Bad Pee
An absurd childhood: tales of the third world
An absurd childhood: tales of the third world
I started this blog to chronicle my first opportunity to re-visit three of my former expat homes (Laos, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Ghana, Liberia, Zaire, France, England). Life got in the way after I returned to America, but this seems like as good a time as any to re-start. Grab your passport and join the party!
My father was in the Foreign Service (pronounced with a knowing wink), and his job took us to a lot of very interesting places. Vientiane, Laos was our first posting. This was an extreme [...]
It was Paris and we were sitting outside a café, blissfully sipping wine and studying the backside of Notre Dame de Paris. A friend had just returned from the bathroom. “Ah,” she sighed, settling into [...]
Coming home to Vientiane, Laos, after an absence of more than 40 years.
Most siblings get a few months head’s up about impending newcomers, but we’ve always done things a little differently in our family, so Sean just kind of popped in one day: ten days old and the cutest baby in the universe!
Vientiane is special to me and many of my schoolmates because, well, we lived there. But let’s face it: most tourists hit Vientiane solely as a jump-off point to Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, or other [...]
It's always helpful to have some useful phrases down pat when you're traveling. When people ask me how many languages I speak, I usually 'fess up to "market language" in a number of languages. This usually involves [...]
If you’ve read my mom’s piece on the toilet at the Green Latrine, you’ll know that Lao bathrooms can be, um, challenging. Note: I’m not really speaking to the men, here. I'll use whichever toilet is most expedient—men, [...]
How do you say “Holy crap, it’s hot out!” in Lao? So! New Orleans summers too warm for you? Think DC is nothing but a hot-air swamp? Find Minnesota summers insufferable? Heh! Welcome to Southeast Asia. [...]