Friday, September 28, 2012

Meet Laura, Our New Staff Member!

From Thailand to Laos……..
On the 16th September I started and ended my not so long journey from the island of Phuket to Luang Prabang (Not forgetting to pick up Jill our Regional Director in Chiang Mai on my way through of course).
Feelings were mixed as I left Thailand which has been my home for the past 6 months; it was also the end of another era as the project I had been working on was being moved from Krabi to Phang gna province but I was also very excited about being given the opportunity to work on the projects in Laos for 2 months. Having said goodbye to many of my students’ just days before I was also saying a temporary goodbye to my colleagues (Jax, Apple and Ian) who would be working hard packing up everything at base and setting up the projects in Phang gna of which I would be returning to at the end of November.
Upon arrival with my leg bandaged up from falling down a drain I was able to meet Tricia and Molly who were still recovering from Dengue fever, despite her wellness Tricia came to meet us at the airport and Molly appeared shortly after to say ‘Hay’ I was made to feel very welcome and went out with the volunteers to eat my first baguette in months!!!!
The following day Jill and I were taken on a tour of 3 of the temple schools that volunteers teach in and were able to watch a few classes too. After 3 grueling days of staff training (only joking Jill was very accommodating to the various levels of staff health) I had taught my first class to the Novices, Gregg (a previous staff member) had returned much to the delight of the staff team and we said goodbye to Jill as she headed back to Chiang Mai.
As every day passes I feel more settled here and have started to have a look around Luang Prabang. I have climbed up Phousi hill to see the city from a spectacular viewpoint and even been to one of the local karaoke spots…..but have yet to visit the night market which is on the list to do one night this week. With so much to do here, classes to teach and volunteers arriving I feel my time here will fly by so I intend to make the most of it.
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