So much has happened

Although i wasn't there all the time i got all the info from Sandra......

On thursday she got the telephone number of a dutch woman who lives here in Yangon. It turned out that there is not really a dutch community but that the dutch who live here in Yangon get together every year to celebrate Koninginnedag (for an explanation of this very dutch day see http://www.thehollandring.com/koninginnedag.shtml ). Sandra was sooo disappointed. She had just booked tickets to Thailand for the 30th. But she said she'd love to join them next year (and get together before that time of course). It turns out that there are 21 ! dutch people living in Burma as far as it is known. Sandra was so surprised. 21 dutch, that is so much more than she ever expected. She had heard about other dutch every once in a while (e.g. a taxidriver talking about a dutch man he knew who lived in Yangon and whether Sandra knew him. Or Xenne's doctor who talked about a dutch woman and her 3 year old son) but she had never imagined that there would be this many people here. And now she wonders what they're all doing here....

Then on saturday Sandra, Xenne & I went into the supermarket to buy baby food while KK stayed with the taxi and all our other shoppings (read: he and the taxi driver sat in the teashop looking at the car and drinking tea). Sandra was just looking at some baby things when a woman started to talk to her. She had seen Xenne (he was in the baby carrier) and she was so surprised to see another western woman with a baby. Her son was 5 months old and he's also half burmese (she's american). So they got all exited and started to talk like crazy in the store. Luckily for me, Xenne started to squirm and cry a little otherwise we might have been in there for ever. They exchanged phone numbers and yesterday Xenne, Sandra & I went over there (they had electricity and we didn't). And Sandra thought it was fantastic. They had so many things to talk about. And they were both so happy to find another woman with a baby here in Yangon (there are western children here but usually past the toddler stage at least). And now they can't wait till the 2 guys meet. KK was busy yesterday so he didn't come along. Me, i found all that baby talk a bit boring but i was happy just to be there and enjoy the cool air....

Alright, the next post will probably be from Thailand.

Have you ever lived in a sauna?

Sandra now says she knows exactly what it feels like to live in a sauna. Yesterday she was feeding Xenne and even though he was just lying in her lap and she was only holding the bottle up (hardly a very strenous effort) beads of sweat were runnning down her spine. And she could feel the sweat forming on her face. Just like when you are in a sauna according to her. I don't know what that must feel like since i've never been in one. So i can't tell you whether her perceptions are accurate but i can confirm that it is incredibly hot at the moment.

For the rest there is not much going on. KK and Sandra are busy trying to was away the big pile of dirty laundry. Which is a hassle without a washing machine (we have one but it doesn't work well so they don't use it. Besides, without electricity it is not easy to run a washing machine). And teh cleaning lady quit. At least that is what they think since she hasn't showed up for more than a week now. So apparently being good employers (more pay than average, easy hours and even paid holidays) wasn't good enough...

Electricity - part 3

Remember that i said in the last post that Sandra told me not to mention that we had 24 hours of electricity. Call it superstition but apparently the around the time i wrote it, the power was disconnected again. We only got it back at around 8 in the evening (1,5 hours after it was completely dark!). And this morning it was switched off again...... So the saga continues!

Our landlady (who is also our neighbour) told me yesterday that she lived in Japan for a short while (her husband is Japanese) but she couldn't live there. She loved the fact that they had power all the time. And she loved the Onsen (hot springs but she couldn't get used to the cold.... Sandra thinks that she and Kyaw Kyaw should talk about that some time. Kyaw Kyaw keeps saying that he can handle the cold. Because he has been to Kalaw a few times where it was around 15 degrees celsius which he figures is very very cold. Even yesterday night he asked Sandra whether it was as cold in her country as it was in the bedroom at that time ( the aircon has 3 temperatures: a little cold, colder and OFF). She said that it could be much colder in the Netherlands. Kyaw Kyaw reacted by crawling deeper under the blanket (mind, the temperature is such that Sandra sleeps only under a sheet, no blanket necessary).

It was nice that our landlady dropped by (the guards from downstairs needed to do some maintenance in our apartment and she came along) since it turned out that she still had a baby bed. And we could borrow it (Xenne is outgrowing the camping bed fast. The other day he had almost managed to put his legs over the edge...). It is a little bit dusty since it hasn't been used these past 5 years but with a bit of cleaning it wil be as good as new. Brilliant since Sandra had already gone to the shopping mall yesterday to look for a baby bed but the mall was still closed for Thingyan. And this bed is big enough for Xenne and me. In the camping bed i found i got pushed away a bit too much for my liking.... It'll be handy though when we'll all go to Thailand early May. Sandra's parents come over for a 2 week holiday. And thankfully they do have electricity ALL THE TIME in Thailand (part of which is provided by Burma, don't get Sandra started on that...)

Thinyan and Xenne's 100-day party

First of all, Thinyan. Burmese new year and all out waterfestival. Which means that usually you'll be drenched from the moment you set a foot outside till the moment you get back home. But not this time. Sandra decided to stay at home most of the time. She thinks Xenne isn't old enough to be wet all the time. Besides, the water isn't always very clean. Or they throw ice-water. KK went one day with friends. 14 guys in the back of a jeep of sorts. Luckily all those guys have an asian figure otherwise they wouldn't all fit in the back of that car... I was invited but decided not to go. I don't speak burmese very well so i didn't have anyone to talk to apart from Kyaw Kyaw. So i stayed with Sandra & Xenne. We could still hear all the music (there was a big stage with Iron Cross, Burma's most famous band, on the corner of Inya Lake) and it was fun watching the little kinds of the next apartment building trowing water. Mostly at each other though since there weren't that many cars that passed.

It also turned out that many places were closed for all the Thinyan days. Luckily KK's brother had warned KK and Sandra about the city mart being closed. This is the place where they buy Xenne's baby formula and there aren't many other places where you can get that. So they stored 2 boxes just in case. Sandra thought it was not possible that a supermarket/shopping mall would be closed for 7 days just because of a yearly festival but it was. So we were all very very glad we'd stocked up on baby food and diapers......


The 16th, Xenne was 100 days old so there was a birthday party. Arranged mostly by Xenne's grandparents. KK's grandfather had cooked (he is a most excellent cook, probably one of the best i know here in Burma). We were expected at the teashop at 7.30, a time we didn't make of course. We were half an hour late (it is half an hour by taxi from the apartment to the teashop so it isn't exactly next door either). The upper floor of the house had been decorated with balloons and such. And there were mats on the ground on which 3 low, round tables where placed around which the guests positioned themselves. They got a sort of pancake with chicken and could take as much potato curry and bean soup as they wanted (every table had bowls of that on the table). Topped of with a cold orange drink or tea, whatever they liked.

There were quite a number of guests throughout the morning. Many didn't stay very long of which Sandra was quite glad since she couldn't talk with them. And they just kept looking at her which made her uncomfortable after a while.

Xenne got a lot of presents. Some very useful, some a lot less. We now have 5 cans of talcum powder. One expecially for babies, and the others for teenagers/adults (the text isn't in Burmese and many people can't read the english texts). People here use that stuff a lot for baby bottoms but Sandra tells me that she has enough baby cream to last her a while so they haven't figured out yet what to do with all that powder.

They also got a pair of squeeky shoes for when Xenne can walk. Sandra told me she vowed Xenne would never wear those kind of shoes (she was once on a boat for 2 days where one of the children had shoes like this. She, and the 2 people she traveled with, were ready to kill that child after those 2 days....). But it is a present so she can't really throw them away. Thankfully it is of a cheap chinese quality so she's betting that the shoes will be broken after a couple of days use.....

Photo's of the birthday party will be put here as soon as i can get them loaded again...

More electricity

Or should i say 'less'. 'cause it has been less of late. A lot less. Ever since i wrote about our electricity-situation we've experienced a dramatic reduction of it. It was so bad at some point that we had 6 hours of electrity every day (from 6 in the morning till 12). That really really sucked big time.
But the last 2 days we've suddenly experienced life as it should be. 24 hours of electricity. I'm almost afraid to write this down and Sandra tells me i shouldn't just in case. But we're hoping the we'll have a more regular power supply from now on. I'll keep you all updated on that....

Electricity, or more the lack of it

We've been staying a little over 2 weeks at our new apartment and i finally managed to figure out the power-supply. We have 2 non-power days with the power coming on at around 5-6 in the evening. On the 3rd day however anywhere between 10 and 12 the power comes back on and we will have it till 5-6 in the evening. After that, we're in the complete dark. Literally. So Sandra has bought a fair amount of candles and we now also have 2 rechargeable lights that we can take all through the house. Which is a must since Sandra tells me it is very difficult to make a bottle of baby food if you can't see what you are doing. And cleaning dirty baby bottems is also not easy without light. But other inconveniences are that the fridge is off for at least a couple of hours every day (there is always electricity again at night after 11 which lasts till you can almost see what you are doing in the morning, which is around 5.30). So things as yoghurt, milk or even left overs that need to be cold can't be kept. And sandra & KK put the water bottles in the freezer so they have cold water at least. And half the time we can't use our rice-cooker and the mixer (for nice juicy juices). I think (and Sandra agrees with me) that the power supply rotates between the neighbourhoods since whenever we have no power in the evening we can see 2 pagoda's lit-up and on at least one night that we have power, the pagoda's are invisible.

Of course it is high summer and it is bloody hot and we all hope that the supply will be more available once the rainy season has started (late may).