Finding a New Rhythm

Like many other grad students, when I was in school I often had a hard time communicating to people and convincing them that just because I worked from home about 16 hours/week did not mean I was “at home laying on the couch, watching Youtube videos” for 16 hours a week. 

But if I thought it was hard convincing people that I was actually productively engaged in some sort of work when I was a grad student, imagine what it’s like now trying to tell people that, no, I’m not employed by anyone, but yes, I still have plenty to keep me busy. 

The question often asked is-like my brother so elegantly put it the other day when I was finally able to reach him via Skype-“What do you DO all day there?!”

So, here’s a glimpse at a typical week day here in Luang Prabang.

3:40 a.m. (Yes, you read that correctly.  A-flippin’-M)

At first, it seems like we live in a very quiet section of town.  However, we also live right next to a Buddhist temple, and this particular section of the temple:

This is the drum tower and it is directly next to our apartment.  So, the new rhythm of life here starts up at 3:40 in the morning, with a metal cymbal enthusiastically and loudly ting-ting-tinging while all the dogs in the area also feel compelled to join along in song.  Amazingly enough, after three weeks of this, we are able (sometimes)to sleep through this ruckus.

5:30 a.m.

About two hours after the cymbal and dog chorus, a huge drum covered in rawhide is energetically beat.  Sometimes rhythmic sounds can actually lull you to sleep further.  Unfortunately, this drumming is not even remotely rhythmic.  This actually works out in my favor because I get up around this time anyway.  So, when you come visit us, we can offer a reliable wake-up call.  But, no, you can’t change the time it comes.  This is just at daybreak, so the roosters in the area are also really starting to warm up their vocal chords.

I get to drink my coffee and have some time to read while watching the mists recede to reveal this beautiful view from our porch. 

Nam Khan River

Between 6:00 – 7:30

I head out either for a run or for yoga.  Despite the intense heat and humidity during the day, the mornings are usually fairly pleasant and cool (albeit still humid like crazy). 

I’ve found a couple great running routes that always keep me entertained.  Luang Prabang is built where the Mekong and Nam Kahn Rivers join.  The narrow section of land between the two  rivers is where the oldest structures are (Such as the former Royal Palace and where most of the old French colonial architecture is), so there is always something interesting to see when running around this area. 

The peninsula is hopping in the evening because it’s the main tourist area, but it is just starting to stir when I’m headed out in the morning.  So far while out running, I’ve seen chickens (ubiquitous), so many cute and sweet street dogs that I can hardly stand it (I stop to play with puppies no matter what), goats, cows, elephants, and just  the other day - monkeys.  Never a dull moment. 

On days when I don’t run, this is the fabulous spot I do yoga, overlooking the Nam Khan River.

Photo Credit goes to http://www.luangprabangyoga.org/

8:30 – 12:00

I usually work at home, writing.  The good thing about having no internet at home is that it’s less of a distraction when you are in the process of struggling to eek out just the right words for a particular sentence. 

Lunch

Food is just too big of a topic for this post.  I’ll have to come back to this later.

1:00 – 5:30

Head to find a coffee shop with decent internet access for research, downloading books, reading and job applications. 

My daily commute across the bike bridge

This part of the day has turned out to be trickier than I expected.  I’ve learned that you need to have a couple options in mind because on any given day, the internet may be awful at any given place.  Sometimes it’s a bit of a treasure hunt to find god internet.  But I’m getting better at knowing where to look. I’ve also learned to check the internet connection before ordering something, but only after having to quickly slurp down one too many mango smoothies or cappuccinos. 

I’m also learning how to be a historian without physical books and without a well-stocked office.  After being resistant for years, this move has resulted in a huge shove towards becoming as paperless as possible because you can’t exactly pack up a library and move it easily from one side of the world to the other. 

The view out one of my favorite café work spots

On the advice of my tech-savvy brother, I invested in  Microsoft Surface tablet because of the way the screen interfaces with the “pen” just like pen and paper.  Years of grad school has trained me to think with a pen in my hand, so the ability to still be able to mark up articles (PDF’s) and word documents, mind-map pieces of writing, free-write ideas and outlines, and have them all well-organized and word-searchable on a tablet is invaluable to me.  It’s true that I will never stop loving physical books, but right now I am hugely grateful for the increasing amount of academic books available in e-formats. I’m probably able to download about 70% of the books I want to look at from Amazon, another invaluable resource when you are nowhere near a good research library.  For books that are not sold in e-version, Amazon has a “Tell the publisher! I’d like to read this book on Kindle” link you can click.  I have no idea if that information actually gets sent on the press, but I’ve been “telling” a lot of editors that I’d like to see more of their books in e-version. 

The rest of the day is filled up with learning Lao, exploring Luang Prabang’s various restaurants, street vendors, and sights, and hanging out with my fabulous sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and adorable new nephew who happen to also live here.

As you can see, this dude is a total natural at selfies.