A Tour of the Neighborhood

Ah, nothing better than a nice place to sit. Yesterday, I got the last two major components for the Yangon apartment: a fridge and a desk chair. Now, the fridge is just an ordinary mini-fridge, nothing special there.  The desk chair, on the other hand, is one of the best I've ever owned.  I'm usually not one to boast about material possessions; stuff is just stuff. This beauty here, however, was quite the find. Oh, that head-rest thingie up at the top snuggles the nape of my neck just so... 

In a previous video, you might have seen snippets of my new neighborhood as I sang about the women working there.

Today, you'll see some more as I trace the one mile or so walk from home to where I work, much to the bewilderment of my neighbors.  What is this crazy foreigner doing walking down the street talking to himself into a camera?  Note the confused looks on the guys sitting at the tea-house in the background.

Child labor is a big issue here.  I've noticed that at most of the small tea-houses that are seemingly on every corner of Yangon, most of the wait-staff are kids. Whether they're relatives of the adults running the place, I don't know, but most of the time when I sit down for a coffee and donut, it's someone who should be in school bringing to me. 

Speaking of schools, I saw something interesting spraypainted on the fence of a school just a couple blocks from my place. Graffiti. This picture says a lot. 

Actually, the graffiti on my little walk was remarkable in other ways too. I believe these other pieces might be the work of the same tagger. The message is very positive. 

I'm not sure what 'ERACISM' means, but in my head it evokes the phrase 'erase racism'. Very original use of a foreign language!

And for this last one, it's obviously political, but as to what it means, I have no idea.

Enjoy the video...