“Our House, in the middle of the street, Our House”

Sooo… (I say in a long dragged out ‘so’ due to the fact that I am weary and will be acknowledging weaknesses in my communication) here I am trying to blog again. Why, you say does it take me so long  to write something? Well I am finding life a bit weary in the physical sense due to climate change, work and broken sleep (Sarah is up to 2 months of waking up multiple times at night. She did this in Africa too but hoping it wouldn’t happen here) and therefore my brain doesn’t seem to work as well when I get home at night. Coffee has become a mainstay of fluid intake. Sooo, I say sorry for the delay and I will try to rectify this weakness

In my last blog I said I would show our apartment to give you an idea where we live. Our apartment is around 1400 ft² and is quite spacious compared to others we looked at. Constrained by money and Buddhist Lent (bad luck to rent or buy) we initially were going to take a 900 ft² 3 brm apartment that had grey wall-papered walls and décor ceilings. Thankfully someone we have befriended here, who has lived here many years, found the apartment we are now in at the last moment. 

Although it too has an interesting wall design with tiles and carpet, quite vertiginous causing, it is large enough that it doesn’t seem too small during the long rainy days or the long hot days. However a couple of months on it is easy to get cabin-fever, but this would be the case in any place. We have good landlords and the head security guy, Johnny, practices his English with us every day.

We do miss our Murgwanza view and freedom and there is homesickness for what we have left but we are getting use to city life, traffic congestion and the constant honk of horns and we can see a tree from our window!

Lucy's room

Sarah's room

Kitchen - bench oven, gas stove

Back verandah view

front verandah view

School Days.....

6 weeks here and time has not stayed still! 

After staying 10 days in a hotel, looking at 13 apartments and 1 house we finally moved into our new apartment in Bahan Township. It has 3 bedrooms with AC in each room (a must) and AC and ceiling fans in the living area. Our landlord threw in some furniture and a 2-burner gas cooker and fridge. Stoves as we know them aren’t common in the standard houses. So we only needed to supplement furniture – like Sarah’s bed and some wardrobes and study desks. We consider ourselves fortunate, however it is not Australia and so problems with water and electricity are to be expected and dealt with!

 

Leaving Home

The girls have started school (8 August) – Myanmar International School and surprised us by doing the admission test spontaneously when we went to visit the school for the first time. “Why not” said Lucy, “after all we are already here!” So Lucy is in grade 7 (equivalent to year 6 Aus) and Sarah grade 4 (year 3). There have been some ups and downs in these first days and weeks but that is to be expected. A difference noted was when they took ‘bread’ for lunch rather than rice or noodles. Thankfully they have made some friends. Sarah has a friend Maria who is Russian but born in Myanmar and Lucy has Wendy and  Maureen, both Burmese

   So a typical day for the girls is:

   Wake up 6.30-7am (depends on pigeons and noise outside)

   Walk to school 8.10 (rock hopping, car dodging)

   Lucy starts at 8.30 then Sarah at 8.45am and they finish at 3.30 and 3.15 respectively.

Sarah has just started out of school activities – Glee Club and Lucy has chosen waltzing!!!!! (30^oC with 90% humidity is just too hot to do yet more sport in their opinion)

Last week the High School had class elections and guess what… Lucy was voted class rep! 

'rock hopping'

She has been to school council already and loved it so much that she has signed up for a mock UN council school elective – looking at global issues.

Nigel did pick them up and walk them home but, we now have a nanny, Esther, who looks after the girls in our stead until we get home around 5.30 – 6.00pm. (She is a national, speaks english and has a heart of love. A good fit for our family). The girls do their homework – and  then relax.

While all this happens Rose and Nigel work – more of that later……..

    

"Haba na Haba, Hujaza kibaba"

Lucy and Sarah on verandah of our Hotel-
temples in background

“There’s another temple!” were the words of Lucy as we flew into Yangon on Sunday morning. Finally, after months of planning and what seemed only weeks of packing we had arrived! A long weekend holiday thanks to Martyr’s day on Friday and Full Moon on Monday meant that traffic was low on the roads and the ride to our hotel faster – a blessing after sleeping on chairs at Singapore airport. The Clover Hotel only rated 2 stars here, but in the words of Sarah, “it would be 3-4 stars in Africa.” Hot water for showers, free Internet and a good breakfast means that our first few days will be nice.

Yesterday we walked to a place for lunch then went exploring for a phone shop to get Nigel a phone. We have one month prepaid cards to use while we wait for permanent sim cards. Today we went downtown to a modern shopping plaza and met a UK couple for lunch in a café. Our life here has begun.

First impressions:

• ·      Hot and humid (and this is not the hot season!)
• ·      Sea of umbrellas (Rainy season means rain till October, coats get too sweaty)
• ·      Dirty feet and rock hopping (the footpaths with the rain are quite muddy but in a sandy way rather than the dense sticky mud of Murgwanza and the maintenance over the past years means that there are holes and broken stones to jump over.)
• ·      Lots of rice and noodles!
• ·      Smiling faces (especially looking at the girls’ hair) but no comments about white people or asking for money.
• ·      Big and noisey.
• ·      Not Africa!

We can see the city!

In the weeks to come we will find a place to live, get the girls into school and start a routine with life and work. The SEA games in December looms as a dominating deadline for much of our immediate work.

 "Haba na Haba, hujaza kibaba"(swahili proverb)" – Little by little the pot gets filled. We are thankful for lessons learned in Murgwanza. Lucy and Sarah have said that we have made small steps and that is how we will go on each day knowing we are not alone!

Much love from us to you xxxx