A Day in the Life...

Waking up by about 6AM every day (even weekends), I am generally able to play a little Badminton to start off my day, then often I have breakfast on my own, taken at a local tea shop/restaurant. Breakfast is usually some mohinga (noodles in a sauce with green beans, cilantro, crispy soy, onion, and some other ingredients that I have yet to figure out!) or coconut noodles.

Some days I am looking for something sweet, like roti (fried bread with sweet condensed milk and sugar), but in any case, breakfast is always accompanied by some green tea (though it is usually pale brown in color, with a light flavor) or Burmese tea (http://www.thenatureactive.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/myanmar-tea-cup.jpg), which is a dark, strong tea usually accompanied by sweet condensed milk and sugar.

Thankfully, I have finally learned (just today) how to ask in Burmese for tea with only evaporated milk and no sugar, so that I can attempt to cut down on my sugar and fat intake. Attempting to exclude sugar and fat here to any degree is a challenge, but most people think that it is particularly strange to drink Burmese tea without both the sweet condensed milk AND sugar - sickeningly sweet in most cases.

Before school started up again, I spent many mornings at the internet shop checking my email and seeing what all of you were up to on Facebook. I have recently been lucky enough to stream NPR news as well, which has been so nice - and something that I really missed while I was in Tanzania.

Now that school has begun again though, I usually can't check email until late morning, or after lunch, because of my 9AM class. Though I will say that having only 2-3 hours in front of the computer a day - or less - has been a welcome change.

If I am not at the internet shop in the late morning, I am grading homework, preparing for class or the weekly quiz for my classes. Lunch is at about 11:30AM or noon. I am so fortunate that a family that my colleague knows from her work with resettled Burmese refugees in Arizona has relatives here who have taken charge of our daily lunches and dinners. They are fabulous cooks and I generally look forward to a variety of delicious Burmese food every day. Vegetables are actually a part of the Burmese diet, which is another welcome change from the carb-laden food available in Tanzania.

Lunch, and sometimes dinner, is also sometimes an impromptu Burmese lesson as the mother speaks no English and her daughter only a bit. Some days are easy, but others are a struggle to understand both meaning and context of questions and answers about the U.S., Burma, or just life in Nupoh.

After lunch is usually spent preparing for class and then showering before my students arrive about 2:45pm for my first afternoon class. Occasionally, this time also includes a 30 minute nap, depending on the heat and how much food my 'host mom' has managed to convince me to eat at lunch.

The afternoon is class time, which ends at 5:30pm. If I haven't visited the internet shop that day, then I may pass by there at this time. Otherwise, I will correct homework or lesson plan for the next day before dinner at about 6:30pm or 7pm.

My other free time in Nupho may be spent having a meal hosted by a student's family or taking walks around the camp visiting students or others that I have met here. Most free time is spent in tea shops though, chatting about what is happening in Nupho, about Burmese or U.S. culture or politics, or maybe commenting on the random American wrestling match on TV in the shop.

All in all, it is a pretty "quiet" life here. Though with animals making noise at all hours; the various places of worship chanting, singing, or calling people to prayer at almost every hour of the day; or just groups of children playing (never quietly) throughout the camp, it is never actually "quiet" in Nupho.

Burmese Birthday Party

So, this week started out with an invitation to a birthday party for the younger sister, who was turning 12 years old, of one of my students.

It was at 8am on a Wednesday morning.

Apparently, the Burmese do not have the same time-line for celebrations as people in the West. 

There were also about 200 people invited to their two-room bamboo house for breakfast, also unbelievable, but they made it work. Breakfast looks more like lunch in the U.S., spicy noodles with some meat, in sauce. They also had some fruit and pieces of pound cake on the side. People came in shifts, sitting down long enough to eat the large amounts of food being served, have some fruit and other treats offered, and then exiting soon after to continue on with their day.

Unlike a typical birthday party for a 12 year old, the birthday girl was part of the service squad, refilling drinks and bowls of "mohinga" (traditional Burmese breakfast of noodles, some fish, cilantro, and spices) as the guests came and went from the house throughout the morning.
The rest of the party was pretty traditional, with the birthday girl dressed in a party dress, a pretty barrette in her hair, and a birthday cake - though I am not sure if there was any singing and I didn't see any candles.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S RELEASE

Burmese human rights' leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was released from house arrest last night about 5:15pm, local time in Burma (Myanmar). http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_603142.html Just after the announcement last night, life seemed to go on here in Nupoh, for the most part. Though there were a few colleagues, students, and other residents who were listening intently to news reports and/or drinking in celebration of the news, most people were going on about their business - eating dinner, playing chess, chatting with friends, or choosing a DVD.

She is scheduled to give a speech to her supporters today at 12pm, local time (12:30AM east coast time).

Elections and Nupoh

ELECTIONS IN BURMA

So again I find myself writing all of you late! In my defense, I did have a really quick trip to Mae Sot last weekend that included about 14 hours of travel for a 36 hour stay there. I left just as a reported 20,000 refugees streamed into Mae Sot in the wake of Sunday's elections http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20005. There were clashes between the Burmese army and DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army), the army of the minority Karen (Kah-rehn) ethnic group.

It seems that most refugees seeking a safe haven in Thailand after the elections on Sunday have returned home http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=542337, but questions remain if they will be back. The Burmese government (officially named "Myanmar" by the present military-backed government) claimed an overwhelming victory in the election, saying they had gained approximately 80% of the vote. However, the election was marred by accusations of fraud and coercion, from inside an outside Burma - http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC101110-0000105/Junta-backed-party-sweeps-Myanmar-election.

More Burma news: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jp0h9ZI64WoLeW8l5etpeBhN2Y2Q?docId=dfe02e9c36994341bf9e141b48335f35

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20049

IN A LAND FAR, FAR AWAY....

As for me, I am far away from the conflict, about 7 hours or so south of Mae Sot in the peaceful village of Nupoh. The residents here are preparing for a full moon festival, creating human-sized puppets in paper mache' style. My colleague and I are preparing lesson plans for our classes beginning on Monday and hope to have a semi-traditional Thanksgiving dinner with our students on the 25th as well.

The weather has been really great, not quite as cold as some of my first nights here - and not too hot either so far. I can't seem to keep totally clean though. There is dust constantly filling the air, and in the last week or so there has been foul-smelling smoke from the brush being burned for fertilizer by many farmers consistently wafting into our classrooms (and bedrooms) every day and night. It seems that they are taking turns burning so that our noses are rarely given a break from it.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI

Residents are also anxiously awaiting word of Burmese human rights' leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest. Her release is supposed to take place today and rumors are swirling as to what is happening and if the ruling junta will actually go through with the release. The latest report as of this posting: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-set-for-evening-release-30142181.html 

Info on the life of Aung San Suu Kyi: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1991/kyi-bio.html

I have come to Thailand to work with the Burmese at an interesting time in the country's and people's history. I just hope that even a small change will be a positive one for them.