het hai bpeek jai & the story of how this all came to be... ; )

Means... "surprise! " literally i guess it would mean "work give surprise heart " the word jai generally involves an emotion of the heart/mind. (and if any Lao reader wants to correct me, i am more than your humble student)

Surprise was my feeling on Thursday when I went to go see a woman and she says "Look who is here!" and at first I'm a bit confused ..but then I think......nahhhh.....baaaawww (no) but ugh (yes) it is! A young girl we MET on our trip to Laos is standing at the door!

Now, let's back up 3 or 4 years. My (K) business of seven years involves Thailand. Quite allot actually. I used own a small shopfront not far from the heart of the concentration of SE Asians in our area. Although I was on "the list" for years in the past, at that time I wasn't. Things happen. Regrettably, day to day life happens. Another story. Anyway, one of my most regular customers was a Cambodian man. He worked in a factory building down the street and took the bus, so often he would hang out in my shop while waiting for the bus. (And since the shop focused on allot of SE Asian things, I think he felt at home) One thing I learned in business from a dear friend who also had a shop (for 32 years!) is that it *IS* your territory. So in the corner I had a bookcase with reference books etc but a few of the shelves were books we all know. And small "tracts" (nagsu lim noi) So, S and I got to talking allot. J talked to him some too. S always said, "you should talk to my family, you would help them allot" I started ordering books in Cambodian for him to give to his family etc. but it really got me thinking about things. I missed talking to people more. I loved the satisfaction having my own shop gave me, but I really did miss the work I used to do. J and I had been involved with foreign language before. (Ever see all our books on Hungarian?) But somehow, someway, this time it was different. Maybe because we are older. Who knows.

After talking it over with J, I decided to close the shop. I had been good to my landlord and he was kind enough to let me out of my lease. It was hard for me because the shop was at this point turning a decent profit. (I'm by nature a bit of a work-a-holic) But... I was at the point, either get a bigger storefront or get out all together. I choose the later. (I feel like this echoes choices we are making now)Funny the things you work so hard for are the things sometimes you want to run the quickest from.

But remembering how much S kept saying how his family could use this really stuck with me. Goes back to my first post about what really makes you feel happy deep in your heart. Dii Jai.

Fast forward a few months of me closing the shop. I was still doing work for a man out of Bangkok/NYC so J and think....we have *always* wanted to go to Thailand. Let's just do it. So we booked our flights for about 4 months away. (Besides, eh, it was to be techincally a "work trip" for me) During all of this I closed up shop and J and I decided to do something with a foreign language again. Thinking of S (the Cambodian man who visited my shop) we decide to check that out. Come to find out there is a big group (almost an offical full size gathering) not to far from us. But I call a friend to talk to her about things.. (her father is in Serbian in TN) she's of that same mental set (if you are in F.Language group ya know what I mean) and she says Cambodian yes...but I cant officially tell you but this other couple is studying Lao. You should call them. We call them. (They happen to be some of our very best friends) and they have SECRETLY been studying Lao 2 years!! They wanted to have a grasp of the language before they started doing anything. So, we get together...go over census reports etc. (Over 7,000 in our area) and J and decide locally, that's were the focus needs to be. I would have been happy with anything SE Asian so i'm fine with that. (wow this is turning into a long story...sorry)

So. We decide. Lao. That's that. We looked at the GN booklet. It all looked Greek. Or as my friend says, like noodles. But we decide to plow forward. Next thing we know we are talking with a group of friends north of us about our upcoming trip to Thailand and why..they know some folks living in Laos. Since we are doing the language why don't we go see them? OK. No problem, afterall that same year we had been in Serbia. : P So in the course of 1 week my "work" trip went from work to no work. The friends were like Lydia and said, "come stay with us". We just felt like we were being pushed along in the current. (ya know?) Yeah, OK, we'll come stay with you. And we spent 2 weeks in Laos on a tourist visa.. (all we could get at short notice) , the others in Thailand. Thailand was crazy beautiful... I must say, I love Bangkok.. the greenest city I ever saw... but Laos..

It changed everything.

Ever sing at a gathering but not sing, just quietly whisper a song ? No music. Just voices. Sit on the floor reading your books & magazine but really your just "at a party"? Ever wonder why the tuk-tuk driver is hanging around so long so you think he is watching so you take leave quickly. Ever keep all your books behind closed doors? Ever have a friend come home from talking with people and say the police searched her bag but somehow didn't find anything? yeah.

I had a problem when I first got back from those few weeks. I couldn't sing at a gathering without my eyes filling up. Really. Maybe because of my playing piano days or my mom studying songs with me as a kid but music really hits a note with me. (pardon the pun) Actually, I still have the same problem at times. It really hits me when it's a song I know well.

So, at one of these gatherings I met a young girl.... She would go regularly to these parties. I have a photo I brought back of her laughing getting on her scooter. She had asked me to check in on her mom. You might know the story, her mom being not many miles from me. (The one I gave on the SD) I showed her mom the photo of her daughter in Laos...laughing with all of us.

So, fast forward... Thursday, SURPRISE ! There she was...somehow she made her way here. After talking and catching up for a good half hour she went to her room and brought out "the big book", the yellow book in Thai (we dont have it in Lao yet) and a *photocopied* pasa angit one (english) book that she brought with her from Laos. (Imagine, your bringing you belongings to a new place and you choose to include those..says something) She wanted to know if I had any new books for her. She didn't have room for them all. She is coming with us next week to the Lao gathering... She misses Laos.

Sometimes, you just have to say "OK" when something picks you up and puts you down in a place you need to be. My mom used to say, "you only ask how high once you're in the air."

Hope everyone has a beautiful weekend. I only get time to write because J is mowing. : P Things I'm sure he won't miss LOL! The funny thing is today we were supposed to have a "work on a few things around the house day" but a person we talk with called us around noon asking if we could come by today... (of course!) painting waits another day....