Back in the States

We've noticed that there was never really a final entry to the blog, so here about two weeks late, is one to conclude our trip. The friday following our last entry (May 28th) was our last full day in Laos and was full with meetings. We first went to see Khamphath to discuss plans for next year. We talked about scheduling a different week to visit to avoid the testing that was held while we were there and the possibility of us hosting an "English Camp" for both students and teachers. Before we actually were able to talk to him about these things though he took us to watch the assembly being held at his daughter's Kindergarten in respect to International Children's Day which is celebrated on June 1st. The children each performed different dances and songs in Lao and English and then received full goodie bags. It was really hot sitting there watching but the whole thing was too adorable and cheerful to mind.

Afterwards we got together with Maurice and his wife to say our goodbyes and thank him for all the help he'd given us in planning the trip and throughout the week there. It was only fitting to have the lunch at Joma's. Before the trip it wasn't really clear what we'd be eating but once we were there we got accustomed to some pretty sweet beverages. There were always a variety of fresh fruit smoothies and Dr. Andrianoff favored the chocolate shakes that are served at Joma's.

Our last meeting was with Houmphan. We collected a list of things that we could help him with including finding different teaching materials. We'll hopefully be able to give him some lesson plans and classroom supplies during the year.



Saturday we woke up early arounn 5:30 am to go to see the Monks. There were five or six that paraded through the city to their temple. They stopped at the fountain where we were to receive alms from some women that had brought food and flowers for them. Later we went to a museum and then left for the airport to fly to Kuala Lumpur. Once we landed we basically went straight to bed since we got in late.

In the morning on Sunday we went into the city of Kuala Lumpur and saw the sights from the top of the KL tower. The tower also had a lot of different attractions such as a cultural village and small zoo but due to a lack of time we just headed back to the hotel to get ready for the long flights ahead of us.

Our trip back consisted of a 7 hour flight to Dubai, a 4 hour layover there, and then a 13 hour flight back to NYC. Since arriving home on Monday May 31st around 7:45 am ,we've kept in contact with Houmphanh and Khamphath. On Friday June 11th, Dr. Andrianoff went into Portville to show the children pictures and videos and get a feel for the questions they have about our project so that we can prepare a full presentation for them in September.

Day 12, Thursday - Vientiane

We got to go back into the school this morning to finish our lessons. We were a little surprised when we arrived because they told us that the children prepared an hour long program for us to conclude the day. We adjusted quickly though, a skill we've had to utilize while being here, and did some review and a lesson on family. It was nice to see that the children remembered the majority of the words from Monday. We ended our portion by showing them examples of American songs and dances both performed by celebrities and the students in Portville as a transition to their performance. The section really worked well with our ideal of cultural exchange. The children's pieces were much more than we expected. They took a break to change into costumes and put on their make-up and then did two dances and a song for us. They even had made us a back-drop with different paper decorations that said "welcome" in English. The first dance was more traditional with a lot of focus on hand movements and done mainly by grade five. The song came next done by a grade five girl. Her performance included some dancing as well. She even had some grade four back up dancers. The final dance was mostly grade four and was a little more modern. After their program we exchanged gifts. We donated to the school one of the netbooks we brought, pens, pencils, colored pencils, chalk, books, baseballs, footballs and some basketballs that Maurice gave to us. We also left each child with a letter from a Portville student to keep for themselves and some more lollipops. We left the projector with Khamphath so that he could loan it to different schools within the district to use. The principal of the school presented us with two woven paper swan decorations.

Afterwards, Khamphath brought us to lunch for a Lao buffet. There was a variety of food including an interesting dessert dish. Dr. Andrianoff described it as "jello cereal". It was a sweetened milk with jello, rice, corn and something that Khamphath told us was a jungle fruit.

Day 11, Wednesday - Vientiane

Today was spent going on a few more visits to different schools. We first got to meet Houmphanh Keo-Ounkham who is the coordinator for the Department of Private Education in the Ministry of Education. Houmphanh has a project that he wants to share with us but before really introducing us to it, he gave us some background on his life. We all found his story very inspiring. Houmphanh was born to a family of farmers that did not earn enough money to financially support an education for him. Because of this, he left to become a Buddhist monk where he could study in their temple. As a monk, Houmphanh learned the English language. He went on to become a banker but was not satisfied because for him money should not be a priority. He believes that one should always give to receive and because of this, the many people that have only ever received are in debt. Houmphanh's outlook on life was impressive enough but it didn't end there. He quit being a banker and applied for the job in the Ministry. Being hired was a proud moment for him because he knew he owed it to his English skills rather than any family connections that others may have had. Since Houmphanh is able to personally testify to the importance of learning English and helping others has always been the most important thing to him, he has made it his mission to open up a night school that will teach primary students English and computer skills. He also wants to include lessons for older students that will focus on hotel and tourism communication skills. He wants to open the school this summer in July and teach there with two other people. Houmphanh has a lot of ambition but the project has taken a lot of sacrifice. He told us he doesn't own a car because he saves all of his funds to put into his school. In fact, the logo he designed features a candle to represent how he feels that he is like a candle because he is willing to burn himself out to provide light for others. He was given a grant for a five year contract but there are still a lot of expenses that he needs help with. He took us to see the building he is renting to use for classrooms. You could see the potential but at its current state there was a lot of work to be done. The few desks that he had needed repairs and none of the classrooms had windows for ventilation. It was at this point that we all seemed to agree this was something to look into supporting. There's the definitely opportunity for us to help in several ways and we all feel positively about it so we plan to talk to Houmphanh again.
Our next visits were to different primary schools. Khamphath took us to see another public primary school that had bilingual classrooms. We weren't able to meet any students though because they are currently in their finals week. After, we went to see the private school that his children attend. It had both a primary and secondary section but only the secondary students were in class today. At the time we were there they were on break and we got to watch them play in the schoolyard. They had a game of basketball going and we also were able to see them playing with a tekraw ball and practicing some martial arts. Even by looking just at the recess areas the difference between a private and a public school was clear. The facilities were much nicer in the private school and from what we've gathered their English classes are at a higher quality. On our way out we passed the "Room for Reading" as we understood it was a building that functioned as an English library, a luxury the other schools certainly didn't have.

Day 10, Tuesday - Vientiane

Today we got to see Candlelight School which focuses on teaching English, Business and Community Health skills to people here in Laos and teaching Lao to visiting foreigners. We learned about their different programs and got some suggestions for more ways to get involved here. They offered to hold a class for us if we come again to learn some phrases. Their program seemed really efficient and beneficial.
On our way back from going there, we stopped at Mulberries, a fairtrade store that helps to sell the work of refugees. There were many different beautiful silk pieces and Hmong designs. There were also animal figures carved out of water buffalo tusk that were really intricate and unique.
The rest of the day was spent starting to prepare our lesson plans for when we go back to the school on Thursday. It was a good thing we were able to stay inside too because the sky really opened up this afternoon. It never seems to rain for long at one time but when it rains, it pours. The ceiling in the middle of our hotel is open so that when there is rain it falls into the koi pond. At first we thought it was leaking but when we realized what was happening it was neat to watch it in full force.

Day 9, Monday - Vientiane

Everything ended up working out really well today when we went to teach at NongBoauThongTai. We started the morning by teaching the children greetings, including telling their age. We were surprised to find they already knew how to say numbers in English. We spent the rest of the morning focusing on the seasons. We taught them about how our year is divided into four seasons, what the weather is like in each, the clothing you normally where for the weather and what kind of things you can do such as playing sports and building snowmen. The children went outside with us to learn what a baseball and a football look like and how to throw them. Some of the boys had quite an arm on them and the girls did a great job of all joining together to play catch. The Director of Primary Education, Mrs. KhamVanh Razakhan came to watch and seemed really pleased to see the kids playing. She said that they had never had the equipment before. After the lunch break we started back up by teaching colors. Colors seemed to be a lesson that they all really grasped which was great to see. Following that we taught them about food and animals. We had a lot of fun playing with the children by calling out animal names and having them make the sound of the animal or vice versa. The favorite in the classroom seemed to be meow. Our last topic was a description of some of our main holidays: New Years, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween. The class joined us in learning to sing jingle bells when we discussed Christmas. We noticed that it seemed like one boy almost new the song already which was interesting. The day ended by talking about Halloween and we practiced trick-or-treating. We acted as people in houses and the children had to ask for dum-dum lollipops by saying trick-or-treat. At first they were shy but when they realized they got a piece of candy each time they said the phrase they quickly got excited and "trick-or-treated' repeatedly. Overall the day felt really successful. It was rewarding to see all of the participation that they children gave us. In their drawing activities especially, they were really detailed and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Day 8, Sunday – Vientiane

Our trip has officially completed its first week and moved to its second as of today. It’s an exciting milestone because this second week is really when we start doing the things we’ve talked about within the school. Accordingly so, today has mainly been spent doing preparation work for our lessons that we’re going to teach tomorrow. We have a powerpoint that we plan to show to address American culture and to let the children know what their friends in Portville have been interested in telling them and finding out about them. We also have some activities planned and we really hope that they make the lessons easier to understand and enjoyable. A main concern of ours though is trying to predict the amount of time each concept we’re working on will take to teach. It’s difficult to gauge because we’re not sure how the children’s comprehension will be. This really is a learning experience for us just as much as it is for our students, if not more. Wish us luck!

Day 7, Saturday – Vang Vieng

This morning we took a trip away from the city into the country to see the village of Vang Vieng. It has actually become quite the tourist spot in recent years with areas for tubing, kayaking, zip-lining and more but the drive there led us through some really eye opening areas. The whole adventure started this morning when our tour guide, Yealabanh picked us up with his driver from our hotel. Yealabanh was a fascinating person and awed us with his English. It seemed he had a new fact for us every other minute, whether it be about the city, the country, the culture or his personal life. The first stop he took us to was a Hmong market. He led us through a pointed out some things that seemed peculiar to us like eels that jumped out of their bowls and walked across the ground, frogs that had been caught in the fields to eat, and different roots used for medicinal treatments. Even the items we were used to such as fish and other meats were a little frightening because of the amount of flies and dirt. Next we stopped at a mountainous spot that had Buddha statues carved into the rocks. We got to see a Cambodian version and a Lao version. After, we went to a Fish market. After a very hot bumpy car ride, it was not an ideal place to be. The smell itself was not the least bit appetizing but the sights were even more shocking. There were fish hanging in bundles that had been dried, bones and eyes still intact and water buffalo skins formed into something similar to jerky. Yealabanh said it tasted good but we didn’t have a try. Our trip at the market ended early though when Jessie’s fear of snakes prevented the group from traveling through an aisle. There was quite a large lizard, over 5 kilos about four feet long tied against a wall. From afar (though not far enough in Jessie’s opinion), the creature resembled one of those awful reptiles because it had similar skin. Yealabanh was very understanding though and even bought Jessie a chocolate soy milk drink to make it okay. The last stop was to Thanh Chang, a cave in Vang Vieng. The hike to the opening was literally breathtaking, but the sights once inside were figuratively so, making it worthwhile. The cave had pathways through it opening up to views of the countryside and within was just as beautiful, comprised of intricate limestone structures. One of the most interesting parts of the trip though was being able to view the lifestyle outside of the city. There were homes that were nothing more than bamboo and many children could be seen running around unclothed. We were also surprised at the cows that grazed along the road. They were not alarmed by the speeding cars and motorbikes and frequently crossed into the road. Those cows were quite brave, the driving here is chaotic to say the least. At points we had to clench our teeth. It seems they believe there is always room for one more lane and to pass through traffic.