The Process of Learning and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights....its for ALL

Big week here in Myanmar! First day of school was Monday and we met a ton of new people.  Lael has settled nicely into her classroom and Eamonn, well he already has his posse of dudes. This posse has a standing play date of a particular Ambassador's house, which also provided us a valuable lesson on the dignity that all humans deserve.  The child of this house treatment of his nanny and the rest of the staff is pretty deplorable and well Eamonn got an earful in the car on the ride home, but I think he got the picture and we will not be having the same issue!  On to more positive things:

First Day of School

Lael's Class

Un Detachement du Yangon

Now that the kids are in school, Tina has the freedom to explore the city a little.  Below is a beautiful colonial building that I believe was the old headquarters of the British East India Company at the bottom of Pansodan Street and Strand, the heart of British "Rangoon"

Olde Colonial Gem

The next two photos are from Tina's trip to Hledan Market, where locals shop for everything!

Eels for lunch anyone.  I love that she is getting a massage too.

Rice Stall at Hledan Market: 1500 kyat = $1.10

Transformation Begins

The subtle changes of life in Myanmar have started to manifest in the most primordial way....Lego architecture.  Due to the overwhelming golden pagodas dotting the landscape of Myanmar and specifically Yangon, pagodas can pretty much go anywhere you want them.  In this instance I have installed a pagoda on top of this ship.

This is Sule Pagoda downtown Yangon.  This forms a large roundabout and is usually quite congested.  This is the second most important pagoda in Yangon next to Shwedagon Pagoda.

Given that our school starts the latest of all the schools in Yangon (3 weeks later), mama is running out of ideas of things to do with us.  Plus, none of our toys have arrived except the small bag of Legos and coloring books that we brought on the plane with us.  However, we stumbled upon this place within the Peoples Park, which had some cool suspension bridges in the gardens.  It also has paved roads and paths that we can ride our scooters on.

Our friends Philipp, Agnes, Ava & Felix turned their pond into a swimming pool which is a much better use than have koi and plants in it.  Plus, its always hot and humid so having a pool attached to your patio is pretty sweet!

We Made It; Day 1 w/Monsoon Rains

So we woke up at 4:00am and ready to rock and roll.  At about 6:45 a monsoon rain shower started so we decided to put our swimsuits on and practice some karate moves out in the courtyard...though I think Lael is do her best Abba impersonations: 

"Voulez-vous (ah-ha)Take it now or leave it (ah-ha)
Now it's all we get (ah-ha)
Nothing promised, no regrets
Voulez-vous (ah-ha)
Ain't no big decision (ah-ha)
You know what to do (ah-ha)
La question c'est voulez-vous
Voulez-vous"

Also, we wanted to say thank you to all our family and friends for the great visits, parties, play dates and the fabulous send offs.  We feel quite fortunate to have made such great friends in Washington and at FISW.  We frequently asked our Mama and Papa if we would every see you all again during the 20+ hours of travel time.  They told us with good friends you may go a long time without seeing one another but when you finally do meet up again, things just pick up where they left off.  We plan on updating our blog periodically (with the big adventures) as well as practicing our writing on postcards, so if you want to be pen pals...please drop us a postcard to the below address.  

Eamonn and Lael Douglas

US Embassy Rangoon

Box B

APO, AP 96546 

The Countdown Has Begun

So the movers come on the 22nd, then into a hotel for 7 nights and then off to Montreal and Lake of Bays for two weeks.  After that we return to Seattle (Issaquah actually) where we will stay in a hotel until our visas are issued by the Myanmar Government.....hopefully by mid July sometime.  Then we are off and things will look a little different after that.

This will be our house at 84-B Inya Rd.  Come visit! 

Downtown Yangon. 

The Duck Palace...its actually a restaurant not a palace.

A Hindu Temple in little Bangladesh in downtown Yangon.

Road Trip to Boise

In preparation for the big move to Myanmar, we did a little road trip to Boise to see the grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins.  Yes, I used an Oxford comma, its not wrong, it is a matter of stylistic clarity...at Les Dougling(s) style matters.  Anyway, check out a few pics from our climb up Table Rock outside of downtown Boise.

Here is a family picture obviously. Roman was absent as he had to work.

Climbing in the caves and rocks like a gecko.

Fierce hiker! Again note the style.  Climbing in dresses is cool 

and cool, in the not so hot way.

After a long hiatus, The Dougling(s) are making a reappearance as Les Dougling(s) Part Trois - Myanmar.  As we start this new adventure we will try and share some of these moments with family and friends along the way.  Stay tuned, it is guaranteed to be hot and humid for the foreseeable future!

In the meantime, here are a few pics from our family trip to Austin to visit Eric, Sharon, Sarah, Max. And for those who have not met her....Emily (at the bottom) is our 4th or 5th cousin/foreign exchange student-sister.  Photo credits go to Eric Shenfield.

This photo shoot went really well! Yes, I am posing.  Yes, this is my mysterious, dangerous, post-1980s modernism interpretive dance (think The Big Lebowski...The Dudes's landlord).

When you are cool, its easy.

My personal political statement...because you had a sister; because you had a mother; because you had a daughter; because she's a PERSON!

Geometric contrasts, concrete material, graffiti, so Urban.

Mrs. Sharon, yeah I like her.

Gelato on a hot and humid day, yee-haw.

Kind of self explanatory. 

Winter in SoCal.......It is nice.

Last year we were at the beach the day after Christmas.  December in SoCal usually means 65-75 degree weather with some clouds here and there.  This year we got some rain.

What is this rain thing?  We will find out soon enough in Seattle.

Here I am at school making crafts!

Went for a weekend adventure up to Santa Monica, cool park.

Having a little break on the bench.

Just practicing for the lumberjack festival in Quebec.

Even Lael got into the fun and tried the beard hat on.

Eamonn was at school, so mama and I went to Target 

to do some xmas shopping and to play on the playground.