We arrived in Yangon on a warm dark night. It didn't take us long to make it through customs and find our bags. To welcome us was the school’s director, Almber, my principal (of the High School), Randy, the middle school principal, Chloe, and the elementary school principal, Zoe. We piled into an ISM bus with all of our luggage and were off to our new apartment. Also in our building at Pearl lives Almber and Zoe (along with a number of other ISM employees). The two of them personally escorted us up to our new apartment to make sure we were happy and had everything we needed before leaving us for the night. They provided us with $100,000 kyats (about $100 USD) and a welcome basket that included:

-Tissues
-Toilet Paper
-Milk
-2 apples
-2 oranges
-2 bananas
-Tea
-Sugar
-Instant coffee
-Oreos
-Croissants
-Bread

To see our new apartment take a look at this post: Our Apartment. 

Our first full day in Myanmar was quite busy and really great! After a shower and unpacking just a few things we went downstairs to find something to eat. The first two floors of our condo are filled with businesses, mostly restaurants and stores. When we got to the bottom floor we ran into Almber who showed us around a bit. He brought us across the street to a little market called Asian Light which has a fair selection of groceries as well as household items. We poked around for a bit then went back to the condo to eat at the bakery. The Yangon Bakehouse is a social restaurant who’s mission is to help battered and beaten women get on their feet by teaching them how to cook/bake and work in a restaurant. We ordered a sandwich and some small quiche. It was quite a pricy place (our bill came to about $9 usd) but it was great food and for a great cause. 

Shortly after we finished we met up on the ground floor of the condo with the rest of the new teachers and the welcome staff. We took some time to change money at the money exchange on the ground level then wandered around in Pearl for a bit longer before boarding the bus. The ISM PTA was so kind to bring us all out to lunch at a lovely local restaurant. A few of the parents met us there to welcome us and show their support. It was a buffet style lunch in an old British house and included shrimp and fish skewers with sweet chili sauce, fried rice, thai chicken and vegetables, pork salad, cold sliced beef with tar tar sauce, and a green salad with cheese sauce. For dessert we were served mango mousse and a fruit salad. Lunch was excellent! We were surprised that there weren’t any Burmese dishes and are looking forward to trying true Burmese cuisine.  We enjoyed walking around the grounds of the estate and running back to the porch when it began down pouring. It is monsoon season here (May to October) which means that the sky is almost always overcast and it often lets out enormous amounts of water suddenly that floods the streets and everything else. 

Kim began talking with one of the PTA mothers who, after finding out Kim was a chef, mentioned that her sister just opened up what sounded like a café of sorts that served coffee and pastries. She said that her sister might be looking into expanding to include a wider menu and asked if she could contact Kim. Although this specific opportunity might not amount to anything, we are very excited to be right in our assumption that Kim will be able to find prospective jobs by just meeting different people. 

Back on the busses we were taken to get some household items. We went to Ocean View which is a type of department store with a variety of  household goods and groceries. We were told just to get the essentials and that we would have plenty of time to come back and get other goods. There we purchased:

-surge protector strip
-mop
-broom
-mop bucket
-dish soap
-laundry soap
-floor cleaner
-disinfectant 
-all purpose cleaner
-dish towels
-dish scrubby
-wall hanger for shower
-hangers
-lamp
-toilet paper
-trash bags
-silverware holder
-storage container

All of this came to $58,000 kyats (~$60 usd). The store itself was extremely busy and they only gave us an hour to grab things so it was very hectic and a bit stressful., but it was a good first trip all in all. This is a picture of Kim on the conveyer thing in the store. It is brilliant because it locks the shopping cart wheels so it doesn't roll.

When we got back to our apartment one of the workers from Eco (the business who service and maintains the apartments) came by with an inventory list. We had to go through the list item by item to say what was in the apartment and make sure that everything was in good shape. Our hosts warned us not to sign unless we checked every item. We are missing a few things like a bureau for Kim, a dish drainer, another garbage bin, etc. so hopefully they will bring those by in the next couple days. 

At this point we were still exhausted but we really wanted to try and stay awake so we could sleep through the night. We decided to go find some groceries and headed across the street to the Korean grocery store. This was an interesting experience. As soon as we walked in all six cashiers turned to us and bowed while saying what I assume was ‘welcome’ or ‘hello’ in Korean. As we began to wander around the store there were many more workers standing around who seemed to be only there to greet us (again with a bow). Everything was in Korean and there were many strange items. All of the products were very expensive (as it was a very nice store that was very clean and well lit) but we didn’t want to leave empty handed so I got a box of moon-pie like cakes that I had tried a sample of and Kim got a thing of soda. 

There are no crosswalks so we almost died multiple times crossing the street back. But Zoe said that the locals would get in A LOT of trouble if they were to hit a foreigner, so they might come very close but they would never actually hit you. It kind of reminded me of a game of frogger where you had to try and get to the next line on the road. 

So we went back to Asia Light to grab some things to eat. We grabbed:
-apple juice (~$2.00 usd)
-mandarin orange juice (~$2.00 usd)
-yogurt (~$0.70 usd)
-crackers (~$0.85 usd)
-chips (~$0.50 usd)
-milk (~$2.00 usd)
-chocolate cake snack (~$0.35 usd)
-creamhorn like snack (~$0.35 usd)
-clock (~$2.60 usd)
-2 adapter plugs (~$0.65 and $0.20 usd) 

When we returned we finally were able to get online! Yay! The internet is not quite as slow as I expected, it does take an extra few seconds to completely load a page but it is defiantly better than what I was prepared for. We took some time to Skype with Robin, Sonny, and Stan (and by we I mean me because Kim feel asleep while I was getting it set up. So that was our eventful first day in Myanmar. I am so happy that everything has been going smoothly and that ISM is so welcoming. 

Sunday began with our first trip to the wet market. There are many, many wet markets all around, Zoe led us to the one closest to our building. It was about a half a mile away. As we walked there Zoe shared little tidbits about the neighborhood and life in general. One thing she mentioned was about how they changed the import regulations for vehicles a year or two ago so now there are an extraordinary amount of cars and trucks on the roads making it difficult because the city was not designed for them. Another thing she mentioned was how they tried to fix up the city a bit when they hosted the South East Asian Games back in December. They made the sidewalks a bit nicer but you still have to be careful when you walk around to be sure you don’t step off into a crack or hole. 

We will be making a post all about the wet market very soon!

For lunch it was getting a tad muggy out so we decided to get take out and eat in our very cold air conditioned apartment. I went down to one of the restaurants in the Pearl complex (in the building next door) and ordered from a little shop there. I got two types of fried noodle dishes, one with larger noodles and one with small rice type noodles. Only one of the dishes was supposed to have seafood but they both ended up having an array of shrimp, squid, and fish in them. Although I will eat seafood every now and again I’m not a big fan so that was a little disappointing. We also got a chicken soup dish that was very tasty. I was surprised that there was no chicken in it but rather it was made with chicken broth that was thickened and creamy and served with the thin rice-type noodles. Lastly I grabbed some tea leaf salad. This was something we had read a lot about and was excited to try because it is one of the main dishes of Myanmar. It was a cold salad that had a mixture of things in it including pickled tea leafs, nuts, and seasonings. Each noodle dish was $2.00 usd, the soup was $0.50 usd, and the salad $0.85 usd. So we ate lunch (and had leftovers) for about $5.35 usd.

We met up with the rest of the new teachers and our hosts (the principals and director) to board the bus headed to Shwedagon Pagoda. See our whole Shwedagon experience on this post: Shwedagon Pagoda | The temple of all Myanmar temples

After the visit to Shwedagon everyone stopped at a hotpot place for dinner. Hotpot is where you have a large container of broth in the middle of the table to share with the group. Everyone goes to pick out ingredients to add to the broth, this ranges from seafood to tofu, from noodles to eggs, from vegetables to greens, and so much more. After letting the ingredients stew in the broth for a bit everyone enjoys a big bowl. It was a fun event for sure, the food was good and more filling than I had thought. Kim got a little stressed out when everyone began throwing random ingredients in that didn’t normally go together, perhaps next time we will set up a game plan first.

What a weekend! I can’t believe how much information we have received so far and how much we have learned in just this little time here. I am so glad that we are here for so much longer which will hopefully be enough time to see and do all the amazing things that Myanmar has to offer! But for now, bed, it is orientation first thing in the morning. 

First thing Monday morning I hopped on the ISM bus to school where I finally got to see where I would be teaching for the next two years. The High School has two buildings (one of which used to be the middle school) with a small outdoor space in between. We have one large art room that will be shared between me and the other new art teacher. I will also be teaching out of one of the computer labs for my digital media/ 2d design class. We have quite a bit of work to get the room ready for students next week. The tables and stools were recently purchased from the west and really make the art room. There is a range of supplies that need to be sorted and organized. There are also preparing a small adjoining room for us to use as well. This room needs to have carpets removed and furniture moved in as well as other projects done to ready it for the students.  I’m not sure how we are going to work everything exactly but we will know more when we see our schedules later in the week. (I'll do a post soon all about my school, with lots of photos I promise)

After a tour and a new teacher meeting we went over to the middle school where they hosted lunch for all of us. They prepared a variety of Myanmar dishes most of which were meat and/or vegetables in either a broth, sauce, or curry. They were served with rice and a clear-broth soup. Everything tasted very good and most were not spicy. 

We then had our first Myanmar culture lesson. Zoe started by showing us various maps of Myanmar and Yangon, explaining the different regions and ethnicities who live in each. We talked about different restaurants to go to, transportation, sites around the town, and other various city related advice. Auntie Amy then joined us to talk about Myanmar traditions; she showed us the traditional dress, explained Myanmar customs, and shared with us some Myanmar snacks.  She was so sweet to give us small gifts to go away with. We received one pair of owls figurines – a symbol of good luck in the Myanmar culture. She also gave us these two small dolls always land heads up no matter how you throw them – they are given to people who are down on their luck to show them that no matter what happens in life you can always get back on your feet. 

After school Regi, the other art teacher, and I joined Zoe to go meet Gail, the previous art teacher. She had invited us to her apartment so we could greet each other before she left for her retirement in Texas. Over a glass of wine she shared with us the Yangon art scene and all of the progress she has made with the art program over the years. It was lovely to be able to absorb some of the knowledge that she has about art at ISM and in Myanmar. 

Kim has been keeping busy this week organizing the household and finding her way around our neighborhood. Our new friends Steven and Sharon live right downstairs with their kids H & K; Steven is a Social Studies teacher with me at the high school. On Monday Sharon and Kim went to the wet market to get some groceries. She got 20 quail eggs for 600 kyat ($0.60 usd) unfortunately only about a dozen of them made it home. Pork was also purchased from a meat vendor which turned out to be very fatty and expensive, 8000 kyat for 1 kg ($8.00 usd for 2 lbs).  Being a foreigner that they don’t know they tend to jack up the prices of everything. We are working on developing our bartering skills. It was amazing to come home to all of the suitcases unpacked and the house in order! I am so lucky to have a wonderful partner!!

Although it was fairly late when I returned home I wanted to talk with my family because I hadn’t gotten the chance yet. Luckily I was able to Skype with Andrea, Sam, Zane, Dad, Drew, and Autumn, all at the same time! It was so nice to see everyone and get to share with them a bit of the adventure that I have had so far. Before long I had to say goodbye because I was so very tired! Long and exciting days!

Another orientation day started with the director of the school addressing the entire ISM faculty. He shared with us all about the school’s mission, the school’s directive plan, his philosophy, and what we were to expect in the next few months. Afterwards we headed back to the high school to have a school only meeting. For lunch some of the returning teachers took us out into the neighborhood to show us some good places to eat. Oddly enough many of the usual places were closed (we later found out there was some sort of holiday), so we all hopped in the bus and headed to a restaurant down town. There was a big group of us and unfortunately they only had two English menus, needless to say it took us quite a long time for everyone to order. After which we ended up waiting a while for our food to start arriving, when it did become coming it took about 45 minutes from the first plate to the last plate. I’m not sure if I mentioned it before but we quickly realized here that the concept of one person ordering their individual plate is very strange to them. In Myanmar culture (and many others) they eat by getting a variety of plates to share and all eat a bit of everything at the same time. For this reason they do not wait to serve everyone at once, rather they bring dishes out when they are ready. This happens very sporadically. It is strange and defiantly something we will need to get used to.  After lunch we returned to school where I only had a very short amount of time in my classroom before grabbing the bus back to Pearl.

Kim had been very busy during the day and I walked into an amazing smelling apartment. Kim had found her way to CityMart which is a more high end grocery store for the area that has a larger selection of goods with a variety of meats, frozen foods, cheeses, and a few aisles of dry goods. For dinner she made a delicious soup of carrots, eggplant, onion, pork, baby potatoes, with a chicken curry base.  We invited another new teacher over to enjoy the meal and Li Qi made great company.

The rest of the week continued with about the same routine; I went to school from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm returning home about 4:45 pm after days of meetings and getting my classroom prepared. It became pretty stressful and overwhelming with the amount of information I was presented with and the short amount of time I had to get ready for teaching the following week. But I made it through. I ate out at the stalls near school a couple times usually having a rice dish with a bit of protein and some veggies. Here is where I ate on Thursday:

Kim spent the rest of the week going on adventures with Sharon, H & K. They found the park to go for a walk in, went downtown for an indoor playground, tracked down the stationary store, and did lots of laundry. We have shared washing and drying machines in the building that only hold a very small amount of clothes at one time. Most people find easier to hand their clothes up in their house to dry. There are some very helpful housekeepers who have been hired to do laundry for other people in the building who have switched over our laundry on more than one occasion. They do it just to be kind and don’t expect anything in return. 

It was an intense first week. Everything of course still feels very foreign and new but mostly in an exciting, adventurous kind of way. It feels nice to be unpacked and getting to know the area. I'm looking forward to feeling more settled and for school to start on Monday. Here's to a weekend of rest and of course more adventuring.

Our new home is located in one of the buildings that makes up the Pearl Complex. ISM provides our housing and hosts their teachers in two different buildings, Pearl and Diamond. They are about a 20 minute taxi ride apart (depending on the traffic of course). Almost all of the new teachers are in Diamond because they have more apartments there, it is the more modern of the two buildings. We, however, were given an apartment in Pearl because they are the only of the two that accepts dogs and we were originally planning on bringing Ms. Ellie May.  Pearl is where all of the teachers with families live. It works out nicely because Kim has made friends with Sharon, one of the other "trailing spouses" in the building and they enjoy going on adventures together. 

The Pearl Complex has 5 or 6 buildings with a few levels of shops and restaurants on the first few floors and condominiums (apartments) above. Given the option to change to an apartment at Diamond, the neighborhood and close vicinity to food and stores were one of the main reasons we decided to stay put. There is a chandelier store, a pharmacy, a few restaurants with mini-plastic furniture spilling out into the street, a Samson electronics store, a Korean version of McDonalds, a fancy French bakery, a fancy european soaps and fragrance shop, and so many more. Here are some of the places we frequent:

Asia Light, a small grocery store where we get food and household goods

The Golden Pearl, a simple restaurant with very low prices that delivers right to our door (when we can get our phone to work to order)

The Yangon Bakehouse, a pricy but delicious bakery with fantastic bread and quiche

The Indonesian Restaurant, okay - that is not really it's name but it is packed full with Indonesian fair, nice, clean, tasty food at a medium price

The Money Exchange, just as it sounds - where we go to exchange our USDollars to Kyats

Pa Pa's Pizza, medium priced, thin crust only, fresh pizza served with a side of blaring techno music

Another nice perks to Pearl is the workout room and the pool! They call it a gym, but to me it is a workout room as it is pretty limited with equipment - on the bright side it almost never has people in it, so the one piece of each workout equipment is enough to go around most of the time. It has a treadmill, a bike, a few weights, and one of those all-in-one weight machines. The pool has been closed for a couple month, I was told that it is closed during rainy season, but it is opening tomorrow! It is not super fancy but it looks decent enough to me. The water is clean and cool and the surroundings are nice. The pool itself is located on the top level of one of the Pearl buildings which means that it is an open air environment. The floor below the pool also has a pool hall - we haven't been yet but hope to go check it out soon

Our apartment is on the second floor of building E (it is actually the third level but all of the buildings here go by the european way of naming the first floor "ground level"). We have a two bedroom apartment with two bathrooms, a living room, and a "eat-in" kitchen. I am especially fond of the high ceilings with moldings, the great lighting, and the "windows" between the rooms. Kim is very happy to have an air conditioner in each room. Our apartment came furnished so we have a full set for the living room including a small couch and chair, a coffee table, an entertainment stand, a small TV and a phone. 

Both bedrooms have a queen size bed with sheets, pillows, and blankets - these get changed once a week from housekeeping. We also each have a bureau for our clothing and one night side table. 

One bathroom is off of the kitchen and one is off of one of the bedrooms. Each bathroom has an open shower - this means that it is not inclosed at all, the water drains into the corner of the room. The showers have an instant hot water heater which works fairly well, I wouldn't mind it being a bit hotter but it's alright. There is also a bidet with each toilette - very European. 

Lastly, the kitchen! We have a small fridge, not a mini one but about 4 feet tall. We were concerned about it not being big enough at first (we usually have a very full fridge) but it has been working out just fine so far. We have the usual sink, cupboards, countertop, vent, etc. What we don't have is an oven or a stove. We do have a gas range with two burners - originally we had an electric range but Kim sweet-talked the office ladies and got herself a gas one. We were also supplied with a microwave and a rice-cooker. A handful of cooking utensils were also supplied (2 knifes, a spatula, and a ladle). 

As I mentioned, it is an eat-in-kitchen meaning that the dining table is placed in the kitchen. It is a really nice table that has sleeves to pullout to accommodate more people. We also have a set of four chairs as well as four plates, bowls, mini bowls, cups, teacups, saucers, forks, spoons, mini forks, mini spoons, and Chinese spoon. 

I knew it would be hard to make such a foreign place feel like home, so before we left I printed off about a hundred different photos for us to take with us. We were able to create multiple photo collages around the apartment which quickly became our favorite feature. 

So that is it! Our home away from home! Hope you enjoyed to tour!

Almost all Myanmar people practice Buddhism which means there are an extraordinary amount of pagodas, stupas, and pyas throughout the country. Out of them all Shwedagon is the most revered. If you are lucky to live nearby you may visit Shwedagon on a daily basis but more often it is the dream of many to visit it once in their lifetime to pay homage to the Buddha. There is a dense amount of history and meaning in every nook and cranny, the three hours we spent there seemed didn’t allow us to even skim the surface. 

The Pagoda, which is also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda, is 325 feet tall and is completely covered in gold. The crown, or very peak of it holds 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies plus a 76 carat diamond. It is said to be the oldest pagoda in the world at over 2,600 years old. It has been rebuilt and added too over the years and there is always at least one section of it that is getting work done. There are four entrances that lead up to the main floor, all grand and quite spectacular. Along most of the entrances are vendors selling all sorts of goods including religious items as well as every day items. 

We did participate in a few traditions while we were there, first I rang one of the giant bells - I'm not exactly sure what the meaning to this is but they were everywhere and it was very fun. While walking around the pagoda we each found the "corner" relating to our day of birth (Wednesday morning for Kim and Friday for me). Buddhist believe strongly in astrology and have many superstitions around dates. While we were at our corner we poured water over the buddha statues there to wash away the bad. 

To start our journey we needed to travel to Bangkok where we would meet with ISM administration and the rest of the new teachers to learn how to get our The transit to Bangkok was long but not too bad overall. We left Portland at 7:45 pm and arrived in New York around 9:00pm. JFK was a HUGE airport and I was very glad that we had two hours before the next take off to find our gate and get through security. Leaving JFK around 11:00 pm we were so happy to be able to sleep finally (only getting a few hours the night before and having such an emotional day really put a toll on us). One of our best decisions was bringing our pillows in our carry-ons, we were nice and comfortable for the trip. I slept most of the 13 hour flight, waking up to eat the two meals and snack they provided as well as for a couple hours towards the end. Kim was up and down, getting a few hours of sleep in here and there.

Our stopover was in Dubai with a 2.5 hour layover. Just enough time to get through security, and jump online for a bit. It was 7:45 pm local time when we arrived in Dubai, which meant that we had another evening flight. We relaxed, napped a bit, watched some movies on our personal screen, and got another meal. For both of our long flights we flew Emerits. We were very happy with them, comfortable seats (or as comfortable as you can get on an airplane, active service,decent meals/drinks, personal screens with hundreds of movies, TV shows, games, and plane information. 6.5 hours later we stepped off the plane into Bangkok. 

After checking into our spectacular hotel, The Furama, we were very happy to shower and get into a new change of clothes. We didn’t waste any time before we were out the door exploring. Of course we were in search of food! Knowing that  the street food had more of a chance disagreeing with our western stomachs we decided early on to avoid the very tempting array of options from the many street vendors. Instead we were looking for more of a clean restaurant. After only a couple blocks we were stopped by a lady asking what we were looking for, we told her “food” and were pointed in the direction of a small shopping mall. We chose to eat at Mr.Lee’s for our first meal. I got a fried noodle dish with chicken and Kim got a rice dish with pork. Funnily enough, it ended up that both of our broths tasted exactly the same, beef gravy like but more liquidly and smoother. The meal was very tasty and ended up costing us 400B ($13 usd) including a small appetizer and a mango drink. 

After our delicious meal we continued to wander, enjoying the many sights and smells of the city. There was just so much happening and so much to see! After a while we bumped back into the lady who showed us where to eat. She quickly picked up a conversation with us trying to see how else she could help us, asking if there was anywhere we wanted to go or see. Kim had been wanting to see about buying some chefs knives here which she attempted to communicate to the lady. Seeming to understand she quickly hailed us a tuktuk and negotiated with the driver. Not exactly sure where we were headed we hopped in and gave her a thankful nod goodbye. The tuktuk ride was fantastically fun! It was a great way to see the city, although there were some questionable moments when I feared for my life as the driver squeezed his way through traffic. Eventually he pulled up on the sidewalk and a doorman helped us out. We walked into the building only to find out that we were at a high class jewelry store. After a brief glance around we headed back to the tuktuk to explain to the driver that we were looking for knifes. There was a jumbled conversation but an agreement was found and we were off again. Before long we were ushered into another store, this time with tailored suits and dresses. I quickly turned around and demanded the driver return us to where he picked us up, he tried to argue but I was all finished being scammed – you see a lot of businesses will give the drivers money for bringing in perspective clients. He dropped us of just a couple blocks from our hotel and demanded 100B but I would give him no more than 40B since that was our original agreement. He finally conceded and we were glad to be finished with that. It was super fun to ride in the tuktuk but next time I will be sure we have a known destination before we get in. 

Our first night in Asia was unforgettable. After sleeping for a couple hours, Kim woke up very hungry so we went off in search of food. The front desk of the hotel told us to go to the night market where we found hundreds of stands selling all sorts of goods; from clothing (modern and traditional) to knickknacks and souvenirs, there was so much to see. I bought a small hand-made journal for 60B ($2 usd), a pair of wrap around pants that I have yet to figure out how to wear correctly for 200B ($6 usd) and a pair of sunglasses for 300B ($9 usd). We found a restaurant to eat at called the Black and White Chef. I ordered a curry pork dish that tasted exactly like beef stew complete with the potatoes and carrots. Kim ordered some fried chicken with rice and we shared an amazing plate of fried dumplings (one of our all time favorite dishes that we were so looking forward to tasting and it did not disappoint). 

Kim was determined to try a McDonalds burger so we continued on until we found a McD’s. The burger Kim says was not very good, just about the same quality that is in the US. I’m glad that she got her fix. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a fancy bar to have a beer and a glass of Champaign. It was very expensive and not very worth it except for the cheese cake that was pretty tasty. All in all that cost us 570B ($15 usd) – more than we have spent for both of our meals. 

It was about 1:00 AM when  we stumbled upon a funky looking bar with tables outside, we stopped to check it out when I was pulled to a seat by a energetic lady who we quickly found out was a South African named Michelle.  The evening was filled with laughter, new friends, and exciting happenings. Michelle was good friends with the chef/owner of the bar who Kim made quick conversation with speaking of knives and cooking ingredients. I joined in on an impromptu soccer game in the middle of the street where I almost go hit by a car on multiple accessions, Kim convinced one of the restaurant helpers to giver her a ride on their motorbike, and we witnessed my first bar fight. We drank the night away as the kind owners who became fast friends, continued to bring us different bites to eat. As the sky grew lighter and the traffic grew heavier we watched the city wake up. We said goodbye to our new friends and grabbed a bite to eat at the nearest store. 

Friday morning we met with the other ISM teachers at the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Everyone was very friendly with great energy and excited to be there. After we gathered together we hoped on a bus the school rented for us and were off to the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok which turned out to be only a few blocks away.  The reason they wanted us all to meet in Bangkok was to show us the process of getting our visas because we will have to do it again every 10 weeks (70 days). For our visas we needed:

-Visa application

-Passports

-A copy of our passports

-2 passport photos

-A registration letter from the school

-A letter stating the school as our visa sponsors

-My school contract

-2115 Bhats each (~$70, much cheaper than my school had told us it would be)

The process of getting the visas was mostly uneventful, the line was very long so we had to wait a few hours but it was fun to be with the group and begin getting to know everyone. We finished in enough time for us to go grab lunch before heading back to the hotel to get our things together. We decided to walk back to the hotel and stumbled upon a Hindu temple where this happened:

For lunch we chose a restaurant that didn’t have an English translated name so I don’t know what it was called. We ordered an appetizer of pork balls in a platter where you made your own wanton type things. We had no idea how to make them so we just guest. On the platter was also rice wrappers, cucumbers, pineapple, hot peppers (chilies), garlic, a green bitter thing. On the side we had a large bowl of various greens: lemon grass, green leaf lettuce, mint, Thai basil. To dip they gave us a big dish of sweet chili and peanut sauce which was unfortunately a bit too spicy for us. Kim had a tasty dish of crab noodle soup, the noodles were ramen like and the broth was similar to a clear consume and not overly fishy. I had a noodle dish with chicken, eggs, and peanuts. The noodles looked as if they were made from rolled up from the rice wanton things and they were so very delicious. The dish itself had a pad-thia type flavor but wasn’t saucy, I can not wait to eat it again! For dessert we grabbed some bubble tea, Kim got chocolate without any bubbles and it tasted almost exactly like Yahoo; for mine I had gotten one yesterday that was amazing but I tried a different kind and it tasted exactly like salt water. It was so gross! I went back and traded it in for the one I had before. 

Before we knew it our bags were packed again and we were off to the airport. The only hiccup that came up was when they wanted to charge us an extraordinary amount for our overweight baggage.  Luckily the group leader, Scott, took care of all of it from ISM. After a short 45 minute plane ride, and a quick line through customs, we retrieved our bags and were greeted by ISM. We were finally here, standing in Myanmar, the place where we will call home for (at least) the next two years.

Photographing my last wedding seemed strangely not strange. Andrea, my sister, joined me as my second photographer which was just perfect because we have been shooting together for the past few years and we always have a great time working with each other. Also, Nico & Teresa were married right in my home town (well, just next door). The day was beautiful and the wedding full of celebration. I couldn't have asked for a nicer wedding to be the temporary end to my official wedding photography adventures.  

Sunday we moved more furniture and items to the storage unit with the help of Brian and Kirsten. Then it was off to my Mom's house to say goodbye and get my cat, Macy, settled in - Mom will be taking care of her while we are away. It makes me happy knowing she will be well loved. Afterwards we joined my family at my Dad's house for a big ol' family cookout. It was so bitter sweet knowing that this would be my last family gathering for almost a year but it was so fantastic to have such a warm and loving last weekend. Boy do I love all of these people!!! Tears were most certainly shed as hugs were squeezed a little tighter and held a little longer. 

Monday was spent fervently packing our suitcases and clearing out the rest of the apartment. We made a trip or two to the storage unit and a run to grab another suitcase. In the end we each took two large suitcases and one carry on. Crazy to think that we managed to pack our whole lives away and pair down so much! It was a mad dash to get everything in it's place and be sure we had all of our important documents ready for departure. We stayed up into the wee hours of the morning making sure we had everything in order, including downloading ebooks and cramming the car/truck with suitcases. 

Before we knew it Tuesday had arrived. Takeoff day. The day we leave the world as we knew it behind and set of on the adventure of a lifetime. It was a long and emotional day, one that we truly were not prepared for - emotionally at least. 

It started off by clearing out the last few things from our apartment and making one final trip to the storage unit. Our next stop of the day was to Sue's house (a dear family friend) to show Frank and Beans, our other two cats, their new home. We are so glad that they will have lots of room to run and play in the woods and get into lots of trouble I am sure. Then off to Kim's parents house we went. We wanted to be able to say goodbye to them and also drop off our vehicles that they would be storing for us. After an early lunch and a tender farewell to Sonny and Ellie May, Kim and I loaded up the car and headed to Augusta with Robin and Sue (a dear family friend). When we got into town we made a couple stops to get the toiletries we were taking with us along with a few other important items we needed to purchase like a portable speaker. Also, we had to stop off to get some passport photos for our visa application. Time flew by and way too soon we were saying goodbye to Robin, Sue, Andrea and Zane (who had come to give one last hug). Amanda and Josh brought us down to Portland to meet up with my Dad, Pam, and Brian for a quick dinner, it was nice to have a hearty meal in our stomachs to help settle them down a bit. Then it was off to the airport where we checked in and got ready for boarding. Our last goodbyes were to my Dad, Pam, Brian, Amanda, Josh, and Natilee (who had met us down there). With a few more squeezes we turned to find our gate. And there we were ready for boarding to a place unknown. 

It was beyond hard to part with everyone, words can't even say. It was most certainly the most difficult day of our entire travel. 

There we were, sitting at our gate boarding pass in hand, about to embark on a expedition that was so grand, so unthinkable, it seemed to be just a dream up until now - sure to dissolve before it was grasped. Yet, it was here now. All of the planning and prepping seemed to be all a blur. Boarding pass in hand it all sunk in on how real this was. Kim and I kept looking at each other with knowing eyes that asked "Are we really doing this?" Even without asking the question we both knew the answer as we handed over our tickets and stepped into the plane that would be the beginning of a journey that is sure to change our lives in every way. Stay tuned, Myanmar here we come!