Update 10/28

Photos - I shared a link with some so you may have already seen photos. Blogger for some reason is slower than slow here, so it's easier for me to upload and email a link. If you would like to see photos, please send us your email if we don't have it. I will be uploading more photos soon, I finally think we almost have a schedule which means we have time to do things again..like blog. Imagine that. :D

We just got back from a 3 day teachers conference in Bangkok..which was just what we needed. It was great to meet teachers from other parts of SEAsia; Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, China.. and it was nice to be in an English environment. The conference really recharged us, ready to get back to work.

Our little home is coming along. A few weeks ago in Thailand we bought some things to make it feel more homey.. throw pillows, some fun dishes, some shelves etc. Funny the things you just either can't buy here or they are outrageously priced. We are hoping to paint the big empty room in Dec., Joel fixed the roof the other day. Went up on it and spread tar which seems to have taken care of the leaks. He would have hired someone to do it, but try explaining putting tar on a roof to someone who thinks cement is a better idea.. (the cement cracks line of reasoning wasn't working..)

I feel a little "geang jai" (uncomfortable in a humble way) but we just hired a "me ban" (mother of the house) ie..housecleaner to come 1x a week. It's very affordable here (about $20 USD a month) and will save me immense amounts of time. I still have to work out the details.. I've never had anyone other than my mom do my laundry! But even some of our local Lao friends have them, so it's not really so strange. I'm still coming around to the idea..

We are still in Lao class daily. We are thinking of enrolling at the National University come January. They have a Lao program there too, with all levels; basic to advanced. Our biggest line of reasoning on this is that it lets us meet more people and we figure it wouldn't be a bad thing to have on the resume when we come back Stateside. But, we'll see.. right now we have the classes with the school we work for.

For our friends learning the language back there: you'll be happy to know we are FINALLY working on getting recordings made. Hoping to contribute to the knowledge base. ; )

..I am off to go work on my Lao part for a conference this weekend. Yikes!! :P

All our love,
The Kids.