Be kind . . .

ralphinlaos · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:54 am Post subject: Be kind . . .

Hello, everyone. My name is Ralph, I am an American citizen, retired from the US Navy, and presently a volunteer English teacher in a small town in Laos - just across the Mekong River from Thailand.

I have been an avid reader for my entire life, but being in a country with no (NONE!) bookstores, it's a challenge for find something to read. I usually go to Udon Thani, Thailand, once a month to stock up on second-hand paperbacks. The supply is limited and I have little choice, but I usually find something I like.

Favorite authors? Well, I think John Irving is the best American novelist currently writing - I always wait for his latest. I usually enjoy most of the popular writers - with the exception of James Patterson - I've tried, but I just can't read that drivel. Same with Norah Roberts - I've tried, but just can't do it.

Ophelia · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:38 am Post subject:

Hello Ralph,

It's lovely to have you with us, welcome! Smile

I've read your two postings: what a fascinating situation: no bookstore, unreliable post office, but obviously a reliable internet connection in your part of Laos? Tell me how these three things come together.

You'll find many threads on Booktalk that are not about our book selections and where you can share your thoughts with us.

Also, would you like to tell us about your work and your life in Laos?

Make yourself at home here...

P-S: After reading your post, I'll add one line to my daily prayer of thanks to amazon.fr --secret prayer of course, we don't pray to American companies.

Penelope · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:39 am Post subject:

Hello Ralph

For some years I used to write and send parcels to some political prisoners - in Laos - on behalf of Amnesty International. Then when Perestroika happened in Russia - they were allowed to escape....well that is what we surmised. I have heard from one of them who ended up in a Buddhist Monastery in Chicago.

Our own prisoner, who was in a jungle camp, escaped with his wife and family and we knew they were all OK.

If you keep in touch, and get to know me well enough, you can let me have your address and I'll send some paperbacks now and again because I work in an enormous second-hand book store and we are always overflowing with surplus modern paperback fiction. Smile

Mr. Pessimistic · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:45 am Post subject:

Welcome to Booktalk! Hope to see you on the forums. As Ophelia pointed out, you are a prime candidate for digital/audio books. All you need to do is find a way to get an IPOD or Amazon Kindle delivered to you and then it is all just downloading from there!

Mr. P.

ralphinlaos · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:07 pm Post subject:

Well, thank you everyone; you're all very nice.

Yes, Ophelia, I have internet in my home - not reliable, but we do the best we can. I have a dial-up modem which takes forever, but it's my lifeline to the outer world.

That P.S. of yours was enigmatic - a prayer? To Amazon.fr? What's that about?

Penelope, I do hope to get to know you better and to discuss some of your adventures with you. Yes, Laos changed dramatically when Russia fell apart. All the aid and support from Russia to Laos disappeared practically overnight - now it seems to be the US and Sweden and Japan.

A lovely country with lots of problems - but nobody is starving to death as they are in Africa.

Talk to you soon,

Ralph

Ophelia · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:31 pm Post subject:

ralphinlaos · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:57 am Post subject:

Thanks, Ophelia. I completely understand and know exactly how you feel.

A friend of mine visited several months ago and I nonchalantly e-mailed him prior to his coming: "Please bring me some good crossword puzzle books and any other books you think I might be interested in. I'll reimburse you when you get here."

Well, he arrived with a bag full of books - all at New Zealand prices. Three crossword puzzle books which he paid NZ$29.95 each - each! I could have bought all three in the States for less than that. And several other books which were similarly priced - about three times what I had paid in the past.

I happily paid him because I was glad to see books - any books! But if he visits again (and he's threatening to), I will NOT ask him to bring me some books. Maybe some cheese, huh?

Ralph

Chris OConnor · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:43 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the community, Ralph. Smile

If I were you I would take Penelope up on her very generous offer. Wink

Not having book stores would be rough. What do you believe to be the reason for such a situation?

Chris OConnor · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:45 pm Post subject:

When you get a moment I would sure appreciate if you put a push pin in the map where you live. It is always exciting to see our membership stretching out across the globe. Check the left sidebar for the map of the world.

ralphinlaos · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:57 am Post subject:

Hi Chris -

Thanks for the kind words.

I hope to talk to Penelope one of these days - soon - and maybe take her up on her offer.

I believe (and it's only my belief) that Asians, generally, do not read for pleasure. That's a pretty broad generalization, but I've been all over Asia and I think it's true. For one thing, many Asians live in rural areas with no access to books - and when scrambling for enough food to keep you alive, books are the last thing on your mind. Also, most Asian education systems (schools) put no emphasis on thinking for ones-self; most of the larning process in Asian school is memorization - independent thought is not encouraged (indeed, is discouraged in many countries).

Add to this that books are expensive - and in a country where the average wage is around $2 per day (which is earned in Vientiane, most people who live in the thousands of small towns earn much less than that) - well, you can see why books are way down on the agenda.

I read all the time and have books laying all around my home. When my Laos friends come over, they show absolutely no interest in looking at the books or asking about what I am reading. But if there's a video game on TV, they are enthralled. (This is probably true of most of the world - not only Laos - booklovers are far outnumbered by video-game players). Pity!

The Australian Embassy maintained a small, one-room library in Vientiane for years - I volunteered there for the last year of it's existence. One day the Ambassador simply decided the space could be put to better use and he closed the library. This was a big loss to some of us, particularly the foreign community here. We got very few Laotian visitors at the library - maybe one or two a day. Most Laotians do not speak English, so it's only natural they would not patronize a library full of English language books. But, there are no Lao (or Thai) bookstores or libraries in Vientiane either, so books are simply not a part of their life.

A couple of foreign guys had a small bookstore in Vientiane for several years - it was listed in Lonely Planet for a long time - but they closed it several years ago. I talked to one of them shortly before they closed the store, and he said that Lao natives simply did not come in at all - that they had to depend on tourists (and tourists in Laos are few and far between).

Well, that's a lot more than I planned to write.

Ralph

Ophelia · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:26 am Post subject:

Hello Ralph,

What you write is very interesting, I would have thought there would have been little interest about foreign books in rural Laos but it's nice to be given a broader picture.

What about teaching English then?
Do you teach in schools, and who employs you?
Would adults in the context that you describe be interested in learning English?

ralphinlaos · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:24 am Post subject:

Hi Ophelia - nices to hear from you again.

I've taught all over Laos - North to South. It's very easy to get a job teaching English - everyone wants to learn. I'm always getting offers to go some place else (and maybe even make some money!), but I stay here in this small town where I know everyone and can teach when and where I want. You'll never make a lot of money here but, fortunately, that is not a problem for me.

And all ages show up - from the very young to the old. Most of my classes consist of young people - teens to mid twenties - but I get lots of older folks, too - they're my favorites. I remember, while teaching in Vientiane, I had one old man who bicycled miles from outside Vientiane every night - five nights a week - to my class. He had a family and very little money, but he always showed up and participated in the class - that's my kid of student!

Someday I'm going to build my own school way out in the country; they'll come from far and wide (that's my ego kicking in, but it's true - I'm a good teacher).

And modest, too!

Ralph

Ophelia · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:21 pm Post subject:

ralphinlaos · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:47 am Post subject:

Hi Ophelia -

Teachers are scarce here - and good teachers are really a rarity (but I think that applies most everywhere, doesn't it)?

But an even bigger problem here are the schools and school supplies - desks, chairs, blackboards, paper - and especially books - the state invests very little in education, consequently, neither does most families.

I believe that most people who study English do it out of curiosity or just to have something to do. Some (few) study because they know that English is the language to learn if they really want to succeed. I was on a bus recently when a young man sat down next to me; he said that he works in a bank and that the government has decreed that all people working in banks must speak English - this to be achieved within a two year period.

One of my friends (a Lao native) is an English teacher and I cannot understand a thing he says - he simply teaches from a book, cannot speak the language at all.

When I teach, I teach reading, speaking and writing, as well as spelling, geography and history (Asian history mixed with a little European). It's disheartening to see how few students know who their president is or what Buddha's name was or how many provinces in Laos - and I am constantly getting "Is London in California or Texas?" or "What is the capital of Europe?" or (pointing to the map on the wall) "I can't find Ceylon."

Well, that's why we teach, isn't it?

Ralph

Ophelia · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:05 am Post subject:

When I started my teaching year in California I saw that the curriculum said I should teach where French was spoken outside Europe. I knew very little about this, but I told them what there was to know.

From my point of view I thought it was more important to get them to look at a map of Europe and explain what had been happening-- this was a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
I talked about Eastern European Countries, about East and West Germany, and the EU, and I had put a line on the map between East and West.

At the end of my presentation a thirteen-year-old said: "So, right of the line, everything belongs to Russia, and left of the line, everything belongs to the United States!"

The other students must have seen the dismay on my face, and they laughed at him and at the situation.
I explained things to him again, all the while thinking-- he's ignorant, but who knows, he may be right, perhaps "belongs to the US" sums it up!


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