May I introduce...

...my language class!!

Actually, since I have started studying Lao, I have studied with 11 different people and 5 different teachers, but for the past month or so, I have studied pretty consistently with these folks and these 2 teachers (pictures taken from my seat in class to show you my "daily view"):

This is Tik! She has taught me "conversation" class from day 1, and she is an excellent teacher. She has been teaching us from 8:30- 10:00 each morning, Monday through Friday. She has an amazing gift of getting people to speak Lao and is so incredibly patient with us.

These are my classmates Craig and Rebecca. They are a married couple with two kids from Australia. I took the pictures from where I sit in class- so they are usually on my right. They make Lao class lots of fun... like the day I thought Craig said his ear hurt because his wife sings poorly- when he actually said he has a hole in his sock and his wife doesn't know how to fix it :)

This is Aajan (Teacher) Khongsy. He has been teaching Lao to foreigners for years and loves to joke in class. We were having our second ice cream party to celebrate another week done. You have to keep celebrating in language study! He is the one who gave me my new Lao name (to come in another blog post). He teaches the "Module" which is reading, writing, and more grammar focused from 10:15-11:45 each day, Monday through Friday.

And on my left sit Kenton (wears glasses) and Kirk. Kenton can make me laugh with anything he says! He has been such a gift to me in language study- laughing is so necessary. Although, some days I've had to leave the classroom because I was laughing so hard I was in tears! Kirk recently joined our class and it's been fun to study with a CAMA teammate :)

Language Blooper from last week: I told someone to take off their feet, instead of telling them to take off their shoes!

Tomorrow (12-15-09) is my last day of official language study before Christmas break . . . I'll start teaching English classes in the mornings in early January, and hope to continue to study Lao during the afternoons- teachers and classmates may change again, but I'm grateful for this opportunity to learn. Off to finish my last homework assignment for the year!