Lanoy's California Adventure!

For the past couple of years, B and I have been big supporters of a major non-profit based in New York called Pencils of Promise (aka PoP).  The organization builds schools and increases educational opportunities in the developing world and trains young leaders to take action at home and abroad. B is currently serving as the chairman of the board and, in his free time (ha!), volunteers as the Director of Marketing for PoP.  So, with B playing such an active role in the organization we've had the opportunity to meet some pretty amazing people.

We got to spend time with two of those amazing people, Bryce and Noy, over Halloween weekend.  Bryce grew up in Oregon, but currently lives in Laos, and Noy is from Laos (where PoP has built over 50 schools) and works with the organization as the Laos Country Coordinator.  She also happens to be the nicest and cutest human-being on the planet.  True story.

Anyway, Noy had never left the continent of Asia before a couple of weeks ago.  But PoP wanted her to be able to attend their Gala fundraising event taking place in NYC in a couple of weeks, so they decided to fly her over to the states and show her some of the country before flying her to New York to attend the Gala.  Los Angeles happened to be Noy's first stop, so B and I got to host Noy (and Bryce, who was driving Noy to Denver for her next leg of the trip) for a couple of days at the end of October.

We had SO MUCH FUN!  Having grown up in the developing world, I think Lanoy definitely experienced some culture shock, but she was such a trooper and truly embraced the opportunity given to her.

Here are some highlights of her stay with us:

Here's Lanoy at the airport.  So happy to see us and finally be in the United States!

We cooked sliders and fries for lunch while watching some Sunday football.  Very American of us.  I think Lanoy was napping :)

Sunday evening we took Lanoy to El Matador Beach in Malibu to watch the sunset.  Stunning.

After eating tacos for dinner, we carved pumpkins for Halloween the next day, and roasted pumpkin seeds.  Yum!

The next morning, Noy made us some of her famous soup, called pho.  Those of you who read these blog often know of my obsession with pho.  I've eaten some pretty good pho, but Lanoy's version was the best I've ever had.  I watched her like a hawk and hope to try recreating her version some time in the near future!

After soup, we headed to Disneyland for the afternoon/ evening to attend Mickey's Halloween Costume Party.  We decided to dress as a bunch of bananas for the occasion.  It worked wonders for getting noticed and locating each other, since we stuck out like sore thumbs in our bright yellow suits!

Noy and Bryce left the next day on their way to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.  It was a short trip, but an amazing one!  I promised Lanoy that we would see each other very soon, so I guess that means I'll be making a trip to Laos in the near future!  I guess you never know...