What have I learnt this week?

What a great week it has been. 

A friend who I have worked and sung with and her delightful family visited for 5 days. 

A young man who I have known almost since I arrived became a monk this week. A very gentle soul, it is lovely to see him so happy.  I wish him every success in this chosen path.   In true Lao style, his teachers missed the event.  We believed the ordination was to happen in the afternoon, but no, it happened at 9.30 that morning.

Until Laos, I had not taught English to absolute beginners.  In the last week or so, I have heard my first student read words that he has sounded out on his own.  I think I was more excited than him.

Something that made me think was having an English conversation with two educated very intelligent young Lao men.  We got onto talking about special things we remembered from our school days.  The most significant thing I recall is the day the first man, Neil Armstrong, walked on the moon. I clearly remember being sent home from school to watch it.  I’m not sure if I was more excited by having most of the day off school or the first man walking on the moon.  I spoke of remembering where you were when significant world events happened.  For example, I know where I was when President Kennedy was shot.  (This is really ageing me.  I didn’t understand what had happened but I knew by my parents response that something “big” had happened.)  I remember where I was when I heard of the deaths of Elvis, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morison and Janis Joplin.  Also the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the fall of the Berlin wall. And who could forget where they were when they heard that planes had crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. 

And this is what got me thinking.  The young men I was talking with had been alive and well and living in Laos when 2 planes flew into the World Trade Centre in New York and neither of them knew anything about it, back then or now.  I found it hard to believe that anyone could have got through the almost 15 years since this happened and not seen repeated footage of those planes crashing into the World Trade Centre.  Sky scrapers and New York are worlds away from Laos.  It really brought home to me how in the west we believe our world is the centre of the universe. 

This week, I was also looking for possible dialogues related to hotels, for my students to practise.  Here’s one that you wont hear in Australia when dealing with customer complaints.  “I’m sorry, I want to change my room, the Chickens are too noisy.”    ……………. Only in Laos.