Early Morning Errand

Perhaps only in Laos can I wake up early, drive to the heart of the capital city while also driving an appropriate speed for the pouring rain, drop my friend off at the bus station, buy breakfast, have a short conversation with the shopkeeper about my time in Laos and my marriage status, and be back in bed 15 minutes after waking up.

Here and Back

After lots of traveling, it's nice to be back in the office. But also
nice to be able to visit others. I realized the day after I got back
that I had been in this exact same place 3 weeks earlier, but after
traveling thousands of miles. Weird to think about.

After two weeks of weddings, seeing family and friends, and yes,
travelling, I found myself in Hanoi, Vietnam. Hanoi is a city so more
massive than anything Laos has, it's almost incomparable. In fact,
Hanoi's population is roughly the same as the total population of
Laos. I felt a bit overwhelmed. But I made my connections and even got
to see the embalmed Ho Chi Minh before heading down to Da Nang,
another good-sized city on the ocean. We had our area MCC retreat
there and it was great to meet many MCC staff from area countries and
relax on the beach. I also got to meet the 5 new service workers who
just arrived in Laos! Unfortuantely, I also had to say goodbye to
Ariel, a wonderful fellow service worker who went back home. After
almost a week in Vietnam, I was ready to come home to Laos. I helped
make sure everyone was settled and called my host family. My host
sister answered the phone and after talking for a little asked, "You
aren't coming to play with me tonight?" It was already late that
night, but I promised to come the next day.

I've settled down in a house rented by MCC but will soon move to the
MCC guesthouse close to the office. I spent my first week back helping
orient the five new service workers which was a blast. They're a great
group of people and it's been fun to share what I've learned in the
past year. I also saw off the group of IVEPers. It was a relief and
reward to help them have this opportunity to experience the US and
Canada for a year, much like I'm experiencing their country and
culture.

The rain has certainly increased. It sounds like it more or less
rained every day while I was gone and has continued to do so. I went
out into the countryside with my host family this past weekend and saw
many people fishing in their fields and playing in ponds created by
the water. At a relative's house, we had to wade through a little
water to get inside. Then I looked the back window and was surprised
to see a nearby river came all the way against the house and the
backyard was under two feet of water! But I was later told this
happens every year so it's hard for me to know what is "too much"
water. I later waded through fields with my host father and aunt to
cut young bamboo stalks for soup.

Even after a year, I'm still coming across surprises. The other day, I
drove by my neighbor's house and saw an ostrich. An ostrich! I
promptly grilled a co-worker about it. Even though I'm pretty sure
ostriches are not native to Laos, he said you can raise them just like
ducks- which means you can eat them too!

For me, it's more orientation next week for the two SALTers for this
year. I hope all is well with you!

Justin

Fon tok ma layo!

Once again, I don't have enough time to write everything. Neither of us probably wants that anyway. Here's some tidbits of the past few weeks.

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.

Season of changes

It seems like there's a lot going on these days. Fortunately, I took some pictures to help me explain:

My host family had a nice party for me on the evening of my birthday. It was kind of fun, but busy, playing the role of a Lao host- making sure drinks are filled and food is eaten.

My host sister steals a plate of luksin (meat like hotdogs) from the neighbor boys. My host brother/ cousin Lay is on the far left. The other two are good friends and both study at the national university.

With the women of the neighborhood.

The men. My host dad's on the far left.

Two Cakes!

And the kids. My host mom is just barely on the far right. A split second after this was taken, I was stopped so two-year-old PK could help me blow out the candles. Even though he had a fever, he was very eager for the cake to be cut.

I thought May would be a pretty solid month of rain, but it sounds like I have to wait a little longer. I'd assumed the rainy season would come suddenly and completely, but that's not the case. What was I thinking- something in Laos would come all of a sudden? No, of course not. It has to come slowly. It's rained probably an average of once a week for the past few weeks, usually on Monday, my default day for laundry. I guess once a week is not a drought, but it still doesn't seem like that much, especially because when it's not raining, the weather's been incredibly hot and humid. I've gotten used to sweating all the time, regardless of where I am or what I'm doing.

However, the rain we have had has translated into a wide variety of plants and flowers. Or maybe we had them anyway, and I just didn't notice before. Laos has a huge variety and wealth of plants that continues to amaze me. With this comes a vast knowledge of these plants. A month ago, I attended a presentation on natural forest products. The presenter noted that on average, individuals in villages he visited could list over 100 types of plants that they could eat or use as medicine in some way. One village listed over 300 types. Sadly this knowledge is disappearing, but I still am impacted by it in the city. It's not unusual for a neighbor to come over and cut leaves off a tree or bush to be used for a meal they're making that night. Here's a few flowers and fruits that are just now in season:

I haven't figured out the name of this tree in English, but its bright red flowers really stand out against Laos' greenery.

This one is known as rambutan.

Here it's being eaten.

One type of mangosteen. (The good type.)

The dragonfruit looks cool on the outside and the inside!

A banana plant in our back yard. The big maroon part is also eaten.

And puppies! Mali just had a litter of six.

Thailand is in the news, at least in Laos. If you haven't heard about the protests, maybe you should look it up. In fact, in listening to a Chinese program (in English), I heard one of the commentators claimed it was the worst lack of attention to a world event in recent history. I think this is exaggerating it a little, but it does seem a little overlooked. Of course, Laos can't overlook their neighbors across the river. Especially when most of the television stations are from Thailand.

Here's a quick overview: Thailand used to have a prime minister named Thaksin who is very rich himself, but led a government that favored the poor in some major ways. (Many poor Thai live in the northeast- the area where many former Lao have settled.) He is the only prime minister to govern a full term. In 2006, he was ousted by protesters wearing Yellow Shirts. Abhisit became prime minister, and is seen as a friend of social elites. Thaksin was accused of many counts of corruption which may well be true. Abhisit doesn't seem to be corrupt, but he hasn't helped out the poor in the same way.

The poor Red Shirts recently took to the streets of Bangkok in early March and massed in a huge rally. Most of the time, it was peaceful. They want new elections (possibly including Thaksin) among other demands. A majority of them have been non-violent, but some have weapons like slingshots and Moltov cocktails. When recent negotiations fell through, the government forcibly began removing protesters, which sparked rioting. Over 40 people have died and almost 400 have been wounded. The government has worked really hard to put on a good face to the international community, but their reports don't always line up. They have superior weapons and the death statistics reflect this. Most of the violent protesters have dispersed, but this might be worse as they spread in small groups throughout Bangkok. I suppose this is another instance where Lao can point out that Thailand isn't better than Laos in every way. (Not that the Lao government is close to being perfect.)

This is the last week of regular school! It crept up on me, and it seems like the semester flew by. Next week are exams, and then I'm off to work at the office. I'll definitely miss the kids, but working in the office will be a nice change of pace. Hopefully I'll be able to teach a little when school starts again in September.

Pi Mai Lao

It seems like time has gone by very quickly this past month!

First of all, my parents visited! It was very good to see them and fun
to show them around. After showing them around Vientiane, we
travelled up to Luang Prabang for a few days, which I had never been
to before, so it was good for me to be able to see it too. Luang
Prabang is the old capital of Laos and is known for being very
beautiful and historical. We found a nice guesthouse and spent the
next few days around the city, seeing temples, buying cloth and riding
elephants. Then we were back in Vientiane for a few days before they
left. In addition to places and people they saw and met, my parents
also got to go to a Lao wedding and baci, so they experienced some
cultural aspects as well. I was pleased they were able to see as much
as they did and things just seemed to work out well. Having them here
also reminded me how accustomed I've become to doing things the Lao
way.

Immediately afterwards, Pi Mai Lao (the Lao New Year) preparations and
celebrations began. Using American terms, I think Pi Mai Lao is best
described as spring break, graduation parties and summer vacation
combined into a celebration that also manages to celebrate the
Buddhist New Year in a week. The celebration is technically only three
days, but school was closed the other two weekdays which meant that
with two weekends, I had a week+ of vacation. During Pi Mai, water is
used to bless images of Buddha, monks, elders and everyone else. But
mostly everyone else. And virtually no one is exempt if they venture
outside their house. Pouring water on others is seen as a blessing for
a long and happy life.

The Sunday before Pi Mai, my ban (neighborhood) held a huge feast at a
local school. This lasted all day. A vivid memory was seeing my
neighbor dressed completely in red and a ridiculous hat getting picked
up and dumped into a tub of water. She didn't mind a bit. Getting wet
was quite a relief from the heat we've been having recently, so I
really didn't mind getting wet either.

Most of the week was spent feasting and getting wet at family and
friends' houses. On the last Saturday, we had our own feast at home,
featuring four ducks. (To everyone's surprise, one of them laid two
eggs earlier in the week!). During this time, Laos also has bacis for
the new year. (I've described them before, but a baci is a blessing
held for special events and is marked by tying strings around each
others' wrists as a blessing.) We held one at school and a smaller,
informal one with my extended host family. After the family baci, we
ate and talked with a few family members and some neighbors. Or so I
thought. As my host mom's oldest brother was talking to me, he
mentioned he was the first and pointed around until he had listed all
8 of his siblings! Everyone was related! Only one sibling wasn't able
to be there. I spent the rest of the evening matching up the spouses
and wondering how I didn't see the resemblances before.

All in all, it was a fun and relaxing time, but after a week, I was
ready to get back to work this past week. We've got about a month to
go before school's out for the rainy season. It's been pretty hot and
humid the past few weeks and I'm looking forward to the rain coming in
a few weeks.

I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful spring!

Justin

Just a bit longer

Hello all,

First things first- I'll be in Laos for a few more months.

A short answer to why I'm staying a few more months (instead of not
continuing at all or staying for a longer period): It turns out a
valuable national staff member retired recently and somewhat suddenly.
This means MCC Laos has even fewer resources than we had before. This
is where I can step in with my handle of English and a few
organizational skills. I'll help out with administrative types of
things, like editing reports, helping orient new service workers, and
basically whatever else needs to get done.

MCC's desperate need for someone like me seemed to fit well with my
inability to figure out what I will do when I move back to America. It
wasn't an easy decision for me to make, but the time's gone by really
quickly and I've enjoyed getting to know Laos and its people- enough
that I think another few months would be worth it. I think I have more
to offer and more to learn. As I was making my decision, I literally
opened a Bible to a passage I remembered memorizing many years ago:

"7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you."
(from Psalms 139)

Those of you desperate to see me in person will be relieved to know
I'll be able to make it back to the States for a couple weeks in July.
Hopefully I'll be able to see you then. Then it's back to Laos until
about the middle of December.

In other news from the past month or so, a couple weeks ago, I went on
a retreat with teachers and students to Vang Vieng, a popular place to
visit a few hours outside of Vientiane. We packed into two school
buses and set off. It was interesting being in Vang Vieng with kids
and Lao people I know- Vang Vieng is popular for its beautiful
mountains and rivers, yet it's also known for a sometimes "party"
atmosphere, especially among tourists. But it was fun to play in the
water and have fun with students instead of worrying about wasting
class time.

I also attended a funeral for the mother of one of my neighbors. It
turns out it is quite a process and it was pretty educational for me
and a good opportunity to learn about how Lao view death and life
after death.

The parents are coming in just a few days! I'm excited to show them
around and I'm sure lots of fun and adventure will await.

Hope all is well on the far side of the sea,

Justin

Back at school

I have a little catching up to do. It's not that I don't want to, but I just don't get around to writing often...

The end of December and beginning of January were filled with more celebrating. In addition to the holidays I'm used to celebrating, there were a lot of weddings, too. Even though few people in Laos are Christian, they are perfectly willing to celebrate Christmas- even if they're not quite sure what it's all about. (I looked up Christmas in a dictionary and found a literal translation of "Foreigner New Year". I think many people are celebrating "Foreigner New Year" on the 25th of December and then "International New Year" only a week later on the first!) Christmas is celebrated here more like how most people celebrate a holiday like Memorial day where people spend time at home with neighbors and family. My host mom kindly threw a Christmas party on my behalf for the neighborhood. I made sure to wear red because that is apparently the color you're supposed to wear. New Year's was a similar but larger affair. Three neighborhood houses had food and music and neighbors just wandered between the three locations. I got to help kill and grill ducks at our house. And it rained! It wasn't much, but with a "winter" dominated by sunny skies and few clouds, it seemed pretty unusual.

School started again right after the break. I was a little surprised at how familiar it felt after a two-month break. We also got a new English teacher. The teacher who previously taught English to the upper primary students (whom I don't usually help teach) and some of the lower secondary classes decided to get married and move away over the break without telling the school. In a scramble to find a new teacher, my schedule changed for about a week as I covered those classes. After a week, a new teacher was found. Very new in fact- he had never taught before and had many questions. This led to a number of tricky situations in the classroom where he wasn't sure what to do and I thought I knew what should be done, but didn't quite know how to explain it to him or the class. (Both his English and my Lao have a little ways to go, and I also didn't want to say things too bluntly.) However, we've now been able to get down a system that works for both of us. I'm thankful that I've been able to give him more suggestions and input than if he wasn't a new teacher.

And now for a look inside the classroom. One of my favorite rooms in M1C. "M1" stands for the first year of Lao secondary school (about 6th grade) and the C means it's the third room of M1. Theroretically, students are placed in the different rooms due to their ability with "A" being the highest and "C" the lowest. I'm still not sure how or why this is done. Maybe the fear is that the better students will get slowed down by the other students. But this system has a number of problems and exceptions. What if you're good at English and but don't have a mathematical mind? How are the students actually chosen for each room- only by tests? If so, I have many doubts about its credibility. Is it really a good idea to put all the "troublemakers" in the same class? Just a few of many questions I have. At any rate, the classes end up being about the same although the B and C classes tend to have more of the "energetic" students.

So theoretically M1C is both the youngest (unless a teacher moves away without telling anyone...) and most challenging class that I teach. They might be the most "immature" or not, but they are also the most interesting. A nice thing about M1C is that it doesn't have as many students as the other M1 classes- I think just over 30 students. Students range from the quartet of girls in the front who always try to give me a snack and are sweet even during a test when they say they don't have anything but are really hiding a paper underneath a leg to the boy towards the back who is more likely to playfully hit someone than write a word down. One girl in the front always has a question about one of the letters in one of the words I've written on the board. A couple boys in the back stir up enough trouble (or their friends do) that I have to come back and visit them. When I do, I'm subject to many questions in a mix of Lao and English: "Are you scared of ghosts?" "Does America have rice fields?" "Because America doesn't have rice fields do they get their rice from Thailand?" "Why are your eyes blue?" (After sputtering a couple words out, I said it was because I like the color blue.) "Why aren't my eyes green?" Almost all of these questions are met with a pair of grins and eager anticipation for an answer. Another boy off to the side knows enough English to be moved up a couple grades. Somehow times almost always passes quickly in this class. What I've said about M1C is more or less the same for the other classes I teach, but maybe not as vivid.

At school, we've recently been having a number of competitions with other schools. Athletically there have been volleyball, football (soccer) and kataw (sepak takraw which I described earlier). Also the girls have participated in "fawn" competitions. "Fawn" is the traditional Lao dancing that occurs at a lot of important events. In fact, our school even held a competition for the district. I arrived at school on Monday to find everyone making decorations out of recycled bags, bottles and wrapping paper. The next day, we had the competition all day with 14 schools (and the national television company). So we have three days of school this week! Nita did quite well, but didn't get first.

That's all I have for now, except that I'm pretty sure we're out of whatever "winter" we had. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers!