Expecting the Unexpected

I am eternally grateful for all those cold showers on the pool deck at the college. Little did I know they would help prepare me for Laos. (There is one knob on the water fixtures here and it does not go left and right--at least not on purpose. The water starts cold and at some point goes to tepid and there you are. If it gets to tepid, you have probably used too much water.) In fact, it seems everything in life dovetails to help you do the next thing. Even hopscotch. Maybe especially hopscotch.

I was packed and ready to move yesterday. I did not move. The lorry taking the ESL students to our new school forgot to pick me up, came back for me, then we found at our new classroom they were not ready for us yet. Come back tomorrow, they said. So we will.

Riding in a lorry during rush hour is a wondrous thing. It was happy hour in downtown Vientiane, so we saw many residents and visitors dining and relaxing and enjoying the cool breezes after a hot day. They lounged in the open restaurants, markets and even just on the sidewalks. Lots of families get on their motorscooters and drive around between four and six pm. There were little ones sandwiched between mother and father or sister and brother. There were folks driving their scooters and talking on their cellphones. Some things are universal. There were lots of minimarks and satellite dishes and shops and colors and all manner of goods for sale. I had each student on the lorry greet me in English and I greeted them back. We compared Lao and English terms for body parts. But mostly I guess you would call what we did yesterday part of a liberal education.