"Anglo-Saxons do better in the tropics"

I know it’s only been 3 weeks, but I still often find myself sitting in wonder thinking about the fact that we now live in Laos. It mostly happens as I sit on our porch in the evening, listening to the nightly concert of bugs, birds, and lizards that combine to create a cacophony of sound for about five to fifteen minutes every night around sundown. I sit on the porch, often joined by Katherine, sometimes not, usually with Beer Lao in hand, and just wonder at the fact that our home is now in a country that most people in the US haven’t heard of, let alone know how to find on a map.

Life and work here is still quite a bit daunting, but I think I’m still in the euphoric stage of culture shock, where everything seems absolutely amazing, and while different from anything I’ve ever really experienced, the new sights, sounds, and smells of the place I now call home seem more exotic and interesting than annoying and maddening. I’m told that the annoying and maddening part comes later. But for now, it’s all good. I’ve yet to have the “what the hell am I doing here” moment, but I’m certain it will come at some point.

Katherine had a few hours of “what the hell am I doing here, and damn my husband for making me come here” feeling last week, but as she and I have learned, that’s pretty normal, and will happen to both of us (although not the ‘damn my husband’ part for me). But even though we’ve only been here three weeks, I can also see why so many FS officers seem to stay here until they are basically forced to leave.

We had dinner tonight with a co-worker and his wife. They are a really amazing couple. My co-worker speaks Lao at a level I could only dream of achieving. His wife is Lao by birth, but really came to Laos for the first time (in adulthood anyway) when he was posted here in 1989. Anyway, they’re now on their second tour in Laos. After a five year tour in Bangkok, they returned to Laos, and will have been here five years when they leave next summer (2006).

Their story is not unique. Another officer here was in BKK for a tour, and then moved up to Laos and has been here four years. Another officer was in Bangkok, and is now finishing up a three year tour here. His replacement just finished up a tour in BKK. Another was in BKK, and is now starting year three in Laos. …And so on. It seems that SE Asia takes hold of people, and I can see why. The lifestyle is very appealing. It’s hot, to be sure, though we have yet to really experience the hot season. But the people are incredibly friendly, laid back, and open. The culture is about a foreign as you can expect, but once you gain a bit of insight, it is welcoming, interesting, and inviting. And the food. Well, hell, everyone likes Thai food, right? Thai, Lao, pretty much the same, although Lao seems to not have the diversity in tastes that Thai food has. But the French colonial influence has left a tradition of fine food and really great bread.

And once we get our car sometime after April 11 (our car and 2nd shipment of stuff is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok on April 11, then arrive in Laos up to a week later), we'll be able to start really exploring. Who know's how we'll feel after that, but I figure it will just expand our already expanded horizons.

Who knows, maybe we’ll get sucked into the black hole that is a love of SE Asia, and fight tooth and nail to stay in the region as much as we can throughout our FS career*


*Last statement not cleared by Katherine Nervig.

by the way, the title of the post is from a song sung by expats at a party in the movie "The Year of Living Dangerously". Maybe it's from something else too, but that's what I know it from.