Happy Ballerinas

So Emma's gift request was a "dancing suit." The girls sometimes (especially on rainy days) jam out in our living room, as it is the only place we can play music and it's a big tile floor. One of their favorite things at home was our massive dress-up collection, so they were really missing their garb... Nothing of the kind is available in our city, but when I took Laney to the dentist in November a friend was kind enough to take me to a whole shop of dance apparel. For $10 I got Em and her sisters entire performance costumes (complete with accessories like fake pearls and gloves from the 2 Kuai). They were so thrilled that, while Matt and I were wearing coats and gloves, they immediately shed their warm jammies to don the new duds and show off their moves. Emma was especially funny with her new Traditional Ethnic moves!
(Above is NOT one of them!)

Some freestyle fun...

Mixing in her b-ball skills with her new ball in her favorite color...


Ah, the image of grace...

Little One-Arm needed some assistance. Matt's hat is a special tribute to all our Brooklynn friends!!! (I have a pink one... Matt wanted a plain hat but the selection is pretty wild. They take whatever logos they can find and turn up with some crazy conglomerants. Like "Raccoon Club" "A & F" "Canadian Water Wheel Association" and "VonDutch" all on the same hat...)

Most of you know Matt's affinity for sweatbands... Yeah, even before Dodge Ball came out he had this slight obsession with them... the dorkiest way to say "Team." So he enjoyed sporting this new fave :)

Laney had been singing "Me, I want a HULA HOOP" for months. Luckily, they're available at every stationary store! They come in a wide variety of sizes and colors, too.

Chloe knew I was tired of burning myself trying to use a wet towel to get things out of my mishapen and tiny oven... so she used her new knitting skills to fashion this lovely potholder! She was so cute, hiding it from me while she worked. Unfortunately, it has some pretty big holes in it so it doesn't prevent the burns... but it's a pretty sweet gift for me to cherish!

The girls all used their allowances to find the best gifts the 2 Kuai (Dollar Store or, more accurately, 30+ cent store) had to offer! They were so proud.

Chloe's main request was a volleyball. Luckily, all the stationary stores have these, too! Balls are kind of expensive and after a few bumps it was already ripping, but she was still really happy. She wants to be like Cousin Courtney :)

New Wheels!

Yeah, we all got new wheels for Christmas. The girls were sad to leave their bikes behind at home, so they had been looking forward to getting some to ride in our cement public "courtyard." (Same place they have the rock "slide" for entertainment.) Grandma and Grandpa sent money for the girls' bikes, and boy were they thrilled! Emma's actually has gears, so no more training wheels! I was a bit disappointed, as she hasn't had a lot of riding practice in her apartment-bound life... but we hyped the big girl aspect and she is doing fine!

I bought Matt a used motorbike. Needs some work, but he's still really excited about the prospect of riding something with brakes and enough pickup to dodge the buses. (Since he deosn't have the best track record with walking and the bike we got from our landlord is a deathtrap on our crazy roads!)

Ems got the hang of it fast! It's quite a production to let them practice (we have to keep them locked securely so they don't ride off...), but she gets better every time. She is excited, and I am hoping eventually I can let Laney ride on the back of MY new bike (on which Matt had baskets mounted) and let Emmy ride to school. It's a pretty quiet route and the sidewalk isn't wide enough for cars to drive on (a very real hazard). Usually people ride in the street (less chance of obstacles and relatively smooth with few gaping holes), but I'm not prepared for her to do that anytime soon!

Our First Pig Killing Festival!

Okay, apparently the word is out... most of you know I love a festival. Just about any kind of festival. So when a friend told us that another friend wanted to invite us to his family's rural mountain home for a festival, we marked the calendar!

We asked around to see what type of soire that particular minority might be hosting on the date, no one knew... until one friend suggested,

"Oh! Maybe it's a PIG KILLING festival!"

Hmmm...

So on the designated morning we piled into a little van to head into the mountains. We had to stop several times before we ever left the city -- to buy gifts for the family, to fix a tire, and to let several wedding processions pass. Turns out weddings happen not on a particular day of the week or in certain common months, but on certain days that bode well according to the zodiac, the phases of the moon, etc. So this happened to be a "favorable" day and we saw several parades of wedding parties.

This rural group was headed in to town. People loaded into the back of a truck or tractor isn't out of the ordinary at all, but the red character in the window designates the happy couple! (Don't worry, the hotrod above is not our ride!)

Matt stopped for a potty break while the van was being jacked up for a tire patch
(with my girls and our friends IN it!)
Isn't it funny how short it is??

The beautiful mountainside scenery rolls on and on.

This is my friend from the roadside stand near the "tire shop." She had me sit down and we chatted... to the best of my ability!

Once on the road again, we realized our ETA was about 3 hours (and a whole lotta bends and curves!) off. We were told it wouldn't be curvy and that it would take half an hour... so we didn't use our precious Dramamine. BIG mistake. Poor Laney lost it, and most of the adults were pretty iffy, too.

Our friend's childhood pal was kind enough to let her move up front with him. She promptly fell asleep on his lap -- then woke up puking all over him! Poor baby (and poor guy)!

Can you make out the road in the background???

This remote mountain area was pristine and quiet.

Check out the massive basketball court!

The road crew, above, is working with a small cement mixer, a hoe and a pickaxe.

...Right above an excessively steep dropoff.

Quite a road, huh? It plummets down into the valley and then climbs back up -- just as all the mountain roads do again and again.

(You might have some idea why poor Laney got sick!)

Getting there and lunch

These are the new, high quality roads!
It got a bit rougher as we treked on -- the car with us kept bottoming out and getting stuck!

A comfortable and relatively lavish home was awaiting us... as well as a lot of excited and really wonderful people!

We hiked down after driving in as far as possible.

The hike was about 30 minutes straight down, winding through several households with angry cows, ferocious dogs, braying donkeys and awed mountain people!

Aren't their homes beautiful and peaceful?

When I told one of the women that it was a very beautiful place, she insisted it wasn't.

I'm not sure if she was being polite or just numb to the beauty.

Laney has a thing for tractors. This one's for Grampy and Grandpa Bill.

(And beside her is one of the many cases of beer being hauled down for the celebration.)

We sat down to lunch very soon after being welcomed and offering our gifts.

There was a whole crowd of dogs who followed their various owners

(or the smell of raw meat...) to the party.

They helped themselves to the scraps under the table.

There were a few skirmishes, but luckily not at our table.

Resting up for the trek down.

And... the meal! White yams, pork fat, crinkle cut potatoes (Yes, I think they're fried! But still pretty crunchy. With hot pepper and MSG.), and pork strips with green pepper.

We also had cabbage and chicken in pepper sauce (above), seaweed, and spicy rice noodles.
And rice, of course!

Meal Prep

After we ate, I got the grand tour of the kitchen. There was also plenty going on in the courtyard, including the scrubbing of the head below.

Below is the main house's kitchen -- a complete indoor room. This room alone was about three to four times the houses we normally visit.

It was a bustling place, even right after the first meal.

Daddy has his beer and son has a very large coke!

Notice how they store both the meet and the corn? This building is the bedroom.

The food was splayed out on the floor awaiting preparation for the evening meal.

(This would take the entire afternoon.)

Ladies were working together to tend the fires, get water,

and clean and chop meat and vegetables.

Running water is a hot commodity. The entire extended family shares this spigot.

Playtime and Exploring

The kids had fun just running around exploring. This family was very wealthy compared to any rural families we've seen, and they quite a variety of animals to observe -- including next years' pig festival victims!
The bathroom. No door.
...and NO idea why they need a plunger!

This is unique -- it looks like a great oven for bread!

(Although I'm quite certain it has never held a loaf.)

The various segments of the family had little houses strung together on the mountain. Down little halls and around corners more abodes were hidden. These were palatial compared to any we have seen in the mountains thus far.

The kids had fun chasing each other into new alcoves and discovering what was hidden there.