you know its hard out here for a pimp (and me too)

When I had my cultural awareness training our facillitator said at about two months into your experience you'll bottom out... has that happened? i'm not sure, but frankly i hope so!

here are some things that have been giving me some culture shocks recently!

the money exchange: i am travelling with US travellers cheques -- to change them into USD is 2% commission, to change them into kip is 1% commission.... however if i want to get both kip and us it is 2% commission.... no they cannot do them separately, yes i am still getting kip which is at a lower commission rate but somehow that doesnt matter.... although conceptually i could convert a cheque into usd and then come back five minutes later and convert the kip -- but it defies logic, how can i participate in that???? i have to get to the spa! (hahaha -- dont worry i've only been to one!)

eating: after years of reckless abandon around the world, i finally got a stomach infection -- amazing -- 6 days of being very aware of my stomach .... where did it come from? heaven only knows! thank goodness for bringing drugs from home!

working: i am learning that i am not a patient person. this does not bode well for working in the legal sector of a communist country!!! there is a ton of pressure to get things done at year end and i'm starting to fold .... even more concerning is the fact that the other two foreign staff in the office both finish work at the end of december -- yep thats right, i'm going to be all alone in my office -- i cannot think about this!!!

strange times: friday night after work i went for drinks with janice and my boss -- when we arrived my boss said that someone had called and wanted to meet him -- so he told him where we were -- but he didnt know who he was talking to!!! about 15 minutes later this 50 year old body builder comes up to us and sits down (at this point my boss remembers him) the dude is asking us about family laws here in laos on be half of a friend... my description of him wont do him justice: he had huge earlobe streching earings in, another set of thick metal earings in his ears (though i dont know where they attached), biceps the size of my head, a bandana...etc... he proceeded to regale us with tales of working for arnie in venice beach, being a stunt man and taking viagra as part of body building experimentation (yes, you read that right) ... he proceded to tell us that viagara is more than a sex drug -- it messes with your mind and makes you drive around town constantly looking for women (at this point i was shaking from trying not to laugh) -- what on earth???

stranger times: right now vientiane is hosting the francophonie conference (did you know that canada has a francophonie minister?) ... anyway, the whole city is on lock down -- curfew is being enforced (in by 11 for locals), the curbs all along the main street were painted, the schools and businesses on the main street are closed (i actually think that all the schools maybe closed) also, the food stands along the road sides have mysteriously disappeared -- i think all of this is to create the impression of order by having everyone abandon their daily lives (and let me tell you, this place is not what i would consider particularly chaotic) --- anyway, i went out for more drinks on friday night and did not have a vehicle to get me home (was planning on taking a tuk tuk) -- however, with the current state of lock down, there are no tuk tuks on the road at night -- i live about 7 k from the city centre!!! i was with my roomate who had her bicycle, but we were essentially stranded... until, i had a brilliant idea--- to double her home on her bike!!! thats right, i put on my motor bike helmet, laura got on the panier part of her bike, held her legs in the air because there are no foot pegs on her bike and i drove us home -- -what a spectacle!!! all the lao people we passed on the way were laughing like crazy! (at least we brought joy to someone, no?)

being in the middle of nowhere: yesterday we decided to go to buddha park -- a place about an hour from town.. we hop on the city bus and because its us we get off too early at this bizzare natural history park complete with dinosaurs, caged monkeys and traditional houses selling potato chips.... after about 20 troubling minutes in this park, we try to get a ride to the park we actually wanted to see ... no problem, right? we hail a tuk tuk and negotiate a pretty fair price to go up there (or so it seemed) --- until the tuk tuk driver took us to the bridge to thailand just down the street, told us to go into another tuk tuk and then tried to get us to pay him!!! i refused, the new driver wouldnt take us and so we walked back to where we were before, found another tuk tuk and agreed to pay a ton more. But then that tuk tuk proceeded to take us back to the bridge!!! at this point we were incredulous at what was happenening... luckily the guy didnt try to drop us off there again -- instead we left the bridge area, drove to a market area and he made us get out of the tuk tuk and into another -- but without all the funny business cause that dude actually took us to where we were going -- a park of random statues of the buddha everywhere.... the life!!

ok, my computer connection now appears to be failing so i'm going to end this -- as you can see life continues to be 'interesting' here in vientiane, which i guess is a good think, no?

too lucky for my own damn good

hello hello,

so i know that it seems that i hop from one fun(ish) looking event to another (which is generally true, we do find fun ways to occupy ourselves here) ... but i've actually been spending some of my time here thinking too... i'll make it brief because the first thing you learn in grade school is that thinking is boring (which is maybe a small part of why i've never been cool)

alas... lately i have been stressing a lot about 'what i'm going to do with my life' --- the fact that i'm only here for 6 months makes it pretty hard to feel as though i live here -- instead it feels like i've had to start planning my next move since i've arrived... i've found this stressful and have spent many a time feeling (somewhat) sorry for myself.

luckily one thing you get when you go somewhere like vientiane is perspective. i am actually feeling uneasy because quite literally i think i can do anything i want (which i understand isnt entirely true) but the point is i feel as though i have too many options to choose from. frankly, i'm uneasy because i'm too lucky for my own damn good... there are so many people that i've met here who would kill to have the choice of moving anywhere, working in a field they are interested in...

case in point: we had an interesting conversation with my lao teacher during our class the other week -- she spoke of how she was robbed of opportunities to study abroad or better herself when she was young here. we werent really sure what to say to her -- because what do you say to someone who feels (probably rightly) that they were robbed of their own potential? the truth is not much... as a start, though, i think i can live my life with a greater awareness of how fortunate i am and hopefully with less whining (you guys will have to call me on that, because i do love whining)

so i think i'll leave it at that.

miss you all

c