Once we got ourselves settled in our bungalows at Santiphab Guesthouse on Don Det Island in the 4,000 Islands in Laos that Thursday, Lies and I realized it was time to go soon to the teaching site in Ban Tamouang to set up the library of 300 books that Lies had brought after raising money to buy them, and to talk with ''Mr Kamsai" a bit about when we were to get started. When he had picked the books up from us 2 days earlier on his motorbike, he had made a plan to meet us at 1pm on this day, and was going to arrange transportation for us from the pier in Ban Nakasan. We had a quick lunch, and hopped on our rented bicycles to cycle to the pier.
Getting to the village where we would be teaching ''Ban-Tamouang" was quite the process, one that we managed to perfect after a few trips. Initially, we just rode two bicycles from our guesthouse to the main pier which took about 20 minutes, and assuming we could just hop on any boat to go to Ban Nakasang, we went. It turns out we actually had to wait around for quite a while for a boat, people telling us there was no boatman, and not being really clear on what the price would be, etc. After finally finding a boatman, and discovering the price (higher than the usual), we got going, but we were nearly a half an hour late for our pick up time with Mr. Kamsai!
Luckily, Mr. Kamsai is quite patient and good-natured, and was smiling when we got there, and also had a friend with him with another motorbike. So, Lies and I each got on the back of a motorbike, and off we went, to set up the library and see where we would be teaching over the next few weeks. While on the back of my motorbike, somehow in the first few minutes the driver (named Mr. Khan) found out that I needed to cross the Cambodian border in the next few days, and we made a plan in the first 5 minutes of this 20 minute motorbike ride that he would take me the next day on motorbike over the Cambodian border and back- for 30,000kip! (This is only $3.50!) This price was so low, in fact, that it actually made me a bit nervous that I was being set up for something (as I have been getting quite used to having to bargain high prices down to lower more reasonable ones during the past 3 months) but nonetheless, we shook hands on it, and agreed- "9am tomorrow morning, at the pier! 30,000kip! See you then!'
Lies and I thought we were only going to set up books for the library and possibly meet 'Mr Bunchan' the man in charge of our volunteer efforts. As it turned out, we were being taken to a ''Committee Meeting". We were quite surprised when we pulled into a Lao stilted-house driveway, and underneath the house was a table and chairs, with 3 other men sitting quite formally (as formal as one can get in Laos) waiting for us, and then Mr. Kamsai took his seat, put on some reading glasses, and opened a notebook to take notes.
Introductions were made- we went around saying our names and shaking hands, writing out our names on pieces of paper for added clarity. Lies and I snuck a few quick glances at each other acknowledging our mutual surprise at the formality of this unexpected meeting. Everyone was very nice, but unexpected and formal nonetheless! We thought we were going to have a fun afternoon of setting up books and meeting Mr. Bunchan, and now we were seated at a table full of Lao men (with shy children looking on partially hidden from behind beams and stairwells. The man who I thought was the ''Meeting Director" I later learned was actually just the translator. It was funny only realizing this after the fact of the meeting, thinking that he was facilitating the decisions of the committee, when really he was only conveying their unified message. This was only the beginning of my/our confusion.
For two hours, we had a sort of question-answer session (from both sides), establishing how many hours we would teach the children at a time, where we would be teaching, how many students there might be and who are these students anyway? And how many and which days we would be teaching, as well as what subjects we might be covering. We were also trying to explain the concept of the 'library' of books, and trying to explain that we were supposed to set the books up at Mr. Bunchans house and trying to figure out when we were going to be able to do that part, but no one seemed to know what we were talking about, though the massive black suitcase of books was sitting next to us throughout the meeting, and we passed the books around for all to view.
Mind you, all of this was being translated to/between the Lao Committee members and Lies and I by 'The Translator' (I think it was 'Mr. Som Phong'), so what seemed like simple enough logistical dealings that could have taken 20-30 minutes if we all spoke the same language, became quite a confusing and often uncomfortable 2 plus hours meeting.
Mr. Bunchan was our original contact for this project, but he was away for a family health emergency, so, we were basically explaining everything about ourselves for the first time- where we were from, how long we would be there, if we were getting paid to do this, what our teaching experience was, etc.
Another thing that came as a surprise was that while Lies had had it in her mind that she/we would be teaching probably 5 days of the week, Monday-Friday, for perhaps 3-4 hours at a time, after much discussion during the meeting, the guys said we should just teach on Saturdays and Sundays (which, to my amusement, was always stated by the translator as 'on Sunday, and also on Saturday') because while the kids that we would be teaching were currently out of school for the summer, they would need to be helping their parents in the fields during the week, so it was weekends only, unless we could come during the week in the evening time.
Whenever new information came from the Lao committee to the translator, or an answer to a question came from Lies and I to the Lao group, there would be short periods of discussion in separate languages from both groups, and once all had finished conferring, we would come 'back to the table' sometimes aligned, and sometimes not, quicily realizing that we were all on totally different pages, and that much had been 'lost in translation'.
At one point, Lies and I asked ''If we came and taught in the evenings, what time were you thinking this should take place?" A lengthy conference went on in Lao, and when the translator turned to us to share what had been discussed, he said 'The committee has talked, and they have decided that you should stay in Ban Nakasan (at a particular guesthouse I can't remember the name of) so that it will be easier for you to teach during the evenings.'
So, instead of learning what hours they were thinking of for an evening class, or trying to figure out if that would even make sense, or which days we would do it on, we got into a lengthy conversation with them trying to explain that we were quite attached to staying at our Bungalow Guesthouse on Don Det, and that we were not interested in staying on the mainland in Ban Nakasan (where, people seemed quite unfriendly to us and tourists in general so far, not to mention if we taught in the evenings it would only be once or twice a week). Not only this, but the Lao guys continued to insist on this idea of us moving to Ban Nakasan two or even three times before they accepted our insistence on staying in Don Det. The 'conversation' about it was literally us repeating the same exact sentences to them, and them repeating their same exact sentences to us.
Anyhow, the meeting went on and on like this, much confusion and discussion for two and a half hours, through the translator, the committee, and us two foreigners. It was all very friendly and well-intentioned, but definitely quite uncomfortable much of the time due to the language barrier and all of the misunderstandings that came with it. Nonetheless, by the end of the meeting, we had decided that on Saturday, Mr. Kamsai and The Translator would pick us up from the pier at 10:30am to take us to the teaching site in Ban Tamouang to be there by 11am, so Lies and I could have 2 hours to look through the materials she had prepared in advance, and have a chance to discuss a lesson plan that we would teach together to the students. It was also our understanding that we would teach two different groups of students- one total beginner group from 1-2:30pm, and one group that already knew some English from 2:30-4pm, and then be taken back to the pier to take a boat back 'home' to Don Det by Mr. Kamsai and the Translator.
Our unexpected committee meeting was quite exciting and it felt like we accomplished a lot, but it was also quite draining, and we were relieved to get back on the boat to our cozy and relaxing bungalows back on Don Det. We sat on the 20 minute boat ride back to Don Det quite dazed, not really speaking much but occasionally smiling and laughing with what was a shared feeling of exhaustion as well as relief at a surprise meeting well navigated by us two- a mere pair of strangers only two days earlier! We had one day off between this meeting and our first day of teaching, and I had plans to go to Cambodia the next morning to leave and return to Laos to extend my visa. So much was happening in such a short period of time! And though I had no idea what to expect when I signed up to stay in Don Det to teach English to local kids with Lies, it was all exactly what I had been looking for, confusion and all. :)
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