the test, which is an interesting story in itself, and I received a
motorbike to use. Now I can get places faster and not be sweating,
either! My joy at having a motorbike quickly faded when it was stolen
a day after I received it. I came out of the National Cultural Hall
where I had watched a competition to see who would be emcees for the South East Asian games and crossed the street only to find my motorbike was missing. I looked frantically around and confirmed that this was were I parked it. I asked a man in the area if he knew what had happened and he directed me to the owner of a local guesthouse who tried to explain things to me, but ended up saying I should go to the police tomorrow. I assumed I had parked illegally and the police had taken it. I started walking, looking for a tuktuk home and called Khamseng, the MCC person I'm supposed to call with any problems (he can usually fix them!). He didn't quite understand and thought I should talk to a policeman, so I promptly turned around and headed
back to the Culture Hall where I knew there lots of men in uniforms.
(It turns out they weren't policemen- just military or security
guards, but it didn't really matter.) By the time I reached the
Culture Hall, Khamseng wanted to talk to the man I had talked to, so I
crossed the street, and ventured up the stairs of the guesthouse to find the owner watching TV with a few other men. I was able to get the owner to talk with Khamseng and while they talked, I gathered from the other men that one of them had seen two men walking away with a red motorbike. When I got the phone back, Khamseng decided he should come, so I hung up and wandered outside to talk with a young man who knew about the situation too and could speak a little English. He helped confirm and fill in a few details.
After I waited awhile, Khamseng called me back, saying he was coming, but then he was cut off abruptly. I checked my phone and realized it was out of minutes. I started walking down the street looking for where I could by a phone card, trying to stay in view in case Khamseng arrived. I asked a security guard where I could buy more minutes and he pointed me down the street. When I stopped and asked a woman, she pointed me farther down the street. Finally I stopped at a little drink stand to ask where I could go, and it turned out they sold minutes there at the tiny drink stall! Just as I was walking away, Khamseng pulled up. He took me to a policebox where he explained the situation to a policeman who said they would be on the lookout for it.
Khamseng then took me home and told me I could sleep well. I didn't
sleep great, but was later educated on the things I can do to keep a
motorbike safe. Apparently this bike has been stolen before and was
just recently returned to MCC in the past few months. I guess it was a lesson learned the hard way. This was reinforced less than a week later on the way to the office when my cellphone disappeared from my pocket and was lost forever. A Lao friend quietly suggested to me
that in light of this bad luck, I should consider going to the temple!
Though not right away, I did go to the temple- in fact I went to the
famous golden temple of Vientiane, Wat That Luang. I didn't offer
alms, instead I perused the many shops and stalls around it because
this past weekend was the celebration of That Luang which includes
many religious and nonreligious activities at the temple. I since
received a replacement motorbike and cell phone and strive to take
great care of them.
School went well up until the break which started last Thursday. Now
we have a two-month break until the beginning January. This break is
due to the SEA Games which Laos is hosting for the first time. I
think the long break is mostly to do with security concerns- they don't want anything happening to a school or anywhere else during this time, though I can't imagine that anything would. Not having school also takes more people off the roads and allows students- especially
college students- and teachers to return to their home villages if
they're not from Vientiane.
Now I get to do all kinds of different work, because I am not
teaching. I have been helping out at the MCC office, making charts,
moving and setting up computers, moving blankets, proofreading and
more! I recently finished helping interview candidates for IVEP which is the opposite of SALT- it sends young people throughout the world to live Canada and America for a year.
After this weekend, I will travel out into the countryside to a
province where MCC has a few projects. I will get to tour the
villages they work in and meet the people they work with. I hear like
many Lao, the national staff working there would be quite eager to
improve their English, so I might help with that. It will be nice to
take a break from the city and get to travel a little!
