Braces

I had braces when I was maybe 12 years old. I was happy to get them off before I was 14. (I am sooo thankful now that I did have them to get rid of my ugly buck teeth.) I do not know anyone in the States who likes having braces - especially people over 20.

I went to some fashion show thing with one of my friend's the other night. (Some French perfume company is selling their perfume in Laos and her friend was in charge of finding models to show how beautiful the models are because they use the perfume.) Anyway, half of the models had braces. And they were sure proud of it! I know it is a status thing - if you're rich enough to afford braces, you're . . . rich . . . and beautiful. (?)

Some of my students have had braces. When they have them they only wear them for a month or so. So I am pretty sure it is only a status thing and it doesn't actually do anything to correct their teeth - although there is a great need here for teeth correction!

Just one of the many things that I do not understand about Laos - why braces are beautiful.

PS - This friend has a car. Or her dad has a nice Hilux truck or something. Riding in cars is heavenly! It wasn't suffocatingly hot. I wasn't inhaling dust. I didn't have nasty helmet hair. It was so so comfortable in the air conditioning. I'm usually a pretty impatient driver but I would have been happy to wait for hours at stoplights just to sit in the comfortably clean truck.