Thursday November 24 2011

I wake up with one goal on my mind-The Sunshine school.  I basically stayed in Vientiane an extra day so I can volunteer there for the day.  I was looking for  the school and could not find it and almost decided to throw in the towel, but then decided to start over from my original destination and God lead me to a small sign saying  “The Sunshine school.”  I started off meeting Kate, who is an Australian woman who volunteers there.  I met and had lunch with a few of the teachers and sat with a group of five girls practicing English.  I played Badminton with a few of the kids during recess-boy do I miss Badminton.  Yes, I played competitively and went to State in IL –not talking about playing in the backyard ha!

I walked into a classroom and saw a bunch of little monsters tearing apart the classroom-disorganized chairs, crayons on the ground,  and chairs knocked on the ground.  It reminded me of the Kindergarten cop ha! They all rushed up to me as I walked in and said, “Hi teacher.”

I went up to the board to do some more practicing English as this school all kids learn English along with other subjects.  Some had difficulty with pronunciation while others had great pronunciation.  I spent about an informal hour til the bell rang and another teacher arrived. 
                                            
                                                             Working on building a maze

                                  This little chunk of love with high suspenders was so shy and nervous

I went into another classroom to fill in for my friend Ang.  There was a substitute teacher already there, but she was not doing or saying much.  The kids age 12-14 took this as a free period to study since Ang was  not there, but not a free period for me.  I was there to get involved and get them thinking.  Their assignment was to build a tree house and start a cafe.  They had a to plan everything on their own budget, schedule, materials, raising money etc.  We talked about their differences in ideas from teacher to student and what materials would be cost effective, how to build stairs and design the inside.  And many details about the café as to what to sell, quantity/quality.  It was a moment where I wished I could help take part from beginning to end.  I do not like being one of those volunteers who just comes in and puts a band aid on and then says “Bye.”  But I did what I could for a day of volunteering. 

The evening consisted of a Lao massage, in which they do not use oil and they more focus on your pressure points.  I enjoyed my $2.50 massage(found a cheaper/better place called Mixay Massage.  Had dinner with my host spring rolls, sticky rice, green curry, and fried garlic yum!