I am used to announcements in Laos blaring over our village’s loudspeakers around the Center. These usually happen once a week but last week, it seemed to be a constant and always during my classes.

What in the world is going on?!

Khamxay, my office manager, had the scoop on that one. One by one, seemingly every day, some request was made for us to follow as a place of business which concerned the upcoming ASEAN Summit, being held in Vientiane from October 6 – 11.

What’s the ASEAN Summit?

I had no idea what this was about but only that the buzz around the city was that roads might be closed and security would be upped, meaning more police on the roads than usual.

I looked up the news concerning this important yearly meeting and found the following:

“The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an inter-governmental international organization, comprised of  Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore and Malaysia.The yearly ASEAN Summit is the highest policy-making body in ASEAN comprising the Heads of State or Government of ASEAN Member States. ASEAN’s purpose is to promote economic and cultural exchange among its member countries, maintain peace and stability in Southeast Asia, and establish relationships with foreign powers with similar aims. ASEAN formed during the Cold War to promote stability and cooperation in a politically turbulent region. The theme of ASEAN 2024 is enhancing connectivity and resilience, and is to be held in Vientiane, Laos. It aims to make Asia well-connected to the world and between our regions as well as being resilient in this uneasy time around the world.”

Loudspeaker Requests Are Carried Out

The first announcement Khamxay alerted me to was that of purchasing a new Laos flag.

Every year, businesses are to replace old faded flags with new ones. With the summit just around the corner, the urgency of looking good to dignitaries and summit reps was paramount. Our Center is located down an out-of-the-way back alleyway but all around us are embassies. I often zip by the Korean, Chinese and French Embassies on my way to work or heading up the road for a short shopping venture

I immediately requested funds from our bookkeeper and Khamxay headed out to buy a Laos flag and colorful smaller flags to line our outside security wall.

I was quite surprised by the new image which this portrayed for us. The previous flags were worn, ripped and so faded it was difficult to distinguish what color they were. I was a bit embarrassed that I hadn’t noticed their shabbiness. It wasn’t until Khamxay and Santi replaced them that I realized what a poor showing we had been making. As an educational institute that prides itself on caring about the country, flying a dirty Laos flag certainly didn’t look good.

Thanks to Khamxay’s guidance, we set off on a new venture of patriotism with our flags, proudly flying for those passing by or entering our gates.

Security Personnel Needing Appreciation

The next loudspeaker translation from Khamxay concerned our Village Chief’s appeal to bring snacks to area police and security personnel during their long week of keeping the city safe during the summit.

What a kind gesture!

As soon as I heard, I headed off on my motorbike to the D-mart to stock up on snack supplies. I purchased variety boxes of cream-filled cakes, very similar to our USA Little Debbies, along with energy-boosting instant coffee Nescafe packets. In total, I had 70 cakes and 120 3-in-1 coffee sachets. A worthy token of service recognition, the staff and I agreed.

Before Delivery, A Note

We were asked to drop off our offerings at the Village Chief’s office. I really wanted to make sure our Center was recognized as having given a donation so I wrote a small note in English. This was translated into Laos by Santi, printed out, signed by myself with our Center’s stamp and placed in an envelope which I slipped into the goodie bag.

Here is what I wrote:
“To Our Local Security Team, in Preparation of the 44^th ASEAN Summit:

The director and staff of the Santisouk Language and Vocational Center  thank you for all your efforts to keep the city safe and secure during this upcoming vital meeting.  We hope this small gift of snacks will help sustain you during your long week.  

We are so grateful to our Village Chief for announcing, collecting and distributing these items to all those involved in this venture.   It is an honor to join with other businesses to give the support  needed for all involved to complete such a worthy task.

In deepest appreciation,

Director Connie Wieck and Staff, Santisouk Language and Vocational Center Vientiane, Laos

The Delivery

The Village Chief’s office is only a 1-minute motorcycle ride from our main gate. Khamxay called to make sure someone would be there to unlock the hall and usher us in. The Villadge Chief himself wasn’t there so late in the afternoon but two of his staff members were. After dropping off our items, we had a group picture and left feeling satisfied that we had done our duty to keep our neighborhood in good standing with local authorities.

The Biggie: All Schools Closed for The Week!

The last announcement, which was made publicly by official notices, was the close of all educational institutions for the week.

This was completely unexpected and we had no idea it was coming until Sunday.

The Laos government wanted to keep the roads cleared of as much traffic as possible in the city, thus the closure of all schools in Vientiane. This included our Center as well, even though we are a private business and not a public educational institute like a local Laos school, international school or a college.

Khamxay made sure our students were notified via Facebook and our group chats. Despite no students, the Center remained open with the staff and myself keeping our usual office hours.

Shaloom and I, as teachers, had plenty of time to lesson plan. I was able to get caught up on all my material development ventures for primary school and junior high. This included re-writing a puppet play script with specific grammar focuses, creating numerous “spare tire” (extra) worksheets for my beginning level students, making several board-type games with the vocab from book chapters, finishing 3 power points for my class and catching up on administrative duties.

In other words, despite the absence of students, we all kept pretty busy.

The Summit Ends; The Weekend Begins

With Friday upon us, and the summit ending tomorrow, it will be back to the usual weekend activities for me: Pool swimming, shopping, walking my family canine addition (Winnie, my newly adopted dog — we’re still working on potty training, a different concept for her), attending church on Sunday and gearing up for a week of classes after a surprise 1-week holiday.

Keep checking this space in the future for more news. It’s always a joy to share with you from my amazing home, here in Laos.