Yesterday, I visited our sister school Saphanthong Tai. The purpose of the visit was to take all of the year 9 students and paint the interior of 3 of the school's classrooms. I have had experience with year 9 students in the past. I have also had experience with large amounts of paint. The two of them together was not suggesting itself to be an enticing prospect.
Arriving at the Primary school was a fairly humbling experience. They do not have a lot. Two small, dark and simple buildings separated by a very small muddy yard covered with weeds and dog shit. What little they do have however they are very proud of.
The circus that followed with 2 dozen 15 year olds armed with brushes, rollers, paint and absolutely zero painting skills must have been fairly disconcerting for them. The poor old school janitor bounced from room to room like a nervous cat watching its offspring being tormented by a visiting Kindergarten group from the local ADHD association. It didn't help that amongst our arsenal of mayhem implements, there were NO roller trays. The plunging of painting impliments deep, (up to ones wrist sounds about right), into the giant tubs of paint appeared to be the solution. It doesn't seem to matter how many times you suggest to a 15 year old with access to copious amounts of mark-making equipment, that if their roller isn't actually rolling down the wall but merely sliding down and covering them and the floor with dripping paint that perhaps they have a little to much on it. It is a waste of breathing out past one's vocal chords whilst making various shapes with one's lips and tongue. Better to save all that energy for the head shaking and tsk-tsking that will shortly be required. I did my best to try and tidy up some of the edge-work, and by day's end we had succeeded in covering almost everything that was required to be covered, in paint of varying thicknesses, as well as a few other things that perhaps may have been better left unpainted. eg the floor. Today we return to the school armed with a different armful-of-destruction in order to unpaint the unfortunate sections of floor and classroom furniture. I am sure the enthusiasm of the Year 9's will be not as forthcoming as it was yesterday, but I have faith that they will come to the party and do a good job.
One of the rooms newly painted.
Tomorrow will mark 3 months since I arrived here in Vientiane. It has been a very different 3 months to that which I had imagined, but also a very rewarding one in so many ways.
Firstly, the opportunity to receive as much work as I have has been most fortunate. The school has not only provided me with employment, but also a great base for building friendships in both a social and professional context. Working with so many of the kids at the school and also meeting some of their family members has been a joy. This really is a wonderful educational environment that I imagine would be very hard to better should we ever leave here during the boy's schooling years.
Little salas that are spread around our school for the kids to eat and play in.
Part of this new building will be home to the new music and theatre dept for the school.
Secondly, the food here is just wonderful. Of course some of it is also downright frightening, but on the whole, it is a great thing. The streets of Vientiane city are lined with many restaurants offering foods from around the world and all for the price of the proverbial oily rag. One of my favourite discoveries is the wonderful bowls of noodle soups with herbs and greens and savoury doughnuts for not much more than a single dollar. Of course the Beerlao is cheap too.
Merrilee enjoying a Beerlao Tower with our first visitor, the glorious Kylie JL.
Wandering through some on the markets and seeing the vast array of fresh fruits and vegetables, many of which I have never seen before is a magnificent adventure in itself. Then as you make your way deeper into the bowels of the marketplace, the air changes, a dank and humid clamour erodes the senses and the putrescence of raw offal, rotting fish and row upon row of bowls of meat soaking in fetid, brown juices tempts the bile to rise to the occasion. Large catfish seem to be very popular here, (there is a rare catfish in the mighty Mekong that can grow to 300kg....haven't seen any quite that big yet), frogs too are seemingly common on the menu. Tubs and tubs of them at the markets, all about the size of a regular cane toad and no more pleasant to look at. Then of course there are the 'regular' foods, the many types of rice that are available, the spices, the giant bags filled with dried chillies. Truly the markets are worth a visit just for the sake of the visit itself.
Then of course there are the people here in Laos. It is quite magic what a simple smile can achieve. Meeting people in the street and smiling at them most often brings a return smile wider and warmer than that which you just gave. I have heard very few cross words since I arrived, and the ones I have heard are invariably from foreigners.
My skills at communicating with the local Lao people in their native tongue have unfortunately not improved. I can say hello, count to ten.....and....that's about it. I shall endeavour to fix this in the coming weeks, months, years!
Then I just may be able to ask these locals just what sort of fish they are actually catching on the side of the road on my way home.
There are only 3 days left in the school year before most of the staff and students make their way back to their respective homelands for a much earned break. Some, like us, will not return home but instead broaden their adventure with visits to new places. Part one for us begins this coming Monday evening with a 12 hour train journey from here to Bangkok. We are traveling in a first-class sleeper....we shall see how much sleeping actually gets done.
Favourite quote from a girl at the school here in Vientiane.
"I'm never going to Asia. I don't even like Asians."
The amusing signs continue.
Well I guess it is for kiddies.
