A day in the village (thus far)

Already November and we’re into our second week in Tha Thom. Wow! It’s wild to think about sometimes, but life is starting to feel kind of normal… waking in the morning and looking out the window to the beautiful mountain ridge and rice fields. Reading, getting dressed in my sihn and blouse and then heading down to the guesthouse restaurant for some breakfast. Breakfast usually consists of sticky rice, soup, jeyo (Lao ‘salsa’ usually made from chilies) and some other vegetable or meat dish. Then Jeffrey and I ride across town on our bikes. We usually join a number of other villagers and school children heading to the office or school. Today Jeffrey and I decided that Tha Thom does not have the local ‘rush hour,’ but ‘dust hour.’ And we hear it only gets worse in the dry season! Uffda!

Down the road from the office

Main Street

 A normal office day starts at about 8am, and Jeffrey and I try to arrive to the office with enough time to drink a warm cup of tea/coffee and chat with co-workers before work is started. I should mention here that we’ve entered the Lao cool season (November-January). With sunshine I would consider the weather absolutely perfect, but nights and mornings can get a bit chilly. Imagine my surprise though when I realized a few days ago that ‘chilly’ for me has now started at 21°C (70°F!). I'm afraid my tough Minnesotan skin is already becoming accustomed to the warm tropics and I may soon join the locals with their coats, gloves and stocking caps!

During the work day, Jeffrey and I are not very busy… mostly due to our lack of being able to communicate with the other staff about work topics. We have been trying to keep busy though, with whatever we can find helpful. Jeffrey has been battling the viruses on the office computers and trying to make them run a bit faster. He had a great victory yesterday (finding and destroying a virus before it was able to attack) and he was pretty pumped! He also will join the nutrition team soon, learning about their planning and presentation strategies and joining them as they visit target villages. My main daily activity has been ‘het ahan Lao’ (making Lao food) with the MCC cook/housekeeper. She is from a nearby village and is two years younger than me, but can sure cook up a storm. There is not much food variety here in Tha Thom, sticky rice or white rice, vegetables are mainly leafy greens though occasionally we have eggplant, sweet potatoes or squash, and a choice of meat from water buffalo, pork, beef or fish. I am amazed that even from a limited variety of food, we eat a wonderful variety of dishes. I hope I can learn much from her!

MCC Office

 The office day comes to an end at about 4:30pm. After work is a perfect time to go walking or riding bike on the road as a number of other villagers do the same thing. As people pass by you will hear the common greeting “Bai sai?” (‘Where are you going?’) to which the response generally is “Bai lin!” (the best English translation would probably be ‘Just cruisin’!’).

After supper anywhere from 6 to 7pm, I’m pretty much worn out, so after a chilling bike ride back across town, a quick visit and cup of tea with our guest house family, Jeffrey and I head to our room for a shower (no such thing as a ‘hot’ shower, but if the water is too freezing we’ll try boil some water to take the chill off) and then bed.

So life goes in the village.

Posted by Kaarina