We are Here in Cambodia!

October News 

Time goes quickly.  It’s hard to believe that Kevin and I have been here in NayPyiTaw for almost 6 months.   It means that we are still having some enjoyable times … taking several trips around NayPyiTaw to get my laptop, that crashed recently, fixed, again. Celebrating newcomers, different groups of Parliament UK staff who have taken shifts, since I’ve been here, to work at the Pyidaungsu Parliament; while sadly biding farewell to a Cuso volunteer couple who left NayPyiTaw prematurely, a theme all too familiar.  Connecting with colleagues at work for a communal delicious lovingly prepared Myanmar picnic, a fusion of ethnic cuisine displayed on one of the leader’s large desk.   The sound of la vie quotidienne from our little community in our neighbourhood is still going strong. The two-year old brother, with grandpa by his side to comfort his grandson, continue to wail while watching his dad and his 2 older sibling leave home for school on the family’s motorcycle.  While the boy next door, hunter green longyi with a well pressed white shirt sets off to school on the family bicycle, shoots a glance, a wave, a pleasing smile our way.  Though we’ve had many activities on the go, I have no real excuse for not writing.  My motto is to procrastinate until guilt creeps in to tell me that it’s time to put pen to paper.

Kevin and I  spent our first part  of our anniversary in Kalaw which is a cool hill station and in Inlet lake. They are both located in Shan state about 6 hours by bus to the east of NayPyiTaw. We have had some tasty Asian food including barbecue duck and dim sum and some crispy fresh baguettes. Inlet Lake is a tourist destination but it is still the low season. We went on a private boat trip that was interesting but deafening because of the longtail engine.  The engine sound echoed in our ears thereafter before we were able to communicate again. 

As I speak, we are here in Cambodia for 2 weeks visiting with friends and colleagues in Phnom Penh, Kep, Sihanoukville.   We plan to visit Mondolki at a later date.    Though we were warned that Cambodia, in particular Sihanouk was not only becoming highly developed, becoming a zoo of high rises, a jungle of concrete: casinos, hotels, et cetera that were in the midst of being constructed, and, being taken over by approximately 5 million Chinese entrepreneurs, overnigth?   we still welcomed it with open arms, despite this revelation however ....  catching up with news, and the general Asian life style and most importantly with friends and colleagues that we so much missed.  It is indeed a nice break for us and it's the very place we wanted to spend our ongoing anniversary celebration in.

Our favourite place is Kep.  Kep is known as the ‘little French Riviera’ of Cambodia.  It’s a popular place for tourists and it is the place to relax, sleep and soak up the sun on a sleepy afternoon.  The best part of the day is taking a stroll to the sailing club with wonderful friends for a glass of wine and to end up with at the crab market to watch the sunset while eating crab slathered in Kempot pepper sauce.

As for work, on our return to NayPyiTaw from Cambodia, the MPs are back at the parliament!  With the MPs arrival,  extra security has been placed, so it appears. The large tattered set of orange pylons, line across the road just before the turn off to the Parliament, were restored with a number of police guards that sat at their station taking count of the number of cars that squeezed through the narrow open spaced pylons!  What’s more, extra police guards and parliamentary guards were at their gate stations to welcome the MPs return.   The cafeterias, open to MPs and staff,  are now back in full swing.  One of the cafeterias was set up closer to the Pyidaugnsu wing for easier access to staff and to save time walking the 'mile-long' hallways ....

With the welcoming of the MPs, 28 new parliamentary staff joined the parliament.  These new staff had successfully passed their last month's entry exams to work at the parliament.  During their week long orientation, they visited  all 3 houses: Pyidaungsu, Phyithu and Amyotha.  They read their contracts, listened carefully to the leaders' regulations, expectations et cetera.   At the end of the week, fully inducted, the new staff were given two longys each, their parliament uniform to wear for work.

Other news, the dry season has returned and brought with it ants that have returned to our house.  It's now the burning season so you can imagine the smoke and smell that we’re about to encounter Our humble neighbour, spent hours cleaning our front garden and driveway and, conscious of the smoke, burnt the dried vegetation at night so that we could escape the smoke.

Photos will be posted at a later date. 

More will be posted at a later date ... :)  In the meantime, wishing you fun reading and lots of laughter for November ....

If I had any tree planted in my garden ...

September news

If I had any tree planted in my garden, in Canada, I would have a flowering bougainvillea.   Our bougainvillea in our little courtyard has flowered since our arrival here in NayPyiTaw, since May 2017. What a treat! To me, overtime, bougainvillea flowers have become significant. It means life, joy and renewal.
A celebration for Kevin and I is indeed in order! September is an exciting month for us, because it marks our 38^th wedding anniversary. Kevin and I met traveling in India; and together we continued our travels throughout SouthEast Asia.  Since that time, after a number of years at home, in Canada, raising a family, watching our children leave the nest and beginning a life of their own, finding themselves on the threshold of a new life that awaited them, we’ve decided that it was time for us to embark on new journeys across the ocean; to live and work in developing countries. First, in Cambodia for 3 years, and now we’re in Myanmar for a year.

 
Throughout September, we had a series of invitations both from my Myanmar colleagues and from parliamentary staff celebrating birthdays, farewell parties, and various other events, and, visiting one of my colleagues, in her office.  KathyAung was transferred from the Pyidaungsu Hlataw to the Pyitu Hlattaw.   As for events, Parliamentary volleyball, football and table tennis teams received a logyi for work and their rightful trophies: some semi transparent, some opaque glass plaques with a sport symbol etch in the centre of each plaque.   What’s more, pleasantly surprised, my students and staff brought me a series of stunning colourful longyis that I now wear on different days of the week.

Here in Swe Kyia Bae district just around the corner from my house, La maison haute couture nestled in a row of this and that, that I’ll talk more about on my next post, were highly accommodating and couturier some of the longys that I got from various Myanmar people, to fit with perfection!

Here at home, across the way from us, tightly squeezed on the motorbike, was the usual family of three: the Tanakha boy at the front, dad in the middle and sister at the back.   Today, however, there was an extra passenger on board.   Today, there was no usual wailing from their 2-year-old brother; there was no usual comforting necessary from grandpa or a usual bellow from mum in the background. Today was an unusual day!  Their 2-year-old brother was squeezed in between his older sister at the back of the motorbike and his father in front of him. Their 2-year-old brother was taking his big sister and his big brother to school with his father!   On this special occasion, on this special unusual day, the family of 4 roared their usual roar to school happily waving a ‘Ta ta” bye bye in Myanmar.

At work, my students continue to inspire me so. I’m in endless awe as I discover more talent in their workplace and in class.  As I speak, they are in the process of developing, translating the activity resource book;  lessons that were tested, reviewed and refined with my class, that is at the moment very much at its infancy.  Still, the introduction and  the first units : 1 to 4 are progressing well!

Now that the MP’s are away doing some good work in their constituencies, the cafeterias are closed and work reduced?  Parliamentary staff in all departments, collectively congregate in groups, outside their department station to share their delicious lunches with their colleagues, and with guess who?  that they’ve lovingly prepared and brought to work from their hostels.  What’s more, during that same period of time, throughout the parliament, parliamentary staff spent a good part of their time sorting through large piles of duplicated files.  They collectively sat on their office floor systematically re-organized files, ripped and threw out a good set of documents in large rice bags that almost mounted to the  departmental ceiling.   These files, a staff claimed, ‘There are no longer useful for the parliament, for the officials’.

Other news, at the end of the month, approximately 50 potential new parliamentary staff, young men, only a few, and the rest women in rainbow-colour fitted tops draped over their chic-vibrant longys, came to Pyidaungsu Hluttaw to be tested for law, economics and IT skills.   Lined in the hall outside the research and training department, like school children in Cambodia, they patiently waited for officials and helpers (parliamentary staff) to instruct them to sit at a designated computer desk.  Each desk was approximately 2 metres away from each other, carefully and precisely set apart, closely supervised by the IT parliamentary staff who walked up and down the rows to monitor them during their test.  Some appeared nervous and certainly humble, ducking, bowing at the waist as these shy individuals passed their potential leaders on the way to a computer desk.

By the way,  results of  the hiring process; exams and successful new parliamentary employees will be publicized within the next couple of days – by the first week of October 2017.

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

Sweepers, groomers …

Painted patterned pavement curbs, red and white intermittently cut through yellow and black-curbed streets for entrances or side roads.  Yellow and black-curbed pavements on main boulevards, on unmarked roads with no landmarks, with no speed limits carries transport of different sorts that scurry here and there to go somewhere ...

Large metallic blue parliamentary busses, large white-tusked ministry busses and minivans hold white shirts and white blouse workers. Their longyis are colour coded to suggest the ministries they belong to.  Ocean blue, large and small open trucks follow suit.  Unlike the white coloured workers, labour workers clad in rainbow wear; hang on tight with their lives, on wooden frames of their truck. Rain or shine! Motorcyclists in 2s or 3s, some in helmets and some without, balance long bamboo sticks or wide fishing nets on their shoulders while they attempt to outrun the white coated - white hat police guards, to get through the morning’s on going movement at the main round about.  Cows have already proclaimed their spot and sit on side roads under shaded trees, in the capital city, leaving little room for cars to manoeuvres around them!

On the surface, on the hour, on the minute, life carries on as normal.  Children sit on the yellow and black curb waiting for their ride to school; others pick flowers from the neighbour’s garden and tease one another, while their mothers balance themselves with their babies in one arm and their fresh produce on their heads. Buffalos get their daily baths in the creeks whilst their master, chewing betel watch over them.  The soft breeze, the cool morning air, the soft sound of chimes from the young monk gives little indication that they’re maybe something in the air?

Still, life continues!  In the heat, in the rain, sometime on empty avenues, sometime in the midst of traffic, sweepers and gardeners, the unseen few, line side by side in 3’s:  2 to 300 meters apart on both side of the road.  The sweepers sweep away in unison, the clinically immaculate streets that bear no newspapers. cigarette buds, coffee cups, history of any sort or memories.  Gardeners cut from the same cloth, groom the flawless yellow and black; red and white curbs of NayPyiTaw’s highways; they hoe away new weeds that tend to creep through the cracks now and then.  A guard, every meter or so, walk up and down the neatly manicured boulevards, the grounds to ensure that history is no more, that all memories are washed away!   

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

An array of colours worth 1000 words

A breeze welcomes the day. It’s cool and comfortable on my way to the market. The sun hides behind the clouds!

A woman, with a basket of fresh colourful produce on her head, walks toward me with a ‘Mingalaba’ twinkle in her squinted eyes. Her straight erect slim-figure tells me that she is strong and healthy.

Side roads are muddy fresh from the night and morning’s rain. Stones that were carefully laid and paved on potted roads back in July, are now firmly embedded in the soil, balancing from stone to stone in some areas. The roads resemble cobblestone streets in Europe’s medieval times where roads were evenly paved for horse and cart and alike to use.

The market, an array of colours, smells deliciously fresh and transports me right back to Mondolkiri’s market in Cambodia.

Here at the market , Thanakha ladies in soft whispers, offer a word or two to entice me to their stalls. From an array of vibrant multi-coloured flowers, orchids in particular, are in abundance, to fresh green, yellow, red produce. From meat stalls pounded on to tenderize the meat, to peanuts and red beans and large bowls of bright rich spices, some dried and powdery grouped together on the ground, resemble the effects of the rainbow fresh from a summer’s afternoon rain.

Tucked at the end of all other stalls, clad in a colourful outfit: red and gold longyi with a dark-cemented-blue coloured scarf that drapes from head to shoulder to protect her from the sun, with a straw hat to hold her scarf in place, a young woman with her 2 year old Thanakha pony tail daughter sitting on her lap, beckons me with a wave to buy from her stall.

I leave the market with raw peanuts; fresh produce for salad and this evening’s omelette and, flowers for work and for our neighbour. The bundles of flowers are wrapped in large-thick stony brown-green leaves, laced with thin bamboo material to secure them in place.

On my way out of the market lanes, rice sacks filled with dirt lie on market lanes and act as lopsided walkways between stalls. Trenches filled with rainwater, despite the mud and worn-out rice sacks -from wear and tear with footprints, some heavier than others, the trenches, the walkway, the market lanes between stalls, are immaculately clean.

On the outskirt of the market, motorcyclists, some with brooms on backs of motorbikes, roar around the market’s perimeter to alert the bustling crowd to buy a broom or two … In the process, they disturb a group of dogs mating.

On my arrival home, the neighbours greet me on the lane with rice cake, and I in turn, hand them a bouquet of pink lilies. The husband intuitive of the rains coming sweeps his front garden from leaves and any debris from his already clean and dirt-free front yard.

An hour later, as predicted, heavy rains, heavy storms roar through our little community and soon floods our lane, from home to home, mingling into one other. The husband, who’s name I don’t know experience of the wet season is well prepared.

The day ends with chanting. The grandson, as mentioned in an earlier post: A typical day in Nay Pyi Taw ,  begins the day with chanting before he heads off to school. The grand-father, the husband, the next-door neighbour ends the day with chanting!

Kevin's away in Thailand for 2 weeks, for some R and R; diving and enjoying the ocean in general ....

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

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