Bartering

This past week we had meetings with the whole Laos team. There are twelve of us; 5 will be in Paxse, a city in the south, and 7 of us will stay in Vientiane. It was fun to meet the rest of the team and see how they interact with each other. We learned about culture and teaching and how to work with and love our teammates and the Lao. It was lots of new information, but very interesting. We will have plenty of laughter on the team this year! Some of the cultural stuff seems so confusing! But we heard plenty of funny stories from veteran teachers who made many mistakes in their first year here, and still make mistakes now. But our students are usually pretty forgiving and still love us through our cultural blunders.

Saturday morning, Julia and I went shopping for sinhs (the traditional Lao skirt we will wear for teaching). We got one a couple of weeks ago, but will need a couple more for teaching. This time we went shopping without any Lao friends. We were a little nervous about the language and such, but we had so much fun!! I really feel like we made some (sort of) friends! The first lady was so nice and helpful! It's kinda hard to browse in the market because lots of times the owners are all over us, pulling out material left and right, showing us black and blue and purple sinhs! It can be a bit overwhelming and even annoying, and it's hard to know what is appropriate so we don't offend them. In our very limited Lao we told her that we would be ajaans (teachers/professors) at Dong Dok (our university), so we wanted to know which ones would be appropriate for ajaans. She knew some English and told us she was also a teacher (I didn't catch where). We sort of asked her if the ones we liked were appropriate for young people, and her daughter who looked about 22 said ours were acceptable, so hopefully we won't look like out of style grannys on our first day of class.

Then came the buying/bartering part. I usually hate this because I feel like I'm stealing from them and they need the money more than I do, even if it is a little more... We asked how much, she replied 300,000 kip, which is like $40. When we came with Mon and Jiam, they started at 260,000 and we ended up paying 200,000. Yesterday, we ended up paying 250,000, which is more than what Lao would pay, but there is a foreigner price for everything, and there should be, but we thought we did pretty good. But the bartering part was fun and she had fun too! It really is a way of building relationships! And I felt since we had connected while choosing the fabric, as they helped decide if it was ok for ajaans and young people, we really hard formed a teeny friendship!

We each got 2 more sinhs, and some cotton material to make (American) skirts. But we had lots of help from all the merchants and it was fun to practice our Lao with them! :)

We also went for lunch to a restaurant near our villa that we visit often. The ladies who own and cook are always very friendly, but yesterday we talked to them for probably ten minutes! I think they are sisters and one has two sons, one is one month old (we think). But again they were so patient and helpful with our Lao. I actually took my dictionary along which was useful as I looked up words for sisters and son. I should take my dictionary everywhere with me! Yesterday was probably my favorite day of interacting with the culture so far. It makes learning Lao so much more exciting if I know I will actually be able to use it. :)

This is the first sinh that I got. I'll take a picture soon of me in it, but it's pretty plain and simple, the hem goes to the middle of my calf probably.

I also got a greenish and blackish one. Yes, there are butterflies on the bottom of the black one. I thought about changing the bottom (you can pick out a different bottom if you want), but everyone said butterflies are fine for ajaans... so I'm keeping the butterflies. :)

Cooking

We are finished with language school! We had three weeks of three hours a day learning Lao. On our last day of class we read a story about Khamdee and his sister eating breakfast, going to school and other things. It took us an hour and a half to get through the 6 pages, and I still don't understand a lot of the words and sentences in the story. But it's kinda exciting to be able to read a little! I really liked our school, the teachers were great and I learned Lao! But it's nice to be finished. Next week we will get a tutor for probably an hour a day five days a week, and most likely continue for the whole year.

It was very helpful to learn a language right before I will be teaching one. I have a better idea of what is helpful and what is not helpful for teachers to do during class.

This was Julia's and Elise's class. Joe and I were in the other class. We had six students and one teacher for conversation and another for reading and writing.

I haven't really done anything too exciting since my last post. We've had more meeting/training at Corky and Maurice's (our leaders) house. It's been good. Lots of new, insightful information. This week we have team training for the whole team. (The past weeks have only been for us four new teachers.) We'll be going over rules, guidelines, teaching stuff.... and we get to meet all of the other teachers. There will be 12 teachers on our team this year - 7 in Vientiane at two different departments - the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of English, and 5 in Pakse. I'll be at the Faculty of Education in Vientiane.

We did cook lunch with our Lao friends, Mon and Jiam. We went to the market at 8:00 AM on Friday to buy all of the ingredients. Our first purchase was a fish. The lady picked one that was swimming with 10 of his friends in a tub of water. She knocked his head with the back of her knife and started scraping of the scales. Two slices of her knife later and the guts were out too. The meat section of the market is not my favorite! Then we went to buy our veggies. It was pretty fun. I just followed Mon around. I don't know how they decide to get the ingredients from. We got mint from one lady, sticky rice from another, and carrots from another. We piled our stuff into the motorbike baskets and headed to Jiam's house to start cooking. We did lots of chopping! Which is one of my favorite parts of cooking!

Julia and Jiam are stirring the curry.

Jiam is mushing up the bones and scales of the fish to use for adding flavor to one of the dishes. The food was pretty tasty and we had fun cooking with them.

Here are some other random pictures of life in Vientiane.

This is how we eat almost every breakfast and supper. Sitting on the floor in Julia's room. But now, the maid has taken away our bedspread/tablecloth... we wanted to use it to shake out our crumbs so Julia wouldn't get more ants in her room. For breakfast we have fruit, bread and yogurt, and for supper we usually go to the night market and get sticky rice, spring rolls and try other food sometimes and take it back to her room to eat. It's probably not the easiest way to eat, but it works pretty well!

This is Elise and Joe and I eating at a yummy Asian fusion restaurant; I had delicious Thai curry!

Last week Saturday, Julia and I made chocolate chip cookies at Corky and Maurice's (soon to be ours) house. They will be going home for the year, so Julia, Steph, and I will be living in their house! It's pretty nice and has a nice big kitchen! :) The ingredients for the cookies were a little expensive, but we found all the ingredients that we needed! The best part was the dough! :) They were delicious and we ate too many too quickly.

Sorry, I can't turn it the right way, but they look tasty, huh?

Dancing Buddhas in the Rain

So I feel that this is a pretty creative title! especially for me. I didn't really see statues of Buddha dancing in the rain, but these three words encompass the things I will be writing about today! :)

Last Sunday we went to Buddha Park. We (Julia and I) met Mon, Jiam, and Mon's roommate and sister at the bus station. We hopped on a small bus/large van that only had standing room left. The buses are equipped to hold as many people as possible with handrails on the ceiling. It works pretty well for us tall Americans, but it is a little unfortunate that when we (Americans) hold on, our armpits are right at face level with most standing Lao people. :S Anyway, the bus was way better than I was expecting! All the windows were open so it was very cool and breezy! There were also some adorable kids riding too! There were three monks riding in the back of the bus. One of them had to get off of the bus, but since monks aren't supposed to touch women, all of us females who were standing in the aisle had to get off to let him pass. The bus ride was probably only 45 ish minutes.

Buddha Park was created in 1985 (or thereabouts). It was just some random guy who decided to make a bunch of statues of Buddhism and Hinduism. Some were sorta creepy, but it was a fun relaxing day to spend with our new Lao friends! We had too much fun taking pictures imitating the statues. This one they are entering the mouth to hell and opening their mouths like the statues.

It's kinda hard to see the statue behind us, but Mon is also making a pig face like the statue!

A statue with many arms. I told them to go in front of me so I didn't block them all, but they didn't listen.

This is Jiam again. We didn't realize until later that she wore socks with her flip flops so that she didn't get a flip flop tan! She walked around like this all day to protect herself from the sun! While Julia and I were encouraging the sun to darken us and sweating in our tank tops, jeans and sock-less feet.

We sat around outside of the park when we were finished and waited for the next bus to pass to take us to town. We got to sit down the whole ride in. We just had lots of fun relaxing and chatting with them! We found out some interesting differences between Lao and American hygiene/beauty tricks: some of them pluck their armpit hairs! They don't shave their legs, but some shave their arms. They don't pluck their eyebrows, but some will shave their eyebrows.

We got drinks from a street vendor. Julia's is green and mine is pink and they had the little tapioca? bubble things in them. It was pretty tasty!

After going to a wedding last week and not knowing how to do the dances, Mon and Jiam decided they should teach us. We went to their house and they taught us some traditional Lao dances.

They had videos to help teach us. Most of them were dancing in lines with specific steps. Julia is learning.

I think they said this was some freestyle dance... (and yes, my friends, I sweat Lao dancing too) But we learned a few dances which will come in handy when we go to another wedding in October.

We taught them a little American dancing too. We didn't have music, but we sang and showed them how to dance to Party in the USA! :)

It is rainy season from July to the end of September, and it has been raining! It usually rains from 10 PM to 10 AM, so it's not usually a huge nuisance. But we rode bikes to Jiam's house - about 4 miles away, and it was pretty rainy. We bought ponchos the other day, but we got ones that close in the front, and apparently you're supposed to get the ones that close on the sides so that the rain doesn't run down the front and fall on your lap as you're pedaling your bicycle or sitting on your motorbike. This is Julia and I all ponchoed up against the rain.

Julia has her backpack on under her poncho so it doesn't get wet.

And I have my purse under my poncho too so it doesn't get wet. This was the first time we've had to wear ponchos, most of the time we're out and about it's just spitting. Hopefully we won't need to wear them too often! But thankfully we have them to keep us dry!

Wats

Yesterday, Mon & Jiam (our Lao friends) took us to see three wats (temples). Some were almost 500 years old! The first one we went to had over 6000 Buddhas in it. In the walls of the courtyard, there were thousands of tiny Buddhas all lined up. Each of the holes in the wall had two statues in it.

The Thai came in 1800 something and destroyed much of the temple and the statues. It's hard to comprehend believing in and worshiping images that are mass produced (even if by hand) out of wood and stone and can so easily be destroyed by weapons or hammers or even rain and wind over time. Mon and Jiam answered many of our questions about Buddhism and religion in Laos. Seeing all of these idols made some of the writings of Isaiah and others seem more real. How comforting to know and see and feel the power of One King and not of thousands of images made from stone or wood.

A group of Thai tourist entered the temple just before we got there; here's their pile of shoes! Jiam (in the back in black) wore her jacket and hood all day so that the sun wouldn't darken her skin at all!

Inside the wat is usually a big image of Buddha. Many people leave money, fruit, Pepsi and light candles to worship (?) Buddha. I don't think they actually worship Buddha, I think it has more to do with ancestors and self-fulfillment...  but I don't know for sure. I wanna find a book or something so I can be a little more informed, sorry!

Jiam, me, Mon, and Julia by one of the wats.

Tomorrow they're taking us to Buddha park, which is an hourish long bus ride out of Vientiane. Buddhism is such a huge part of Lao culture. I heard some of the images are kinda creepy looking.... but also that it's a really pretty park - with trees and flowers and such!

Shopping

Last Saturday our Lao friends, Jiam and Mon, took Julia and I to do some shopping. We figured it would be much easier to have them translate for us, and maybe not have to pay the foreigner price for everything.  And they were VERY helpful!

Our first item we needed was a sinh.  Sinhs are traditional Lao skirts. All the women wear them to work. Girls wear them as part of their uniform to school. So we need some for teaching, because we will wear them every day as a teacher. I am also going to a wedding on Thursday (tomorrow) so I needed to find a sinh that is appropriate for a wedding. We really wanted Mon and Jiam to help us pick ones that are stylish. Julia pointed to one that she liked and Jiam laughed and said, "That looks like my mom's!" The sinhs are really beautiful, but sometimes we (in our American views) think their tops don't always match. So, it was helpful to have some Lao girls our age along to help us find sinhs that are appropriate for teachers but don't make us look like grandmas! We also went to a tailor shop to get fitted. My sinh should be finished, we just need to pick it up. I'll post a picture when I have it!

I also needed to purchase a motorbike helmet. I need one when I ride on others' motorbikes and will need one soon when I have my own to drive!

Mon & Jiam drinking some cold tasty drink out of a bag! We decided we needed a break from all our busy shopping!

Our final buy was a bike! They all have baskets on the front! Which is something I was most looking forward to!  We have already ridden to the market and come home with our watermelon and bananas safely in our baskets! :)  The baskets are the best! There is also a bell which goes off frequently as we go over the bumps and holes in the road. I feel so much more free since having a bike! We can bike anywhere we want now! And it's wonderful to feel the breeze in our face! :) Sounds so cheesy, but it is true! It's also a bit of an adventure to drive right with all the cars and motorbikes. It's nice being small and able to squeeze along the side when we need to turn. It's a little scary at times, but so far we've been safe! And we are very cautious bike riders.

trying out my new bike!

Jiam taking off all of the packaging

When we went to get fitted for our sinhs, we rode through the campus of the university where I will be teaching!  It's so green with trees and grass and flowers! It will be awesome to teach there! We had a busy but good Saturday and got everything accomplished that we needed to! :) And so appreciated the help from our Lao friends!

Sunday we were going to go on a bike ride, and my tire was flat. Ugh! So, we walked our bikes the mile(ish) to where we bought our bikes, thinking they could fix them. They don't fix bikes, but saw the nail in the tire and directed us to a bike shop that repairs tires. We walked our bikes up to the bike shop. We still know very little Lao and no words or phrases that have anything to do with a flat tire. There were a bunch of friendly old men hanging out in front of the bike shop. By pointing to my flat tire, we found out we were at the right place! They were very helpful and the tire repair man started patching the hole right away. They old guys knew some English, so we had some fun laughs trying to talk a little with them. My tire was quickly patched for less than fifty cents and we were on our way. It was a good reminder that things often don't go as planned in Laos. What we thought would be a 30 minute errand turned into an almost two hour event. But thankfully my tire is holding air, we chatted with some friendly old men, and now we know where the bike repair shop is if we ever need to use it again! (Although I sure hope not too often)

Vientiane!!!

Saibidee! means hello in Lao.  I am in Vientiane!!  We flew in on Sunday morning.  And it has been going swimmingly so far!  We are staying in a guest house, and we each have our own room which is nice too!

Before coming here we always heard how laid back and calm Vientiane/Laos is, and after being here only one day, I already got that feeling.  There is hardly any traffic- especially after coming from Hanoi, and it's wonderful. There is so much more green - grass, trees and such- here than in Hanoi.  The city is nicer looking and cleaner than I was expecting.  Sadly though, there are many more wats (temples) in the city. I won't get into wats and religion now, maybe in another post.  The people seem friendlier too.  They always smile and say saibidee! 

We started  Lao language school on Monday.  We go every afternoon for three hours and will continue for at least three weeks. After four days of class, I have finished learning the consonants of the Lao alphabet! We sound pretty funny when we practice these new sounds - almost like we're singing. :S  I do not know how many vowels there are... but we'll start learning them tomorrow.  And we have learned a few phrases and words that will hopefully be helpful.  The teachers are really good, but it is just lots of learning each day.  But so far I feel like I've learned some!

Monday night we went to an outdoor market thing for dinner (supper).  Corky, our leader who has been in Laos for 13 years, told us some stuff wrapped in banana leaves is rice with coconut stuff and is good, so we should try it. So we point to the wrapped banana leaves to buy some. We go and find a table to eat at.  It is outside and dark out.  We unwrap our leaves excited to try some new tasty food! But it doesn't look like rice; the three of us (Corky had left) don't know what it is.  We think it might be raw meat, but everything here is cooked and ready to eat, like a restaurant, so there's no way it could be uncooked meat!   We try a teeny bit of it, it doesn't taste disgusting...  but it looks like raw beef.  So we decide to eat our other food and didn't worry too much.  On Tuesday, we asked some Lao people at Steph's what it might be. We were informed that it is pork that is soaked in some liquid stuff and spices for some time and NOT cooked.  So, we almost ate raw meat!  And actually we all tried a little.  : P YUCK!  I still cringe with shivers and almost gag every time I think about it.  ugh! But thankfully we obeyed our instincts and didn't eat more.

mystery meat

this was one of the many food stands where we could buy dinner

Stephanie, another teacher with us, lined up some Lao friends for us. They can help us with language, buying bikes, buying material and making sinhs (the traditional Lao skirt) to wear for teaching and other things, and showing us around Vientiane and teaching us about the culture. Tuesday night we all went to Steph's house and cooked together. We tried to help with the cooking, but I have a feeling we Americans were more of a nuisance than a help. We ate some pretty good Lao food though. I will have to learn some exercises or stretches for my legs so that they don't fall asleep and need to switch positions every few minutes as we sit on the floor to chop veggies and eat.  They (Lao) all look so neat and graceful and comfy as they're sitting, but we (Americans) are having a harder time figuring it out... you're not supposed to stick your legs out, and the ground is hard....  anyway, I'll need to do some practicing to find a polite way to sit on the floor that is comfortable.  Hopefully soon!

Mon is making papaya salad

This is That Luang which is near our guesthouse. It's some park and market place. There's lots of pretty architecture in Vientiane.

For those of us without cars, there are two main modes of transportation available: tuk tuks and motorbikes.  Here I am riding on Mon's (my new Lao friend) motorbike.  Wednesday night we went for dinner with them and then they helped us with some homework.  It's a little scary to ride behind someone, but will be fun for me when I can drive one in a few weeks. :)

Elise and I are riding in a tuk tuk.  It's kinda hard to see, I'll find a better picture for later. It's like a motorcycle with a teeny truck bed on the back with a plasticy roof?  It has a row of benches on each side.  Bouthanome, our tuk tuk driver has been faithfully driving us to and from language school this week. It's nice and breezy in the tuk tuks because they're open on the sides, but get a little spendy. Hopefully soon we'll have bicycles to get us around a little easier.