Kim and I have a Korean Grocery Store right across the street from us that is just filled with strange food items. We picked up a few of them today and gave them a try. How did it turn out? Let's just leave that to the video.
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It was Friday night and you know what that means . . . 19th street here we come!!!!! We grabbed a group of our friends and headed downtown to enjoy an evening of festivities which started with 80 cent mojitos and ended with Kim making a slew of new local friends. Another epic night on 19th street.
As is usual with our nightly wanderings, we had some unusual finds one of which was another Myanmar delicacy. My students called these tree warms. The are available fresh and deep fried. We were going to try some but they were surprisingly expensive - I think they gave us the foreigner price increase.
On Saturday we went on a much-awaited adventure of going across the river to the neighboring town of Dala. We took the ferry over after managing to find the dock and got some traditional Myanmar lunch on the other side (yes, Kim ate on the street). The we each got a trishaw to take us around town to the different sites. This defiantly needed it’s own post so: Look how crazy adorable this little guy was!!!!!
Back on our side of the bay we lead our couchsurfers through a little tour of downtown in search of Dim Sum. We had heard that Chinatown has the BEST Dim Sum in Yangon (makes sense). But unfortunately we didn't actually know where Chinatown was to be found. It did show the area on the map but it was stretched over about 6 blocks. At least the walk was interesting. Although we didn't find any Dim Sum we did find some tasty doughnuts off the street. Kim really enjoyed them.
Sunday we continued our usual tradition of grocery shopping but instead of taking our usual route we decided to take the long way around and explore our neighborhood a little more. One thing I love about walking around is admiring all of the colors that were once brilliant and vibrant used on the houses, now crumbling, peeling, and fading away. After walking down a random road for a good 15-20 minutes we turned out to a road that we knew but the surprises didn’t end there, we found a genuine ramen noodle house down a random side ally. Although we had already had a meal we know we will be back to try it soon. The week held a run of work, me at school and Kim building her menu for the restaurant. We hosted a new couchsurfing couple from Spain in the middle of the week and had a blast with them sharing our love of homemade sangria and delicious food.
We can’t go through a week without having a fun new food adventure. We popped over to the Korean Mart across the street in search of some ice cream and found an interesting treat, check out this video to see what we found: I'm not sure what to say after that so I will just leave it there. See you all next week!
At the first meeting of my photography club this week one of the students that joined handed me a note from another student who had signed up but was not in attendance. The note read:
“Ms. Alis(s)a, I am sorry, but I won’t be joining Photography Club. My parents won’t let me since I can’t use the photos in any of my classes and it’s “a waste of time.” However, I will still be part of RAVE Magazine (since my parents don’t know about it). I hope to see you in RAVE meetings. : )” I had heard and had gotten hints of the idea that the arts are not important to parents at our school, but this was my first solid piece of evidence to support this stance. My mind started filling with choice things I would like to say to these parents about letting kids be kids, and giving them the right to follow their interests. The art advocate inside me woke alert and ready to fight again. See, unlike other subjects, art teachers not only get to do all the tasks expected of the profession, but we are also constantly defending the right to do what we were are passionate about and were in fact hired to do. We must save the arts from budget cuts and continue to defend it’s right to be in our schools. Sadly, it has become a part of the job description to be ready to stand up for our programs to administration, school boards, communities, other teachers, and parents. Although I have been a bold advocate for my art programs in my previous position to get them outside of the art room, I am lucky to have had constant support from all stakeholders in the school I used to work at. Of course we are in completely different water now. Unlike many other international schools who have a wide variety of students from all different backgrounds, ISM is an international school with 95% local students. The students that we teach are from the wealthiest of families in Myanmar. Their parents are business people, doctors, lawyers, real estate owners, etc. mainly the people who have worked hard to get way ahead in this difficult country and are now reaping the benefits. As all parents do, ISM parents want their children to have “better” lives than they did. That means the best schools and a ‘no excuses’ policy for not achieving the very highest. For all of the rigger the parents push on the students they expect to see finite results in the forms of high grades, the best scores, taking the most advanced classes, and winning awards. There is a strange energy in the school where students strive to take AP (advanced placement) classes as soon as they are allowed to because they are constantly aware of the effects their choices can have not on their lives but on their transcripts. Of course it is uplifting to be in a high school where students strive for excellence and take their education seriously but it almost to a point of detriment, where it is hurting the students more than helping them. They are constantly searching for ways they can look better on their college applications, be it a contest, community service (1/2 of our students are involved in a community service group), or a high grade in an advanced class. This is also reprehensive of the cultural divide and the class differences. I grew up in an environment where you were encouraged to make your own life decisions based on your interests and what makes you happy – so perhaps I am bias. Just in the past couple years have students begun to branch out from the usual career paths when leaving ISM. The previous art teacher made a bit of headway by helping artistic students get into architecture colleges – parents seem to be okay with this since it is a somewhat prestigious career. There is just still so far to go in helping these parents (and students) understand that what is says on their transcript is not who they are. And because I can't leave this post without showing how incredibly talented my students are, here are a few captures from one of their recent homework assignments (yes, a HOMEWORK assignment)! Another great weekend started with taking it easy and watching E & H so Sharon and Steven could have a night out. Saturday morning we met up with the four of them to go for a ride on the Circular Train. The Circular Train is a slow-moving train that makes a loop around Yangon over a three hour time period. Read, Watch, & View our experience on the Circle Line HereOn the way back I managed to gu-estimate which stop to get off to be closest to the Shan noodle place that we love so it was only a very short walk before we were seated in front of some noodles and dumplings. Yum! Here is a video of the awesomness (don’t mind how incredibly hot and sweaty we were, three hours on an open-air train in the tropics will do that to you): Still very hot, we tried to find some ice cream but ended up with this creation called a caterpillar that was so overly sweet and artificial. It was not good. Not good at all.
I had always admired the concept of couchsurfing, letting a fellow traveler crash on your couch (or spare bed or even floor) for a short time as they are passing though. Unlike airbnb or similar sites where you can rent out your spare room to visitors, couchsurfing is completely free for both the host and the guest. The only thing I expect to gain is meeting new friends and fellow travelers that can share their stories and advice, plus some good karma and hopefully some invites to other’s homes across the world. Seeing as we lived in the middle of Maine, we didn’t get a whole lot of travelers wondering though our neck of the woods; but here in Myanmar, the backpackers are flocking in now that the country is open to foreigners with the hopes to see this unknown land before it gets run over with modernization. With few foreigners that live here and even fewer ones that have extra space to offer guests, as soon as I signed up with couchsurfing.org I began receiving requests to stay. This weekend we accepted our first couchsufers, two young backpackers from China, Rachel & Jo’di. We invited them out to join us for our Sunday tradition of dimsum and it was just as delicious as ever. Then we wandered around the mall area and found a $1.80 store where Jo’di explained this contraption to me that was designed to make your face slimmer. I also found a “lame mirror,” as well as a phone store that sounds like they take really good care of their customers.
As we continued wandering the streets we stumbled on the very last thing I would expect on a random back road of Yangon – an Amusement Park. It was the creepiest, funniest, most strange find ever. As it was almost 9pm we expected it to be closed but the happily let us in to wander around and I could only think of one thing – that this would be the PERFECT place for a creepy serial killer movie. Let me set the scene for you. Firstly it is pitch dark, the only lights coming from the off-colored bulbs on the rides that are almost all standing perfectly still except for the occasional merry-go-round which is spinning without anyone riding on it. In fact there is not one person there at all, visitor or worker. As you hesitantly walk around the plastic characters intended to entertain the children look anything but cute as their creepy eyes seem to follow you wherever you go. I continued to glance behind us to make sure we weren’t being followed by a man wielding a giant machete or something. When I turn back around a man appears out of the shadows motioning to an old, peeling sign that says “haunted house.” Always up for an adventure, the group decides to take him up for it and we hand him $700 kyat ($0.70 usd). With a low, menicing laugh he directs us to a dark doorway that I am unable to make anything out beyond the door frame and waves us a slow goodbye. That was the last time anyone every heard from Alisa, Kim, and their couchsurfers. Hehehe, obviously not – but that is seriously what it felt like at this place. The haunted house was actually really good. It was just the right amount of scary/creepy and poorly constructed making it funny. This is my favorite kind of adventure, when we wander around and stumble upon crazy random awesome things.
Monday started off another school week, in the afternoon I joined a group for the first yoga lesson offered by another teacher (and yoga instructor) in one of the classrooms. I am so glad to have a yoga class again! On Tuesday I began my first meeting of Photo Club. The idea is to get a group of photographers (students, teachers, staff, ect) together to learn some new techniques and practice together. It was a small but interested group that joined, hopefully I will be able to have a great time in the club this year. Wednesday, Shelly and I decided to go grab some dinner after school. I took the bus over to her apartment and we grabbed a taxi downtown. We didn’t have a real destination but decided to just wander around and see if we could find something tasty to eat. A short while after getting in the taxi we were stuck in the ever growing Yangon traffic – one of the most frustrating and most unavoidable parts of living in a city (especially one with no city planning). After sitting at a light for a good 15 minutes we decided to just get out and walk around that area to see if we could find something to eat. Of course as soon as we got out of the taxi the light turned green and it speed off. That’s okay, not a big deal, but looking around we realized that we were in the wrong part of town to find food because there were no restaurants –not even any stores- in sight. We did the only thing we could do, started walking. I kid you not, after only ten steps or so the skies opened and it started pouring. Now, of course it was not just sprinkling or raining a bit, oh no, it was one of the normal Myanmar monsoon rains that feels like buckets of water being dumped on you. Shelly was smart enough to have a small folding umbrella with her but I hadn’t picked up the habit yet. Although she tried sharing, her attempt was in vain due to the miniature size of the umbrella and the massive amounts of rain. Since there was no where to duck into we did the only thing we could – kept walking. It looked like we were in the area of Vista Bar where I had gone over the weekend so I gave my best estimate at how to get there and we trudged on. After taking a wrong turn we found ourselves at one of the entrances to the famous Shwedegon Pagoda. This entrance is unique in the way that it is split halfway through so a road could run through it. We turned left to take a shortcut through the other half of the entrance to reach the road below. As we were almost out of the entrance hall we were stopped by a middle-aged local lady who pointed to our shoes and said “no.” I realized that we hadn’t taken off our shoes when we came through the entrance because we were going backwards. Normally I try to be very respectful of the traditions and customs of the locals but we were literally only 10 feet from the street so we skirted around her saying “sorry” and pointing to the outside. Normally I would have loved to take the time to curiously wander through the shops we found at the foot of the entrance but by now we were soaked, hungry, still unsure of how to get where we were going, and grumpy from being yelled at. So we hurried along and after another 20 or so minutes of walking finally, FINALLY, found ourselves at vista where we gladly welcomed some tasty drinks and happily munched on some western food as we watched Shwedegon’s lights turn on. I don't think I'll ever get sick of this view, ah, Shwedegon
The Circular Train is a railroad that loops in a circle around Yangon. It starts at a big station close to downtown and travels all the way up to the outskirts of the city, then it curves back around, passes my school, and ends back at the station.
A couple weekends ago we decided to give the Circle Line a ride and we headed off with our friends Sharon, Steven and their two kids, Hazel and Kean. When we arrived at the station we had a bit of difficulty finding where to buy tickets, after going through the wrong entrance then standing in the wrong line for 15 minutes, a kind station worker pointed us in the right direction and soon we were on platform 7 waiting at the correct counter. The ticket seller was very helpful and asked if we wanted to take the “aircon” train or the “local” train. We had heard of these options and knew that the “local” train would give us more of an authentic experience so we chose that one without hesitation. We were told by many different sources that we (as foreigners) would need a crisp $1 bill (usd) as fare for the ride. This, luckily, is no longer the case – seriously, who carries around crisp $1 usd bills?? We only paid 200 kyat a piece, which is about $0.20 usd for the ride. After getting our tickets we waited on the large platform for about 20 minutes until the man who helped us came to show us to our train that had just arrived. We happily jumped on and spread out on the long benches that lined the whole length of the train. The benches were right under the windows facing each other leaving a large aisle in the middle. We weren’t waiting long before the train wheels began slowly turning, creaking with age. The train pulled out of the station and began a steady “clunk, clunk” rhythm as it meandered on the tracks. Yangon has less than a handful of high-rises making it difficult to use landmarks as notes of where you are in the city, so starting almost immediately after we left the station and lasting the whole ride it was impossible to tell which area of the city we were in. As we got used to the steady pace of the slow-moving train, we were happy to sit back and stair out the windows to gaze as the town passed by. There were no big sights to see or exciting events, instead we watched the day to day lives of the local people. Often we saw people crossing the tracks or waiting on the road for the train to pass by. It was an echo of what we see in the residential neighborhood that my school is in. After only a few minutes we pulled up to the first stop. A simple station marked by a long bench on either side of the tracks and a walking bridge that spread over the top to connect the sides. There was a quite bustling of people moving around, getting on or off, hurry to their next destination. The train only stopped for a few minutes before setting off again. Like most other times when we walk around town, we got constant stares from people all around us. Especially being with the children caused us to get a lot of attention (Myanmar people just LOVE kids!). I don’t mind it very much. I feel like I stare at them enough they have the right to be curious and stare back at me. The best part is that whenever I see children staring at me I figured out that if I smile and wave I will always get the same back. Then if they see my camera they usually will make a pose of some sort. It’s great! At one point while I was walking down to the other end of the train I noticed a local trying to get a picture of me on his phone so I stopped and let him take one then followed suit and took my own of him. It actually makes me feel like a celebrity. Before long the scenery changed from buildings to neighborhoods, from neighborhoods to houses, houses to scattered structures, scattered structures to just fields. This was the first time that we had seen any sort of country setting in Yangon and it was a welcomed scene. We enjoyed the greenery before the train made the loop and started heading back into town. There were so many interesting people on and around the train. At one point a man came and sat next to us with a wicker basket that was latched at the handles. He was there for a good half an hour and when he stood up to leave he grabbed his bag and it gave a loud quack – we hadn’t even noticed that there was a live duck in the bag!! He was not the only one to bring poultry on the train, there was also a man carrying two large buckets that ended up being filled with chickens! After about two hours of riding we were pretty hungry and I was so excited when we stopped and some people selling snacks got on board. I hurried down half of the train to catch them and buy the snacks. One person was selling something similar to Chinese fried noodles but in one big piece – it was tasty. The other person was selling what turned out to be a thinly fried tofu that was cut up into bit sized pieces and served with spicy sauce. I didn’t really care for that one but Steven and Sharon, who are both vegetarians, loved it! Three hours after we left the station we rounded back into downtown. I managed to guestimate the stops and we hopped off the one right before the large station which landed us in the heart of Bogyoke market – exactly where we were headed. All in all it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning, calm and slow paced. This was a great way to get out of the hustle and bustle and see the city from a different point of view. |
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