HAPPY THINGYAN 2012!!

So I survived Water Festival 2012...barely.

Kerry and I, along with 3 other teachers (Whim, Suzanna, Michelle) from Yangon hopped on an overnight train to Mandalay. We had a whole train car to ourselves, and we were prepared! Whim brought the burritos (15 of them!!!), Michelle made the Guacamole, and Kerry and I brought the Whiskey and Rum. Out 16 hour train would be smooth sailing....or so we thought.

Since it was the first day of Water Festival, we didn't think we had much to worry about. W-R-O-N-G!

As soon as the train started moving, we were bombarded with buckets of water being thrown into the train. We scuttled around closing windows, and putting our valuables in protective places. Whew! We spent the rest of the train ride keeping lookout if the windows were open and pigging out.

We arrived around 9am in Mandalay and were greeted at the station by Birney!! We hopped on the tri-shaw (think of a bicycle with a 2 seater passenger cart) and headed to her hotel, getting water dumped on us. After all, it was THINGYAN!!

Once settled, we headed over to meet some of her friends, and throw water. 

As the day we went on, we made lots of friends, threw water, and got thrown water on.

At one point, the t-shirt store beside us came out and put NLD (National League for Democracy) headbands on us. Then they invited us to their store to pick a t-shirt to keep as a present from them. We got some really awesome Aung San Suu Kya t-shirts that we wore around. 

Some of our new friends took us to their stage where we danced all afternoon and threw water on people from hoses.

Here are some water fest pix from the various days.

Apes getting Thingyan-ed!

SwanPai - my driver for the weekend (and male model)

Making friends on stage

That's the stage we are headed too - that big green sign

Most Myanmar people don't smile in pix..and yes, I am hoarding a bag of chips

View from the stage

Panoramic - the water hoses from the stage, and the crowd in front

Kerry and Me from the stage

I met the DJ...he let me yell over the MIC. It was pretty epic.

Taking photos.

All decked out and rocking the dance moves.

After a few days of waking up to stage music, dancing and drinking whisky by 9am and going all day I was pretty spent. Here are a few highlights:

- Being in a Myanamar Mosh Pit to "Hey Mickey"
- 3 marriage proposals
- Finally riding on a scooter again!
- Dancing on stage with a Myanmar Pop Star
- Getting to yell over the Mic in the DJ booth and having my friends here my voice and know it was me!
- Meeting the family of one of the 2 male models we hung out with
- Getting my Myanmar nickname: May Thingyan
- Getting more than my fill of Green Tea Salad :)
- Being on 3 different stages through out the whole time!!!

It was a crazy Thingyan, and I couldn't have enjoyed it any more than I did!

Minglabar,
Apes "May Thingyan"

BLOG ON HOLD...

Don't look for any new posts for the next week...as I will be gone at THINGYAN!!! WATER FESTIVAL - BURMA STYLE!! :)

If you want to know what the H I'm speaking about - check out the wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thingyan

So I will be leaving Yangon for about a week and traveling up to Mandalay for a festival hot spot, then venturing over to Pagan for the second half of the Holiday (and my BIRTHDAY!!!).

HAPPY THINGYAN FESTIVAL!!!!
Apes :)

Easter in Burma

Well, it's Easter Sunday.

My housemates and I planned a "pancake breakfast" for our house and the boys house. We had about 15 people over, and breakfast consisted of Chocolate chip-Banana-Coconut-Pancakes, Pot luck fruit salad, Irish Coffees, and Mimosas. While the menu wasn't overly large, we had PLENTY of food to go around, and even took a plate to our Caretakers. We all enjoyed each other's company and are looking forward to doing a get together like that again soon.

The early part of the group

FOOOOODDDD

Group Photo!

Minglabar,
Apes

Pago through Photos

My roommate and I did a day trip to Pago. Here are the photos of the amazingly gorgeous place.

Government Owned Reclining Buddha

The Feet are my favorite part of the Buddha statues

Kyaik Pun = 4 faces Pagoda

Shwemawdaw Pagoda

More of Shwemawdaw

Monk making Merit at Shwemawdaw

Kids at the Kyakwine Monastry hard at working building a gym.

I'm so tiny in front of the Buddha! (that's me - the dark spot laying down in front!)

Schwegugalay Pagoda

Meditating with the Buddhas at Andar Pagoda

Maha Kalyani Sima

Of COURSE we found Bumber Cars!!!

Pago is an AMAZING town. It is so small, and so untouched that we were one of maybe 4 white people in the town for the whole weekend. It was a GREAT experience, and it was one I didn't want to leave behind. I have about 100 more pictures of the place, but I hope this gives you a little taste of what I saw.

Minglabar!
Apes :)

Thoughts of the past year...

It's been a year since I landed in Thailand - a whole year of Asia. While I sit in the office, with the sounds of Kerry and Mallory playing the Ukele, I think it's a good time to reflect on the past year.

- I can't believe I've been gone a year. It feels like a few weeks since I've been in America.

- I have DONE and EXPERIENCED a lot this past year:
    - taught in 2 different areas of Thailand
    - traveled all over that country
    - been to 3 Asian countries (taught in 2 of them)
    - traveled alone
    - got a new tattoo
    - made TONS of new friends
    - learned how to get myself around in 2 different languages (3 if you could different dialects)

    - packed up and moved my life halfway around the world
    - planned a future with my boyfriend
    - went through a breakup with that same boy
    - starting feeling more like myself than I have in a long time
    - kept in touch with people I didn't expect to
    - still kept my friendships strong with those who matter
    - became an outfit repeater!!!!!!
    - traveled with everything I own (over here) in 1 (or 2) bags that I carry myself
    - discovered AC isn't THAT important
    - taken plenty of cold showers, but still haven't become a fan of them
    - it's really easy to live with just the necesseties
    - Ranch Dressing is still a necessity

- I wonder what the next year will bring

I cannot believe the adventures that I've been giving the chance to have. Life is funny. You never know what's going to happen until you just jump into something completely new. It's also how normal my life feels, even though I am half a world away from everything I have known my whole life.  I love the support I get from everyone, and I love even more that I have learned to handle myself, adapt to new situations, and make a life for myself where ever my feet land.

So, the past year has been pretty good. Hope the next one is as good and that I don't start taking this experience for granted.

Minglabar!
Apes :)  

Rolling Black Outs - fun?

Last night at 6pm the power went out. Not a big deal, as it usually goes out every day for a few minutes. But this time it didn't come back on. So we ate dinner in the sweltering heat, and dark (luckily we had ONE flashlight). Then we were all planning on going out to different places, I was going with Michelle to the NLD (National League for Democracy) office to see if any election celebrations were still going on, Kerry and Kaylyn were headed to the Jazz Fest, and Amy was off to meet a friend for drinks. However, as we were all heading out (with the electricity still off) 2 of the girls came back and said NLD was not popping tonight, so we decided to hit up the Rooftop Bar for electricty and a drink. Kerry and Kaylyn decided to join us there and go to Jazz on Wednesday.

At the bar we ran into some of the guy's house; Luke and Chris. We stayed for a while, they called their house and found out they had a generator running. Our house did not.

Eventually we headed back - around 9:30pm, hoping the electricity was back on. It wasn't. So we discussed sleeping on the balcony, but too many bugs. Then we decided to sleep downstairs, but also too many mosquitos. So we all suffered to our rooms and tried to sleep. At about 1:30am the electricity came back on. By that time I had almost drowned in my own sweat.

Once at school we found out this will be happening every day. For 6 hours a day, electricity will be turned off by the government. Each area will have a different 6 hours. Ours just HAPPENS to be 6pm - 1am (or roughly around then - since I know that's more than 6 hours).

The reasoning is this: the electricity here in Burma is hydroelectric. And since it's hot season, there's no rain so there's no incoming water. So this will happen until the rains come - in JUNE!

So, looks like I'll be living in the dark sauna for 6 hours a day. Not very exciting. But it IS an adventure. And that's what I'm here for.

Minglabar!
Apes :)

ELECTION DAY - Part of Myanmar's History!!!

Many of you may not know this, but Myanmar is in the middle of it's revolution. There are LOTS of stuff going on here - including their first Bi-Election. Here are some facts** I've collected about what's going on.

- Civil Wars are happening on the outer townships. What does this mean? Many Myanmar people have gone underground. They are "underground villages" hiding from the government that is suppressing them, and killing them if they oppose them. Some of them escape and make it to Thailand as refugees.
- A lot of information is STILL not public to the western world. For example, in some areas, social networking is not available. I doubt Myanmar people even know what Twitter is, or are on Facebook. Information going out of the country by journalists and whatnot is guarded.
- As of a year and a half ago, when an American girl I met who is living here came over here, there was no Myanmar on Google. It was just a black hole where the country should be - no images were allowed out of the country. And that was only a YEAR AND A HALF AGO! To put into perspective - I was just getting my news that I was accepted to Thailand at that point. Crazy, huh?
- There was a big election on Sunday. The woman running for a position is compared to Nelson Mandela and Gandhi, for the Myanmar people. She has been under house arrest for 10 years, and didn't even get to see her husband while he was on his death bed. She is known as "The Lady" (real name Aung Sun Suu Kyi) and is the leader of the NLD party (National League for Democracy). If she won a seat in office, it is a step towards the UN lifting Sanctions against the country. The election seemed to run smoothly, and she has been delcared a winner. However, the confirmation of her win will come this coming up Sunday. 
- If you were caught wearing any NLD propaganda about a year ago - it was reason enough for the government to shoot you. Now, it is everywhere and it is ok. (I bought a bandanna myself as a souvenir). 
- During the election, it was watched heavily by other countries to see how "fair" the voting would be. If the election went fairly, it would set the tone for a fair full democratic election in 2015. However, what WE do know (from being here) is that not all townships are allowed to vote (imagine a state in the US being told that they weren't allowed to vote for seats in Congress/Senate - total uproar, right?!?!?).  Some voters were taken OFF the voting list, and deceased people were added. However, we still know that The Lady has won (unofficially).


If you want to read more about The Lady - here is her Wikipedia page: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi 
There was also a movie in the US released, simply titled "The Lady"


Here's the NLD website:
http://www.nldburma.org/ 


Minglabar!
Apes :)

**My info might be off a smidge, but this is what I've learned from others while I've been here.