Hello!
Sorry I haven't updated for awhile. Work has been busy and I've been reading a lot which has been wonderful!
My work here changes everyday but I've been learning a lot about the justice system here. Although its far from perfect (an article I recently read described the status of law here as equivalent to 12th century England), there are many people working hard to promote reforms.
I can't say too much about what I'm doing online, but I'm working broadly on research and projects related to improving access to justice.
<-- Here's a sneak peak of what I read at work. Haha I wish - it would be really helpful if I could read that seeing as this package (called the Official Gazette) is how laws are published in Burma.
On the weekend, I decided I would explore and try to find the river. It shouldn't be hard to "find" as the city of Yangon is bordered all along the south side by a river, but a waterfront never seemed to be a priority for the ruling regimes, and so it is mostly covered by fences and industrial looking buildings (remind you of Toronto?).
But after walking along the river for 45 minutes, I finally was able to see the river. It wasn't a touristy area, but it was interesting to see where the boats come in, bringing people from the rural areas across the river. There was also a temple (of course).
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The waterfront
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| A temple at the waterfront |
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| My river exploring break-spo |
My next big exciting discovery was coffee. I'm desperately addicted to coffee. And I knew that in law school but I thought a little more sleep and more interesting work could replace that addiction. At least I've now found a few nice coffee shops - some Burmese, and some more for foreigners. They're great places for exploring and reading breaks too :)
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| A Burmese coffee shop right near my guesthouse |
I spent the rest of the weekend exploring, eating new food, at a conversation club with Burmese political science students, and on an incredibly long adventure around the city to get a dress tailored. We'll see how that turns out in a month when its finished!
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| A beautiful mosque on my way to conversation club |
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| Exploring Trader's hotel in Yangon |
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| I ordered soup, and got all of this! |
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| A church in Yangon |
I'm still living downtown and I love it. Here's a picture of my corner. Just so busy! It just gets really crazy when it rains. And rain here has gotten even crazy as we get deeper into monsoon season. It was hard to take a picture when it was pouring but I was trying to show the foot of water I had to walk through after just 10 mins of monsoon rains. Yangon just really be prioritizing sewers right now...
I've been trying to better understand the political transition Burma is currently going through. Going to speak with more people and read and hopefully write some thoughts by the end of the weekend.
Miss you all,
Sima
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