My Host Family

Namphone and Nampung being silly

Okay, now that I finally took some pictures of my host family, I want to post them. These girls are so silly, and it has been a joy to realize in the last few weeks that I feel so much more comfortable living with this family than I did near the beginning.

With Peng and Nampung

Namphone and Nampung absolutely LOVE Dutch Blitz. Every day they beg, “Lin (play) game Bliss?” I’m usually happy to oblige. I’ve also taught them Egyptian Ratscrew, another fast card game that they also love. Nampung is learning English in school, and is very sweet with translating something for me when I need it. I try to only communicate in Lao as much as possible, though. Almost every night she checks over my Lao homework. The first time I read something in Lao for her she was really excited!

visiting That Luang with my family

One Saturday recently we had a marathon day of shopping at Lao-ITECC (the mall that’s only open at the end of the month when people get their paychecks), visiting the beautiful golden stupa of That Luang, and climbing up the Patuxay monument for the view. Another Saturday was my host mom’s birthday, so we spent most of the day cooking delicious food for the party later in the day. I can’t remember the Lao names of things, but I helped to make fried veggie balls and Vietnamese bundles of meat, egg, carrot, and cilantro wrapped up in lettuce and tied with a green onion. Sep lai! (Very delicious!)

I don't THINK my host mom was actually angry about this picture

Peng and me outside our house

Well, this post is a little short on words, but I think the pictures pretty much say it all anyway. I’m sad that I’ll be leaving my host family in a few weeks.