From Katherine!

This non-working life sure keeps me busy! As many of you know, I’ve become a member of the Women’s International Group (WIG) here in Vientiane. It is equal parts a social group and a fundraising organization. It raises money to help children and schools in Laos. With the money that WIG raises, they build classrooms and bathrooms (many schools don’t have any), buy wheelchairs for handicap children and give money for needed medical care. It is a really good organization and I’ve been able to meet a lot of other terrific expat women. Socially, there is usually one event each week for members like cooking classes, golf outing, lunches, field trips. It has been a great organization to join as a new comer to Vientiane. And recently, I volunteered to help update the WIG Guide to Vientiane which is 7 years old. It will be a fun project as I’ll need to get to know the city even more and it should keep me quite busy. I’m hopeful that the Guide will raise over $10,000 for WIG.

Besides being active in WIG, I’m taking tennis lessons, aerobics classes, and I recently started talking Lao lessons twice a week. Of course, I’m also spending lots of time with Vone. And the cultural differences still make both of us laugh. Last week we were looking through one of our photo albums and we had several funny conversations. First off, she pointed to a picture of me and told me very nicely that I am fatter now than the picture we were looking at. In Laos, it isn’t considered rude to tell someone that they are “tui” (fat). Next, she pointed to my brother (not knowing who he was) and asked if he was from Pakistan. Christian, I think it is time to cut off the goatee! She also thinks my dear friend Kate Tyler is from Japan.

But my favorite cultural difference from the past few weeks is Vone’s idea of a diet. After coming back from a long weekend in Koh Samui with lots of pina coladas I decided I needed to cut back a bit so I could loss a few kilos. I thought I explained to Vone that I wanted lots of fresh vegetables, stir-fries, and fruit. And I thought I had explained that I didn’t want fried food. But it seems that a diet here in Laos just means eating smaller portions because for dinner the next night she served us deep-fried hard boiled eggs. No joke, they were battered and fried. Quite interesting and tastey, but certainly not what I have in mind when I’m trying to lose weight. I don’t even think Atkins would recommend it!

It’s Mothers Day here in Laos so happy Mothers Day to Mom/Diana, Mom/Bonnie and Mom/Marilyn!!!

I hope everyone is well and happy.

--Katherine