Christmas and we explore the city daily. It is so nice to get into a city that makes sense.  Things are organized. Things are green and most importantly- things are clean. They have real highways, water I can drink out of the tap and I do not think they have bugs (or at least the government makes sure they are hidden).  I have two new friends there, Chris and Karen, so I am picked up at the airport and whisked away to comfort. We shop, eat and talk about the country. I learn so much. I love that Chris describes it as a “benevolent dictatorship”.  From the book A Fortune Teller Told Me, I already knew it had the most police per capita than any other country (yet one never sees them).  People are monitored, scrutinized and restricted unawares.  I (or my bags) did not even have to go through a scanner upon leaving the airport, but am told I had been checked. They check passengers’ temperature upon leaving the plane (without them knowing) to combat diseases being brought into the country. The Singaporians are definitely a forward thinking country.

So Singapore consisted of some retail therapy-now I remember why I am the mother of two boys! Did you know that the flip-flop Havaianas are all the rage? Irene needed a pair so we search them out. I am expecting something different and unique only to find they are like the ones hanging on the walls at Walgreens. They were $79.00- OMG- for thin little flip-flops, but I guess they are good because I looked them up on Amazon (where they are only $15- $45 dollars) and people rave about them.  Oh well, the commercial part of Christmas is about what you want, not what you need. Besides shopping we share some wonderful meals-excellent food is a mainstay in Singapore. We mainly eat cheaply but treat ourselves on night to Chili crab.  I think the best part of this meal are the rolls- these are unlike any roll I have ever tasted- delicious and not because I have been roll deprived for months. In between eating, we sight see.  The zoo is famous around the world and although I am not a fan of zoos, this one is trying hard to have the animals in a natural setting. One of Irene’s friends tours us around- he is into animal conservation-did you know in some places they trap black bear to get their bile for medicinal reasons?(https://www.animalsasia.org/intl/our-work/end-bear-bile-farming/)

and that the poachers capture rhinos, kill them cut off their horns and grind them to make medicine that has no scientific proof that it works? (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/05/why-does-a-rhino-horn-cost-300-000-because-vietnam-thinks-it-cures-cancer-and-hangovers/275881/)

I learn much. I cannot say enough about their botanical gardens- beautiful!  And then we approach the ridiculous side of the country that has the biggest discrepancy between rich and poor in the world- The Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Mall.  It is the one that has an infinity pool on the 54^th floor (make sure to goggle it) . Generally, one has to pay $23 dollars to go look at it. We opt to have a drink at the bar upstairs instead, and still get great views of the city from the observation deck.

The five days in Singapore go great and it was nice to get into an organized city for a while. I am so grateful to Karen and Chris for inviting us to their Christmas dinner (under the guise that Karen needed my help cooking).  The meal was a highlight of the trip- turkey/ beef tenderloin and all the trimmings.

Part two of the “I need to have fun so I don’t miss my kids” vacation is in Bali.  I fly in, am picked up by a driver recommended by friends, go to the hotel and wait for Jody—who never shows. Her snafu of forgetting her money and passport in the safe from her last hotel – delayed our meeting for a day. Oh well, dinner alone and a massage made up for it.

We meet the next day in Lovina- a beach that is only about 12 kl long and that has volcanic black sand. It is chill time.  We go on a dolphin “chasing” tour and then head out to snorkel. The boat is a canoe-like vessel with two balancing thingys on the side (like a catamaran). We jump out, see the beautiful coral, colorful fish and then start battling the current.  I finally make it to the boat and decide to hang my feet off the catamaran things and stay like this for an hour.  I could have done this all day it was so beautiful. Now--- to get into the boat. Exhausted by swimming and handicapped but a sucky ladder, I fail- big time. The three-step ladder with nothing to hold on to at the top and that precariously slips under the boat as I begin my first attempt, calls for way too much upper body strength.  I try several times and do not accept help from the boatman for fear I will crash over the side and kill myself hitting bottom (or crush him).  What to do? We are only a mile out so I tell the boatman who insists he can get me in, to just drag me along side the boat. I hook my legs to the floaty thing and hang on for dear life.  I am sure the fishermen got a good laugh, and at one point I think I hear the word whale (and do not think they were talking  about a sighting) but hell, I am also glad I did not think about the ladder before I dove in.  I would have missed a beautiful underwater gallery of glory. I drink the rest of the day to get back my pride and doctor my arm bruises. 

Off to Ubud. Our driver (now friend) takes us to the middle of Bali to a small town that is about 1.5 hours from any attraction one would want to see. We stop on the way at the twin lakes, and a coffee plantation where the famed Luwak poops out coffee beans after he/she eats them and that the locals clean and turn into VERY expensive coffee (why anyone needs $100.00 worth of coffee and teas is beyond me, but this was the first place I stopped where I could buy something so common sense left me). We stop at the rice terraces, along side the road to feed monkeys and hold bats and then we arrive at our hotel- ten miles from the city center.  This would have been great for a family or for a romantic get-a-way for two- but not for us. Because they do not have the double I requested (two twin sized beds), we are able to cancel. The search is on for a place to stay for four days. We find a beautiful place called Ubud Inn. The rooms were so-so but the garden was beautiful and the location was right in the middle of town. Jody and I tour, shop, see temples and go white water rafting.  One temple we see has 500 steps going down to it. I go, but am not looking forward to the trip back up. Thank goodness there is a man selling coconut water on the way back up; I manage but a woman carrying two bricks on her head laps me. The next day- white water rafting!

Now I love a good raft trip but usually it does not entail six hundred 18-inch deep steps that are precariously on the side of a mountain.  I am slow to go down and after about the first 100 steps (with salty sweat pouring into my eyes; I slip and fall on my ass). The guide goes with me for the rest of the trek down and I make it safely to the raft. The grade level was labeled as 3/ 4 but I am convinced it was a 4/5 because of all the rocks and drop offs. We are with a family who does not know how to paddle so much of the work is up to the guide, Jody and me (finally something I am good at!). The trip ends after about three hours. Along the way we see the side of the rock cliffs carved with stories and images. BEAUTIFUL. No camera- dang. About twenty people have been working on this for years, but it was started over 100 years ago.What goes down, must come up.  I trek the six hundred steps back up and am once again embarrassed that the kid carrying the 80 pound raft passes me. Needless to say I could barely walk the next day and for the day after that, I cringed going up and down even the smallest steps.

We get back to the hotel about the time Angela arrives. It’s sooo good to see her.  She (and her two HUGE suitcases- she is only here for six days), unpack and we are off to get massages and shop. Angela, horribly jetlagged, is a trooper and our New Year’s Eve is a great mix of live rock music and interesting people watching. I yell Free Bird at the end of the night and my evening is complete. Lynyrd Skynyrd is universal.  In Ubud we have four days of live music at night, great shopping, monkey business at the Monkey Temple and fun excursions.

We are off to the next place.  For four hours we battle the traffic to the country's hub.  A meal on the beach and it is early to bed. We must be at the airport at 4:30am. No rest for the weary! 

We fly to Flores, and take a one and one half boat ride to Kawana Island, our own little secluded island, for three days of rest, relaxation and snorkeling. I will not expand on the facilities; pictures paint a thousand words here.  

The snorkeling is the most beautiful I have ever seen. Around our island, the reef is even alive and flourishing.  That is until we go to Pink beach- now that is a reef. The most beautiful fish and coral I have ever seen. We snorkel here after our trip (another 2.5 hour boat ride (did I tell you Angela has a tendency to get sea sick?) to the UNESCO protected area of Komodo Island. Yes, we see Komodo Dragons and I will have to say, they are not pretty. The highlight for me was the underwater “movie” I watched for two hours by Pink Beach. Before getting into the water, I have to see what the ladder situation is.  I cannot be pulled two hours back to our host island. Our captain has a two-step one, but then pulls out a straight six-ring ladder and I am much happier. It is still a difficult climb (picture a straight ladder with nothing at the top to hold on to and that drifts under the boat as you step on it and you will have an accurate picture). The captain holds it for me so it does not drift under, and after a little heave-ho under my butt, I am safely back on board the “ship”. I use the term “safely” generously here.  On the way back this little boat runs into swells that are all converging from different directions and it gets a little hairy. I did not know to be scared, and just enjoyed the ride. Angela sleeps to keep from getting sick, so I guess it all ended well. It is only then that Jody informs me that we just went through what could have been an extremely dangerous boat ride. The swells were way too big for the boat we were on. In this case, ignorance is bliss!

The three days end just when I am running out of clothes, and we are on a flight back to the main island of Bali. After a nice seafood meal and full body massage, we sleep and I will be saying good-bye to my friend who flew half way across the world to visit me. She packs her boots (yes- I have no idea why she thought she would need leather boots on an island), her new purchases and sets the wake up call for 3:00am. What a wonderful vacation!

Reflections so far:

1.     It was a hard decision not to come home for Christmas break. In the end, I think I am glad I made the decision I did. I will be home soon enough and my boys will appreciate my Christmas in July dinner.

2.     Facebook for me has been a lifesaver. I just realized yesterday however, that the little read mark under private messages affects me like the blinking light on an answering machine- I get that little jump in the pit of my stomach; it makes me happy.  When I mentioned this to several other teachers the other night they looked perplexed. A few had never had an answering machine. Talk about feeling old.

3.     On the same note, when someone shares a link I post, it is like my gift at a white elephant gift exchange being frozen. Yes- it’s the little things.

4.     June approaches quickly and I have no idea what the next phase will be in my work life. This is such a daunting feeling for someone who has worked since the age of fifteen. I think I know how Dylan feels as he tries to figure out what he wants to be when he "grows up"; although the options are limitless, we do have a limit on what we think we can accomplish. Would not it be great of we saw ourselves as others see us- people who have the potential to do or be whatever they put their mind to be. By surrounding myself with people who are positive and point out my strengths, I feel I am closer to believing in myself. I am blessed to have so many positive friends and family members.

5.     I am a little proud of myself.  On this vacation (and others) I pushed my limits and did things that tested my strengths. At times I felt I was holding Jody back, but she is such a gem she pointed out that was what she liked about me; I did not let my own fear or limitations stop me.  People keep from doing things because they so easily talk themselves out of it. As we get older, this voice gets louder. I just saw a video of my great-niece skiing; wow- she is already a pro. I remember my own kids’ acclimation to the slopes when they were young and low to the ground. I also remember me giving up after my second day because it was hard and because I feared I would run into a tree (like Sonny Bono) and die. Damn I wish I would have learned this lesson years ago. Don’t just sit in the boat because of a poor ladder design. Jump in a worry about the climb later. J

6.     While I am on vacation, I am also getting essays from seniors who hope I will edit them.  Even the best students procrastinate their January 1^st deadline.  I receive one that makes me pause. She talks about the racism here in Myanmar towards the Muslims. Hopefully, she will give me permission to share it with you.  You will be amazed! It takes time and education to change attitudes. Slowly but surely this generation of Burmese are at least thinking about their relationship with other races.  It does not happen easily or quickly to erase lessons our parents share through words and actions.  One of my proudest moments as a mom was when Dylan was pointing out his 2^nd grade teacher to me and he said, “There she is mom. The one in the purple dress.” She was the only African American standing in the back of the room. How easy it would have been for him to use that trait to describe her. I will admit, I patted myself on the back when that happened.

7.     Lesson learned- Talk to the taxi drivers!  While with Irene in Singapore, I made it a point to have a conversation with all of the taxi drivers who picked us up. She thought it so unique and strange at the same time.  I explained my reasoning. First, if they see you see them as an equal, it is hard for them to take advantage of you and hike up the fare. Secondly, they know all the good places, the tips about food and entertainment. Next, they drive all day. If I put myself in their shoes, I would want to talk to those who got into my car. How boring it would be if all I did was drive in silence from point a to point b.  Lastly, they have the most amazing life stories. I learn so much from this sector of the working world.

That’s all for now. Picture time!

Really cool plant that eats bugs it traps. A pitcher plant

 My favorite animal at the Singapore Zoo - An African Tamir

 Polar bear in the tropics. Kind of sad.

 Rainbow, boat and dolphines- a perfect day
 With all that is happening in the world- this is the headline of the Singapore paper.

 Botanical gardens with Irene

 Lavina flower and praying mantis.

 Beautiful doors everywhere.

 one of the twin lakes on Bali

 These little offerings greeted us everywhere. Even in the taxis and on our porch.

 feeding monkeys

 holding bats

 We were in Bali during a festival. All the streets had these homemade bamboo thingys

 This lady did the stairs at the temple faster than I did!

 Just part of the temple stairs

 Moss covered statues

 carving at this very old temple. Someone needs to invent an app where a person can record stuff about their pictures. If you do, I will only require 25% of your profits for my excellent idea.

 My coconut water supplier.

 Now this is a beautiful man. A local artist who has sold paintings to Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts and many more.

 Avocodo smoothy with a little chocolate to sweeten the deal. Yummo

 Doors, glorious doors...

 I want this t-shirt!!!

 Angela in the fish tank.  You should have heard her laughing!

 Making friends with a monkey

 Corn hot off the beach.

 Going to a smaller island. View form the plane.

 Jody!

 Our three day resort.

 We went to a cave.  This is a bee hive.

 It is still early in the adventure. She is still exited!

 Going onto the boat for our ride to Kanowa

 Which of these do not belong?  I can proudly say, I did my first three day trip in a backpack. Thank you Sherri Sheffield.

 Kimono dragon. yes- they are big.

 it took me ten tried to get one with his tongue out.

 El capitain

 Beautiful views

 My resort cabin

 My outdoor sink

 My potty.

 My shower. yes, i would say we roughed it.  yes- Angela did not know what she was getting into.

 View from our outdoor eating area

 This is a glass place in Yangon. It was hit hard by the typhoon a few years ago. it is fun to go a sift through the wreckage.  i got a new nativity scene among other things.

 The pictures got out of order. Irene in Singapore

 The Singapore harbor.

 View from the 54th floor

 Soccer anyone.  I wonder what happens when a ball goes over the fence?

 Singapore celebrates 50 years.

 botanical garden.

 Love these ferns.

 Yummo- I forget what this is called but you need to run and get one. I think it is a marruk

 Glass from the Yangon place.