The fat lady has sung

To quote a rather crude saying.

Today has been my last day of work, officially, though I haven't really been doing much for the last couple of days as Sally has been wanting to see how much work she'll be in for once I depart. She's managing just fine and so I've been twiddling my thumbs mostly, as well as surfing the web, emailing and photoshoping lots of picys that we are going to get printed here as it's quite a bit cheaper than at home.

My 10 months at KPL have been very interesting on reflection. There has been much banging of my head against the various walls in the office and plenty of unrequited frustration, but on the whole I think I have made some impact in my time here.

The paper is certainly looking much better (thanks mainly to an Australian Business Volunteer graphic designer I instigated to have come over) and while the content hasn't changed much, since it's a fairly tightly controlled government propaganda vehicle, the propaganda is certainly written to a much higher standard.

The staff have also gotten a little more adventurous too, particularly those that contribute to the features section I instituted.

But probably most importantly all the staff have greatly improved the level of their written and spoken English, meaning they are better placed to find more fulfilling work with organisations in the aid or private sector that might actually pay them a decent wage for their hard work.

C and I have become very reflective in the last week or so and are starting to realise just how much we'll actually miss Laos when we get on the plane home in five days.

Now that I'm done at the office I'm planning on trying to distract her from her thesis, no easy task as she is incredibly focused at the moment, for at least a little part of each of our remaining days so we can wander around and soak up the atmosphere (as well as make all those last minute purchases) before leaving.

I'll be back in the office the day before we head off for another round of drunken baci delights as a final farewell from the office and to wish us "long life, much wealth, good health..."

It's considered unlucky, not to mention very bad form, to remove the baci strings that get tied around your wrists during the ceremony for three days. This is all well and good, the only problem is that at a farewell baci you tend to get dozens of them shackled to you. I wonder what Australian customs will make of us?