Photos?

I'm sorry.  I can't seem to post pictures so here is a link to Phyllis' blog where she has posted some lovely ones from our trip...  http://www.mangorains.blogspot.com/

A Week's End In Bolikhamxay

With things slowing down at Nita School (all the testing was done and teachers were coming in just to come in... no, no there were still some grades to post and some rooms to clean), I took the end of last week to visit Ben and Alisa MacBride-Smith, MCC volunteers in Bolikhamxay Province.  Phyllis, the MCC Country representative, and I rode the bus out to the town nearest their village (Hoi Khun), with Lao music videos playing for our entertainment, as if watching the passing countryside with its forests, rice fields, villages, and former forests (there's a lot of development along the roadway) were not enough.  
   The next day, Alisa (who is working at the district health center, helping them organize health education outreach) and her co-workers allowed Phyllis and I to come along as they visited two villages upriver.  We were up at 5:30 am to go, so the weather was still cool as we rode in a boat for 1.5 hours up the Nam Ngiap river, admiring tropical forests along the river's edge and the peace of the river itself.  At each village, the health team weighed babies and children (more dramatic an event than you might think), taught the villagers how to make soy milk (involves straining the beans out after they've been cooked, mashed, and soaked in water, then adding sugar and boiling; not as tricky as I'd imagined), and spoke about nutrition and sanitation (the latter topic being the focus of an entertaining tale about a boy finding a place to go to the bathroom-- the woods and fields turn out to be bad options).  It was a blessing to see the natural beauty of Laos during our river ride, but also to be welcomed by the people in each village with shy smiles and a meal or drink.
   I stayed in Hoi Khun for the weekend, visiting another village the next day (this one just a short motorbike ride away, unfortunately :)),  learning the art of bread-making from Alisa, and enjoying the slow pace of life by reading, swimming in the river, watching Pirates II so I'll be ready for the next one when it comes this way, etc.  
  I made it home on Sunday and have since enjoyed a few slow days at the school.  It is odd to be at Nita without the kids who bring it to life in all its noise, joy, and bustle so I will be glad to see some kids return on Friday, as we celebrate Children's Day.  Then on Sunday I'll cook a farewell meal for my host family because the following Monday, I will move to a new place.  I'll be staying at a skills center near to the school (ARDA Language School) at which I will teach for my remaining time in Laos, which is 
now just under two months (!).  I am hopeful for this final stage of my time here, to be in a new community and at a new job, 
still near enough to maintain those relationships that I've already been given.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Two Months

  As of tomorrow (May 21st), I will have only two more months before my I leave Laos and head to Akron for a re-entry retreat before flying again to Seattle.  What is it about human nature that it is always unsettled by the prospect of 
change?  
I am eager tobe with friends and family again, to see the mountains and the Sound, 
to welcome the sun (here the sun is just too hot- there's no such thing as a sunny day when you 
can also see your breath), to not feel muted by my inability to speak the language of everyone around me... But of course, I'm at the same time hesitant to say goodbye to the community I have been given here and the beauty and peace of this place.  
  In any case, life moves ahead without regard to how I'd like it to proceed or stop proceeding, so I go along with it.  There is but one more week at school for me and it will be taken up with Semester exams for the secondary classes (the primary classes had exams last week and I'm happy to say that some students seemed to have some grasp of some English; that's not a huge success but it is something worth smiling about) and then grading and compiling grades.  I won't play much of a part in all this but I'll be around.  That's kind of my preferred role, as I'm not a terribly good test-watcher or grade-compiler in this system, but do like to chat if someone has the desire to speak very slow Lao.  
   My evenings and weekends have been busy of late, going to dinners or birthday parties or other odd and assorted events with Lao co-workers or with expat friends in town.  For example, last Sunday I went to a Rocket Festival with several teachers.  At said festival, people brought huge rockets, up to 12 Kg or so I heard, and launched them into the sky above the village's rice fields.  In return, the sky will send down rain on these same rice fields, as it has indeed already started to do.  Not a drizzling rain, mind you, like Seattle often sees, but a pouring rain that you run from and watch from an overhang, that leaves lake-like puddles on the dirt roads and drips into your classrooms, that empties itself and then moves on.  I quite like the rain, but then it is only just the beginning of the rainy season.  I may yet change my mind the day I am out on my motorbike without a poncho or overhang to protect me.  
   My summer plans are a bit up in the air yet, although they will almost certainly still involve teaching English.  Maybe I will stay at Nita School or I may work at a language school in town.  I hope to travel a bit more around the country, if just to see a few friends who aren't 
living in Vientiane but maybe I will also have the chance to see a few more MCC projects in action.  I'll let you know when I know myself.
Peace,
Renee

Pi Mai Pictures

Road water duels (above) and a wet-clothed and sun-hatted me with Sonxay at a riverside festival (below).

New years

Recently, both Laos and I have celebrated new years. April 13-15th (and a bit beyond, for good measure), the country celebrated Pi Mai Lao (the Lao New Year based on the Buddhist calender). Like all good celebrations, this one involved a bit of the sacred and the profane, as well as a few days off from work and school. Traditionally, based on my observations (I haven't researched it as I'd intended), the coming of the new year is a time of starting afresh, so people visit up to nine temples to wash the Buddhas and other statues with a special water and to receive blessings. Some people travel to all 9 temples in one day-- a marathon that my host family undertook. Other people, like the teachers I went with, visited several one day and made it to more the next day if it was possible. Aside from these religious celebrations, there was general revelry which involved a lot of water and music, food and BeerLao.
It is the hottest time of the year, so it is admittedly a good time for a water fight, but I have never seen a whole city (or country, since the fun continued outside of the city and in other towns) so committed to one activity. People waited along the roadside with buckets or hoses or or waterguns or bags filled with water to splash or spray passing motorists. Trucks loaded with people and the means to splash traveled around soaking the roadside partiers, other truck-fulls, and passerbys. I enjoyed the three days of energy and coolness in the midst of a heat wave, but was careful about what I took with me when going out and a little intimidated to ride my motorbike. I also thought the colored water, baby powder, and greasy face paint were less fun weapons for the fight, but was not hit by these things too often.
I spent one day of Pi Mai in Luang Prabang with a friend, Annalise, alternatively getting soaked and trying to dry out; the next day I watched the festivities in Vientiane, walking through some of them with my swimsuit under my quickdry clothes, which never got a chance to prove themselves as they were constantly rewet; finally, I went out to the countryside for a day, for a riverside carnival, a slow meal of grilled fish, papaya salad, sticky rice, and lettuce wraps with relatives and friends, and a long wet ride. School was still closed for a day or so, so I took some time to rest up and dry out.
A week later, it was time for me to celebrate another new year as my birthday came along. I joyfully receieved wishes from home, was fed a dinner and cake by my MCC family, and partied with teachers from the school-- once taking them cake and snacks to share during our morning recess and later that day being taking to a riverside restaurant for dinner and more cake. I felt well-loved and hope to continue this my 24t year with similarly good community, food, and adventure.