Thursday, October 16, 2008

Home Again


I arrived home on Tuesday night, about 7;30 PM.  David, my brother picked me up. The neighborhood looked the same, and my house was still there. The lawn needs mowing and inside, the mess I left was still there. Ha!! Portland is cold, so I had to put on some long pants and find a sweater. Brrrrr! 

I flew through so many time zones, I literally arrived in Portland only  a few hours after I left Saigon. I mean, I left Vietnam on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 11:35 pm. Then arrived in Portland on Oct. 14, at 7 pm, and that includes a 4 hour layover in Vancouver BC. My longest flight was 11 hours, from Hong Kong to Vancouver, and it seems longer coming back than going, but it is actually shorter, yet mentally it is longer. Hard to explain.  I thought about this long leg ahead of time, so I indulged myself in luxury by upgrading my ticket to business class. This cost me a few $$$ but it was well worth it. I will probably the only time I will get to fly business. I had to use my Asia miles to do this but they were going to expire anyway. In business class, you have "leg room" while sitting in a lazyboy like seat. And the food!!! They never stop feeding you. It was as if I was eating at a 5 star restaurant. Also, the seat next to me was empty. WOW!! It was easy to sleep too. I am spoiled now. 

Before I left Saigon, I stayed in my old hotel. The owner has only 6 rooms, and it is more like a boarding house, as some guests have stayed there over a year. She has a lot of repeat business. I will go back there again.  It is a convenient location for traveling to the airport, or going to Thanh's sister's house.  Thanh, my Vietnamese son, took me her house for lunch. He is a great cook, but first he had to go to the market. He never takes me to the market because the vendors will raise the price if they see me. Ha!! You have to sit on the floor Indian style to eat the food but it is worth it because he made spring rolls and shrimp cooked in beer, plus pork soup, and other food. My only problem is getting up after my leg has gone to sleep from sitting on the floor. Ha!! 

My only scare on those last few days was using the ATM machine. Generally, during the last 2 months of traveling, I had no trouble using the cash machine. I always use a particular bank but a few days before I left, I tried about 5 times, and couldn't get it to work. The bank didn't seem to know what the problem was. I thought maybe, after seeing all the bad economic news on CNN, that maybe my bank account had evaporated!! So this made me anxious and nervous. Finally, by using another bank ATM, I was successful but it seemed to process very slowly. Since arriving home, I am happy to report that my bank statement appears to be ok, other than my actual spending on the trip. 

Now, I am sorting through my box of mail, and trying to make some phone call, visiting my Dad, and planning a trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving. Maybe by next week, I will be back to my normal work, exercise and volunteering schedule...

I have tried to add some photos to previous logs. I will try to upload my photos soon, and email you the URL if you want to view. 

I probably will not write regularly on this blog unless I am traveling, I don't want to bore you too much. True!!  Thanks for your viewing. Have a good weekend... Tambiet (Goodbye, VNese)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Teaching/Getting to the End

Yes, I am still in Vietnam. I have been gone so long, it is hard to imagine being home. Ha!! But I have had a good trip. I haven't been sick, lost only one thing-a notebook. I will return to Portland Oct. 14, so now thinking a little about my return, but first I fly back to Saigon on Saturday.

The teaching at the high school has been interesting and enjoyable. There are 7 volunteers that go everyday to the high school. We generally leave at 8:15 am by van and arrive about 9 am. Then we all have our teaching schedules. Last Monday, my room numbers were all wrong, so I spent a lot of time walking around trying to find the right class. You would think the head of the Eng. dept. would know but she couldn't help me. In fact, her Eng. was very limited, which is not that unusal. The regular Eng. teachers are not always good at speaking Eng. so I guess that is why we were invited. The younger teachers are generally more eager to have us in the room, while older teachers are more reserve in their enthusiasm. It is understandable.

In some ways, the school reminds me of a normal high school in the U.S. You can have students not listening, or goofing off, semidisruptive. For example, in one class, I saw a student throw a pen across the room, hitting another student. The regular teacher said nothing. But they tell me that some students are expelled if their behavior is not good. Most of the students are eager to participate but they do not always understand. The classes seemed to be tracked, like math majors or physics majors. The class will always stand when you walk in the room, and at the end of class, the students never leave the room until the teacher leaves. There is a drum they use to begin and end classes, which I like better than a bell. There is a big push in Vietnam for all schools to teach English.

After we get back to the hotel, I often walk to a park that has a lake where you can see hundreds of locals exercising everyday. I walk around the lake but everytime, I am asked by some stranger to help them practicing their Eng. They are always university students, like the civil engineering student who I talked to yesterday. This student first asked me about Freddie Mac and the financial crisis in the U.S. Wow!! Then he want to know about J.P. Morgan, who I vaguely remember reading about in high school or college!! Ha! I am always to impressed with the young people here who seem to really understand how important education is and how thirsty they are for learning, especially English.

Today, I went with 2 other volunteers to the HaNoi Hilton. This is the Hoa Long Prison that the North used during the Vietnam war. John MacCain was in this prison for 6 years. A lot of the prison was destroyed but some of the original building remains. It is always interesting to see a place like this from another country's point of view. Some of the propaganda is obvious, but it was interesting. It talks a lot about the France ruling the country and dealing with Vietnamese resistance befor 1954. There are some photos of American prisoners who were shot down and captured, but they all looked more like army camp than a prison.

The school has planned a field trip for us tomorrow and a party tomorrow night. Then, after that we have only one more day. I have made some new friends with this new volunteer trip, and hopefully some of us will keep in contact. Some of the volunteer look to me if they have questions about Vietnam because I have been here so many times. Like, one volunteer always rides with me if we go in a taxi because she says I know what I am doing, where I am going and how to deal with the taxi driver if there is a dispute, and there have been a few. Ha!!

Well, I have to go to class. Take care all....Sweet dreams!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

HaNoi - Volunteering


Yes, I know. You haven't heard from me in a while. Sorry, but now that the volunteer program has started, I am very swamped with little free time.

There are 14 volunteers staying at a hotel in HaNoi. There are from all over and I didn't know any of them previously. The team leader is from California. Others are from PN, NC, NY, and CA. I probably forgot some. My roommate is from NY and is still working as a architect. He remings me of somebody from the movie The Godfater or The Sopranos. Every moring we have a short meeting with breakfast. After breakfast, we head off to our teaching sites.

I am with 7 others at a private high school called Nguyen Binh Kiem. I generally have classes per day. These are Eng. classes, either 10th or 11th or 12th grade. Classes are from 30 to 50 in size. Students are excited to see us but that doesn't mean they are always listening. Sometimes, the class reminds me of a normal Am. class with all the talking. I did see a girl passing notes today.

Generally, there are about 3 students in the class that can speak English. The rest are less confident and less capable. If I ask questions, the same students, about 3, want to answer everything. I try to get the other to speak, but it generally takes a lot of time. The students in this school pay about $25 per month to go to school. Some of the students are hoping to work after finishing college, as translators. I did have one set of twin boys in a class yesterday. They were sitting apart, and both volunteering to answer questions, so I thought I was seeing double at first. Ha!! They wear uniforms and start their day at 7 am, finishing at 5 pm, but all that time is not instruction.

For example, one unique thing about this school is that they all take naps after lunch. If you walk around the hall after lunch, you will see the students either sleeping on the floor or on the tops of the desk. Everyone. The school wants us to take a nap too. Maybe I will bring my pillow. Ha!!

The weather is slightly cooler now, so the climate isn't too unbearable while teaching. Our staff room is A/Ced with tv and a computer. It rained yesterday, and they say a big storm is coming but so far, only cloudy today.

We leave for school at 8:15 am and get back to the hotel at 4 pm. After a short rest, we all eat together at a nearby restuarant. Last night one volunteer was knocked down by a bicyclist but he didn't get hurt. The streets are very crowded but I am used to it. Tomorrow night some students are going to come to the hotel after our dinner and take us on a walking tour of the area.

At school, we eat in the cafeteria. Yesterday, I ate with the headmaster and today I had lunch with his son. Heiu, the son, graduated from a university in France, and wants to get his MBA in the U. S. He introduced me to some single teacher in his school. Ha! We are only the second volunteer team from GV to work in HaNoi.

I am sure this isn't that neww worthy. I have been following the financial collapse in the U.S. Who knows what will really happen in the next few months. Also, saw the debate. So trying to keep not be totally out of touch. I have lost one notebook, with some personal information and I don't know if I will find that again. It is bugging me!!

Take care all!! Have a great Day!!