good fortune

hello hello,

so last weekend i slacked on my update -- but i wanted to save up the good stuff for an entertaining post. Unfortunately, that hasnt really resulted in me having something interesting to say but whateves, i'm going for it!

this week has actually been a pretty eventful one in vientiane -- it was the weekend of the annual buddhist holiday (of whose name i cannot remember) -- and is a pretty big thing in the city because it is the boat racing festival.... i'll give you a run down of what this means:

for the week leading up to this weekend, its been pandamonium at the river -- there were stalls hawking anything you could think of lining both sides of the streets --- it was an excellent opportunity to stock up on the homemade stuffed animals that you've always wanted or the 12 boxes of tooth paste that you've been meaning to get but keep forgetting about... my personal favourite were these tubes of sticky rice (of course) that they sold in wooden husks -- i love rice so i give them two thumbs up although they had unidentifiable white cubes in them (back to the basic philosophy: if i dont get sick, then its fine to eat -- sorry mom)... i also got a shirt with a very hip black girl on it for when i finally venture to a club here as well as another shawl (i cant help it, they are so versatile!!)

thursday night we had a 'solidarity dinner' with the students who have been doing the lawyer training course at my work.... my best guess is that the term is a throwback to the revolution or something... anyway, it was absolutely HILARIOUS... after dinner everyone started dancing -- they do this thing with their hands moving in opposite directions -- much trickier than it looks -- after each dance, the older gentlemen who were trainers of the interns would announce the 'best dancers' read: it was initiation for yours truly.... miraculously after the majority of dances (i was a hot ticket partner) i would end up the best.... my prize? having to chug beer with the other 'best dancers' on the dance floor before being able to return to my seat (and asked to dance yet again!) -- people then started singing the songs themselves, which led to increasingly agile dance moves which eventually unravelled into kareokee as every good party does! it was the type of thing that you cant fully get if you werent there (and my writing isnt helping that) but hopefully with the pictures i post youll get the idea!

friday was the actual buddhist holiday and so i got the day off (whoo hoo) -- in order to maximize this i decided to go with my roomate and my work colleague to the temple to give alms to the monks --- at 6:45 in the morning!! so here we were, in our ghetto sins, three foreigners not knowing whats up, giving apples and oranges to the monks -- luckily there were bowls out --- because having to both kneel and try no to touch the monk when giving him an apple would have likely ended a religious faux pas .... the way it was we were still pretty ridiculous, but the locals here dont seem to care what the crazy falang are doing, so you never feel too awkward!!

friday night i hit the streets in the evening to witness the extravaganzaa --- people lit boats made out of flowers and banana leaves (and the next day i found out also styrofoam, because the refuse was floating down the river) and then sent them down the river -- it was really nice to look at and we took one down but the next day we all felt a little bad because essentially everyone just dumped pretty trash into the river... well essentially people just dumped trash everywhere, to be honest!!!! the crowds were huge, big stages with performers were everywhere and there was even a ferris wheel --- which i was trying to get to to test whether the merit making in the morning would actually pay off and i would survive the ride -- unfortunately the crowd was surging and threatening to strangle me so i opted out of testing the benefits of piety....

saturday i went to the actual boat races --- people ride long wooden boats - in teams of men and women from villages across the country --- its amazing how fast they go down the river -- everyone lines the river and sings and cheers and the races last all day!!! some villages are nice enough to let forigners row with them -- so i got to see a number of my friends actually participate in the race -- its pretty cool, people train for the races for a long time ... it was also freakin hot and after being there for 4 hours i was ready to get myself to a resto!!!

and now its sunday and i'm going to spend the day by a pool with a book, hows that for rubbing in the tropical lifestyle?

i'll write something of substance next time, maybe -- but do check out my pics on facebook if you can -- we're getting the internet at home soon so maybe i'll upgrade to flickr -- will keep you posted!