Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Tipping point

The last few weeks seem to be n a tipping point in our life here. Several elements came together, all at once, to make our weird existence here suddenly seem beautiful and inspiring.

1. The rainy season came. We heard so much about how impossible the rainy season is - days and days of heavy rain with no stop, hip-high water in the streets downtown. Instead, what we got is a beautiful green Yangon, with refreshing bursts of rain once a day cooling the air, cleaning the streets, masking the noise and slowing everything down just a little bit.
A nursery in Yangon last weekend


2. Arne got a job. Who would've thought that changing from time-off to full-time-work would be such a huge happiness booster. Not only does he have a job, he has an amazing job, and it even came with a car.

2.a. We got a lucky break - Arne's office is just next door to mine. That means we get to drive to work together and also meet for lunch some days.

The lakey where we eat lunch every other day

Free side-dishes that come with lunch
 

3. My extra-curriculur activities started paying off, mentally. The business development work I've been lazily doing for a couple of months finally picked up and has become really interesting and somewhat intellectually stimulating. My initially-frustrating art classes are starting to bear some fruit.

My best work to-date. Ever.

4. I realized how generally stimulating and inspiring life here is. Our friends, though at first sight perhaps a normal group of western alcoholics, are actually an extremely intelligent, caring and socially-aware bunch. Really special people. You can always count on them to surprise you with new ideas. And then there are all the other surprises - at work, dealing with completely new challenges; at home - discovering a corner in the neighborhood you never noticed, or suddenly understanding something you didn't get before.
A parked train, just outside our home.
Things you don't see when you always take the bridge.
.. And Myanmar continues as before. Our house-dog is pregnant, my favorite market has been surprisingly torn down, but otherwise it's really all exactly the same.  

The external display of out downstairs shop, one lucky day