But I do want to share these experiences too! I think there is a balance...which I am still trying to find. Also, I think I just need to write shorter entries...I'll have to work on that, but there's just so much to tell!
i appologize for the pictures in this post...this computer doesnt let me look at them in the preview area, so i have to copy and paste the writing stuff (url?) into the text and i cant tell where it is going to end up!
As I was looking back at pictures to get ideas of things to share, I realized I never shared about my Lao birthday! It was actually a whole weekend of fun: fri, sat, sun! Friday September 24th was my real birthday! In the morning I went sinh shopping (the traditional Lao skirts) with Whitney and Touy because we were going to be attending a wedding on Oct 1st and needed a silk sinh AND a silk shirt, because that is what all the women wear to weddings. We had already had cotton sinhs but it was time to spend the big money (150,000 kip or ~$20) and get silk. Notice the HUGE selection of sinhs at just this one shop!!! and the most amazing part is that this was one of probably around 50 sinh sellers in this one market! not all sold these super bright silk ones, but it was still amazingly overwhelming walking through and trying to pick one!! We bought one here because the lady gave us a good discount. We were going to be her first customers of the day and it is a superstition amongst shopkeepers that if you can get a big first sale early in the day, you will have a good day of business for the rest of the afternoon. And selling two silk sinhs is a good first sale!!
Unfortunately, looking back, I regret the purchase. I should not have gotten a red one. It is just too bright and I can only wear it to very fancy occasions. If I had bought something with a more subtle color, I would feel a lot more comfortable wearing it and could even use it to teach or go to Lao church. Here is a pic of me (in the outfit purchased on my birthday) at the wedding:
Before heading to language school, I bought some lunch from some street vendors(my favorite thing!): a half a Vietnamese sub, two deep-fried bananas and two grilled bananas (the little baby-sized Lao bananas, maybe three or four inches long)...for a grand, tasty total of..$1 US. ahh, i love the exchange rate. I just don't think I'll ever be able to eat out in the US again! It'll just seem way too expensive! (Pheng poht!)
In Lao class we had a test. I did very well. I love tests.
After school Whitney and I stopped at our favorite little food market on the corner near the circus. It is just an empty lot during the morning, but round 3 or 4 o'clock all the vendors and carts start rolling in and by the time we get there at 5:15 it is a fabulous selection of street cuisine! Everything from chicken soup to doughnuts, fruit shakes to roasted pigs feet, and everything in between! For my birthday I got some of my favorite doughnuts and a "drink in a bag" of pineapple juice - with chunks of pineapple floating in it! yummmmm
I see from my journal here that I saw a family of 4 on a motorbike on my way home from Lao class on the afternoon of my 23rd birthday: mom, dad, and two kids under the age of 8 on one motorbike. of course, no helmets for anyone, either. They were going pretty slowly so they actually stayed near me (on my bicycle) for quite a while and I enjoyed waving to the kids, saying "hello!" and "sabaidee!" and laughing with them at this silly encounter we were having on highway. I love these random moments where I just have to smile and think "only in Laos..."
Dinner at my host family wasn't anything special (classic combination of fish, duck soup, and sticky rice) but they had cake for me after dinner! Their birthday traditions are pretty similar to ours (my host mom had her birthday just a week earlier: actually, counting me, my host family celebrated 6 birthdays in the first 6 weeks I lived there!).
They turn off the lights, bring in the cake with candles and sing "happy birthday" (same tune but they take out the "happy birthday dear [name]" and just say "happy birthday" twice in a row. simplifying it a bit). They go through the song twice: once slowly, clapping steadily...then the second time they do a crescendo, picking up speed until it ends in a flurry of clapping and cheering! Muan laai! (it's really fun!)
Funny family side-note: Anna, who is 4, gets her own small cake on other people's birthdays. and we light her own candles and everything. (you can see both of our cakes in the pic below) Apparently she gets really upset if someone else gets a birthday and she doesn't. She is definitely in the "temper tantrum" stage, so it's totally fine with me to do anything she wants, just as long as she doesn't start screaming and crying! Anna LOVES the birthday song too. She'll be singing it all evening once you get her started on it...
I got 2 presents on my birthday! Pauntip gave me my own Lao sarong to wear around the house like all the other women in my family. It's bright magenta with yellow flower-like designs. I wear it all the time! My host mom got me a yellow shirt to go with it. The only thing is...it's a polo shirt...that is about 4 sizes too big. I still wear it around the house, scrunching up the side with a hair tie so it doesn't feel quite so...roomy. They were very thoughtful gifts.
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