[Above photo: Protestors in front of the Chinese Embassy.]

15 February 2021

My students notified me that there would be a protest on Friday, gathering in front of the University of Medicine 1 where I am based. I had heard that the Rector, Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, was arrested for protesting the coup online. He is wonderful, a smart, energetic, and visionary man and sympathetic with the need to develop  children’s mental health services in Myanmar, as well. I felt beside myself with anger and helplessness, so I determined to join the protest.

I was told that 70 or so physicians and nurses would stand in front of UM 1; I imagined that the senior professors would make statements of protest. I thought it might be a pretty high-profile event in Myanmar, held at the premier medical school in the country. Students with the highest scores on the secondary school matriculation exam all go to medical school, even if later they do something else.  Plus, the now-widespread CDM (Civil Disobedience Movement) was initiated immediately after the coup by all of the doctors and nurses at government hospitals and universities.  It now affects, and has closed, 140 hospitals countrywide. [Doctors have arranged to see patients for free in their private clinics and there is a private referral system.]

I determined that if they tried to arrest my professor, I would link arms and demand to be included. I imagined it might toss a spanner into the gears for them to have to deal with an 80yo Honorary Professor from America. Perhaps not, but I was determined to test the proposition. I wrote letters to my kids and others, locked my file cabinet, and left a letter with instructions for Kelly to call the Embassy and others in case I was arrested.

I over- and under-read the situation. There were perhaps 1000 doctors and nurses in scrubs and white coats, my professor was busy tending to the 800 chronic inhabitants at Ywar Thar Gyi, the state mental health hospital, and I was the only elder in the group. We marched and carried signs for over 4 hours in the Myanmar heat, threading our way to the Russian Embassy, the Chinese Embassy, and, then, across town to the UN Headquarters, chanting constantly.   

The English language calls and responses were as follows: “Free, free, Aung San Suu Kyi” Marchers repeat (MR); “We voted NLD” MR; “Respect our vote.” MR; “We reject the military coup” MR; “We demand justice” MR; “What do we want?” “De mo cra cy”; “What do we need?” “De mo cra cy: “Support the CDM!” “CDM CDM”. Then a sequence of calls and responses in Myanmar. “We want Democracy.” “Our goal, our goal”, etc. Everything was repeated x2, so if you don’t get it on the first try, you will on the second. Frequently, it seemed to me, one of the call leaders with a bull horn was immediately behind me; my ears are still ringing. There also was a very bouncy song played loudly over mobile PA systems in passing trucks that energized everyone. The song has a polka beat and I plan to have my students teach me the words and tune when we have a slow moment in clinic.

The march was remarkably well organized. We were cordoned by rope boundaries on each side and were polite at major traffic intersections. There were snacks, water, and electrolyte fluids passed out regularly and a squad of trash collectors with large blue bags gathering up any detritus. At both the Chinese and Russian embassies we were met by large and welcoming groups of protesters who had settled in. (The Chinese and Russians leadership are interested in Burma’s riches and geopolitical position and are thought, not surprisingly, to be very supportive of the military and the coup since they all speak the same language. Aung San Suu Kyi cancelled a large Yangon city redevelopment contract with China last year, wary of the python’s coils, I think.) The UN, likewise, had a settled group in front of their headquarters; the protesters request to the UN was, “Please help us.”

I regretfully declined my students’ offer of lunch after the march. I was tired, not hungry, and felt I’d pressed the covid risk far enough for one day. I will note, to those of you who think I am being foolish and irresponsible, that I was triple masked and used hand sanitizer repeatedly. I won’t expose myself frivolously but this seemed important. It turns out it wasn’t so important and I had inflated the role I might play. I am glad my professor and I didn’t get arrested. I’m glad I went with my students. However, that may be my last time, unless there really is a role I could play that would be helpful, which seems extremely unlikely. It turns out that Rector Zaw Wai Soe had not been arrested.

A student sent me some of her top contenders for signs: A mature man holding a sign saying “My daughter marrying her K-pop crush is more believable than MAL’s words.” (Senior General Min Aung Hlaing)  And, “It’s too BAD!!! Even introverts are here.” And, “I should be at home watching BL series but instead I’m here for this shit! So, Fuck Military Coup :)” “Save Myanmar for my best friend. She is still single”. “My ex cheated better than the military.”  Young woman, “I was rejected by my cursh [crush] but you are rejected by millions. Bro, you are next level.” With a photo of a mass gathering, “If you think there is voter fraud, you must have got an F in maths.” Two youths standing next to each other. One sign says, “Don’t fuck with my country. Fuck my friend.” The other sign says, “I am his friend.” “The World: Covid 19 is awful. Burma we have (a photo of Sr. Gen. MAL).” “Myanmar girls be like Then: [photo of a shy, pretty woman] and Now: [photo of a witch with sharp teeth, a club and a shield]” And, “Housewives reject the military.”

It is as difficult for me to know the truth of communicated information here as it is for those who have listened to Lou Dobbs, kindly, reassuring, ass-kissing old grandfather figure that he is.  [He’s probably a pedophile. Wait! Did I say that? I do love it when evangelical leaders or self-anointed Christian prophets (profits?) who rail against this or that carnal sin are discovered to be happily swimming in a lascivious soup of their own Creation.  Schadenfreude.]

While it is deeply disappointing that the corrupted cowards filling our Senate seats will not vote to convict His Flabbiness, it is no surprise. No more so than that his wife is apparently jealous of the attention that the current 1^st lady is earning. “Be Best” has the same hollow ring as Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No”.   They may as well say “Let them eat cake” from their wealthy and uninformed podia. It’s why I doubt that the Trump daughter [Ivanka], despite her immense fortune, will ever be a successful politician. She is too shallow and un-empathic to convincingly fake it. Again, as with her Dad, I can in the abstract feel sad for the barren parenting she received.

Yesterday at l’Opera, after watching tennis 14 of us gathered for lunch outside. Two were a young couple from Ukraine who were vacationing at the beach in Napoli when covid struck. Ukraine was hit hard by the virus so they decided to stay at the beach and have been there for nearly a year. She was an IT project manager; he says he just sold his software company. He is Russian, originally from Crimea, and  welcomed the Russian incursion. He was quiet and observant, very much a Russian. It is easy to imagine there is something fishy about their story. But she was animated and friendly.

As to Switzerland, the trains here have completely shut down. We haven’t had intercity bus travel since covid began. Intracity buses can no longer run because of: 1) protesters all over the streets and 2) the country is running low on the natural gas that powers them. Oh, it is also running out of jet fuel. Banks are closed because no one is coming to work. No freighters are loading or unloading at the port. It is rumored that two major banks may collapse. The government shut off the internet last night until 9AM this morning.

This week promises to be very rough. Armored vehicles with machine guns on top are appearing in the city, along with truckloads of soldiers: intimidation time. A massive protest is expected today and I can hear a part of it a mile away as I sit on my patio, enclosed by a mosquito net. The 19yo female student who was shot in the head by the military is brain-dead and her family is being encouraged to take her off of life support. 23,000 prisoners have been released. While it is a custom to let some go on national holidays—last Friday was, ironically, “Union Day”—it does make room for the mass arrests which are anticipated.  The military says it wants “Disciplined Democracy”. The protesters want a new Constitution, in which the military is not in a position of governing, rather reassigned as defenders of the country at the pleasure of the civilian government.

Much of the table talk at lunch was about the CDM’s effectiveness in non-violently confronting the military. The economy has ground to a halt and the wealthy business cadre cannot be happy with the situation. If it descends into anarchy, which I doubt, I’ll try to be evacuated.

10 February 2021

[Above photo: Protester in bikini. Her face, at least, is well covered. I thought she put it pretty well, despite mis-spelling “Corps”.  That kind of added to the appeal, for me. It is astounding to see a woman not clothed from neck to ankle, except at fancy embassy or sprivate chool fund-raising events, a sign that young people today feel greatly increased freedom of expression.]

It has been hard for me to sit at a safe distance in a comfortable home and watch the protests grow on video and in print. Yesterday was a difficult day, with large protests all over the country. Water cannons were used against peaceful protesters in Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, and Bago. A 20yo girl student has died from a military gunshot to the head, others have suffered gunshots to the chest, and many have endured the pain of rubber bullets and water cannons. Most of the violence has been in Nay Pyi Taw, the capitol; too close for the military’s comfort, I’d guess. The mayor of Mandalay was arrested, as were other protesters and leaders throughout Myanmar.

I WhatsApp’d my students today, wondering what their civil disobedience looks like, saying I wanted to support them and wasn’t comfortable sitting on the sidelines. Within an hour two carloads pulled up, I joined them, and we set off for Hledan Center, one of the two major gathering spots in Yangon. As we drove north along Inya Lake many cars and marchers were heading south to Sule, the other protest center, flags flying, signs displayed, music and horns blaring. I learned that at 1AM the Tatmadaw had broken into the NLD (National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party) headquarters and raiding and trashing it.

We drove on Parami Road across the top of the lake and down Pyay Road toward Hledan. There is a 4 lane major flyover at Hledan which we drove up and where we parked. Usually cars are flying over at 80km or more but one lane was filled with parked cars. We walked back off the overpass and plunged into the sea of people at Hledan Center. The crowd was smaller than yesterday but still significant. Huge banners with a portrait of The Lady hung from the overpass. Many people wore hard hats. Groups were chanting—“Our goal, our goal. Democracy, democracy.” —in Myanmar.

The signs people carried or flashed from cars reached from the serious to the hilarious. “Trust our votes.” “Restore democracy”. “We don’t want a coup.” And then, a pretty young girl holding a sign that said, “Don’t fuck my dream. Fuck my ex.” Another, held by a very short young man, said, “We don’t want a leader shorter than me.” referring to General Min Aung Hlaing’s Napoleonic stature (allegedly 4’8″). “I don’t want a dictator. I want a boyfriend.” “I love Lisa. I don’t love a coup.” “I don’t want military rule. I just want to read Harry Potter.” An elderly woman held a sign that said: “A.C.A.B All cops are bastards.”

There was little active police or military presence and no bad behavior. With the sound trucks it felt more like a weekend festival. There were many police and military vehicles parked on a section of Maha Bandula Road east of Sule Pagoda, “standing by”, as our past president put it.

The protesters were mostly in their mid-teens to mid-30’s. They were cleverly dispersed all over the city, making confrontation with them more difficult. The mood was festive, yet with an intensity heard mostly when they chanted. I had thought I’d be just riding around in a car, holding a placard, wearing my red and gold NLD hat, and giving the 3 fingered sign. When we dismounted and walked around Hledan Center, I realized that this was covid superspread country. I don’t think I’ll go out again for that reason alone. I did snap a few pictures.

At home we have yet another frog in a vase. Talking with Jose, who lives nearby and faces the same swampy stream, he mentioned that they have frogs “all over the house”. I poured a little more water into the vase but am not going to be trained by a frog to catch and feed him/her flies. I refuse, even though I am tempted. Such a cute frog!

[Above photo:  The only bird to come to our bird feeder. Note the feed; we thought we were buying birdseed but got brightly colored pellets of something else, instead. I wouldn’t eat it either.]

8 February 2021

The coup continues, with growing gatherings of protesters. They assemble at Hledan Center, nearby Yangon University where students triggered the 1988 revolution. They then march across town on a proscribed route to Sule Pagoda and adjacent Maha Bandula Park. Yesterday the crowd of marchers was estimated at 2000. Today it swelled to 10,000+. Plus, the roads were filled with cars of NLD supporters, honking horns and holding up the 3 finger “Democracy” sign, all heading for Sule. Although there were many police and army present at Sule, there was apparently no violence. The doctors, nurses, and support staff at 70 government hospitals across Myanmar are doing “Civil Disobedience”, the details of which I am not certain.

We’ve had guests for supper the past two nights. On each night at 8PM pots were banged all over Yangon, setting up a deafening din for 30 minutes. It is a way to “drive out the evil spirits”; we used it in Boy Scouts to chase off hungry bears from our campsites. Irene and I walked up our driveway in the dark last night to the road to view the pot bangers from there. Our elderly landlords were in a small pocket garden behind their house, banging away. We joined in from the balcony of our home.

Rumors abound. For example, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi provoked the coup because she was getting on in years, had a strong hand having won the November election by a landslide, and wanted to complete the removal of the military from the government. Or, a senior general in Rakhine State has sided with the Rohingya and is commanding his troops to oppose the military in Nay Pyi Taw. Or, Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with treason and faces something between 20 years and the death penalty. Or, Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from detention. And on and on. Fortunately, through Kelly I have excellent, high level sources of information to correct the “fake news”.

The military government has shut off the internet and phone service for the weekend, presumably to interfere with the opposition organizing. The services go on and off at irregular intervals. It was compounded today by the electricity going off. There is a countrywide curfew from 6PM to 6AM. I had to cancel my Sunday webinar.

As ex-pats, we stay out of the fray. It isn’t our country, we can always hop a plane home (assuming they open the airports which are now closed), and our presence may lend credence to the old military saw that “outside agitators”, in cahoots with Aung San Suu Kyi, are involved. That is a Chinese CP trick, fooling no one, I think. They used it during the demonstrations in Hong Kong to de-legitimize the protesters and distract from the genuine issues.

It feels like the protests may grow and become violent. Then, again, the military may let people march and bang on pots until they weary of it. The outcome is at least as unpredictable as the price of GameStop.

It is pretty hilarious, watching the Republican Party try to deal with their Marjorie Taylor Greene wing: pedophiles, Satanists, cannibals, Frazzledrip, Hugo Chavez, bullets to congress people’s heads, and on and on. I forgot the Jewish space lazers starting the forest fires in California. Some of them are still so shaken by Hillary. Imagine the temerity of That Woman, wanting to be president! There are many thoughtful essays about why people are so susceptible to these wild ideas. I am drawn to the ones that suggest adherents can find what they want in them. Some want an excuse to be violent and an acceptable outlet for their hatred/racism/fear, some want more certainty in their lives, some want to feel special and in-the-know about “secrets”.  The joy of conspiracy is that it provides a way to explain Everything, kind of like a religion. “I don’t know why it happened that way, but God has his reasons.”  Whew, glad there is a holy explanation for the molestations, rapes, murders, wars, cancers, and other assorted miseries allowed, if not enabled, by an all-powerful being.

I apologize to those who are offended by the above. I think that, despite the loving feelings and generous, self-less deeds enacted by many religious leaders and followers, we could just do this as humans and humanists, not as members of this or that exclusive or competing religion. It too often sets up magical thinking, exclusivity, irrationality, anti-science and suppression of knowledge, persecution, and antagonism, “holy wars”—-my god is kinder, smarter, stronger, wiser, righter than your god.  My Bible/Koran/Sutra has the true word. Kind of like fraternities and sororities.

Clearly, I am not about readership here. It is difficult enough for us all to get along together, without bringing exclusivity or a doctrine of superiority into the mix. Religion is often used hypocritically for political manipulation, obscuring underlying issues of economic inequity, oppression of women and minorities, and on and on. Witness the Evangelicals in support of DT, a liar, a womanizer, an adulterer, a rapist, an exploiter of religion.

On a lighter note, I accompanied Kelly on his regular Sunday outing to l’Opera, a wonderful Italian restaurant with outdoor seating on landscaped grounds at the northern edge of Inya Lake. It has an excellent tennis court and, more importantly, an ongoing tennis tournament. I got to watch some very good tennis (Kelly and Andrew winning in doubles) and some mediocre tennis (“I can play better than that.” I told myself.). I had good conversations with several people and enjoyed a fine pasta Amatriciana. I plan to return Sunday mornings on occasion; it is a good place to meet people and also to get information about the coup.  Maybe I’ll even pick up a racquet. The owner, Francesco, is an avuncular 85yo Italian. His first wife died of cancer so he married his secretary from his days as the Italian consul.  Bo Bo is a smart, engaging, university-graduated Myanmar woman. I had a terrific talk with her. I like the mix of characters, from the art gallery owner to the microfinance expert to the power company business facilitator to the head of a UN Agency, all with interesting tales and collected wisdom about working in Myanmar.

This is my first coup. It feels similar to the attempt in the US. First they broke in; then, “Now what?” It’s difficult for me to see a successful or even face-saving military end-game here.

31 January 2021

[Above photo:  Yet another morning visitor to our bathroom. I think they are now accustomed to using a toilet and must feel it is crude or uncivilized to empty their cloaca outdoors. We are civilizing amphibians.]

A more appealing definition: Coup—“an act of touching an armed enemy in battle as an act of bravery.” {from Native Americans}

After rumors of the same, we awoke this morning to news that the State Counselor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been arrested by the military along with other members of the government and some active members of her political party, the NLD (National League for Democracy). There are many speculations about why this has happened at this time, which I won’t explore here for obvious reasons. In practical terms, the phone service was shut down for several hours, although rumors that the internet would also be shut down have not yet materialized. Grocery stores have been very busy. It has been non-violent. There is supposed to be a “Stay-at-Home Order“ for a couple of weeks and a “State of Emergency” in place for a year, meaning that the Constitution will be suspended and the military will retain total control of the government for that period. The excellent Minister of Health and Sports, Minister Dr. Myint Htwe, has unfortunately resigned.

It doesn’t feel frightening. It feels sad. And it makes me think of what could too easily occur in the US, given the conviction of tens of millions of Americans that DT actually won the election and was cheated out of it, despite all valid evidence and all 86 court challenges dismissed, often by Republican, Trump-administration-appointed judges. I am to lead a training on Job Satisfaction this afternoon for directors of international NGO’s. I think that it is often best to continue scheduled activities in situations like this, rather than indulging in speculation that tends to ramp up everyone’s anxiety. But I’ll see what the group would like.

It may have bearing on my teaching here, although I do not know. At supper last week with Professor Tin Oo and three others, I enquired about my course for this year. “Oh, we won’t have it. We’ll start next January with a year-long diploma course.” I was stunned and hurt. I slept on it and realized I had impulsively brought it on myself.  Feeling lonely for friends and family and having missed the past two summers on the Island, I announced in an email to Professor Tin Oo that I’d be gone for 4 months this summer. I didn’t discuss it with him, the Professor of Psychiatry at the most prestigious medical school in the country, the President of the Myanmar Mental Health Association, and the National Program Manager for Mental Health, and my primary contact, if not Boss. I then wrote an apology, explaining what propelled me, and offered to be gone for only 1 month for which I could arrange to have the lectures covered by interested academics in several different countries. He later mentioned to me that he was reconsidering continuing the course this year. I’d like to get to 25 graduates as a total for my 3 years work here. My impulsivity has caused me to err at different times in my life but this incident was a wakeup call. If only I can live another 80 years to further perfect myself!

Kelly has a humorous way of expressing things. For example, “We’re at DEFCON-1!”, said with desperation and conviction. (We’re out of banana bread.)  Or, “It’s a wrap.” (We’ve finished cleaning up after the Saturday night poker cum supper gathering.) “Take a downer.” (Often said to me when I am speaking rapidly or with passion. I get to say it to him at deserved times, as well.) “Get in the game.” (If I am languidly engaged in a book and we have planned to head out.) “Check’s in the mail.” [He’s already washed the hand towels in the kitchen.] “Lashing out again.” [I suggest to Kelly that I’ll wash the dishes if he puts the food away and cleans the counters.]  We do laugh and I enjoy giving as well as taking. One of his favorites derives from a first trip to Pro 1 Global Home Center, a Home Depot analog with an additional floor of furniture. I needed to buy caulk for my toilet and couldn’t find it or clearly explain myself. I was loudly saying to a young male employee, “I want caulk. I want caulk.” Kelly heard me from several aisles over and totally exploded in laughter. Say it aloud to yourself and you’ll catch on.

With the coup, Connor, a young ex-Peace Corps volunteer who currently works at PLAN International, has moved in with us. He lives alone in an apartment. He has a Myanmar girlfriend about whom he is serious. She lives with her parents, as unmarried young women here do. It seems better for him to be here, with food and company, in case we really are locked down tight for a period of time. He’s part of our regular poker contingent, previously worked for Kelly at PLAN, and is sweet and lively. He is from the middle of Florida; both parents are Democrats but are surrounded by ever-Trumpers. He has chilling tales to relate about the beliefs of their neighbors.

Tim Cook’s criticism of social media algorithms, which select for intense engagement, rings true. Disinformation often is sensational and explosively prominent on the Internet so people believe it to be fact. I know several people who fear the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines because they “change your DNA”. They have read this in articles on the internet.  If you know a bit about DNA, Messenger RNA, and how they function, it is clear that the vaccines cannot alter your DNA. But most people don’t know that, so many, naturally, are wary. I don’t know how this can be solved, short of censorship of sorts. Someone could write, with phony substantiation, that our water supply is poisoned or that this or that person is a witch (In Malawi, this was a common accusation). Could? Have written. Are writing. Shall write.  

Or that the Democratic leadership is a secret cabal of pedophilic, Satan-worshipping [communist] cannibals. And that DT was here to expose and root them out. DT rooting out corruption? [Raucous laughter.] He has welcomed so many corrupt people into our government, and then pardoned their crimes when he was walking out the door. What worries me is that the perfidious snakes in Congress seem convinced that if they lie hard and repeatedly enough they can own public opinion, which they appear to have done, given the reality of the election results, as an example.  Apologies to our legless friends.

The first stanza of “The Second Coming” by WB Yeats describes for me the maw into which we are now peering. It certainly isn’t the first time we humans have done this. Think of the Inquisition, McCarthyism.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity. 

Breathe deeply.

24 January 2021

[Above photo: Statues of monks in a temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand]

Poker is such a strange game. Sometimes a strategy and caginess in betting makes all the difference. But sometimes the luck of the draw, as in life, just flows to one person, over and over. It did last week and again last night. After some frustration, the other 4 at the table just resign themselves to losing, wondering how it keeps breaking that way, and trying to contain their losses while remaining in it, as in life.

We host a game every Saturday night, our big social event. Well, mine. Kelly spends a good bit of time at the American Club after tennis, socializing. Because my shoulder won’t allow swimming or racquet sports and because I have, until the past few months, been so busy that I enjoyed my time alone, I’ve not joined the Club. For poker we have 5 players, three are regulars and the other two vary. We like two young ex-Peace Corps vols who worked at Plan with Kelly but they both have girlfriends and we cannot compete for their attention with them, so we fill in on occasion with a rotating list of others.

Last night it was the country directors for CARE and for Save the Children, both Brits and each about as fluent in poker as we are. We always serve supper and the others learn to bring beer, wine, or dessert. The director of Save came for his first time and was a massive, somewhat embarrassed, winner. Since the stakes are low, it is all fun and there is mostly laughter. If I can play at something for 2 ½ hours with a chance of winning and only lose $6, it feels fine. I crave the feeling of tension with each hand during the betting and then the release of it when someone wins.  You say someone’s sex life is not properly attended to? Really? As Freud pointed out early in his writings, tension and release are pretty ubiquitously pleasurable experiences. Highly motivating.

As has been the turnover of office in the US. The tension for 4 years created by this crude, cheesy criminal was nearly intolerable. Which made Joe’s speech and, even more, Amanda Gorman’s recitation so relieving. And you know that after the doors of the White House were finally opened, Joe didn’t reprimand or fire those who delayed by 15 seconds. The country is in rough seas but is correcting course, clawing off a lee shore toward which it was allowed to drift by he-who-isn’t-even-worth-mentioning. Let’s get support out to people who need it, listen to science, vaccinate all, and rebuild together.

A large black bird with a copper back and wings has been hopping about the yard eating insects. This week I travelled downtown to Inwa Booksellers and bought Birds of Myanmar, a small-by-birding-standards book by three Burmese. The text and illustrations are excellent. I easily found my Greater Coucal  and have possibly identified another visitor as an Asian Fairy Bluebird. I’m not certain and am awaiting another view before I commit. Myanmar is loaded with wonderful birds, including a handful of different hornbills described to me by an acquaintance who saw several on a recent camping trip. Birders can often be quite militant or competitive, in my experience. I just like to observe, identify them if I can, and wonder at their beauty.  I don’t keep a life-list or other nonsense. We regularly saw fabulous birds in our yard in Malawi, as well as in the numerous game parks. The park guides could see, identify, and sex a distant bird which was completely invisible to me. It’s all about pattern recognition and they must get it from an early age, growing up in the bush.

I discovered and explored a large wet market a few blocks from home yesterday on my way to retrieve a book I was having copied, a 350 page text copied and bound for about $7.50.  How do they make any money? The shop was closed on Saturday, so I meandered back through the market. There were all manner of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as sacks of rice, spices, etc. It lets me know what fruits are in season.  The current winners are tiny tangerines a bit larger than a golf ball. They have a very short season and are wonderfully sweet. It is so much more fun to shop on the street than in the supermarket [as I keep saying].  The produce is always fresher and lasts longer in the fridge if street-bought

It is customary here to be told of a conference or a dinner meeting one or two days in advance. I just received an email inviting me to supper tonight at a fancy hotel with Professor Tin Oo and others. It’ll be my chance to gorge on wonderfully prepared fish and shrimp! My social calendar is quite open.  The mere mention of the meal puts the lie to any pretense I have about not craving animal protein.  I just have temporarily shoved that desire into an accommodating crevice in the dark recesses of my mind.