About a week after I went, but here is a collage of my pix from Schwe Dagon Pagoda (oldest Buddhist Statue in the world). Sorry, it's not interactive.

1st weekend in Myanmar - experiencing it like a local!

So the weekend was here, and all of us were so excited for a day off...we had been working since we landed pretty much. We were excited to adventure out and go exploring around the town.

I woke up in the AM and went for a run with my new running shoes - it was about a 30 min run/walk and boy did my legs need that! I felt GREAT afterwards!!!

Then, Kerry and I had made plans to meet up with my assistant teacher, Teacher Yoon - so we met her at the school around 1pm. She took us out to the mall and the market and we heard about her life. It was VERY different that what we expected:

- Her schedule is go to school, then go home. Go to school, then go home.
- She lives with her parents, and had to ask for permission to come out with us on Saturday.
- Her dad doesn't let her wear trousers.
- She has never in her life (she's 29) been to the3 cinema! (we have made plans to take her)

Avocado Shake!!

During the day, we finally got our Avocado shakes, and they were DE.LISH.OUS!!!! I also got to practice my Burmese, and Teacher Yoon helped me out on some of the pronunciation.  We also all got Longyi's (the sarongs they wear as skirts here), and bought one for Teacher Yoon to say thank you. She was excited :) Then we had lunch, and headed back to the house.

My hand painted Longyi

On Sunday, Kerry and I headed to brunch by the River, and our housemate Jess came and joined us. We then took the ferry across the river to the town called Dalah - and on the ferry I practiced my Burmese with a local, and he we chatted the whole ride (which was about 10 minutes). Once off the ferry, he (Koko) started pointing things out in the town, and then before we knew it, he was our tour guide for the day! He took us to the Pagoda and we made friends with a volunteer there (he was 19) and he showed me the animal for the day I was born (Tuesday = Red Lion!). Then we left the Pagoda and we kept walking us around town - and then the young man from the Pagoda came and found us on his bicycle! He let us ride it a little, and spent the afternoon with us. Once he left us, Koko introduced us to his Dad, one of his little brothers, and one of his little sisters. He also took us to his mom's shop and she made us Ginger Salad (AMAZING!) and put Tanaca on our faces (a gold looking lotion made from tree bark and water) and we felt super Burmese! Then he took us to the orphange, and they sang us songs and we played with them for a while. On our way out of the town, it was "Water Hour" and we saw everyone getting their daily allowance of water - the wells are only open for 1 hour each day. None of the houses (which look like huts) have running water, so they use their water buckets for everything from bathing and drinking to cooking and laundry.

As we left, we all were practicing our hello's and how are you's, and everyone loved that we had Tanaca on our faces. We all plan on going back, so we will make sure to let Koko know when we do (he gave us his phone number).

Tuesday - Red Lion!

Jess, Kerry, and Apes

Ring the bell 3 times: 1) health 2) finances 3) luck

Biking in Burma!

Getting painted like a local!

Koko's little brother was not impressed with me.

The kids at the Orphanage, singing to us

A totally awesome picture: Pagoda, Cow, and a Burmese man on a motorbike.

The experience was what I thought Burma would be like, not like the mansion and spoils we have been lucky enough to have. It was an AMAZING adventure to have on our first weekend with free time.

Minglabar!!
- Apes :)

St. Patrick's Day 2012

Whelp - one of my favorite holidays came and went, and I spent it in Myanmar. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to celebrate it over here - but I was W.R.O.N.G!!!

The girls in the house all went to 50th Street Bar to meet up with the rest of the teachers, as the bar had a St. Patty's Day celebration happening. They had pitchers of green beer, green balloons everywhere, and even St. Patty's drink celebrations. They also had 17 Irish men there!!

Here are some pix to highlight my night:

Looks like St. Patty's Day!!!

Jameson Shots

BenD's first Irish Car Bomb....EVER!!!

The late night girls: Laura the Adpi, Kerry the roommate, and Stacey

This is my roommate - I'm sure if she ever sees this, she'll kill me.

 Hope everyone had as good of a St. Patty's Day as I did!!!

Minglabar!!
Apes :)

A picture is worth a thousand words

..and if that's true, here's a collection of fun picture with some background on them. ENJOY!

Drinking like a local :)

I came home from school - and our house mom and dad put mosquito tents on our beds!
CAMPING INSIDE!!! :)

The house's first day of school :)

Inside a normal Taxi...yup.

After our first day, the house mom and dad made us dinner. We had already eaten 3 plates by this point.

Minglabar!
Apes :)

Myanmar has "an Oracle"

I am not really sure what the means, but I do know the results of it.

- Rangoon used to be the capitol of the country. Then the oracle said bad things would happen if it stayed there, so it was moved.
- People used to drive on the left side of the road, then one morning it was stated that the Oracle said bad things would come if people continued that way. So now they drive on the right side of the road....BUT no new cars were made, so the steering wheel is still on the right side. For buses, there is a driver, and a caller. The caller stands beside the driver, and watches the blind spot.

Pretty weird, huh?

Minglabar!
Apes :)

Myanmar: Day 1...what I've learned

So today we had breakfast at the school….french fries, beef roti, fruit, cheese sandwiches, noodles. Um, DELICIOUS. (the heads of the offices here are all Middle Eastern - and their food is GOOD!!)

Then we were off to learn about Myanmar (from now on, let’s call it RM – Republic of Myanmar).  We learned about our school, the camp, and then went on a tour of Rangon (the old capitol, also where I now live). Here’s the highlights of what I’ve learned/seen…

-        -  RM people were lotion on their cheeks that look like gold paint; it makes them age well

-        -  The biggest RM note (chet = K) is only a 5000 one

-        -  Taxi’s use meters: a “mouth meter” which means you bargain before you get in

-        -  EVERY.ONE. wears a skirt sarong (I forget the actual name) but for boys they wear the knot in the front, and the girls wear them to the side. If the man wears it to the side it means he’s gay

-       -   Schwe Dagon is the OLDEST Buddist statue in the world

-        -  80% of the country is Buddhist

-        -  SIM card for a phone is $250 (no, I will not be getting a phone here)

Schwe Dagon

Apes at the Schwe Dagon!

HUGE LION!!!

And I’ve already learned how to say some things in Burmese:

-        -  Ne kong le = how are you

-        -  Sa pi bi la = have you eaten

-        -  Be thaw me le = where are you going

-        -  Jesu tim badee = thank you

-        -  Hogget = yes

-        -  Mahoboo = no

-        -  Paiset sche-mae = check

-        -  Why bee-bee = already bought

What’s even cooler about knowing how to say those in Burmese? I ALREADY CAN SAY THEM IN THAI!!!

Minglabar,

Apes :)

My house...in the middle of the street

5 women picked to live together….sound familiar? Yup – it’s REAL WORLD style!

Our house is 2 stories, and comes with the following:

  Huge Kitchen
  Huge dining room
  Huge living room with 4 couches
  Game room with Table Tennis
  2 huge rooms downstairs
  1 Downstairs full bathroom (including Western toilet)
  3 huge rooms upstairs
  1 Classroom
  1 Bathroom that houses 5 showers, 3 toilets
  1 bathroom that houses 1 shower, 1 toilet
  HUGE balcony to watch BOTH the sunrise AND sunset
  AC above each bed/in every room
  2 burmese couples to do our cooking and cleaning
  Sheets/Towels/Toiletries/Blankets for each of us

Yeah – our accommodation is PRET-TY amazing. Whelp, except the ccold showers and no internet. BUT I get internet at school, so I only worry about the cold showers.

My roommate is Kerry and we both live in Southern Thailand (she’s a Krabi girl) and are both from the south part of the US (she’s a SC girl as well). Turns out we are teaching partners, and area desks face each other at school. We’ve agreed not to hang out outside of work/home since we will be with each other so much already – but we both get along well so we keep ending up together when we go out! 

Minglabar!
Apes :)

Goodbye Thailand...HELLO MYANMAR!!

So I’ve made it to Myanmar, and boy was it an adventure!!

Thursday night I headed to the train station for my overnight to the city. As Julie and I had dinner beside the station, I headed to 711 to make some change. As I was gone, Julie saw a train leave, but thought nothing of it. When I came out, we still had about 10 minutes to go before my train left…so we check bin cha’d and walked over to the station. MY TRAIN WAS GONE! We were there at 8:40pm, and the train wasn’t supposed to leave until 8:41pm. Yup, it left early – without me. WHAT IN THAILAND LEAVES ON TIME – LET ALONE EARLY?!??!! AHHHHH. So I tried to get on the next train, and all were booked. Then Julie took me to the bus station, with the same result – all full. We tried taxis, minivans, etc. to get me to Bangkok. No such luck. So we went to Francis’ house booked a flight for the morning. That means I was out of a train ticket, then paid a TON more for a flight, then had to pay a tuk tuk in the AM to take me to the airport, and then pay baggage fees. That equals not only a lot of baht, but a lot of USD as well!!! Anyways. After all that – I MADE IT TO BANGKOK! Then in BKK on my wait to get on the Myanmar flight, I ran into Brian who taught at my school (he was leaving to go home to the states) and we hung out during our “layovers”. I also headed to the bank to withdraw some baht to transfer, and he was nice enough to watch my bags. Once back – it was time to check in and head to my plane. On the way, I ran into Ashlee (from my TESOL course) who was heading back to New Zealand.  Once we got through customs, she came to my gate and we said our goodbyes (for now).

Last photo with my Kiwi!!

I boarded the plane – and about an hour later, I landed in a new land….MYANMAR (Burma)!!! The school met us at the airport, and we all loaded into the vans and headed to our first stop – DINNER! We ate at an amazing restaurant called Phai Lin – and it was a fancy Thai restaurant. Of course, us from Thailand were happy, but we had wanted to try some Burmese food before we were let out on our own! 

After dinner and conversation with everyone (I met an ADPi) we headed to our accomodations.  I was to stay in female house on campus with 5 other women. There is also a men’s house on campus, and then the rest would be staying in a hotel closer to their campus.

First view of my new land!!

Whelp…first night, and I made it safely!!

Minglabar!

Apes :)

Wrapping up this term

Whelp, it's my last day in Surat Thani until next semester. Today I leave here and head to Bangkok on the overnight train, then I fly out tomorrow to BURMA for 8 weeks teaching at an English Camp. I am excited, but sad to be leaving Surat.

This last week has been a whirlwind of fun and goodbyes. I've had to say my goodbyes to some really awesome people that I know won't be in Surat Thani next term; Megan - my work wife, John and Janet, Julie - my housemate, Birney - the yang to my ying, and others.  Luckily, I still have a few people that I enjoy hanging out with; Tigger, Francis, Evan, etc.  

Since getting my new tattoo, I've been adopted by the tattoo parlor (don't worry pops, I haven't been waking up with anymore random ink) and have been hanging out with them. The other night Eve (Dew and Eve are the owners of the shop) threw me a party - she told everyone I was coming by to say goodbye, so the group came from near and far (Don traveled 30km to see me off!!) The night was awesome - Dew had canceled all his appointments for the following day so he could hang out and Eve told me that when I am around I make everyone so happy. So of course I now don't want to leave them. I ended up staying till 5am, at which I FINALLY went home. During the night, as Dew was cleaning up the shop and getting ready to have a drink, he did his nightly prayer/offering and prayed for me for safe travels. He did the prayer over a shot of whiskey, so it was a special shot for me to drink. It was such a sweet moment, so touching that he wanted to make sure my travels are safe and that I come back soon.

The group that came out to see me off :)

P. Dew and my special shot that he prayed over.

Me and Eve

These 2 are way too awesome for words.

His name is Rambuttin - and if you ask him
where Mesa is, he will come find me :)

I also spent last week at Surat Thani Bike Week I met a guy named Banana on Friday night, and he took me riding. Then on Saturday, I rode over to Bike Week with the Tattoo Shop group.  Here's a shot of that...

Surat Thani Bike Week 2012

I wish I knew more thai words so I could tell the tattoo group how much I enjoy being around them.  But I'm sure it comes across, even with the language barrier :)

So that ends my first semester in Surat Thani. I am super excited about heading to Burma on my own, but I am sad about leaving those that I got close with this term - and I'm sad to be leaving Thailand even though I know I'll be back in 8 weeks!!

I'll post up again once I am safe and sound in the land of Myanmar :)

Sawasdee Kha,

Apes :)

 

Woke up with a tattoo

I went out for drinks after work on Thursday.  I woke up with this:

Pajunpai

It means "adventure" in Thai script and it's an ongoing tattoo. In the various countries I visit and have a strong connection (not just hang out in for a few days), I will add their script to the tattoo - eventually I should have a few different scripts all with the word "adventure". I'll always be ready for an adventure - I'll have my adventure-ing shoe on!!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

parents disclaimer: I was already planning on getting this, just hadn't planned on after "happy hour" having it done

Hunger Games - what do I think?

So I normally post about things going on with me....but since I got a Kindle for Christmas (thanks to Mom and Poppa Dukes) I had been asking for book recommendations. The biggest recommendation I got? Hunger Games. So here's what I think.

Book 1: I downloaded it thinking I would only read the first one. I don't normally get into the book hype (ie. Never read Twilight, Harry Potter, etc) so I figured I'd give it a read just to see what everyone was talking about. I started reading it on the train up to Bangkok. I got to probably page 2 and I WAS HOOKED. I got about 2 hours of sleep on the train because I COULDN'T put it down. By the time I got to Bangkok, all I thought about was "I NEED WIFI SO I CAN DOWNLOAD THE NEXT BOOK"

Book 2: I downloaded it and thought, this will last me on my train back to Surat. I started, and finished it before I got to my town. Also was a great read....now I was sad to be more that halfway through the series. But I needed WIFI once again to get the 3rd book.

Book 3: Since I wasn't on a train, I had to actually DO things beside read. Luckily, I read most of it at school and was done withing 2 days. The ending tied everything up nicely.

My thoughts:
- I should have downloaded the trilogy all at once to save money
- I should NOT have watched the movie trailor after the 2nd book, it skewed my idea of the characters
- I wish I read slower
- The writing was awesome, and all 3 books were AMAZING!
- Book 1 was my favorite by far, but the remaining 2 were imperative to the story
- It's been a long time since I became so engrossed in ANY book
- EVERYONE should read these!!!!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)

Visas, Pear, and Cold Showers

What a whirlwind of a week so far!

My weekend was full of friends, driving ranges, rooftop drinks, poolside lounging...and ended with a trainride - to BANGKOK!

I headed up to Bangkok on Sunday night to get my working VISA for Myanmar/Burma. I am teaching an English Camp for 8 weeks during my holiday, so I have to get all my paperwork taken care of. So once in Bangkok I headed straing to the Embassy. I was SUPER early, so I stopped at a coffee shop for breakfast and a nap. Then I headed over to the embassy and the line was LITERALLY OUT THE DOOR! If was out the door and down the street. UGH. This was going to take forever. After about an hour, I had paid for my VISA, got my receipt for pick-up, and met 2 people that I would be working with. SUCCESS!!

Then I headed over to the Siam area (HUGE shopping area - 3 malls!) to meet up with a favorite from home - PARADEEEEEEEEEEE :)

She was in town visiting her family, as her uncle was getting surgery (and it was a success!!) so we were able to meet up for the day. We enjoyed lunch, shopped around for books (for her) a new bag (for me) and caught up on each other's lives.


*While sitting at lunch, we saw a man walk past us with no pants - as in he had on a shirt, backpack, shoes, NO PANTS!!! - Only in Bangkok!

Then we went back to the Emabassy to pick up my Visa - now I am OFFICIALLY prepped for my teaching trip. Super stoked!!!

Then it was time for me to get back to the train station and head back to my town.

What a whirlwind trip - but it was GREAT to see Pear, and get a little feeling of home :)

Once back in Surat Tani (2 nights on a train - I was exhausted!) I had to prepare for my move. Yup - moving from my awesome apartment to a townhouse with my friend Julie. Yes, I know it's only for a week - but I needed to move out anyways to avoid paying for an apartment for a full month and only living there for a week.

I moved all my stuff in last night - and am settled until I head to Burma. The downfall? COLD SHOWERS - AHHHH. No one here cares that I am just now getting cold showers, apparently I'm a late comer to THAT game. So this morning I woke up, jumped in the cold water - and it wasn't TOO bad. That's probably because I took one last hot shower in my old apartment last night before I moved, and put my hair up. So this morning I didn't have to wash it.

What makes up for my cold shower? THE MORNING MARKET! At the end of my street, there is a market every morning - coffee stands, sweet sticky rice, breakfast pastries, fried dough, etc. And since I have to go there to grab a tuk tuk anyways - I can snag breakfast while I wait :)

Before I close - I have to give a shout out to a blast from the past. BOOBBBBBBBYYYYYYY!!!! He's my latest follower, and one of my awesome residents my first year being an RA at Longwood. He went on to be "a big man on campus" and getting involved all over the place - makes me proud :)

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)