Today I arrived in Vientiane, Laos at noon AND safely arrived in one piece! (I’m doing pretty great considering the flight was 23 hours total and spanned across Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.) I met our English Language coordinator after customs and went to the hotel to unpack. I got a Lao SIM card for 80,000 kip that includes 30 GB of data and will last me a whole month.($1 equals 20,000 kip at today’s exchange rate.) I am excited to stay in contact with my friends and family at home.

First Day

I am staying at the Family Boutique Hotel in downtown Vientiane. It is very comfortable with air conditioning, and every ETA has their own room. Apparently our hotel has nice breakfasts each morning with toast, yogurt, soup (traditional Lao breakfast), and salad. I have yet to have any Lao food, so I’m really looking forward to trying Lao breakfast tomorrow! I am also debuting a big fancy Walmart hat to keep the sun off my face since it’s consistently 90 degrees Fahrenheit and above here with sparse tree coverage in some areas.

Guerra, C. (2023)

Spirit Houses

I hung out with a returning ETA from last year and we walked around Vientiane later in the day. She showed me around her favorite restaurants and shops. On our walk, we saw these little spirit houses with tiny figurines inside. (Apparently they are ubiquitous across all Laos.) These spirit houses are vestigial remnants of animist beliefs that existed before Buddhism came to Laos. (Animism is the belief that all objects, places, and creatures possess a distinct spiritual essence.) The Lao believe that when someone puts up a building, the spirits living in the land need a place to live. The owner of the building then creates a small home for the spirits with figurines inside the building and offerings outside. Offerings usually consist of water, flowers, and things the owner likes (e.g., the soda bottle that this owner left outside the spirit house).

Guerra, C. (2023)

That Dam

We also walked by a stupa called That Dam (“That” means “stupa” and “Dam” means “ brick”). It is close to the American Center, where the ETAs and I will take our intensive Lao classes, practice teaching students who show up to class at the center, and learn about Lao history and culture.

Guerra, C. (2023)

I’m looking forward to exploring Vientiane more with the other ETAs during orientation. I’ll continue to look for more images of ornate spirit houses in the coming months.