Awkward Falong Support Group

I can honestly say that if it wouldn't have been for the friendships of the women in this picture, this year would have been a much greater challenge. Jessica and Katelin are other "SALTers" in my same program, and Kaylie (next to me) is here for three years working with the Lao Disabled Women's Development Center. From the early days, we called ourselves the "Awkward Falong (foreigner) Support Group" and would swap stories about culturally inappropriate things we'd accidentally done, or weird things people said to us, or the countless times people ask us to teach them English.

Lao New Year!

Last week we celebrated Pii Mai Lao—Lao New Year. This was a three day festival that was fun and cultural and messy. Katelin and I went up to Luang Prabang with her host family.

April is undoubtedly the hottest month of the year, so it makes sense to have a giant water festival, which is used for washing homes, Buddha images, monks, and soaking friends and anyone who happens to pass by. At first it was very gentle, people asking to pour water on elders and monks for blessings of long life and peace. Then it turned into an all out war throwing not just water, but corn starch, paint, charcoal and water balloons.

Sand is brought to the temple grounds and is made into stupas or mounds, then decorated before being given to the monks as a way of making merit. However, most people went to the beach to make stupas. These sand castles are decorated with flags, flowers, white lines (corn starch), and splashed with perfumed water. We went across the river to the beach to make our stupa, which did get a lot prettier than this.

Unfortunately, we didn't get much prettier for the remainder of the trip. I'm still not sure how this police man stayed so clean...

Another way to make merit at this time is to set animals free. Buddhists believe that even animals need to be free. The most commonly freed animals are tortoises, fish, crabs, birds, and eels. Everyone got decked out in brightly colored clothing, our shirts were cool, trust me!

There is an annual pageant in Luang Prabang to crown Miss Bpee Mai Lao (Miss Lao New Year) in the Nangsoukhane pagent. After this parade she rode in, many went to the wat for a special blessing for the new year.

Visitors...

So I've been lucky to have some very fun people come visit me these past couple of months. My brother Zach came with his girlfriend Annie to visit her old life in China, and then they swung down to Lao for a few days to see my life here! They were very good sports, bringing me treats from the west, eating as "lao" as possible and enduring my host brother's 4 hour long wedding video footage.


Then in February my friend Ashley stopped in on her Asia tour.


We visited a very cold Luang Prabang in the north of Lao and then hit the beach in Southern Thailand. We went with Lizzy, another teacher here at ARDA from New Zealand. The airline actually provided these attractive yellow umbrellas for the short walk from the terminal to the plane. Little did they know that we'd soon be laying on the beach soaking up as much of that sun as possible. (Don't worry...I wore SPF 30!)



We stayed on Phi Phi Island and there literally aren't words to describe it's beauty. This tiny island has no cars, and only a little path that connects the beaches and guest houses. Turquoise water, white sand beaches, Nemo fish galore. This is the location where they filmed "The Beach" but was also devastated in the tsunami of 2004. Startling contrasts to be sure.



We finished the holiday with a trip to the north of Thailand, Chiang Mai. We shopped through a lot of handicrafts made by many different ethnic groups, explored ancient temples, rode elephants and went on this bamboo raft....only tipping once!

Temples of Ankor

So in January I had a break from class so I convinced my fellow SALTer Katelin to come with me to Cambodia. We flew into the capital Phnom Penh and my first thought was, am I in Europe?! I guess it's been easy to get used to the small, laid back capital of Vientiane. I was totally overwhelmed by the tall buildings, traffic and noise of Phnom Penh. It was so great to hook up with MCC Cambodia people there and have not only a free place to stay, but fun tour guides!


After a few days we took the bus up to Siem Reap, the gateway to the ancient temples of Angkor. These temples were built between the 9th and 14th centuries when the Khmer civilisation was at the height of its power. After its collapse, Angkor was abandoned and the temples were covered by the jungle. They were rediscovered in the 1860s by the French. There are around 100 temples spread out over this site and are a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was so crazy to see how the jungle was literally reclaiming the temples. Although they are falling apart faster than they can be restored, the structures and detailed carvings were fascinating.

Toui's Wedding

So towards the end of December, my host brother got married. This is not an event, but rather a series of ceremonies and parties. I was so excited to be here for this time, and so thankful to my host family for accepting me as a regular family member. I was put to work in the weeks of preparation and included in all of the family portraits and the receiving line. It was also good for me to be busy during this time so I wouldn't have time to think about not being home for Christmas!

This is a shot of me with my host parents and their grandkids, Pinky and Mot.

Toui's in the middle of this picture with his beautiful wife Natt (pink flower) surrounded by friend's and family. The wedding photo shoot basically consisted of whoever could get in the picture before the camera flashed.

After the parade, Toui and Natt entering our home for the baci ceremony.

I don't know why I found it surprising that in this communal culture, people go on honeymoons with friends. Indeed, I went with the new couple and three other friends to Vang Vieng. A small beautiful mountain town on the river several hours north of Vientiane. At one point they talked about just getting two rooms, one for girls, one for guys. I drew the line there...it was their honeymoon after all!

Weddings

Lao wedding season is here! These are proving to be QUITE the social events and SO fun to partake in. People typically only get married in the cool season, partly based on the Buddhist calendar and partly because it doesn't rain and the weather is nice for big parties outside. So far I've been to three such events, but my host brother will get married in a couple of weeks, and then an MCC worker will get married in January, so the fun will continue! Each wedding ceremony is different, and this past weekend I had the opportunity to go to a wedding in a village outside of Vientiane with my Lao cousin. The day started off with a big parade from the groom's house to the bride's. We were all marching and singing, and someone was banging on a drum. The groom is under the umbrella in the shiny gold pants.

About half way there, following tradition, we were met by members of the bride's family who tried to block our path, and wouldn't let us through until we bought them some treats from a roadside stand. The old women especially were getting SO into it. They even found some bamboo and started whacking people back with it! We were then again blocked to get into the house, and they had to push their way through to get the groom in.


Next was the baci ceremony which is a big part of the wedding process. Lao people have baci's for many reasons...new babies, welcoming, celebrating a guest of honor, etc. Someone officiates and basically wishes them a good life with many children and much happiness. Then everyone gets a chance to tie strings on their wrists with money and good wishes. It all happens around the little statues made out of banana leaves and marigolds with candles and other fruit (behind us in the picture).

After the baci comes the party. Lots of food and dancing. This is me "fawn" -ing, which is Lao traditional dance. Basically this is about as "action shot" as it gets. You just kind of stand there and bop to the beat a little bit and twist your hands. The trick is not to look too interested or look at your partner the whole time. Lao people could fawn all night long. And we did, this wedding event lasted over 12 hours.....

Culinary Treats Continued...

This woman is cooking an assortment of fish innards...mostly their stomachs and eggs, wrapped up in banana leaves over the fire. To the left of her is a big pot used for cooking broth for noodle soup. Eating is a communal activity here, so they always cook enough for the whole neighborhood.

These guys are making "goi baa" which is raw fish cut up and mixed with lemon to kill anything weird and make it edible. It is then served with mint and scooped up with sticky rice. This is a typical Lao cooking space although this family has a kitchen inside as well mostly used for storing dishes and bags of rice. The cooking fire is to the right, and you can see a big bucket used for washing behind the old guy's yellow hat.

This lovely dish is fresh duck's blood. They pour it onto the plate and then wait several minutes for it to congeal. Then fresh mint is added with some pepper and chives. Not bad!