My Turn

Getting back home definitely felt like stepping off the rollercoaster but we were under no illusions that a new rollercoaster wasn’t rolling up right alongside our other one. We simply stepped off the ‘getting home’ rollercoaster and got on the ‘school with Covid’ rollercoaster without even touching the ground.

The school stayed with virtual classes for a week after we got sprung from the quarantine hotel. During that week Lindsey and I got a booster shot organized by the school. It was Covi-shield which must be the best name of any of the vaccines. It is the Astra Zeneca vaccine but made in India I believe. After the first week of virtual classes we had two weeks where different Grade levels came in on different days.

During that time we had a few things to sort out at home but it was nice in that we knew exactly how to solve all the issues we had. Lindsey’s e-bike battery was completely dead and mine was not far off. We were able to call the same guy we bought them from who showed up the next couple of days and replaced the batteries. They are now going like rockets!

We also wanted to buy new sheets for our bed as ours were in a sorry state. The place we bought them from last time was a no go but we knew of a local place that specializes in bed stuff, ‘Sweety Home’ or as I started calling them, ‘Sleazy Home’. We went there and discovered that not only did they have perfectly nice sheets but also the famed mattress topper which our hotel had also had and turns the standard rock hard Myanmar mattress into something quite comfy. We were delighted and asked the shop assistant where we could find the same items in our mattress size – 5ft, 6 inches. She then confidently took us over to the relevant section which turned out to be about 3 products of the most hideous designs imaginable and no mattress topper. We left the store empty handed and crestfallen but when we got home we measured all three of our mattresses to discover that we did have one 6ft mattress downstairs. We went back to the store the next day in triumph and bought said items with the only the job left of moving the mattress of rocks upstairs – no mean feat. The mattress topper is a game changer genuinely improving our sleep. Our nice sheets were quickly christened by exploding and bloody mosquitos which I somehow manage to crush in my sleep. Oh the joys of Myanmar.

On Valentine’s day we were slated to start back to full school which we were eagerly anticipating. On the Sunday night I woke up somewhat out of sorts and in the morning was feeling decidedly unwell. One rapid Covid test later and the dreaded two lines meant that I had finally got the Rhona – no school for me. Fortunately, Lindsey’s recent bout seemed to protect her from my case so that meant we had a fairly normal week. I could quarantine at home and we had lots of test kits so I would know when I could get back to working from school rather than home. By chance my boss got a positive test on the same day. For me Day 1 was like a mild case of the flu with some aching. Day 2 and 3 was more like an annoying cold but by Day 4, I was about 90%. Annoyingly my boss tested negative on Day 6 but I didn’t get a negative test until Day 8. I assume that I had the omicron variant as it was definitely establishing itself in Yangon at the time. It was all fine and really nothing to worry about especially as I was boosted. It’s just something I think most people will have to endure. The same can be said for large swathes of the school but our students and parents are all taking it rather well. I think everyone is so relieved to be actually back at school after almost 2 years that this is a small inconvenience to put up with comparatively.

Two last things to mention are that we managed a trip to the garden centre the day before I got sick and bought some hibiscus plants which were lovely to watch during my quarantine. The other thing that is happening is that the main road that our road connects to is being relaid. We have a previous post on this but basically it involves pouring about 5 inches of concrete onto whatever was there before. This means that all the driveways and adjoining roads need to be raised to meet the new road. So far they have done a lot of the road and have just gone past our road but none of the adjoining work has been done so steadily more and more people are being stranded – classic Myanmar.