Saturdays

The last 6 Saturdays or so have been full of visitors. At first it was just two students coming over who wanted to practice English for a few hours. They they brought another friend. And now it's a pretty regular event and more and more have been coming. And they usually stay all day hanging out, talking, playing cards and making food together. They also love borrowing my movies. We always joke that Christa and I should open up a movie rental store.

It's been fun to see how some of the lower students have started having more confidence in my class because of our Saturdays together. I think when they can engage in English communication outside of the classroom it makes them more relaxed inside the classroom. 

Here are some fun pictures of our time together this past weekend...

 Lom eating tacos

 Super Saep!

 Cutting chocolate cake. Never enough chocolate!

Oudom making food... He makes food, does the dishes...what more could you ask for! :)

 

Playing Uno!!

 

29 in 29

So a lot of people have been asking me to be more consistent with updating my blog. I used to say that I couldn't because our internet was so slow that uploading pics takes too long. Then Buzz came to visit and blew that theory out of the water. Thanks for making me look bad, sis ;)

Next month the day of my birth rolls around. I've been thinking a lot about this birthday. Wow, 29 just feels so old. My last year in the 20s. Ouch!

And it's only 29 days away.

So I thought I'd try an experiment. One blog post a day for 29 days.  It always helps me when I write out my thoughts and maybe it'll lesson the blow of the big 2-9 :)

Stay tuned :)

Curve Balls, Part 2

Like I said in the last post, life here is unexpected and surprising all the time. Well, much of the time.

But as I'm learning, though it's not my plan A, it's not always bad.

Another recent example... Nan, one of the friendliest Lao teachers, came into our office one day asking if any of us could teach for the upcoming 6 week M.A. class. Classes started that next week. They met at night, until 8:15 pm. I was already feeling a bit overwhelmed with my teaching load and all of the different (good!) opportunities going on. So I told him I could teach one night a week. I started preparing for class, only to find out the next day that they didn't need me to teach anymore.

A week and a half passes. Nan comes to visit again. One of the teachers had to drop out. Four weeks left in the course and they ask me again if I can teach. 2 nights a week. I'm not super thrilled but they're in a pinch so I agree.

Again not my plan A, but we are here to help as best we can so...

Man, am I glad I sometimes am willing to surrender my plan A. 

Teaching the M.A. class has been such a wonderful experience. I'd forgotten what it was like to teach a class that actually understands. A class where nobody has to translate for another student in Lao. Where I can make a joke and everybody laughs.

Don't get me wrong. I love teaching my other classes. But these last two weeks have been a breath of fresh air as I've had the opportunity to teach Lao educators who are hungry to improve their English and be more effective teachers themselves.

We're studying about extensive reading - basically that means reading in easier passages in bulk rather than reading short difficult passages. After 5 months of teaching a reading book to a group of students where I'd say about 5% of the class understands about 60% of the text, and 40% understands less than 20% of the text, I have such a heart to see reading methods adapted to the needs of students.

We started off the MA class reading the ESL version of Robinson Crusoe. Yesterday, to practice summarizing, the students acted out the main events in the book. They've been reading a book a week (no small feat for these students who teach all day and then study all evening) and when it came time to let them choose their next book they were like kids at Christmas. Such eager looks on their faces. So excited.

And as a teacher that made me excited too.

It's been such an unexpected blessing to be able to spend time with these teachers and see their love for reading grow.

It's been a curve ball that I've rather enjoyed these past two weeks :)

Curve balls, Part 1

So life here is always unexpected, surprising, and full of curve balls. Some you want to take a swing at and others you would rather just let pass on right by. Then sometimes you don't have a choice and the curve ball just hits you square on.

We've had a lot of curve balls lately. Like getting broken into twice in about a week. We calculated and altogether our house has lost about $2500 in electronics (and motorbike helmets...random, and thankfully not so pricey) this year. Wowsers. That's a painful curve ball. But one that I completely believe was allowed, dare I say, orchestrated, by a loving Father who wants His children to know Him better. It was interesting because the night after we got literally broken into (as in they snuck in the window while were sleeping!), my sweet Lao roomie said that our response to that experience is so different from the one she is used to. A typical response here is to consult the witch doctor to see what he/she can see and to try to appease the spirits. As we read the 91st Song that night with our team leader who we study with on Thursdays, I could see her eyes light up.  He is our Refuge. He is our Strength, our Help. And sometimes He allows things to happen to show us that only He is trustworthy and able. That He commands His warriors to guard us in all our ways, that we won't even strike a foot against a stone.

It's reminding me that it's all his anyways.

It was pretty humbling the day after they broke in to strap all my valuables on my back and head off to school. All that was left was my laptop. Of course, I have much greater things of value than a laptop. But those things can not be stolen by a robber, no matter how slick he may be.  There is one greater though who seeks to steal, kill and destroy and to take away our very souls.  How interesting, as I think about how intentional we've been recently about hiding our valuables, locking them up or taking them with me... am I that intentional about protecting my very soul - the very thing that the real Thief wants to steal and destroy. 

Funny that I titled this Curve Balls... because I actually had planned to write about something completely different. But then, maybe this is what the Father wanted me to process through.

Guess life isn't the only one that throws Curve Balls at us.

Lao National Song

Today several of my students came over to hang out and have a leisurely Saturday morning. Last week, two of them came to hang out after realizing we were practically neighbors! One of the boys plays guitar so I asked him to come back this week and teach me a traditional Lao song. They taught me the Lao National Song - Dok Champa - on guitar today. It's been really fun having them come over these past few weeks. :)