In 2015, I spent a few weeks in a village called Sonywa in Yinmabin Township in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. This was my first time returning to the village. It had been over four years since I had last seen everyone. I had stayed in a house with two sisters in their early thirties. … More Returning to Sonywa
Returning to some villages in Yinmabin Township, I had forgotten how much Burmese people verbally note your physical appearance. Almost everytime someone sees you, they make some comment about how you look. Things range from exclamations of “You’re fat,” “You’re less fat than before,” “You have pimples,” (my face broke out a ton while I … More Appearance Comments as a Greeting in Villages
I recently left Yinmabin Township where I spent two weeks staying in Indaw, Sonywa, and Mouklok and visiting Jobin, Letkabya, Sinswe, and Intha. In 2015, I had stayed in Sonywa for a few weeks and had also visited some of these other villages. Since that trip, a few of the villages have gotten running water; … More Changes in Yinmabin Township from 2015
Here’s an old, unfinished post from teaching summer school in 2018 that I found saved in my drafts: The school I teach at holds an English learning summer school where mostly government school students attend. I’m teaching Levels 1-6, which means the students are ages 5-14. The English abilities of the students is drastically worse … More School’s Out for Summer–Not Really
The conflict in Rakhine State has brought immense international attention to Myanmar and its emerging democracy. Over 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar because of violence committed by the military and Rakhine Buddhists. While the situation is complex, with a deep history and violence committed by both parties, the international party has been quick to blame … More Does Myanmar Need a Revolution?
As many know, starting in 2011, Myanmar began its democratization process. Since then many sanctions have been lifted and the country has seen improvements in social and economic development (albeit slower than anticipated). However, much of this improvement has only been realized for the Bamar majority, especially those living in the southern region of the … More Democratization Only for the Bamar
This year was my first celebration of Thingyan i.e. Water Festival and Myanmar New Year. The festival is a Buddhist celebration, so there are Buddhist elements to fully celebrate the New Year. People will provide offerings of coconut, bananas, water, and other items to monks and Buddha images. The unique aspect of this holiday is … More Water Festival and Lots of it
Before the school closed for Thingyan, we had a celebration. Thingyan, also known as the Water Festival, is the Myanmar New Year. People often celebrate the holiday by throwing water at each other, hence Water Festival, which is especially refreshing because the holiday takes place over the peak of hot season. At school, the students … More Thingyan Celebration at School
For the first two-thirds of my time in Myanmar, I taught Southeast Asian history to grade 7 students and world history to grade 8 students at a private, non-international school. Overall, I taught 4 classes so I had about 70 students in total. I had a lot of flexibility, so I could create my own … More A Semester of Teaching Finishes–Some Thoughts
Kuala Lumpur means muddy confluence, which seems fairly fitting (if you use the second definitions of both words even though this was probably not the intended interpretation) as the city to has a unique culture that’s truly a blend of Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures. I had a short stay in the city, but had enough … More The Muddy Confluence–Kuala Lumpur
The Ginger Globetrotter 