I just wanted to share some pictures. These were taken two days ago at my (to make things simple) great uncle’s 70th birthday party. He’ll be retiring in two years from the US Army Corp of Engineers, rounding out 25 years there. We talked for a little bit early in the night. He wanted to make sure I had a “plan” for the next 5 or 10 years… which I do. Anyway, this is what a contemporary Laotian get-together looks like. It was interesting to observe the Lao and English being used here, especially after studying this exact thing at school this term. The older generation, of course, spoke Lao with one another. The younger generation, about 35 and under, spoke English. It was weird to think that practically none of the younger generation will be able to speak fluent Lao. This situation is true for a lot of minority groups. In a poll of Korean youth in New York, only 9% could speak fluent Korean.