"Burmese people love gold"

So confession, I had this slight freak out moment the other day when I realized that since I don’t really speak Burmese there are only 4 other people that I can have actual conversations with for the next month. (No offense friends….I love y’all… and our conversations are great… but a girl likes a little variety ya?) Anyways, I was WRONG-O! Freak out was unnecessary…ha surprise?  So, this morning while Rose was busy getting ready for a new store opening, (more on this to come) her cousin Justin took Megan and I all around…AND he spoke English… AND he talked to us…AND he told us interesting stuff. It was great.  As we drove around he told us about many of the changes that have occurred in Burma over the last few years; how 2 years ago only 10 different movie theatres, as in only 10 different screens existed in the entire city of Yangon, and how the number of foreigners in Burma has finally reached 1 million/yr. He also told us about different ways the military used to control the people…mainly by controlling information and transportation.  He also said that before the British left in 1947ish, Myanmar was the richest country in Southeast Asia – and how they pride themselves in being a very self-sufficient country, after all they were closed off for 30 years and today they’re still kicking! He talked about life in the countryside versus life in the city and he also described the role that gold plays in their culture. Land and gold are the two main investments that the majority of Burmese people have available to them, and if you’re investing in gold why not wear it, and cover all the pagodas in it? So they do. Quite dazzling.

The other great thing about our morning with Justin was lunch. Justin moved to the US when he was 15 and stayed with a host mom – who couldn’t cook – and after 2 days of frozen meals and Dominos pizza he was sick of American food.  So when we told him that we had been eating lots of Burmese food (though we never mentioned anything about being sick of it – cuz we aren’t…right megan? :) haha) he thought he would treat us to a “western” meal. Pizza it was. We were happy. 

So back to the gold theme – Rose’s family owns a jewelry business and as it turns out they are having the GRAND OPENING for the newest branch TOMORROW!!! Today there was a promotional event called  a Lucky Draw…which I am too tired to write about. I guess it will make sense to include that in a blog all about the store opening festivities. Get excited. Alright, time for bed, goodnight moon ~~