Over Columbus Day weekend, after wrapping up week five of our Bosnian language class, V and I took a short road trip to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. To celebrate my birthday, V had rented a cabin in the woods. We were looking forward to a little getaway surrounded by nature, with hiking, winery visits, the changing of fall leaves, and explorations of small-town Virginia on the agenda. We eventually made it and had a wonderful time, but first, we had a slight detour to the ER.
Tag: Holidays
Thingyan (Water Holiday)
Thingyan is one of Myanmar’s most important holidays and marks the traditional Burmese New Year. Celebrated over several days each April, it is a time of renewal, reflection, and community.
The festival is best known for its joyful water-throwing traditions, in which people splash each another with water as a symbolic act of washing away the misfortunes and impurities of the past year. In real life, this looks like a street festival in which everyone is happy to be thoroughly drenched. Beyond the festivities, many Burmese people observe Thingyan through acts of merit-making, including visits to pagodas, donations to monasteries and charitable causes, and time spent with family. Traditional music, dance, and foods are also central to the celebration. Combining both exuberant public festivities and deeply rooted spiritual practices, Thingyan reflects values of generosity, reconciliation, and hopes for a prosperous and peaceful year ahead.
So Glad You’re OK
I came home to Burma the Friday before Christmas and stepped back into my Rangoon life from the before times. Only I didn’t look the same on the outside, and I didn’t feel the same on the inside either. I had been medically evacuated and hospitalized in Thailand for over a month after being unexpectedly hit by a truck while crossing the street in front of my house. I’d broken my pelvis in four places, along with cracking two ribs, breaking a toe, and suffering a bilateral concussion and extensive road rash.
My traumatic injuries were still healing when I returned, and I was only 50% weight-bearing on my left side. Returning to my house and my work, nothing fit quite the same—it was like trying on someone else’s clothes. I had to contend with other people’s reactions to my visible injuries and the shock of what had happened to me, while sorting out my own feelings and struggling with my new limitations in real time. And as I settled back into post and the external cuts, wounds, and bruises slowly began to fade, I heard one thing over and over again: “I’m so glad you’re OK.”
Ableism and Access: Return to Burma
About 10 days ago I returned home to Burma. I’d spent a month hospitalized in Thailand after being hit by a truck while crossing the street in mid-November.
While I was in the hospital, I wanted nothing more than to come home and “get back to normal.” But the two days I spent in a hotel between my discharge and my return home illustrated how difficult navigating the real world would be as long as I could only bear about 15 kg of weight on my left leg. Most able-bodied people simply never notice the ways in which the world is inaccessible to those who move through it a bit differently.
Celebrating Thadingyut (သီတင်းကျွတ်ပွဲတော်)
Last weekend marked Burma’s sacred holiday of the Full Moon of Thadingyut (pronounced like tha-TIN-jut). The date of Thadingyut varies each year because it follows the traditional Burmese lunar calendar, which is based on moon cycles. Usually Thadingyut falls in October, but it can also occur in late September.
We had a three-day weekend in honor of the occasion. While most local people celebrated by visiting family around Burma and observing Buddhist traditions of thanksgiving, I took the opportunity to relax. I had a nail appointment, spent several hours swimming, and caught up with friends throughout the weekend — a Friday evening out at a new American-style 1950s diner; fabric shopping on Saturday afternoon with colleagues to commission a Burmese dress set, followed by an embassy Oktoberfest gathering that evening; and a Monday afternoon luncheon hosted by our neighbors next door. But the most special part of the weekend for me and V was finally visiting Shwedagon Pagoda, Rangoon’s golden temple, on Sunday evening.
A World Away
At my most recent pedicure, I chose a deep cranberry shade—even though my toes still spend most weekends poolside or in strappy sandals. The signs of autumn flooding my social media feeds and podcast ads from home feel distant here in Burma, where my tan is still going strong. There are no cardigans, pumpkin spice lattes, or even jeans for me. I’ve worn a long-sleeved shirt only once since arriving in Rangoon. But if I close my eyes, I can almost smell the fall leaves of Virginia and the crisp evening air tinged with woodsmoke a world away.
Last Christmas Stateside, Until…?
As I prepared for my second Burmese language progress evaluation last month, I also was getting ready for a special Christmas at home in Virginia. The reasons it was special were twofold. One, my dad (and later my stepdaughters) were planning to visit from out of state; and two, it would be the last Christmas V and I would be in the United States, potentially for years.
Rediscovery: Learning Burmese, Weeks 19-20
The past two weeks have been some of the most challenging since I began studying Burmese, largely due to feeling stuck in a prolonged rut. Struggling to recall vocabulary or make sense of syntax. Dreading the thought of leaving my warm bed to face the winter blues and drive to FSI. Feeling so drained that I fall asleep the moment I lie down, before forming a single memory.
Unexpected breaks from the routine—due to snow and illness—provided some relief, even though I was eager to get back to business as usual after the holidays. Yet, language learning continued to be a roller coaster of highs and lows for me.
Nearing the halfway point of this 44-week journey, I’ve solidified my determination to see it through, regardless of how much I think I suck at Burmese or even whether I ultimately pass. Looking back, I’ll likely view this stage as a pivotal point.
Year in Review: 2024 Blog Stats and Recap
In 2024, when I wasn’t making the most of my time outdoors, I managed to publish 35 posts, conclude my fourth tour handling international parental child abductions in the Office of Children’s Issues, and begin long-term training for my next assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, Burma.
I also wrote a series of posts chronicling Foreign Service-related topics, including the centennial anniversary of the Foreign Service, the machinations of retirement and sixth tour bidding planning, and my best tips for success during FSI language study.
Winter Sun: Learning Burmese, Weeks 16-18
The Friday of week 16 in our 44-week Burmese course fell just before Christmas and brought our second progress evaluation. For me, the evaluation was a frustrating experience, the culmination of weeks of discouragement with my slowed progress since our class expanded from two students to four at varying levels.
I pretty much bombed my evaluation, despite intensively studying grammar, reviewing my thematic texts, and dedicating five hours before the evaluation to quiet practice and protecting my energy. By contrast, the effort I put into creating a memorable holiday for my family paid off, which is generally what I expect when I’ve worked tirelessly to achieve something.
Good > Perfect: Learning Burmese, Week 15
Last week, as we passed the one-third mark of the course, I was reminded of the roller coaster ride that is FSI language learning. One day, it feels as though you can’t comprehend a single word being said. The next, you’re gradually piecing together structures and vocabulary to craft complex, sequential sentences you couldn’t have managed just a week or two earlier. But just as you start to feel a sense of accomplishment, you open your mouth to speak, only to have your mind go completely blank—like a computer freezing on the dreaded blue screen of death.
Not on the Tip of My Tongue: Learning Burmese, Weeks 13-14
The cadence of the past two weeks has been unusually choppy, with several language classes disrupted by the Thanksgiving federal holiday, Area Studies, and an untimely bout of illness. These interruptions have contributed to my feeling lately that I can’t think of much to say in Burmese.
Year in Review: 2023 Blog Stats and Recap
In 2023, I met my goal of writing fewer words more often. I published 40 posts, several on Foreign Service-related topics. I wrote a series on bidding for and receiving my fifth assignment. I expanded a popular post about FS Housing into a series. I also wrote two new installments of ‘Your Questions Answered.’ In what turned out to be a very road trip and family-oriented year, I made four trips to the west coast and back – three by car – and my mom and dad each visited us on the east coast. In 2022, I’d received a promotion, meaning I wouldn’t be eligible to be promoted again for two years; I enjoyed the professional sweet spot where I didn’t have to PCS, learn a new job, or compete for promotion. The year ended on a sad note: my family faced the death of my stepmother and learned the hard way about the limitations of the Medicare-funded hospice program in the United States.
Low Battery
There’s something about the coming of another new year that makes me want to create a resolution in the same way it makes other people want to opt out of participating. Tying goal-setting to an arbitrary date on the calendar may feel just that, like another push in the endless striving for us to be productive or needlessly trying harder to achieve some hypothetical better version of ourselves. Coming on the heels of the holidays it’s all laced with a particular flavor of consumerism, in case your holiday hangover wasn’t already painful enough. Buy more, do more, be more – often without considering what truly makes us happy and what we truly need.
New Year, New Scenes
At the beginning of 2023, I made a commitment to spend more time during the months of January and February hiking in new places. There are so many parks and trails in northern Virginia I’ve never seen despite having lived here for eight years off and on.
The new year is always a good time for me to get motivated about a goal, cheesily enough, and I think exercising outdoors in the cold feels better than during the hot, humid times as Virginia marches from late spring into summer.
