My My, it has been ages

Obviously I was aware that I hadn't visited this blog in a few weeks but I had no idea it had been this long.

Time flies when you have fun, but time most surely skyrockets when you are busy.

We're in the middle of summer school. The builders are still busy every day with the new school but the new P.E. court has been declared accessible for the students today and I'm sure Xenne will be very happy tomorrow when he comes to school.

Apart from the job of teaching English to Grade 6, 7, and 8, I am very busy with preparing homemade watercolour paints, ice chalk, homemade playdough, baking pizza (and teaching Thandar and Sheila how to do it with good results), and all other things that are kids-related.

This weekend we made icecream from bananas (and nothing else). It turned out to be 'heel erg lekker' (very delicious) according to Xenne and absolutely no diary whatsoever. Not that the kids are allergic or anything but most ingredients for icecream are fairly expensive here. So stuff made of only bananas definitely hits the spot in more ways that one since a bunch costs next to nothing here.

With 4 weeks to go before the school starts again for the teachers at least, I will make some time to add some pictures and comments on the Bagan/Mandalay trip we made mid-June.

OMG!

We have real live (life) internet at home. I can't believe it. It is absolutely like being in another reality...

I had plans to correct some homework but that's so not going to happen...

Facebook, here I come....

OMG!

We have real live (life) internet at home. I can't believe it. It is absolutely like being in another reality...

I had plans to correct some homework but that's so not going to happen...

Facebook, here I come....

I have internet on my mobile!!!

Not that it is fast or anything...  I tried to read my email yesterday and I got nowhere. But I feel like I have suddenly jumped into the 21st century.

Of course I could use hubby's mobile but somehow that was too often too much trouble especially with the kids around. Now I can check emails at least anytime I want (in theory ;-) )

The next step will be, of course, to have a good working link at home from the computer or laptop so I can post anytime I feel like it. Like the other day when I woke at 12:30 in the morning and didn't really know what to do with myself...

At work the connection speed has been steadily declining and the internet is now almost as gridlocked as the roads in Yangon. The Myanmar schools are on holiday now and I noticed a much improved circulation on the streets but the internet has slowed even more...

Happy 2013!

I hope this will be a great year for everybody. Enjoy the good times, get through the bad times as fast as possible, and keep in good health.

I've posted much more than I thought I would in 2012. I hope I'll do even better in 2013.

We've just come back from Chaung Tha beach and have a lot of things to do. Posts will come soon.

Holidays

It is the hols at the moment and somehow I put in a lot of work for school but very little on writing anything on this blog. We also don't go to Ocean a lot since we can access email and even facebook with KK's phone. It doesn't work great but well enough to not bother with 'proper' access.

Anyways, a quick hello and more posts in the next year.

Have a fabulous holiday time and I wish everybody a wonderful 2013. 

Yeah, Teletubbies!!!

BBC takes Teletubbies, TV news and Doctor Who to Burma

 

The Teletubbies have proved to be hugely popular with pre-schoolers

The Teletubbies, 24-hour news and Doctor Who are being introduced to Burma as the BBC launches three pay-TV channels there next January

Finally some good tv-programmes here.Unfortunately for us, I don't think it is the provider that we have. There are basically 2 choices and they didn't differ much. Now, this might be a reason to switch. That, and the fact that we have paid for all channels that our provider offers (58, most of them rubbish) but we get less than half for real and usually not the channels that we want. 

Sinterklaas

Every year Sinterklaas arrives in Yangon for a short visit and he did so again this year. Unlike previous years, he did not come across Inya lake but he did come with two Zwarte Pieten, several young Zwarte Pieten, and two small horses.

Sint wrote to the children in the dutch community that Magic Piet had cast all kinds of helpful spells though some turned out better than others. When Sinterklaas asked him not to do this anymore since it distracted the Pieten from the important task of wrapping and labeling all the presents, Magic Piet promised not to do magic until after December the 6th.

One Piet was disappointed though. He had wanted to ask Magic Piet to make Sinterklaas' horse bigger and stronger. When Magic Piet was not in his room, he got the big book of spells, made a potion and gave it to the horse.

We knew that something had gone wrong but not what. The kids loved the ponies though since they were allowed to ride them. I know Sint has asked them for help to make his horse complete again but I'm not so sure the kids don't like the status quo.

Since Saturday, every time Xenne does something less nice, he immediately says "mama, please don't tell Sinterklaas".  I haven't' even told him yet that Sinterklaas is supposed to take badly behaved children off to Spain yet....

Book buffet

This is a word that starts me salivating the moment I think about it. Book buffet.. for a bookaholic like me there is nothing like it, especially since there are still very few bookstores here. Heavenly, that is what it is.

It is of course also:

• hard work
• sweaty work
• dirty work
• frustrating at times (when someone takes a book you had your eye on)
• much more expensive than I budget for
• addictive (terribly so)
• dehydrating work (I often forget to drinkenough even though water is readily available. And lunch I always skip. The word doesn't even register...)

So what is the book buffet? The Myanamr Book Center (one of our few bookstores) organises it twice a year. It lasts for 5 days. One one side of their compound they have discount books. Stacks of books for set prices. One the other side, and, my personal favorite, there are 5 huge tables full of books. You buy a 10,000 or 20,000 ks, bag ($12, $23) and start filling the bag with whatever takes your fancy. Most books are children's books and you have to sift through them carefully since their usually donated. You have very good, almost brand new books but for example also colouring books that have been done already. Most of the books are for younger kids, but every so often you find gold. A while ago I found a fantastic book on Autism for kids there. That was worth the 10,000 ks. bag it went in and much more. This time, I found 7 good novels for me. For KK I  found a wonderful 8 in 1, extremely heavy cookbook (in a 10,000 ks. bag with space left for books for Eaindra. Luckily the bags aren't sold on weight...). Xenne got stacks and stacks of extra books. He helped both on Saturday and Sunday to fill his bags (Saturday from 9 to 5:30. I'm doing my best to turn him into a book addict). Thandar had some trouble at first finding books she liked but she went home with 2 bags. She even found 2 Artemis Fowl books.

On Monday I tool my Grade 4 there on a field trip. I do that every year. In the weekend I put books aside that I think they will like. On Monday morning, they fill up their bags. It is always a huge success. Especially when we get back to school and they have the time to see what they and everyone else found.

Xenne and my books. KK's cookbook and most of Eaindra's books are not on the picture

The book buffet was last weekend. My muscles have recovered. I'm ready for the next one. Unfortunately it won't be until the end of march or early April. *sigh*

Cooking classes

KK has finished his cooking classes for non-Myanmar food. This was usually my domain but lately he has a new-found confidence in his own ability. 

At school several teachers expressed an interest in learning how to cook Myanmar food, especially our two house guests who both felt that the biggest downside in leaving our hospitality apart from the company (especially the kids) was missing out on the wonderful food.

Over the years I have met quite a few tourists and often they don’t like the Myanmar food. They claim it is oily and not very tasty. More often than not, they don’t eat at really Myanmar places since those restaurants are often more difficult to find.  Many restaurants here are more Chinese oriented.

They have a point though, Myanmar food can be oily. Many people here believe that it is good to use q fair amount of oil in cooking. It shows of your wealth. In villages without electricity, oil is used to cover the curry to prevent it from going bad. 

At our house we cook (or I should say KK cooks) with little oil and the result s of his efforts are very tasty, hence the request for the help in learning how to cook Myanmar food. So Sunday two weeks ago four of my fellow teachers came over to our place to learn about some traditional dishes. 

They started with la-phe or pickled tea in an original lacquerware dish, very typical Myanmar. Pickled tea tastes a lot better than it sounds.  It makes for great salads as well. 

La-phe

I left the kitchen shortly after they started. Our kitchen is not roomy enough to accommodate so many people. I just waited for the end results. And they were worth getting out of the way for.  Green tomato salad, pumpkin curry, pickled mango salad, chicken or pork curry (being a vegetarian myself I have no idea what it was and never asked), and the day’s favourite: bean curry.

Some ingredients

Fresh herbs

Everything is ready1

The mixing

cook in the kitchen

chop chop

The result.. yum!

The idea is to continue the lessons coming Sunday. They haven’t started yet on the Mohinga and other noodles (my personal favourite there is noodles Shan – village style), soups, and desserts.  Some of this will be done coming lesson. Good for my tastebuds!

Mmmm.....

It seems that the only thing I write here is that I'm busy and that I will try to do better...

Eaindra is walking and that definitely takes up more time. Xenne has to practice his first words like CAN, VAN, MAN, RAN, etc. So we do a fair bit on that as well. I do suspect that he can actually read better than he lets on since every once in a while he reads a word we haven't practiced yet. The next time he even struggles (or pretends to struggle) with words he already knows.

Between the kids (I ever so often check Thandar's homework as well), the Wii exercises and my baking in the weekend, there is littel time left.

I did bake some very very yummy foccacia and ciabatta this weekend. Triple yum with cheese ;-)

Man, was I mad!

Yesterday when I came home from work I found that KK had shaved Eaindra's head. She's completely bald! Ok, we did that with Xenne when he was a couple of months old but at that time it was 40 degrees Celsius here. besides, he's a boy so it does look less strange.

According to hubby, Eaindra had a rash because of the heat. I think i have to have his eyes examined, she had 1 mosquito bite that she had scratched at.

Here in Myanamr many ( if not all) parents believe that you have to shave a child's head at least once when they are very young otherwise they won't have healthy hair...

He had already talked about it before but I thought I'd made it pretty clear I didn't like the idea. Now I can only hope her hair grows back quickly.

Wii -addiction

At school I am way too busy at the moment to update the blog. I used to do a bit at home though not as much as I would have liked. Now though I don't even start up the computer unless I really have to. And it is a surprise at how little I really need it.

I'm addicted to the Wii at the moment. Xenne loves playing and we keep a track of how much he plays. I don't play, I love the Wii dance and exercise routines. We bought a few of those and for the last week and a half i do nothing else in the evening. Half an hour of this program, than that. Instead of being tired, I feel energised and often decide to do a bit extra. Regularly, I have to tell myself at around half past 11 that it is time to go to bed.

I'm not complaining though. I really needed to do more exercising. I used to cycle to school but apart from having to take two kids with me now, the roads are also much more busy. Many Yangonese now own a car. Unfortunately, the driving standards haven't improved yet. Walking is not really easy either. Again, busy roads, pedestrians are not really catered for in the streets here to begin with, and the parks are not attractive places for a walk.

The gym isn't an option. I often feel bored after a few weeks anyway and here the gyms are often attached to big hotels. The smaller ones are not as well fitted out. I would have to go right after school and then hurry to be back on time to take the kids to bed.

No, this Wii thing is great. Let's see if I can keep it up in such a way that I get back to blogging a bit more as well....

Too busy

School has started at least for the teachers. Students will come on Wednesday. It seems like everybody wants a slice of my time. So, updating this si not a high priority.

But, we have bought a secondhand Wii this weekend. Better for teh kdis since the rainy season is still in full swing.

We also have two young cats (about 6 months old). We were at another branch of  our favorite teashop and Xenne saw a big orange tomcat he wanted to take home. I said jokingly he had to ask the owner of the shop. This man we usually see at our own place so Xenne knew him. He went straight there and asked for a cat. The owner said 'yes' and before I knew it one of the boys brought 2 cats. Which one Xenne wanted? eventually we decided to come back the next day since we had no box or anything to put the cat or cats in.

The next morning we got ourselves 2 cats (Xenne wanted them both) and in the taxi he named one 'Candy' and the other "Jinger' (Ginger). When I left this morning, the ladies were buttonholed next to the Buddha upstairs...

Finally, working internet but no time to post

Internet has been terribly slow of late. I did try to log on yesterday from home but it was an exercise in futility.

Now, internet is working but i have been running around for most of the day at school. Catching up on so many things that needed to be done. Especially since the computers and server were cleaned and therefore were unavailable for use at the end of last week.

It is almost half past 4 in the afternoon and I've just had a chace to check my email. I'll post this, then go shopping. We're out of diapers, wet wipes, and milk.

'New' shopping mall

We're at the shopping mall that is close to our house. We can walk here in about 15 minutes (Xenne's pace and stroller dictated). The place has been here for 4-5 years already but we never really visited. They didn't have a supermarket and somehow we forgot about it.

Since it is 'summer' holiday (more like rainy season holiday but at school we western teachers still refer to it as summer holiday) we decided to walk over and have a look around. We hadn't been for quite some time and someone told us it now  had a supermarket and even a playground.

It turns out that that is all true. Even better, the playground is much bigger than the one at Ocean where we usually go. Ok, this one is $1,20 to get inside but you do have a fair bit of space to run around in, climb over, swing, and more. The supermarket is there too though it doesn't look terribly big. We;ll have a look around there a little later.

But best of all, there is also a small bookstore (with a few english titles in photocopy form but heck they cost next to nothing) and a good myanmar selection. Next to the bookstore is an internet cafe. And all that is on the same floor, just around the corner of the playground.

So now we have everything we want very close to our house. The walk here is also interesting and it is a walk through small streets. We encountered 2 bicycles and 1 car. So very easy to do with Xenne and Eaindra.

Conspiracy!

The last time I had a night of uninterrupted sleep must have been way before Eaindra was born. She turned 1 last week.

Of course one knows that sleep is a treasured commodity when you have a baby. It is also common knowledge that the weeks before a baby is due, mama gets very little sleep since it is terribly difficult to be comfortable with such a huge baby-tummy. 

Our little one hasn’t mastered the art of sleeping through the night yet. In December she was well on her way with waking me up only once or twice a night. Then she got a cold and all bets were off.

Ever since that time, something will happen to make sure I will not get even 5 hours of continuous sleep. If it isn’t Eaindra than someone else or even something else will make sure I’m awoken before those precious hours have past. Like the last couple of days. Eaindra was doing well and I seemed to be on my way of getting a few hours of real sleep when something woke me. Xenne had sju-sju-ed in his bed so up we got and changed his bedding. He was asleep again real fast.  Great.  Unfortunately  Eaindra was wide awake by that time. It took me another 2 hours to get her back to sleep well enough so I could put her down. She has the habit of sensing exactly when I let her go and usually wakes up right there and then and I can start all over again.

The next night Xenne was trashing around in his bed and eventually crawled into ours. Of course, that woke me up but I wasn’t sleeping much anyway because of his continuous moving about. I got him back to sleep, checked on EAindra and found she had followed her big brother’s example: she was all wet. Luckily the bed wasn’t really so we didn’t need to change everything this time. For me, the interruptions weren’t over because KK decided to snore loudly that night. Horror!

The evening after the power was cut at 7 pm. This happens sometimes and normally we have power again shortly after and it is rare that it lasts a couple of hours. Xenne and Eaindra went to bad easily so my hopes were up. At 9 pm we had a flicker of light but the power stayed off. Again at somewhere just after 10 pm. Shortly after I decided to go to bed. I thought I’d switched off all the lights but at about half past one I woke up because of a light I’d forgotten and the aircon switching on. I closed the windows that I had opened earlier and went back to sleep. At about 12, Eaindra had put in an appearance for a bottle already so I didn’t have to worry about that. At somewhere between 3 and 4 I woke up again because I was hot. The power was off again and I realized that it was easier to turn off the aircon and open the windows again. All stayed quiet untl 6 am when the kids woke up….

The last 2 days I’ve had  only had a night-time bottle for  Eaindra at around 1 am, a quick check when either one of them is uneasy in their sleep (they seem to alternate this between the two of them) and the 6 o’clock waking up of either Xenne or Eaindra. It looks like we’re slowly getting back to a more normal sleep pattern.

Needless to say that KK sleeps through  most of this and usually only wakes up when called upon urgently or shaken awake. 

Cooking classes

KK has a friend who is a chef and he got him enrolled in a cooking course. Now KK has always loved cooking but he didn't like trying new recipes since he finds it difficult to read them.

Now, he goes to school every day during the week and comes home with food he learned to prepare at school. In the weekends, his friend comes over to help him prepare dishes we like to learn and aren't taught at school.

So, yesterday when I came home after having visited a friend I came home to a kitchen in a state I haven't seen it in ever before. But, there were chappati's, curries to go with it for me, spare-ribs and steaks (for KK and the older kids) and specially made gulash for Eiandra and Xenne. We have so much food, we don't need to cook for a few days... and it tastes so good. Well, I don't really know about the meat dishes of course. They looked very good indeed and I heard only very happy sounds while everyone was eating.

I'm especially happy that KK now knows how to make chappatti's. The potato curry that accompanied it and the spicy mint-chutney are absolutely delicious.

Yes, I'm a happy camper indeed...

Update on the hospital experience

On Wednesday we had an appointment at 6:30 pm. We were on time but this time we didn't have to pay the 1,000 ks ($1,20) for 'services' aka having one of the nurses measure your weight, blood pressure, and temperature while 3 of them are watching.

At half past 7 we finally met the lady who was going to do the operation. First of all we had the normal preliminaries of report reading, checking of Thandar's tongue and a but of question-and-answer. She then asked us if it was possible to come in on Sunday at 5 am for the actual operation. 5 am ?! I told her that that was way too early. Sorry.

Ok, half past 9 on Thursday (yesterday) the? Ok, that would work. Thandar could drink things like ovaltine and milk up to 3:30 am and juice or water till 5:30. So I asked her if she was going to give her a general anesthetic? No no, but Thandar might be nauseous after and this could help her. Ok, sure enough. The lady kept on being vague though about what she would do ultil after a good while she told us that she would give Thandar a local painkiller-shot and that would be it. Then, minutes after she said she was going to insert a small tube like one used for babies and she made motions like it was something she would do in her hand like a drip or so. It satyed quite vague but oh well. So we did make that appointment for the next day.

We got Thandar some juice in the early morning and she and I went to the hospital on time. The nurses had asked us to come at 8:30 for preparations.

We had to come to the nurses room first so that was what we did. We were then escorted back to the general reception area for the necessary 1,000 ks fee for services. That paid, we were taken to the cashier. The nurse who accompanied us told me I had to pay a deposit. I thought I could understand this since not everyone has money in Myanmar and this might be the hospital's way of making sure they got paid.

The amount I had to fork over was mentioned in Burmese. I thought I'd heard it wrong. After all, my Myanmar is rather lousy. So I asked them if I had heard it correct and had to pay 20,000 ks (about $22) deposit? So far on all our visits over those 4 days I had only once paid 16,000 ks (about $17) and that was for the hearing test. Every other time it had been a couple of dollars. No, said the woman behind the desk 200,0000 ks. Excuse me? I wrote it on my hand just to make sure. Yes, 200,000 ks. ($240). I was in shock. For one thing, I think they should have told me it was so much before. Second, it was a deposit. What about the total price? Nobody could say but if the procedure was less expensive, they would give me back the remainder. Yeah, and what if it is more?But, they said, we needed to pay for the surgeon, the operation room and all these things... It sounded like she was scheduled for open heart surgery.

I cancelled the appointment right there and then. Sorry.

So, now we're going to ask around at some other places and in Thailand. The biggest drawback is that this place has a speech therapist and it is close to our home. Of course, we also wasted a fair couple of hours there as well.

Hospital excercises

The last 3 days we've been to one of the private hospitals/clinics here in Yangon. This place is fairly well known and not very far from our place.

The first time we went, I wanted all three kids to see the doctor. Eaindra has a diaper rash that is rather persistent, I wanted to know if Xenne needed his next vaccination, and Thandar is literally tongue-tied.

I'd been to this place before and in general I rated it as quite good. It is new, clean, and at those times the doctors were knowledgeable and efficient.

This time the waiting room was so full I wondered if we would ever make it before lunch -time (we came in at about 10). All three kids were checked by the nurses of which there must have been at least 5 in the room. Then we went for a sort of screening by a doctor who just wrote down in the booklets why we were there and then we could return to our wait.

3 hours later we were finally in the doctor's office. It was liking being in a factory. While he was dictating to 2 staff members (one in front of his table and one on the side) about the patient who he just examined, the next patient was led to a chair next to him. He then turned his attention to us (being the next patients) and started to talk to me about Eaindra, Xenne, and Thandar. Like most doctors, his english was very good so there was no problem of communication. While he was busy with us, the next patient was ushered into the room already. I have been in that office twice this week and I think that on average there are at least 10 people in there.

He did ask me some strange questions about Eiandra I thought, like whether she gets a bath regularly and things like that. But that might just be something to do with experience on his side...  Xenne and Eaindra were sorted quickly and for Thandar we needed to make an appointment for a hearing test.

The hearing test was yesterday and that was all fine. Luckily. The facilities were good and the waiting time was not very long. When we came down again though I wanted to make an appointment for her to have that tongue tie cut and the follow up of a meeting with the speech therapist. The reception wouldn't budge, I had to see the same doctor again.

So this morning back to the hospital. We were number 19 on the waiting list. We had to go through the hoops again of nurse's room with the measurements of temperature, blood pressure and so on and the screening doctor. Then we settled in for a wait. Again. We arrived at 9 and at just before 10 we saw the doctor we came to see only for him to ask us why we came to him since he would only refer us to someone else. I told him I tried but the reception wouldn't budge. He showed me why. In the booklet the doctor who had done the hearing test had referred us back. And that was the only thing those ladies had looked for...  Thinking skills are not necessarily involved. He apologized though for the time wasted.

So, later today we have to go again. And I'll give you updates on how we're progressing..

Every time we come into that hospital, we have to pay 1,000 ks (about $1.20) to just be allowed to wait. Or so it feels like. It might be that we pay the money for another reason but I haven't been able to come up with one yet.