National Teachers' Day

Yes; it is that time of year again, when the kids, who have little enough schooling as it is, get cheated out of a few days more. I use the plural, as National Teachers' Day began on Friday and in some cases will run until Tuesday. More extraordinary is that I am told that the banks, government offices and even the police are closed today, on the grounds that the staff of those used to have teachers. This is an assertion for which I cannot always  find convincing evidence. Only the military, it seems was excluded from exposure to teachers, a situation which I do find credible and likely to apply not only to Laos but across the globe.  My own staff at the LEOT school  spent  the day building a boule (petanque) area. A harmless enough activity, but not one likely greatly enhance the language skills of their students; but at least I have kept 'the day' down to the singular form.

One of my theories that whenever I travel there is always one lunatic was recently called into question when I took the minibus from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. Where my theory was at fault us that there were in fact  2 certifiable passengers on the bus...20% of the total.

One, from a country which I dare  not name  a rather aggressive nation on the shores of the southern Mediterranean, soon got bored with his own bombastic prejudices  and went to sleep. A happy situation for us all. The other, from a country which spent 10 years trying to eradicate all trace of members from the other race, was less easily quietened. He had those terrifying eyes and that smile of the 'true believer'. What he believed in was 'deep meditation' and had recently been released from a Buddhist Boot Camp in Chiang Mai. Obviously, a deeply flawed person when he was admitted, he graduated with first class as honours as totally bonkers.  When he was explaining how his experiences had taught him great sensitivity I found it a little strange that his  sensitivity did not extend to noticing the great hostility directed towards him from my  colleague and I at the back of the bus.

As part of his training he had experienced sleep deprivation and had  endured 20 days of total silence. How I wished I had the balls  to ask him  demonstrate the latter technique, and also  take the opportunity of catching up with the former.....but a lower middle class upbringing in the Home Counties makes such an intervention impossible, even after all these years. How grateful I am for the the the invention by Mr B. Log, of  his eponymous form of communication which enables me to sound off in this fashion. In any event our lunatic was able to assure us all that after years of being deeply troubled he had now achieved perfect harmony with the world. He also mentioned that he was 22 years of age. I wonder what he will do when he grows up? World Dictator  or Guru by age of 26 I suppose and settle down to write his memoirs aged 30? I hope he will never have to demean himself by doing an honest day's work.

The bus actually left not on time, but 15 minutes early.This appeared to be excellent news until after 20 minutes it was discovered that we had left a passenger behind. But that the fact that he was driven to meet us and join our happy band was a very positive development. It maybe be that Laos is starting to acknowledge the concept of customer  care. Ryanair and HSBC please note, maybe you might follow where Laos leads.

One feature of our work at the our Language Centre is the number of boys who have come to us from the Orphanage. (Boys only it seems). They look extraordinarily young, tending to be rather malnourished and small. On Saturdays and other days when they have no school, they come into the Centre around 10 and study  until we close around 9 pm. During that time they go without food unless I can rustle up a little money to send someone to the market to buy some rice and vegetables. It is all rather sad and I hope that I can find someone who has the time and energy to run a small soup/noodle  kitchen for them; a role which rather goes beyond my  own already full job description !

But having had a busy week last week, I decided to spend the weekend doing nothing but relaxing and going to the sauna. In the event, doing nothing took up so much of my time that I never got to the sauna. Nor did I get to the shops, with the result that last night I  too was faced with creating one of those 1960s type student meals made up odd left overs and fresh air. Some rather tired bits of bacon, with a handful or rice and rather too many chillies, was happily augmented by that most adaptable of object, an egg. I was however reminded that such a  meal in my student days was pressed in to service when my grant had run out...what a Golden Age that must have been when you got paid to study, rather than having to take out crippling debts to do it !

The problem of writing an occasional blog is that there is too much stuff to include. Since I last wrote  I have been to UK, we have opened our school, had barbecues and  boat races....where the team we sponsored came first.  My dog has been stolen, I have been to hospital in Thailand, many visitors have been welcomed   and oh, of course I still have no visa. So as ever, this occasional effort is merficully short because of my lack of editorial skills. Random photos are included just to fill up space.