I thought the contrast of these two pictures was interesting. This man is wearing lots of amulets around his neck... Buddhist charms meant for protection. And then in the second picture it is sad to see him in pain and his own blood covering his chest. 
These last three pictures are actually taken in Ubon, my old hometown. There were also red shirt protests taking place there during May...tires being burned at the airforce base and one of the provincial offices burned down.
This year's birthday included lots of little celebrations from my team, students, and others. I think all together I had 7 different cakes (4 different ones pictured above) and was sung "Happy Birthday" to at least 12 times in about 7 different languages !! I began the day biking to a nearby silk farm and spending some time with my Father and Creator on top of one of the surrounding hills. I also enjoyed a lunch with my whole team, a delicious Mexican meal with the teammates from my company, a fun picnic dinner under a gorgeous starlit sky with friends/teammates, and a Lao style cookout with some Lao friends and students. Check out some of my more "interesting" gifts...a skull tank top, hot pink shirt, and I don't even know how to describe the figurine...
On April 17th, my brother and sister-in-law welcomed their little baby girl into the world!
Hard to believe that this was my 5th New Years Celebration (Songkran) in Asia! I did a bit of everything...a little celebrating with friends, a little playing with water, and a lot of bus riding (note to self: riding on a way over capacity bus...with a faulty air conditioner...and windows that needed to be closed because of water fights...probably isn't something I want to purposely do in the future :)