success!

Well, three big cheers for Meuy (Phet's half-sister), who has come through with flying colours. Yesterday I was kind of worried about the room I said I'd rent...it was pretty much unfinished, fairly dirty, and there was no furniture and it was sort of scary.  But like I said, the family was nice.  Anyways, I was kind of thinking I could make the best of it.  This morning I was going to go to the market and check out stuff like a bed and a mosquito net, but before I left I decided to call Meuy.  We tried to talk over the phone to little avail, so she said she'd come and meet me at the hotel.

She picked me up, but I had no idea where we were going.  We tweedled around for awhile, and then eventually I understood that Phet's Dad had told her to check out the room I was going to rent, and that she wanted to go to Gu Ma's brother in law's house.  So, we went there, but as we passed it, she just went by and didn't stop.  Then we went to an internet place where she had a friend from her class working, and he helped me explain to her in English about the room and so on.  I told them it was ok, but I would like another place (I was kind of waffling because I'd already said yes to this other family).  So we kind of chatted for a while, and then we just waited around, and I wasn't sure what was happening.

Meuy invited me to a party for her classmates, and so then after awhile we went to her teacher's house.  There weren't many people there, and so we just sat for awhile and I talked a little bit to a friend of hers.  I felt kind of weird - didn't know really what was going on, but was just polite and talky. Then some more people showed up, and one of the guys said he knew someone who had a house for $200, so I said I'd go and take a look.  So Meuy, Deng (the guy) and another guy named Sii and I went out to look at it.  It was along past the french school. You just drive along that big street past the fish lake, past the french goods shop, and then near the school? We stopped to look at the house which was not much to look at - sort of decrepit and not tidy.  Well, it turned out that new people had already rented the house so we were out of luck.  But there was another house nearby that was for rent.

So, about 3 blocks away from that we checked out this other house, which turned out to be just great.  It's sort of near that big road that leads to Paul and Eleni's house I think, in a round about way.  Anyways, you come in through a nice yard with grass, and there are big trees there.  It's not jungle-y or too dense, just nice trees around the edges.  Then the landlord's house is a two - story nearby, and then the house is next to that.  The landlord's house is on the left, and the house is on the right. You come in and there's an enormous sitting room / eating room / whatever / big huge main room.  There are nice wicker chairs and a coffee table, and it would be great for parties or guitar playing.  There's a kind of bookshelf with knick-knacks on it. Then there are three bedrooms, all just fine, with beds and furniture. There's only air-con in one bedroom, but there are a few big ceiling fans in the large living room.  Then there's a Lao style bathroom (ie squat toilet and toss-water shower). There's a small kitchen, and I think that's about it.  The family (the landlords) cook in this cool outdoors kitchen - maybe I'll be able to use that if I want, or I may ask if I can eat suppers with them for now.

Anyhow, I've agreed to take the place for two months for sure, and I've told them that I'll re-evaluate once you get here.  So I'm not locked into a contract or anything.  The rent is $200 US, and that includes water but not electricity.  There's a phone, but there's no TV.  It's also very nice because there's a table with a chess board in cement outside the house where you can sit and play or play guitar.  It seems like a very comfortable place, and a nice mix between some amenities and some fairly simple stuff. It seemed very homey to me, and it's completely screened in, so there wouldn't be any skeeters. 

After we found the house, we went back to the party.  It was full on Lao style fun, complete with all the necessary elements: 1. Beer Lao 2. Papaya salad 3. Beef dishes 4. Loud music 5. Dancing and general silliness. It was lots of fun, and it was nice to meet friendly people.  I felt like I was with all my students from VN. So nice to see people here and feel like I've got some friends around.  And BIG TIME KUDOS to Meuy, who helped me feel at home, find a house, and also is going to help me move tomorrow.  Hurrah. [Laos-23-July-2000]