English Teaching in Laos

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!

Dinner with Couch surfers and New Friends

On Wednesday night, I met with Deehu, Ang, and the German girl.  I originally arranged meeting with Deehu and Ang and the German girl came along through a connecting with Ang. Ang was born in Laos, but grew up in Australia and has lived in Toronto and is now back in Laos.  He is involved with a project called Design for Change, which started in India.  It involves teaching in a community based way.  It is started by an incredible woman.  He is actually on his way to a conference in India tomorrow, which I would love to have attended.  He volunteers in a Laos school teaching English with kids 12-14 years old.  Right away I was interested in doing some volunteering as they are working on some specific projects i.e. starting a school café and building a tree house.  He said I can go tomorrow and take his place in class.  This was one of those moments when I wish  had some extra time so I could stay and volunteer. 

Next person that came to meet us was Deehu.  Deehu grew up in India, but currently work for a corporation in Laos.  He has a big smile, a sweet teddy bear.  He has a passion about being a teacher and getting out of corporate world, but lt seems to currently serve its purpose.  He is my awesome host in Vientiane as well. 

The German girl is just traveling through Asia and just finished school not much substance there.  We went for some traditional lao cuisine-sticky rice, Laab, spring rolls, and seafood dishes.  It was quite delicious and a local spot off the tourist radar.  Those local spots recommended by locals are usually the best. 

It was nice talking about the religion and politics of India, learning each others backgrounds, and learning about Deehu’s interesting year living in Tanzania.  No electricity, no indoor plumbing, cooking your breakfast/lunch/dinner from scratch literally, waiting for deliveries on stone age schedule, and a lalck of social activities  and things to do.  As Deehu said, “It changes your whole perspective on life.”
                                                                        Ang and Deehu

We then met with Deehu’s friends an international  wonderland with a French man, Lao woman, Thai woman,  and the Indian trio.  The Indian from the US, the Indian from India, and the Indian from Singapore.  They were all quite lovely as we sat and “chilled”-what you do in Laos when the sunsets.  We were talking about starting a business in Laos and how much profit can be made off investing little.  A man recently started an Indian restaurant off of a couple million kip. When we calculated that in dollars it ended up being $1000.  The conversions are mind boggling for me.  I thought of starting a hookah bar as they have a couple middle eastern restaurants, but no hookah bar.  Thinking outside the box always a great way to think because working for someone for the rest of my life is not on my agenda=)

Exploring Vientiane by Bike

Starting off the day perfectly in Vientiane at a café with a Mango, Pear, Star fruit smoothie and a banana muffin and writing.  The weather is perfect and I am anxious to rent a bike and get to exploring.  Words can not describe how content I feel while riding a bike.  $10,00kip is $1.20 to rent a bike for 24 hours and it is so peaceful and worth the rent.  The neighborhood is full of French cafes/bakeries and on the waterfront there are some Western restaurants and a few middle eastern and Indian restaurants.  I decide to go ride through the temples and ride to the Patuxai, which has a beautiful park and benches for relaxing.  My plan is to find the Wat Sok Path Luang temple to go to the herbal sauna and get a massage.  But my plan got side tracked as usual.  I asked a man who actually gave me specific directions that I was able to understand..  I was very thankful to this man for actually knowing where something is and giving proper directions.  It seems people do not know the streets in Vientiane to explain anything and towards the end it got a bit annoying and exhausting. 

On my way to the temple, I decide to stop and have some lunch. Papaya salad is another Laos speciality, but I also had it in Thailand a couple times.  I see a bunch of locals there and as in most local spots-there is not a menu, one just knows what to order.  I made an attempt to order and she was shaking her head that she did not understand.  I decided to try next door as there were a couple local guys who looked like they could speak English-it was a long shot I know.  I sit down and try to ask a couple local girls about the dish if there is meat in the dish.  She says, “There is seafood.” I say, “Okay seafood is fine.”

They offer me a seat sitting next to them.  There are three of them: Ploy, Plae, and Toukta  They ask how if I would like my papaya salad spicey and I said, “Oh yes extra spicey.” I love the fresh different colored chili peppers they mash up and put in the papaya salad. 

Ploy has an ipad and as we are talking she looks up the meaning of words.  I thought it was funny when she looked up tofu and a.)the word did not come up and b.)she did not know what tofu was so we were not able to figure out if tofu was in the papaya salad. When I mentioned New York, she started singing thte Rihanna and Jay Z song, it was pretty cute and Plae said she would one day like to visit New York. 

As we started eating the papaya salad, I felt my mouth start to warm up.  I stared at the salad and I could see the multiple chili peppers running through it.  I kept filling up my water every few minutes and the girls laughed when my chop stick dropped a tomato into my water.  It was a funny, cute moment. The girls were drinking water, but not nearly as much as I was.  I was trying to hold my game face, but I had to keep drinking every few minutes. My nose was running as it was that spicey! That papaya salad was definitely the spiciest I ever had. The girls and I then went for ice cream, but it was a very interesting shaved  ice cream in a shop that looked ilke a hello kitty wonderland. The girls had chocolate layered with all sorts of gummy candies and fruit-it was a literal mound of ice cream and these tiny girls ate faster than I did. 

After our ice cream, they hopped on their motor bike and I hopped on my bicycle and we parted ways.  Continuing on to the temple, I stumbled upon my favorite art gallery of Southeast asia.   A lovely lady sat in a beach lounger and was taking a nap as I approached her and said, “Sabadee.” I inquired about the artist and learned that her husband was the artist.  Her husband stays home, paints, and watches the kids while she watches over the store.  I tried to convey in sign language how beautiful and impressed I was with his artwork.  It was just precious.  Here is a couple of the paintings:

 

The Lao National Museum was also a stop on my trip was enlightening about the history of Lao and it was very interesting seeing the history of the war with the French and the impact of the US imperialists. These poor people experienced a lot of negativity from the war. Eventhough, this museum was very small and lacked English descriptions-it was a good stop to make.  Within every major city, I make sure to go to the museums, whether super modern or barely visited, they provide you with history and a snapshot of life in the past. 

I ended up finding the Wat Sok temple and as I was riding in a monk told me I entered in the wrong side.  I left looking for the other side and decided that it was 5:00pm and I was just going to skip the herbal spa basically because I could not find it ha! I decided to check out some local markets and laugh with some locals.  I headed back to the city center to meet with my couchsurfer friend near Nomphu Fountain at Joma Bakery.  I stopped at my favorite little bakery called, “The Scanadavian bakery” and had a banana smoothie and a petite slice of almond cake .  Yes I love bakeries! Perhaps it is because my mom was amazing at baking and always made me baked goods brownies, cakes, and cookies. Love you mom!

Vientiane Travel Fish Description

The Laos capital of Vientiane sits on the northern bank

of the Mekong River facing across to the even sleepier

Thai town of Sri Chiang Mai. For many visitors,

Vientiane provides the first taste of Lao food, culture

and hospitality, and it does not disappoint on any count.

Actually pronounced Wiang Jan and translated as City

of Sandalwood, the modern name of Vientiane comes

courtesy of a bastardised French transliteration. Wiang

actually means "fort" (City of Sandalwood sounds better

than Fort... ) but by all accounts it mustn't have been

much of a stronghold, as the original city was overrun

on a number of occasions by the Burmese and Chinese,

and absolutely flattened by the Siamese (Thais) in 1828,

after which the city was abandoned and left to the

jungle.

This is one reason why many of the wats in the city are

of a relatively young age, and if the road layout strikes

you as an inspired affair, thank the French for it -- they

laid the whole place out when they oversaw the

rebuilding of the city from the turn of the 19th to 20th

centuries.

Like many French colonial cities, Vientiane is

characterised by broad, often leafy boulevards and

rundown, creaking colonial mansions. Dotted with rustic

wats surrounded by coconut palms and a generally

sedentary pace of life as well and the allure of the place

can be well understood.

Indeed it's only since the early 1990s that the city has

really started to develop. While it's a shame that the first

waves of (largely Thai) investors that hit landlocked

Laos brought with them the concrete egg-carton style

architecture that litters so much. The sunsets here are simply sublime.

For a capital, Vientiane isn't exactly overloaded with

museums and sights, but in a way that's part of the

attraction. Slow down to Lao speed -- hire a bicycle;

see one or two things a day; spend a lot of time

snacking and quenching your thirst by the river. You'll

grow to appreciate the attraction of the place.

 From www.travelfish.org

Vientiane-The Capital Of Laos

The bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vientiane was another ride that was just beautiful.  It was quite, peaceful, and left at 5:30 to catch another amazing sunset.  I still can not get over the beauty when just sitting on the bus.  I usually stay up just to peek off into roads.  Cows kept coming in the middle of the roads, kids were having a bath on the street, families cooking dinner, a younger woman bathing in a well of water, and many selling produce or food items off their backs.  Their lives are all exposed through open huts and villages.  I cherish these bus moments and did not expect to love the commutes this much. 

We arrive at the bus station at 9:30pm and of course the tuk tuks are there waiting for tourist money.  Usually you buy the bus ticket and then you have to pay an extra $10,000 to get to the center of town.  These guys were charging $20,000.  I get onto the tuk tuk and another smart couple is trying to negotiate $10,000 per person as that is the usual price-any higher they are just wanting to profit from the tourist group.  I am smiling and negotiating $10,000 and he keeps laughing saying “$50,000 for you.   He is not budging so I decide to be Rosa Parks and get off the tuk tuk.

It is not about the money rather it is the principle of the matter that I will be charged extra for being a tourist and I will be smart and assertive.  He looked surprised and the nice, older couple looked proud of my decision. 

It was 10pm at night and as usual, it was pitched black on the streets.  The tuk tuks are trying to negotiate another cab for me  for $60,000 and I start laughing and walk away saying, “Bye bye-bye bye.”  Off I go into the darkness with no idea where the city center is except their directions of to the right, which basically when they give directions they just wave their arm and point in a direction that could be left or right.  Also, from my experience locals do not know the difference between left and right. It was like a "Who's on first, who's on second" bit where we just go back and forth between right and left and left and right.  They are waiving their arms like that indicates exactly where to go-it is quite funny, but definitely annoying when you really need to get somewhere! 

I was proud of my decision to walk as 95 percent of the time I walk, run, or bike and never take tuk tuks unless late at night from a train station.  As I begin to walk down the dusty, black road a motor bike pulls the side and says, “Where are you going?” I pulled out my couple pages of Vientiane and said “Wat sok temple.”  She says she will give me a ride as she is worried about me walking alone. 

As it turns out she just got off work and she is a masseur in the nearby area.  She is so sweet and introduced herself in such a lovely way.  "Hello, I Wan."  As she dropped me off, she passed me a business card and said to come by if I had sometime.  I wanted to give her business to return the favor as it was so nice of her to drive me and I did not even expect someone to stop for me. 

As I arrived in the Vientiane city center, I saw many temples, French, Lao restaurants, a few Japanese and Chinese as well.  The Chinatown area appeared a bit dirty, but Chinatowns seem to be dirty across the world. 

Walking into a couple expensive hostels, I stumble upon the Asian dormitory where the staff is super sweet and the room is surprisingly very clean with a few female backpackers staying there.  I sat outside and talked with the staff working there.  As we were talking, I saw a few girls wearing stilettos cruising by on the motor bikes. 

Johnny explains that many girls work in the restaurant/stores during the day and are “working girls” at night.  I saw a couple pretty girls pick up these two bald guys with Amish beards and big bellies, I rudely started laughing from a distance, but I could not believe what I was seeing.  These beautiful girls with these disgusting older men-gross. I hope it is worth the money for them. 

Good night working girls and good night I say to my buddy Johnny.  Johnny pulls out a mat in the lobby and sleeps with a huge mosquito net around him.  He is such a joyful person.  It is actually quite common to view staff sleeping in the lobby of the guest house or hostel.  Johnny is a student and lives in a village far from town therefore he sleeps in the hostel.  And Johnny seems quite content with it=)

Do Not Pass Go Without Paying $500

The thing with Laos is that they charge you for everything-I mean everything.  Parking your motor bike, taking the boats, using the bathroom, crossing a bridge, seeing the caves, going on a hiking trail, entry to all temples(while usually they are free).  I understand their thought process as they are in need of money to “stimulate the economy.”  Most of the time, it will just be a kid or random person asking for entry money and it is not official. So you are pretty much giving out money to the locals.

 As you travel, you figure out how to get around these things i.e. parking- park your bike in a different place.  The tourists are always there to support them and pay for everything and the smart travelers are not.   I met a guy who said he never paid for any entrance fees because he carried around his camera and said he was press and it worked. 

Reading one many think, well you really should be paying every single fee.  I did end up paying 90 percent of all their fees and it really added up.  It does not seem like a lot, but all day long it adds up.  After a while it just gets to be a bit much and takes time and enjoyment out of your experience( being asked for money constantly).

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