Motorbikes...

"Eh" works at the MCC office and is our faithful and patient motorbike instructor. This shot is taken in the alley in front of the MCC office and the guest house where we stayed upon arrival to Laos.

Here Katelin and I are working on figure 8's.
Don't worry, I wasn't really scared, and we always wear helmets!

Some tasteful graffiti in the warehouse we practiced in.

Host Family

So, I moved in with my host family last week. They are wonderful. When I first met my mae (host mom) she gave me two hugs, which is not common in the Lao culture but I knew right then that we'd get along just fine! She has 6 kids... five boys and one girl, all of them right around my age. Next door is her sister with her 5 kids, four girls, one boy, and then there are a couple of grandmas and some other random people who I haven't figured out a connection yet. In Lao there is no word for "cousin" the way we know it, so anyone who has some sort of relation is a "cousin". Everyone and their various spouses and children live in the same little cluster of houses behind the mini-market the family owns. I learned soon that basically no one is in the house all day, rather up at the market. That is where we eat meals and meet to go places. Two of my host brothers did the IVEP program which is the same as my program, only it brings foreigners to the US/Canada, so they know the drill when it comes to being a host/having a host family. All of the kids in my family speak English which is nice, but it is really motivating to learn Lao sitting around with the cousins, grandmas and Mae!

I had a "cultural experience" over the weekend when I went to the "spa" with a grandma, Mae and sister-in-law (none of whom speak english). I seriously had no idea what I was in for. We got there and put on cotton sinhs (lao skirts) but wore them like sarongs covering our whole bodies. We then washed our hair out of a barrel with a bucket and put conditioner (?) in it. Then we sat down at these tables outside and smothered weird food items all over our arms legs and faces. There was honey, milk, prunes, and some other indistinguishable paste. We then went into the sauna, but it had some serious herbal concoction cooking along with the typical steam. So we kept travelling in and out of the sauna, each time adding more goo to our skin. At one point, they started talking about how the sauna makes you loose weight (I picked up on this because my host brother's nickname is "Toui" which means fatty) and then they gave some sort of tea to everyone who was skinny and water to everyone who was not. Let's just say by Lao standards, I'll be drinking water for the rest of my life :) After we had enough herbal steam, we went back to the bucket/ shower rooms and washed everything off. Even though it was perhaps the weirdest "spa" I've ever been to, this is the type of thing that I was so looking forward to in planning a trip like this. Being in a position having no idea what I was doing, or why but trusting and loving the local culture and people. My family and I bonded through our honey pasted sweat!

Lunch at Tha Khek

Lunch at the Buddha cave. We all sat up on little platforms and shared the meal with our hands from communal bowls.

Tha Khek Retreat

So. Last weekend the whole MCC Laos group and families went on a retreat to Tha Khek, a town about 7 hours south of Vientiane. The group totaled about 45 people....of those 10 Canadians and me. As all of the other ex-pat staff is Canadian, the joke is that I'm having a double cultural experience. Not only am I learning about Lao culture from local MCCers, I also am learning new words, geography and culinary treats from our Northern neighbors! The retreat was a good intro to the country. It is staggering the differences between the capital, where we live and the countryside just a few minutes outside of town. In the past several years, there has been a lot of money invested in Vientiane to improve the infrastructure and increase tourism while the countryside is more or less the same as it has always been. We had Lao food the entire weekend. Traditionally the food is put in bowls to share in the middle of a mat on the ground. There are no plates or silverware, you just grab a handful of sticky rice and start exploring! So we ended up with lots of sticky rice, fish, papaya salad (local favorite...super spicy!), dried meat, laap (minced meat with mint and lime), fuh (noodle soup) and rice porridge. All of us newcomers decided that we had to try something slightly scary, so rather than the snail, chicken foot or fish eye, I went for the squirrel brain. I put a big ball of sticky rice around it, but I still had to dig it out of a cooked hairy rodent head. Due to the soft limestone mountains, there are a lot of caves in this region. So we had the opportunity to do some spelunking. One of the caves was just discovered in 2004. The man who discovered it was following some bats he was hoping to eat for supper and they led him up a cliff into a hole that ended up being full of these ancient Buddha statues. No one knows how they got there or exactly how old they are, but people come from all over to leave offerings in this cave. Laos is about 60% Buddhist and 40% Animist. The guest speakers for the weekend came from the Hope Center where I'll be working. The Hope Center is a new local partner for MCC, it just worked out well for me to get this kind of introduction. The center works with children aged 4-17 from all different disadvantaged backgrounds. Some are homeless and some live with relatives. Some of the children have escaped human trafficking in Thailand, and others have parents who are victims to the increasing drug problem in this country. The center has different resources available for the students. Academic, athletic, and musical activities, but more than anything, a safe place to come play and be kids.

PARIS!

Jess and I in a cafe in Paris on our whirlwind city tour/flight layover.

Arriving in Vientiane

Hello Friends and Family!
So, after being an "anti-blogger" for so long here I am, joining the club. Just so you all know, this is not going to be one of those "here is a detailed list of everything I did today listed in 10 minute increments" or "just got up and went to the fridge for a snack" BUT I figured since I am in somewhat of a new life situation there could be some people interested, and if not, I don't have to fill up every one's inbox with mass emails, so I'm taking the passive route. Is that enough of an excuse?!

Anyway, after a week of thought provoking orientation in Akron, Pennsylvania and a fun weekend in NY saying good bye to the country (thanks Lynn!) I have arrived here in Vientiane, Laos. I am working with Mennonite Central Committee, an organization focused on bringing service and justice to the world. I will be working at Hope Center, a community center reaching out to disadvantaged children, and also teaching English to young adults.

Right now, we are staying at an MCC guesthouse and taking Lao language courses. Learning a language where the tone of the word is more significant than the actual sounds made is proving to be quite a challenge. But then I go to the market or hear kids playing and I'm so excited to become proficient enough in this language to be able to feel a part of the culture. I will be in school for several weeks before starting my job.

Although I'm still in the "honeymoon" period and I still think everything is beautiful and everyone is wonderful and it's kind of funny sweating copious amounts every day, I really am so excited to be here and thrilled to see what kinds of adventures will be coming my way these next 11 or so months.