Exaggeration alert:

Today was the most productive day of my life.

To be fair, after suffering from a mild food-poisoning yesterday, I had the extra good feeling of the-day-you-get-outta-bed-and-feel-like-a-billion-dollars. And apparently, the fact that nothing really happened in the past week turned out to be due to it all building up to today.

I woke up just before seven from the marching band downstairs playing jolly Christmas- and “best of marching bands”- tunes.

I finally tried mohinga (noodle soup) for breakfast – it is in fact a breakfast food – and I totally got it. At 11 I had a meeting on the other side of town to kick off that cool work I’ll be doing, writing a proposal for microfinance in Yangon, which was followed by some really interesting conversation, talk of other business opportunities, and a yummy lunch.

At 2pm I finally had that meeting at the chamber of commerce which I’ve been trying to schedule pretty much since the day I got here. It’s been postponed about 5 times (of which 3 only this week). The meeting went really well, I thought, is a good (and first!) result for the consultancy work I’ve been doing and will further connect me into the local network.

Around 3pm I stopped by our new apartment (first night is tonight!) to drop off some stuff and change back from representative clothing into vacation-in-a-hot-country clothing, then go to a cute nearby café in our great new neighbourhood and write the good meeting’s summary to my employer (wifi is free if you buy a mediocre and over-priced drink).

It was time for an update meeting with Arne in the Chinese place on the corner, and over a Myanmar beer and some (steamed? Deep-fried?) delicacies, we discussed our successes of the day and then listed the tasks (=shopping) still to be done. I was assigned buying kitchen gear, cleaning stuff, and a table; Arne boxes, a cooker, and a floor.

Walking around town was as big a pleasure as ever, the best part being (naturally) the food shopping, this time done in a night market.

My conquests: Mini white eggplants (to be eaten raw), tofu, individually wrapped tiny corns, okra beans, peanuts, bok choy.. yumm.
Most of these items were bought from tiny vendors and cost around 100 Kyat each (15 cents).

Maybe it’s hard to understand why I felt it was such a productive day, but it really was, and it really feels great. Tomorrow is Myanmar’s independence day, and potentially – another great day.

# Disclaimer 1: I didn't really have such a productive day on a Saturday. I'm not that much of a go-getter; Just posted it late. 

# Disclaimer 2: pictures of our new beautiful apartment and neighbourhood will be posted soon, very soon.
# Disclaimer 3: It's a shame but intentional that I don't provide more details of my work, due to confidentiality.