Summer Camp Lao Style

I may not be heading back to work at summer camp this year, as per usual, but teaching English at Ponsinuane Child and Youth Development Center's summer program is helping to curb my camp craving.
On International Children's Day, all the kids from the center gathered together for some wild and crazy games. This one involved digging an elastic band out of a bowl of flour using a straw held between your teeth, and then passing the elastic band from straw to straw down a long line of teammates.
Small class sizes at the summer program means that I can be that much more creative in my lesson planning. This week we learned about food and then set up a pretend restaurant to try out the new vocabulary. "What would you like to eat?"

To fill time one day I taught the kids "The Macerena'. It was an instant hit but I'm afraid the children are now under the impression that "the Macerena" is some sort of Canadian traditional dance!

Sticky Rice, Superman and Saying Goodbye

Dear family, friends and readers of all sorts,

I'm afraid I have no tear jerking stories or exotic pictures for you this time around but I do want to update you all on what's going on in my life these days. Here's a rough overview:

At home (with my host family), my sister Mina is teaching me to cook all of my favourite Lao foods, filling my belly with sticky rice and stir fry as we talk about everything under the sun in our personalized blend of Lao and English. Five year old Isaac lives to swim. "Jessie, can we go swimming today?" he asks me when I wake him up ,while not to be out done , 2 year old Inam loves to show off his newest phrases: "Superman!" and "Jessie, I don't know!". And, with the constant coming and going of foster sisters (currently there are three 15 year olds living with us) life is never boring in our household.

My work continues to be varied and interesting. Teaching English each weekday morning to a small class of summer school students remains the constant, while the rest of the work week can include anything from construction work on our school's new library for peace, to interviews with cluster bomb victims, to leading training in conflict resolution to report writing at the MCC office. Someone once asked me how I keep track of all these different parts of my job and, after a few moments thought, I realized my brain handles it similarly to how I deal with taking many different courses at school.

As my final month in Laos begins in just a week's time I'm trying to balance feelings of anticipation about going home and, in the words of a fellow MCCer's dad, "seizing the day". After wading through a seemingly endless river of firsts for nearly a year now, I'm about to dive into an ocean of lasts. I think all I can do is take the plunge head first and try not to stand cowering on the edge for too long. Yes, my time here is nearly over, and true I never know when I am seeing someone or experiencing something for the last time but one month is plenty of time to deepen relationships and simply enjoy the "Laoness" of this place while I still can.

To keep you all up to date, here's what my schedule looks like until I come home in late July:

June 10th- July 3rd -Business as usual
July 4th- July 12th -I'll be travelling to Bangladesh to visit Steve
July 13th-18th-One last week of goodbyes in Laos
July 19th-21st -Flying to Akron P.A. via Bangkok, via Hongkong, via L.A., via Philadelphia
July 22nd-24th -MCC SALT re-entry retreat in Akron
July 25th -I'll be home in Ontario!

I hope this letter finds you all well and once again thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Blessings,

Jessica

A Miracle at the Golden Stupa

When Leah visited me here in Vientiane several weeks ago I dutifully carted her around to all of the city's main tourist attraction. Over the span of her three week visit I can safely say that she saw more Buddhist stupas, shrines and temples than she had in the entire 22 years of her life up to that point. But, when it came time to visit the country's most sacred site, we got more than the Buddha images, insence and gold paint that we'd bargained for. We chose to see the entire afternoon as a minor miracle.

For as we approached the Golden Stupa (said to house a fragment of Buddha's breastbone) I felt a tug on my arm and I turned around to find the familiar faces of three of my English students beaming up at me. As it turned out, their house backs on to the stupa grounds. And so, for the rest of the afternoon we benefitted from the company of three oh so adorable tour guides, eager to tell us everything they knew about the sacred site, a place where their ancestors had been worshipping for generations and where, even on this informal occasion, they knelt to leave on offering of flowers and prayers before running off to play.

As for the other tourists at the site, I think we must have given them quite the shock as we marched around with these barefoot children, singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" and dancing the Macarena. My heart could not have been more full than it was on that lovely afternoon. I think Laos is turning me into a very sentimental person...

*To the best of my memory, Leah can take the credit for all of these pictures.