{"id":291,"date":"2011-03-01T03:38:58","date_gmt":"2011-03-01T03:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/?p=291"},"modified":"2013-09-25T03:41:42","modified_gmt":"2013-09-25T03:41:42","slug":"in-between-the-lines-by-zall-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/?p=291","title":{"rendered":"In Between The Lines, by Zall, 14"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Between The Lines, by Zall, 14<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the situation: I\u2019m staring into a smiling man\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 He has horrible teeth and crooked glasses.\u00a0 In his shaking hand, he offers me a glass of Lao-Lao (traditional rice whisky).\u00a0 My brain freezes.\u00a0 Can I?\u00a0 Should I?\u00a0 Would my parents be mad?\u00a0 Would I insult my host?\u00a0 I take in the smile on his face, the cautious look on my dad\u2019s face, the hungry look on my mom\u2019s face, and the oblivious look on my brother\u2019s face.\u00a0 I decide to take the shot of rice whisky.\u00a0 Do I sip it?\u00a0 Do I go bottoms up?\u00a0 What would be appropriate?\u00a0 My thoughts are whirling around in my head.\u00a0 The look on my host\u2019s face is encouraging.\u00a0 What do I do?<\/p>\n

\"Receiving<\/a>

Receiving a glass of beer with good wishes.<\/p><\/div>\n

In this situation I normally make some strange noise between a yes and a no and look at my parents for advice.\u00a0 I\u2019m 14, I\u2019m underage; not supposed to drink until I\u2019m 21.\u00a0 My parents look distracted and they may have had one too many Lao-Lao:\u00a0 mom\u2019s cheeks are getting rosy and dad\u2019s stupid grin is trying to refuse another drink\u2026 they won\u2019t be too much help.\u00a0 If I drink will I test my families\u2019 boundaries?\u00a0 If I don\u2019t, will I insult my host?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m in a strange place in my life.\u00a0 I am both a child and an adult.\u00a0 Both international and American.\u00a0 Both traveler and student.\u00a0 What seem like simple questions can, in reality, be confusing and controversial cultural conundrums. When do I sit down or stand?\u00a0 Do I eat or wait for my host?<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>

One of several Lao-Lao toasts at the Basi ceremony \u2013 this one from Suk, who hosted the Basi for us.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sukkavit is a good friend in the village of Xam Tai, Laos who we go to see every time we travel.\u00a0 When we meet, it may be for the first time in almost a year.\u00a0 This year, she looks so short.\u00a0 So do I offer the formal way of saying hello by cupping each other\u2019s hand or bowing?\u00a0 Or are we good enough friends to hug or put our arms around each other?\u00a0 In truth, we normally end up in some awkward position of one of us extending our hands while the other attempts a hug.\u00a0 Luckily, Lao is a fairly relaxed country as far as customs go.<\/p>\n

These questions arrive multiple times a day in the travel-world, and truthfully, the guidebooks can only tell you so much.\u00a0 When you\u2019re facing a cultural or social issue, your mind stops working.\u00a0 In the end, you wind up staring into your host\u2019s eyes with a blank look until he puts the glass in your hand and begins a toast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Between The Lines, by Zall, 14 Here\u2019s the situation: I\u2019m staring into a smiling man\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 He has horrible teeth and crooked glasses.\u00a0 In his shaking hand, he offers me a glass of Lao-Lao (traditional rice whisky).\u00a0 My brain … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions\/294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}