a typical Lao wedding ceremony

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Before I went to the wedding the girls, On and Ved, let me borrow a skirt and flip flop heels(same size luckily). They also braided my hair a certain way that is normal here. I'm thankful for them because I didn't want to look too falang at the wedding! When Sai and I arrived at the wedding ceremony the bride and groom and their families were waiting at the entrance to greet all the guests. We did the nop greeting(hands in a prayer position by your chest) and then seated ourselves. The environment was like an American wedding reception.The ceremony was outside and started around 8pm. After an hour the bride and groom walked in the middle and some photographer took some pictures. A few people spoke on the microphone and that was it. No clue what they were saying, of course. The couple had their first dance and it was quite interesting. I don't know how else to explain it besides telling you that the game "the Sims" actually dance like Laotians. The Sims characters sometimes dance by swaying their body a bit and putting all the action in their hands. Well, the bride and groom faced each other and did something like that the whole time. Once they were done they walked around to each table and offered shots. I wasn't going to deny the two people who are the reason of the celebration! So, I accepted. As always, there was plenty of food and drinks to pass along the whole time. I hung out with Sai, Boun and some of their friends that I have known for a couple days now. I danced a few times with some Laotians. During a dance, there is one big circle and the dancing couple face each other. Everyone moves along the circle and does the Sims dance. It sounded boring and restricted to me at first, but I actually love this way of dancing because I can't really dance and it's all in the hand movements. I took multiple bathroom breaks and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who used the actual bathroom because everyone just went behind or beside the building. It was dark, so I used my flashlight to see and some ladies laughed and said "falang". Just because I wanted to use my light! We stayed until about midnight and then left. There was still a big crowd. Although I only knew a few people at the party, everyone was so friendly and happy. Oh, and I didn't try dog meat! I will some time though! Pai Gawn!
-Dawn

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