Friday Night Social Hour

Even though I am on the other side of the world, it doesn't necessarily feel that way, which is a good thing. I haven't gotten homesick yet but I am sure it will happen at some point in the year. Since we have gotten here, we have just been busy getting ready for school, meeting the other teachers and going out to eat. This place is strangely amazing. Unlike the rest of Southeast Asia, it is not really modernized, only a bit here and there, so it feels like it is colonial days only you are not oppressing anyone. There is a very small (maybe around 200-300 or so) and tight ex-pat community of Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and British. There seem to be numerous expat social events to go to and everyone is always up for getting together, drinking, eating good food and dancing.
For example, last night there was a happy hour social at the Lake Resort where we live. Almost all of the teachers at our school were there as well as teachers from the other international school ISY and Australians who work for the English language newspaper Myanmar Times. Everyone seemed to know one another and enjoy having a good time. We all drank and had snacks and then most people went to the Strand for a continued happy hour.
The Strand is a very fancy British hotel left over for colonial days and is the place in town to get a fantastic mixed drink. Other places in Myanmar have beer and maybe some hard liquor and wine. The Strand is the crème de la crème and the big social scene for Friday night. My friend Kristy ordered me a champagne cocktail (which was only $4 –this is very expensive for Myanmar) and it was amazing. This was probably the fanciest drink I have ever had, it was champagne with a bit of sugar and bitters mixed at the bottom. To top it off, they actually put shavings of gold leaf about the size of postage stamps into the champagne cocktail. Talk about living the high life. –Where else do they put actual gold in your drink? I didn’t actually ingest the gold leaf as that seemed like a bad thing to do but took it out with my finger and spread it on my wallet, which now has gold smears on it. I think that experience demonstrates the bizarreness of this place. I also had another drink called a bagan breeze, which is very similar to a mojito and delicious.
Other social events I am look forward to partaking in with expats include a Sunday volleyball league at the American Club followed by a girls softball league from Nov-Mar at the American Club, and a once a month social at the British club on Fridays.
So far most people seem really nice, but its like living the life of the rich and famous. Very bizarre for us Midwestern folk. Some people are very down to earth, while I think others are trying to relive colonial days. I am going to hang out with the people who seem down to earth and just like to have a good time without being snobby.

Some of the things I really like so far = the food it has been delicious, although I foresee getting sick of it in a few months and really crazing some good western food. There are places to get good bread and cheese and pizza, but I am holding out on those until I desperately need them.
The prices are good. You can live unbelievably well even though you are not wealthy. Rumor has it a good pedicure is only $4 and a good 2 hour massage only $15. I am definitely going to investigate those.
The weather has been good. Not too hot-yes, it is humid but sometimes it actually feels nice.

Not so good things:
It takes a while to do things because you have to take taxis everywhere and we don’t really know the city all that well yet.
It gets dark at 6:30-7pm---I love long summer nights, oh well.It is the rainy season. While the rain cools it down, we have rarely seen the sun. I thought I would get tan here but instead I am resorting back to my Wisconsin winter paleness. Oh the irony!!!