----------- 2010-07-31 17:11:12 -----------
July 31st 2010- Walker Final day of teaching

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. ~Frederick Douglas

Again, another beautiful, wonderful, and rewarding day! It was our last day with the children and possibly the best. It was just court and I for the day because the girls were not feeling well and since the ceremony was the day prior, they wanted their goodbyes to be climatic. Understandable.

The night before, I went out and bought little packages for all the students. They included two English Laotian dictionaries with different objects and words, a game book, a fun story book, a writing/notebook, pen, pencils, and other writing utensils all in their very own book bags. Ahhh, I was so excited to give them the gifts I could barely sleep the night before. I even tied all the writing utensils together in cute little bows. Better than a night out for sure.

The smiles on the childrens' faces brought tears to my eyes (what's new) and they were so happy!!! They have never owned their own books before and it was a joy to witness.

We continued our lesson, but when I realized the children were getting restless, I decided to it was fieldtrip time! Yay!

We were only supposed to take a walk and practice our English by pointing out objects and practicing conversation. Some how, those little perfect boogers, tricked me into hiking up to a waterfall and going swimming for the rest of the lesson. Every moment is a teaching opportunity and it makes learning fun during adventures like this. We learned what swimming is, jumping, climbing, holding our breath, water, waterfall, etc. It was awesome. On the way back to the village I knew it was all worth it when one of the students said, "today, we go to waterfall and I swim and jump in water." it was his fifth day of English.

The day ended with the children, which was a tearful goodbye and all the kids telling us how much they loved us. Then continued going into town with the teacher and police man to drink beer and set up more lesson plans. The teacher and I discussed pointers and I wrote him lessons and ideas for future lessons. We then arranged and talked about donations for the children and how we can get these kids through school. Details coming soon after I research more about how to set this up....

After a few too many beers, it was time to exchange email addresses and call it a day. Another great day with the children. I am now called the child whisperer. I have to show off my ability to stop a screaming child in less than 5 seconds. You can see the photos, but there is a video as well. Hopefully, we will figure out how to work the damn thing and upload videos soon...very soon.