Friday's Thoughts

Just finished week 3 of teaching. Wow, it's flying by! This was a fun week with my students - we did some different activities and played some games that they really seemed to enjoy. I taught my one class telephone charades since we were doing a unit on communication, and they asked if we could do it every day. Unfortunately, there isn't quite enough "language practice" in there to justify doing it every day for my Language Practice class. But it was fun to watch them acting out things like making a birthday cake, visiting a temple,and  riding in a tuk tuk.  It seemed to loosen up the mood in the class too. It is so interesting - I think this every time I teach - but there is such a different dynamic in every class, even if you're teaching the same subject or have the same classroom set-up. I mean, it should be obvious I guess, since the class is made up of unique individuals, but it never ceases to surprise me just how much personalities and other factors can influence the dynamic of a classroom.

I feel like just now, in the third week, are the students starting to get a little bit more comfortable and (hopefully!) enjoying practicing their English. This week I was sick, so I missed class on Monday, and then sounded like a pubescent boy for the last few days which amused them but made it difficult to talk loudly enough! Oh well. I'm feeling much better today!

This is a picture of three girls from my Language Practice V class. I had lunch with them last week. They are super sweet and eager to learn English and practice with me!

This weekend there is a big festival in Vientiene (actually, I think it's all over Laos), but it's crazy here. It's a boat racing festival and they have boat races on the Mekong on Saturday and Sunday. But it's so much more than boat racing - the riverfront is lined with tons of shops that just sprouted out of nowhere, with people selling all kinds of goods. I've heard you can get some sweet deals during the festival so we're going to check it out tonight and Saturday.  Because of the festival, a lot of times students don't come to class either on the Friday before or the Monday after. So today I asked my students if they were going to come on Monday (because that's what you're supposed to do apparently and because I leave my house at 6:30 and didn't want to get ups that early if I was going to walk into an empty classroom!), and out of the 22+ students that were there 3 said they were coming on Monday! At least they were honest. But I'm going to still go on Monday and perhaps bring in some breakfast so that the four of us can chat more comfortably. 

I bought a motorbike yesterday! That's my big news. It was a little more complicated than I anticipated because Laos passed a new law that makes it more difficult for foreigners to buy a motorbike, but after spending two afternoons at the Honda dealership with Touy (my language tutor and friend-who-helps-with-everything!), I successfully purchased a bike, insurance and two locks - Hondas are often stolen here so it's important to secure the bike in multiple ways.

This is Touy at the insurance place. She's putting the sticker on my bike that proves I have insurance. Though, I don't think it really means much here...just a formality. I don't really have any other pics of my bike...more to come later.

Probably the best thing about having a motorbike is that I have more time in the mornings now! I leave my house around 6:30 or 6:40 and get to school early, which I mentioned in my other post too, and have time to just quiet my heart and journal, read and talk to the Father. It's been so nice. And I took some pictures of the place today. Here is the little area where I sit.

Our campus is surrounded by trees and greenery...it is really beautiful and peaceful (well, except for the Lao radio station that is usually blasting! :)

I was going to share something I read this morning during my quiet time at school and realized that I left the precious book, a devo book and journal at school!! What a bummer. I guess it's good that the Father has me in a place where living without those things for two days seems like way too long, so I'm thankful, but it sucks to be forgetful. Grr... Oh well, I shall share in my next post. You should really check out the devo book though - it's called A Shelter in the Storm and it's meditations on Ps 27. It's been really hitting my heart in all the places I've been needing lately - convicting, encouraging, affirming and challenging me.