The Foreign Service Journal, March 2021

98 MARCH 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL LOCAL LENS Please submit your favorite, recent photograph to be considered for Local Lens. Images must be high resolution (at least 300 dpi at 8” x 10”, or 1 MB or larger) and must not be in print elsewhere. Include a short description of the scene/event, as well as your name, brief biodata and the type of camera used. Send to locallens@afsa.org . T he Shwedagon Pagoda, with its 367-foot golden spire, dominates the skyline of Yangon (once Rangoon). Also known as the Golden Pagoda, the gilded Theravada Buddhist stupa is a “must-see” for all visitors to Myanmar. During our recent three years at the U.S. embassy in Yangon, we visited the iconic site countless times. The best time to go is at night when the lights are brilliant and the air cooler. We always asked our guests to figure the weekday of their birth so they could go to the correct shrine within the complex and be blessed by pouring water over various symbols. We were often approached by Burmese wishing to practice their English, and they were always surprised to learn that we were residents there. This photo was taken during our final visit, just before the COVID-19 shutdown, early in 2020. I used my iPhone 11X Pro. n BY LEE-ALISON SIBLEY n YANGON, MYANMAR A performing artist, teacher and author of Jordan’s Jewish Drama Queen , Lee- Alison Sibley has joyfully followed her husband, Senior Foreign Service Officer George Sibley, from their first posting, Jakarta in 1989, to their current post, North Carolina, where George is diplomat in residence and Lee-Alison is working on her second book, a novel about India.