For almost four weeks we have been fortunate to spend time with a group of beautiful people five mornings each week. They are all smart and kind and we have a lot of fun with them. We teach them English and they teach us Lao culture, some Lao language (which is much more difficult than English), and how to be better people. It’s a win win. At least we think so.
Some of our new friends are parents, and they have all kinds of jobs, they are police officers, military officers, Kindergarten teachers, and more, and they all get along well. They like to help each other, and sometimes Craig and I need to stop talking so that one of them can explain to the others what we just said. It works perfectly. They like to sing and play games and that is great for me since I like that too. My Primary singing time callings have prepared me well for this.
As some live far away from the school, there are usually a few who arrive early. Even though it rains almost every day, it gets dusty quickly. Unless we arrive very early, without fail, the students start working on cleaning the classroom, sweeping the floor, wiping off the desks, and emptying the trash bin. It makes our hearts happy to see the kindness shown us and their fellow classmates.
We begin each class by singing a Hello song, then Craig and I will take turns teaching the lesson. Craig does the meat, and I do the fun stuff to reinforce what we are learning. I feel bad that I get to do all the fun activities, but only sometimes. I have found websites where you can make custom games, like word searches and crossword puzzles that are fantastic for teaching.
We have grown to love our new friends and although we will be happy for them, we will be sad when they graduate from our class.
Here are pictures with commentary by Craig (written a couple of weeks ago) -
We completed our first full week here in Vientiane, Laos! We taught our first English classes. The students are really great and are learning so fast! They are also very patient and kind to us. We began to meet up with our project partners. These are the people we work with to deliver services i.e., wheelchairs (assembly and distribution to people and children who needed them). All of our Laotian partners are very capable and care very much for the people being served. Next week we have a road trip to survey and follow up on school renovations, water wells, and school latrines that been constructed up country about a 2 hour car ride from here. Laos is great!!
The school
They made a gangplank for us to use in case it is muddy (so nice!).
Our class is on the second floor, so up the stairs at the end.
Here is the door to our classroom.
Waiting for our student friends to arrive.
Suzanne teaching enraptured students.
Wheelchair assembly area.
The chair on the left is an "off road" version, the next one is the "sports" model made for maneuverability.
This group accepts our shipment of wheelchairs, assemblies them, and then delivers them to the people who are mainly in more remote rural areas.
The man on the right is our supervisor.
These chairs are ready to be delivered to those who need them.
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