Best of Year One in Laos

It’s been just over a year, and 132 blog posts, since we moved to Laos. To celebrate that milestone, today I’ve drawn together some of the best of this last year’s blog posts.

Unless you’re independently wealthy and have way too much time on your hands (or you’re bedridden and desperate for entertainment) I doubt you’ll want to read all of them, so I’ve put them in categories for easier browsing. I’ve also marked a couple of my favorite funny posts with a double asterisk like this ** for those just looking for a laugh.

Thank you all for tracking with me and Mike on this journey. Blogging about our adventures and misadventures during this last year has been one of my favorite things to do. That’s partly due to all the emails, comments and other messages we’ve received. I am so grateful for your interest and your support.

So, thanks again for traveling with us through Year 1 and here’s to Year 2. I have no doubt Year 2 will bring plenty of adventures of its own as well as answers to a couple of key questions that are currently on my mind: Will Mike arrive in Australia before our son? Will my ambivalence about parenthood ease once the little guy is on the scene? Are we crazy to take our baby back to Laos? Will my memoir find a publishing home? And, will Mike give our whining, needy, Zulu dog to the Vietnamese noodle sellers down the street before I return in October as he keeps threatening to do?

However, all that is still to come, and in the meantime here is a glance back at an amazing year…

Cross cultural issues and our life in Laos

• Cross cultural challenges: Theory to Practice
• The joys of house hunting via motorbike: House Hunting and the Powers That Be
• **Acknowledging poo: The Existence of Poo
• Hot date nights: Date Night
• Drinking rituals and favorite Laos foods: Pepsi and Pig Fat
• Encounters with the police: Close Encounters with The Powers That Be
• Cross cultural religious ceremonies: The Blessings of the Bai Si
• Giant man-eating snakes: Photos from Phoukhoun and a word about snakes
• **Fun times looking for a dog to bring home: Friendly companions from Siberia
• Riding elephants: World’s Worst Elephant Mahout
• Bringing home our first puppy: It’s a boy
• Hard days in Laos: When Laos is hard
• The beauty of Laos: Surprised by beauty
• Photographs of life around Luang Prabang: Great moments
• Cross cultural dilemmas: Please don’t feed the monks

Family and pregnancy

• Understanding the family culture of your spouse: Speaking of families
• Love languages in marriage: Birthday presents and love languages
• Announcing pregnancy: Koi Maan Luuk: Or, I Am Pregnant
• Finding out you are pregnant: Finding Out You Are Pregnant, In Slow Motion
• **Learning about breastfeeding: Life Lessons on Pregnancy and Breastfeeding from Cows
• Announcing the sex: It’s a…
• Gender stereotypes: Ten Good Things About Boys: Attaining Synthetic Happiness One Gender Stereotype at a Time
• Pregnancy surprises: Ten things that have surprised me about pregnancy #1-4 and #5-10
• Ambivalence and awe at pregnancy: A baby-shaped hold in my heart
• Managing expectations: When fantasy diverges from reality: Adventures with dolphins and babies

Humanitarian work

• Hard choices in humanitarian work: What Price a Child’s Life?
• Guest post by Mike: Jesus Wants You To Build A Toilet
• Series on humanitarian dilemmas: When Helping is Hard (Part 1): That sort of decision
• Resilience and humanitarian work: Resilience Research Report: The Executive Summary

Psychology

• Understanding happiness: Happiness and the Mango Tree Rains
• Cultivating happiness: The pursuit of happiness Part 1 and Part 2
• Happiness killers: The curse of too much choice
• Acedia: Acedia and me and Battling acedia through energetic engagement

Writing

• Writing and rewriting: Rewriting, third drafts, feedback, and elevator pitches
• Writing about friends and family: Writing about loved ones: To do, or not to do?
• Writing about people from the past: Writing about people from the past
• **A mother’s take on the memoir: Family talk about the memoir

Over to you: I’d love to hear whether any particular post impacted you this last year or whether there’s anything you’ve been wishing I’d write about. If so, drop me a line or leave a comment below. Thanks again!