June 15, 2009

We arrived in Vientiane, Laos Sunday morning and we were met by Athith at the airport. Athith is a student at the Lao-American College. Words cannot begin to express the feelings I had when I arrived in Vientiane. Throughout the whole travel, which took over 20 hours, my excitement grew and I felt giddy, like a child anxiously waiting to open the biggest most lavishly wrapped gift. Flying into Laos, the expansive country side was full of neatly groomed rice paddies with families wading and working in the paddies. It was a beautiful scene that one can only find in the illustrations of National Geographic. I walked out the airplane door and was greeted by the warm heat, it felt like a warm blanket that was gently wrapped around my shoulders, and I felt comforted. I looked out and saw the country side and a feeling of such calm and peace washed over me as if I had been holding breath for the longest time and was exhaling, I was home.

We are staying at the Somnuek Guest House, a small quaint place close to an open market and a wat (Buddhist temple). We are on the third floor, the view from my balcony makes the uneven long flights of stairs worthwhile. I have a fairly big room and the furnishing is adequate. I welcome anyone who wishes to come and visit to stay with me!!!

We have a great group. We are the first SAILers in the Center for Lao Studies’ Summer Study Abroad in Laos (SAIL) program, and I must say we are a pretty amazing group. There are 6 of us in the group; me (Vatsana), Sandra, Amy, Eileen, Brandin, and Yaeng. We went and explored Ban Phonkeng the minute we dropped our bags in our room. We had our first Lao meal, o lam (beef stew), khoua phet (spicy stir-fry), khoua khao (fried rice), and tam mak hung (green papaya salad) and Fanta (orange soda). It tasted good, but I must admit, I was scared and a little weary about eating at the open café. Their idea of not spicy is far different from ours. Their not spicy is equivalent to our spicy hot, (fire engine spicy). I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head and I like spicy food!!

Today we went to the Lao-American College and met Ginny the founder and director of the college. Her story is an amazing story. She is the only American who has recently been granted a Lao citizenship because of all her work and commitment in building schools, (elementary to college) that are open to all students regardless of nationality, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and disabilities. I was very impressed and touched by the schools philosophy that closely follows what CHIME, (my home school) is all about. The Lao-American College has over a thousand students and the majority of their students are from a lower socio-economics and have earned scholarships to attend. They are a private college funded by the generosity of sponsors, so if anyone is interested in supporting an AMAZING program, let me know and I will get you information.

We met our Lao language partners (students from at the LAC) and I must say, I was impressed and felt a great sense of pride in meeting these bright, eager yet modest young adults who have earned the recognition of being the top of their class, earning scholarships to study abroad in the United States. They are the best of the best and they are ideal representatives of Lao ambassadors to America. They will be leaving in July and they will be dispersed across America. I believe there is a group of about 10 students. They will be in Wyoming, Montana, California, New York, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Mississippi. I know that a few of them will come and stay with me during their holiday breaks and a couple will be in California!!!

Okay, it’s 3:00AM, so I better get to bed. I’m still adjusting to the time change here and its been difficult. Good night and I will write again soon. Love you all!