When I told myself I would get out of my comfort zone last year, fate didn't take it jokingly. It did took me out of my zone... approximately 1300 miles away.
I've been staying here in Laos for a week now, although it seemed to me that I've been here for a long time. I didn't mean that in a bad way. I think I haven't felt a tinge of homesickness except when dusk comes, when I usually feels sad even at home.
Amazingly, you can find a lot of foreigners here. Some came to tour, but I have an impression that most come to "save" the country. I even read a review that there isn't much to see in Laos because of its "characterlessness". But I beg to disagree; Laos isn't poor, neither is it boring.
I've talked to one of my Lao officemates, and I asked her if she were given the chance to work abroad, would she grab it. But she said no, because she wanted to stay in Laos where life is simple and peaceful. Over my few days stay, I can testify to that. They always remain calm and level-headed whatever the situation is. Like a few days ago, another Lao officemate knocked a motorcycle down. She was using a car. The guy who owns the motorcycle was slightly bruised. They just talked and she helped him clean his bruises and then everything's settled. In my country, the chance of that happening is maybe as thin as a hair strand.
This is when I realized that poverty is really relative. I've heard my professors talk about this but only now that I understood it fully. What they needed isn't economic advancement, at least that's what I think. If I were a country, I think I'm a lot like Lao. I'm not rich, but earning a lot of money isn't my top priority.
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