Laos

We just returned from a four day visit to the small country of Laos. We traveled to watch Dustin and Nathan compete in a soccer tournament with students from 7 partnering International Schools. I was hoping flying a couple of hours North would give us some reprieve from the heat but it was even hotter in Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. Mark had a holiday at work Friday, it was the Big Buddha holiday here in Thailand. That's actually what people call it being the most celebrated holiday set aside for Buddha.

Because of costs the boys actually took a short flight to Northern Thailand and then a 2 hour bus ride over the border into the communist country with their teammates. A new experience for them crossing through customs and passport control via land. We flew directly into Laos with 4 other families from our school. The boys stayed with a family from the Vientiane International School of Laos. Their particular host family opened their home to 5 ISE boys which was a 5 minute walk from the school. We stayed at a hotel in the center of the small, quiet, city.

Everything was within walking distance in this former French colony, it was occupied until the 1940's by France. The influence of France is still very much obvious in the architecture and the wonderful bakeries throughout the city. We ate at some great little French sidewalk cafes while enjoying croissants and other French pastries. We went to a Laos Cultural show one night with dancing, singing and some delicious Laos food which is not too different than Thai food. We visited several city landmarks one of those being the Victory Gate of Vientiane. The story I heard is that the landmark that very much resembles the Arc of Triumph in Paris is that the US gave Laos enough concrete to build an airport in their capitol city and instead they used it to build this Victory Gate-go figure?

We enjoyed shopping at the local morning market in between watching some great football matches. Dustin made the All-Stars team and Nathan had some really great saves as goalie. They were able to compete with much larger schools and we were really proud of their effort, they finished 4th of the 7 teams and actually held the team from Phenom Penn that won the entire tournament to 0-0. We watched a lot of soccer over the last few days because we had to cheer on the girl's team from ISE as well.

I was confused all weekend trying to convert money from the local currency of Kip, it was roughly 8,400 Kip/$1 US dollar. Most of the local people understood Thai and the Laos language is very similar. For instance in Thailand, "Sabie Dee My?" translates to How are you? in Laos to say Hello-"Sabie Dee". It was a very enjoyable trip and now we return to only 3 1/2 weeks of school and then we are off to the US!! for a couple of months. As the time approaches I feel myself getting giddy with excitement. We are all looking forward to seeing family and friends, hearing English, eating all the foods we have missed over the past 10 months and cooler weather.

Speaking of family, I just want to wish my Mom a Happy Mother's Day. What a blessing she is to me. She has poured her life into raising me, loving me and caring for me, my siblings and Mark and the boys. She has always been there for me whenever and however. What a treasure to not only be able to call her Mom but also Friend, I love you, Mom. I can hardly wait to spend time with her this summer, I have really missed not seeing her and our frequent phone calls. Happy Mother's Day!