Quick Update

As we head into the new month tomorrow the work truly begins.  Tomorrow morning at 9 am Tom and I will have our first real Lao lessons.  After that we will be moving into the house which is still not completely finished but well on its way.  Part of me will miss the central location of our current guest house but I am very excited to have a place to call home and spread out.  Around 4 pm tomorrow we will also go to the local stadium (the site of the national games) and start out training.  Good think that I have already gone on 3 runs this trip/year.  This will be our audition for not only Sumlat our CLI running counter part but also for the current Lao athletes training there.  This program is going from being just an idea to actually happening starting tomorrow.  February will truly give us a sense of how things dealing with the program are going to go and whether or not Tom or I will be able to actually learn Lao.

The Planning Stages

Since I have arrived in Laos my life style has been drastically different from that in the states.  People here go to bed early for me its has been around 8:30 or 9pm each night then up early it has been around 7:30.  Next Tom and I will walk through the street market which they set up every morning it seems to our breakfast spot.  This is quite the change from life in the states where I rarely saw the early side of 10 am.  Today was unique in that we had our first CLI Run to the Games team meeting.  The project is made up of Tom, Bob and myself on the farang side of things and some CLI workers.  Farang is what the Lao call foreigners.  We had our first meeting where we discussed the numbers of students and schools we would be dealing with.  The program is starting to take shape.  Starting on Monday we will go to the local stadium and start doing workouts there to start to garner some attention from the locals.  Monday also begins our serious Lao language learning session.  Starting out we will focus our attention on a few schools primarily Nam Bak and Nam Thoum both schools are north of Luang Prabang but still in LP province.  The idea is that we will run a race of maybe 1500m and then give out awards and create teams out of the top finishers. These top finishers will represent their school in a race against the other ones. Currently these schools only have a few organized sports soccer and sometimes basketball.  During one contest the girls championship game's final score was 4-2, the boys was an offensive slug-fest with the final being 12-10.  After have schools compete against each other certain students will be selected and given training programs for the summer and then during the fall with be driven down to LP and go through running camps with us.  The specifics are still in the works but we are making a lot of progress and now it is up to the local school directors and politicians to see this as advantageous to support us.  I will be sure to do my best with the updates and the pictures.  I will also try to respond to any comments in a timely manner.  Remember you are always welcome to email me with questions or funny stories of what I am missing in the states.
On another note we had a beautiful sunset tonight.

Looking at the street market.

First Run

In a very unique turn of events I decided to post twice today.  The reason being that I uploaded my photos onto the computer and I went on my first run of not only the trip but the year.  As some of you know I have a love/hate relationship with running.  I loved it and still do but not so much the act of doing it anymore.  The injury bug bit me on more than one occasion during my career.  So needless to say after a tumultuous college career I found myself better suited to being behind the whistle.  This way I can help others through running yet don't have to cause myself bodily harm.  Tom and I embarked at 5pm our time and it was still way too warm for January 26th.  I have found out that not running for the better part of two years really doesn't help your aerobic shape at all. After a 24 minute run I am proud to say that I am coming home tomorrow!  Just kidding.  It was rough but there is still time and I hope to be in decent shape by the time we start coaching.  May be just a pipe dream but a kids gotta dream.
Here are those pics I promised.

This is the picture of our hotel room.

 This is our unfinished house.

 Tom in the hallway of the new house.

 Tom in his bedroom.  Obviously not ready to move in yet.

 The view from a riverside cafe looking south on the Nam Khan river which creates one side of the main peninsula of Luang Prabang.

I Have Arrived

As the title so aptly suggests I have arrived.  It is nice and warm here sitting in the hotel lobby in Luang Prabang.  Tom very graciously met me at the airport after my many days of flight.  I found out that the house that we were supposed to be living in isnt exactly finished yet.  It is close.  Pics to come later.  Currently instead we are staying in a guest house which is very close to the center of the action in LP called the Lao Lu Lodge.  After walking around and regaining my barrings (since it has been 3 years since I was here last) I was reminded of how difficult this language is going to be.  One aspect which made learning vietnamese more viable was that the characters are Latin with some added accents.  The Lao characters are much like that of Thai which is to say they are just wild scribbles.  With day one in the books I tried to establish certain goals for our relaxation time
1. Find a place to watch the superbowl.  While walking around today I think we found some good options.
2. Find a good swimming spot.  There is what seems to be a very popular one which may be our best option.
3. Ideas still to come but  best happy hour might be up there.

That is all from day one I will try to keep the posts and pictures coming in the future keep on reading.

In Transit

As I sit here at LAX I cannot help but think of the future which lies ahead.  Weeks of discussing and planning are finally coming to fruition for this next step in my life.  As I was packing this morning (I am sure you are all shocked I waited till the last minute)  I couldn't help but think that I was too relaxed and nonchalant about this.  Sure I had my fill of sleepless nights leading up but those seem to have stopped around new years.  Many other people given the situation that within 2 months you must quit your job, move across the world and try to learn a language to teach a skill which people take for granted would probably be terrified.  My sleepless nights were more often filled with thoughts of self doubt not trepidation about my impending journey to the other side of the world and not seeing my family.  All I could think was that I was not a good enough coach to help these kids or that I was going to somehow ruin their running careers.  This could be a sign of only one thing.  I just have not found out what that thing is.  You didnt think I would give you answers did you?  Maybe I take coaching too seriously or life for that matter. The latter seems less likely due to the fact that I pushed around a human sized hamster ball for a living.  I just hope that I am able to create some modicum of improvement in their lives through a sport which has changed mine (and if I could get one laugh at a joke in Lao that might make the whole trip worth it).

As always thanks for reading and your support.

Preparing to leave

Hello Everyone,

This is both a testing post and my first update post.  I have made my flight to Laos for the 24th of January.  After an hour flight from Phoenix to LAX, I will then have an 18 hour flight to Bangkok.  I can enjoy the beauty of the Bangkok airport and then fly 2.5 hours to Luang Prabang or ground zero for the program.  I am busy trying to pack up my Portland life and fit it into my car.  This time now is filled with finding donations and seeing people who I may not see for a long time.  Also trying to persuade them to come and visit.  I have set up a skype account and this blog of course.  This way I will be able to keep people updated on the mussing in Laos.

For more information or if you would like to get involved you can always email me at: david.m.berman02@gmail.com.