This new term has found me a tad busier than usual.

Aside from co- teaching junior high with Shaloom, then my own Level 1 elementary ed students, a new adult evening class came into my schedule beginning February 10. This had me at the Center from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. or even later. While I certainly enjoy teaching, other duties in play as the Center’s director left me a drained by the end of the day.

Winnie, my adopted dog, certainly noticed the difference.

She was constantly at me (over and over again) for our 6:30 a.m. wake-ups. Before, I was up and about with one wet whisker tickle to my face. Her having to paw, nudge, stand on my head and lick at exposed skin numerous times was not ideal. A few times, bless her, she resorted to the pee pads placed by the patio door which I’ve had down during our toilet training sessions. I leave them there just in case and while she hadn’t touched them in over two months, my lax “up and at-em!” attitude had her caving in on using them.

I needed some respite.

Shaloom therefore is taking over the 1-hour junior high class and while that may seem like not much, it honestly has helped me energize myself for those late-night adult lessons.

Sharing My China Experiences

As a final send-off to my junior high, the last 2 weeks ending our time together I put together a Chinese New Year unit. For someone such as myself who had been in China for 24 years, sharing my China experience with these young people of Laos had me in full enthusiastic teaching mode.

Not only that but Laos, bordering China and having so many Chinese expats in country, had exploded in Chinese New Year celebrations. The malls were full of Chinese Happiness characters, Year of the Snake displays, festive, upbeat songs for Spring Festival (what we call Chinese New Year) being played throughout major stores and red clothing for kids and adults lining shops along the streets.

Stores also sold in vast quantities Spring Festival door decorations. This included the infamous couplets wishing homes good fortune, success, good luck and numerous other words of wishing one for a prosperous year. I naturally had to have mine as well, placed on my apartment doorway.

The Year of the Snake in my Junior High Classroom

It was great fun to put together PPTs, worksheets, making English doorway couplet displays, learning to writing Chinese characters as well as video taping good wishes in English to all.

This gave me the opportunity to wear my traditional qipao (the Chinese women’s dress) as well, fitting right in with Spring Festival festivities. As you can see, we had a great time!

But the true moment of excitement came when everyone received a red envelope.

The red envelope is given to children and students by adult relatives and friends. It’s filled with spending money for the new year and is something that all look forward to, even college students who often receive much-needed funding for school.

For my students, I divided my left-over Chinese money into 16 red envelopes, adding one for me and Shaloom. Different amounts were placed inside, from 1 yuan (roughly 23 cents) to 20 yuan ($3.20). Numbers were drawn to see which envelope would go to which student. As teachers, I thought it would be fun to include the two of us as well.

There were opportunities, before opening the envelope, to exchange numbers.

“Who will get that 20 yuan note?” I asked. “Want to change your number with me? Or someone else?”

A majority held onto their number but we did have a few who cautiously changed with a classmate.

Here we are for our final photo together, my last class as their fulltime teacher.

Of course, I’ll be visiting from time to time. I also see and talk to them every day in the courtyard as they come to the Center but there is just a different relationship now as Shaloom takes full ownership of their English study. While being a novice teacher there past 6 months, Shaloom had a great deal of experience now with me in the lead. It is now time for him to branch off into the realm of educator on his own. He’s been doing a superb job and I have no reservations at all of turning over these young people into his care.

My Very First Adult Student, Alat

In the meantime, my evening sessions with 22-year-old Alat have been so rewarding and fascinating. She is learning English to improve her private business, that of being a tour agent. She has numerous clients from embassies and overseas companies all around Vientiane which she and her uncle have built from scratch. She lives at home, helping support her entire family. Her parents sell jewelry to help with income as well. Alat has 2 younger sisters to support, who are in school, and an older brother who has just left for New Zealand to study English.

Her main difficulty is her shyness, she said, in being forthcoming with information and asking what clients need or want. Her language skills are exceptional so it’s just a matter of building confidence, helping her craft her sentences to fit her clients’ needs and speaking with more fluency.

And it looks like I’ll be having more adult students in the future, too! More news on that later.

Pee Pads on the Decline

As for Winnie needing those speedy early morning rises on my part, looks like I’m doing better than usual. Although still getting home close to 9 p.m., not having my junior high lesson plans to deal with has made a huge difference in my stress level and time-management ability.

Winnie has only one nudge or wet whisker brush to get me up, and I’ve had no wet pee pads to deal with for the past week. Let’s hope it continues.

Until next entry, here’s Winnie and Connie signing off.