One on, one off, one in the wash…

It has been a mix of emotions for me as we left Laos a month and a half ago. While I am incredibly happy to see friends and spend time in Northern California’s gorgeous late summer weather again, little did I expect just how challenging reentry would be. It’s been such a reverse culture shock to put it mildly.

It’s such a huge contrast going from an undeveloped country where anything goes, and people/time are incredibly friendly, easy going and as flexible as a rubber band, to a country where everything is heavily regulated and being organized and punctual is a valued trait. One other big difference I notice is how free and fulfilling life can be in Luang Prabang, even though material things are far more limited, and even the most mundane task can be full of challenges. There, it seems, people live with less stress, less stuff and less worries in general. Here, decisions occupy a lot of time and energy because there are a million choices for everything – shampoo, soap, and more! There are endless things and places to spend your money on whether or not you need it. This means more work, energy and time to chase and maintain this all American lifestyle of consumerism. I’ve noticed people are so much more stressed and this has created even more stress and unsurprisingly distance between families and friends. “Living in the moment” is a familiar mantra but is most likely an abstract and unattainable practice simply because there’s no moment available in the day to “truly live in the moment”. Everything is constantly running at a fast rate of speed, leaving you feeling like you can never catch up. I admit I love going to the supermarket and being able to find everything I want in one spot and going home to a functional kitchen to cook that isn’t 90 million degrees. I love being able to get what I want or need when I need it. That I don’t have to fly or ask someone to get it from another country. However, there’s also something to be said about the markets in Laos where real maple syrup is rare but nearly everything is made by hand from a local weaver/seamstress and you have to wait for specific produce/fruits/honey at the morning market to be in season before you can purchase it. And the surprises we had with the local fruits that we never ate before. The pineapple season might have been my favorite as it was best tasting pineapple I’ve ever had.

I’ve asked Ari which he enjoys being here in California or Laos. His response has been here but also that he does miss Laos a lot.

I have stopped having panic attacks when I go into a large store, or am in a large crowd. I am LOVING being able to go to Soul Cycle. It is in that dark room, on a bicycle that doesn’t go anywhere, to be able to reconnect with myself. I was able to do that in Laos just by sitting outside my house listening to the sounds of my Village, or when I was working in one of the many remote villages. Those simple sounds. Dogs barking, chickens with their lame attempt at a cock-a-doodle-doo, bad karaoke, and that damn cow bell. If I never hear another cow bell it won’t be soon enough. I miss the mountains, the temples, the monks every morning with their chant when they begin their Alms giving rituals….It is taking time to get reacquainted with the sounds here. The traffic, the sirens, the noise in general. I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself, to let things come as they will and do. But I’m slowly getting there.

Clearly there’s a positive and negative side to every place but to live a life of enrichment, it should be noted that there has to be a sense of community, empathy and space/time to create and reconnect with people and nature and I think I have experienced the best of both worlds.

As usual I have no idea where I am going. As usual, I am in an SUV with 5 other people who speak no English. I have just spent a day and a half in the middle of nowhere up and over muddy roads with huge craters, landslides, etc.

Sopchia is a secondary school atop a huge mountain. Aside from a small village, there is nothing for miles. The few homes in the village are a mixture of bamboo and tin. There is a river flowing. I can’t see it, but I can hear it. I can also hear the deafening bass drowning out my colleague Tao. We are finishing up our training at this school and we need to be finished in 45 minutes. Why? So the teachers can start drinking. It’s Teacher Appreciation Day at this school. There are presentations, special guests, food and of course Beer Lao. Currently though, I am sitting in a bare classroom. So bare there isn’t even electricity. We have brought our own generator so we could show some videos and a projector for slides. I have absolutely no idea what is being said. Once in a while there are words I have heard over and over. I’ve started a list, and hopefully, some of it will stick.

The 17 boys and girls ages 11-14 that I have been with are amazing. So similar to Ari and his friends in many ways. Of course, these kids do not have video games. Only one girl, Alisa, who I swear is half Falang (white) has a phone. Yes, we have become besties and we have taken countless selfies. I wanted to learn about these children, so I went around and asked their names, age, and what they want to be when they grow up. I got one doctor, one teacher, many nurses, policemen, one policewoman, and several soldiers. We went through hand washing, how to use the toilet(yes there are actual steps to use a squatty potty-I failed the activity. But that’s another story), sanitation, and several other topics. We will come back and do nutrition in a few months and help them to build a school garden. There are 334 students at Sopchia, 146 are girls. 95 students are boarding students. They are mainly Khmu, a few Lao, and one Hmong. They walk for hours to get here with some Chile paste, some rice, and maybe some bits of meat. At this school, they live in two extra classrooms. 53 girls in one large classroom on bamboo mats. There are no window screens, and no electricity. I did not see the room where the 42 boys live. Only the girls. I have such mixed emotions about this. I am so happy school is important enough for them to walk and stay here, but these are children! No one helps them here. Many of the teachers stay on campus as well. Their room is much nicer and they also have some bamboo huts. I saw a vegetable garden and asked if the students helped and was told no. That is was solely for the teachers. I asked the girls that were in their room on a break what they are for breakfast and they said Rice, chili paste and bamboo. They said they would have that for lunch and dinner too. Seriously? They eat the SAME THING DAY IN AND DAY OUT? No wonder there is such malnutrition. I asked what they would want to plant in their garden and they want cabbage, coriander, eggplant, sweet potatoes, tamarind, onion, garlic, and mangos. The 4 toilets the children have are pretty far from the dormitory area and up a big hill. I highly doubt any of the kids use those at night. We are building 6 toilets, showers, and hand washing stations near the dormitory area and expect it to be complete in 2 month’s. Meanwhile there is no clean water for the kids. They have to boil it. These are such mature and resourceful kids. It almost makes me sad they have had to grow up so fast. Though, I don’t think they realize it. They don’t know any different. I was curious what the kids who went home for lunch ate, so I asked. Lots of noodle soup, fish, and some kids even said they had grilled rat. Ummmm, yeah…use what you got….

This has been such an amazing experience. They found out it was my birthday and they sang me Happy Birthday, in PERFECT English.

Right now this three foot nothing Proncipal is talking. He is explaining to my team how they will raise money for their “consumable fund”. I want them to tell him to think about how they can have more so that money is always in the fund. This year the Ministry Of Education has said they have no money to give to schools so they need to make sure they have a plan. Kinda sounds familiar huh? I guess my idea of a bake sale isn’t going to work. Lol. Maybe there is someone who graduated from here and has a job in a city and can send some money back? They seem to like that idea….

I’m starving and have to pee. I am scared to eat the food here and the toilets are down some slippery stairs…ones that I can’t really do in the rain with this broken leg…guess I’ll wait.

When children become accustomed to hand-washing with soap, always using the toilet and drinking clean water at school, these behaviours become ingrained and can last a lifetime……

I cannot remember a time when I didn’t have clean water to drink, a toilet to use, or even access to soap? It boggles my mind to think that so many children here have never seen a toilet, used soap, or have access to clean water…..Sure, it is not recommended to drink from the tap here, however that does not mean we do not have access to clean safe drinking water. Isn’t that a given right? How many times has Ari complained about the toilets at his schools back home? I used to tell him to hold it then and wait till he got home, or to ask in the office to use a toilet. Now, I tell him I never want to hear him complain about that again…Next week will be my first “Field Visit”. I have no idea where I will be going, or where I will be staying. I just know it will be for four days in the field visiting several schools and training the Teachers and Red Cross Youth Volunteers all about Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in school….

Most of the children in these secondary schools will have walked for hours form their villages to attend school. They are anywhere from 10-16 years old. Once they reach their school, they are responsible for building their own shelter using whatever materials they can find. Then they need to find their food. Many will have brought some sticky rice from home, but that’s it… They have no electricity, no wifi, nothing…They live in their shelters by themselves while they go to school Maybe if it isn’t too far, they will walk home on the weekends. Some don’t see their parents for a long time. I cannot even imagine Ari doing this. The kid can barely brush his teeth. It just boggles my mind.

I have no idea what to expect. I have no idea what I will see. What is there to eat? I have become a vegan who only eats sticky rice that I have brought lol. At least there will be beer. That I can count on. SO, come Tuesday, my birthday, broken leg and all, I will head with my team out to Phonexay. This is the reason I am here. This is what I signed up for. This is what excites me every day. This is what makes me want to stay here forever….

Let’s just hope that I still feel the same after I return at the end of next week.

Dogs barking, doors opening and closing, motorbikes passing by, the same song being sung in Lao, and the I want to poke my eyes out sound of the ice cream man driving by. Those are the sounds you continuously hear sitting inside our house. All of the windows and doors are always open downstairs. The ceiling fans are going. It’s hot, but not unbearable. It’s always hot and humid here… Maybe for a second, after a monsoonal downpour the humidity lessens, but it is still here. Dermatologists must hate it here, as there really is no need for botox with all this humidity.

Three weeks in, with two weeks at work. I have read everything there is to read about the projects I am here to work on,  and I am that much more excited to get out into the field and start really working. Really making a difference. Especially after last night. Ari has been sick for a few days. Typical summer cold. However, as what usually happens when he gets a cold, his asthma kicks in. Home nebulizer treatments weren’t making much of a difference, so it was time to see a doctor. At 8pm on a Saturday night, where do you go? The local Children’s Hospital of course. Lao Friends Hospital for Children, Friends without a Border, was the first NGO I had applied to. I was given the name of the head of Patient Outreach and their Volunteer program. They do lots of patient outreach, and I wanted to be a part of that. Well, as it turns out, they do not accept volunteers without Medical Degrees. Many of the pediatricians at this hospital are volunteers from all over the globe. In fact, I had actually met with a family of two Emergency Pediatric Physicians last November. Their family was here volunteering from Boston for about six months. Anyway, back to last night. I messaged my friend Rachel to make sure that this hospital was ok to bring Ari to. I had been to the Provincial Hospital back in February, and wasn’t really impressed. Rachel assured me that that was the reason that her family knew they could move here with three young children.  I got all of our Global Insurance information ready. I was going to get our passports, but…. really not sure where they are…. I got whatever KIP I had, as well as some USD, and credit cards. I had no idea what to expect and wanted to be prepared. We arrived to the hospital and found where we were supposed to be. There were many people waiting to be seen. Thankfully, Sarah, a Nurse that I had seen on FB was there. She is from Australia, and has been here for a few years. Phew….She got us triaged, and worked with a local lao nurse to get Ari ready to be seen. After a bit, we were brought into a ward like area…Typical ER, except no curtains. No privacy. HIPPA surely doesn’t apply here. No it wasn’t John Muir or Oakland Children’s Hospital, but it was just fine. Afterall, this was just for a cold… Sara said she was leaving as her shift was ending. She said we would be in good hands and pointed out several of the Volunteer Docs that were seeing other patients. And in the end we were in great hands…We were seen by a local Lao Doc and then by a Doctor from Scotland. They both decided that it was just a virus and he would be just fine in a few days. Phew. We could go home. They handed me Ari’s “chart” and I asked where I was to go to pay. They said it was free. WHAT??? FREE?? I said I had insurance and they can surely bill me. They said we could “make a donation” if we wanted.…Try to get that in the US!!! That trip to the ER would have been several thousand dollars!!!!!!

What got me though, wasn’t that it was free. It was one paitent. A little baby, maybe a year old? She had an oxygen full face mask on. She was lying on a gurney with her father right next to her. He looked like he couldn’t have been older than 19? The look of pure fear was so visible on his face. Before she left, I overheard Sara speaking to a Lao nurse, asking him if anyone had told this dad that his daughter was going to be ok? You could tell that this young father had no idea what was going on. He was just so scared. Imagine being somewhere with your baby, not having the knowledge of what is going on, much less what to ask. No one else was there with him…. Just him and his baby. I wonder where the mom was? Was she in a village far away with other kids? Why didn’t she come? Had something happened to her? Was he the only one able to come? How did he get here? When did they arrive? My heart went out for him. It was this moment that truly woke me up to why I was here and what my role is. To provide that patient outreach people that I will be working with have the knowledge that things will be ok. That it is ok to trust. If I can help even just one young Dad, then that will be more than enough…..

You know when you get that feeling that something isn’t quite right? Like you shouldn’t be where you are at that very moment? That actually happened yesterday. I was at work (yes, for the fourth day in a row!). I was reading a comparative study on the effects of Introducing Sanitation and Hygiene Practices to Indigenous Hilltribe Villages around the world. Yes, believe it or not, not everyone has a flushing toilet, or any toilet for that matter. People still practice open defecation. Not everyone has safe drinking water, and if they do, they do not know how to wash their hands or how to keep their environments clean to prevent disease. These projects that I am working on are seriously a dream come true. I am the most privileged person that is able to pick up their family and leave the comforts of a first world country and move to a developing country. In the past two weeks that we have been here, we have actually learned to do without. Starting without a car. We actually walk places. In unbearable heat and humidity nonetheless, and you know what? We have actually survived! Some of the outdoor markets are hotter than ovens. I thought I was actually going to pass out while Marc was torturing himself over what color Crocs to buy (I hate shoe shopping with him. But that is another story). Thankfully, the shopkeeper had a fan. So, I went and stood by it until the feeling of death dissipated. If Ari complained about the heat one more time I was going to kill him. Yes, we know it is hot. Yes, we are all uncomfortable. NO we ARE NOT GOING HOME. No, we are NOT taking a tuk tuk home. We are going to walk back to the boat. We are not going to spend money on unnecessary things just because we are uncomfortable. Get used to it, I said. Between you and me, I would have killed to have an air-conditioned van pick us up. Between carrying heavy bags of groceries, the unbearable heat and humidity, Marc stopping to take pictures of EVERY FUCKING FLOWER AND PIECE OF FRUIT, and the serious swamp ass I had going on, I was just about at my tipping point. Nope, cannot freak out. Have to show both of them that it is ok to be uncomfortable, that we will actually survive this. That we will feel good once we make it back to the boat that will take us across the Nam Khan River back to Ban Phanlunag, our village. Back to an ice-cold shower. We argue on the boat who gets to shower first. Who gets “shotgun”. I give in and let them go first. I can take this stench a bit longer.

Wow, I got completely side tracked from the beginning of my day. I did go to work today. I did ride my bicycle to work as I have done all week. I still hate riding a real bicycle. One a real road…I miss my Soul Cycle. Riding in the dark to loud music on a bike that doesn’t go anywhere. My bicycle has only one gear….ME…..It’s way harder than the rides I have done for the past two years. Anyhow, I was at work, when all of a sudden three local police walk in. My stomach dropped. I don’t know why it did, but it did. “Madame” one of the officers says to me nodding his head. I smile and say hi. Shit this isn’t good I think…Why are they here? The girls in the office get up and quickly start opening folding table and pulling out extra chairs. I don’t know why, but I grabbed my backpack and headed for the back door. I don’t know if anyone saw me leave. I just felt I needed to get out of there ASAP. I walked around the building to Leeva’s window and whispered to her why were the police there? She said they were probably coming to do a check on the office. To make sure everyone there is legit….OMG! seriously? I didn’t have my passport with me, (come to think of it I really don’t even know where it is), and I haven’t gotten my work papers yet. They are “coming” they are in the Ministry of Affairs office down in the Capital city Vientiane right now. Who knows when they will be ready. This is The PDR of Laos remember….”Please Don’t Rush”….I tell Leeva I have to go, that I cannot be there….Shit what am I going to do? Of course you all know the answer as well as I do. I call Sakai. Surely, he has been in worse situations. I am laughing as I call him whilst dodging behind parked cars down the street trying to be as stealthy as I can. Oh I wish he were here. We would be rolling on the floor in hysterics. He answers, and I tell him what just happened. He says go hime right now. They have already seen you. You cannot be on the streets. Really? Isnt that just a bit much? I mean they have no idea why I was there. It didn’t look like I was working. Maybe I just stopped in to ask for directions? I decide that I will try to go back and get my bicycle and go home. I call marc to tell him I am coming home soon and why. He doesn’t laugh…He actually thinks this is quite serious and cannot understand why I would be laughing. Well, it was funny! Before I head back I walk over  to the tailor to pick up my newly designed Sinh (traditional Lao skirt), my uniform for work. Then I headed back to the office, I notice the police car was gone, so I went in. The girls were all laughing at me. I tell them that I cannot be here without work papers. That I will have to pay a fine. A LARGE one and who was going to come to jail with me?  They think it is funny. They tell me that the police did ask who I was and why I was there. Gulp! They said I was lost and needed to use the bathroom. Good answer! I tell them that I really need to leave for the day. I will come back on Monday to speak with my boss, who is down in Attapeu helping with the relief efforts from the tragic dam collapse. I will ask him to find out when my papers will be finished, and what we can do till they are here…….

What’s grosser than gross? Me at the moment. I am lying on the bed in one of the bedrooms waiting for Ari to finish taking his shower so that I can take one. I have layers upon layers of sweat on my body. I feel gross. I probably smell gross. Ari, being 12, thought he could get any with just going to bed without taking a shower. I mean really, 12 year old boys stink regardless, so no wonder he thought it was ok. I told him he had to get out of bed and into a shower His response was why? I put deodorant on when I changed into my jammies. Uh no, not happening. Each of the bedrooms has their own bathroom which turns into the shower. But we only shower in one of the bathrooms. Why you ask? Because the floor is soaking wet. The toilet is soaking wet. The toilet paper turns into a ball of mush. get the picture? So what happens in the middle of the night if you get up to go to the bathroom? Use your imagination….. So her I lie waiting for Frank Sinatra to finish. Such a luxury to be able to take as long of a shower as you want. There is no drought here….None whatsoever. Hurry up I think to myself because I cannot stand my stench any longer. I look at my feet. Wow they have gotten quite tan. I have tan lines where my flip flops are.

Anyhow, we have had quite the experiences int he past few days. Going to different markets trying to find the necessities we need to make this house a home. We found cushions for the furniture. Hideous flower patterns that make your grandmother’s Florida apartment furniture seem high class comparatively. I laugh whenever I look a them. We got ripped off so many times yesterday. So sad…We definitely need to know how much things should cost, as well as understand how to say numbers in Lao. I am going to make us each a cheat sheet to carry with us. We get home from Phousy (yes…it sounds just like what you think it sounds like) Market and two older ladies nicely dressed in dresses were in our driveway. We were trying to figure out who they were and what they wanted. They were trying to give us a bill for $160,000 kip. We were using google translate to ask what this was for. I realized it was for the garbage. I knew the previous tenant had sent me some info on the house and that garbage was $20,000 kip per month and that two ladies would come around to collect it. His message said that he had paid up through March. That meant I was responsible for Arpil, may, June, and July….$80,000 kip. I was trying to tell them no I would pay their requested amount. They walked across the street to find the man who watches the house when we weren’t here. He wasn’t home. I found a neighbor that spoke English and told her to tell the ladies the situation. When they realized I knew when they were up to, they began giggling and bowing to me like they were only joking. I lost my shit. I told the nice neighbor to tell them they were wrong horrible people to try and cheat someone who didn’t know the language and that Buddha was watching them and he would know and they wouldn’t be getting any where close to nirvana. One lady jokingly hit my shoulder and giggled at me. I told her in no uncertain terms to get the fuck off of me and what I thought of her and her friend and how they could go to hell, etc….Of course it was all in Spanish. Because does it really matter? They don’t understand English and I don’t understand Lao. I do however, understand what it means to be taken advantage of. Hopefully, they will go back and look up some of the words I used in google translate. Gran Putahs!

One a cleaner note…..My shower was AMAZING! I never realized how much I would enjoy a cold shower. Yes, we have hot water (not many people here do), but I barely used it. The layers of sweat and grime are off my body for the night, only to return tomorrow. Time for bed…..The monks feel it necessary to hold drum circles at 4 am, which wakes the roosters, which wakes the cats, which wakes the dogs. I’m sure you get where I am going with this one.

Good night

PS- my feet weren’t actually tan…

While Ari is at his Bar Mitzvah lesson (yes, you read that correctly! There is a Chabad in Luang Prabang and Ari will be the FIRST EVER Bar Mitzvah here!), I go next door to visit Alisha, who owns Amigos, the Mexican Restaurant here. She is Australian, married to a Lao, who has lived in Laos for years. I tell her about our food experience, and she immediately tells me about two markets that cater to expats. OMG!!!!!!! I basically fly out of there to get Ari so we can find these Utopian places. We walk in and you can hear us both take deep breaths as our eyes pop open. We start jumping up and down and run through the store grabbing every and any thing we know. You have never gotten so excited to see butter, milk, Raisin Bran, Skippy peanut butter, and Goldfish. The woman who owns the shop is very nice. Her English is amazing as well. She tells me she can get almost anything I want. WHAT??? Can she get me Amazon Prime? She has no idea what that is. Oh well, had to ask. Ari and I stock up on necessities and head to the next shop. They have the same and yet more foods we want. Cannot wait to show Marc who has been up at the Laos Buffalo Dairy Farm with Rachel and Susie all day.

I am not sure what day it is, or how long we have been here….I do know we left our home for 20 years Friday at 7:00pm, and we arrived here Sunday evening. It feels so weird not having a return flight! We aren’t leaving. For the first time Paukline wasn’t at the airport to greet us…And Sakai wasn’t with us. It’s just the three of us.

I couldn’t wait to see Marc’s expression when he first saw the house. Ari and I had already been here, and we both had the same experience. At first, we were like holy crap, what have we done? The house is huge, and nice, but not American AT ALL…Yes, we have flushing western toilets, electricity, wifi, and air conditioning….Still….Marc had the same feeling…..After a while that feeling goes away and the house feels like a home. The Lao furniture in the living room however, It is made of Rosewood. It is beautiful, but I cannot imagine sitting on it for more than a second. Concrete is sure to be softer. Finding a comfy sofa isn’t as easy as it sounds though. Everyone I have asked, laughs and says you will not find a sofa in Luang Prabang. Maybe have one sipped from Bangkok, or Vientiene. Uh yeah, that would cost a fortune. Im sure we can have some cushions made though. Someone here has to know how to sew. I mean really, the night market is full of sewn items “made by local Lao”.

Ok, need food and it is 7:30 and Ari has been asleep for hours. What to do? I suggest we walk around the corner to the Chinese Market, aka Target, and we can get food there. We leave a note for Ari in case he wakes up. Let me tell you, there wasn’t one thing there that wasn’t processed or contained preservatives you have never even heard of. I wouldn’t feed my dog anything there. Except for Oreos. So I guess that is whats for dinner. Holy shit…What are we going to eat? Processed crap? I think we have all become vegetarians….There is a local produce market on our street. We have seen lots of people coming and going late afternoon. Apparently, they also have every type of “protein” in the mornings. Freshly slaughtered protein..Maybe we will be vegan (except for Oreos). Shit what have we done?

Time to try to sleep…I know the roosters will start their crowing soon….They don’t really know how to crow though. None of them know the last doo….

6th time in 569 days…6th time thinking, “oh, it’s not that long”, 6th time realizing it is actually excruciating… Why do I always convince myself that it is shorter than it actually is? This will be my next to last long haul from SFO to LPQ…Only one more time July 27th. I can’t wait! Why? Because that’s the day we move to Laos. I have been working on this for years. Trying to get some kind of expat role with whatever company I was working for. Thankfully, none of those ever came to fruition. This one, the one that has finally come true, the one that I have been working on so hard for the past year is actually happening. And to make it even better, it is doing something I love doing; developing curriculums for Healthcare Education. I am going to be volunteering with the Swiss Red Cross in Luang Prabang, Laos.

This had been kept secret for such a long time. I didn’t want to say anything until I knew it was for sure. And until Marc had told his work he was leaving. The day our house went on MLS was the day I told Marc I was announcing it to the world, aka posting on Facebook.

At this moment, I am on my third flight. I am on my way to MY HOUSE in Luang Prabang with Ari, Sakai, and most importantly Chua. Chua has been Ari’s Nanny since he was 9 weeks old. I remember the first time I asked Chua about where she was from. She was so shocked that someone had actually asked her. She said none of the other families she had ever worked for asked about her past. I loved hearing all of the stories about where Chua grew up in Muang Sing, in a minority Hill tribe. Her stories were riveting to me. I had really never heard of Laos before Chua. I could only imagine in my mind what it looked like. We have spoken about traveling to Laos together for 12 years. And now, in 30 minutes, we will be landing in Luang Prabang. Together. She will get to come stay at my house. Her brother, his wife, their daughter and grandchild, and a host of others made the 9 hour drive to LP yesterday. They will be at the airport when we land. The last time Chua saw her family in Laos was 10 years ago. She had come one morning and told me she just spoke to her brother and her mom was dying. I told her to book a ticket to Laos at that moment. There was no way that she was not going to see her mother before she died. Never realizing that I would fly to New York and see my mother for the last time not even 12 hours before she and my dad were killed in an automobile accident. I told Chua that I would be fine taking care of Ari. I would fly my mom out from NY to help. And off she went. I’ll never forget the afternoon I walked into my house and there was this little Foo Manchu looking man sitting in Marc’s blue chair. It was Chua’s father. He had never been out of his village. He was a very well known and respected Colonel during the Secret War. Too bad it wasn’t on the “good side”. (But that is not my story to tell) I remember Chua telling me that they were going to take him to Nordstrom for shoes. HA! What? You’re taking a person that has just flown across the world for the first time to Nordstrom? I couldn’t imagine what this cute little man was thinking. But oh how he loved Ari. You could just see it in their interactions. That is a memory I will cherish forever. That was the last time Chua saw her father. He passed a few years after he went back to Laos.

Chua and my mom had a very special relationship. My mom would come out every few months to see Ari, and she would spend a lot of time with Chua.

Now here we are…all that is missing right now is Marc. He will come the next and last time. This time, I had promised Ari that I would bring him after we got our house so he could see it. I though it would be better if Ari actually saw it and knew what he was getting himself into…Or rather, what I was getting him into. He is so excited to see his friends from his school in Laos that he met in February. I can’t wait to see his reaction to the house. He has asked countless questions about it. At this moment, he is passed out sleeping. He has been amazing on this marathon trip to get to Laos.

I cannot believe this is actually happening!!! Quick trip to bring more stuff to the house. After paying a shit ton of money last trip I made end of April, I knew it was best to bring Ari, Chua, and Sakai to help with the baggage fees. My mules. Who also help me bring wine…2 bottles per person adds up…Marc and I love our Napa wine…so this trip is a win win…

Landing…Cannot wait to see Ari’s reaction to the house! And I cannot wait to get back to it!!!!!!