Life at Sai Nyai - Part 1

This is where I live and work - Sai Nyai Eco School. The picture above is what it looks like where you turn off the road that connects Pakxe and Salavan and into the school's driveway. We have an excellent location, really. Right off the main road, but also tucked back from the road enough to not see it, AND right near "Huay Ga puh", the name of the river you see the bridge for in the picture of the road.

There are SO many different things I'd like to tell you about my life here...but I think I'll start with the most basic part - my house.

I live in a traditional Lao house with three other girls - Carly (the other American volunteer), San, and Bin (two Lao staff who were students in the first class back in 2009 - well, actually, they aren't Lao. They are Laven, a small ethnic minority group in the south of Laos. They have a different language too, which I LOVE to hear them speak. I'm starting to learn it a little. It's really interesting because it's a non-written language!)

The frame is wood (actual tree trunks and branches, not 2x4s, which I love. It keeps a wonderful, welcoming, natural aura to the house) and it's about 5 feet off the ground. The sides of the house are mats woven out of strips of bamboo. The roof is thatched, made of bundles of dried grass.


Out front is a fabulous balcony, where we spend a lot of time working and relaxing. Inside is just one room. All four of our mattresses are on the floor next to each other, taking up all but a few feet of the left side of the room. We sleep under two large mosquito nets - one covers two beds. On the right side of the room carly and I share a small three shelf rack, and also keep a few things in our suitcases stacked in the corner. Bin and San only sleep at the school about 4 nights a week (they return to their village on the weekends), so they keep their clothes in small bags in the back of the room. And as you can see, my laptop is there on the floor on the right side of the pic - so yes, we do have electricity! It comes and goes occasionally, but we do have one outlet and one light in the middle of the ceiling.
I love living in this house! Not only is it a fun construction and interesting setting - I love sharing it with three awesome friends - and a ton of little geko lizards, giant moths, and other assorted bugs! Sometimes it can be pretty loud at night, everything chirping, croaking, and making all kinds of strange sounds as I fall into a peaceful sleep...(the picture here is me and San)