Nineteen.

It seems weird to think that I am nineteen. It seems weird to think that that is the age that I really am.It seems to me that nineteen is something others think I am not as well. It's common in Laos to lie about your age. So I thought I would follow along with everyone else and say I was older than I am. But the thing is I feel much older than I am. Laos instilled in me many responsibilities and in a way made me grow up. But in another ways Laos gave me all these opportunities to have made me feel like I am much older. The life I have lived so far has been nothing less then adventurous. I have seen more then most and for that I feel older and also grateful. But in reality I am nineteen. I do have many responsibilities and I also do have a lot of life to live. But also a lot to learn. To think last year on my birthday, I was in California with my family. I had little knowledge of what I was going to be doing in a year. I was thinking about college and about what to do with my life and now where am I but in Laos. It seems like a lifetime ago that I was in America. Especially in times like birthdays and holiday's to be so far away from my family. I dream of the days when I can hug my mom and dad and laugh with my sisters and hang out with my friends. I dream of  jamba juice and the falafel and mexican food. And I can't wait for the days that those dreams will come true. But then I think of about....What about a year from now? I'll be dreaming about the hug from my friends and the high pitches laughing of my students. I'll dream about all the Sabaidee's and Phop gawn mai's (Hello and see you later in Lao) I'll dream about the sticky rice and green mango's and lao food. And those dreams will take a long time to come true if they ever will. It seems outrageous that there is only four more months in Laos. How the time flies. How the times flies and then you realize that you are only nineteen and have lots of life to live. And what a joy that is.

Lucky

Recent events:
- I got my kitten stolen by Vietnamese people
-I got new kittens
-Bringing my new kittens home I got a dog bite
-My new kittens are crazy
-I told my mom I got a dog bite
-My mom freaked out
- Chaos rained down
- My dog bite started turning green and got a little swolen
-I deduced I should go to the doctor
-I freaked out that I might have rabies
-I went to the doctor
-I don't have rabies.


  But the thing is that here in Laos if you do get bite by a dog it's no little thing and rabies are something that people here can die from.
  I could have died too, but I had medical attention and good medical attention.
  One day a ARDA one of the girls had a stomach ache. She had eaten payapa salad (which is pretty hard on your digestion, I would know I've gotten sick from it) and also pepsi. All the forgieners instanly thought oh it's just heartburn, but to the girls it was way more. She was rushed to the hospital and many of the girls were so worried that they cried. Going to the hospital is very serious here, due to the fact that the medical care for patients is not very good. For example my Lao grandmother. When I first came to Laos she was talking and walking and healthy, about two months later she was very ill she couldn't walk and talk and she was taken to the hospital multiple times. They ran tests and found that she had cancer. Then a couple weeks later she went back to the hospital and they said it was actually just an upset stomach. An upset stomach was highly unplausible due to the fact that she was close to death. And that is when I realized that the hospitals are trying but have now idea. Now to my point. I am truely so lucky to have health care and not be afraid when something happens because I have doctor and knowledgable people all around me. Where here the reality of getting sick might cause death. It again reminds me off how lucky we are in America.
This past week I read a book called Conflict by Nelson Rand, which talked about his experiences in south east asia as a journalist and seeing all the conflicts it holds. I hadn't even realized in the place I traveled to that there was so much conflict. Where we learn about World War 2 and all the horrors that happened there we don't even know of the horrible holocaust in Cambodia and the millions killed by the Khmer Rouge. In Laos hundreds of Hmong men were still fighting a war that was supposed to be finished almost fourty years before. In Thailand many were killed just for their race. It just amazes me the things we don't know and what we take for granted. While I was eating mac and cheese, Hmong families were eating tree pulp to stay alive. I am so lucky. I am also so thankful that I have a home and a family and a safe place to live with food and water. Where many families have no homes, no families and are never in a safe place and have to fight for their lives and even the food they eat. I recommend you read that book. It just shows how much we have to be thankful for. But also something to strive for to give back to others.
   The reality that I have a comfortable life back in America just keeps me accountable to what I am meant to do here. Millions of people don't have that reality. And it just reminds me that those millions of people are happy anyway. In the book it talks about how even in all their turmoil they still smiled and continued to strive for their freedom. The reality that we can be happy anywhere is something to also remember.
Things to remember: You are lucky, you can be happy anywhere and watch out for rabid dogs.

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!