My November

My schedule has changed a lot since school let out in late October. After a week or so of hanging around MCC and doing whatever little tasks needed to be done, I embarked on a trip to the countryside with Bounchan, a national MCC staff person who is kind of in charge there and who speaks very good English. We headed to the southern part of Xieng Khouang Province to the district of Tha Thom. Since it is mountainous and there aren't good roads, it can be difficult to get to. MCC had been trying to get a pick-up truck out there for the past number of months but due to the mud, when staff needed to travel there and back, they took a boat down the river and then traveled by bus. Apparently you could also hitch a ride on a big truck. But now it was early November and the rainy season had died down, so we could risk driving a pick-up. The first part of the journey went fine, but in the early afternoon we came to a river. The river itself wasn't the problem because it only came up to my knees at the deepest points, but a truck hauling motorbikes was stuck on the mud bank of the other side of the river. I gathered that the driver could call a bigger truck to pull him out, but the cost of that would pretty much negate any profit he would make upon delivering his load. It was a much better plan for him to wait for a big truck to come by, either on its own or summoned by another waiting vehicle in more of a hurry than he was. So we waited too. About three hours later a truck did come by and the road was clear again. Look closely at the middle of the picture below and you can find a stuck truck.


Tha Thom is quite beautiful with a lot of mountains and greenery. I learned on the trip out that this district used to be a ''special zone" directly governed by the Lao government because there was supposedly still a risk of people actively protesting the government which some have done for over 30 years. Historically, most of these people have come from the Hmong ethnic group. (That why when you hear about Lao(tians) in America many times they are Hmong.) The district was no longer declared a special zone roughly a year ago and much change has happened since. Tha Thom received electricity last April and telephone service. Before that time, the people depended on a few generators and the only phone was at the mayor's house. I hear the Internet is coming soon.


I stayed at the MCC office which doubles as the national staff's living quarters. I helped out with the technology we brought like computers, a copy machine and satellite dish. We also visited a number of villages MCC works in and saw school gardens and latrine projects there. These villages were quite simple and all the houses were built of bamboo or wood and raised on stilts in the traditional Lao way as shown above. Below is a picture from inside one of the houses. I took the picture while crouched in the opposite corner of the house. I think most families send the parents to work in the rice fields while the grandmothers care for the children and house. The animals seemingly care for themselves and only gather to eat. (Another one of my duties became chasing the cows and water buffalo out of the yard while the others were in meetings.)


We had quite a time getting back because we couldn't go back over Small Elephant Mountain we had crossed on the way in because it had rained recently and there was a pretty good chance we would get stuck often. Instead we headed north to the capital of the province. This road wasn't a whole lot better and was like driving through a construction site- actually it was as crews are working all over the main roads in the district. We left in the late afternoon but at 7:30 we pulled up to a bridge that had the gate down. We heard they were working on the road until 11 PM. We decided it would be a good time to eat the supper we had brought. We had stopped in a Hmong village so Von, the recently hired driver who apparently can speak Hmong, found us a house to eat in because it was dark and quite cold (in the 50s I think and windy). The family had a simple house but were quite welcoming. It turned out that night was the first day of the Hmong New Year and the father announced that he was honored to have us as guests. There was a family of maybe six or seven people, but we only ate with the father. The father spoke Hmong and some Lao, Von speaks Lao and a little Hmong, Bounchan speaks Lao and good English and I of course speak English and a little Lao. All that makes for an interesting (and slow) dinner. After saying goodbye, we dozed a little in the truck until 9:00 when they opened the gate. After getting through, it wasn't clear if the construction was done or not. The road was certainly not any better and we had to wait several times for backhoes to clear us a way. Finally at midnight, we arrived at the guesthouse next to the bus station. By 7:00 the next day, Bounchan and I were off on the bus. It was an all-day affair and we finally pulled into Vientiane at 5. With time added for the tuktuk driver mistaking the word MCC for embassy, I got home in time for dinner.

A few days after getting back, I went on a two day retreat to the beautiful Nam Ngum lake area with all the MCC Laos staff. We also toured a zoo and played many fun games with each other. I had a traditional Thanksgiving with Americans and Canadians a week before the actual day. A day before Thanksgiving in the US, my host mother had convinced me to make a dish for the family. (Making a whole meal was just too risky.) After figuring out what I could make with mostly only using food from the local market and what could be made over a charcoal fire, I came up with chili. So we had chili for Thanksgiving. I thought it turned out fairly authentic and the family said they liked even though they were somewhat hesitant to eat it.

The past few weeks I've worked at MCC doing various projects. I was going to start teaching English to a volunteer group MCC works with, but alas, only one showed up after a small group said they would come. No one came on the rescheduled date. I guess they were all afraid that they would be the only one to show up- so no one did. Maybe they also felt they had to say they would come because it would be rude to refuse, but in reality they were too busy or didn't want to come. But it seems like most everyone in Laos wants to learn English, so I've been teaching English to volunteers and staff at PVG, an after-school program for children which doesn't have much activity now that the schools are not in session. It is a pretty informal affair, but fun and it gives me a chance to learn and use Lao at the same time.

The very long awaited SEA Games have finally come to Laos, and Laos is ready. Unfortunately, I'm not ready yet to tell you about them- hopefully that will be soon!