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As mentioned before,
we organize training and recycling workshops every summer for the bilingual
classes' teachers. In the past years, the Lao and Cambodian teachers were
coming in Viet Nam to participate to these workshops, but this year it was decided
to organize a specific one for the Lao teachers (in addition to those
in Saigon and Hanoi) in Vientiane from the 16th 'til the 27th of August.
And their well-placed modesty allows them to ask the good questions and to assimilate rapidly, to later use directly their new or improved skills ! Roxane and me had to adapt our schedule more than we thought : if we have had to extend some workshops, cancel some others and shorten all afternoons of 1/2 hour (so that the trainees could get their bus), they didn't want any break between the workshops, were working at lunch time on their own, and at the end, 100% indicated in the written anonymous evaluation that the 2-weeks session was too short ! Wow... But let's talk about the country...
From our first steps in the airport of Vientiane, we were welcomed in French. In the streets ? No "Hello ! Hello !"... More than once, we were greeted at first in French, mainly by kids. Francophonie is everywhere, and on most signs it's Lao first, then French, and finally English... Sorry, English speakers ! Laos is low populated, and it's great : here, stress is proportional to the density of the population, very welcoming by the way !
Geckos will not say otherwise...
Roxane and me came back to Viet
Nam "pumped up", enchanted by Laos, the Laos, the trainees, the work
done with them... Eyes full of high color pictures, there we are, ready
for a new school year full of challenges ! February
2002 : back in Laos, disapointment... |
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Even if the borders of the holes have been cemented now, you better watch where you put your foot on Vientiane's walkways... | Coming back from my trip to Cambodia, I stopped two days in Vientiane. I couldn't wait to be back in the nice city I first visited 30 months earlier ! Wrong feeling : these two days were just a succession of disapointments. Compare with my 1999 impressions, above... At the airport, the immigration officers were not nice at all and couldn't say one word in French this time. It's 30 dollars, period. Taxis work only with big bucks now, and don't expect a smile even if you speak some Lao. The Lane Xang hotel is full, but there is my first smile : they drive me to another hotel of my choice, the Douang Deuane. Take a room in the back for the quiet, in the front for the light and the view ; all are quite nice. However, don't expect any flexibility : the rules are the rules and if you want to keep the room until 1pm instead of 12pm, you'll have to pay for one more night ! |
The only thing I haven't found different : the Italian restaurant "L'Opéra", still as delicious (but you'll have to pay for it). Besides that... The French language left the streets, smiles have left people's faces, everyone seemed to be dead bored to me, restaurants were deserted (except, strangely, the best and the worst of the ones I went to !) I found the service to be bad and money to be essential...
My second smile : a very nice driver (M. SiKhoTaBong - tél. 020-616.879) who took me for a tour then for a drink at his home (don't go for a drink before the tour ;))
The third one : many restaurants serve Stella (Belgian beer) !
The cherry on the cake ? In the middle of my chicken scallop, on the second day, it "scratches" a bit. What's...? This is a modern restaurant, which already has a good reputation...
Small pieces of glass ! Did I swallow some yet ? I've never been as white in my life... I quickly had a thought for this old (Indian ?) torture of the tiger moustache' hairs in the food, that one doesn't notice until they rip the intestines to the end (a few hours agony).
I'll be reassured only a few days later.
Laos, dear Laos, where did you go ?
July 2002 : One of my friends went back to Laos for two weeks and did not, unlike me, feel a difference and was not disapointed. See for yourself ! Maybe I was out of luck...
Page créée le 3 septembre 1999 - Mise à jour le
27 juillet 2002
©opyright 1997-2007
Pierre Gieling - tous droits réservés
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