Sao Lao

It was a bit cold on Tuesday, last day of school for the first semester. I didn’t check the weather channel but knew it was cold from seeing the frost on bushes and trees and some white spots on the ground. I don’t have a winter coat yet and have only my leather jacket that I bought before I went to Laos in January of this year. I managed to stay warm so far by layering my clothes with undershirt, a long sleeve shirt, and then a wool sweater before putting on my leather jacket, with gloves, a scarf and a winter hat. Let’s just say I look like an Eskimo and fashion is not my problem but staying warm is all that matter.

It was minus 4 Celsius degrees on that day and it reminded of the winter in 2004. We just might have a white Christmas after all. My school even had two Christmas trees up in the lobby and with empty boxes of present. By the end of the day all the students were running out the door like there is no tomorrow. Many of my classmates are going home for the one month winter break and most of them are heading out this Sunday, after they all turned in their last assignment by midnight tomorrow night. That includes me also.
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This is a third grade World Geography question. Budapest is the capital of what European country? I didn’t know about this show until I saw the clip. I think the host is Jeff Foxworthy since he looks familiar from the HBO Comedy show I’ve seen a few years ago. I didn’t know who the blond girl is and thought she was acting. After doing some search on Google I found out she is Kellie Pickler, a former contestant from American Idol.

I wonder how many Lao-Americans in the US would know the answer to this question. Did we learn anything at all in school or were we just passing through the system?

Unlike the US, most students here take public transportation to school. I take the train and the bus, when the train is not running. When I get to the campus, I walk, walk and walk. The university doesn’t have one big campus like in the US so you can get from one building to the next easily. Walking from one department to another can easily take half an hour. Try that when it is raining or snowing.

To make life easier, most foreign students would buy a use bicycle. It can range from around 100 Euros to hundreds, depending on what you want. Having a good lock is a must. A Korean classmate’s bike was stolen because she didn’t buy a lock fast enough. Another classmate with a good lock had one of her tires stolen. I guess someone needed a spare tire and decided to borrow one from her and never to return it.

My new friend and I went to get his bike after the first day of class. It didn’t come with a lock or even a parking gear. The tail light was missing so he needs to update his bicycle a bit. It is a good bike though and I sat there while he peddled to the administration’s building and to the bookstore. What a gentleman.

Of course I didn’t want my new friend to take me back to the train station so I told him I would take a bus instead. But after a few minutes of standing there waiting for the bus, the sun came out and I decided to take a nice long walk back. I like to walk because I can look at things and take my time to take pictures along the way.

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I had a long day today since it was the first day of class. While waiting for my first class to begin I spent some time surfing at one of the computer labs at school. Then it was standing in the hall waiting for the class to start. I think it is a bit strange for other Asian students to stare me up and down and then to give me a smile or just to ignore me completely. Today, it was no exception. As I stood there, this one Asian guy who was standing next to me gave me a nod and a smile after he checked me out. Another Asian guy walked out from the class as he was headed somewhere but made a complete stop right in front of me and asked me a question, more like one word question with “Asian?” and when I said “yes” to him, he then went on with “Thailand?” but when I said “Laos” he said “Oh, Laos, nice to meet you” and extended his right hand to me.

I found this meeting with the two Asian male students to be somewhat amusing. When I got inside the class there was this guy that came up to me while I was trying to get a seat and said “Nice to meet you, my name is….” and I had no choice but to be nice and polite. Let’s just say that I made a new friend today. I also met three other Asian girls in the class. The only reason they spoke to me was to ask for my reader so they can make a copy. They refused to buy a reader which costs 33.40 Euros and said it is too expensive. Later, they spoke among themselves while asking if they could look at my reader. Then they were conversing between English and what I thought was Chinese about who they could borrow the reader from.

In the end they asked me and with the Chinese guy they went off to make a copy while I waited with my new friend. In the end I couldn’t find them at the copy machine. So, the lesson is that sometimes you should just say no. I made a suggestion to them that one of them should buy a reader and a book for the class and then share among themselves. But I guess it would be cheaper to just borrow it from me.

I just love the start of a new school year. It’s going to be a great year for me, I can feel it.

I have great news for those of you out there that are looking for a summer job or training opportunity. The A-Team has internship positions for the summer of 2007.

Don’t just sit there, apply for the chance to live and work in Spain.

During my stay in Champassak Province, I walked to school with my four and a half years old cousin a couple of times. It is very dangerous to cross the street. The school is divided on two sides of a road, leading to the Lao and Thai border. It is quite busy with trucks that are carrying everyday products like food and drinks as well as dangerous substance like propane gas and gasoline. I often noticed how some of the truck drivers are not slowing down in the school zone. There is no cross board either at this school and I made the point to ask if they will ever get a cross walk sign posted in the near future.

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I posted about education for Lao girls more than a year ago. I found this recent news to be somewhat uplifting.

ADB funds basic education

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide a loan and grant aid worth about 207 billion kip (US$21.56 million) to strengthen basic educational development in Laos and pave the way for educational reform.

An agreement signed on Wednesday at the Ministry of Finance specified that a loan of US$8.9 million and US$12.66 million in grant aid would help to raise the standard of education around the country.

The loan will be used to supplement the government’s education budget. The grant will enable the construction of schools and the introduction of new learning and teaching methods under the Basic Education Development plan.

The agreement was signed by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Ms Viengthong Siphandone, representing the Lao government, and ADB Country Director of the Lao Resident Mission, Mr James A. Nugent. The signing was witnessed by the Deputy Minister of Education, Mr Lytou Bouapao, ministry representatives and other officials.

The ADB has been providing loans and grant aid to Laos since 1991 for the development of various areas of education. These include Education Quality Improvement Phases I and II, the National University of Laos development project, and the Basic Education for Girls project.

The Lao government has declared education a priority in its current five-year socio-economic development plan.

The Basic Education Development plan constitutes the seventh priority plan devised by the Ministry of Education in its bid to increase the number of years spent by students in lower secondary schools from three years to four.

This latest assistance from the ADB in developing the education sector will serve to considerably enhance and strengthen cooperation between Laos and the ADB.

By Vientiane Times (Vientianetimes.org.la)
(Published on March 23, 2007

I woke up at 7:30 AM this morning and was ready for the first day of school. While I was organizing my backpack I realized that my wallet was nowhere to be found. I started to panic and did my best to retrace my steps, in hope to figure out where my wallet went. I have never lost my wallet before in my entire life (so far) so it was quite scary to know how careless I could be to loose one of the most important things in my life. Let’s see what’s in the wallet shall we? Hmmm…student card, health insurance card, residence permit, a bank card, Chef Vienne’s business card, and 200 something Euros. How the heck am I going to get to school with no money?

The last place I had my wallet out was at a restaurant in Friesland last night. But then I recall having touched my wallet while searcing for the extra memory card in my boyfriend’s car on the drive back. I told myself not to panic and gave Johan (my boyfriend) a call. I asked him to search his car to see if I left it there somehow. It turned out that while I was searching for the extra memory card I fell asleep and the wallet fell out of my purse. It was lying on the right side of the seat by the door. It was a good thing that it didn’t fall out when I got out of the car.

Johan saved the day and drove from his workplace to bring my wallet to me and I was able to get to school on time. I even had the chance to go by the University Bookstore to pick up the textbooks before class. I walked all the way from Leiden Centraal Station to the book store to get some exercise. On the way back I took the bus because I didn’t want to be late and also to give me a few minutes to eat lunch.

What a day I have had. I’m not even going to list the things that went wrong after the search for the missing wallet. I told myself to look for positive things and smile. If not then I will cry.

Here are some pics I took from earlier today.

A very old windmill, which is now a museum, a few minutes walk from Leiden Centraal Train Station.

A canal in the center of Leiden with Webster University on the right side.

A very well known English Pub in town.

Kooyker Book Store, where I get all of my Social Science textbooks.

Part of Leiden University building.

Social Science Department building, where all my classes are held.

On September 30th, I went to visit my former university. I wanted to see if much has changed since last year. It was nice to there again, to walk around the tiny campus and think about the old days.

The center of the campus is the clock tower.

The engraving on the clock tower.

The student center, where I ate my breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I was happy to be at my former second home.

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A short clip about the daily traditions in Luang Prabang.