Fun Times

The first few days of life in Laos were a little crazy and emotional for me. But since then, life has settled down somewhat and I feel like I'm adjusting to life here in a rather awkward foreigner kind of way (example, we couldn't read the menu today at lunch - lo and behold, there was no English *gasp* - so we just pointed at a random item, hoping that we'd like what arrived at the table. And, just a note, we did - it was fried rice.) Everyone is so gracious at our incompetency and people are always smiling and saying sabaidee when we walk by or ride by on our bikes. In general, this is just a really friendly and warm place, and it has made the inevitable awkward adjustments really rather pleasant (most of the time!:)

So here are some pics from the last week that capture (or at least attempt to) the lighter, relaxed and enjoyable moments of everyday life. I'm really learning to laugh at myself here... it's an absolute necessity when adjusting to a new culture (and I had a really funny thing happen to me today...but more about that next post), so hopefully these photos will help you to see that side of life here :)

One of my favorite times of the day is dinner and our favorite place to get food is the Night Market I've mentioned a few times before. Here is Christa feasting on some of our purchases the other night - freshly grilled chicken, curry, sticky rice and green beans. It was pretty amazing! I'm definitely not suffering when it comes to food!

This was supposed to be an up-close picture of our food, but oh well..

Breakfast is also another one of my favorite times of the day (notice a theme here?:) We usually eat in my room - a simple meal consisting of bread and fruit and recently we've been trying some "new" fruits (as in, fruits that don't grow in the states or that we've never eaten). The one below is called mangosteen in English and it basically looks like garlic cloves after it's peeled. As you can see, it's a little smaller than an apple and it has a really soft, sweet texture. I'm becoming a big fan, but peeling it is a little messy.

September is the end of the rainy season here and I'm personally glad that we came in at the tail end. I mean, not that rain gear isn't totally the fashion these days and all, but ya know...

Just so you know... this extra mass is not from all the amazing food I've consumed. This is me protecting my backpack...and looking like a crazy American in the process.

It usually just rains at night (like almost every night there's a torrential downpour around 9 or 10 and it seems to last until around 4 or 5). But yesterday, it rained pretty much all day. Not a downpour, but at a steady rate nonetheless. Of course, yesterday was also the day we had to bike to several different places - probably went about 10 miles total - so by the end of the day I felt pretty soggy. I think I need to invest in better (and more fashionable?!) rain gear...all the rain would collect on my poncho and then dump right onto my pants making it look like I'd had quite the accident. As you can see, awkward foreigner moments are a daily (hourly?) occurence, but it's all part of the learning process.

 
Another one of my favorite things about this place is the little shops that sell things on the street (oh, I guess that also falls in the food-ish category). The other day we stopped and got exotic colored drinks from big tubs...they serve them in bags with wide-mouthed straws. It has bubbles in it and is kinda milky and kinda sweet. They were delicious, though a little tricky to drink while riding a bike. You can see below that Christa's was a bright pink and mine was a bright green.

This pic sums up my friendship with Christa...I'm looking earnest and she's laughing at me. Ok, maybe it's not always that way, but I think this snapshot captures our personalities pretty well. We were - guess what - eating at an Asian Fusion restaurant. Actually, most of my fun times here have involved Christa in some way too.  We've explored the city on bikes, tried all sorts of foods, made cookies, hung out with our Lao buddies, and just laughed and talked a ton... it's been a huge blessing to have that kind of friend here.