Lao New Year!

The biggest Lao holiday of the year is upon us - Lao New Year.  I had a bunch of pictures to show, but my uploader is not cooperating, so I have just a few to whet your appetite :)  I don't know if I can quite capture Lao New Year with words (in the absence of pictures) but think water, water, beer, water, water, beer, water, water, beer, oh yeah and some loud music, some more water, oh wait mustn' t forget ice water, water and more beer.  Hmm, I think that encapsulates Lao New Year, at least to the foreigner's mind. 

Everyone has a party at Lao New Year which means you end up going to dozens of parties by the time the week is up. Below is a picture of the huge spread of food at one of the parties I went to with my students.

During the calmer part of the party :)

 This picture, and my student's face, captures my experience of Lao New Year so far... they pour water down your back as a way to bless you (and eventually it just becomes one huge water fight!).

The pouring of water represents the washing away of bad things you've done throughout the year. Pretty cool symbolism and hopefully a bridge for us into conversations. Today Sone, Sone's sister (Nouy), Christa and I are getting on a bus heading south to Khammuan, a province about 6 hours away from here. We're going to visit Thipphachanh, one of my students and also one of the girls who teaches me Lao. I'm excited to go to a new part of Laos that I've never been to before and am hoping it will be a fun bonding time as well.  Hopefully I can share lots of pictures when I get back.

Just a personal request from yours truly... Some of you may know this already, but my lowest times in Laos have occurred on the eve of Lao festivals and holidays, perhaps because of the activity going on in other realms that maybe I'm more sensitive to. I'm not exactly sure, but this week was another really low week for me. So I've just been asking the Father for mercy and protection as we head into this week. This is like the week for Lao people and they are all so excited to share their culture with us, so I just want to be free to enjoy my time with them, and when I'm feeling low that's really hard. I've been trying to practice thanksgiving as Ann Voskamp's book has so challenged me to do and the Father seems to be lifting my heart through that!