The little things, part 2

Before we left to come back to the States, I made a list of little things about life in Thailand/Laos that I'd miss while I was here. So it only seems fitting that I make a list of some of the little things I'll miss about life here in Washington. Again, this isn't counting the hugely important people I'll miss: my family, my local friends, my church. These are just the small things that make this home - or I should say, one of my homes.

Some sounds that I missed while I was in Thailand, that I'll miss when we get back:

-Airplanes flying overhead multiple times a day, from Boeing or from Seatac Airport
-Robins, sparrows, chickadees, red-winged blackbirds, bald eagles, and other native Pacific Northwestern birds
-Soft, steady drizzle of rain that can go on for hours (not a tropical deluge)
-The distant sound of a train whistle
-The furnace coming on at intervals throughout the day
-English-language songs on the radio, and playing in the background in stores
-The specific sound our front door makes when it opens or closes
-The sound of driving over that one stretch of I-5 in Seattle that has all the expansion joints in it - preferably at the rhythm you get when you're going about 65 mph in the HOV lane
-The tide coming in or out, at the various Puget Sound beaches I love

Some scents that I'll miss:
-Evergreen conifers
-Cherry blossom trees

-The ocean (mostly the Puget Sound)
-Burning dust when the heater comes on after having been off for a while
-Laundry fresh out of the dryer
-Freshly-mowed grass - it smells different in Thailand
-Fallen leaves

Some sights I'll miss:
-Mount Rainier, on clear and partly cloudy days
-The Cascades and the Olympics
-The Seattle skyline (there's none I love better)
-Autumn leaves, and bare trees after the leaves have fallen
-Tree-lined streets and hiking paths
-Frost-covered branches, and falling snow (not that we got all that much of that this winter ... and yes, I know that much of the US got too much!)
-Spring flowers

Other sensations:
-Long sleeves, jackets, sweatshirts, sweaters, coats, socks, closed-in shoes, jeans almost every day, high-heeled boots, scarves, fleece pajamas, flannel sheets ... all those clothes, etc. that go with colder weather
-Coming into the warm house from a cold day
-The comfort of holding a hot beverage in cold hands
-Less time spent sweating
-Sitting in front of a fireplace or warm stove
-Dishes fresh out of the dishwasher

That's just a small sampling; I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting at the moment. But at the same time, I'm getting more and more excited to go back to my other home!

It's the little things (okay, and the big things)

Faster than seems possible, it's approaching the day when Mackenzie and I will be saying goodbye to one home temporarily so that we can go back to our other home. For the first time in two and a half years, we'll be going back to the US!

While I am very excited to go back home, see family & friends, visit all my favorite places in Washington, and eat American food, I'm also realizing that I have less than two months now to say goodbye (for six months) to the things I love so much about Thailand and Southeast Asia. Of course it helps to know that I'll be back here pretty soon; I'm sure the months in the US will fly by just as fast or faster as it seems like my first term over here has.

So what will I miss about life here? The obvious and most important answer is my friends. Our neighborhood, our office, our church, our weekly pizza night - I'll miss all the people I see at these places. (And I'll continue to miss my friends who live in Vientiane, too!) I can't count all the ways that my Mukdahan family has welcomed, loved, and helped me throughout the year I have lived here and beforehand, too.

Other than this big thing, there are other, smaller good or just everyday things that come to mind when I think of this place. I'm sure I won't think of them all, but I've been thinking about some of them.

- I think of sounds:

Tropical birdsong, in the mornings and evenings especially.* Doves cooing and murmuring. The sound of a motorbike starting up. The rumble of the gate to a house being pulled open or pushed shut on its wheeled track. Thai, Isaan, and Lao being spoken. A tuktuk going past on the main road. The little red ice cream truck. The distinctive beat of traditional-style Isaan or Lao music (though I really prefer it not accompanied by loud, drunken karaoke parties). The radio advertisements playing inside Big C and Tesco Lotus. The trucks that go by blaring their political or product advertisements. Cicadas and bullfrogs during certain seasons. House geckos chirping a warning. Tukkaes, or Tokay geckos, calling from outside. The cycling of air conditioning units. The quiet dripping of the water filter. The hiss of a gas stove. Dramatic peals of thunder and tropical downpours.

*There's one very distinctive birdcall that I will especially miss: that of the Greater Coucal. It's not a flashy, bright-colored bird, but it sounds pretty cool. If you'd like to hear a sample, this is what it sounds like (and also what the bird looks like).

- I think of scents:

Flowers that release their perfume at night. The street after a heavy rainfall.

The type of laundry soap we always use. Grilled chicken or river fish sold by the roadside. Freshly steamed sticky rice. The various kinds of Thai food being cooked for lunch at the office. The pungent, sometimes almost pleasant odor of durian for sale. Seafood and other strong-smelling foods being prepared for sale at Big C - though sometimes it's a bit too strong to be at all enjoyable. Fish sauce being used in cooking. Fresh, hot khao piak or pho (noodle soup). The way the smell of lime juice lingers on your hands after you squeeze a wedge of lime over your meal. Freshly sliced mangoes. Incense from a spirit house or a wat (Buddhist temple). The bug-killing spray we use to kill cockroaches, ants, and spiders (okay, I won't actually miss that, even though it's usually either floral or citrus scented here).

- I think of sights:

The beautiful array of plant life, including so many flowers. Colorful butterflies and dragonflies. Impressively huge moths and beetles (as long as they stay outside!). Brightly-colored Thai flags - or Lao, depending on which side of the border I'm on.

All the wares for sale at markets. Rows of brilliant, traditional wraparound skirts (sinhs) in a myriad of patterns and hues. Golden spires and rooftops of temples. Water buffaloes and cows grazing by the side of the road - or crossing it. Chickens and dogs, and the occasional cat, trotting down narrow lanes. Geckos darting up the wall. Schoolchildren in their uniforms, coming home from school in songthaews or on the back of motorbikes, sometimes three or more on a bike. Huge, brightly-painted tour buses crawling through the town. Rows of tuktuks waiting for passengers at tourist locations and bus stations. Ornate signs and designs all over, in honor of the Royal Family. The Mekong River. Seemingly endless ricefields just outside the city. Green, rolling hills and mountains once you get even further outside of the city. Busy, bustling Centralplaza shopping centers. A 7-11 at every corner. People smiling, putting their palms together, and bowing their heads in the traditional greeting - a wai or a nop, depending on the language.

- I think of tangible and non-tangible sensations:

The smoothness of a silk sinh (traditional wraparound skirt). The electric start button for a motorbike - or kickstarting it. The slight stickiness of a fallen dok champa (plumeria/frangipani) blossom. The near-burn that comes from grabbing a handful of fresh sticky rice right out of the basket (totally worth it). The bliss of an air-conditioned room after coming indoors. The breeze coming off the Mekong. The relative cool of a cloudy, rainy-season day. The soothing softness of my cats' fur - the two of them distinct from one another.* The cloth steering wheel cover that keeps the steering wheel from burning my hands when the car has sat in the sun for a while. The squishy hollowness of an unopened pomelo fruit. The smoothness of a mango skin. The bristliness of the outside of a rambutan.

*Yes, cats in general are not unique to SE Asia. But our cats are, and we aren't taking them back to the US with them, so we will be missing them like crazy.

- I think of flavors:

Each and every one of my favorite Thai and Lao main dishes (I won't list them all, because it would be a very long list and I'd get too hungry in the process. You can ask me sometime). Specific meals from my favorite restaurants in Vientiane. Coconut milk used in cooking. Fresh-made "Lao bread" - also known as baguettes. The wide array of tropical fruits, most of which I've already posted about: passionfruit, mangoes, mangosteens, rambutans, lychees, limes, pineapple, rose apples, dragonfruit, guava, coconut, tamarind, etc.

Frozen fruit bars in these flavors (made with real fruit juice). Homemade Lao ice cream. Mango yogurt. Passionfruit jam. Jelly desserts made of coconut milk and rice flour. The kinds of fresh green vegetables that you can't really get back home - most of which I don't even know an English name for. Potato chips with specially SE Asian flavors. Salty-sour-sweet limeade.

Thankfully, as I said, I doubt I'll have too much time to miss these things, since I fully expect to be enjoying all the people and things I have been missing in the US while we're home there. But it's good to remind myself what we'll be coming back to, at the end of these upcoming six months.

Hot Season

So here it is again: hot season. That lovely time of year (approximately March to May) when temperatures get to 100F/37-38C for most of the day, it almost never rains, and no one wants to do anything even slightly strenuous, especially during the hottest part of the day ... unless it involves being underwater or sitting in an air-conditioned room.

I have to admit that this is not at all my favorite time of year in Southeast Asia. Rainy season, even with its accompanying humidity, doesn't bother me as much. I grew up in the Pacific Northwestern US, in western Washington and Oregon specifically. I'm used to rain, though of course it's not the same kind here. (Here, it's the downpour-plus-thunderstorm kind of rain, usually.) But after two years in SE Asia, I'm still not used to hot and dry.

But, all that said, it's not like there is nothing I enjoy about hot season. In fact, to help me remember, I'm going to list them - after I list my least favorite things about it.

Top Things I Really Don't Like About Hot Season:

1. The aforementioned heat.

2. Being outside for more than a few seconds = sweating a lot.

3. Feeling even less motivation than usual for doing housework/chores, because that = sweating a lot.

4. More mosquitoes, and more bugs coming inside the house. Especially the spiders.

5. Lowered appetite from the heat.

6. Much less desire to cook or bake, since it makes the house even hotter.

7. The season seems to last forever.

I think that about sums it up. Now, onto a more optimistic list.

Top Things I Do Like About Hot Season:

1. It's also rambutan, mangosteen, and mango season! Mmmmm.

2. It's mango season at Dairy Queen and Swensen's! Mmmmm, mango ice cream.

3. It's a good excuse to eat ice cream more often (not that I really need an excuse).

4. No need to turn on the water heater when you shower - in fact, it feels so much nicer not to.

5. In cold season, you don't get to see/hear these guys:

This is a Tokay gecko, or tukkae as it's known in Thailand. I remember hearing stories about these guys from my grandma, which might be why it's such a comforting sound to me whenever I hear it. If you've never had the pleasure of hearing their distinctive call, you can find a clip of it at the Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokay_gecko

6. In cold season, you also don't get to see these cool creatures:

These huge Atlas moths - at least as big as my face - are harmless and gorgeous. We just have to make sure they don't land on our screen door, or our cats would try to kill them.

7. Nobody looks at you twice if you want to stay in and nap/do nothing during the hottest hours of the day. In fact it's totally normal.

8. It builds even more anticipation for the coming of the rainy season (at least for my sister and me, anyway!).

Friends who live in/have been in SE Asia, did I miss any on either list?

Some more of my favorites (characters, that is)

It's time for another list of TV favorites. Well, part one of a list, I should say, since I'm going to divide it into Favorite Female Characters and Favorite Male Characters (otherwise the whole list would be far too long and ungainly). I'll start with the women. Though they're numbered, I don't think I can put them in any kind of actual rating order. Most of them are just too awesome for me to choose between. So with that in mind, let me begin. *NOTE: there are minor spoilers for the plots of various TV shows contained in this post.

1. Dana Scully, The X-Files

She's smart, she's strong (physically and in all other ways), she's loyal, she thinks deeply, she has a great sense of humor, she's gorgeous... Scully has a lot going for her. Though it took me maybe two episodes of The X-Files to decide that I loved Mulder (but that's for the next post), I'm pretty sure it took me just a few minutes to decide I loved Scully. (This was even despite her terrible, terrible wardrobe in the first couple of seasons. Ah, early '90s. Not a look I'm very fond of.) As will be true for all of these characters, much of that comes down to Gillian Anderson's pretty much flawless portrayal. We all know that Mulder wouldn't have made it through many more years of his life and his dangerous quest without Scully. But Scully was far from just a sidekick or a love interest for the male lead. Even though she dealt with incredible amounts of pain and heartache throughout the course of the show, she never ceased being awesome - even when the show itself stopped being really great.

I was going to post a single picture of her, but then I decided, why not post this fantastic fan-made video celebration of her awesomeness instead? If you hadn't seen it before, you're welcome.

2. Sydney Bristow, Alias

Okay, I will be the first to admit that this show went crazy off the rails sometime around season 3, and I never saw most of season 5. But as far as I know, they never assassinated the character of Sydney Bristow: sweet, loyal, super-smart, kickass, stunningly lovely, speaks dozens of languages - and oh yeah, a super-spy who can track down and take out the bad guys, fool the other bad guys, change costumes, and then jet across the globe faster than most people can pour themselves a cup of coffee in the morning. (I will also be the first to admit that this show was not what you'd call scientifically accurate in terms of things like time zones.) I actually fell in love with Jennifer Garner's Sydney before many of the other characters on this list, since I saw this show before many of them. She will always have a special place in my TV-loving heart. I think I still have her season 1 opening monologue memorized: "My name is Sydney Bristow. Seven years ago, I was recruited by a secret branch of the CIA called SD-6..."

3. Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The superheroine above all superheroines. Don't let her blonde hair and cutesy name fool you (although that's part of the point behind the name & look): Buffy has a life role, and that is to save the world from vampires, evil, and the forces of darkness. And she is very able to do so. In fact, in the words of her friends, "She saved the world. A lot." When I watched this show - and whenever I rewatch it - some of my favorite moments were when she displayed her physical Slayer strength. Sure, she's also a teenage girl who thinks about the things that a lot of teenage girls do: whether she can be popular at school, grades, boys, etc. She's also quick with a quip and excellent at bantering. But most of all, she will protect those she loves, and will fight for good, above anything else including her life. She's a hero, you see.

4. Olivia Dunham, Fringe

Oh, how I love Agent Olivia Dunham of the FBI's Fringe Division. She definitely had the worst childhood of anyone else on this list (so far), and despite/because of that, she uses her unique strengths as the driving force behind the efforts to save multiple universes. I loved her before the reveal that she had special abilities, and loved her even more after that. She's another character who not only cares about justice in the larger sense, for the world(s), but is fiercely protective of those she loves. One other small part of the reason I love Olivia is how she develops as a character over the course of five seasons, becoming someone who isn't afraid to take ownership of her abilities, and someone who isn't afraid to express her emotions. I'll be honest: at first I thought Anna Torv was a bit wooden as an actress, but it didn't take long before I saw that this was a deliberate acting choice. She expertly and subtly portrayed a character who doesn't trust easily, and therefore is guarded in front of others.

5. C.J. Cregg, The West Wing

Perhaps the most 'mundane' character on this list, in that the show she's from is a drama rather than sci-fi/fantasy - but that doesn't make her one bit less awesome. C.J. is basically the coolest. She's a woman in the intensely male-dominated world of American politics and the White House, but she holds her own with poise and ease. She's "one of the guys" but doesn't lose an inch of her femininity. As press secretary and then later chief of staff, she's comfortable with her position of power, and confident in that fact as well as the fact that's she's gorgeous. (Although again, season 1 wardrobe was not as kind to her.) Plus her comedic timing is perfect. Allison Janney - whom her co-star John Spencer apparently liked to refer to as "the nearly-perfect Allison Janney" - rules, is what I'm saying in a nutshell.

6. Sarah Jane Smith, Doctor Who

I actually had only seen Sarah Jane in a few episodes of the classic series before she showed up in season 2 of the new DW, in "School Reunion". But I knew enough to be thrilled to see her again! While a reunion between the Doctor and any one of several of his previous Companions could have been excellent, I think Elisabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane was the best choice. "School Reunion" immediately became one of my favorite episodes upon first viewing, and it inspired me to seek out more classic series eps with her and the Third Doctor, as well as the Fourth Doctor of course. You could see the richness of her history with the Doctor, and it didn't require a lot of words from her. Both in the classic and new series, Sarah Jane never stood for any nonsense with the Doctor, but loved him and was loved by him. He couldn't have asked for a better friend, that's for sure. I didn't watch all that many episodes of her spinoff show, but it was certainly well-deserved. I look forward to watching more of her classic series eps in the future.

7. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars

Another non- sci-fi or fantasy character, but she doesn't rock any less. She's a teen detective, often helping her dad in his PI work as well as taking on cases of her own from classmates. She's intelligent *and* witty - often bitingly sarcastic to anyone she deems worthy of a tongue-lashing. She's also tenacious and persistent to a fault; more than once she pursues an answer to the point that it puts her in danger. Though Veronica has weathered several betrayals in her life, she remains utterly loyal to her loved ones. You can also almost always find her sticking up for the underdog. I appreciate how, over the course of three seasons, Kristen Bell shows us a young woman who continually struggles with trust and how to move past her traumas (or not move past them, as the case may be). And I gotta say, I'm pretty thrilled and excited to see how Veronica has evolved as a character in the years since the show - when the movie comes out next month!! We already know from the previews that she has recognized that private detective work can lead her down an obsessive path, which is why she hasn't indulged in it for years...

8. Seven of Nine, Star Trek: Voyager

This is not a perfect TV show, by any stretch. However, there is no question that it becomes vastly better when Jeri Ryan joins the cast as the ex-Borg drone, Seven of Nine. Like Data in TNG, Seven's journey of discovery/rediscovery of what it means to be human provides many excellent episodes, as well as insights for the audience. She has to decide whether to make a life for herself as a crew member on Voyager, even though the humans and other races on the ship act illogically and according to their emotions so often. I think my favorite ep of those I have rewatched recently is the one where various personalities of the people Seven helped assimilate while she was Borg start to resurge in her mind ("Infinite Regress", the internet tells me it's called). Jeri Ryan plays a little child, a Klingon warrior, a Ferengi, a Vulcan, and other personalities flawlessly. It's a pleasure to watch her as Seven of Nine, and like nearly everyone else in this list, the lack of awards attention paid to her is a crying shame. But I do feel a bit sorry for her, having heard from behind-the-scenes interviews that her wardrobe as the former Borg drone was just as uncomfortable and inconvenient as it looks!

9. Mary Shannon, In Plain Sight

Full disclosure: I have not watched and probably will not ever watch the last half of the final season of this show, because of rumors I've heard about how it ends. But those rumors don't erase my love for Mary Shannon. She's brash and at least as sarcastic as Veronica, she's strong, she's stubborn, she's funny, and she cares deeply about her family (messed up as they are), her friend (yeah, it's just the one), and the witnesses that are under her protection. Sidenote: starting to see a trend here - all of these women really, really care about/for their families and loved ones. I like that in a person/character. She's also wiser and more caring in general than she thinks she is. Though a major part of the appeal of IPS was the chemistry between Mary McCormack and Fred Weller (as the aforementioned friend), Marshall Mary Shannon was the main character. And as such, she was perfectly imperfect.

10. Dani Reese, Life

On this, one of many shows that ended well before its time, there was still enough time to fall in love with Detective Dani Reese. Reese was initially ... let's say unsure about being partnered with the eccentric former death row inmate Charlie Crews. But her partnership with Crews quickly became very strong - due in large part to their mutual recognition of each others' strengths borne out of the hardships they have endured. She's laconic, a recovering addict, and has daddy issues. She also has a strong moral code, that loyalty that I love so much, and the ability to stand up for herself and for others. And seeing Reese go from a serial one-night-stand-er to someone who seeks out real relationships is also pretty cool - and that's just one of the ways her character grows - of course there are many others. Plus, like many other women on this list, she can give as good as she gets. Whenever anyone does anything she thinks is foolish or annoying (mostly Crews), her look of scorn is a sight to behold.

11. Delenn, Babylon 5

My list would not be complete without this wise, caring, thoughtful, passionate, courageous, spiritual, and of course beautiful character. Yes, she can be headstrong and hot-tempered - sometimes with very far-reaching consequences. But she's also eloquent and driven in pursuit of peace & the best diplomatic solution. She is easily the most far-seeing and boldest of the Minbari, and she stands between the warrior and religious castes perfectly. I don't know anyone who loves B5 who doesn't love the scene where she makes the invading humans retreat from the space station with her, "If you value your lives, be somewhere else!" speech. Awwww yeah. Plus, the various things she has to deal with as she gets used to being part-human range from heartwarming to profound to hilarious. Just one of the fantastic, beautifully-realized characters on B5 - and an excellent showcase for Mira Furlan's talent.

Honorable mentions: Donna Noble from Doctor Who, and Mrs. Hughes from Downton Abbey. Both are strong and loyal and brave and awesome, for sure.

Well, I think I remembered all of my top favorites. I expect I'll continue to add to this list as I keep watching excellent TV - or at least I very much hope so! Did I miss any of your favorites?

For unto us...

So, I know I'm probably the last person - certainly the last 'cross-cultural worker' - to have read this book, but I just finished reading Peace Child by Don Richardson. I borrowed it from our neighbors, who are currently on home assignment in the US. It's the story of Don and his wife Carol's life with the Sawi people of New Guinea. It's incredibly gripping, and very, VERY well-written. (The first short section is like an ethnography of the Sawi people, in fact.)

The Sawi were an isolated, warlike, dangerous people, who practiced headhunting and cannibalism. Their language was extremely grammatically complex, with nineteen tenses, numerous ways to express mood (subjunctive, etc.), and an amazingly specific set of verbs to describe actions we might use one verb to describe, such as "open". Okay, all that sounds a little bit cliche, maybe, if you've read any missionary stories. But there was another facet of Sawi culture that made the Richardsons' work much more difficult: the people idealized treachery above all things. To "fatten with friendship" - to lull a friend into a false sense of security before betraying and murdering (and then eating) them - was the ultimate heroic act. Those Sawi who accomplished this in new or more shocking ways were those that went down in legends.

So when Mr. Richardson tried to communicate the gospel to these people, they listened with interest for the most part - but they decided Judas Iscariot was the hero of the story! But of course, since he performed the ultimate act of betrayal.

Here's where the redemptive analogy comes in: the key concept that brings the gospel into the culture of the people in a way they will truly understand. I'm not going to explain it all here; you should read the book if you haven't already. Let me just say, I happened to be listening to Fernando Ortega's beautiful instrumental version of "Of the Father's Love Begotten" while I read the climactic scene about the Peace Child. Cue tears. (I don't normally listen to Christmas music before December, but it's on the CD with other hymns and it's too gorgeous of a track to skip.) Amazing, breathtakingly perfect soundtrack.

Redemptive analogies: the Lamb, the Word, the Peace Child. I love reading stories about them.

I think I may have chosen the right field...

...Or, more accurately said, I think God knew what he was doing when he called me to this vocation (and this part of the world!).

Our language teacher gave us a homework assignment, to go out and talk to one local person - someone who doesn't share our religion. These were the two questions we were supposed to ask:

1)Do you think people are born with sin?

2)If you don't want to have sin in your life, what should you do?

First of all, it took both me and my sister a long time to get up our courage to go out and talk to someone in the community. Most of our local friends happen to be of the same religion as us. And as you may know, we aren't naturally very outgoing - in fact, I'd say we're downright shy. But finally, today, at one of the minimarts we go to very frequently, I decided to just go ahead and dive in. The cashier recognizes us and has always seemed friendly, after all.

The cashier was happy to answer. She said, yes, we're born with sin. She said both rich and poor people sin, though often in different ways. She knows that, for herself, she does sin. For the second question, she said for herself, in order to not have sin, she doesn't kill animals, although it's fine to eat meat from animals that someone else has killed. She also tries not to hate anyone. Very understandable, and also fits in very well with what I know of the beliefs and culture of the majority of the local people.

I thanked her sincerely and we left, feeling energized and excited. It's amazing how actually practicing what I've been learning fills me with enthusiasm! It helps when the person to whom I'm talking understands me, of course (which has been a more regular occurrence now that I'm near the end of formal language study here). That gives me hope that even though I'm not likely to shift from being an introvert to being more extroverted, I can actually function in this job that will require me to step out of my comfortable, quiet, English-speaking bubble so often. I am positive I would not have reached this stage on my own strength.

A little bit later, Mackenzie and I went out again, this time to the little shop nearby that washes and dries clothing. (We have a washing machine, but it's not equipped to handle things like blankets.) We wanted to get our traditional wraparound skirts (ສິ້ນ) washed, since they require special care. We've been to this shop several times to get our bed comforters washed, and it seemed to both of us that the lady in charge would be willing to have us ask her questions. After she advised us about the proper care of my skirt, which is made of different material than Mackenzie's, Mackenzie asked her the same two questions about sin. The lady was very ready to answer. She must have studied about her religion a lot, because she didn't seem to have to think about the questions very long at all, and in fact expounded on them at length. (In fact, she spoke so quickly and so much that we devoutly wished we'd brought a recorder so we could listen more carefully again at home!)

For the first question, she said she does think everyone is born with sin (although apparently in her religion there is "good" sin and "evil" sin! This is something I'd like to learn more about, because it sounds completely foreign to me). She said if anyone says they don't have sin, that's not true. I gotta say, that sounds strikingly familiar! She continued that even if you're the only person who knows about the sin you commit, it's still wrong. And - as is the widely-accepted view - she also said if you do good you'll receive good, and if you do evil you'll receive evil.

In answering the second question about how to not have sin, she reiterated that if you do good you'll receive good, and also mentioned the five rules that good practitioners of her religion try to follow. The lady also told us about the importance of moderation in all things: don't overeat and waste good food, don't drink so much that you get drunk and cause problems in your family or your village, etc. In the words of a proverb she recited for us: ກິນ ເພື່ອ ຢູ່ - ບໍ່ ຢູ່ ເພື່ອ ກິນ "Eat to live, don't live to eat". (By the way, please correct me, friends who know the language, if I've gotten the proverb wrong.)

And then, in the midst of further talk about how to not sin, came the kicker that we both almost missed: she told us that there's no way someone else can take your punishment if you do wrong. You have to take the punishment yourself. And that's what kicked us both in the gut. After we thanked her and walked home - again feeling energized and happy to have gotten to talk to people and have them understand us in turn - we felt grief. Grief for people who don't know the One who has already taken all of our punishment for every sin, so that we don't have to be concerned all the time about how to get rid of the stain of sin in our own lives. And we felt so inadequate to do anything about the many, many millions of people who don't know anything else than what their families and ancestors have always done.

It's a good thing it isn't totally up to us. But it reminded us to never, ever stop praying.

Rain, I don't mind

Well, the rainy season has begun in earnest these past few weeks. That means a tropical downpour, complete with wind, extremely loud thunder, and very impressive lightning, at about 10pm almost every night - and on those days where there isn't a 10pm storm, there's usually a deluge earlier in the day.

Mackenzie and I have been deeply enjoying the change in weather for a number of reasons. For one thing, it's just been waaayyy too hot before now, with the added bonus (blech!) of humidity. But for another thing, it's just so refreshing to hear the sound of the rain falling. This holds true both for the heavy tropical deluge, and especially for the hours-long drizzle that is much less common here. Few things can remind me of home quite like sitting serenely inside the house while listening to the quiet, steady sound of rainfall. So gloriously peaceful and soothing.

Our cats respond to the cooler weather as might be expected of the solar-powered creatures that they are: they're much less active during the day, not running around crazily nearly as often as they do on sunny days. Perhaps they find it soothing, too. Of course, when big storms hit, they're not at all pleased by the loud noises and rushing wind.

I don't even mind the fact that getting anywhere by motorbike while it's pouring means you pretty much have to get wet. Sure, wearing a poncho like that one helps - quite a bit - but there's really no way to stay totally dry. Maybe it just calls back to my Seattle-area upbringing: you don't use an umbrella when it's raining, you just wear a raincoat and get a little wet. No big deal (ບໍ່ ເປັນຫຍັງ, if you want the local equivalent of that saying). And I think it's going to take me a long time to get bored of seeing so many dramatic forks of lightning in the sky whenever there's a storm. That's one thing we miss out on in western Washington.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to look at the seven-day forecast - which is completely full of rainstorms and/or cloudy days in the low 90s (F) or below - and smile in contentment. This is the view outside our language school window, immediately pre-storm