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.

Laos

Here are some things you might want to know about Laos:
-Firstly most people don't even know where it is. Laos is located in South East Asia in between Vietnam and Thailand. I live in the capital Vientiane.

-Laos was a french colony and gained independence in 1953
- Laos is a communist nation despite their name Lao P.D.R (Peoples Democratic Republic)
-Laos is a Buddhist nation and only 3% of people are christian. In some places like Luang Prabuang you can be arrested for sharing the gospel
-Being Buddhist, Monks are seen everywhere. Some things I have learned about Monks: You are not suppose to look at them, you are not suppose to touch them, you aren't suppose to talk to them you can talk to them only if they talk to you. In Laos they are viewed as Gods to the people and even themselves say they are not man they are better than man. If on the bus you must sit behind them, the only jobs monks can have are a teacher, they cannot where undergarments and have hair because it is seen as putting more sin on themselves.
-For Lao people food is an important aspect of family. All meals are eaten with family and never alone. Most meals are eaten on the floor. They have small tables or they use newspaper and mats. Communal eating is what I would describe as their style of eating. Everyone sits around the food, you grab a handful of sticky rice, then rolling a small you use your index finger and you're thumb with the rice on your thumb you take a little bit of the food and eat. My favorite Lao food is fried morning glory which is eaten with sticky rice. Lao people like spicy, the most spicy thing I have had is payapa salad which you think would be a fruit salad but it is more like a salty and spicy treat. The first time I had papaya salad I cried a little. Some interesting things Lao  people like to eat: Dog, crickets, cow intestine, congealed blood ( they put in soup), baby egg, frog, grilled rat, fomented fish sauce, grilled baby bird, guinea pig, chicken heart and butt, bat and snake. Here are some pictures:

                                                         Baby egg

                                                        Grilled Rat

                                                        Grilled Bird

                                                       Snake

                                                          Grilled Frog

                                 
                                                         Dog

                                                         Cricket
-Lao language is a tonal language and uses a sanscript writing. Well learning Lao has been fun, in all reality it is hard. With 26 constants, 56 vowels and 5 tones it has been a lot to learn. I feel like I know little but I mean it's only been two months. By the end of the year I hope to be able to speak fluently but who knows. Here is my Lao name Sengmany in Lao Script: ແສງມັະນີ
-Transportation is Laos is rapidly getting better. Japan donated buses to  Laos that work very well. They are very big and green, have air condition and mostly go everywhere, they are very inexpensive most cost only 3,000 Kip which is about 30 cents. The only downside is they are sometimes unreliable. On many occasions I have waited for the bus and the bus has never come. But not to worry because Laos also had tuk-tuks they are motorcycle taxis that can take you anywhere you want! Not only tuk-tuks Laos has jumbos which are smaller buses or trucks with a oning on the back. Jumbos have routes they follow. I mostly take jumbos to school each day for they are much more reliable. In Laos motorbikes are mostly used but there are many cars as well. One day eventually I will get a motorbike license be able to ride a motorbike to school instead of going by bus.
-Beauty is of importance for Lao people. Though much differently viewed then North Americans, beauty here is the opposite from many things we call beautiful. Lao people love white skin, they use lotions and body washes that have whitener in them, but in America we love to be tan. In Laos they like hair and think arm hair is beautiful as in America we shave everything. In Laos it is okay if you don't match where as in America you are expected to match. Lao people as well like to wear socks with sandals which I don't understand in this climate why you would want to wear socks. It is best to wear the least clothing possible. Laotians like to also where dust covers because the dust here makes it hard to breathe. When we first came I asked, " Do they wear those for fashion or for dust?" So not to worry, it is for the dust. Another common fashion choice is long finger nails. They sometimes grow them all out or they have just one finger they keep long. Once on the bus a women had her index fingernail about two inches long! The most important thing of beauty in Laos is the sihn. The sihn is very tradition clothing  worn by all women. They are skirts that are tailored to you and normally go to from your waist to your mid-calf. "You are beautiful in regular skirts, but you are even more beautiful when you wear a sihn," says Patti to me one day. Women notice when you wear a sihn and they tell you. "Ngam, ngam" which means beautiful is all you hear. Lao women also are not afraid to touch. When on buses, on the walk home, at church everywhere, will pet your sihn and your arm and tell you how beautiful you are. I have collected about 7 sihn's which is very much.

 

A tradition Lao outfit. 

Hope that gives a little insight on Laos and life here!