Today I had to borrow money from a friend to pay back another friend. How embarrassing is that?
It’s not about spending too much and living paycheck to paycheck. It’s about a ridiculous banking system. Our school deposits our salaries in the Laos Public Bank, which is open from 9 to 3 Monday to Friday. As people saddled with jobs, we are NEVER free during the bank’s operating hours. “Oh, well,” you’re thinking, “just use your bank card at an ATM.” Wouldn’t that be such a tidy solution? Unfortunately, the Laos Public Bank doesn’t issue ATM cards.
Rather than switch its account to the local branch of New Zealand’s ANZ Bank, which DOES have ATM cards and DOESN’T charge any fees for them, the school instead patronizingly offers us this service: We can bring our bankbooks and paperwork to the school cashier before 9 a.m. each Wednesday, and she will go to the bank and handle our transactions.
That’s a great system IF you don’t get sidetracked by the piles of paperwork on your desk, a concerned parent dropping her kid off at school, a depressed colleague needing to chat, a crying child, or any number of other obstacles that stand between your classroom and the cashier’s office early on a school day.
That’s a great system IF you don’t have any surprises during the week, such as a guard who makes off with your electricity bill money, a weed whacker that needs to be repaired because the aforementioned guard put the wrong kind of oil in it, or an unanticipated shortage of Beer Lao in your fridge.
That’s a great system IF you know what day of the week it is and therefore go to the cashier on Wednesday instead of Thursday.
That’s a great system IF someone reminds you that the following week is a holiday so you should probably take out some extra cash.
Perhaps you sense that I haven’t been entirely vigilant about the Wednesday banking. You would be right.
Two Wednesdays ago, I took out just a bit of play money. Then I realized we would be off work for a week, the bank would be closed for the holiday, and we had friends visiting. So I borrowed $500 from a colleague. Today, I frantically tried to fill out the banking paperwork before my 8 a.m. EAL Parent Coffee. At the last minute, I realized I had left my bankbook at home. Meltdown. Freak out. Waterworks. Pick your euphemism. It wasn’t pretty.
My fabulous colleague, Carine, sprinted across the room, gave me a big hug and asked how much I needed. Let’s see … $500 to pay back Bernadette, plus money to pay back our new guard for the weed whacker work, plus money to pay back our housekeeper who bought groceries out of pocket, and so on. Before I knew it, I was $800 in debt to Carine.
I can totally see how those dumb gamblers on TV get in so much trouble.
Tag Archives: VIS
Study Shmudy
Last week, I accompanied 20 fifth graders on their study trip to Vang Vieng, Laos, about 4 hours north of Vientiane. The classroom teacher, Paula, worked with an organization called Green Discovery to plan a fantastic trip that built on the theme of environmental consciousness. The students were totally keen to discuss the impact of tourism, explore the concept of healthy ecosystems, learn about sustainable businesses, and reflect on their roles in caring for the earth. In fact, they were such independent learners that we teachers got to kick back and enjoy a little mini-holiday!
Our first stop was the Phosar Paper-Making and Reforestation Project funded by a Japanese group. The project uses tree bark to make paper, textiles and chopsticks for export. When we asked about the “reforestation” part, they admitted that they really aren’t doing that anymore. They quickly added that this type of tree grows to maturity in just one year. Whatever.
Later we visited Tham Chang Cave, the biggest cave in Vang Vieng. Inside, the guide encouraged us to close our eyes and stay very quiet, not an easy feat for 10 year olds. When we emerged from the cave, Paula asked the kids to pick a partner and compare the ecosystem inside the cave with that on the outside. It was amazing to see how much they knew and how eager they were to tackle the subject. At the bottom of the hill, the kids played an impromptu game of soccer.
Our hotel overlooked the Nam Song River and beautiful rock formations. The kids played in the pool while we watched the locals zip by in their dragonboats, training for the upcoming holiday races.
After dinner, we had a “bonfire.” By North American standards, it was really just a regular-sized campfire, and the kids were woefully uninformed about s’mores, but they had a lot of fun singing songs and debating the best methods for roasting marshmallows.
We enforced “lights out” at 8:30 p.m., and the students were pleasantly compliant. That gave Paula and me a chance to enjoy a Beer Lao on the balcony overlooking the river. While we were relaxing, a HUGE insect (very nearly the size of a velociraptor) landed on the wall nearby. We tried to ignore it, but occasionally it would leap across to the opposite wall and freak us out. Finally, we summoned the front desk clerk, who caught the bug and took it to the kitchen to fry it up as a snack.
The next morning, we toured an organic farm that raises silkworms and produces mulberry tea, fruit wines and goat cheese. Students got to cut and roast mulberry leaves for tea, make organic fertilizer (aka goat poo), peel starfruit for wine, and milk a very patient goat. After lunch at the farm (where we munched on fried mulberry leaves with honey – yum!), we hiked to the river and crossed the water in a longboat. The Green Discovery guys gave a quick demo of knot making and rock climbing techniques. Then we all grabbed a harness and gave it a go.
Kids were only allowed to climb up to 5 meters, but I decided to show off and climb to the top. The kids were shrieking, “Go Miss Sharon! Go Miss Sharon!” At one point, I couldn’t find a handhold, so I shouted down to the belay dude that I wanted to come down, but he said, “No, keep going!” My leg started shaking uncontrollably, which was a little embarrassing, but eventually I made it to the top and then rappelled back down. One little girl said, “You’re the bravest woman EVER!” As if.
Another quick dip in the pool for the munchkins and then we all marched into town for dinner. One of Vang Vieng’s claims to fame is the unfortunate presence of many, many TV restaurants. Customers sit on cushions at elevated tables and watch episodes of Friends or Family Guy. When you walk through the town, those two shows are playing at nearly every restaurant! The kids were glued to Friends on the big-screen TV as they slurped spaghetti. Kinda fun, kinda sad.
On our trip back to Vientiane, we took a motorboat for about 2.5 hours on the Nam Ngum Reservoir, which was created when the Nam Ngum River was dammed in 1971 to generate hydroelectricity. We passed forested islands (formerly the tops of small mountains) and fishing villages. At the power plant, we met our bus and drove the rest of the way home.
If you plan to do any adventure travel in this neck of the woods, I strongly recommend Green Discovery.
The kids had a fantastic time, and so did the teachers!
Weenies at Lunch
Highlight of my week so far: I was on supervision duty in the open-air cafeteria, and I noticed quite a ruckus at the first-grade table. Several little boys were standing up and howling with laughter. When they saw me approach, they all sat down quickly and resumed eating their lunches. “What’s going on here?” I asked in my most threatening teacher voice. First graders are terrible liars and big fat tattletales, so they all started pointing fingers. One boy, a very precocious 7-year-old from Singapore, summed it up: “They are showing their penises to each other.” Hmmm… well then … carry on. No, wait! I’m the teacher. I had to intervene. I knelt down and began my “boys-may-take-their-penises-out-of-their-pants-in-the-bathroom-and-at-home-but-nowhere-else” speech, but just then the school nurse, Moe Moe, sauntered by. Perfect. I thought she would probably have a better speech prepared. You know, germs and privacy and body issues and so on. “Miss Moe Moe!” I exclaimed. “These boys are showing their penises to each other. Can you have a little chat with them?” She bent down over the table and said menacingly, “I think we should just cut them all off!” The boys all shrieked and laughed, and that was the end of that.
Vientiane International School
When Tony and I were preparing for the job fair last winter, he delegated the research to me. Not one to embrace change, he didn’t really want to leave China, but he understood that this “Third Culture Kid” needed to move on. I spent hours on the internet, schizophrenically obsessing about one school or another. I kept coming back to Vientiane International School. I loved the idea of a small school in a tropical climate. We were thrilled to accept job offers (primary English as an Additional Language for me; secondary English for Tony) at VIS during the Search Associates fair in Bangkok.
Now that we’re here, it’s hard not to make comparisons to our previous school. That’s not fair, of course. Shanghai American School had 3,000 students on two huge campuses. We had a decadent amount of resources and technology that I only now fully appreciate. With only 300 students, VIS has to be a bit more frugal. So I’m really only making observations when I describe the situation here. I swear, I’m not complaining!
In Shanghai, I had my own classroom and cabinets stuffed with top-of-the-line resources. Each fall, we ordered new supplies for the next year, and I was able to stock the ESOL office with fantastic manipulatives, flashcards, games, books, and everything else we needed or wanted to reinforce the grade-level content. If I needed pens, construction paper, Model Magic … well, anything really … I just marched up to the SAS supply room and went shopping.
At VIS, I share an office space and a classroom with two other teachers. At first, I didn’t use the classroom. It seems my predecessor taught all her classes in the grade-level classrooms, so that’s what I did. That means I had to haul all my teaching supplies with me wherever I went. Inevitably, I forget something and had to run back downstairs to get my supplies. I’ve started bringing most of my classes down to the EAL classroom, and it’s working out much better. The room is used for all grade levels, from grade 1 to 12, so I’m trying to lay claim to a corner that will be a nice learning space for the little guys.
As for materials … sigh. It took me hours just to get a pen. I had to fill out a form, and then wait for someone to fill my order. When I asked for a trash can, the nice Lao girl working in the office brought me an in-box tray. So I had to fill out a new form with more details. Teaching materials are old, outdated and geared toward older students. There’s nothing very useful for teaching English to the little kids. I’m glad I brought so much of my own stuff! The school seems eager to get our department what we need, though, and we recently got a grant from the American Embassy to buy EAL and special education materials.
I also took a step backwards with regards to technology. At SAS, I started an ESOL blog and used my laptop and projector frequently in the classroom. I attended two conferences on technology in education and felt quite inspired to work with our little “digital natives.” At VIS, there are a few portable projectors that can be checked out from the library or we can take our kids to the library tech lab, which is equipped with a projector. Mr. Lin is a fabulous techie, who installs all the hardware and handles all the trouble-shooting, but there’s nobody on staff designated to train TEACHERS in tech integration. It’s hard to keep up with technology under the best circumstances, and these ain’t the best circumstances.
On a positive note, the kids are very sweet. While most of my students at SAS were Korean, my VIS classes are much more diverse. I have students from Laos, Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Columbia. Several of them have no English at all. I have students in grades 1 to 5, and I am having a blast with them.
Another plus: no more bus ride to school! After four years of a long commute, I can now ride my bike to school in about 5 minutes. I love that!
Perhaps the best thing about our new school is the slower pace. Everything is much more relaxed (and as soon as Tony and I learn how to relax, I’m sure we’ll appreciate it). I do believe that once we learn the ropes and get situated, we’re going to love it here.
Vientiane International School Primary Assembly
Here are a few pics from my first assembly at Vientiane International School. I can’t figure out how to make the captions show up, but if you really want to read them, click on the photo to go to the flickr page.