Great News!

Hey everyone,
I know that I usually post with lots of pictures and stuff, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I got a fellowship at DU!!!! I am so excited to be heading off to Denver this fall to study Anthropology! I know, lots of exclamation points but I am just so excited! Don't worry, I'll do a posting on the Lao New Year celebrations soon, so we will be getting back to Lao culture and more pictures:)

Vacation in Thailand!

Hello all. So many days have passed since I last wrote that it is almost impossible to know what to tell you about! Should I tell you about the dinner that never happened? Or the dinner that did happen with four extra guests? Or maybe the Narnia party, that wasn't a Narnia party? Hmm, maybe I will tell you about my travel with Mom and Dad! We had a lovely time this February when Mom and Dad were able to come over and visit me in Thailand and Laos. Just after the Annual Thailand Conference with ELIC I met Mom and Dad in Bangkok. We even stayed at the same guest house that we stayed at 24 years ago when I got my first taste of overseas travel!

Then when we had had all we could take of the busy life of Bangkok we headed off to the Island of Koh Chang which is very near Cambodia. Life was much MUCH more relaxed there. We swam in the sea, walked on the beach, and even ate on the beach while listening to the surf.

The second or third day that we were on the island we took a quick trip to a fishing village that was at the end of the main road on the island. We had a wonderful time shopping, eating, and looking at the rather singular boats that were prolific there.

After Koh Chang it was off to Vientiane where we met up with the country leaders for Laos. We had a lovely time visiting with them and eating at my favorite Chinese restaurant. (It has the best dumplings! Next to Kylee's of course:)

Then after Vientiane we went up to Luang Prabang and enjoyed a little bit of cooler weather! It was maybe in the 70's instead of the 80's and 90's! Luang Prabang is known for its ancient temples so we of course had to visit at least one of them. We also took an evening river cruise on the Mekong with dinner included. Mom saw them rinsing the vegetables in the Mekong so it was not very surprising that I got a little sick that night:)

Next it was off to Pakse to meet "my girls" (three students that I have become good friends with) and the team! Mom and Dad had a good time seeing where I teach and live. And after a few days we all headed home.

Vientiane and Pakse

There are so many things to tell right now that I bearly know where to start! I guess first off I am now in Pakse after two months of Language training in Vientiane. My new teamates and I had a great time seeing the sights and learning how to speak a little bit of this new language. This picture from left to right is Linda, Nick, Amy, and Hannah all enjoying the warm sun our first week in Vientiane.

Soon after we got here some of us realized that our hair was just not going to behave in this perticular climate so we got our hair streightened by a friend of our conversation teacher Nu. Now my hair behaves almost all the time! I wonder why I did not think of this before? I am now toying with the idea of dying my hair dark blue but I think I will save that for the Summer when I do not need to look respectable:)




After our lovely time in Vientiane six of us moved on down to Pakse and we are very excited to be here finally. This picture is of the four of us girls who will be living together for this next year. From left to right it is Sarah, Amy, Hannah, and Me! Oh and we are in front of our house!

Laos at Last

Hello everyone. Well I have now been in Laos for a little over two months. I am so glad to be here finally! We got to Vientiane just at the end of the rainy season so we had lots of fun trying to stay dry. Actually this picture really doesn't do the rain justice, it rained VERY HARD.

We have also been enjoying the local food which is completely delicious! This meal that Amy is modeling so well of grilled chicken, sticky rice and papaya salade is fast becomeing one of my favorites!

One of the other joys of our first couple months in Laos was getting to know each other. This picture was taken on our bus trip down to Pakse when we visited last month. As you can see I will be having way too much fun with Hannah and Amy! They are such delightful girls!

One other thing about Laos is that everything is made for smaller people. Even Sarah, another delightful member of the team, had a hard time sitting up on our bus bed:)

The Last Weeks

For those who have been brave enough to check this blog again here is a little surprise, she did write! Thank you for your patience as the last couple of months have been rather hectic.

The most difficult thing for me this June and July was saying goodbye to my family, friends, and my dog Izzy (as in Izzn't she adorable!)

Saying goodbye to Minnesota has been much harder than I had thought it would be considering I am often trying to run off to the far ends of the earth, but Mum and I did our best to enjoy what the summer had to offer in Southern Minnesota the last week that I was home.

These "lovely" pictures are from one of our favorite places to go bike riding, down in Lansborro. One thing Minnesota definitely has going for it is the GREEN of summertime!

But don't forget the main thing we were doing was packing! Izzy was a great help with this as well.

And yes, I am now in Vietnam! (Look for my next post on the Museum of Ethnology!)

Life in Vietnam

During August while I was taking my TEFOL training course in Vietnam I was very lucky to go to the Hanoi Museum of Ethnology. There was an open air exhibit that consisted of traditional houses of the ethnic tribes all over Vietnam. I thought this was very facinating, though as it was quite warm we were only able to stay for a short time.

As the pictures are really worth more than my words I will let them speak for themselves. Just remember that these houses are all used by various ethnic groups, and also remember that this is a very HOT country and there are no air conditioners in these houses!

New Beginnings

Welcome one and all to my new Blog! I hope this will help to keep us all connected since I will very shortly be moving to the other side of the world! As most of y'all know I am not particularly loquacious so most of these blogs will be bits of news with the amazing pictures I will be getting from all my adventures. Enjoy!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of hanging out with the Suponthavong clan as we all prepared for the Lao meal at Rochester Covenant.






We had a great time and there were around seventy people who came to enjoy the delicious food!






Thanks to all of you who came to support and help clean up!