It’s always hard to say good-bye to family, friends and the familiarity of the States at the end of our summer vacations. However, Tony and I usually look forward to getting “home,” wherever that may be. Two weeks ago, we took off for a new home in Vientiane, Laos.

In those last two weeks, we finalized the purchase of a summer house in Michigan, traveled for 31 hours to Laos, moved in to our new house in Vientiane, hired a maid named Daeng and a night guard named Ae, received our shipment from China, unpacked everything and found a place for most of it, started new teaching jobs at Vientiane International School, bought a motorbike, found pants that fit Tony (no small feat in Southeast Asia!), got the internet and new printers set up at home, and began exploring our new city.

We still haven’t figured out how to work our stove.

Wow, no wonder we’re tired.