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.

Ock Pop Tok (옥 팝 톡)

A few days ago I went to a Lao cloth shop called Ock Pop Tok. It was started by a Western woman and a Lao woman, working together to preserve the Lao weaving culture. Daddy said that Ock Pop Tok means East Meets West, and they have a workshop where you can see people make the cloth. So we rode a tuk tuk (kind of Taxi) to the workshop.

며칠전에 옥팝톡이라는 라오스옷가게에 갔습니다. 라오스의 직조 문화를 보전하기 위해 서양의 여자와 라오스의 여자가 함께 시작했습니다. 아빠말씀이 옥팝톡의 의미가 동방과 서양의 만남이라고 하셨고 옷을 만드는 사람들을 볼수있는 워크샵이 있다고 하셨습니다. 그래서 우리는 툭툭 (택시같은 것)을 타고 거기에 갔습니다. 

I took all of the pictures, except for the very last one.

제일 마지막 사진을 제외하고 모든 사진을 제가 찍었습니다.

MAKING CLOTH (옷 만들기)

Phase 1. Making and dying the silk thread.

과정 1. 실크사 제작과 염색

The silkworms. They're the little tan things eating the green leaves. If you click on the picture, you can look at them close up. The big white thing on the left is a silk worm cocoon.
누에. 초록빛을 먹고 있는 작은 탠칼러가 누에입니다. 사진을 클릭하셔서 클로즈업을 해보시면 잘 보실 수 있으실 겁니다. 왼쪽에 있는 하얀 것은 실크누에고치입니다.  

The silkworms make these cocoons. People take the fibers from the cocoons to make silk.
누에들이 이 고치를 만듭니다. 사람들은 이 고치에서 실크를 만들기 위한 섬유를 뽑아냅니다.

This is the silk after the first boiling. They can boil it several times to make it softer.
이것은 처음 삶은 후의 실크입니다.

This is after it is boiled again. 
이것은 다시 한번 삶은 후의 모습입니다.

This chart shows all the different plants and things that make different colors.
이 아트는 여러가지의 색상을 만드는 식물이나 물건들을 보여줍니다.

Here is one of the seeds from the tamarind tree. This seed is one of the dyes in the chart above.
타마린드 나무의 씨입니다. 이 씨는 위 차트에 염색재료중 하나입니다. 

Here is the tree where the seed pod came from. It is really cool that they can get everything they need from their garden to make their silk and weave it. 
위의 씨가 나온 나무가 여기에 있습니다. 실크를 만들 수 있는 모든 재료를 여기서 얻을 수 있다는 것이 아주 멋집니다.

Here you can see some of the other things to use for dying silk different colors. The materials are on the right, and the dyed silk is hanging on the left.
여기에 다른 색깔로 염색할 수 있는 재료들이 있습니다. 재료들은 오른쪽에 염색된 실크들은 왼쪽에 걸려있습니다.

this is the pot and the stove for boiling the dyes.
염료를 끓이는 스토브와 남비입니다.

This is a photo of the spinning wheel used to wind the colored thread onto a spool so you can use it on a loom to weave cloth. The lady turns the crank, which spins the big wheel. The big wheel turns the little spool of thread which is the long skinny orange thing on the left side. Each time the big wheel turns, it spins the spool of thread one hundred times, so you can spin the thread really fast. 

Phase2. WEAVING

과정 2. 직조

These are some of the colors of thread to choose from.

This is the shuttle, which holds the spools of thread. The weaver slides the shuttle back and forth between the strings on the loom. Some shuttles have one thread, others have two, and some even have three! Actually, if you look closely, you can tell that this shuttle has room for three  spools of thread, but only two are being used.

The looms look very complicated. Here is a video of a woman we saw weaving at a village near Luang Prabang. You can see how she uses the foot pedals to move every other thread up or down, and how she slides the shuttle between them to weave the thread. Then she uses the comb to make sure it is tight. 

Here is a much fancier pattern. This kind takes a lot more work. 

This picture shows which ethnic groups from where make what sort of cloth patterns (and elephants). Ock Pop Tock does about half of their weaving at the workshop and about half is done by women in these villages. 

This is a different kind of  pattern made with white cotton fabric, wax and dye. You use a pen-like thing to make patterns in black wax on the cloth. Then you dye the cloth and then clean off the wax to make white pattern on your cloth where the wax used to be!

The pillow in back shows what it looks like after it is dyed and cleaned. Sometimes the sewing people add beads and things on the bags and clothes like this...
저 뒤에 있는 쿠션을 보시면 염색하고 세탁 후에 어떻게 보이는지 아실 수 있습니다. 어떨 때는 구슬을 가방이나 천에 이렇게 더하기도 합니다. 

...and this. 그리고 이거...

you can make lots of the same patterned cloth with different colors.
같은 패턴의 옷감을 다른 색상으로 만들 수 있습니다.

These are sinhs, traditional lao skirts.
이들이 라오스의 전통 치마인 '신'입니다.

Jina and me in our sinhs that we bought from the night market, with the person who made them.
진아와 제가 야시장에서 산 '신'을 입고 이 옷을 만든 사람과 함께 찍은 사진입니다. 

I hope you enjoyed learning about traditional Lao silk weaving culture as much as I did.

라오스의 전통실크 직조에 대해 배우는 것을 저만큼 즐기셨기를 바랍니다.

✒️Jina's Blog👧

My sister Jina asked me to tell everyone that she's starting a blog too. So guess what? Jina's starting a blog too! To get there Tap this link: Jina-world-wide.blogspot.com. Be sure to check it out!

내 동생 진아가 블로그를 시작한다고 모두에게 말해달라고 했습니다. 그래서요. 진아가 블로그를 시작해요! 거기에 가기 위해서는 이 링크 Jina-world-wide.blogspot.com 를 클릭하세요. 한번 체크해 보세요!

✒️Elephant Camp🐘 코끼리 캠프

A few days ago we got up early in the morning, ate breakfast quickly, and were out the door by 8:30 in the morning. We were going to Elephant Camp!

며칠 전, 아침에 일찍 일어나 아침식사를 빨리하고 8시 30분에 집을 나섰습니다. 코끼리 캠프를 가기 위해서였습니다!

     Our schedule:

               FEEDING

               RIDING

               FEEDING

               BATHING

               FEEDING

               WATERFALL

우리 스케줄은:

    먹이주기

    타기

    먹이주기

    목욕시키기

    먹이주기

    폭포방문입니다.

      Asian Elephant facts:

          I learned that elephants eat A LOT of food. In fact, they eat 20 hours a day (sometimes while walking or working)! The other 4 hours they sleep.🌙 An average adult Asian elephant eats about 770 pounds (350 kilograms) and drink 160 liters of water a day. The babies eat sugar cane and the adults eat banana trees. They like to eat the tree trunks, but they can eat any part of the tree.

아시아 코끼리 팩트:

코끼리들은 엄청난 양의 음식을 먹는다는 것을 배웠습니다. 사실 코끼린 하루에 20시간 (어떨 때는 걷거나 일할 때도) 을 먹습니다. 나머지 4시간은 잠을 잡니다. 평균적으로 어른 아시아 코끼리는 하루에 약 770 파운드 (350 킬로)를 먹고 160 리터의 물을 마십니다. 나무 밑둥을 먹는 걸 좋아하지만 나무의 다른 부분들도 먹습니다.

     Before 1975 many elephants fled Laos or were killed because of toxins and bombings. Only 1,200 elephants were left :(, but now there are more :)!

     Laos used to be called Lan Xang, meaning Land of a Million Elephants.

     All the elephants at the camp are female because male elephants tend to make more trouble, and are harder to control.

      Babies are also mischivious, so they have to wait until they are around two or three years old to see the tourists. 

1975년 이전에 독과 폭탄으로 인해 많은 코끼리가 라오스를 떠나거나 죽었습니다. 1200 코끼리만이 살아남았으나 지금은 그 보다 많습니다. 라오스는 옛날에는 란쌍이라고 불렸는데 백만코끼리의 땅이라는 뜻이라고 합니다. 모든 캠프에 있는 코끼리는 암컷인데 수컷은 문제를 많이 만들고 길들이기가 힘들기 때문입니다. 아기 코끼리들도 장난을 좋아하므로 두살이나 세살은 되어야 관광객을 만날 수 있습니다.

Feeding the Baby Elephants (아기 코끼리 먹이 주기)

The sanctuary has two baby elephants. One is three years old,the other is four years old. This is me and the three year old baby. She still eats sugar cane stalks, but is learning to eat banana trees.
코끼리 보호구역에는 두말이 아기 코끼리가 있었습니다. 하나는 세살이고 다른 하나는 네살입니다.  이 사진은 저와 세살짜리 코끼리입니다. 아직도 사탕수수를 먹지만 바나나 나무를 먹는 것을 배우고 있는 중입니다.

Jina, me, and the four year old baby. She eats only the very inside of the banana tree trunks because it is softer. With Asian Elephants usually only the male elephants have tusks, but for some reason, she has tusks too. The people at the camp said she is 'confused'. If you look closely, you can see them. The tusks are lower than you might think. I read in a book once that elephants, like people, prefer their right or left side. She prefers her left tusk for peeling the outside of the tree trunks. In her mouth you can see the outer part of the inside part of the banana tree, which she pulls off with her tusks and then spits out. I have to admit, she is not exactly a neat eater... there are tree trunk scraps all over the floor!!!
이 사진은 진, 저와  아기입니다. 바나나의 안쪽의 부드러운 부분만 먹습니다.. 아시아 코끼리들은 보통 수컷만 상아를 가지는데 어떤 이유에서인지 이 아기는 상아를 가지고 있습니다. 캠프에 있는 사람의 말로 이 코끼리가 헷갈려하고 있기 때문이라고 합니다. 자세히 보면 보실 수 있을 겁니다. 생각보다 상아가 아래쪽에 달려 있습니다. 언제가 책에서 읽었는데 코끼리들도 왼쪽이나 오른쪽 한쪽을 선호한다고 합니다. 이 아기는 왼쪽 상아를 써서 나무 밑둥의 껍질을 벗기는 것을 선호했습니다. 이 코끼리 입안을 보시면 바나나 나무 밑둥의 안쪽 바깥부분을 보실 수 있는데 껍데기는 상아로 빼버리고 뱉어버립니다. 고백하건대, 이 코끼리는 깔끔하게 식사하시는 않았습니다... 바닥에 나무밑둥 찌꺼기가 바닥에 여기저기 흩어져 있었거든요.

This is the four year old again. See her tusks?
네살박이 입니다. 상아가 보이시죠?

Feeding the Big Elephants (큰 코끼리 먹이 주기)

These are two of the riding elephants. They're older and stronger, and eat almost all the banana tree trunks. One elephant gathered up a ton at a time in her trunk to keep for herself without the danger of other elephants stealing 'her' food.

이 두 코끼리는 탈 수 있습니다. 나이가 좀 더 많고 힘이 세며, 대부분 바나나 나무 밑둥을 먹습니다. 한 코끼리는 다른 코끼리들이 자신의 먹이를 훔치지 않도록 한번에 많은 먹이를 모아 먹었습니다. 

Riding the Elephants (코끼리 타기)

This is the building you use to climb on the elephants back, because elephants are so big. Look closely to see me on the building.
코끼리들이 워낙 크기 때문에 이 빌딩은 코끼리 등에 올라타기 위해 쓰입니다. 자세히 보시면 빌딩안에 있는 저를 보실 수 있으실 겁니다.

Me on the elephant saddle. The driver holds the elephant in place while Daddy gets on.
코끼리 안장에 앉은 저의 모습입니다. 아빠가 타고 있는 동안 운전사가 코끼리를 잡고 있습니다.

Jina's elephant kept stopping for snacks!
진아의 코끼리가 스넥을 먹기 위해 계속 멈추었어요!

The view of the Mekong River.
메콩강의 풍경

Near the end of the trip, our driver got off to open the gate, but Kamun (the elephant) was a good girl and followed the trail, even with no driver.
여행을 마칠무렵, 우리 조련사가 게이트를 열기 위해 내렸으나 카문(우리 코끼리)는 말을 잘 듣고 조련사없이도 길을 잘 따라갔습니다.

Bathing the Elephants (코끼리 목욕 시키기)

Later, we put on our swim suits and went to bathe the elephants. This time, we sat behind the head of the elephant, without a saddle. I actually felt safer sitting on the elephant than sitting on the saddle, because the saddle tilted a lot.
나중에, 수영복을 입고 코끼리 목욕을 시키러 갔습니다. 이번에는 안장없이 코끼리 머리 뒤에 탔습니다. 안장이 많이 비뚤어져 있었기 때문에 안장에 앉는 것 보다 코끼리에 직접 앉는 것이 더 안전하게 느껴졌습니다.

We took turns bathing the elephants, three elephants at a time. You pour water on the elephants back and head, and sometimes the elephant went underwater with just the trunk poking out of the water to let the elephant breathe. That is why Mommy looks like she is swimming. She's actually sitting on her elephant, who's underwater.
우리는 차례로 세마리의 코끼리를 목욕시켰습니다. 코끼리의 머리와 등에 물을 붓고 어떨 때는 숨쉬기 위해 코만 밖에 내 놓고 물 밑으로 완전히 몸을 담궜습니다. 그래서 엄마가 수영을 하고 있는 것처럼 보입니다. 사실 엄마는 물밑에 내려간 코끼리를 타고 있답니다.
🏊
🐘

 After bathing the elephants, we showered quickly and prepared to go to the waterfall - our next stop, and my next post.
코끼리를 목욕시킨 후, 샤워를 빨리 마친후 다음 블로그 포스트가 될 폭포에 갈 채비를 했습니다.

🐘🐘🐘

✒️Tuk Tuk 🚲😄 툭툭

Some days when its just too hot to walk to wherever we're going, we can take a tuk tuk. A tuk tuk is kind of a taxi that is a motorcycle with a cart on back for riding in. It's called a 'tuk tuk' because when you ride in it the cart rattles and it sounds like "tuk tuk tuk tuk tuk".

너무 더워서 걷기가 힘들면 툭툭을 탈 수 있습니다. 툭툭은 오토바이에 카트를 달아 사람들을 태울 수 있게 만든 택시같은 겁니다. 툭툭이라 부르는 이유는 탈 때 카트가 흔들리며 내는 "툭툭툭툭" 소리를 흉내낸 것입니다.

Daddy, the tuk tuk driver and the tuk tuk after our ride.

우리가 내린 후에 아빠 툭툭 운전사와 툭툭이.