Joy and Despair

My morning followed much the same timeline my other weekday mornings here in Vientiane have followed. In fact, dare I say it, I’ve started a routine. Up at 6:45 am, a quick shower, dress, get ready for the day, eat a little breakfast, head off to VFI to use the internet uninterrupted for half an hour, then work begins at 8:00 am. Easy and simple; however, I think I need to give you a slightly clearer picture of what “work at VFI” entails.

As I have mentioned before, the walk to VFI is a quick one and easily accomplished in under five minutes. The only hurdles we face on our journey are the crossing of a “major” thoroughfare (major by Vientiane standards, which means it is simply one of the main three roads crossing the town in that direction) and the short dirt road that lies in front of the office. When we arrive at the office, the first thing to do is take off your shoes. Similar to the rules of any house in Asia, in the office you walk around barefoot or with special “office slippers.” Unfortunately, this means that any cute shoes bought for an office environment are now useless for the summer. In fact, I wear my flipflops to and from work as they are the easiest to slip on and off.

The entire office is air conditioned and feels like a blessing when you walk in after the heat of the day. In addition, each individual office (individual in the sense that each offices houses four people) where your desk resides has an air conditioner as well, set the preference of the highest ranking individual there. This means that while the office in general has a good temperature, the individual offices themselves range from slightly warm to decent to icebox. The one in which I currently work edges closer to icebox on the scale of things, but I enjoy the company of the people and am willing to put up with some temperature fluctuations to continue my tenancy there.

Working at the office is an enjoyable experience, but today, the first day we were really supposed to begin work, I finally understood what Mike, the intern from last year, had been trying to tell me about the slow pace. It’s not just the pace of the city that is slow, which is, undeniably, slow, it’s also the pace of the people in offices. Mention a need for something and it might be a day or a week before you receive it. Ask for a task to be assigned and you’re told it’s coming with no definite time of arrival mentioned. The only time there is a frantic pace or sense of urgency is when an outside force demands documents or information on a certain schedule (for example, paperwork is now needed for a large donor, so the office is working hard to get all the information together). Today, I requested the Frequently Asked Questions VFI wants us to research so that we could begin and was told they would ask the staff and see what was needed soon. I received a similar response later when asking after another project and after receiving these brush-offs from my bosses, I sat down at my computer station and read more introductory materials, the only thing left for me at that point. Therefore, I spent another day reviewing old papers and plans, which is not a bad thing, as the more familiar I am with the program the better I will be able to help.

We do have one very exciting work prospect on the horizon, however. This Wednesday night we will be leaving Vientiane by sleeper bus for the Salavan Province in Southern Laos, where VFI does a great deal of its community outreach work. We will be visiting local villages, a local shelter for trafficked individuals, and seeing a great deal of the area. We are staying until Saturday night, when we will board a bus back to Vientiane and we should arrive “home” sometime in the early morning on Sunday. I am very excited about this upcoming trip and can’t wait to see more of Laos and more of what VFI does in the field.

We had another session of English lessons after work today, although this time I switched to the more advanced class, which is harder in some respects and easier in others (they know enough to understand concepts, but they want explanations that it is hard to give as a native English speaker (meaning I have no idea why certain things are pronounced a certain way and others not)).

After class today, which went a little overtime, we headed back to our house to drop off our stuff and change our clothes. While the others stayed in for a while, Zenia and I went out into the city on our bikes. Our goal was to do a little sightseeing before the sun set (we only had about an hour or so) and we were successful. We decided to head to Patu Xay, the Arc de Triomphe of Vientiane. We parked our bikes about four blocks away and slowly walked toward the arch, taking pictures in the setting sun. It was beautiful and the perfect thing to lift our spirits after our slightly depressing weekend. As I mentioned before, Patu Xay looks amazingly similar to Paris’ famous arc, but it is definitely of an Asian persuasion. Inside the archway the ceiling is lined with tiles that, I would imagine, gleam in the sunlight and sparkle. As you walk under, a fountain appears on the other side where people gather at all times of the day, with bands playing and joggers pause for a rest. The water spurts up and down in a glorious cascade, which is beautiful, although it has the slightly negative side-effect of making you very thirsty. :) It was amazing to visit Patu Xay at night and I can’t wait to repeat the experience during the day, when I can actually climb to the top and see Vientiane from on high.

We finished our day with a grill-it-yourself Laos-Korean meal (which I did not partake of as my stomach is still a bit sensitive) and then Zenia and I rode home via the Riverfront, which was refreshing and easy. Unfortunately, upon our return to the house something awful occurred. While some may claim it is my fault, I believe it is another slap in the face from this country to yours truly.

In preparation for our trip this coming weekend, I decided to wash some of my clothes so that I would have a full selection for our journey. I dutifully pulled all of my dirty laundry out of my bag and noticed there was quite a bit, too much to do by hand when I was a bit tired already. Flush with my success from our washing machine excursion yesterday, I decided to use the machine once more, becoming the first member of our house to use it for personal laundry. MISTAKE! I forgot to take the new skirt I bought in Thailand out of the mix and it has died FIVE of my beautiful shirts blue! I am so depressed. One shirt was a nothing shirt that I will not be sorry to ditch here once I am done, but two were new tank tops (inexpensive, but still!) and two were beloved favorites! I am one of those people who love to wear their clothes until they die (if I truly love the item) and to have two ripped from my grasp this way is terrible. After having my soul buoyed by my Patu Xay experience this afternoon it is especially hard. I have crashed from my tourist moment high and now stare in sorrow at the remains of my beautiful white t-shirts. I cannot accept that this was all my fault. NO! This is something Laos is doing to me! First, illness, and now my clothes! I am down to a one week supply of shirts, which means by the time I get home I will need all new ones because I will never want to see these again! I don’t know how long it will take me to get over this, but usually I can brood and feel sorry/angry over these things for years. I’ll try not to let it negatively color my time here too much, but I can’t help thinking that Laos is trying to make me leave. Why is that?

Aside from that much needed venting moment, things are continuing well on our travels. The only hiccup will occur with my trip this weekend, where I will be deprived of internet from Wednesday night until Sunday morning! My plan so far is to post on Wednesday afternoon and mass posts the blogs that accumulate over the course of the trip Sunday morning upon my return. I hope all is going well with you. Mourn my shirts with me. It is a sad day…