School is over, already, and I can barely believe it. So many things have happened this last year...I learned so much, was blown away so many times, experienced so many first times.My students drove me crazy, made me laugh, made me cry, whatever I will miss my witty cheeky little kids for sure...
We had this lovely Christmas party with the kids all dressed up as little red Santas, that was so cute, and so suprising in a buddhist country, then the crazy Pimai lao party, a wild and joyful water party, and this odd graduating ceremony at the end of the year, so unexpected to me, not to mention my cooking class outing, Halloween and the That Luang festival we already talked about.
# Christmas party
# Pimai Lao
The lao new year is a big thing in Laos. It is actually the new Year in the Buddhist calendar. That is how I figured it was time for a cultural clarification in my class. "Do you know what year it is in the Buddhist calendar ?" They obvioulsy knew who Buddha was but had no idea that Pimai could have any connection. So I asked : "What do you think happened 2016 years ago ?" That's how I made the connection with the birth of Jesus, a wise man, 2016 years ago and the death of Buddha , another wise man, 2559 years ago. Then I saw my students look at me eyes wide open in bewilderment. That's when one of them (a witty cheeky one) Film told me : "But why do you know that Teacher ?" Just as if I had told him the earth was round and nobody had told him before!
# French cooking class :
I took my students to a "Crèpes" cooking class at Skills Cafe. That was our yearly outing.
# Graduation ceremony :
Thats was something unexpected, again! Last day of school, graduation ceremony. That was held in a remote party hall at the end of a dirt road...It ended up being such a big uptight posh kind of thing, all the graduating students wearing this kind of American type graduating outfit, from kindergarten, to the end of primary (?!). How ODD! Just take a look and watch the video of my kids dancing a Gang Nam style dance.
