Ethnographic Study:
...ried. At first both of their families opposed to the wedding because as a tradition her parents wanted someone from their own culture and his parents wanted a Spanish speaking girl for their son. Finally as Thoun and Miguel started interacting more with each other’s family, they found out they their cultures have a lot of things in common; both cultures liked to get together with their immediate family on the weekends; Thoun was raised by her mother to obey and attend her husband; Miguel was raised to have a wife that was going to obey and attend him. Thoun tried Mexican food cooked by Miguel’s mom and she said that she liked everything and her favorite food is “Tamales” (only the ones that her mother in law makes). Miguel also likes every thing that her mom cooks and his favorite food is home-made sticky rice and chicken noodle soup. When they got married they move in with her parents so they could save money to get their own house. It has been a year since they got married and they are in the process of buying a house. They have a 10 moth old girl name Lexi Karima. They both agree on her name because Lexi is an American name and Karima could be Spanish or Laos’s name. Lexi looks more Hispanic then Asian; she has curly hair, her eyes are big and round and her nose is pointy like her dad’s. Thoun said that when her daughter was born, her family was very surprised to see a family member born with a visible nose; because she said that Asian people usually have a flat face and you can not distinguish the form of the nose from the face when babies are first born. I had a chance to meet both, the husband and daughter, and Lexi looked like her dad, but somehow you can still see some of Toun’s features on her face. They want Lexi to learn all three languages (English, Spanish and Laos) and keep both ethnic backgrounds alive. Thoun takes her daughter to her mom during the week and to his mom during the weekends. She speaks Laos to her and he speaks Spanish to her. When I interviewed Thoun, her daughter was too young to see if this method was working or not. Normal Day in the Life Thoun’s husband is a truck driver who works out of town during the week and comes home for the weekend, so she does not have to prepare any meals for him during the week. She works in a distribution center where she does payroll and bookkeeping for the company. On an average day she gets up around seven in the morning, gets ready and usually for breakfast she has coffee and a bagel. She leaves her house around 7:40A.M., because it takes her about 15 minutes to get to her job. She starts work at 8 o’clock and takes her lunch break from 12-1 P.M. She normally stays at the work site for lunch, because it is located outside the city limits and every store or restaurant is at least 20 miles away. She gets off at 5 P.M. and goes straight home to see her daughter first; then, if she needs to go to any store she takes Lexi with her. Thoun’s mom takes care of Lexi during the day and after Thoun comes home she goes to work in their restaurant until 10 P.M. Thoun plays with her daughter and then she eats dinner around 7 P.M. After that she watches television for a while, and finally she takes a bath with her daughter before going to bed around 9:30 P.M. Spiritual/Religious Orientation Thoun was raised Buddhist and still practices this religion. Even though her husband is Catholic, they both have found a way to accomplish both religions. They both attend the Catholic masses at least once a month. They also go to the Buddhist church once a month. She told me that her religion is very important for her parents. In their house they have a Buddha, Indian philosopher and the founder of Buddhism, born in Lumbini, Nepal. The name Gautama Buddha is a combination of the family name Gautama and the appellation Buddha, meaning “Enlightened One.” Thoun says that to worship in Buddhism is primarily individual rather than congregational. Their main prayer since earliest times is a common expression of faith reciting the formula “I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the dharma. I take refuge in the sangha.” In the temple devotees walk around the dome in a clockwise direction, carrying flowers and incense as a sign of reverence. The relic of the Buddha’s tooth is the focus of an especially popular festival on the Buddha’s birthday. The Buddha’s birthday is celebrated in every Buddhist country. This interview was done in her parent’s house where they still keep the literature, music, and sculptures from their native country. To them all of these terms represent oral myths and legends based on the Phra Lak Phra Lam, the Lao version of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. This tale of Rama, a prince and the seventh incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, is known and loved throughout Southeast Asia. Other popular Lao literature that they keep in their home includes the Jatakas, stories of previous incarnations of the Buddha. Both the Phra Lak Phra Lam and the Jataka tales contain moral metaphors enacted through rigorous battles in which good always triumphs over evil. Thoun’s favorite stories tell how heroic princes defeat powerful demons. Social Relationships Thoun mentioned that now that she is married, her primarily attachments are her husband and her daughter. She tries to spend all her free time with her daughter. Also, she spends the weekends with her husband where they tried to do most of their activities as a family. Thoun told me that she still has contact with three of her friends from high school and that they are her best friends. Her job and her new family have taken most of her time, but she manages to see her friends at church or sometimes they come over her house to visit. At work she has good relations with the rest of employees but that is all. Thoun said that her mom still has a lot of friends and almost every weekend they met in her house to play cards or just to chat. Ethnic & Cultural Symbols Ethnic Lao culture is closely entwined with Buddhism. Painting is not a highly developed art form, but music, dance, weaving, and embroidery are. Sculpture, too, has been mainly in the form of images of Buddha and they are visible throughout the house in small images done in gold or silver. Thoun told me th...