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World Wide Photo Walk | Downtown Yangon, Myanmar

10/22/2015

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On October 8th I joined a group of photographers to capture some snap shots of our city. Every year Scott Kelby, a world famous photographer, hosts his annual World Wide Photo Walk. It is a time for photographers to get together and take photos of their neighborhood. It is labeled as the "social photography event of the year," as one of the main goals is to bring together a community of people with this common interest. On the single day hundreds of Photo Walks are held across the world with thousands of photographers participating. 

I joined in my first Photo Walk when I lived in Auburn (Maine, USA) two or three years ago and was thrilled when I saw the announcement for the Yangon walk. Taking my camera out to the streets is one of my favorite things to do but it was made even better by the great company. More than a few of these photographs have gone in my "favorite photographs I have ever taken" folder. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them! 
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Fahrenheit, Field Trip, & Fried Frog | September Update

10/8/2015

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​September has been a hot month here in Yangon. It is still supposed to be rainy season but there was not a lot of rain. Luckily there was usually a good amount of cloud cover making it a good month for exploring and being out. Lots of gatherings filled our calendars this month making it a great time for friends with an equally great time spent on our own. A bout of sickness kept us home over one long weekend, Kim has been cooking away at work, and there were birthday festivities. September was a great month with a lot of promise and happy times. Let's start with a few more pictures from around the neighborhood. 
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Fahrenheit Treats


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Last month I briefly mentioned Fahrenheit where Kim was hired in March of this year to run the kitchen of what would be a Mexican-Asian restaurant. Not being a Mexican or Asian chef, Kim has certainly met the challenge by creating truly unique dishes that highlight both cuisines. It has not been easy but it has certainly been worth it as Fahrenheit was recently moved to TripAdvisors #2 restaurant in Yangon.
Since our return, Kim has been working on developing a new menu to delight the taste buds of the hungry crowd that has already made it through the original menu multiple times. Some of my favorite dishes are the Potato Curry Tusquitos, Pumpkin and Tofu Enchiladas, Pad Thai Chimichanga, Chili Infused Hot Fudge Sunday (with homemade ice cream) and of course the Creamy Tequilla Margarita Pie. Lucky me, I got to be the first taster for all of this deliciousness. I thought you all might like to see some picture of this awesome place. 
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Train Field Trip


I took my students on my first Field Trip in Yangon this month and the experience was so much more than I could have ever imagined. I had a simple intent, take the students on the train to practice their photography skills. As we have just finished our photography basics unit, learning the ins and outs of our cameras, and the students were itching to try their skills in real life situations. Pair that with not having access to our usual computer lab classroom (because of standardized testing) and you have the perfect opportunity for a one day field trip. But what started as a simple field trip turned into a perspective changing experience.  Read all about it HERE
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Kegs and Kickball


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​To celebrate his birthday Mark, a co-worker of mine, held his annual Kegs and Kickball event. I was hesitant to join because I am not a big kickball fan but I thought it might be fun and it was a BLAST! About 30 people met up at the American Club field on Saturday and went through 3 kegs of beer while attempting to play kickball. There were also rules that involved having a cup of beer in your hand at all times even when you are kicking, and finishing your beer before second base and before home base. There was pizza, a speedo, some major kickball competition, LOTS of beer, and a fantastic time had by all! So glad I have such a fun community of people to be around.  
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Birthday's Galore


​It was a month full of birthdays in our friend Steven’s house. Firstly his little guy, Keean, turned 3 years old! I joined them in the morning for a trip to the park where we spent the majority of the time pushing a swing back and forth to each other. It makes my heart so happy to have this little man in my life. As someone who has always had children around it feels like having a piece of my family here in Yangon.
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​Right after Keean’s birthday is Stevens so we took a night to go out on the town and had loads of fun with a great group of people. 
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Aquarium Store


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​While we were wandering around our neighborhood the other day we stumbled upon an aquarium store. I use the word store very lightly because really this was a space on the side of the road with a chicken wire type wall and dirt floors. I had noticed recently that the shops and houses will often have giant aquariums in them, even the ones that seem to be not so well off. These aquariums always have GIANT fish in them! It’s crazy! So we meandered past a hungry looking cat into the store. It had huge aquariums stacked on top of each other from the ground up. Scattered along the aisle were liquor bottles of all sorts filled with betta fish. In the large aquariums there were all different kinds of fish. Towards the back of the store was a group of people who were working on cutting glass that would be the side to a new aquarium. It was a strange, strange place true to Myanmar. 
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Adventurous Street Eats


​Eating unknown snacks off the street is one of our favorite things to do. This month we found a few very interesting things to try. It started with the deep fried frogs at one of our local restaurants. Then when we were adventuring around the other day we discovered some interesting fruits. I also got Kim to try an “Everything Salad” which is a mix of all different noodles, sauces, and other things. Have a look at some of the videos. 
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I also tried sugar cane drink for the first time and it was delicious! The sugar cane is peeled then squished through a grinder resulting in a sweet, syrup-y drink. 
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Puppy Time


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I was also able to convince one of my students to bring his golden to school one day so Kim could watch her. Susie (the dog) was very excited to be some place new and gave Kim the run around, snatching up things to play with, running on the furniture, and just being a crazy puppy. I think Kim got her fill of puppy love for a little while. 
​Kim has been missing our Ellie May like crazy lately, we often walk down to a store on our road that has a golden retriever dog named Jackie. We give Jackie some love and attention while the locals look at us like we are crazy. It is a good little bit of puppy time. 
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Art Making


I have been filled with creativity this month! I have been working on a body of work that I started in the spring and have made significant progress this month. The process involves using my travel photographs as a base and digitally altering them to create visual errors, or glitches, by corrupting ​the data in the photograph. I’m not quite ready to share them yet but I’ll show you this one:
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​During school time my fellow art teacher and I have begun using our collective prep time to work on art journaling. It has been fantastic to have a scheduled time in the week to get messy and create. It brings me back to my core interest in the arts and gives me the freedom to play and experiment. It has been a great reminder of why I am an art teacher and how much I love making art! Here are some progress pictures of one of the journal pages based off the idea of Positive/Negative Self. Also a snap shot of my morning bliss station
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​In addition . . . 


There were morning Trishaw rides
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Scrumptious BBQ was had
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My school held a college fair with about 20 colleges from around the world and one of the was Roger Williams University where my little sis just started law school. Funny that. 
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We found a movie store that has english movies and TV shows for only $1 a disk
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​Our maid left us this adorable note one day
Kim and I got more "Shampoos" aka $1.50 head massages
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Some funny things we saw this month, a "Cold & Drinking" restaurant sign, sushi sold out of the back of a truck, this hilarious sign.
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A few shots for my "From Where I Stand" photo project.
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I'll leave you with these two tasty dishes. The one on the left is my absolute favorite Myanmar dish: Tofu Noway. It is some sort of hot, melted tofu over noodles. The one on the right is the chicken soup that Kim made for me when I was sick in bed for our three day weekend. 
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A Perspective Altering Field Trip on the Circle Train

10/8/2015

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I took my students on my first Field Trip in Yangon today and the experience was so much more than I could have ever imagined. I had a simple intent, take the students on the train to practice their photography skills. As we have just finished our photography basics unit, learning the ins and outs of our cameras, and the students were itching to try their skills in real life situations. Pair that with not having access to our usual computer lab classroom (because of standardized testing) and you have the perfect opportunity for a one day field trip.
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The train is an ideal option for this trip. There is a train station that is only a 10 minute walk from school and it takes a four hour loop around the city, returning back to the same station. After a few calls to the station from my assistant teacher, we had the schedule and a plan. The students were mildly excited mostly because they wanted to get out of school. They were less enthused by our 7:30 am meeting time. 


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Permission forms were signed, the principal approved, and the day finally came. Nine half-asleep AP 2D Design students wandered into the lobby, cameras in hand. We set off quickly, knowing that the train waits for no one. We rushed through the bustling market and down the dusty streets arriving at the station already sweating in the tropical heat.  No sooner had we purchased our tickets then we were swept away on the train.


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The students stayed huddled together as a group in a corner of the train car surrounded by people. My first thoughts were that they were frazzled by our hasty departure but as I observed them I noticed an interesting occurrence. The students seemed to act more like tourists, strangers to this place that they call home. They were nervous around the unknown people and hesitant to leave their well-known classmates. As I encouraged them to break off and explore down the train they stayed attached to the group as if they were in a foreign place. 


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I began considering what I know about these students. Firstly, they are privileged. The school we come from is a private school for Myanmar’s wealthy class. Secondly, they are very isolated. Being ushered from school to tutors, from events to formal functions, from home to their chafer driven car, these students rarely experience the street life of Yangon. It took me aback when they showed up this morning in jeans, long sleeve shirts, and sweatshirts. I would have thought it obvious on such a hot day that we would need to wear cool clothes, but I later realized that these students are never outdoors. They have no reason to walk around the streets.  In essence they truly are foreigners in their own city, seeing and experiencing the life of a “commoner” for (perhaps) the first time. 

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For an expat who spends her weekends exploring the streets on foot, riding the local transit, and eating at the street stalls, it was strange to be introducing these students to their own home, one that I have only been living in for a year. To think that I have experienced more of the daily Myanmar life in my short time then they have in their whole lives is mind blowing. 
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As the train began to empty, the students got a little more adventurous, wandering to the lengths of the car in small groups. They moved from taking pictures of each other to being comfortable at taking pictures of the surroundings and the people. Having no separation between themselves and the local environment, they began to truly observe and record what they saw. No longer were they sitting in their fancy cars with a window detaching them from the world, they were immersed in it. 
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We arrived at the main station to switch to the train that would take us the rest of the way around town and back to our station by school. We all took off running through the insanely crowded platform to catch the next train. I counted as each student stepped up into the train car but came up missing two. Hoping that they had gotten on through the next door, I hopped on the train and quickly searched through the adjacent car to find it empty of students. My worry heightened as the train began moving. I sped through the train, rushing past people, looking for the rest of the group in hopes that I didn’t see correctly and they actually made it on before us, but, no luck. Resisting the urge to panic, I had a student call the phone of one of the missing members, who were in fact left back at the main station. After insisting that they stay where they were we departed at the next stop and quickly grabbed the next train in the opposite direction where I found the two students sitting calmly on a bench taking a selfie. 
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Reunited we quickly regrouped to make a new plan. Luckily my time in Myanmar has taught me a great deal about not being attached to how things are “supposed” to go, and always having a plan B (and C, and sometimes D). So after confirming the train schedule back to school we had a quick retreat at a local café to cool off and fuel up. Then we continued on to explore the downtown area while waiting for the next train. I led them through streets where they explored and (in some cases) interacted with the local community. 
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One student ate as much street food as he could manage. It made me laugh when he bought something from practically every stall that we passed. Later in conversation I found out that his parents don’t let him have street food. They believe that it is not sanitary and prefer to eat in proper restaurants or at home. The last time he had street food was when he was young. He used the day as an opportunity to make up for lost time. ​
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It was also interesting for the students to see how people treat me differently as a foreigner. A couple times on the train locals stopped to take pictures of me. At one point a woman excitedly pointed me out to her young son by pointing to me and then touching her face to bring attention to my skin color. In addition I got stopped a few times by sellers on the street hoping I would buy a bus ticket, a tour, or a souvenir. The students related these experiences to ones they have had in the US or Thailand or other countries but had no idea that it also happened here. As these students are being groomed to be the next leaders of Myanmar, they are gaining worldly education through international trips and mindsets but we forget to connect them with their own back yard.
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As our short but eventful trip came to an end I was not the only one who had a sense of euphoric fulfillment. We walked back to school from our station drenched in sweat with huge smiles on our faces. Stopping one last time for a street snack of fresh squeezed sugar cane juice (the first time for almost all of us) the students excitedly talked about where else we could take a trip to. As they chatted about different possibilities I heard a different attitude in their voices, one of anticipation in getting to know more of their own country, their own culture. It might by my hopeful teacher brain but I think next time they might be looking forward to a little more than just missing school.   
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Returning, Relocating, & Restarting | August Update

9/8/2015

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We have been back in Myanmar for over a month now and we are settling in quite well to our jobs and home life. It seems crazy to be back, yet comfortably familiar at the same time. The amazing summer we had back home left us feeling reenergized and refilled with the calm patience necessary for life in Yangon. This crazy city with its insane traffic, constant market callers, chanting monks, dinging bells from passing trishaws, and always bustling streets, has welcomed us back with its usual chaos and smiles. 

New Year, New Space


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Our biggest news is that we moved to a new apartment. Not only are we no longer living in school provided housing, but we are living in a more local area only a short walk from school. We found our apartment before we left in May with two friends of ours. Shelly and Luis both teach at ISM with me and have been awesome roommates! This apartment is very inexpensive which means we will be saving even more money this year with our housing allowance that the school provides. It has great qualities to it like a huge living area, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large open kitchen, and lots of windows. We were able to buy all of the furniture from the previous tenants so we were all set to move in as soon as we returned from summer break. 

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The move itself was interesting. Back home we would call up a friend or family member with a truck to help us move, but in Yangon no one we know has vehicles. We could have gotten a few cabs together because we did not have that many belongings but we do have a large house plant and two chairs. So we arranged for a truck through a kind friend of ours who has local connections. It was a confusing time meeting the truck and a scary ride to our new place with Kim and our plant hanging out the back, but we made it and only had to pay $15 (plus a $5 tip for each of the guys who helped us lug everything up stairs). 

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We have had a couple of challenges like bugs and electricity. But instead of waiting hours or days or even weeks for a worker from our old condo to fix our issues we are able to fix them quickly ourselves with the help of our attentive landlord and our kind neighbors. There was this one time when the power went out, not unusual for Yangon, but annoying nonetheless. Strangely it was still out a few hours later even though the other apartments in our building had the power returned. So Kim tried to talk to one of our neighbors, the man didn't speak any English so he went and got another man who got another one who got another one. This final man, Aung, not only spoke some English but he "make power work" (works as an electrician). He quickly got his toolbox and came up to the apartment, took an hour working on our regulator, and finally fixed the problem. When Kim tried to give him a payment he simply replied "We neighbors, we help." 

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Then there was the first morning of school when I woke up early to have a quiet start to my morning, I poured myself a cup of tea and opened a window to let some air in, and sat down with my journal when a BAT flew in the room! It was an entertaining 30 minutes of running around with a laundry basket trying to catch it as it swooped around my head. In the end everyone in the house was up watching me trying to usher it out and it just flew right back out the same window it came in. 

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A few weeks ago we hosted a big housewarming party in the new space. It was great fun to have our friends over to fill the apartment with great vibes. 

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Here are a few pictures from around the neighborhood
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Just a Stone Throw Away


Living close to school has so many benefits! Instead of dreading the hour plus bus ride home in the afternoons I have been staying late to enjoy teacher activities that other teachers offer like ultimate Frisbee, yoga, and work out classes. I feel very lucky to be able to take advantage of all of these great things! 

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Plus, Kim is so close on her days off that she has been joining me for breakfast or lunch occasionally. We usually eat at our favorite shan noodle and tofu noway stand in the mornings and enjoy a lunch stall run by a Pakistani man in the afternoons. 

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The Spectacular Say Say


With four people living in one place we unanimously decided to hire a house keeper. One HUGE benefit of living in a more challenging place like this is that we can afford luxuries like hired help. During the first week of living at our new place we were all searching for a house keeper, talking to anyone who we thought would help. Unfortunately the few leads we had did not sound promising. One day when I was walking home from school a Burmese woman approached me and asked if I could help her find a man that works at ISM. She said that she used to sell mangos in the market (right by school) and that she had met a man from ISM who she talked to about a house keeping or nanny job. The man told her to wait two months (after summer break) and she might find one. I tried to figure out who this man might be by asking a strain of questions but she could not remember much of what he looked like. Although I was not of any help locating the man, I told her that we were in fact looking for a house keeper. She happily agreed to come back to our apartment and began cleaning for us the next day. Say Say (our house keeper) is a very kind woman who goes above and beyond to try and make us happy. She does a spectacular job and we are so grateful and lucky to have her. 

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Back to School


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On the school front I have been busy as a bee developing a curriculum that better fits my teaching philosophy and designing two new courses. Last year I taught Art 1 (foundations, intro art class for mostly freshman) and AP 2D Design (advanced placement digital art course for upper levels). Continuing with those classes I have also added a Digital Art course (photography, digital drawing, animation, and other graphic media) and an Advanced Digital Art course (independent study for a small group of students interested in continuing their work in digital art). Having four different classes to prepare for has been challenging but so rewarding! Here are a few photos from different classes that I have taken this month.

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I am very proud of the classroom website that I have redesigned. I have used various methods in the past but feel satisfied that this website is one that can grow with me as an educator. I have set it up with resources for both students and fellow teachers. I’m excited to continue growing the content of this site and making it usable for a wider audience. The site is called In The Art Room, take a look at it here. 

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Spice in the Kitchen


Kim has been enjoying being back at work too. For those who don’t know, Kim is the executive chef/kitchen manager for a Mexican-Asian fusion restaurant called Fahrenheit. Taking the tex-mex basics and infusing Asian elements, Kim has created a truly original taste that people love! The chic atmosphere and the craft cocktails make for a perfect surrounding to enjoy a great night out. Since Kim has returned, she has been hard at work making new delicious concoctions for the new menu. Favorites like the pad thai chimichanga and the garlic curry chicken tacos will now be joined by items like pumpkin tofu empanadas and (my favorite) frozen margarita pie. Kim is really going to the extremes at stretching her culinary skills to bring together two of the top cuisines. Just wait until you try her hand made chocolate ice cream with chili hot fudge sauce. I joined a few friends down for a private tasting a couple weeks ago that was out of this world!

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Kneading Dough


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One of my favorite things I have started this month is baking bread. The other week Kim was planning our weekly dinner menu and I voted for homemade pizza. She agreed on the deliciousness of that idea but said that she wouldn't have time to make the dough. I piped up saying that I could make it. Seeing as Kim is a professional chef and I well ... burn things, she reasonably laughed. A lot. I tried to defend my capabilities by evidence of the last time I made dough but it had been so long that she didn't believe me. This made me so sad to realize that something I love, baking doughs and breads, hadn't been experienced in so long that it was forgotten. That week I made the pizza dough and the smell of the yeast mixed with the kneading of the dough and the anticipation of the rise brought it all back. Since then I have spent the past two Saturday mornings devoted to making bread. Such a calm, meditative, and satisfying time creating something from nothing. Plus, there is nothing like the taste of fresh made bread straight from the oven.

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Spa Day


Another perk to living in SE Asia is insanely inexpensive spa treatments. I joined my friend Ashley on a weekend trip to her favorite spa to get pampered. I got an hour long full body massage that was on the rougher side (I had requested oil massage since they are not so rough but it got lost in communication) (cost $10). Then I enjoyed a “Shampoo” which I found out did not only consist of shampooing my hair but also a 30 minute head and shoulder massage that finished with a blow dry and style (cost $1.50). Afterwards we both got our nails done by a spectacular nail artist who did immaculate designs by hand (cost $6.50). It was such a fun afternoon! A treat that I never would have been able to afford in the States, my total cost was $18.00!

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A week after my spa day with Ashley, I was home with the roommates on a Saturday afternoon when the power went out for the whole neighborhood. I suggested that we take the opportunity to check out one of the many hair salons on our street. So we went across the road and found a place offering “Shampoos” for $3.00. After listening to them pump water from a hand pump in the back of the salon Kim, Shelly and I all enjoyed a (slightly rough) massage and (slightly chilly) shampoo. Luckily they had a generator that they turned on to blow dry our hair. Shelly also got a trim for $1.00.

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In Other News


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We bought a rice cooker (one of the only things that didn't come with our apartment, a necessity in Asia)

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They are now selling frogs at the market.
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I ate my last bowl of honey nut cherieos from the stash I brought back from the States.
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It rained. A lot. 
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We were reunited with our favorite expat family.

Overall it has been a fantastic month reconnecting with friends and students. We have had dinner dates, night wanderings, rainy afternoons inside, school events, parties, and so much more! I am grateful to have the opportunity to continue working and living in this still confusing, still frustrating, still enigmatic place. I am happy to have a great place to live with great people making my day to day life so much easier. Here are a few random photos from different times throughout the month. 

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Yangon Celebrates the Chinese New Year

3/18/2015

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Only once a year do lions dance through the streets of Yangon. They dance to celebrate Chinese New Year, the festival that marks the turning of the Chinese calendar. Since January, we had been looking forward to participating in some of the festivities to mark one of Southeast Asia's biggest holidays. When the big day finally rolled around I was giddy with excitement at the uncertainty of what I would witness. The difficulty of finding out any information on any large event in Yangon meant that we did not know what was happening or when. All we knew was that it was Chinese New Year and we were headed to Chinatown. 
*For video footage of the Lion Dance scroll to the bottom of the page*
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Our 'go with the flow' attitudes paid off because as soon as we got downtown we heard drumming. We followed the loud banging and clashing of cymbals to the entrance of a hotel where there was a large crowd gathered. In the center we spotted our very first lion! It was a spectacular site, fluffy purple puffs were accompanied by gold and silver sequence that sparkled as the lion danced around. It was controlled by two extremely skillful and acrobatic performers, martial artists who train long and hard to receive the privilege of performing. A troupe of supporters from the same martial arts studio accompanied the lions in their dance. This lion was visiting the hotel in a customary tradition that involves performing a special dance called Cai Qing which means "plucking the greens." 
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In this dance the lion must "pluck" greens from an area in the establishment. It stalks the greens like a cat in hunt and then eats them a bit before spitting them out (see the ground of the picture below). Along with the greens the lion will also "pluck" a red envelop which customarily contains money to compensate for the performance. The purpose of this is to bring good fortune to the establishment for the coming year. 
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After our serendipitous find, we made the short trip over to Chinatown (which is between 20th and 18th street) to make our first official stop at the Chinese temple. I'm not sure how many Chinese temples there are in Yangon but I do know that this one is the largest and grandest. 
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Bonus points if you recognize what the containers with sticks in them (right side of the picture set above) are ^ . If you don't know or don't remember, check out when we visited the Chinese temple in Bago and our friends Alex and Meme showed us how to use the traditional Chinese fortune telling sticks. 
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As we were approaching the temple, we could smell it before we could see it. When we arrived there was a cloudy, smokey atmosphere that was so strong Kim had to stay outside. Come to find out, it was coming from all of these HUGE incense spirals. There were hundreds of these hanging up inside and outside of the temple, each one accompanied by a small purple tag. I couldn't read what was written on the tags but my guess is that it was a person's or family's name that donated to the temple. 
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The main section of the festival was held on Sinn O Dann street and featured a Lion Dance competition. Although the signs said that there were Dragon dances we did not see any during our time. We were lucky enough to see a lion practicing his dance. This was exciting for me because I was able to get up close and grab these great shots of the lion in motion!
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We took a few hours as the day turned into night to wander the streets of downtown with our hearts set on our usual search: the quest for new, tasty food. This time we were hoping to try some special cuisine for the Chinese New Year celebration, maybe some Chinese food (?) but with no avail we settled for a tasty bowl of our favorite shan noodles instead. 
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It's not just the lighting here, the picture above is of an actual golden watermelon. Bellow is a stall of small bite-sized candies that were all over the place during the New Year Festival. 
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We left the vibrance of the night market and returned to the main festival to wait for the competition to begin. Sure to arrive early, we grabbed some seats (tiny plastic stools) on the sidelines and watched the small street fill in with more people than I could have ever imagined could fit in the space. After a long wait, a parade of all the competitors, some sort of performance that I think was the lion performers paying their respects to the temple or the association or someone, the dance finally began. 
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There are many legends about how the lion dances began, my favorite involves a fierce creature named "Nain" who liked to terrorize villages and kidnap children. One year, a lion was stalking near a village when the Nain creature appeared. The lion attacked the Nain and frightened it away. After the lion also retreated, the villagers decided to make a costume of a lion to scare the Nain away if it were ever to return. The dance is accompanied by loud banging, music, and fireworks to continue to frighten the Nain. Since this the dance became a yearly ritual, the word Nain has become the Chinese word for Year. Happy New Year everyone!
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