A Trip to the Village

On Thursday, I found out that I would have an unexpected four-day weekend. This is Laos, of course, and there'd been rumors we'd have Monday off but nobody knew for sure and then on Thursday afternoon, the president of the class I teach on Fridays (who also happens to be my language tutor) told me the class had decided not to meet on Friday because everyone wanted to go back to their hometown. Now that's a new thing for this teacher...to have the class decide not to meet (as opposed to the teacher) is an interesting concept! All of a sudden I was facing the prospect of four days of freedom and thinking about traveling somewhere, but not wanting to go by myself of course, since I do remember some things my mother taught me!

During Lao lessons I mentioned to Sonexay that I didn't no what I was going to do this weekend and she invited me to go back to her hometown with her. She lives about 2 hours north of Vientiane, and about 2 hours later we were on the bus together en route to Thalat, which is her village.  Unfortunately, in my packing haste, I neglected to bring my camera charger so I have no pictures of our time together, but it was definitely a huge highlight of my time in Laos so far. On the bus, the lady sitting next to us asked if I was married, how old I was, why I was in Laos (the typical  line of questions here!), and then told me that if I wanted to stop by her house I could meet her son because he was the same age as me, and of course, that meant we should get married!

We arrived at her hometown before dinner and went to the market right away to buy stuff to make dinner. It's pretty different here as far as shopping goes....usually in the states we make our list of things we need for the week (or maybe even more), go to the store, buy it all and then just pull it out as we need it. But in Laos, most people it seems buy food just for that day, or in the case of Sonexay's family, we basically went to the market before every meal to buy the food we needed.

We had sticky rice (my favorite, and a staple at almost every meal here in Laos), meat, vegetables and (are you ready?!) some beatle-looking bug things. When we were getting dinner ready, I looked in the bucket and there were about 30 bugs crawling around, and 2 bigger bugs that Sonexay put on a stick to roast over the charcoal fire.  Can't say that I tried any of them, but I did dip my rice in the sauce. I think this was the most "Lao experience" I've ever had, eating really Lao food as opposed to the things I pick and choose from in the market.  I did really like about 80% of it and the rest was just an interesting cultural experience. We sat on the floor for dinner around a small portable table made of wicker (or that's my best guess). 

On Saturday, we went to visit her grandparents. They have a big farm with tons of fruit trees and we walked all around and picked fruit straight from the tree. Sonexay said that when she was a child, she and her brother used to play on the farm, picking fruit from all the trees. Sounded like a Garden of Eden of sorts to me.

I was also able to see a lot of family pictures and saw pictures of Sonexay's brother who passed away last year of a brain tumor.  It's hard to imagine them going through that kind of a loss because her family is so close and obviously enjoys each other so much. Her parents work out of the home, making small shovels that they then take to the markets to sell.  On the weekends, the kids help the parents with the family business and work so much around the house.

The kitchen at their house was outside, covered but open-air and we cooked over a charcoal fire pit (words to aptly describe everything are failing me...Oh I wish I had my camera! But as Sonexay kept saying about everything, next time, next time!)  So hopefully next time I can take some pictures.

The hardest part about the weekend was the language barrier. Recently I've been feeling a lot more confident in my Lao ability and ironically in class this past week we talked about New Year's Resolutions and ways to gain confidence in language. I'd encouraged my students to not be afraid to make mistakes and take risks, so I was looking forward to practicing what I'd preached. But, wow, it was rough, and humbling! The first day was OK because you talk about easy stuff - where are you from, how many people in your family, why you came to Laos, etc.   But after that you enter into new topics and vocabulary that are unfamiliar and it was just a really frustrating language experience for me. I realized I have such a long way to go in my study of Lao, especially if I want to experience Lao culture with people who speak only Lao, which is what I really would love to be able to do.

 Here in Vientiane it is easy to get lazy in language study because so many people can speak English. But this was a good reminder that though I am making progress, I need to keep studying diligently. Sonexay was a gracious and patient translator the whole weekend. It has been fun to watch her and Thippachan's English improve as they've taught me Lao.  Being able to speak English well when you graduate is a really important skill, and unfortunately many people graduate from the English program unable to speak English well.

Her invited me to come back anytime that I am free, and on the way to the bus station her mom told me (through Sonexay's translating) that she could act as my Lao mother and if I ever needed anything I can ask her for help. Family is really important in Laos and the idea of your friends being close like family is really common. Friends often refer to each other as "older sister" (uai) or "younger sister" (nong saw). One of my favorite moments in Laos was when Sonexay said to me, "I want to be your little sister." And she often tells me when I'm worrying about inconveniencing her for something, "You are my sister!" I really like this part of Lao culture and how once you form these bonds they really want to take care of you and help you understand Lao culture. 

Well, I just wanted to share my weekend with you and next time I'll try to take pictures!

Happy New Year!