School finished after final exams at the end of May. So now I'm working at the office, doing a variety of things. A big project is working to get four (and now maybe five) Lao youth all ready to go to the US and Canada. The IVEP program is kind of the opposite of SALT in that young people from other countries come to spend a year as volunteers in North America. It's been a lot of work making sure they have all the right papers and pictures, especially for their upcoming US embassy visits.
Laos doesn't celebrate Memorial Day of course, but the next day was Children's Day. My host dad woke me up early and we met a group of students from our school before going to a huge rally with a bunch of teachers and students in the middle of the city. We all wore white T-shirts and walked down main streets- I guess in support of children. After we finished, the deputy prime minister walked right by me and flashed me a smile. (I wore a white T-shirt too, but still stuck out a little.) I told my dad but he was somewhat less excited. A few days earlier, I had another celebrity sighting when I met Miss Lao who is a friend of my neighbor. Not only was she more beautiful, but she was also a little taller than me which is actually saying something in Laos.
Last week I visited Sang Thong where MCC has a project. Like when I visited Tha Thom, it was great to get to know the MCC Lao staff better and see what they do everyday. A lot of the projects have to do with health education and sustainable agriculture, so I visited things like gardens, fish conservatories, health checkups for kids and met with health peer educators. I stayed in the MCC guesthouse/office with MCC staff person and newly-wedded Phoungun and his wife. The house is more or less a traditional Lao house on stilts and made out of bamboo, but was pretty comfortable to live in. Being out of the city and in a relatively small village was also refreshing, especially because it cooled down at night!
After I last posted, it rained 8 of the next 10 days. So I should have just been a little more patient. However, it didn't rain that much at any one time. Rain mostly comes in the late afternoon and usually isn't too hard. In Sang Thong, it didn't rain all week and it was a good reminder of how hot and humid it can be if it doesn't rain. I've heard this year hasn't rained as much as some years, to the dismay of Sang Thong rice farmers (and I'm sure many more). Rain the past two days has freshened things up here.
Laos is more excited about the World Cup than I would have guessed, but how was I to know. Of course Laos isn't in it, so most people cheer for whoever they think will win, which leads to pretty happy fans. The earlier games are prime time for us, so the timing works out well to watch the games. One neighbor has a TV outside his house every night so neighbors and other friends can come and sit on stools around a table full of food to watch the game. They are also fine with cheering for the US at least as long as I'm around. The game last night about just about drove me crazy, but I received plenty of sympathy. When I finally resorted to cheering for the US to shoot in Lao, they scored. High-fives all around. Unfortunately, when I cheered, I also whacked my fingers on the metal ceiling fan, but they're fine today.
Ben, the former SALTer from last year, has just come with his mom, brother and friend to visit for a few weeks. This means the house is fairly crowded with 10 people in it, but it's been fun to get to know everyone. It also means much more translating, but Ben remembers Lao to an amazing extent. It's a little weird to live around Americans again. Seeing them interact reminds me of when I came and how I must have seemed to my host family. There's been lots of laughing and joking around. I've moved upstairs to sleep which means my room is a little hotter but the view is much more amazing. Early tomorrow we're all going to Vietnam for a couple days! We're going with a group of people from school and are headed straight for the beach.
I hope you are doing well and also have time to relax. If not, come to Laos! Send me an email either way.
