News

Last Friday was the last day of Christian at MES after two weeks. MES and students have learnt a lot from him and had a lot of fun, too. Before  leaving, Chris donated an acoustic guitar with plug and a flute to MES. The guitar is now very popular at MES for its new look and everyone would  love to try to play it.

Special THANKS to Christian  who had spent his full day for two weeks at MES  helping many of the students progressed quickly,  creating such a wonderful atmosphere, giving lot of fun to the school and the kids and supporting MES!!!

Christian is from Germany, has known and read about MES on one of the German Newspapers that written by Johnathan who visited MES during last year. Then, Christian had made a plan traveling to Luang Prabang and volunteering at MES for two weeks. Last Monday was his first day at MES and he has helped some more advance students to play songs and the beginner for the strumming and the others on their lessons, too.

Christian also brought MES some donations, 2 electric guitar effects, sound cables, and some sweets.

NOT MUCH TO SAY ABOUT LAST WEEK, BUT HELLO – SABAIDEE THE WORLDWIDE!!!

BOUNMEE worked at MES almost a year and was doing a great job. His role was giving the students instruction of how to play basic instruments; guitar, ukulele, drums…. He is no longer staying at MES due to his family and his personal dream.

What a disaster! It was raining heavily with lots of thunder and lightning in the past week. Many houses near the river were flooded and many things in the houses were washed away too. MES was luckily not flooded, but our electricity was burnt in the evening as the heavy rain was pouring down and all the mobile phones were switched off. We  had to survived the dark and contacted the electricians the next day. There seemed to be many things that kept them busy and they came to install a new monitor quite late in the evening, so some of our ice cream was melted as it stayed in the warm for several hours.

Thank you so much Jeannette for giving the MES opportunity of sharing our music!!!

This was one of exciting performances  for MES students in public and  the first time of an acoustic band display. The kids then told MES how excited they were and how much they enjoyed.

As usual when the public school is opened, MES students have to change their morning and afternoon classes to the suitable time. Most of them prefer evening classes after their classes at public school, but some of them take the noon class which is during their lunch break. However, some of the students are on the pending list as we have limited instruments.

Just before the end of August, our cleaning lady informed to resigned her job due to her busy family and her ill father who needs to be taken care of, which is very reasonable. While MES is seeking for another cleaning lady, a girl Miss Bouanaem is doing a temporary cleaning lady for September.

Thank  Noy for one-year experience at MES.

MES was closed for a few days last week for boat racing festivals in Luang Prabang. There were three competitions organized last week, the first event was on 19 Ban Hat Hien village next to the Luang Prabang International Airport, the races were on the Namkhan, the second event was on 22 Ban Nam Dong village, down south of Luang Prabang on the way to the Khuangsi Waterfall and the races were on the Mekong. The last races was today on the Numkhan river in the center of town and it was very crowded.

Boun Hor Khao Padabdinh is held in August or September, depending on the lunar calendar. In day one; along the main road is taken over by stalls selling all kinds of goods and foods or games, and loud music is played all day and late into the night. In day two; In the morning, locals visit temples to make offerings to ancestors and perform ‘merit-making’. In the afternoon, there is boat racing on the Nam Khan River. The riverbanks are crowded and there is much revelry

Traditional racing boats are carved using one single tree. The boats belong to a village and are usually kept in a shelter on the temple grounds and come out only once a year for the race. Several days before the race the boats are cleaned and presented with offerings because the boats are considered sacred items.

These boats can hold approximately fifty paddlers. The morning is devoted to women’s crews and the afternoon to men’s crews. The starting point is two kilometers downstream and the competition is between two boats at a time. The loser is eliminated. After the final race, all the boats participate in a final competition, which is rather spectacular. The winners receive a trophy, a silver cup and cash.

Last Wednesday evening, it was a bit raining but very stormy, some of the trees fell down as many leaves. The next day, unexpected thing happened at MES. We found one of our tents was broken down, the covers were torn and the whole tent was bent. We tried to fix but could not. 🙁