Another crazy day in Pakse

Three things to report... not all actually happened today, but this weekend was full for sure.

First... a two hour assembly at the TTC in the afternoon heat, listening to Lao speeches, enduring the heat, watching the bored students and teacher... that's the way I like to spend my afternoon.

They were apparently addressing several issues or topics (I only caught bits and pieces of the Lao speeches... it is EXHAUSTING work to try and follow long speeches when they speak so fast). One was the opening of the Listening Lab and different changes at the TTC for the students. Another was the dress code. All students wear green ties with their school uniforms. The boys wear dress pants and the girls wear sihns. They also addressed turning off cell phones in class. Some students will actually answer their phones in class and talk for awhile before you get them to hang up (I am glad they mentioned that one although I don't have that much problem in my classes with cell phones).
More pictures of the engaged crowd:

Even the Director was just writing notes... although he might have actually been coming up with what he was going to talk about for an hour:



Second... AND MORE CRAZY... Today (Monday) We were in the office and heard some very loud crackling like firecrackers going off... I thought it was just someone doing construction or throwing rocks. Well, the students started to yell and scream outside our office. The power started to flicker on and off. Suddenly, there were much louder crackling and burning could be slightly smelt. The power went out completely! Teachers and students were all looking beyond our building... I had to go investigate!

AND.. it was an electrical fire! Now the poles are made of cement and rebar so they don't burn (which is good). But a small box on the side (my guess is a transformer of some kind interfacing the main lines and the ones going to the office) had shorted out and caught on fire. It was still burning on the ground when I arrived.





... and because the power went out, I missed the end of "The Pacifier" in Thai that was playing in our office! I still can't figure out if Vin Diesel was the good guy or bad guy in the movie... weird how Thai dubbing will do that to a movie!

THIRD... Wigo is out of his cage!!! He ran to greet me last night leaving a trail of pee again... I think he's learning to control himself better... wait... nevermind. He just rolled over while peeing on himself. Well, at least he's a faithful watchdog!

Vigo in the cage!

So, mysteriously Vigo is now caged to the side of our driveway. I don't know if it was his peeing tendencies, or he was getting into the chickens, or it has something to do with the tick-looking bumps I saw on him earlier this week. Something, I'm certain, caused his damnation to the cage in which he whimpers very early in the morning (making me sad because then I wake only to hear him and return to sleep with sad dreams of his whimpers). The bumps I saw on him looked like they needed to be treated so this might be part of that. Our landlords daughter is a nurse and he might have gotten medicine for it.
Our faithful peeing watchdog is in a sad state right now... although I'm safe for the moment from the stealthy pee attacks!

RAIN! ... bad, then good, then very bad again!

We had a short workshop on Wednesday afternoon about teaching. It was a good review. For those who haven't had formal educational classes, it was a great introduction to Bloom's Taxonomy and the various levels of learning. Basically, there are 6 main levels: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. Most teaching is done on the first two levels peaking at the level of Application (in our case, using English in conversations and writing). The problem is we need to strive for a higher level of thinking (or a "deeper level of thinking" whichever word imagery you prefer). I had just happened to go over these with my students this morning and it felt strange getting it that afternoon (but most teachers haven't been exposed to this so it was really good).

That is not the bad part. That was good. The rain and thunderstorm that started mid-way through the workshop was the bad part. It is just nasty muddy when it rains around here! Basically, count on getting wet and terribly muddy if it rains. Everything gets covered in mud. That's the bad part!

The good part: The weather then cooled off! It felt really great and cool for the rest of the day! OH AMAZING GREAT WEATHER! It was around 70F and even the next morning it was cooler with some gusts of hot air in the wind.

THEN... back to the bad! The next day after lunch, it was hot and MUGGY like it has never been before! UGH! So, back to the heat... and sweating... and general misery of hot season.

I can't tell if I want it to rain again or not?

Surprise Student Visit!

I was having a nice morning routine and getting into my work catch-up Saturday this past weekend when my student's head popped into the window. "Teacher, are you bus-eye?" (They tend to pronounce 'y' at the end like an 'i').
"No, I'm not busy right now." I said.
"Can I ask you question. I want to speak with you," he replied.
"Come on in."
Well, three hours later, I was wondering when the questions and practice would end. He was really concerned about pronouncing the 'b' and 'p' sound correctly. I think we went over it 10 times and each time I thought he was correctly saying it.

Well, I printed some grammar stuff for him to read and then we returned to pronunciation. I think that they have a hard time hearing the difference between our 'p' and 'b' because he really did not think he was saying it right.

One thing I did was record when I would say a word and he would repeat. Then when I played it back he could hear himself repeating after me.
The one problem was that he did not have a cell phone... at all. Which is really surprising!!! All my students have cell phones, but most of them have MP3 playing cell phones too! This was the first student that I've found who did not have a cell phone at all.
Anyway, we spent about 3 hours working on pronunciation; I feel like we made progress. Can't wait for the listening lab to be up and running!

More animals in our yard!

I was working on my computer in my bedroom one afternoon (since its the only A/C room in my house) and I heard the clank of a cowbell outside my window. Running around to the front gate, I found a small group of water buffalo populating our driveway:

Of course as I went to take a picture, they began to leave. Apparently, they don't like foreigners taking their picture. I've tried. See my post about Saleumsai's village. I tried taking several water buffaloes pictures and they nearly stampeded a couple times!
Here they are making it around the bend:

They made their way down the street and I think they were headed for a cruising walk on the main road. Maybe grab some good grass in the ditch... oh, wait, those ditches are getting filled with drain pipes! Better hurry guys... the greener grass is not going to be there for long!
Also, Vigo, our faithful peeing watchdog, was very excited and a little scared of the visitors:

At least he didn't pee all over me or the driveway!

Vigo... our Faithful Peeing Watchdog

Its kinda funny and gross at the same time.... There is this puppy that our landlords have started raising since November. But, every time you tried to pet the thing.... it lost all bladder control. It still does it. I'm waiting for the puppy training to include bladder control!

Here he comes!
Here he goes!



Vigo (pronounced more with a 'w' as in 'wigo' since the 'w' and 'v' are nearly identical to the Lao people) is a really cute puppy. He runs to greet you with those flappy ears! Of course as he's running he's also streaking the driveway. He's also very good at identifying strangers who come inside the compound. He barked at me for a couple weeks until I befriended him with leftover chicken. Makes me wonder how loyal he is if food is involved? "Wigo, were you eating food from strangers in exchange for passage through our yard again?" Hmmm... might be the security loophole that we need to fill somehow.

For now though, maybe he will scare them off with other tactics. I know I've mistakenly gotten my feet showered when I didn't see him coming till it was too late. Uggggh!... and the worst is that he's so happy when he does it!

And... a short video of him. Notice that toward the end he begins to pee again...

Chickens at home

I recently noticed a small, upside-down basket beside the driveway in my landlord's yard. Upon further inspection, I noticed two small chickens and what looks like a watering bottle of sorts. I also saw them feeding said chickens one day with leaves of some kind. Vigo, our faithful peeing watchdog (more on that soon enough), has also taken an interest in them although his is less altruistic than mine.






My guess is that our landlords are now raising chickens to eat or for some kind of festival.... I'll try to keep my eyes out for the fate of the chickens! Maybe Vigo and I will sneak one out before they are fully ready.