I know I have been very slack with the blogging of the site, but today is the day!! So Let’s go back to the last time we blogged, we were all feeling very blue saying goodbye to friends and family, but we have bounced back emotionally and hopefully medically. It really has been a months of illness in our house. After Leigh was struck down with Scrubs Typhus, Heath and baby Safia then followed. You really feel that you live in a third world country when the kids are sick and the closest hospital is a few hours drive plus immigration to cross the border. But, thankfully being a nurse comes in handy and with the help of the Embassy Doctor I was able to look after all of them at home. At the moment (knock wood) everyone seems to be ok, but it’s Dengue season here with over 6000 cases in Vientiane alone, which makes me a wee bit nervous. I have gained some independence and said goodbye to my driver and our big bongo bus and we are both now driving ourselves around the streets of Vientiane…I was so shit scared the first time I got behind the wheel that I nearly hyperventilated. Leighton had started driving before me as I kept putting off the inevitable, and for some stupid reason I decided to have my first driving lesson on a week night evening at dusk, during peak hour, whilst it was raining, and with the kids in the car….this was the time I swore I would never again drive in Laos. The following morning Leighton flew to Sepon and I had already decided I would call on my very lovely American neighbor Peter to drive our kids to school. This was a great plan until I slept in and Peter had already left. So like the big girl that I am, I drove and that time it was a little bit easier. A fortnight on and I am feeling as confident as you can in a country that drives on the wrong side of the road and has absolutely no road rules. The independence is bliss, obtaining insurance how ever is not. As we now drive an old 4wd Pejero that handles like a shopping trolley, has had a really rough steering wheel conversion, and has had the odometer turned back it goes without saying we just wanted to cover everyone else’s car. Same same (hehe) as in Australia this cover is called ‘Third Party’. We are on the highest premium insurance and they only cover the other cars for 6k worth of damage. This really surprised Leighton and I but like the ‘Insurance Broker’ said, “at least you have insurance, very few Laos locals bother”…lets hope I don’t hit the Ferrari we keep seeing around town. The other very strange thing is that ‘Falang’ are actually not allowed to purchase a vehicle in Laos unless they work with an NGO or are sponsored or something like that, which we are not. So how do you get around this? Well, we bought our car from a foreigner friend (Anna) who bought the car from a local, who wrote a letter saying the car is ours, which we keep in the glove box along with some cash to show the police. I am wondering if this technique will work back in Australia, when I get pulled over haha. We have also adopted a very old dog from a family that are on the move to the Congo and couldn’t take her. Her name is Bindi she is an eight year old-ish obese bitsa, but she is beautiful. She is incredibly gentle, fat and lazy but she has already put her stamp on our house barking every time someone goes past the gate, which is perfect. She is absolutely no bother and when we go away she will be looked after by our Mae Bahns and the guards. So beyond being nice company for our family and the fact we haven’t seen another snake since we adopted her, she is also good security. This makes me feel better, as some of close friends were broken into and had their computers stolen, obviously crime happens everywhere but a dog and a security guard will hopefully make them think twice about our place. I had to give up teaching at VIS as we let our nanny go and we were in the process of hiring a new one. This was actually a nice thing as I no longer had to teach in the mornings and I could enjoy meeting other parents at the school café. This quickly became a new ritual and I am so glad it did, as this is where I met Jodie and KM. I know that I have said this a million times before but thank god for good friends. Expat friends really do become the family away from your family. Jodie is great laugh and the fact that she comes from Australia, is a Crows supporter, and loves her wine are all great traits in a friend. But talk about friends with power, she is also the Consulate Official of Australia, which then leads to a BBQ (cooked by her very talented chef husband) at the Embassy Club. The club is exclusive to Australian embassy Employee’s and it is beautiful; bbq’s, pristine grounds, bar, kitchen, TV’s, massive pool, gym all overlooking the Mekong river on what is technically Australian soil. To make it an even better day we drank Corona’s with lime for the first time in six months and ate lamb chops cooked on a bbq. Leighton has also made a new friend in KM, he is Pilipino, loves to cook, is an Engineer and talked about a fishing trip to the Philippines, and they’ll be friends for a long time. The night before this was the VIS primary end of year concert, held at the cultural hall in the city. It was the first time I had driven in the city’s peak our traffic on a Friday night. But tail gating KM I did ok and it was worth it. The kids were very cute and obviously the highlight was our sons Kung Fu Fighting performance. After the show we headed across the road for a well-deserved very large Tiger beer, then went to La Scala for Italian Pizza and a bottle of red shared with Jodie. La Scala is a nice little restaurant; it’s nestled on very pretty grounds and is about half the price of Aria. We will definitely go back. The past week the kids have been preparing for the end of school year with excursions exploring the Lao culture. Leigh was taken out to rice paddy fields where he learnt about farming and Jade has had many outings to the fresh markets to source food, Lao cooking lessons (where she lied and told them she was vegan in order to avoid eating crickets) and trips out to the provinces to partake in traditional Lao activities. I will upload some of her photos too. Yesterday was the last day of school before the BIG summer break and to celebrate the school held a Baci, a traditional Buddhist ritual used to celebrate important occasions such as the end or beginning of a new year. Everyone at the school sat around the Pah Kwan and placed their hands on the person in front of them whilst the senior school community member and former Buddhist Monk prayed. At the end pieces of silk string are handed out that you place on another person to provide them with peace, harmony, good fortune and good health. It was a beautiful way to finish the school year. It’s crazy how fast time goes, it has been almost six months since we left Australia and faced with the a huge summer break, very little annual leave for Leighton, four children and all my friends leaving for holidays. I have made a decision to head back to Australia for a month. As we are travelling to and from Perth we decided to take a couple of short breaks as family during the stopovers. Next week Leighton, myself and the children will head to Kuala Lumpa for a few days of exploring before I set off to Perth and on the return flight, Leighton will meet us in Singapore for another few days of fun. Watch this space for pictures of Malaysia. Happy and safe holidays to all our friends in Laos, and hello Australia.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 04:11:27 +0000
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