The First Few Days

So I've been here a few days now and I'm finally getting the swing of things. It's amazing how busy they keep us! Before I get started on anything else I want to introduce all the people I've been working with. There are a lot of us so I'll stick to names and nationality.

First off, the staff: Trisha(Australia), Sam(Australia) and Greg(New Zealand)
The Volunteers: Sandra(Australia), Caitlin(Canada), Jasmine(N/A), Hayley(Australia), Sally(England), Rich(USA), Darlene(USA), Jeremy(Australia), Anja(Germany), Jane(Wales), Melissa(USA), Eva(Sweden), Pauline(USA/France), Lesley(Canada), Anna(Australia), Briony(Australia).

I am very glad to have people from all over the world to work with. It means I get to learn about more than just the country I'm in. Just dont be surprised if I come back with an Australian accent.

When I arrived on Saturday afternoon, they were already doing orientation so from the moment I got there I was busy. Unlike with CCS, GVI provides training so Sunday and Monday consisted somewhat of that. Monday evening we all went to our first classes. I'm working at the three schools, Xayadeth College, The Mekong English Center(MEC) and Sikoud School. Last night I went to MEC and Xayadeth. In both classes I act as an assistant more than an actual teacher. Volunteers are always paired with either a Lao teacher or another volunteer, thankfully they never throw you in totally alone. This morning I went to Sikoud and again acted as an assistant. I ran into a few problems because the teacher got some sentences very wrong but outright correcting them causes the teacher to lose face and is very rude. It seems like an odd custom to us but it's totally normal for them. Thankfully I managed to subtley suggest that they were incorrect and he later asked me to check other sentences.

In all the schools the monks and novices are noticeably better English speakers than the other students. They are also less afraid to ask questions. It's interesting to see monks who are so young because they are just like any other kid or teenager, they just have a few more rules. Some of the other schools work with monks more and I'm hoping to switch to those if I can. GVI works most closely with Xayadeth so they always have volunteers there, meaning I may have to stay there for more time.