On November 23 it was 29 years!!!!!!!

Seedless Papaya - Now that's just not right!

Fun stuff for the native speaker

What do fat, egg and fever have in common? They are all pronounced the same, with a slight (to me anyway) variation in tone. How about dog, friend and hand? The same! What might provide the native speaker with the makings for a fun word game - they tend to frustrate the language learner, i.e. us. :)

We spent five weeks in a formal language class setting and four weeks with our next door neighbor as a tutuor. How's it going you ask. Slow, I reply.

Bicycles and fans

In spite of the bicycles that we bought upon arriving in Vientiane, being our only form of transportation, we are thankfully still managing to settle into our new home without incident. Yesterday we maneuvered through the city after purchasing a printer and scanner. Today we managed our way to and from a more distant part of the city, returning safely home with a new fan and a few other items.

We are enjoying the benefits of bicycling everywhere we go but are looking forward to the day that the heat index gets below 100 degrees F.

Tomorrow's 'realfeel' temp is forcasted to be 114. Gotta really want to fellowship to pedal to those meetings! And we're thankful for the new fan!!

We knew that the boat racing festival was approaching, but we didn't know that days of celebrating precede the actual races. Last night when we wandered downtown, we were surprised to find ourselves engulfed (and lost!) in a sea of humanity preparing to celebrate by celebrating.

This afternoon all our neighbors were building these small boats (pictured) which they then put small lit candles in and send them down the Mekong River. If we understood correctly, this symbolizes their sins being carried away.

Friday, October 2, 2009


Wow, it's difficult to express the depth of our gratitude! After 10 weeks of living out of suitcases, we moved into our new home on Monday and today the PlanetMAX people came and hooked up our internet so that we can now give you a pictorial update on what we've been up to since we left you all on July 20th.


July 20 - 27 - Staying at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO. to attend an orientation of English Language Institute(ELI) as an organization.

Time to rise and shine for our last day in Ft. Collins orientation.

Last minute session to get our travel documents.

July 27-29 - From 2:00 pm Monday until 9:35 pm Tuesday (US midwest time) travelling from Greeley, CO to Hanoi, Vietnam via Denver, LA, and Taiwan (total trip 31.5 hours) - arriving Hanoi at local time of 9:35 a.m.

On the bus to Denver airport. July 27, 1 p.m.

Waiting in line with our team at Denver while our tickets are sorted out.

In Los Angles, ready to check in for the next leg to Tapei.

1 a.m. and still smiling as we wait...

Deplaning in Tapei, after 14.5 hour flight

Waiting in the shiny Tapei airport, for our flight to Hanoi.

Yea! 31.5 hours later we arrived in Hanoi - July 29 - 9:35 am - ready for 4 weeks of TESOL training.

August 28 - August 23 - Hanoi - what an experience! Maybe some of you saw the video of us crossing a typical Hanoi street... Anyway, we were there for 4 weeks of cultural and teacher training classes. During the final week we taught actual English classes at a univeristy in Hanoi.

Hanoi traffic.


But how do we get across?


You step out in faith!


Check it out.
http://jlirowley.blogspot.com/2009/07/crossing-street.html

HaLong Bay for a weekend.

Pamela teaching in Vietnam.


Mark teaching with his eyes closed!




Hair cut and shave on the streets in Hanoi, cost - $1.50

August 23 - Reached our destination of Vientiane, Laos! :-)

Pha That Luang is the most important national monument in Laos. It is a symbol of both the Buddhist religion and Lao sovereignty.

August 23 - September 28 - Lao language school, cultural classes and team meetings

Nothing tastes so good as an orange soda with roasted chicken tails.

The catch of the day, fresh and delicious.

Our transport to language school every day with part of our team.

Moving day!

August 28 - Moved into our new home - without a doubt, a gift from above!

The front

Our kitchen


Our living room

Stay tuned there's more to come....

Hey, we're new to this...

This is our first attempt at blogging and we have a lot to tell and show you but it is taking awhile to figure out all this technology. So stay tuned for some cool pictures and videos. Remember function comes before form.