THIS IS WHY WE ARE HERE

Teeter totter
Bread and water
Wash your face
In dirty water.

Remember the old see saw rhyme?

 This morning, I hopped in the shower. It was nice and warm but it is unfiltered water of course. So you keep your mouth shut and don't drink it. The picture above is not my shower. It is a sink outside a toilet facility at a school. Many of the sinks in these schools do not have water because the wells go dry in the dry season or their well is an open well that has to be hand drawn as Jack and Jill did when they went up the hill. Not only that, when the well goes dry, the toilets have to be locked because there is no water to flush them.

Some schools do have water but the water is salty or has high bacteria count. It can be used for flushing toilets. So that is better than nothing.

All this sink needs is a tap and some water. Sounds simple, no?

Here is the process for bringing water to the pupils.

First the schools ask for some help from our charity. We have so many requests, it takes a while to get to the most needy schools. 

Then, we make a visit to the school and look at the situation to see if they have any sources of water that are underutilized; have wells that can be rehabilitated; or really have sufficient water for their needs.

This one is an open well that is used for hauling bucket loads out by hand to flush toilets(as they have been doing). It will be filled in once the new well is working.

If we decide we can drill a well for them, the well must be on high ground far away from any contamination. This is just a pond near a school.

 Our contractor begins pinpointing where to put the well once the contracts have been signed and approved by the school, village leaders and  Deseret International Charities (DIC is our charity that is funded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Also, the toilets we build must be far enough away  to not be a source of contamination later. 

This is Earl Jorgenson facing the camera. He and his wife are also serving as humanitarian missionaries here in Laos. The contractors in the distance are building toilets for the school now that the well is drilled. Our driver is the one with his back to the camera.

The water tank is then hoisted up so the water can be stored for use. The school builds a concrete and brick structure around the well and the pump so that the well remains clean and the pump isn't stolen. After the trenches are dug by the village residents, the pipe is laid to connect sinks, toilets and faucets to the tank.
A handover ceremony is held to turn everything over to the school so that they can take care of it and use it. It is a festive occasion.

'Tis a Gift to Be Simple

'Tis the gift to be simple,

'Tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down

Where we ought to be,

A couple of weeks ago, a student in one of our English classes lamented the fact that Vientiane has changed so much in the last 30 years.  He remembered streets that were not crowded with cars and life was more simple. He said people were more content. Now there are so many vehicles of all sorts, it takes lots of time just to go a few kilometers. I see his point for sure.

I am, however, experiencing just the opposite. There is something quite peaceful about having only two suitcases full of personal belongings  to fill my drawers and closet. Remember, that includes clothing and personal items like lots of mosquito repellent.

I know, I know. That's not a mosquito and no amount of repellent will help with this big boy (who by the way probably doesn't bite).

I once read a book by Anne Morrow Lindberg called Gift from the Sea. She took a few items with her to a beach house and unwound her complicated life by living simply.

I am not living like that. But, in a way life is simpler here. We are very busy everyday with our projects and our teaching. We have things waiting in the wings like a project to take 25 tons of rice to some flood victims in Southern Laos. But, at least I don't have a lot of possessions to worry about. Which means, I do laundry a little more often but they are smaller batches that are easily washed and hung out on the line.

Tonight as I was heating up the water with which to rinse the dishes, I thought about how at home my water is already hot and clean out of the tap. I throw the dishes into the dishwasher and do a load once a day. But, even boiling water for drinking doesn't really take that much time compared to the time some of my distractions take at home. By the way, I don't count my children and grandchildren as distractions.  I do miss my kids and grandchildren. But, you'd be surprised at how easy it is to keep connected with video chats and email.

Life here took a little getting used to at first but I have a gas stove and oven; a washer; a fridge, a water purifier that takes out most of the impurities;  a computer with the internet; and a microwave. I think the most important thing I have is a comfortable bed. Life is good. 
The only thing I buy is food and household supplies.

But, have I mentioned that one of the biggest blessings is that we don't have to drive in this traffic. We walked to the grocery store the other day and the bank. Today we walked to the mall.

 We have the best driver to drive us to all of our well sites and our English Classes and a million other places that we can't walk to easily. If we had to find the schools on those back roads....we'd be lost for days. And now we've come full circle where I'm talking about the traffic my student was complaining about.

We reminded him that the life expectancy has gone up and people generally don't have as much back breaking work. He shrugged and still yearned for the good old days.

THERE GO THE BOATS

Dark brown is the water.

Yellow is the sand.

It flows along forever

With trees on either hand.

                         --R. L. Stevenson

This week was a festival for the Boat Races.

We were lucky enough to get an invitation to sit here under the tent on the front row. The government was very generous to us.

This is the area where we were seated. Glenn is standing right behind the seats we were sitting in. I don't know why he didn't take any pictures of us. How will you believe that we were there? Maybe these pictures will help.

A look to the left along the banks of the Mekong. See the booths set up for games and selling food and goods.

 This was floating out there at the finish line. We are in Laos but you can see the banks of Thailand on the other side of the river.

 Two of the smaller boats on Saturday.  There was a large and small boat division. 12 people were on the small boats.

A little closer look at the small boats.

This makes the announcer at Santa Anita Racetrack sound like he's on Valium.

 I loved the long boats!

 This was at the conclusion of the race as they headed to the bank near us to pay respects to the judge who was standing in a boat at the finish line just below us.

 And now they bow to the judge before they splash water on themselves to cool off.

 Awww the life. A floating hut.

 Another boat.

And this was our walk home after we went to the festival that night.

MEKONG LIGHTS

We watched them rise
We saw them fly
The river launched them
To the sky.

We just watched the most interesting thing. It is called "bung fai paya nak" if you spell it phonetically.  The Jorgensens (our friends who work with us and live above us) called us and told us to look out out our back window into the sky. We saw what looked like small planes flying low over the river.  But they weren't planes. Glenn got out his camera and they are little fire balls up in the sky. They floated through the air like hot air balloons but not nearly as big. These just kept coming and coming and coming.  It was really cool.  Here is the explanation I got from a wikipedia:

The Naga fireballs (Thai: บั้งไฟพญานาค; RTGS: bang fai phaya nak), also known to as Mekong lights, and “bung fai paya nak” by the locals, is a phenomenon with unconfirmed source said to be often seen in Thailand’s Mekong river, which is also seen in (Nong Khai province in Isan) and in Laos (Vientiane Province)—in which glowing balls are alleged to naturally rise from the water high into the air. The balls are said to be reddish and to have diverse sizes from smaller sparkles up to the size of basketballs; they quickly rise up to a couple of hundred metres before disappearing. The number of fireballs reported varies between tens and thousands per night. 

WHAT'S FOR LUNCH?

My mom gave me a nickel
To buy a pickle
I didn't buy a pickle
I bought intestines.

Today we saw some delicacies cooking on a grill at a school. I asked what they were and Khamphee pointed to his stomach and said insides.  It was intestines threaded very nicely on skewers, back and forth, so it looked like noodles stacked on a stick and barbequed. Don't worry. I just looked at them, I didn't eat them. 

Later, we ate at a nice little restaurant that served us very delicious food. I had fried rice with chicken.  Glenn had sticky rice and beef lab (pronounced lap). Both were very very good.  You just have to know what to order.  Also, we're in the midst of a boat race festival that has plugged up all of Vientiane's streets with traffic because of road closures. We saw this car with the name of my mother on the rear window.

We see more interesting things in the street cafes now because of the festival.  There is a mystery product I call boiled eggs shish kabob.  Really, it is 4 or 5 eggs still in their brown shells pierced through the middle and out the other side so it looks like eggs on a stick. Maybe it just saves them from having to bag up some boiled eggs? I'm not sure.  I need to ask someone. 

We did encounter something that kind of bothered me a tad. While looking at a broken water pump, we heard some pigs squealing their heads off.  I looked over and they had tied a pig's front legs together and the back legs together and had it upside down on a pole. They went behind a wall and slaughtered it. I won't describe that but it wasn't pretty. I really need to toughen up, right?

Cute little kids were playing the Lao equivalent of "I had a little doggie and he won't bite you" and "London Bridge is falling down". The tune was totally different but the movements and rhythm were almost exactly the same.  I tried to do a video but they saw me pull out the camera and they scattered. 

LITTLE BO PEEP HAS LOST HER SHEEP

Leave them alone

And they will come home

Dragging their tails behind them.




Today I thought of Mary had a little lamb when I saw these goats walking into the schoolyard we were visiting.  They walked right in the gate and went toward the main part of the building as if they had some business to attend to. No one deterred them.  It is a live and let live environment here. As a matter of fact I'm probably the only one that gave them a second thought. 

The other day as we were driving along we passed cows and goats meandering down the dirt road here and there with no one driving them or leading them. They grazed as they went along with no apparent destination in mind.

So, I asked our driver, Khamphee, if the cows were branded so the owners could claim them if they wandered away to some other family's property. First of all he didn't know what branding meant and then seemed quite amused at the thought that anyone would need to do such a thing to claim his own cows.

He laughed and said, "They know them. They know their own cows." We chuckled and said that a lot of cows look alike and we asked what would happen if a cow was claimed by two people. He said, "Ohhh. We just let cow choose. If two people think it is their cow... just turn cow loose and let him go home." 

Then he said that one time after a day of his chickens being loose in the neighborhood  he gathered his chickens to their pens and found one was missing. Later on he saw his chicken in the neighbor's pen. He asked the neighbor for his hen back and the neighbor said it was his own chicken. Khamphee said he suggested he let the chicken go and see where it went. As soon as the chicken was set free he headed off home to Khamphee's house. 

That did not satisfy the neighbor and he held a grudge. No amount of common sense would win him over so Khamphee's wife said, "Ahh, let him have the chicken." It wasn't worth losing a friendship.

SHY VIOLET

Everyone is familiar with the term shy violet. I don't know where the expression came from. But there is a plant in Laos called the Shy Mimosa that lives up to it's name.  

      This is right outside our apartment building next to the curb.

TO MARKET, TO MARKET

To market to market to buy a fat hen
Home again home again jiggety jen
To market to market to buy some fresh eel
Home again home again jiggety jeel.
To market to market to buy bugs and things
Home again home again home jiggety jings.





Well, this week we went to a very interesting market. In Lao, market is pronounced, talad. It was a large market with fresh food from eggs to meat; from vegetables to fruit; from rice to noodles; from live eels to live locusts ( or maybe grasshoppers) to live frogs. I will do a visual  show and tell of our excursion at the market.

This food was already prepared and ready to eat. Crispy locusts. At the bottom left are some cooked larvae.

How about a close up? The yellow parts are the thick part of the locust legs.

Yes, these are alive. Eels and locusts. Off camera are live fish and frogs. We didn't buy any.

Fruit we have never seen in the USA. We bought some dragon fruit.

This is dragon fruit before we cut the ends off and peeled it.

Nice little view after cutting.

This is the fruit that has the texture of a kiwi and is mildly sweet and delicious.

Also, today, our students grabbed us after class and bought us lunch.  We had water buffalo meat balls with a spicy sauce topped with chopped peanuts with cucumber on the side. We also had papaya salad, a deliciously spicy salad with a side of rice noodles.