So after an 11 hour bus ride south along the Mekong, my travels have brought me down to Pakse, in the Champasak province. "Pak" means mouth and the town is situated at the point where the "Se" River meets the Mekong. There is another branch of the school I'm teaching at here, and so they sent me down for some orientation, and also to cover for another teacher that had to go to Bangkok for several weeks. We are at the tail end of the rainy season, but it has rained fairly steadily since arriving on the overnight bus. I of course am loving it, we won't be getting too many more of these pounding rain on tin roof storms. Most of my work days include some orientation, including how Lao people learn, and some of the unique challenges they face in learning another language. Then I plan a lesson for a couple of hours, throw on my sinh (Lao skirt) and go! I am teaching mostly adults in two different classes. One group is learning can/can't, and the teacher of this class is British, so everyone here is laughing about how when she comes back all of her students will be speaking with an American accent "keeant" instead of "cont". The accent issue is something I've found interesting. The majority of the teachers at this school are Australian or British, and we use a British text, but it's true that out in the real world, these students will have to deal with all different accents, so why shelter them now I suppose. I have also found that I really enjoy teaching. To my teacher parents, this comes as a bit of a shock...this was always the one profession that I knew for certain I wouldn't be doing, and granted this context is rather unique, not only because I get to do it in SE Asia, but also that these students are SO eager to learn. Two fairly large motivators for me as a teacher.
The downside to being here is I haven't spoken a word of Lao since leaving the capital. Language study finished up last week, and although I was feeling good about progress, I'm worried about forgetting everything. I hope to continue with a tutor when I get back, and undoubtedly when I start working with the street kids I will be speaking Lao more consistently.
English teaching in action! I'm wearing a Lao skirt ("sin") teaching this beginner class, where the guys always sit at one table, and the girls insist on sitting at another!
Pakse is situated right by the Bolaven Plateau which is famous for its cool climate, waterfalls, fertile soil (coffee, fruit, cardamom and gorgeous flowers are grown here) and native ethnic groups. I purchased some cloth from this woman who weaves using a hand held loom.
My new favorite color is "rice green". If I didn't take this picture on an overcast day, I think the color green would be too bright for my little blog here to handle. This shot is taken just outside of Pakse, where each family group grows their food for the year. I went on a bike ride through this area, and literally couldn't stop laughing. Not only was it beautiful, and cool (to the point of needing a long sleeve!) but people would just stare at me until I smiled or waved or said "sabaidee!" and then they would go nuts greeting me back! Because for so long the only foreigners these people knew were French, many times I hear "bonjour madame!". Due to the different international influences throughout the generations, it seems as though most Lao people aged 35-50 speak French, most grandparents know some Russian, and young people are learning either English or Chinese.
