the Magic Show

Carol made a strange request for her birthday, no presents, but from each of the staff at the library she wanted a magic trick! So we went to the Blue Lagoon restaurant for ice cream and waited nervously for our turn to perform our trick while our ice cream was getting scooped.

Soulisuck did a trick with paper. Davita did a number trick. Carol walked through a note card. Yachengly did a trick with a book. But the real stars of the show were Ka and Porjoua doing multiple tricks to the delight of the restaurant patrons...

Onion Cells with a Microscope

We did a couple introductory projects with the microscope over the past couple weeks, now it's time to get messy! Onion cells make a logical next lesson as the thin section is easy to prepare and plant cell structures are easy to see.

The staff learned how to pull off the delicate onion membrane and prepare a wet mount on a slide. Getting the air bubbles out is always the tricky part... It became a competition to see who could prepare the best slide and take the best photo.

This is a photo the staff took through the microscope with a point and shoot camera. You can clearly see the cell walls and nuclei, not bad eh?

Sainithar accepted

A bright student at the library went to Vientiane to take scholarship exams as part of the AusAid explore program.

This is the third year he has gone to Vientiane to take the exams. He passed the first phase consisting three tests: IQ, reading comprehension and essay writing. Of 800 students he was one of the 100 asked to return for an interview.

He was the least comfortable with the IQ portion of the test. So we spent a couple weeks working on logic, math and thinking puzzles prior to him boarding the bus to Vientiane.

I knew from the look on his face he had gotten the interview. He's worked hard, maybe this is his year.

Keys

I now own a set of keys - weird. I haven't carried a set of keys around with me for almost a year. I now have a pile of keys jangling in my pocket. A set of keys to the library. A set of keys to my house. A key for the scooter.



Not bad digs eh?

A scooter?!? My roommate bought a scooter when she moved to Laos. Then she got in an accident and is now afraid to learn how to ride it. That's the story of how I inherited a scooter... I will force her to learn to ride it someday!