Perspective

This is an article from The New York Times.  It is interesting what an outside perspective will produce.  I am not sure when the author was driving around town without traffic, it must have been around 2 or 3 a.m.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/travel/36-hours-in-vientiane-laos.html

International Women's Day

March 8th is International Women's Day.  I have no idea why we don't celebrate this holiday in the US.  We have plenty of women.  I have lived in a couple of countries where this holiday has been celebrated in style.  Here in Lao, it is an actual holiday.  It is my understanding that some men had to work, but the women were excused.  We didn't have school.  I had planned on grading a bunch of papers.  I ended up spending some time at my favorite coffee shop in the morning.  In the late afternoon my friend Stephanie came over.  We watched Glee, had gummy bears, tacos, and chocolate chip cookies.  It was a great day.  Very relaxing. On Wednesday evening, my students presented me with a flower and good wishes for not only the holiday, but for the rest of the year.  The coffee shop gave me a second one with my breakfast.  Love, M.

Traffic

The traffic here is terrible.  I guess the only good thing about it is that people don't seem to get bent out of shape like they would in other places.  There isn't a lot of horn honking or fist shaking.  I think that is the only good thing.

Kyle said he felt like he was in a video game when he was driving here.  I don't think video game as much as a fight for my life.  It can get kind of hectic.  I recently read an article in the newspaper that said traffic accidents were on the rise.  They decided the highest risk group was young men ages 10-25.  That's the problem.  What are 10 year olds doing driving?  And, they are boys, not young men.  Good grief.

Two nights ago I was almost home, sitting at the last stoplight, thinking about how much I wanted to be home.  It had been a long, hot day, and I was ready to be done.  I knew it was my turn next, so I got ready.  Then two police officers stepped out and started blowing their whistles.  This is never good news.  It almost always means you won't get to go when it is your turn and the light just got really long.  Usually, it is when there is some sort of motorcade headed through town-those guys don't have to wait at stoplights.  I was mildly intrigued because I had not seen that at night, but mostly irritated because I was ready to be home.

Imagine my surprise when it was a Fire Engine racing through the light.  Seriously.  It made me wonder why they would need to do that.  It is pretty basic knowledge to know to get out of the way of an emergency vehicle.  I guess it doesn't always happen here.  At least they have those police officers with whistles.  Buckle up and stay safe.  Love, M.

Rain Suited Up

I bought a rain jacket when I was in Thailand in preparation for the upcoming rainy season.  Less than a week after arriving back in Laos in early Feb, we had a tremendous day of rain.  All of the locals declared it "very unusual."  Nevertheless, I was able to try out the new jacket.  It worked well but I found the lower half of my body dripping after only a few minutes on the road.

I promptly emailed Bri and told her to pick up a pair of pants for me before she got on the plane.  She did a great job.  I have yet to actually try them, but as you will see in the pictures, it looks promising.  Love, M.

Oops

I lose my keys a lot.  They aren't really lost, as much as misplaced.  I keep my motobike key separate from my house and gate keys because I don't want all of those keys in my ignition at once.  It was inevitable that I would lose my motorbike key.

It was the first day of school.  Bri was visiting.  I finished class, went back to my office, collected my stuff, and discovered my key was missing.  I had been to two different classrooms, and the bookstore-twice.  I retraced all of my steps with my anxiety growing by the minute.  It was my only key and I had no idea what I was going to do.  I was thinking that I would have to buy a new one.

Luckily, I have some friends who are more rational that I am.  They said, "no.  They can change the ignition."  What?  That's right.  Because theft is so common here, it is really easy to get a new ignition and a new key.  When we rolled the motorbike into the shop, they didn't even check my papers to see if it belonged to me.  They gave me an extra key, so next time, I have a back up.  Love, M

Unwanted Visitor, Part 2

You all know how I feel about lizards in the house.  If not, look back.  Well.  I had another encounter and think I handled myself much better this time around.

Last week I was getting ready for school.  It was in the early morning.  I had been in and out of my kitchen several times, including putting some dishes in the sink.  I was about to walk out the door, but wanted to rinse out my coffee cup.  I walked into the kitchen and look what I found.

I took a step back and said, "What are you doing in here?  And how did you get in?"  As if this little guy was going to answer me.  I calmly decided to trap him in a plastic cup and relocate him to the great outdoors.  I managed to do all of this without jumping or screaming or anything.  Progress.  Love, M.

Out of Order

Nope, not broken, just out of chronological order.  I have a TON of stuff to write about.  Normally when this happens, I get overwhelmed and don't write anything because I want to write about events in the order in which they occurred and you miss out.  Not this time.  Be warned.  I have had a very busy month and have a lot to write about.  Very little of it will be in order.  So, try to keep up.  Love, M.