============================================================== To reach ALL SJD members, please send to sjd@satjadham.net ... Do NOT include any other addresses when sending to the list... Include as LITTLE of the original messages as possible........ Message sent by: LanXang Siengkhene *** Announcement: *** Please register for SatJaDham Fifth Annual conference at the website http://www.satjadham.org/sjd5sd/ ============================================================== Talking about the rainy season, it was fun – real fun. Most of time, it was the occasion for us, the kids, to get a free shower. My friends and I would run wildly in the rain with just a short on. At times, if it was not raining hard, we would gather below the roof gutter and let the torrent rain soak our bodies. Also, as the rainy season came with the mango season, we got mangoes as a byproduct. In my backyard, there was a mango tree. Whenever it rained, it had a tendency to drop off its ripe fruits. Still, I rather went with the mango trees behind my friends’ backyard. It was more fun to get the mango from other backyard than one’s own. There, I could use my agility to snatch the fallen mango faster than anybody. Usually, I would go home with a big back full of mangoes. And it became a norm that my family would wait for me in the living room to have their share of the mangoes. That was the harder it rain, better yet the harder the wind blew, the more mangoes I would be able to get. Besides the fun part, the rain provided us with free water. Most of the time, when it rained, we would be able to replenish our water tank and likely saved me a couple of days of hard work. Unlike Savannakhet, we had to get our own water. Every day, after school, I had to go to the pumping water (aside from the last year of our stay at Thakek when we had our own well) which was about half a mile to my place and got water there. The way to transport it was to push the cart and it was very tiring for I was not a strong type of guy. Anyway, I was glad that I did my part, though small as it was, in helping my family. During my three year stay at Thakek, I was relieved at times doing that job when Ai Kham, the big muscle guy, came to live with us. He could handle the water cart with ease. What’s funny about him was that when my parents relayed something to him through me and if he overheard it first, he would waver me away before I could even utter a word. Besides, he liked to listen to English speaking songs though he hardly knew what they meant. I sometimes asked me why he liked certain songs, he would say that he just liked them because of the tune! 2 years ago, I went to Laos and saw him again, this time he had no muscle left but there was one thing that still remained with him. That thing was his preference of the English songs over any other songs. (to be continued) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send online invitations with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com _ ***************************************************************** Visit SatJaDham Homepage at: http://www.satjadham.org (or .net) *****************************************************************