We are three weeks away from the first holiday of the year which is a week in October. In our first year we had a wonderful time in Angkor Wat in Cambodia and last year we went on another great trip to Laos where we saw gibbons and had a relaxing cruise down the Mekong. This year, because of Covid, we could only plan a local beach holiday which, even though we’re not really beach people, I was still really looking forward to as we haven’t been to the beach yet and they are supposed to be lovely.

Whoops, it’s been a while.  We ended the school year back in June, but it was the biggest “whomp whomp” ending to a year ever.  Not only was it strange that there were no kids on the last day, at least half our faculty were gone as well.  Our end of year “party” did take place physically at school, but we were required to wear masks and about 80% of the teachers chose to Zoom in.  I did ask the director how I was supposed to drink my beer with my mask on.  I did not get an answer. Continue reading “Radio Silence” →

I hope you have seen the brilliant parody some guy has done of Adele’s Hello.  Even though we are not actually trapped inside here in Yangon, we are still in the midst of a lockdown which has now been extended until June.  Although we did see some road blockades and very empty streets at the beginning of the order, things seem to be slowly ramping up and people are getting out and about more.  Continue reading “Hello From the Inside” →

Despite that glamorous pool-side picture up there, we just had a fairly boring Spring Break.  We thought things were lame last week when we had the voluntary stay at home order, but the lameness increased incrementally through the week, with first a notice that gatherings of 5 or more were banned (punishment = 6 months in jail OR a £25 fine). Continue reading “Spring Break” →

Last week I went to Hong Kong for a tech conference with two of my colleagues.  Traveling to these conferences is always fun if you enjoy the people you are going with and luckily that was true here. Continue reading “Hong Kong” →

I meant to do a little companion piece to Gav’s account of our diving trip, but never got around to it.  We have some people from the boat visiting and travelling around Myanmar at the moment, so it jogged my memory! Continue reading “Odds and Ends” →

I have been up since 3:20am because I ran the Yangon Half Marathon this morning.  Some colleagues from school have run it before and assured me that the timing of the race meant that the weather would be decent, the course route is interesting and it is well supported with drinks stations ever 2.5K.   Continue reading “Hot & Cold” →

Tuesday evening Gav and I heard our gate doorbell ring and Nell started going crazy.  We ventured outside to see what it was, and it was pretty bizarre. It got me thinking about all the different noises in Yangon and how different they are to London noises. Continue reading “Yangon Noise” →

It’s my birthday today.  We aren’t planning much, just a dinner out tonight.  This time of year is always kind of crazy with lots of social things and sometimes planning birthday celebrations just feels like another obligation. Continue reading “The Festivities Continue” →

Well, I think I was a little flippant last time about my Dengue.  After having quite mild symptoms the weekend I was diagnosed, it really hit me the next week and I was pretty miserable.  I even missed a whole day of work, which is very rare for me! Continue reading “Holiday Prep in the Tropics” →