Fun with Saffron Staff

 We've really been enjoying spending time with all the employees at Saffron. We see them often since we've been working at the shop. I've been going to the bakery early in the mornings twice a week and getting to know the girls out there as we bake kanom (sweets/junk food).
 Michael has been working hard teaching some new menu items at the shop, so he's been getting better acquainted with the staff at the shop. He's excited to get them trained and begin serving the new menu.
 Last weekend our friend who is the owner of Saffron had the staff out to some of his land. We ate hot dogs:) and sang songs together...some English, some Lao. It was a lot of fun just kicking back with them and enjoying one another's company.
 We threw the football, the girls prepared papaya salad and fruit, my friend braided some of our hair:) It was a lot of fun! We're looking forward to building stronger relationships with these guys.

Lao appetizer...it was too spicy for us "falang"

the guys throwing the football

this land is surrounded by mountains...gorgeous

this is our friend from the bakery

Cooking in Laos

Since we've moved to Laos, it has been a little more time consuming for us to cook because there's no Walmart or Kroger to run and get something that you're used to having pre-prepped. Beth has been very helpful to us since she's been doing this for two years.

Some of the things that Michael often makes from scratch are bread, granola, tortillas, pizza, and cookies.

There is an endless supply of fruits and vegetables here, but finding a good piece of meat is tricky.

I wanted to share some pictures so that you can see some of the delicious things that Michael is making.  I'm also including a couple of pics of the markets so that you can get an idea of what kinds of things are available.

We are definitely not going without here! I am so blessed to have such a talented husband:) 

Salsa with green mangoes

Pizza

Shrimp stuffed Chicken breast and fried mushrooms

Chicken breast, veggies, and sticky rice

Meat in a local market

Granola

Some vegetables at a local market

Visiting a Village

As Michael and I celebrated our four years of marriage, we had the opportunity to spend our first night in a village. It made quite a memorable anniversary.

It all started when I suggested that we offer to take a friend to his village in order for him to take care of some paperwork. Michael was shocked because I actually had a spontaneous idea:) I guess after four years, he's rubbing off on me a little!
Anyway, he accepted  and  invited us to stay with his family.

On the way out we stopped at a market and bought some fresh fish. Michael and our friend began preparing it to cook when we arrived at his home. While waiting on dinner, his mom asked if we were going to bathe. When we responded negatively, we read by her body language and facial expression,  that she was appalled, and quickly corrected ourselves with the appropriate response.

For those of you who do not know about the village bathrooms, they are usually outside, have a "spatty potty", and a barrel of water for scooping water out to flush the potty, wash your hands, and take a dip bath. If you're not familiar with the term "spatty potty", see the picture on the side of the blog. The ones in the village usually aren't porcelain, though:)

This was not my first time for a dip bath, but it was the first one outside. Their particular bathroom was an enclosed cement square area outside. It was actually quite nice, with a porcelain spatty potty. It was rather chilly in that village since it is a little further in the mountains than where we live, which added an extra challenge. Surprisingly, it was a nice experience. When else do you get a chance to bathe under the starry night?

After bathing and dinner, we sang a couple songs. Then for bed time, our hosts brought down our bedding from upstairs. We had two comfy mats, blankets, pillows, and a mosquito net. We slept very comfortably and got great rest. Michael did, however, wake up with a cold because like I mentioned before, it was considerably colder in this village than in our city.

The Month of Weddings

    This was our first wedding. The lady next to me is our neighbor. This was her son's wedding.

   We have been to four weddings in the past four weeks! This is obviously a very popular season for weddings. Weddings are a very big occasion in Lao, maybe even more so than in the States. Every wedding we've been to has been much bigger than most I have attended back home.

This was a wedding out in a village.

    For Buddhist weddings, usually only the family attends the ceremony, which is a time of string tying and giving of blessings for the couple. Afterwards, there is a big dinner party, which is where the invited guests attend. There are hundreds of tables set up with either food set out on the tables or a buffet. At the entrance of the party, you're greeted with a shot of liquor. There is a place to put your envelop with your enclosed wedding offering, which is hand delivered to your house with your invitation to the wedding. It also has your name printed on it, so it's best to be generous with your gift!

The bride and groom of our first wedding to attend. Their wedding attire is beautiful.

    There is either a band playing live music or a dj playing songs and lots of dancing. The Lao have there own style of dancing called fawn, which I've tried once and don't plan on doing again in public until I've practiced in private:)

This is Beth doing a Lao line dance.

   The Christian weddings we've attended have ceremonies that many guests attend, not just family. The bride walks the aisle, they have a pastor perform the ceremony, and they light a unity candle. At the end, they give gifts to the pastors and some of the family members. The after party is the same, but they usually don't serve alcohol.

I know this is hard to look at sideways, but I couldn't get it to rotate:( I just wanted everyone to see the fancy skirts we get to wear to weddings. It's so fun because most of the women go get their nails and hair done. Beth and I have gone together twice already to get our hair done for weddings.

New Year, New Friends

Over the New Year holiday, Michael and I went down to the river near our house. We saw a man washing clothes and began talking with him. Naturally, he spoke very little English, but we were able to learn some things about him. We learned that his wife had just had a baby the day before. We also found out that he was staying on our street. We took a gift over and met some of his family. We practiced language with them and I taught them to play Spades. We were so excited to have some new friends in our neighborhood! Then we found out that he and his wife do not live here, but in Vientiane. They left a couple days after we met them.  We did, however, meet some of his extended family that live near us. We've been able to spend a lot of time with them. We have had a couple meals with them, one of them including rat!!

When I went over for a visit, I noticed some young men playing cards. I asked them what they were doing and they invited me to play. We all sat down and they handed me the cards and looked at me. I quickly thought of a game I knew how to play...Spades! I had the best time teaching them with the little Lao that I was able to speak.

This is the sweet baby that was only one day old when we met him. They hadn't even named him yet. The dad asked Michael for suggestions! We hope to see this sweet family again. We're visiting Vientiane soon, so maybe we'll catch up with them. Michael has kept in touch with the husband over the phone, which is hilarious to listen to since the man speaks virtually no English and Michael speaks little Lao.

Merry Christmas From Laos!

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Ours was unique...one we'll always remember.

There was none of the hustle and bustle we're accustomed to in America. We woke up and everyone around us did everything as usual....the adults were going to work, the children were going to school, nothing seemed special about the day. It was a little disappointing, but at the same time it was refreshing because it reminded us that Christmas isn't about all the warm fuzzies, it's about reflecting on and rejoicing in our Savior.

 We did get to enjoy some of our traditions from the States:

we decorated a tiny Christmas tree,

 made lots of yummy candies,

gave gifts to friends,

ate lots of good food,

.

and even got to sing Christmas songs in front of a lot of people!

Baan Muan Na

     We have finally gotten settled into our new house!! Baan Muan Na is the name of our neighborhood. It's very exciting to have our own place to call home after visiting many guest houses. We have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a big kitchen, a living room, and a dining area.

  Here's our living room (it came with that TV:).

This is our dining area.

Here's one of our guest bedrooms, for any of you who want to come visit!

Here's the kitchen.  ITS A WORK IN PROGRESS!

Bread Baking and Inom Stories

  I had the chance to go to our friend's bakery and "help" bake bread.  I thought it'd be good practice for me to go work with her and her helper and listen to their Lao. It was a blast. I slowed down the process a good bit, but they were exceptionally gracious.
   The process includes making dough, rolling it into loaves, letting it rise, putting it in the oven, letting it cool, slicing it, and finally packaging it for sale. They have an incredibly efficient system, which I slowed considerably. You should have seen me trying to throw the dough up and roll it into a perfect little ball...it was quite humorous. They had to show me countless times. I got to make my own loaf. It was not quite as pretty as theirs, but it tasted just as delicious.
   It was a great time of laughter, talking, learning, and getting to know each other better. I look forward to going back tomorrow.
  After class, we got a call from our dear friend Mina. She invited us to dinner at what she called KFC. The place served incredible fried chicken. We took careful note of the location! We love to visit with Mina and the boys. There's always a good story to hear of what Inom, her three year old, has been up to. Last time he had taken his offering and bought cooked corn and sweet potatoes for lunch. This time he decided he didn't want to go to school. Mina left him with her cousin before school, only to come to find him still with her in the afternoon. He had the tiniest booboo on his knee, which he told his cousin disabled him from walking. A miracle occurred in the afternoon, however, when the time came for dinner at the KFC. He could walk! Amazing! We get such a kick out of him.

Halloween

  Last week, we had our first experience bargaining with the taxi, or tuk tuk, drivers. We think we got a pretty good deal for foreigners:) The prices vary considerably for foreigners. In order to ride through the streets near our hotel, we have to cover our faces because of all the dust. We're hardly recognizable.

 On Halloween, Michael and I searched nearly all of the foreigner minimarts for the ingredients to make pizza. One of our new friends, Ta, is a baker and she's interested in learning to make pizza, so Michael agreed to teach her. The most difficult thing for us to find was the mozzarella cheese for a reasonable price. We finally found all we needed and used Ta's bakery to cook. We had a great time and the pizza was delicious, or "saap"(pronounced with an elongated short a sound).

That Luang

   Yesterday we went to the That Luang Festival with our friend Mina and her two boys. The That Luang festival is celebrated among monks and laypeople all over Laos. It is a time when the Buddhists burn incense and give alms to gain merit for the afterlife. It lasts for several days. It was similar to a fair in the states. There was lots of food and other vendors selling all different kinds of things.
  When we first arrived, everyone was making a big fuss over something we couldn't understand, but it turned out that the president of Laos was passing a few meters away from us. How exciting:) 
  We walked around, Inom on Michael's shoulders, checking it all out. Then the boys rode bumper cars - which Michael compared to an actual head-on collision, and he has the bruises to prove it. We ate dinner together, which consisted of lots of sticky rice, grilled chicken, and some other dishes I can't say. Mina and the boys ate one of the foods we read about before we came that we said we'd rather not partake of. It is an egg with a somehow cooked baby chicken inside of it. Isaac seemed to enjoy it. Mina ordered one for us, but she sent them back when she correctly read our body language and facial expressions.
  It was a fun night to top off a pretty hectic day. We relocated to a hotel yesterday, which involved repacking and unpacking a lot of stuff. Baw pen yang..... Lao for no problem:) The place is very nice, but we already miss our surrogate family.

Our first week

     We've gotten settled in to our temporary home for language study. Our host family has been very welcoming and hospitable. We're learning to do things the Lao way:) One new thing we're learning to do is take dip bathes. You use a scoop and a barrel of water to take your shower. We're also learning to eat the Lao way, which is to use your fingers and dip in community bowls.
     Our language study has been great. We have class every day from 1:30 to 4:45. We've learned all of the consonants and next week we'll study the vowels. We've also learned to introduce ourselves and say some basic conversation phrases. It's still difficult for us to order food or ask for things at the store. Yesterday, Michael thought he was asking for water and they offered him milk.
    Last night, Michael made chocolate covered pecans and we took them to our neighbors. The kids loved them. The little boy had chocolate all over his face. The children there are helping us with our Lao. They get a real kick out of us. The man of the house gave us Lao names. Michael is Sai and I am Duan. Sai means winner and Duan means moon.
   Michael has gotten pretty good as driving the motorbike. The traffic near our house has been crazy!! We're making it in one piece from home to school to the one coffee place we know how to get to. It has been a real adventure.

We've just arrived in Laos. We've reunited with our good friends Jason and Beth in this warm and welcoming country. It has been a dream come true thus far! We'll get some pictures on here in a day or two.