This past weekend we had a trip to Luang Prabang. The guesthouse that four of us, Yaeng, Sandra, Eileen and I stayed at had a shower like no other we had seen before- one that looked like you could spend an hour in trying out every gadget. Since there were four of us, we knew our time would be limited, so we joked about having a group shower. Little did we know we would actually have one!

It’s a good thing that I grew up liking rain, because during the rainy season in Laos it rains very often. Many times it rains for only a short time, and luckily we’ll be in class or another appointment. Other times it rains so lightly I don’t even bother bringing an umbrella. And then there was last night when it already started drizziling, and it was very clear it would start pouring at some point. Hungry as we were, the few of us that were venturing off for food decided to brave the looming storm and set off to the market on the other side of the That Luang.

It didn’t start pouring until we had sat down to eat. Luckily the stand we ate at had an extra patio type umbrella that we were able to cover ourselves a bit with. Even with the umbrella, I at least was getting rained on from all sides- drips from the umbrella above, splashing from the puddles below, and mist as it blew on my side and back. So I followed a friend to seek better cover under the tarp sheltered food stand where we squeezed in as the sellers prepared papaya salad and clams. Eventually the rest of our group followed, trekking through the puddle almost level with the top of the curb. The rain didn’t look as though it would let up anytime soon, so we began our journey home, splashing in the puddles on our way. The funniest part about the entire thing was looking back for Brandin, and seeing him walking tall across the market with a plastic bag over his hair?

Actually, I have secretly been wanting something like this to happen! Since it is the rainy season, it is better to enjoy it. It was also probably the first time the weather here made me cold, so I took advantage of it while I could! A little different than we had imagined, I don’t think our group shower could have been more fun!

I’d say everything is still going well in Laos! My Lao is steadily improving, although I still feel that I don’t know a lot of useful vocabulary. I am at the point where I am pretty comfortable speaking, although I am not always confident I understand what people say to me. I hope I can improve soon so that I can understand the Lao language books I bought today- although I can read (slowly), I may not know the meaning of the words! I have also been volunteering at the Donkoi Children’s Development Center three times a week. For the first half of my time there I help out with arts and crafts, whether doing batik, making candles or constructing rock animals. I also am teaching a small English class at the DCDC. This is a great time for me to learn a lot about Lao culture as the students work on their English communication.