ARDA Skills

ARDA Skills 

Though I haven't talked about them very much I should because they are wonderful people and it is a wonderful place. Being there for about four months I have found wonderful friends and it has been a joy working there. Let me introduce the staff to you:

Anna and their youngest Simon

Kipp

Kipp and Anna:

Kipp is the director of skills and we have found that we are similar in many ways. He is from Colorado! And we have the same birthday! He and his wife share the same love of coffee as me. Anna is Kipp's wife and she went to North Park University the same place I am going! They have five children: Josiah, Asia, Levi, Kian and Simon. It has been wonderful to get to know their family and they have taken me under the wing.

Jaime teaching her business class 

 Jaime:

Jaime teaches business class and we teach English together this semester. It has been nice to have someone that is learning about Lao together and we can both struggle with language together. She has become a great friend this semester and been quite helpful.

 Heuang:

Heuang taught the cooking class last semester and she as well has become a good friend. Heuang has a loud laugh and she always makes me laugh. This semester she is helping around the office and so she has been helping me finish the skills cookbook to later give to the students as well as sell.

 Joy:

Joy is the administrative staff and as well teaches childcare and cleaning. She is also quite funny and her most recognizable quality is her fast speaking.

 Justin:

Justin teaches computers and auto shop as well he helps in the electricity class. Justin is also spirited and when with Subin it becomes chaos.

 Subin:

Subin is the translator and teaches the computer class with Justin. He has had a lot of work on his hands because of all of the American staff need lots of translating. The best way to describe Subin would be to call him blonde. He is quite gullible and that makes him all the more funny.

Pem and Tian:

Pem helps me in my sewing class and is wonderful at sewing as well as helping translate. In the future I will hand over the class to her and she will then teach sewing. She is also quite funny and makes me laugh with her learning English. She has been a joy to work with and it is good spending time with her. Tian is Pem's husband and he teaches the electricity class and helps in auto among other things.

English class

Some of the students

The students:

I teach all twelve of the girls for sewing. The girls names are Mee, Pha, Noy, Thoy, Boua, Sara, Souk hieng, Da, Nang, Pou, Melia and Yai. For English I teach the student leaders we call them the four. Which is Mee, Long, Tola and Se. In the class we have six students Ja, Koua, Pou, Noy, Boua and Thoy.

On Thursdays I teach sewing from 8-12

On Fridays I teach sewing from 8-10 and English from 10:10- 12

Hope that gives you more insight to my enjoyable time at ARDA Skills.  

We had a watermelon eating contest and Kipp though it would be funny to add some chicken on top. It surprised me.

Mee and Pha asking questions about the sewing machine

Watermelon eating contest next to me is Pem 

Me and Yai we had a game night at the Mekong

Commitment

This month has been the months of reports for MCC and so I have been working on a report called Performance Appraisal Report. One question they asked really struck me:

In what ways does the work you do parallel your understanding of MCC’s purpose and vision statement: “Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches, shares God's love and compassion for all in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. MCC envisions communities worldwide in right relationship with God, one another and creation.”

At this point and time it seems that the fruit I am bearing here is non-existent and at times it can cause you get down on yourself. Being a Secondary teacher having 13 classes spanned over three days and students up to 60 in each class and the students can only speak Lao tends to get overwhelming. But then I read things like this that tell me that is not what it is all about. Sure teaching students English is important and is a valued skill and you are helping in what ways you can, but what is more important is the other ways you are teaching them. I am teaching them love and compassion and showing that it's important to care for humans. I am teaching them what non-violence and justice are in a world where corporal punishment is the law. I am showing right relationships with students and teachers and respect. I am showing God's love and that is all that matters. 

“The more I think about the meaning of living and acting in the name of Christ, the more I realize that what I have to offer to others is not my intelligence, skill, power, influence, or connections, but my own human brokenness through which the love of God can manifest itself…hope is not based on any power to solve the problems of those with whom we live, but on the love of God, which becomes visible when we let go of our fears of being out of control and enter into His presence in a shared confession of weakness.”—Henry Neuwen”

I think coming here on this journey shows you that that is truly all that matters that we love people like God loves us. I have lately been thinking about commitment and how especially in this time in my life that this is really when you commit to something. For most people its college and a major or a certain job and though that is important is it really worth committing your life to? What really is worth committing your life to?

With this fallen world and nothing that stays constant I find it hard to commit to one thing. But what I have realized here is that there is one thing that is never changing, everlasting and all encompassing. God. And I think that is worth committing to. I want to commit to love and peace, to justice and hope. I want to commit to loving the children of the world and showing them what peace and justice and hope really is. And that is just what I will do.

Holiday Season

Holiday season.

When these words come to mind I think of snow, Christmas trees, scarfs and mittens, presents, the Nativity, fudge and cookies and ginger bread houses and family. For Christmas day I woke up at the crack of down and drove to the Lorr's house where I had breakfast. Pleasantly surprised we ate pancakes, bacon, coffee (not instant!) and Christmas stolen. As well the Lorr family gave me presents; pants and some chocolate! After we made a ginger bread house and colored in a decorative Christmas tree for the wall. Then when it was time for lunch drove to church where we ate lunch and then we took pictures in front of the big Christmas tree that the youth had created. With thousands of pictures taken we proceeded to the next session where everyone gave presents to government officials and then had a Nativity play. I slipped out and went to Crystal and Kinley's house where we made another ginger bread house. We planned on making a house that was Lao and so we made tried to make the house on stilts. Which was an epic fail. So instead we made a trailer! With the weather in Laos changing we are entering into a colder season which on Christmas day caused many of Lao people to were scarfs and mittens. In many ways I got to experience all the things that remind me of the holiday season and though I was away from family I was able spend time with my new families.

Blessed

This week though tough as also been rewarding. With holidays coming rapidly I have been thinking more and more about home. I am learning though that homesickness doesn't have to overtake my emotions and send me in a downfall. And now it might be tough but my the end of the year I will miss these people and I will miss Laos. I am learning that we go through struggles and hardships to learn. In the future I will be able to say I am strong and can go anywhere and do anything. I am continuing to learn the value of process, of letting go and having faith, respect and patience for what lies ahead. I have learned to remember that my time here is for the work of God and focus on who God wants me to become, having patience for his time and his will and what purpose I have here in Laos as well as in the future. Remembering as well to keep busy and remember that I am only here for a short time and that I should fully enjoy my time here. It is best to get involved in everything here and to say yes to everything. My work at ARDA Skills has given me a new family here in Laos and I thank God for that. Inviting me over for Thanksgiving, going to Thailand to buy new sewing machines for the sewing class I am teaching next semester, inviting me to go to waterfalls and continually asking how I am doing the staff at ARDA as been like a new home for me. 

    Working at Nita can become draining; with back to back classes and more then 500 children shouting your name and no teachers that can speak English. I struggle and with learning Lao slowly, by the time I come home I am quite drained. Don't get me wrong, I do very enjoy working at Nita and the children there and am learning very much about teaching and children. But it is nice to go to my haven at the end of the week. It has been four months that I have been in Laos and I have been blessed in many ways, to have a host family that takes care of me and helps me in many ways, to have an MCC staff that cares for me and keeps me accountable, a work place that challenges me and keeps me diligent each day, to have a haven and loving new family at ARDA Skills, to have an abundance of friends from Naxay church, to have the opportunity to come to Laos and live here, to have many friends and family supporting me back home. I truly am a blessed girl. 

Freedom!

"What do you do before you leave the house?"
"You lock the door"
A twitch in his eye, and a glaring stare.
"For what? The motorbike?" (in Lao)
" Ohhh you check to see if everything is okay."

With many laughs, tears, long days, buses, tuk-tuks and smiles I finally got my motorbike license! The long process to get my license is finally over! In Laos to get your drivers license for a foreigner you have to have your visa first. So it all started when I gave my passport over to the school I work at. For there it took about two to three weeks to process the visa. Then we took a trip to Thailand where we filled out the papers and everything needed and I am back with a one year visa! After my they sent a work permit and a stay permit in the mail. Then we practiced. Countless hours in the garage at MCC to learn how to do a figure eight and a mall circle and I practiced until I felt ready which was about a month ago. You then study the theory for the test with a booklet and schedule a test. In Laos at this time there is many different holidays and so we had to wait three weeks for the test day. But the day finally came! On Tuesday, I woke at 5:30 and got ready then at 6:15 Youa came to pick me up we drove to the test area which is a village about 45 minutes away. We arrived at 7:00. Then I was able to practice on the court before the test for a little. At 8 we then went to the room and they played some gross gory videos and some funny videos too, just to warn you to be careful on the road. After that they went over the theory and talked about the test. I was sent to a back room because my Lao reading is not very good. They then ask you a series of questions most easy but some very general and hard. After they tell you to take your picture. It is very funny because they have jackets for the men to wear so they look more formal and they direct you for the perfect stance for literally five minutes. After you finish with the first part of the test you go outside and take the driving part. I had practiced on a court that goes a certain way so when I was told to go on the court that faces the other way I got nervous. I hadn't practiced on that way and was bad at it. I failed my first try and then I tried again and failed! Normally they wouldn't let you go a third time you were just done but for some reason the instructor was really nice to me and let me go again and on the other court the one that I knew how to do. I finally then passed! After many days of the bus I have freedom! No on to the streets of Vientiane!

Teaching at Nita

It all starts at 5:30 when I wake up from the sound of my alarm and some chickens crowing too. Now if waking up at 5:30 sounds outrageous; it is. I have learned to drink coffee everyday or else I am sleeping at lunch. At 5:30 I get up and take down my mosquito net, turn off my fan and stumble in the dark to find the light. I then shower and get dressed, wearing my best a sihn and a collar shirt. I am ready by 6 and then eat breakfast. Most days I have oatmeal and we last week we bought cereal. I drink my coffee quickly and leave the house at 6:20. I walk to the bus station which is about a mile and a half away and takes ten minutes. The bus comes at different times but most times comes at 6:30. It takes about a half an hour to get to the bus station at Talaad Sao. The buses are often filled with ten or more people and sometimes you have to sit on the back ( the buses or we call them jumbos they are like trucks with a covering on top and a step on the back). These jumbos are very cheap but can be very slow to get where you want. After I arrive at Talaad Sao I look for the Thong Pong bus but sometimes I miss it or it never comes so I go by jumbo, I arrive at about 7. One jumbo driver always flags me down and I accidently told him my name which causes him to yell it loudly. It is about 10,00 for the trip which takes about a half an hour. I arrive at 7:30 and the bell rings to go to class. I teach thirteen classes over three days. Each class has 30 to 50 kids. The kids are about 10 to 14. The kids are very funny and they make me laugh. Many times I ask the kids to repeat after me and after I say okay or gang lie ( means very good or very smart) and they repeat that as well we all laugh hard. I also brought some stickers with me and it has caused many riots. I had them play BINGO with the new vocab they learned and for if they got bingo I gave them a sticker. So many kids come run up and they tend to leave the bingo boards blank and then fill in as I say new word and so I try to catch the cheaters and then we play a new game and they want more and more stickers. They shout more, more! okay?! At Nita they have not the best black boards and not the best erasers. On the boards there is parts that are chipped and they are course and rough in areas so it is hard to work with them. I have gotten use to the boards and the chalk now. The first few weeks I had chalk everywhere and my skirts were white. I don't know how the other teachers do it but they have no chalk anywhere on them. For erasers most of the time they use a cloth and dip it in water which normally sits on the floor this last week they just bought some new erasers which are more like little pillows and work much better. The students thing that if they dip the cloth in pepsi that it will make the black board blacker and easier to see, the older kids sometimes buy a big bottle and just splash it on the board. This causes the board to be sticky and hard to write on. In some of the older kids class rooms they have board that are plastic and are green which work better and are nice! But this week the older kids and younger kids switched classrooms and so the younger kids used Pepsi on the board and it causes the board to stay sticky and not work to say the least. I mostly work on the board and most of my games and things are on the board so it give many new ideas on not using the board and trying new things. I have learned that with teaching you just go with the flow and even if I make a lesson plan and all these games with the board things happen and you learn to go with it learn new ways. So far teaching has been a joy and the children are so cute and fun. I have struggled but I have also enjoyed each day.

Learning

It's been about 103 days since I have been home!
It seems crazy to have been gone for so long and I feel like my time here in Laos is going by so fast.
Some things I have learned a far:
- I have learned to love toilet paper when you have it.
- I have learned to hate chalk
-I have learn to forgive the bus system
-I have learned to drink coffee every day
-I have learned to laugh at language mistakes
-I have learned to effectively organize
-I have learned to ride a motorbike
-I have learned to use chopsticks
-I have learned to eat more spicy food
-I have learned to refrain from eating interesting things
- I have learned to have patience
- I have learned that family is important
-I have learned to appreciated the little things
- I have learned a little Lao
-I have learned to love ice cream
-I have learned to take each day teaching as a gift and a joy
-I have learned to not hesitate when killing bugs
-I have learned to just let geckos be
-I have learned to cook with a Lao stove
-I have learned to love sticky rice
- I have learned to adjust to the heat
- I have learned the different currency
-I have learned to kinda of read and write Lao writing
-I have learned to not eat padeck (fermented fish sauce)
-I have learned to appreciate all that I have in America
-I have learned how to get up early
- I have learned to enjoy Lao music
-I have learned to love HBO and CNN the only English channels
- I have learned to love Unitel Internet
- I have learned to love Skype
- I have learned to constantly make lists of things to do
- I have learned to love Lao people and their sense of humor
-I have learned that helping and loving people is most important
-I have learned to forgive myself
-I have learned to love Lao markets
-I have learned to love Lao fruit
-I have learned to love Lao children and having them not like me
- I have learned to ride side saddle on a motorbike.
I am sure there are many things I forgot but Lao so far has been a wonderful learning experience.