February 1, 2008
Six WEI teachers spent the month of February in Yangon and found Myanmar to be a land of sweet, gentle, and hospitable people.
On Friday, February 1, Bill and Marie-Claire McDonough, Russ and Rosemary Burcham, Leonard Blake, and I landed in Yangon and checked into our hotel. There, in the conference room, we would teach fifty students (most of them Buddhists) for a month.
The primary religion in Myanmar is Theravada Buddhism. Thousands of Buddhist pagodas dot the landscape throughout the nation. The most famous shrine in the country is the Shwedagon Pagoda located near downtown Yangon. This pagoda is covered with gold. Hundreds of precious jewels adorn the top of the spire.
In sharp contrast with the opulence of Shwedagon Pagoda, most people in Myanmar live in semi-poverty, working for $1.00 a day.
