Occupation Separation Segregation

I found it impossible to remain indifferent here.  

And difficult to speak or write without feeling strong anger and outrage.  

So for now I will leave you with some photos, a tiny glimpse of what I saw.

Plus a couple of resources should you wish to delve into this topic and region.

 

http://occupation101.com/

http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/

Yangon & Singapore

I apologize in advance for this scattered thoughts post.  My recent trip is taking up so much of my consciousness, I have to fight to get these older memories out.  

The poverty gap between Myanmar (Yangon and environs) and what I saw in Cambodia was significantly noticeable. Thought I would be better prepared to witness poverty having been quite affected by Cambodia last year but I was still quite taken back.  There are great struggles there and the society is still fairly closed.  A lot of anger lies beneath the surfaces of the people.

I hadn't been "chased" out of a wet market yet but there's a first for everything and I indeed was, at a village market about an hour outside of the city, by the sour smell and flying insects.  It took some willpower not to run screaming -- Was too busy trying to keep the bugs off my face.

The grey colour of the raw meat hanging, the colour (Hersey's milk chocolate) of the pond water that people were filling their drinking/cooking pails with, the colour (pale chalky grey, white...) of the farmland irrigation water (complete with run off from adjacent garbage dumps), the chicken poop being swept into the ponds to feed the fish...

After the above observations, I stopped eating vegetables and fish.  I drank tap water in Phnom Penh but did not in Yangon.  I even rinsed my mouth with bottle water after brushing my teeth, which was a first.

At least I could afford to eat it.  If we were at a small local restaurant, we would pay about $1.50 for a plate or bowl of noodles.  We would be asked whether we'd like chicken or pork.  When the dish arrives, the meat is cut into small cubes, of about 3 mm.  It was honestly hard to tell what type of meat by looking at it.

The amount of meat you'd get was about 1 tablespoon placed on top.  I would have to eat 2 plates to feel full.  That could be more than someone eats in a day there.  At very local, side of the road spots, the serving size is half of what one bowl of plate I had was.  Life is super practical there.  Anything trendy is aimed at the expats.

I had one incidence of corruption at the ferry terminal where 4 guys seemed to be working together to shuttle any foreigners into an office, rather than the official ticket line so that they could show the price sheet for foreigners.

I knew going in, what the price was going to be but was taken back by the overt greediness I witnessed.  My goal that day was to head over to Dala and hire a trishaw driver for a few hours (1 USD an hour) to take me to some local villages.  The people living across the Irrawaddy are even poorer.

A dollar is a big deal.  When 5 year old kids were working 9 hours a day picking chillies, earning maybe 80 cents, charging 4 USD (65 times local price) for a 7 min ride, when compared to 10 USD (including tip) to go 15 km (over 1 hour journey) from the airport to downtown is ridiculous but they know we can afford it.

When you witness small children who will refused a 1 USD tip, with the explanation that they did not work hard enough to earn it...and Mother - Daughter teams carrying sheets full of concrete pieces back and forth for maybe a dollar a day...such inequalities just infuriates me.  

Then the ticket guys had the gall to refuse my dollar bills and wanted a larger bill so that I could get the smaller bills as change.  You see, they get a better exchange rate with larger bills.

At that point, my patience just snapped.  I said I didn't have any other bills to give (a lie) and to their surprise, I thanked them and left.  I will try and find a different way to get to those outer villages next time.  But I wasn't going to play into their greed.

I spent my entire time based out of Yangon, which if you do some preliminary research into travel itineraries of Myanmar, would be rare to find.  Most people gloss over the capital city, just staying at the beginning or end of a trip, for flight purposes.

I felt that my time in Yangon wasn't long enough.  I could have easily spent another week there.  With the heat, I wasn't able to cover the entire city by foot.  There are so many interesting streets.  I loved the old colonial buildings.  You just have to watch your step as below a lot of the sidewalk tiles are 3 ft drops into dirty water...

Despite my best efforts, I did get heat exhaustion twice, where I literally passed out after showering for about 10 hours.  It was like I was drugged.  I decided maybe I wasn't ready to do a Habitat build located in the summer in SE Asia just yet.  Thing is, right now, I'm not sure what more I could have done.  Will have to look into it further because I do not intend to stop.

The irony is that I got my mild case of food poisoning in Singapore.  Anyone recognized the supertrees?  I could have spent all day there.  Found them to be so beautiful and the smell of the air around them was delicious.  And it is free! 

Singapore.  The most expensive city in the world to live in, known for their rules, order, cleanliness.  I decided to do a short 3 night stopover to get a feel for the city.  Cannot say I felt captured by the city nor their airport.  Although their skyline impressed me more than Hong Kong's did.

Was taken back by the obvious prostitution.  And by how people were quite shocked, apologetic and literally jumped back when approached politely for help.   Also was pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive it was to eat at their hawker stands.  Five dollars will get you a large meal.

That photo I posted previously of a salted caramel chocolate tart?  Was taken at Plain Vanilla bakery, Tiong Bahru branch -- Completely worth it -- Was Paris good.  It, and the raspberry lemonade alone cost almost 2/3rd what I spent on food in Yangon.  Obviously the above paragraph does not apply to this place.

Finishing on the topic of food, discovered the avocado shake in Yangon.  Was it ever delicious!  We are making them at home now, along with milk tea -- Different variations in Myanmar, Singapore and Malaysia.  Enjoyed them all. 

A World Apart

***For sure, I have some blanks to fill in and lots to say (when do I not??) about both locations,
but the timing necessitates that my bags be packed and I, off to my next destination first.
A super documentary of the first location, not always comfortable to watch, can be found here.***

A World Away 3

A World Away 2

Onto the countryside.

A World Away

It was worth the 7 calls to Delta to get the ticket issued, 40 hours of travel time, 5 flights (2 by Malaysia Airlines), 2 episodes of heat exhaustion (42 C) and a mild case of food poisoning at the end, from the most unlikely of places.

The city.

April / May

• I quite enjoyed my 2 weeks at home while D was out west.  It so rarely happens that I get the house completely to myself for an extended period of time, as I am usually the one away, it felt like a holiday!
• On a similar note, D had been wondering whether being out west was "enough" and if he would still like it, if he couldn't ski bumps anymore.  So him being out there solo ended up being a great experiment.  He found that he never go bored of the view and the environment, even though total ski days were only 5, due to work.  He worked remote and didn't take any holidays.
• On one of D's drives to work, a stone hit the windshield of our newest car on the passenger's side.  It wasn't until I got in later that night did we notice the 1 foot straight line crack that had already developed.  It necessitated an out of pocket windshield replacement as the cost was going to be less than our insurance deductible.  Interesting to find out that the cost of a windshield for our new car was $80 less than what I paid to replace one on my Honda 14 years ago.
• Because D's iPod died, he decided to get some Bluetooth "thing" (don't ask me the name of it...) to plug into our Bose Sound dock so that it could continue to be used remotely via his cell phone and laptop.  The Apple version will cost way more than if you buy it off of eBay.
• We are working on creating a new at home office area for D.  It is going to help both of us enjoy our home better.  D not having to work at least 50 hr a week will go a long way towards that as well.
• It was a good call for me to cancel out west and stay and work instead.  I got a lot accomplished and it was definitely worth my while financially to do so.  
• Had to buy another power cord for my laptop.  D found one online as HP's price was too much and a generic one from Best Buy doesn't exist.
• Am going to try and resurrect a previous interest of mine -- Archery.  Have been missing participating in a shooting sport for a while now.  I did own a recurve bow once and sold it before really giving it a chance.  Random playing around with things don't often hold my attention.  I need and like training/instruction.  So if all goes well with my new instructor, assuming I take to it, I can get to enjoy all those sports aspects without the high use of resources.  
• Along the same lines, I'd like to get back into cross country skiing and try snowshoeing too.  Both great workouts, beautiful surroundings, much lower priced gear and passes compared to downhill.  And far less line ups too.  I still want to learn how to snowboard, just to see if I could do it and if I'd like it. 
• We had a water leak at the new office.  It occurred 4 hours before my very full work day started.  All fixed now (nothing to do with our office).
• Worked out a room scheduling issue with my colleague.  I now have the opportunity to catch up on about 5 - 6 work hours the week following time away.  Doesn't sound like much but is quite significant for me.  Got to test it out recently and it was a resounding success.  Normally it can take a couple of weeks for me to catch up and is fairly intense. 

HKG 2

How could I go to HK and not talk about the food?

It was extremely difficult for me to not get caught up with the food culture.  Food is everywhere and so interesting to look at.  There are a few things I still wish I had the stomach room to try. 

When eating at smaller local establishments, you have to get over the idea of having a table to yourself.  Many times, I was told where to sit. Sometimes it is at a very small booth where you may be touching knees when the person across from you.  Quickly shuffling so that you aren't directly across from one another solves the problem.

And don't be surprised when others join you in the middle of your meal.  And don't expect them to necessarily say hello or smile or even acknowledge you.  They are there to eat, period.  So don't be offended.  I read somewhere that meaningless chatter can be interpreted as delaying others from doing something more important, like making money.

Found a number of neighbourhood restaurants to be quite intimidating because the outside glass was pasted with Chinese menus.  And because I couldn't see in, nor read any of it, it took a leap of faith and good strong hunger, to propel me to enter.

People will line up, sometimes right down the street, for a restaurant.   A picture I posted earlier of breakfast at the Australia Dairy Company was one of those places.  I made sure to get there by 7 am.  They let me climb in under the half open metal gate because I was so early.  Apparently it is not uncommon to find 50 people in line.

If you don't know where to eat, searching out recommended places is a great way to start.  Partly because you often will have to find your way to a new area and that in itself can turn out to be quite the adventure.  Secondly, it is a way to try a new food.  It didn't matter to me if I didn't end up liking it or not.  The journey to find it was still very worthwhile.  Discovered some neat locales from that.

I can't remember the name of the bakery/cafe that was touted as serving the best pineapple bun (nothing to do at all with pineapples) but I remember sitting there, sharing a table with 2 men, both reading newpapers and wondering what was the big deal with this bun that had a thick slice of pure butter in it?

I really got into the Hong Kong style milk tea though.  It is strong and creamy. I had a time and a half finding the above place and by the time I got there, I had eaten a bun from what ended up being the wrong spot and had almost given up before finding it.

Speaking of having a difficult time finding a place, I had the most difficult time ever, in all my travels, remembering where one particular small restaurant was (other food picture in HKG post).  It took me 3 tries, walking up and down for hours, each way about 4 km, over 3 days before I finally found it.

Not before I started seriously questioning if I had wandered through some kind of secret Narnia doorway...Because, seriously, Kowloon is mostly a grid pattern, which made me feel even more silly.  I've always been proud of my sense of direction in foreign cities. 

It was so incredibly frustrating because I remembered it was one street in, on a corner, parallel to Nathan Rd, near where the kind of scary feeling giant coffin making shop was, close to the lady I bought some bananas from.  Which was close to the bakery that I bought the best tasting egg tarts from.  Which was close to the grumpy woman who sold me a cup of freshly squeezed cane juice...How hard could that be?  But I couldn't find Any One of them.

On the 2nd day, I found the coffin shop but nothing else.  On the 3rd day, when I began to wonder about my sanity because I just couldn't let it go, as it was a matter of personal pride, and suddenly I recognized the fruit stand and literally froze in my tracks and may have caused a collision with the person walking behind me.  It wasn't the same lady manning it, but a man.  However I recognized the layout of their produce...

So I walked over, and looked back across the street.  Long story short, I was able to piece together the egg tart and cane juice locales but still couldn't find the restaurant.  I actually had admitted defeat and was heading back to my hotel to start packing when I walked by it and recognized the unique stools.

I cannot describe just how elated I felt.  Immediately I whipped out my phone and took a picture of it, the name of the intersecting streets, the surrounding buildings.  The owner of the restaurant actually came out to see what I was doing as I am positive he must have thought I looked like a crazy stalker person.  I told him I had eaten at his place 4 days ago.  That seemed to satisfy him.  Then proceeded in to sit down and out eat the 2 men and woman I was seated with.   

HKG

As I started my travels to Asia at the developing SE end of the spectrum, Hong Kong represented the first real stay (I don't count airport layovers) in a successful, highly efficient, dynamic city where everything works. It was a breath of fresh air to be able to walk along (albeit at a quick pace, to keep up with everyone) and just trust that there will be order.

The city wasn't even as loud as I thought it would be.  And if you walk along the very pleasant pathway by the water in Central, it can actually be quiet.  Amazing considering the density of the population around you.  I wondered whether the elderly fisherman I saw there actually ate what they caught.  Was also surprised with the number of fairly serious looking runners pounding it out on the path at lunch time.

I was also expecting an energy of aggressiveness from the population in general, as I had assumed that the "time is money" belief would translate into behaviour.  However that was not the case.  I found the energy of most people to be very private, even when they were motoring along at a really quick pace.  Didn't get jostled around either, on the MRT or even at the busy Mong Kok markets.  Found people to be productive, busy doing their own thing. 

Even facial expressions rarely revealed discontent or exhaustion as I had heard about the typically long work hours.  Impatience sometimes, when I couldn't make up my mind what to order or when I wasn't able to express with hand motion what I wanted when our languages didn't match.

Speaking of language, Cantonese can definitely come across as harsh, even if the message wasn't intended to be.  That didn't discourage me from going for what I wanted.  In general, this isn't a culture of overt welcomes and smiles (unless you are at a higher end establishment), like you come to expect in North America.  You may be taken back from what may come across as a "take it or leave it" attitude but it didn't bother me.  They seem to be doing fine just the way they are.

On the weekend, I noticed high numbers of mainland China visitors, which changed the feel of the city somewhat in the more touristic areas such as Tsim Sha Tsui.  The amazement I saw in their eyes reminded me of how I felt walking along Bloor St in Toronto after my music classes at the conservatory.  Back then I dreamt of being able to shop at those exclusive shops.

There exists a huge discrepancy between the rich and the poor, and it was common to see elderly men and women (80+ yr old) working as sidewalk cleaners, garbage sorters, even pushing large carts.  At first it bothered me until I realized that most, if not all of them were in good spirits. I was told later that people would rather work than to accept social assistance whereby there is a strong negative connotation.

Hong Kongers seem to be fairly pragmatic and resilient with no negative stigma with respect to working at an advanced age.  When I walked through Sham Shui Po, an area known for early government public housing initiatives, there were historical narratives scattered around proudly showcasing their historical area development.

The dense and tall towers there were a stark contrast from the neighbouring affluent Kowloon Tong district, where streets are named after flowers.  If I did my conversion properly, I saw a real estate ad for a 100 square meter condo for the equivalent of 3 million USD.

With respect to education.  I believe it is fairly common knowledge that the school system and curriculum in Hong Kong is quite advanced and there is very high pressure to succeed academically, to the point where suicides can occur if key exam scores are not high enough.  Apparently it has since been realized that the death of driven and smart young people isn't great for societal future so it is supposed to have improved. 

Because competition into university is extremely tough, with very limited spots, there are a great number of young people, highly intelligent who do not get accepted and cannot afford to go to school abroad. And a lot of those bright young adults end up in the service, hospitality, sales industries with systems in place to reward great performance.  Being helped by ones who could easily kick my behind academically was an unusual realization.

Changing Thoughts on a Full Retirement

In the few years that I have been blogging, it has been an interesting observation that the target age of early retirement hopefuls keep getting younger and younger as I've found myself, the last couple of years, gradually leaning the other way.

I no longer desire to totally leave my work and be at home full time, even though it would potentially open up the option of "unlimited" travel.  The trips I have taken in the last few years have shaped me in ways I had not expected.  And I welcome growth, even if it means not continuing to trace the same paths again.

Early in the life of this blog, I yearned for such a quick departure from the work "grind".  I was feeling discontented with a wide number of things and wanted an escape.  And it felt desperate enough to be willing to consider living extra "small" in order to achieve it. 

What has changed?

Me.

• Four years of working part time.  
• Getting gradually caught up and rested (key point). 
• Reacquainting myself with my inner capacity and energy level.
• Becoming physically stronger and eliminating foods that my body reacts to.
• Challenging myself to stretch beyond what I believed to be possible or comfortable and succeeding.
• A feeling of productiveness, linked to increased energy. 
• Going through the exercise of a relocation which taught us much about work, ambition, purpose. 
• Not wanting to always live in a secure bubble.
• Not wanting to necessarily be away all the time either.

The pieces of my life pie are once again re-distributing itself.  It's a "good problem" to have.  It means I'm continuing to develop.  My perception of time is changing as well.  Suddenly becoming acutely aware of both the length of it as well as its finite aspect.

A new found optimism perhaps?  I don't know that it is so simple for me to pin point.  I'm feeling just how long time can feel.  An offshoot could be just how much more I can do with it.  A vast difference from what D used to hear me ask in an exhausted and pent up way -- "If I quit, will we be OK?"

During the 2 weeks I was home in Dec, I was able to rest, sleep, reflect, eat, relax, read, learn, play the piano, practice the violin, do ballet exercises, sketch, work out, walk, bike, row, do errands, connect with friends, journal, cook, do dishes, re-organize, all in one day and still felt like I had time and energy on my hands.

After the first few days, I found I didn't need any extra hours of sleep as I wasn't expending as much energy as I do when I work or travel.  I've never been one to sleep extra, just for the sake of sleeping.  Because of that, I was able to stay up till 3:30 am easily without feeling tired.  And then sleep for maybe 5 - 6 hours before getting up again.

That certainly wasn't the case a few years ago, when I longed for enough time to do even a quarter of the list above and felt like I wanted nothing but the luxury of unlimited time to enjoy all of it.  And assumed I would need at least a decade's worth of it to finally catch up with myself. 

Most important of all, It never entered my consciousness that I wouldn't need to be fully retired to reach this state.  As all I could remember was the overwhelming feeling of being boned tired, upset, weary and fed up.  Being completely out of balance and miserable, even though I was doing good work.

And for sure I'd never thought I would find myself saying now, "I'm sure glad I didn't quit!".  I know I've mentioned in the past that my current schedule could very well be my mid way answer to "retirement".  It was just a thought at that point, something that looked good on paper.  But the difference now, is that I feel it.

Currently I cannot imagine every day of the rest of my life like the 2 weeks described above during Christmas.  It was productive and fulfilling but I need more than just at home reflective and self improvement time as I'm no longer in "recovery".  Since being back to work (remember it is 12 hrs in office + 8 hrs admin a week), it feels more balanced, a large part I feel, because I'm contributing and making a difference.

For sure it would be different if I had parenting roles.  Right now I don't and may never.  And I don't wish to just keep adding new hobbies -- Already have enough of those.  And adrenaline rush experiences aren't really the things that can drive and sustain me for the long term either.

Please note:  I wasn't feeling dissatisfied nor moping around at home during my Dec holidays all grumpy because I wasn't elsewhere.  And I'm definitely not a naturally hyper or agitated person.  I was in good spirits, just a little bored after a couple of weeks.  My mind needed more.  Sure I would have preferred if D wasn't sick and had the same amount of time off so we could have both been able to have fun.  And for sure, I was not suffering.   

No, I'm not aiming to work more.  Not at all.  I like my current schedule and the freedom it affords me time wise at home and financially to save, see the world and give back.  I like how I do not need to burn up savings to realize my ambitions.

I also like being self sustaining.  The feeling of independence and control.  Being able to do meaningful work is an incredible bonus.  The amount of retirement savings we'd need if it were to incorporate all the extras I want to do now and later would not make sense, nor be fair to D.  Much easier when I can take care of this area on my own.

The ramifications of this realization is wide ranging for us.  For most of our years together, we have talk about and dreamed of an early retirement move somewhere.  My job is very location dependent whereas D can transition to location independent contract work.  With me potentially not seeing a near end to my career, it means we are going to be here for a while, which changes the game for D.  So we've had to talk about how it will affect him and what he had in mind for retirement.

Being stationed in our current home location doesn't disappoint him.  His timing for retirement won't change.  He'll just have more freedom to be more mobile when the time comes.  It'll be my turn to watch him fly off to pursue his goals.  I'm excited for that day to come for him.

The biggest issue D has outside of maintain satisfying work, is re-discovering whether he will be able to participate in his beloved sports to the extent he'd like.  For most of everything else, I wouldn't classify him as an "all in" type of person.  But with respect to sports, he definitely is.  This year will be quite telling as he "cautiously" (my optimistic word, not his)  reintegrates himself into the activities and races he assumed would be an integral part of his free time.  He wants to someday be able to go around the world for a year, chasing the snow.

Our plan was to put the cottage up for sale in the spring, but we're not sure anymore.  If hard core skiing and biking is no longer part of D's future, he doesn't want to be out there (that's what he is emotionally expressing right now) so having access to beach, water and trails might be good.

May even make sense to upgrade to a better place.  However, I still love waking up out west and being high enough to see the peaks poke up above the clouds.  That has not gotten old for me.  The light and air up there is magnificent.

March -- End

• Guess what???  The money from the taxi company in Amsterdam came through yesterday!!!  My bank charged a fee to administer the transaction, so we ended up with about 56 CAD from 50 Euro but hey, we got the majority of it back.  Impressed with their integrity -- Staxi bv -- And have told them so in my follow up email.  I was torn as to whether to ask what happened with our driver.  In the end I didn't.  I hope it didn't cost his license.
• I dropped D off at the airport a couple of days ago as he is spending 2 weeks out west working remote and trying out skiing for the first time since he hurt his back.  He has already gotten back on his bike with good results.  Fingers crossed the same will happen on skis.  (Update:  Day 1 skiing went great!  Sore legs but no issue with back!)
• I was supposed to go for one of the weeks but something has come up with work and I need to be here.  This was supposed to be year I learn how to snowboard (4 day adult snowboarding camp) and will be the 3rd time I've had to change this poor flight.  Fortunate for me, Westjet only charges $75 each time.
• It's interesting how different missing someone feels when you are the one "left behind" versus being the one doing the leaving and wishing they were there.  I find it harder. 
• New office is starting to feel normal.  There may be a potential issue with parking.
• My laptop is dying a slow death.  Now the touch pad is starting to malfunction on a semi-regular basis, requiring the use of a mouse.  Been slowly starting to look at a replacement but have been disappointed with what I've seen thus far.  I was hoping to find something new which weighed 50% less and costs $200 less...Not realistic...
• D unfortunately couldn't save his iPod with a new battery. 
• Saw this documentary recently -- Stunning scenery, captured my attention right from the start.
• Managed to score a good deal on a new pair of winter boots to replace my current pair that has developed an irritating problem.   I don't know about you, but trying to find something that can seriously function in cold weather but doesn't look like I am planning to travel to the moon has been challenging.  Ditto with respect to sandals I can wear with a skirt but also walk/lightly hike in all day.  
• Congratulations to those who recognized the iconic skyline from my last post.  I had been wanting to see the HSBC building ever since it graced the cover of Architectural Digest back when I was in high school.  Yes, it has taken a few decades but I still remember the day when my architectural drafting teacher brought the issue to class.  By the way, I was not at all impressed with the nightly light show.  Left after barely a few minutes.