Pim is back!

Pim has been working *very* hard the past 6 months. Is it really January?!

Pim is back to writing her blog... stay tuned. : ) She would also like to do link exchanges, so if you have a Lao based blog (either in location, language or heart..) email her!

Khap jai der tuk tuk khon. : )

Position Available - USA, Lao Language Instructor

Pim received this email from an academic mailing list she is on. She doesn't know any details, the person or company offering the position. Just wanted to share what sounds like a good potential job in the language Pim loves.

Contact info provided below.

Position: Lao Language Instructor Location: Arlington, VA

This is a full time assignment starting August 23, 2010, and continuing through
August 22, 2011.

If you know of anyone who might be interested, please have them contact me at
(240) 401-6310 or dmitchell [at] globalltinc.com

All the best,
David J. Mitchell
Vice President, Business Development
Global Language Translation, Inc.

• Job Description: Provide basic, intermediate and advanced language
instruction to U.S. government and other personnel. Assist with evaluation of
students and provide academic counseling. About half the time will be spent in
classroom instruction and other half preparing for class and related duties.
Class size is small, 1 – 8 students at the same level.

• Full time (40 hours/week). Monday through Friday, 7:15 AM – 4:00 PM.

• Required Experience: Native speaker of the target language. Educated in
target language through secondary school.

• Other Requirements: Fully knowledgeable of the target culture and
current usage of the language. The ideal candidate will have at least three
years experience teaching adults coupled with solid experience in language
education and methodology and adult education. Extensive experience preparing
and presenting language platform instruction within a learning center
environment is a definite plus.

• Education Experience: Minimum secondary school education in target
language. College degree in the language, teaching methodology or a related
field, or comparable work experience, is preferred.

• Citizenship: U.S. Citizenship, Green Card or authorization to work in
the U.S. required.

To Apply: Applicants must already live in the Washington, DC area. Please submit
your resume identifying language teaching skills and experience along with
information regarding earliest availability to dmitchell@globalltinc.com

Khao Gam

(not sure if transliterated that properly...)

This is Khao Gam. The mother of one of Pim's friends gave it to her. Pim watched her carry it from the village in the mountains to the "bus" stop on her head. Rather, from a bag hanging around her forehead. These women are amazing.

Many may be surprised that Pim can cook sticky rice. (Most are even more surprised Pim worked in a Lao restaurant in her home country.) Anyway, Pim especially loves the days worthy of preparing a little of her special Khao Gam. The whole process is beautiful, the way the soaking water turns a soft purple then deeper plum. Granted, it does stain your basket a bit.. but it's beauty forgives that. You can buy Khao Gam in Vientiane. A shop near ComCenter has it. It's more expensive than Khao Nieo. Pim isn't sure if she will buy it right away once her supply is gone. There is something more beautiful in the memory of this batch of rice. Talk about knowing where your food comes from.

Pim is writing a new Business syllabus for the school she works for this afternoon. (No, it won't be done in one afternoon. It's a 40 hour class!) Pim is making it Lao specific. It's rather nice to be contributing something to education here, even if it is for a Business class. A world away from Pim's the woman who grew Pim's rice - but not really. After all, Khao Gam has to get to market somehow.

Whatever you do.... don't

DO NOT put your feet down.

That was probably some of the advice (for riding a motorbike) Pim has received in the past month.

It's rainy season here in Laos. That means, people like Pim, who don't live on nicely paved roads.. go as they say in the west.. "go mudding". Normally "mudding" involves sport. 4x4 equipped "mudding" vehicles. Not under powered Honda Click scooters.

Really, it takes a bit of finesse. These Lao folks are born with it. To search out every high spot. To know, wait DO NOT go thru a puddle unless you know the road well; it may be MUCH deeper than you suspect. Keep your balance. Go forward. Use your body weight, your arms, your throttle to counteract your bike's desire to slip, slide and skid .... anything but your feet.

Every morning Pim goes mudding out her road. Some compare driving on this red wet mud to driving on grease. Pim likes to compare it to maybe a chocolate cherry cake frosting. (Maybe Pim just misses cake.) Anyway, Pim leaves every morning all dressed to teach in her PaSin (Lao Skirt), school acceptable closed toes shoes (despite it being RAINY season) and back pack full of books. Every morning she wonders if this in fact will be the day the cake batter wins and she bites it and goes down into the mud. (And NO doubt this will happen in front of all the locals) :P

In the meantime, since the school has signs posted around about not washing your feet in the toilet; whatever you do.. don't put your feet down in the mud.

Be safe friend...

One of Pim's friends headed back home to UdomXai today. He will help his parents work in their fields for the summer. "Cut the grass." That is one long ride on the ole lod meh (bus). Pim has done it before. She's not too keen to do it again either. (Who uses the word keen anymore? Where did that just come from?) Someday Pim hopes to go back to UX..maybe help "cut the grass" but lately a trip to Sam Nuea has been calling Pim.


Well, as for the photo ..the ladder above is really more like a road. When Pim visited her friend in UX last December she started up the ladder / road. Some people use it everyday to go work the fields. One climb up then down was enough for Pim. Anyway.. today Pim's friend goes North. Be safe friend. Pim has her own ladder to climb here in VTE.

Summer in Vientiane

Summer in Vientiane means a lot of the expats go home for the summer. The ones married with kids enrolled at schools like VIS and etc. Back to Korea or one of the assorted places all expats hail from. Which means Pim has lost some of her students for a few months. Now, most people would say "ahhhhhh...vacation..... bring me my Mojito."

However, Pim does have to pay the rent. ^ ^

So, today Pim popped onto Findinlaos.com and placed herself an ad. Que sera sera.. Well, OK, not quite whatever will be will be. Pim is much more stubborn than that.

Live in Vientiane and need an English tutor? Pim knows a girl. ; )

yin d than hap

Sa bai d. Yin d than hap (welcome!) to Pim's blog.

Pim finally decided that after a year of hiding in the banana groves she might peak out from behind the bamboo and write something. Write about what living in Laos is like from the perspective of someone who has.. well, a perspective. Who knows if anyone will read. But in the word's of Picasso "Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction". Irony. Opps. Maybe I just gave away that Pim bo men kon Lao. (Pim is not Lao). She can however mostly navigate through the muddy waters of not the Mekong.. or even her own dirt road at times.. but the Lao language she is 50/50 with. ha sip ha sip.

Pim read over on Lao Bumpkin's blog "I like the transliteration from Laotian, there is no standard way, I’m free to misspell to my hearts content. Often I spell things differently within the same sentence, like Pongsaly, Phongsali, and Pongxali." Pim takes the same approach. Pasa karaoke or pasa teenager (ie: transliteration) in Lao can be quite madding. Pim isn't into being mad.

More random facts about Pim. (Let's get silly details out of the way)

Pim is a girl. In her home country, Pim was Kon Ban Nok (country kid). Pim is happy for this upbringing because it has let her adopt Laos more readily. Nop tu Paw Meh.
Pim works in Vientiane, so chances for reading great travel stories from the far flung corners of Laos..well, Pim can't promise too many exciting reads there. (Although she does have a soft spot for the north.. more north than LPB)
Pim doesn't have a good camera anymore. That's another story. But she will work with what she has. If she can find the charging cord for it. Pim is 34 next week. Pim is a little sad about this and a few other things, but will type through it. It's what Pim does. : )