Anyone for volleyball, for badminton …?

August News

As I comb my hair and preen my face outside for better lighting with a dash of this and that, the local Thanakha lady next door snags guava from trees and cucumber gourds from her plants.  Her husband, humble as she, pops around our courtyard to pick a handful of fresh chilies from our bush.  This is to prepare a meal for them - for their family, for the monks.

As we sit on our little porch with coffee in hand and watch the world go by, a group of local women in the neighbourhood with baskets on heads gather on the dirt-lane-way to prepare for the market.

As I prepare for work with water in hand to stay cool and hydrated, Thanakka school children mount on motorbikes.  A young boy sits at the front and his big sister sits at the back.  Their father sandwiched in the middle, mindful of their safety, insures that all is well before roaring them off to school. Meanwhile, right at the top of the hour, just like clockwork, their 2-year-old brother begins to wail – he too wants to go to school!  Hand in hand, comforting hands rubbing one another,   ouplá with a heave or two his grandfather picks hauls him up on his right shoulder to further console him.  In the background, his mother loud and clear bellows Myanmar words that we don’t understand. 

August was a month with numerous activities and fun events both at work and at home.  

August began with a number of invitations from my colleagues and students:  KathyAung and her family invited Kevin and I for a family scrumptious lunch at her mother’s home .  They live at the government Herb Garden property where Kevin and I now walk the 5-kilometre trail on weekends.

The following weekend, one of my students Htet Swe Oo, his wife and son and mother and 2 nannies invited us to yet another delicious luncheon at the Swe Si Taw restaurant that is a mere 5 minute drive from our place.

During that same period a couple of Myamar colleagues and I: Nwe Nwe Soe and her friend, we ventured to the Big Ocean Centre to look for running shoes for Nwe Nwe Soe who was preparing for both a volleyball and a badminton match with the various parliamentary departments.   At the end of August she won both the badminton and volleyball tournaments against all other departments.   As a result, we returned to Ocean, this time to the  bakery to indulged on coffee, cakes and pudding to celebrate her victory and the 2 trophies that she  won.  Nwe Nwe Soe  will be receiving her trophies together with her Pyidaungsu women volleyball and badminton team early next month at the sport complex ceremony. The men’s Pyidaungsu volleyball team will also be receiving their trophies.

In mid August 3 Government officials came around our house at suppertime, around 6 pm to ask for our documents from us. They took photos of our passports and gave us each a form to fill out.  Could it be a routine monthly check to insure that all is well with visas et cetera from their standpoint?   Monday morning, as per usual, things were soon resolved with the help of Cuso Myanmar.

Throughout August, there was a shift in the grandeur of the parliament among parliamentary staffs.  Staffs were shuffled to and from different departments, to different offices to learn about all departmental jobs, to leave footprints for others to benefit from.  That is to say, staffs will pass their talents and expertise to future parliamentary staffs on all accounts; their talents will continue to reign from department to department…

August was a month where I visited Parliamentary staffs in their designated workplace. This is to address what is it that they want to know and how to strategize ways to strengthen their skills further in their jobs.   Their skills will be brought back and addressed in the classroom for teaching and learning prospects.  We will also focus on the different creative writing interests that are being revealed as I continue to work with my talented students.

Elsewhere in the grandeur of the parliament, 4 officials and 12 English-speaking MPs were handpicked to attend a 3-day ASEAN conference that is being hosted in the Philippines in early September 2017.  (Last year Myanmar hosted the ASEAN conference).  The MPs and officials attended a 3-day preparation workshop in English at the Pyidaungsu Hltuttaw.

More news in the parliament, the telecommunication bill was tossed back and forth between the 30 MPs at the Amyotha and the Pyithu Hlattaw (upper and lower house).  Finally, after being tossed around for 56 days, much longer than any other bills, it was resolved, passed with little change at the Union Assembly/Pydaungsu Hluttaw and the bill became law. The MPs are now on recess for the month of September.  They went home at the end of August to their constituencies throughout Myanmar to work with their village people.    

Other news in the parliament, ethnic youths throughout Myanmar from the 7 regions and the 7 ethnic states came to NayPyiTaw to represent their colleagues back home. The one-day conference was held at the Union Assembly/ Pydaungsu Hluttaw to hear Ethnic women MPs talk about Human rights issues in Myanmar.

Lately, every morning someone in class and in the research office brings a variety of Myanmar cuisine for me to taste.  From scrumptious Shan noodles with soup, to mohenga to chickpea sauce with fried bread a.k.a. idkyaguai. From tasty tealeaves salad to hot buns, to creamy cakes and more cakes ….   Together with the theme of food, are flowers of all sorts that staff bring to work to share with others and yours truly. And,  happily wear them on their hair  and, intricately weave them/it (depending on the number of flowers that day - if it's a rose), on mine!

By end of August, more parliamentary staffs and officials are walking the stairs instead of taking the elevator to their office on the second floor.

August ended with a Cuso royal visit to Nay Pyi Taw, a rare event.  Grant, a Cuso volunteer nearing his end of term with Cuso International came for the weekend to visit  with us all - The NPT team.  It was refreshing to speak to a volunteer with positive views about life, about Cuso.

More will be added at a later date … :) In the meantime, Wishing you fun reading and lots of laughter for September ...  

A typical day in Nay Pyi Taw

Looking through a set of different lenses … 

Unlike Cambodia where plans changed within minutes of the day, where a meeting was switched to a different day, week or even month, where there was no such thing as a typical day; In NayPyiTaw, at home and at the Parliament it is different; there is indeed a typical day where life is somewhat reassuringly predictable!

Typically, Kevin and I awake to the early call of the rooster’s crow, followed by the Monk’s gong and the 6 to 8 barefooted Monks, old and young who are about to collect food donation from the local neighbours lining on both sides of the dirt-lane-way.

Whilst enjoying our breakfast and coffee outside our little porch, each morning, across the way, we watch the old man with his grandson pace about the neighbourhood.  Hands behind his back, clad in a white and green checker longyi with a green towel wrapped around his head to match his longyi, slowly the old man pushes his gait forward.  All the while, quietly following behind him, his 2 year old grandson emulates his grandfather’s every move, every step...    Beside us, there is a lot of chatter.  Next door, locals in the neighbourhood seem to be dropping by at the local family’s home for this and that.  The young boy, obedient and loyal to his grandparents, while his mother is away on an early shift, begins the day, chanting! With a wave or two on his bicycle, the young boy leaves for school after his prayer.

Here on the home front, the runt, the littlest chicken of the family boldly enters our courtyard to eat morsels of dried rice that Kevin has especially prepared for him.  He is soon joined by his mischievous brother and, mother hen who’s come to inspect what her juvenile children are up to.

Soon the activities on our little lane way slowly disperse to here and there and I usually get ready for work.

The black iron gates creek as I slowly back the car out on to the lane way.    The hand wheel is on the right hand side of the car.  However, I drive the car on the opposite side of the road, which at first was tricky to drive!

As I slowly drive out onto our little lane and on to the main road, I pass a group of Tanaka smiley faces waving in a chorus of  ‘Mingalabas’.

A heard of buffaloes encouraged by their master to equally line up to either side of the narrow road to let motorists pass through, are interrupted by impatient motor cyclists who manage to sneak through. They weave in and out and around buffaloes beeping their horns at them to speed up their gait and to move out of their way.

Once on the main road, street sweepers and more women sweepers covered from head to toe, to protect themselves from the sun, blend in with the traffic to sweep the already eerily clinical streets of Nay Pyi Taw where history of any sort seem to be forever swept away.  A leaf falls in the hand of a masked Tanaka face sweeper before it’s allowed to hit the ground!

Before approaching the first set of traffic lights, a policeman stops the traffic to allow a convoy of pearl white minivans to take precedence over the traffic and directs them to the main road.    These minivans filled with elected MPs from different constituencies throughout Myanmar are taken to the parliament to attend an important meeting.

Onward and upward on the main road, now half way to the parliament, a large group of monks line the street with their food bowls and umbrellas ready to cross the road for the pagoda.
Once I reach the parliament, I go through a set of 3 black iron gates boasting golden ornamental tops.  The guards salute me at the first set of gates and let me pass through.  At the second gate, a group of staff hand me both a car pass and a work pass.  I drive 200 meters more and enter the last gate down the way before reaching one of the 31 parliament buildings: The Union assembly a.k.a. the Pyidaungsu building.

Typically, predictably so, a chorus of laughter is heard in the corridors, in the parliamentary staff offices.  As I reach the shared research office at the end of the hall, there is more chatter and laughter from the wonderful staff I work with.

Typically the day begins with teaching my awe-inspiring students who are enthusiastic, engaged and motivated.  I can always depend on them to lend a hand for this and that.  ‘Tis truly a pleasure to be in their company!  Of course not to mention the incredible MPs that I also work with who are just as delightful!

Volunteering is about having an authentic experience wherever you are.  It’s about experiencing the small stuff:  having an Adventure to the electricity office on my way to work …. ; Coming to work to find a beautiful rose on my desk and having a communal delicious Myanmar breakfast with staff, all in courtesy of the parliamentary staff in our office.  It’s about paving the way for others who otherwise may view things differently than you.   Wherever we are, wherever we’ve been to throughout our travels and living and working overseas, we are usually happy and satisfied!

More later  … ) In the meantime, Wishing you fun reading and lots of laughter for August