DIY Lao Style: Coconut Bubble Wands

One of the things I love about living here is how much I've learned. I've always liked making things versus buying things, but I'm always impressed with the things "every Lao country kid already knows".

Seriously, we made these at the Montessori school I work at and everyone thought it was great fun. However, when I was telling La about them later that evening, he was a little less than interested... "yeah...so..... next time I'll show you how to make paintbrushes"....... anyway, for those of us raised in a more ready-made consumer culture.. here's a fun afternoon project.

Gather some coconut fronds 

(Any strong yet bendy plant material works, I was born in the Adirondacks, I'm thinking ferns would work? Let me know...)

Strip off the "spine" of the coconut frond. You'll want to use the end near the leaf tip, as it's more flexible.

Tie in a knot, depending on the size bubble you want to make. If you are not adding any corn syrup or veggie glycern to the bubble mix, keep the loops small or the bubbles break easily. (ie.. frustration). Clip off the excess coconut.

Bubble wands are ready for action!

Baby name reveal!

Living with an artist, my world is always a little bit more colorful. Sometimes, good (I have more orginal oils decorating my walls than the MET) sometimes...well... let's just say I've tried both navy  blue bath towels (you still see the white paint) and white towels ( you see..everything) ... and more than one articles of my clothes has been giving a "splash" of color.

However, cool things are coming home from work to find one's bathroom mirror painted with "K.La love Kelly and River" (La uses K.La as his signature because there are just too many Khamlas in this city...ignore the English, it's his 2nd language) I thought it was pretty cool so I took it outside to take some photos and reflect something more beautiful than my Lao style bathroom. ; ) Of course, I wonder what inspired painting the bathroom mirror.......... ?

Tada. Yep, it's been decided... the wee one's English name will be River. 

Oh my mangoes!

Well, it's been long enough since I've posted. I'd thought I'd be writing up a storm during my pregnancy, but honestly I haven't been able to find enough (OK, make) enough time. I'm working up until August 4th with an August 22nd due date. Mind you, that work involves 30some little ones at the Montessori school I teach at here in Vientiane. :) So, by the end of the day, when I come home I usually find myself horizontal and asleep by 7:30. (Get sleep while I can!)

Today La and I joked about my mango intake (it's still Mango season) and we decided to do a little math. I know I eat a lot of mangoes (and make yummy icy mango shakes, minus all the sugar and condensed milk the shake shops here add ) but....... get this........ on average I (as in 1 person, eating for 2 but still 1 person..) consume 15 -20 KILOS of mangoes a week. For all you American folks who like me, still have trouble with conversions, that something like 33 POUNDS of mangoes a week! Should I worry my little wee boy is gonna come out orange? ^-^

In this photo the mangoes are 8,000 kip a kilo, but in reality most places you can by the "not beautiful" ones for about 3,000kip a kilo. ( 8,000kip = 1USD)

Are mangoes traded on the stock market?

But other than Mango shock, all is well here in Vientiane Mamma-to-be Land. I think we've gotten most everything on our to buy list. Life in Lao is much simpler, so we haven't acquired as much. Waiting to see what more to get after the wee one arrives. Grandma ('Em.. La's mom) is coming to live with us to help out for 2 months). Right now La is taking evening English classes (he's OK, but with someday going stateside, he wants to improve) so I have a little free Kelly time.. so hopefully, I'm get back in the blogorama routine.

Until.

With love from Laos :)

Kelly

At 35 weeks pregnant 

Medicinal Plant Garden at the Institute of Traditional Medicine, Vientiane

Photos from my recent visit to the Institute of Traditional Medicine  (Run by the Ministry of Health, Lao PDR)

Offerings at the Institute include: A small traditional medicine clinic, herbal sauna, pharmacy and medicinal plant garden.

(Note: I picked the worst month of the year to photograph the garden, apologies. We are in the middle of our hot & dry season here in Vientiane. I will try to do more photos during rainy season.)

Bixa Tree

Things we do

We haven’t bought a TV yet since we moved into the family house.(The house came empty..$ ouch!) 

But between preparing to have a baby, building our own house, La finishing up 8 years of Art school and myself finishing another level of Montessori studies along with keeping up with my herbal studies and day to day working, I don’t think we've really missed having one.

When we do have free time, it often leads to a project. This is the latest.

La saw a garden shop locally selling these Nam Tok (waterfalls) recently. He went back a few days later and took photos then proceeded to come home and decide he could do it for a lot less. Besides, anyway for him to have more little fish ponds he’s up for. He spent the next week of late afternoons sifting cement, building, rebuilding, breaking brick and creating this water fall. 

Then we went to a fish supply store and for 500baht (about 15USD) bought the pump and filter. We added fish from another little fish pond we have and transplanted some baby papyrus from another. So, all in all the project cost us under 30USD (1000baht). 

It’s quite relaxing on the hot nights we are having now to sit outside with a glass of tea and listen to the water babble and watch the fish swim.

Although, being about 98F daily here now I wish it was big enough for me to swim in too. J

Prenatal Nutrition - Lao Style

Fresh Coconut - cocos nucifera

On my last visit to the Mother & Infant Hospital here in Vientiane, the above was one of my "prescriptions". (I will note, a prenatal vitamin and calcium was also included on the list.) Fresh coconut juice to be consumed daily. My husband (who is Lao) seems more intent on making sure I drink my daily dose of coconuts than my prenatals.

However, there is actually quiet a bit of science to this logic. (I'll leave you to google details, as there is a wealth of info online about the benefits of coconut.) The basic truth is Coconut has long been considered a nutritive tonic amoungst the Southeast Asians. It is often prescribed by traditional doctors for cases of low immunity and low energy. (Source: A Thai Herbal - Pierce Salguero) Something this mom to be is both of. :) Not to mention, it is just plain yummy. 

a new chapter

Sabaidee!

Welcome to the first post from Frog & Moon!

I'm Kelly and I've been living in Laos since 2009. I'm also a soon-to-be-mom, due in August 2012.
This blog is to share my love of Laos, all thing DIY, Art, Plant Medicine and Montessori.

(painting by Kristina Lim) 

A little background on Frog & Moon. The story of the Frog and Moon is a folktale in Laos. It also happened on the night I found out I was pregnant, so it's rather special to me. (and here I thought everyone was lighting fireworks and shooting at the moon because of my good news... j/k) 

The tale of the Frog and Moon goes something like this:

"The folktale tells of a giant frog that tried to eat the moon. This in reality is how the Lao explain a lunar eclipse. The disappearance of the moon is taken as a bad sign, so Lao people make a great effort of scaring the frog away from the moon. They fire their guns into the air and make as much noise as they can. The frog is frightened by the noise and it releases its grip on the moon and it is restored to its original shape."

So the moon stays the moon and the frog goes back to eating what frogs eat and in the end all is quiet again when the people put away the noisemakers. 

But for me, my life won't quite be the same as before the frog tried to eat the moon. :)

I look forward to sharing and learning as I start this new chapter. 

With love,

Kelly