Taste of Home

As our friends and family in America joined together in the spirit of Thanksgiving, celebrating with good company and good food, Jeffrey and I also joined in to give thanks. But things are different here in SE Asia, and we realized that it would be just as difficult to fly all our loved ones here to celebrate with us as it would be to try make a whole thanksgiving meal. So what could we feasibly do? After scratching our brains and talking things through, we decided to fore go turkeys and mashed potatoes this year, and try our hands at making – pancakes!

Making the mix

On Friday, November 26, 2010, MCC Tha Thom staff and district partners were hosting a farewell party for our Project Manager. Even though it was the day after Thanksgiving, we decided to contribute our pancakes to the mix of traditional Lao dishes. We weren’t sure at first if the pancakes would turn out as we were missing milk, but we decided that sweetened condensed milk is close enough as long it is watered down thoroughly. We started cooking them over a fire with our cast iron skillet (the most awesome find during our shopping for kitchen accessories). The pancakes drew quite a crowd. Our district partners even asked to try their hand at cooking them.

Help from District partner

Our 'Thanksgiving' feast

In the end we had enough small pancakes for forty people, who apparently, enjoyed them greatly because there were none left over for breakfast! Next year we may try to make the more traditional Thanksgiving dishes, but we also might just keep pancakes in the back of our mind.
(Thank you to Wendy Martin for the pictures.)
Posted by Kaarina

Tuk-tuks and Log Trucks

So this blog entry is for all of you who are wondering, might be wondering or haven’t even asked yourself, “So what kind of vehicles do you have in Lao?” That is a great question! Hopefully, this blog will give you a pictorial experience that will answer that question.

First we have the infamous ‘tuk-tuk’ famous in many Asian countries and known by various names. This three wheeled machine buzzes the streets of Vientiane and is available for hire. They come in different sizes, but all are put together with miss-matched parts from cannibalized motorcycles and other vehicles.

Tuk-tuk

The second is similar to the ‘tuk-tuk’ in name and use. The ‘dtek-dtek’ is the primary work horse in rural farms and the modern version of a water buffalo (minus the milk). However, it's use extends to local hire, putting down the street to Tha Thom and to neighboring villages. Farmers take these ‘powerhouses’ anywhere, including crossing rather deep rivers. It is interesting to note that they are started by a hand crank!

Dtek-dtek

Washing the Dtek-dtek

The next vehicle is the bamboo raft! Although they are simple they are used to ferry goods and motorcycles that are too small across deep rivers.

Bamboo Rafts

“But what if the river is too deep for a larger vehicle?” Well I am glad you asked because now we bring in the big guns; the grader ferry!

Grader Ferry

Another mode of transportation we have become accustomed to is the long boat. They come in various sizes and with different sized engines. The down side: they aren’t incredibly comfortable so for long trips we recommend a pillow and be sure to wear long sleeves lest you tempt the UV rays to turn you into a beet! These contraptions may also find themselves literally grounded in the dry season.

Long River Boat

Another Boat

We move now to larger beasts of burden. The first I throw in for interests sake…the commercial truck with dual steering axles! These machines negotiate the narrow roadways of Vientiane delivering many supplies, mostly from Thailand.

Dual Steering Axles!

The next heavy-weight is the log truck converted from an old army frame. These are seen frequenting Tha Thom and neighboring villages, picking up logs and delivering them to the mill north of town.

Log Truck

“So how do you get around when you visit project villages?” Another good question! We have several options: walking, running, riding bike, dtek-dtek, small motorcycle (100cc), large motorcycle (250cc) or by pickup. The larger motorcycles seem to be one of the staff favorites if they can manage the starts and stops! The average Lao stature is short, so many staff start by using a step and try to stop somewhere else in the same manner.

250cc Kawasaki

On longer trips the pickup up is nice ride. It traverses rivers and mountains with relative ease and it’s AC is a blessing in the hot and dust season. The current road situation in Tha Thom and the surrounding towns makes a truck with brush guard, snorkel and winch a good option.

Toyota Helix Vigo

Road Construction

Finally, “How do you get around Tha Thom?” The answer is simple: by bike!

Posted by Jeffrey

Khmu Village

Kaarina and I have been blessed these past two weeks to have Bounpheng help us in our work. Bounpheng is a former IVEP’er and has done translation work for MCC in the past. He will help us as we begin our work as our Lao is still in its infancy. He is an immense help, teaching us more technical Lao words and couching our sentence structure. In addition to Lao, Thai and English, Bounpheng also speaks Khmu.

Studying with Bounpheng

 Work in Tha Thom recently brought us to Thitnoon, a Khmu village roughly 21km to the south. 103 families call the village home and all the structures are built in the traditional stilted style with bamboo walls. The village does not yet have electricity, but running water is present provided by the first development organization that worked in the area.

Thitnoon Village

A Traditional Home

   After arriving to the village in the afternoon, bathing in the river, learning a few key Khmu words and eating chicken soup we retired to bed in one of the homes. Bed consisted of a mat, blanket and pillow. Morning began early (3:00am) when the roosters began to stir and some farmers started getting ready for the day. We decided to wait stay in bed till 6:30am.

Evening in the Village

Morning Sun

The reason for our trip to Thitnoon was to observe the agricultural team’s workshop about animal raising and vaccines. About 107 villagers attended, plus the MCC agricultural team, several government officials and us, all crammed into a small classroom.
Topics of the day included:
1. A recent law stating that all farmers must keep their animals contained during the night and work harder to keep them from destroying crops. Farmer’s heard the new law and agreed that it is good to start following.
2. Basic needs of animals.
3. Importance of vaccinations.
4. Breeding.

Village Farmers at the Animal Training

We are eager to get to know the other villages in which MCC works.

Posted by Jeffrey

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