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Well its been a long time since my last post and for that I appologize.  Things have been going well here in Laos.  The weather has gotten colder.  Practices have been moved from 6:30am to 8am to 8:30am.  Afternoon practice have also been moved up.  This morning we were surprised to see the stadium full of people with music blaring.  The group of students were preparing for the games and the opening ceremony.  We had finished practice before they actually started doing anything but I hear they will be there this afternoon so I will take some photos.  The stadium has been completely repainted and they are now doing work on elaborate metal structures which they will add lights.  The city has changed also.  In the past few weeks the laborers have been going crazy repainting the lane lines in the streets and completing a city beautification project.  Things here are looking very nice for the peak of tourism season starting. 

Last week Tom and I took a quick 3 day excursion to Vientiane which was a nice change of pace.  Its amazing how after being here in LP for just a few weeks all other cities seem giant and so busy.  There was actual traffic and it took more than 15 minutes to get across town.  Crazy.  Next week the CLI staff plus some people from Tiger Trails are going to trek up to Phongsali province up to an Ahka Village.  The reason for this trip is that CLI along with Tiger Trails will be working together to build a school..  The Ahka are an ethnic minority and we will actually have to pick up a guide who speaks Ahka.  They dont speak Lao.  I am excited to see this village where things are still so primitive.  It should be a three day trip.  There will be many photos. 

By all accounts the CLI donor hosting went well and the donors seem excited about CLI and the future.  Hopefully this will lead to CLI being able to expand and keep reaching more and more kids.  It sounds stupid but the work that CLI does has a much bigger impact than most of us realize.  There are other organizations that do similar work to CLI but none put the infrastructure in place by actually employing Lao people to be the librarians.  Sometimes living over here we get caught up in the bureaucratic bull**** that happens on a daily basis.  These are the times when we have to take a step back, look at the work that actually gets done and the effect it is having on these villages. 

Thank you for your support and remember that your donations have changed the lives of every child who picks up a book.  Photos to come soon since I know none of you actually read what I write just look at the pics.  We are working on a facebook page and hopefully revamping the CLI main web site in the next few weeks.  Remember any topics you would like me to write about let me know either by commenting or sending me an email.  David.m.berman02@gmail.com