The Light Festival 1 🏮 Friday

     This weekend was the festival of light.
     On Friday we made fire boats at school.
     On Saturday we explored a paper making and craft village.
     On Sunday we made more at TAEC (Traditional Arts and Ethnology Center).
     Monday was the parade.

     Here are a few pictures of the boats:

Boats made by kids during art at school.

My boat is on the left, Jina's is on the right, and a bean is in the middle.

     The boats are made of banana tree trunks with banana leaves,  flowers ( the traditional orange and yellow chrysanthemums and something from the school garden), and berries. The boats are held together with nails and staples, and the finishing touches are the incense sticks and candles.

     After school, we went to Lao Friends Hospital for Children to hear the french musicians who were performing for the patients. there were several juggling balls and clubs. I'm learning to use juggling balls, but it was fun to try throwing clubs. It's much harder than throwing balls!

Bugs of Laos

BUGS!!!
 (that is all the introduction these guys need.)

This preying mantis is the most dangerous leaf you'll ever meet. That is, if you're about an inch tall. 

Pretty little creature. I don't know what it is.

More leaves! I think this is a hawk moth of some sort.

Red and black + stylish pom poms = perfect little beetle.

Another leaf, this time six inches long and in katydid form.

Katydids love the hospital. See the resemblance with the previous picture? 

May the best beetle catch the golden snitch! or dragonfly. or whatever it is.
(actually, my dad says that those are antennas.)

We get tons of cool moths, often enormous.

incredible luna moth! around 7 inches wide and 5 inches long. Bigger than my hand!

Our House in Laos & our Lao Garden🍊

     Today we took a walk around the house and our garden. The house is down a little road with a motorcycle repair shop and a noodle restaurant. In Lao cities, the neighborhoods are like little villages. They even have village chiefs! Each village also has a neighborhood Wat (temple)

Our house is in the village of Ma. The sign says Ban Ma, which in Lao means Village Ma.

Here is the gate in front of the house. If you look closely, you can see the red roof.

This is Ton (tone) the gardener. He comes about once every three weeks to help mow the lawn, clean up fallen leaves,
take care of the plants, and do other gardening stuff.

I was sad to leave our plum tree in America, but our Lao Garden has even more fruit trees!

Here are some fruits we picked.
Left to right: a fruit that our market guidebook called Maak Wa, and 2 limes. We also have kaffir limes (you don't eat these, but you can cook with the leaves and they smell nice).

Little fruits. These are supposed to be really sour.

A fallen kaffir lime.

Custard apples! These have a bizarre texture, but taste amazing. Usually the fruits are covered in ants because the cracks leak sweet stuff.

 Beautiful tiny pomegranates! These are about the size of my fist. They turn rainbow colors and look very nice, but they won't turn red. We picked one and it was REALLY sour. I guess we'll have to figure out when pomegranate season is.

These guavas are not ready for eating yet. My dad said some types of guava turn pink on the inside when they're ripe.

A lime. You can tell that its not a kaffir lime because those are lumpy and covered in bumps. Also, kaffir leaves have weird segments.When lime-picking it is very important to watch out for thorns!

The neighbor's coconut tree. Ours doesn't have any fruit.

An interesting flower my dad found before  my mom, sister, and I arrived. Sadly, it wilted before I could see it.

Another strange flower. I don't know what it is.

Seed pods on the ground.

A (currently mango-less) mango tree.

Aloe Vera. Apparently it's good for sunburns.

I think a dog may have stepped in the wet cement....

a Year in Laos✈

     My family is going to Laos for a year. 

     Laos is a small country surrounded by China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Cambodia. Laos is not very developed, so there are lots of little villages and a few main big cities. These include the capital, Vientiane, and Luang Probang, where we will live.

Here is a map of Laos. You can see lots of cities and the neighboring countries.

My dad is working at the childrens hospital in Luang Probang. Jina and I will also go to school.