Lately, I've been learning a lot of idioms in Lao. Some are the same some are different. They literally say "in the right ear, out the left ear." They also say for beautiful that "the cow falls over and the buffalo dies" it's our version of "drop dead gorgeous." There are some that I don't fully understand though.
If you ever want to go anywhere where the whole country talks about bowel movements like 13 year old boys. We've got it in Laos. It's taken me time to be okay with this but I'm slowly joining along. Anyways, the other day I was at a restaurant working on some stuff for orientation and ran into an old friend Jane. Jane was there with all her children while her husband attended a meeting. We began to talk and I said I'd be right back she literally said "save some pee for me." I was like what? So I tried to get her to explain it and I understood the vocabulary. It's the same word used for a promotion or if you don't eat all your food and you want someone else to eat it for you. They use one word for the word for and to. She tried to explain that it's just a joke. It has no real meaning except to joke that they'll pee more or poop more because they are thinking of you. It's supposed to be kind of endearing and funny at the same time. If something tastes really good, was overwhelming in a good or bad way they will also add "explosive diarrhea all over the dirt to the end." An example of this is oh I 'm so full I could have explosive diarrhea all over the dirt. " or "I traveled so much it was like I had explosive diarrhea all over the dirt."
There is also vocabulary if your friend thinks someone is cute but you don't you'd say "yeah, their so cute I'd drag them in the dust" (meaning you think their ugly) or the opposite of that is "yeah, their beauty reaches to the sky."meaning they are so beautiful.
The last one I'll tell you for now is "we eat to live not live to eat." They'll often say this too when they are full. I was asked if we had this saying but I said we have a lot of sayings I'm not sure. But I believe most Americans are different. I think we actually live to eat. We'll plan out workouts so we can eat. After long 5k's with a friend in high school first thing we'd do is go somewhere to eat.
Knowing idioms also helps you to understand culture more too. Lao food is typically spicy, health problems are common so they talk about them. At first this bothered me but as time has gone on it's kind of nice. As a community we all watch out for each other.
I'm unfortunately deathly allergic to chocolate. I sat at our first orientation, nervous to be speaking in front of people and became nauseous. I quickly realized I was smelling chocolate. I made it through my session but immediately after ran to the bathroom and began vomiting. Normally if the smell is a little I'm okay but it was a lot. We were supposed to be taking pictures but I was shaking from head to toe. I ran to the kitchen where they gave me some rice and soup and an egg. One of them even began rubbing my shoulders till I quit shaking. I informed the office and they put the table outside the room. I was proud of myself for standing up for my needs but also terrified because I was the one in charge. Had I not been so vulnerable and lived in a culture that takes care of their people I might not have been able to go on, but I was and I did all of it without anyone but the office staff, the assistant principal and the cooks knowing.
I never know when they are going to keep my secret's and when they'll tell but I do know and believe that they have the best intentions at heart. They do their best to "treat others how they'd like to be treated." and I am striving to do the same. I think the golden rule applies world wide.
