After one week, I able to adapt to the new environment. My family bought a small piece of land and built the new house, which was also made of wood. After we finished, we moved everything from my cousin’s house to our new house. We also had a ceremony called “Baci.” This ceremony is a Lao custom and tradition, which we must celebrate in order to bring good luck to the new house.

The next day came and I woke up quickly and looked around my house. I glanced at children playing on the street. Some ran, some played the game “hide and seek.” Moreover, I saw many people going to the market in the early morning, I heard a noise, which was the birds singing the song.

After I finished breakfast with my family, my parents took me and my sisters to school. The first time that we reached our new school, we felt shy and scared because of the new environment. I saw many children who wore a new uniform and looked very clean. Unlike me and my sisters; we looked so dirty. Therefore, I thought that we might not have any friends. However, there was a one teacher who is tall and smiled pleasantly and took us to the class and introduced us to other classmates. Everyone said hello to us and welcome us politely. So, it made us felt better than before.

I studied there for five years, and then I moved to Xaysetha secondary school. When I studied at that school, many things had changed in my life. For example: when I finished Primary school, my other sister had stopped studying because my parents didn’t have enough money to support all of us. We were so poor and lacked money to keep going to school. So, my sisters had to stop studying and went to work in order to help the family.

Me, too. I became a seller; I sold vegetables at the market every day. Eventually I finished secondary school. Even though I faced a lot of problems while I was studying, I was happy and open-minded. I thought in my mind that if today is dark, tomorrow there will be sunshine. So, I looked at my mother again and again to encourage me to study harder. Later, I had a good chance from my uncle to study at the Lao Youth Development Centre, which was part of a Japan association called JICA. I went there to study English. The first time that I studied English, it was so hard and very difficult for me, but I tried because I knew that no one is perfect. So, I kept practicing how to speak, listening, and how to pronounce the words correctly. Moreover, I also went to Don Chun Beach, an area where many foreigners live, to practice my English accent with them when I had holiday time.

I am not shy person. Everything I do is from self confidence, and I think that everything I do is based on an international style. Mainly, Asian teenagers are shy to show their ideas, but not me. Because of self confident attitudes, and English studying, I won a Scholarship to visit Bangkok and Singapore for two weeks in 2001. The idea behind this scholarship is to change the new ideas among Asian countries. Up until now, those experiences still stood in my mind.

Now, I study at the Lao American College as a year four student, but I will not stop my dreams. I will continue to set new goals until I die. I will not stop because my duty is to take care of my old parents, who raised me after I was born. So, I will try to be a good son from now and forever.

Posted by sphoudavong General