School days...

The boys did 'Australian' school work with Todd for a bit each morning in the library before heading back to their classroom.

This was generally a bit of one on one and doing a few bits to keep up with home.  

Both boys have kept a journal of sorts as well as doing a bit of a main lesson on Laos.

It is important to note that the airconditioning in the library was excellent!

Todd hanging out at the end of the day outside the staff room.

Some pics from the excursion on the last day of school.
The kids waiting for the van to arrive...

Wimitja taught the kids some clapping games which are now very popular.

There are some Laos clapping games that got some good work outs as well when clapping games started to be the go!

Bountavy and Wimitja.

Good friends!

And again!

Oven and Ton...

Heading out to the van in pairs - one Primary kid with one Kindergarten kid...

Me wearing a necklace that one of the students gave me from the Mountain Province of the Philippines.

Wimitja riding around the school yard after school one day.

The boys had a habit of running around with the kids at the end of the day playing chasey, basketball, some game involving a soft ball and trying to touch the other team and various other games while I did my prep and pack up. When I was ready they were usually red as beetroot and soaked in sweat.

Fun times.

Happy times were had!

So many happy memories for our family from our time at school.

Malylath teaching Cream to knit...

Wonderful play...

Painting...

Skipping - something I spent some donated money on was buying ropes for skipping which has been a massive hit!

The wonderful Malylath telling "the enormous radish (turnip!)" passa Laos - in Laos...

She did it so beautifully that I asked her to do it again for the whole school!

I'm happy just looking at the photo!

So many wonderful memories...

Farewell dinner with the school staff...

Heading up for dinner...

So much lovely food with so many lovely folk...

We were so spoilt by all the staff - we have presents coming out our ears! The lovely Poum who gave the boys the tshirts they are wearing.

Kinyin photo bombing our staff photo...

Such a lovely last night - we all had a wonderful time in Luang Prabang.

We will miss so many things.

Off to Nong Kiew tomorrow for some relaxing before heading to Myanmar!

We are so excited to be visiting some Steiner Kindergartens in Myanmar! They are remote and poor - I have saved most of the money people donated to use in these schools.

More news on this to come...

Random unexplainable pictures...

The dog on ice gets me!

Why puzzles and small children are a bad match...

...lunch time play...

Excursions...

Laos style...

21 children and six adults in one mini van.

Yes, that's a teacher in the boot! Not sure  how I scored the front seat - there were only three adults and one child in the front!

Water for thought...

Deep thoughts from the water container at school.

That whole play thing...

...we found it tricky at first...

...but we reckon...

...we pretty much...

...have...

...got the hang of it now.

Happy times!

School lunch

The kids and I have lunch at school every day. The lunches range from amazingly beautiful Laos food to fairly random ones occasionally like tuna sandwiches! 

Mostly they are a delight.

On our second day, one of the staff who work at the school helping with lunches and more came up and asked the kids sitting next to Wimitja and Kinyin what their names were.

The names were repeated over and over till she had it sorted.

Then she wrote their names on their cup!

What a lovely thing!

My class...

I have 13 children in my class who are all Laos except for three. Only one speaks English as a first language.

There are two wonderful Laos teachers who do half a day each with me. They know a seemingly unending number of beautiful Laos songs. I am getting very good at learning the words to songs that I only know the gist of!

My style of teaching is quite different to my predecessor who apparently mainly did work sheets. I know the head teacher and director are really interested in developing a different approach which is why they hired me.

That said, I am not sure what everyone thinks about it!!!

For the first three days the kids actually didn't know what to do at free play time. It has been an amazing experience to watch the children slowly begin to hesitantly play, with one eye on me and the Laos teacher. 

Some would occasionally get up and sit at a table and wait. I would encourage them back to play and some were very reluctant. I even had requests for homework!

We started with only a short time and I extended each each day.

Slowly the kids relaxed but it wasn't until the second week that it seemed the kids really relaxed into playing and started inventing.

We began gathering rocks, finding things around the school and garden. 

Rachel from Rainbow Tree donated some fences which are well loved. I bought a few wooden people and animals and a lovely parent gave me a few knitted animals which are so enjoyed!

I bought some coloured cloths but also a length of cloth we have just ripped to different sizes.

The kids now turn anything in the classroom to creative ends. I love seeing the readers being used as a road and the phonemic sound books as a roof! That is the only use they are getting right now!

Perhaps in another context I would not use books in this way but we have such limited resources I find it a positive use.

I found three beautiful long wooden 3D puzzles with different sized round pieces with knobs on top. No one was using them so now they are in much use in my room for people, etc

There are beautiful stories growing and the children work very cooperatively.

We have also been sanding wood.

We have mastered finger knitting thanks to the Laos teacher Poum who was WAY better than me at teaching it!!!

We now have a growing number of ropes.

More school news another day...

Walking home from school...

Every day we walk to and from school. It takes about 20-30 minutes and it is a welcome change from a commute back in Adelaide!

The walk from home goes along the flat up a hill, down again, then part way up another hill to the school.

This is looking up towards the school across a busy road. 

The school is a few roads back from the edge of town and for much of the walk we have lovely clear mountain views.

Luang Prabang is surrounded by mountains so the beautiful green hills are pretty much always at the end of the street which is perfect for a not really urbanite like me!

Everyone has at least a few fruit trees or plants for the kitchen. Here is a papaya tree. Concrete wall, concrete yard and still producing!

There are lovely little lanes and nooks along the way to peep down. Many afternoons we see a group of ducks returning home down this lane.

We now know all the dogs along our walk and all have our own personal favourites. We regularly say "sabaidee" to the children and old people we pass every day and some are getting to know us as  regulars which is nice. 

This picture is taken looking towards the school on the way home one afternoon. It is over someone's garden patch. You can see the afternoon storm rolling in.

After climbing up to this garden we then go down the hill past a beautiful French resort - way out of our league! 

This road is my favourite road on the walk home from school.

It is leafy green, chickens by the side of the road, beautiful wall one side, lovely flowers and trees and the other side has traditional woven houses on stilts.

At the end of this road you hit a busy cross road. You can really see the storm arriving now!

For the record, Kinyin and I had umbrellas but didn't make it home very dry! Luckily wet here isn't very cold!

We have had a few soakings here and it hasn't rained that much!

These two photos are from a different day as you can see the sunshine! 

This is the remains of a beautiful dragon boat made from bamboo and paper. It is in the yard of a house on the corner of our street. The house is huge, for rent and decaying in front of your eyes. The greenery is just taking over - as you can see from the vine which has crept across the yard to find the boat..,

On our street there is the Chinese Embassy, a dress maker who works in her open front room,  a few little front yard shops, a couple of restaurants and our guest house. A typical side street - everyone mixing daily life and business close to and on the street.

The white wall in the foreground is our guesthouse.

A different day - you can see the shadows from the bright sun!

Welcome home - thanks for walking with us!