This update is way
overdue. What happened was, we had a successful visa-run & holiday in
Thailand, where we managed to get our Myanmar visa (70 days for me), our
dollars in cash (including a year’s rent in advance) and a pretty bad sun-burn.
Thailand was quite hectic – everything was harder than expected (if you think
getting 5,000 dollars in Bangkok is easy, think again. And if you ever need to
do it, ask me how). On top of that, the internet in our beautiful boutique
hotel worked poorly (but I just loved our purple room!). So when we got back to
a warm welcome in our temporary sub-rented apartment –a dinner of meat balls
and potato salad made by our house-mate (YUM!) – I must say Yangon really felt
like home.
Professional aspects are looking good. I hope to go for a field trip later this week with the NGO who sponsored my visa, and on other news, I might start doing some actual (external consultancy) work with a great social enterprise founded by an American/Burmese couple we recently befriended. They train Myanmar youth how to start their own business and give them a loan to get it started. I’m normally quite critical about things, but I really just love what these guys are doing (and how). Also, they seem like really cool people.
Christmas was less festive and cozy than previous years (to say the least), but as Arne pointed out it was no worse than my first 26 christmases in this world. How quickly expectations change.
Love in the sand |
Bangkok has some really beautifully designed stuff (including our hotel room which this picture doesn't do honor to) |
..and also a lot of bizarre stuff. |
So I was behind on all my
private and professional correspondences.
Professional aspects are looking good. I hope to go for a field trip later this week with the NGO who sponsored my visa, and on other news, I might start doing some actual (external consultancy) work with a great social enterprise founded by an American/Burmese couple we recently befriended. They train Myanmar youth how to start their own business and give them a loan to get it started. I’m normally quite critical about things, but I really just love what these guys are doing (and how). Also, they seem like really cool people.
Christmas was less festive and cozy than previous years (to say the least), but as Arne pointed out it was no worse than my first 26 christmases in this world. How quickly expectations change.
On January first we get
the key to our new apartment – 2013 is going to be an interesting year.