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B.L.O.G.

Forever friends... Before and after!

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Monic (17) and Laure (16) in Thakhek, Laos 1966 and together again in Normandie, France 2010

Riad and Laure, OASIS Reunion, Paris/France October 2010
Laure (Patrick) Riad @ the ferry at Rosso, Mauritania/Senegal Border 1980

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My love affair with the African continent...

What do you do when you are married to a Foreign Service officer? You travel around the world. And if you are with USAID? You travel around Nations of Rising Expectations. Sure we have posts in Rome and Paris, but my husband does not get sent to those places. Except for one time he was sent to Paris for two weeks to evaluate the one and only house owned by USAID in Paris, near the Place Concorde, in a cul-de-sac; otherwise inhabited by Arab Sheiks and Princes all having more money that USAID can count. We were in Afghanistan when Barnett told me that our next assignment was going to be Mauritania. “Mauri-what?,” I said. To simplify the matter, he showed it to me on a map. Since then, we had a globe, and he would point out our next assignment each time. As an Asian/French teenager, you know about Africa because you studied geography. Even then, it was not the best subject while I was in school. I landed in Senegal in 1978, I looked around, and except for the fact that there ...

A very happy and joyous New Year to all!

Back to my “roots” (French born overseas…), and an all American gal…

Indian Camp??? In Normandie??? There is a term in Madagascar for French born in Madagascar, “Zanatan.” There was also a term for French born in Laos, but the term is not as appealing. In Laos, they were called Falang Khi Nok “Bird Poop.” I will refer to myself as Zanatan (sounds exotic) , instead of Bird Poop. Although I have no idea what Zanatan really means, and I will stay ignorant. (Actually, Barnett checked, Zanatan means "Child of the country.) Being born French, Lao and Vietnamese in the midst of colonial French in Southeast Asia was not easy. You, (as you in a general sense of you) , are raised to be French; and then you are expected to be Asian, especially the girls. You are supposed to be dealing with life as an Asian, i.e. being sheltered, educated and married to someone possibly rich, with a position. You can marry white men if they are educated French, but no Americans. And then you would restart the cycle with the next generation. Boy, did I mess up or ...

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Laure and I...: Spotsylvania, VA, United States; ~ Barnett wrote: We officially met each other in 1966, when I delivered a case of milk to her parents' home in Central Laos- as payment for one of the family's German shepherd pups. Though she said nothing to me that day, it began a four year off-again on-again courtship ending in Marriage in 1970. Educated in the Couvent Les Oiseaux in Dalat, Laure had no intention of marrying an American; becoming a U.S. citizen; or eventually becoming the grandmother of three young Virginians. We have since traveled much of the world together for 40 years. A Marine; Peace Corps Volunteer; a Bushrod Washington Scholar at Georgetown; and, eventually, an itinerant Foreign Service Officer- I am still surprised that Laure stays with me; and continue to try to find ways to ensure that Laure can continue gallivanting in strange places. Now, we have decided to write about the lives we have lead, and the changing world we grew up in. ~ Laure wrote: Barnett is the serious writer of this family; I will keep our B.L.O.G. on a lighter note generally. All the weird things that I remember gallivanting around the world, but still fun just the same.

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