Dangerous, or not?

Today Kristian (Bonlai) and I (Sing) have helped a girl in the church with som painting.
The working conditions wern`t the same as in Norway, but no problem. We got the work done, and the result was really nice. And to see the face of the girl we helped, when we were finished, that`s the best payment I could get. I really feel that helping other people like that, gives me such a great plesure. Simpely put, it makes me happy!!

But she did make us some food. To eat taco for the first time in Laos (had eaten once, in thailand), was something I would miss for the world. :)

I`m glad to be in Lao, and experince different conditions and settings.
And btw, though we were a bit scared, we went to it, trusting God would take care of us. And here I am, sitting and writing this so you can read about my life.

Our friend ownes here own coffee an silc shop. There she sels the citys best and cheapest coffee, and her silc is amazing!!

Trip to Bangkok

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, was not ready to be taken by the three vikings
Ingrid, Kristian and Eirik. We came like a storm, and we swept the city without hesitating.
But first off, we took the night train from Nong Khai to Bangkok. The train was Amazing. The style had a hint of retro 70 style, with faded lime green color on the walls inside the train. The train was a smart construction in it selves, and before I knew it, they had made all the chairs into beds. I had the top bunk, and were thrilled when I found out that my bed was exactly my length, 190 cm. The night was good, I slept well, a little cold, but all in all I was very satisfied. The shabby train with retro style and really small toilets had found the way to my heart, and it was with grief I left the train the following morning.

We went to Bangkok with many objectives, and one of them was to be hosted by Hald students; Silje and Else. They welcomed us with bread and Nugatti. OH JOY:D They were, trough the whole weekende, excellent hosts. And it was very nice of Mari, their room mate, to let us use her bed. You guys made everything so great.

In Bangkok we did a lot of shopping. I bought clothes to almost 1500 norwegian kr. That is A LOT of money there, so I sent a whole new wardrobe, back home, with my sister. T-shirts from Bangkok are so nice. Can`t wait to come home to Norway and use them. A bit scary thought.. One of the things I really look forward to, when coming home, is to use clothes :S

We also got to meet the missionaries in Bangkok. And we also met some people from NMS, that were in a trip to Thailand, so check out the projects that NMS has there.

In Bangkok we ate some really good western food. Western food is exspensive in Laos, so it was nice to eat things like whopper menu from Burger King, Taco, and icecream from svensens. Bit strange to eat it, but good as well. Miss norwegian food, but Kristian (bonlai) and I have found our own ways of food i Lao. So we eat as much lao food as possible. Therefore, coming to Bangkok was a nice and well erned vacation.

My sister went home to Norway that weekend, and now I won`t wee her for another three months. But no problem.

The trip to Bangkok was good. The trip home with the train was also pretty nice. So shabby.. HAHA.
Bangkok is nice, but I got to say: I think Laos and Vientiane is better. Not that much peoble or traffic:P But anyway.. Thanks for a nice trip!

Pictures will come later!

Family visit and trip to Vangvieng

When I came home from Infield, my big sister Ingrid had come to Laos. So.. the vacation didn`t stop with Infield, I had one more week of fun and relaxing. All though I did some teaching during the week, it was mostly relaxing and hanging out with Ingrid :)

During the week we`ve done lots of different things. We started with checking out Vientiane city, where I live. There we did something I`ve did very little of during my three months here. We looked at buddhist temples. The buildings and the monks are fascinating, and it was really fun when we came to talk with one of the monks. He talked about being monk, why and how it was. Would it suprise you if I said that mane mane monks here have phones. Maybe it`s me not knowing, but isn`t that against the basic buddhist monk rules?!Buddha statue from a tempel in Vientiane

Btw, this week I reseved my christmas present from Norway, stuffed with the best things I could imagine. That made my day, sort of speaking:P

The gifts from home. Even christmas soda from Hamar:)

That week we were hit by a wave of sickness. I started at Khamla`s, and finished 6 hours later at my own bathroom. This is my first time in being really sick in Lao, and it was as fun as it always is when being sick. Both Kristian and Ingrid had their turns to the toilet during the night, and the following day became kind of lazy. But a couple of days later we where all fine, so me and Ingrid took a trip to Vangvieng. The place where we had infield. After a shaky trip with lots of loud Lao music, we arrived. We headed straight to a guesthouse, before we went to lucy cave. The cave was really large and beautiful, and in the end of the cave, there was a lagoon. Really cool:) Our guide was btw drunk, and his guiding consisted of spitting out the few english words he knew, in a very fast and direct order: oh yes very beautiful in cave, oh yes wow beer Lao! He made the trip memorabel, though in a different way. After the cave and some food we went tubing. This time, ass well in infield, the tubing became a cold experience, but man... the nature in Vangvieng is so beautiful, and just lying there in the tube, floating down the river. I wouldn`t miss it for the world.The lagoon inside the cave. Not the best picture, but anyway:)

The trip home from Vangvieng was also a experience in it self. We started out at 7 am with a local bus, and soon we were off. Here in Lao, the buses follow the time tabel, something we from Norway really appreciated. The first km we drove really slow, and the driver honked the horn all the time, in case anybody had forgot or missed the bus. It`s a good thing to do, but kind of enoying for the tired Eirik. The bus soon got filled up with shouting Lao people who seemed to be friends, but shouted to each other in a way I would look at as fighting. Well well.. The best part of the trip, besides to up and down, and going from side to side in the seat, was when the mother and her child in the seat in front of us, started trowing up. All over themselves and the seat. Just been sick myself, so the smell and the sounds were a bit disturbing. But as the tuff and hard viking I say I am, I stould (sat) my ground. So did Ingrid.

Well back from Vangvieng, we waited in Vientiane for some hours, before we met Kristian, and we were all ready for a trip to Bangkok. I will tell you that story later, `cause I`m still in Bangkok at Silje and Elses place.

Jul, Nyttår og Infield

The last weeks has been wonderfull here. In many ways, I`ve felt like a tourist in my own country. It has been kind of great to walk away from the normal life, since the normal life here consisted of way to much spare time. But now it`s getting better. Next week we start with teaching for both teachers and students at a school here. I look very much forward to that!

In the christmas we used a lot of time in the church here. The people are so dedicated, and the christmas is a time for charing the gospel. A combination of celebration for just me and Kristian, together with the church, made the christmas a memorabiel time :D

At new year the hald girls in Thailand came to Laos. The days went by with showing the girls our city, and celebrate the wonderfull new year. Pizza and free drinks (which we didn`t drink), icecream, laughter and smile made the evening perfect. We finished the night with a pretty nice praise night at the church. The norwegian expression "hæla i taket, og tenna i tapeten" fits very well :)

Infield was just PERFECT. So good to meet the other students and teachers again. Vangvieng with its beautifull weather and surrondings made everything even better. The teaching and the sociale aspect of it all, made infield something worth to remember. When the teachers and students left me and Kristian back alone here i laos, the left a empty whole.
Thank you so much for visiting us:)