Back in Business!!!

Hello all!!! We were out of commission for a short time while getting settled in our new home.  I'm not sure quite where to begin, but to only say we are all enjoying our new adventure more than words can express.  It's most difficult to explain every little detail of our new dwellings, but I can certainly try to paint a picture of a typical day at this point.  As soon as we find some down-time, we will upload some beautiful pictures of our new home, our school, and our community all of which are truly amazing. 

I wake each morning to our maid setting breakfast on the dining room table for our family.  She lives with us Monday through Friday in small living quarters in the back of our home.  Her name is Mary and she is 53 years old.  She is the most fantastic cook on Earth; our meals look like something out of a culinary magazine each time we eat.  Ok, so after breakfast, Mary and our driver, Vaylu, gather our belongings to be loaded in the car and act as our organizers for the day.  I feel as though I don't have remember anything on my own....it's very dangerous to get used this lifestyle. 

Vaylu then takes us in our car (a Toyota Crown, white with blue interior) to our destinations.  Eventually Josh and I will receive our driver's licenses here, but for the time being, it's wonderful to have Vaylu as our assistant.  He is 68 years old and knows everything about Yangon.  He is Buddhist and is helping us to understand what the life is truly like here in the oldest of Buddhist areas in the world.  Truly beautiful. 

As we begin school this week, we have begun to arrange a schedule for our family.  We have Vaylu drive us to school each day and Josh, the kids and I work for a few hours to get things ready.  Our classrooms are huge and the views are spectacular.  Unlike our last schools, everything opens to the outside and the real bright light from the many windows illuminates our rooms!! 

After we've completed our necessary work, we have Vaylu take us to run our daily errands (which are few because Mary does all the grocery shopping too!!)  We have been taking time to get our home settled, so we had draperies made for our many windows and furniture installed to make us more than comfortable.  We will upload some pictures to our site soon.  Vaylu takes us around the city to show us the many beautiful Pagodas and endless streets of people completing their crafts.  I have to write one whole entry on the craftsmanship alone that exists in this city on another day!! 

Upon arriving home in the evening, our gardener opens our gate to our driveway and we enter to a fully set table and dinner all ready for our family to eat.  We've enjoyed such dishes as Butter fish wrapped in banana leaves from our yard and chicken curry, which Mary specializes in from her Indian heritage.  While we were gone all day, Mary did all the laundry, ironing (including our underwear), cleaning all three bathrooms, mopping the teak wood floors, dusting, making our beds, baking bread....I feel rather useless to say the least.  Mary tells me I have to my job and she has to do hers. 

We are able to play cards together as a family after dinner and watch TV together because we have time to relax at night.  It's a peaceful life here; more so than anywhere I've ever been.  It's as if we are back in time (with many modern conveniences of course...as I write this via modern technology).  We are blessed to have such an amazing opportunity and will continue to share with you now that we're back online :)  Peace and Love until next time!!