Sao Darly

I received another care package from my aunt in Vientiane a few days before Christmas. All I wanted was a CD with photos from Houay Laou Elementary school and Sao Lao Magazine that I have been waiting for the last couple of months. My aunt was not able to find the magazine at the Morning Market or at a book shop. She sent my cousin to the book store at the National University of Laos because there might be a few issues left. In the end my cousin was not able to find an issue and bought me instead Sokdee magazine and an old issue of Sayo Laos magazine (from October 2006).

My aunt also sent me some dried food and has asked me what I wanted to have but I told her I didn’t really need anything. If she wanted to send me anything then make me some toasted rice like the last time so I can use it for dipping sauce with green mango. I’ve been on the look out for small green mango at the local grocery store for a few weeks now. Last year around Christmas time they were selling them at AH (Dutch grocery store chain) already but I have not seen any so far. January is time for green mango and as of last week my cousin in Champassak told me the mango trees were showing flowers already. If only I can be there to pick them myself in a few weeks.

With Lao people sometimes it is hard to say no to them and it is no exception with my aunt. Even though she told me how she dried some fish and some frogs and wanted to send them to me along with tum pa heng (dried fish all smashed up finely with herbs and spices) and I tried to tell her not to do so since it is expensive to send me things that I won’t even eat, she still insisted that she wanted to do it for me. Rather than arguing with my aunt, I told her to just send me what she wanted to give me just this one time. I am paying for the shipping cost to begin with so I might as well make her happy because she only wanted to please me. Some of my relatives in Laos don’t have much but they have pride and are proud of who they are and they want to do their best to make me happy doing little things that they can. In the end it’s the little things that matter when it comes to our family.

Tags: family, lao telecom, sayo laos, sokdee