Tam Ky and Ha Long Bay (part 2)

In the first part of April, Diane, Josh, Paul, and I decided to head down to Tam Ky- to see the UNESCO World Heritage Site, My Son- and maybe also visit our friend Erik!

Josh and I flew down to Da Nang on Thursday, then took the train into Tam Ky on Friday morning. Josh and I met with Erik and his teachers for lunch. I was struck by some of the cultural differences between the North and the South. For instance, after drinking, in the North you always shake everyone's hand. To not shake hands is a sign of disrespect or exclusion. In the Tam Ky, people seemed confused when Josh and I went to shake their hands. Further, in the North, it is a kind of game to make everyone drink. ("Oh, its not alcohol, its beer!" or "When you said you wanted one glass, this is still the same one glass!"). Its almost impossible to not drink-at the very least takes 10 minutes to play "the game" to the conclusion. (Here is another ETA's post on drinking in Northern Vietnam.) In the South, when I said I didn't want to drink, everyone said "Meh. Ok. What do you want instead." A very different experience!

Over 90 people for the "special class"

After lunch, we headed over to the school (Paul had joined us) for a special class. Erik had prepared an amazing lesson: lots of speaking practice and games. The students had a lot of fun with Josh's looks, Paul's hair, (and my height). Weirdly, they really enjoyed "shipping" the three of us (and Erik) together in relationships in one game. (One story ended with Erik and Josh crying and holding each other in a hotel room, if I remember correctly). 

The next day, we met with Diane (coming down from Hue) and headed to My Son. My Son is over 1200 years old. It is an old Cham temple complex- tons and tons of temples from 800-1200 C.E., when it was abandoned. The Viet Kinh (the dominant ethnic group in Vietnam) ended up conquering the Cham as the Viet Kinh moved south. It was incredibly cool to see a very different (and old) culture up close and personal. Lots of Hindu iconography and cool weird old scripts.

Old Cham Temple

After My Son, we headed back to Da Nang. Da Nang is by far my favorite city in Vietnam. We went to the beach, saw the Dragon Bridge up close, and had some delicious food at my favorite restaurant, Madame Lan's.

Special Visit to Lao Cai

On Sunday, I returned to Hanoi to pick up Dani and take her to Lao Cai. She had heard about Lao Cai for months, and so wanted to see it during her holiday (Lao New Year). She came to my school to help teach (and was probably more popular than me). Most of my lessons just involved letting her play 2 truths and a lie, or judge student debates. In our free time, I took her around Lao Cai, showing her the sights (Nhac Son Park, Ho Chi Minh Park, Thuong Temple, the Chinese border). We also went to Sapa THREE times (once for Cat Cat Village/Waterfall, once in an attempt to take the cable car to Fansipan and a third time when we actually took the cable car).

10 Literature was happy to have a sub teacher!

Cat Cat Village

Meeting with Pauline and Olivia

After teaching, we headed down to Ha Long Bay for the weekend. We saw a pearl farm, some great karsts and generally had a great time.

I can finally squat all the way down! Only took 9 months!

After returning to Lao Cai for another couple days (during whichI successfully indoctrinated Dani into watching "The League"), it was time for her to return to her Fulbright in Laos. 

Lastly- Pauline and Olivia have returned to Hanoi to finish their year abroad. They lasted for a while in Lao Cai but really just wanted to be in a bigger city. I'm glad (for their sake) that they are moving to a city they actually want to be in, but it will make my last month lonelier.

The Future

As April turns to May, I've started to turn to the future. I've started filling out loan paperwork for Columbia. I've started working on my final reports and my June travels. I've bought my flight back (July 1st). I'm headed to Dien Bien Phu this weekend, but as I enter the last month of my Fulbright, I've started to reflect on this year- what I've done right and wrong, how I've grown and all that. Expect those thoughts soon!

Onwards. Always Onwards.

Daniel

P.S. For those keeping track my camera broke in Tam Ky-so add that to my tally of broken electronics.

A Day in the Life

Some other Fulbrighters had the idea to write "Day in the Life" posts. Since I'm an unimaginative guy (and it seemed like a good idea) here is mine!

Also, my computer has broken again and in a new way- it no longer recognizes SD Cards/my camera. So, my next blog posts may be devoid of pictures for the last two months :/

A Day in the Life of a Lao Cai Fulbrighter

I wake up at 6:00 AM. Not because I need to (I could roll out of bed and teach at 7:00 if I needed to, but because I don't want to feel rushed in the morning). I check the social media updates, texts from family and friends, e-mails (usually from U.S. based people), and check that day's NBA games (I look to see if the Golden State Warriors are playing later). I go into my open air shower, checking for roaches (occasional), big hairy spiders (once), and snakes (apocryphal, but did happen to a guy two years ago in my exact room). Now, its nice and warm- in January, my open-air shower was freezing and miserable.

I dress for work and review my lessons for the day. Usually, I teach on 2-3 lessons per day (45 minutes each) but each lesson is unique and so I review what I will cover, any materials I'll need, and note any potential sticking places or successful jokes from previous lessons. I walk over to school, which is about 100 feet away. I nod cheerfully to sleepy teenagers, who greet me with a yawn-y "Chao Thay a." I head to the teachers lounge, where I chat with the male English teacher (Mr. Chinh) about how many miles he ran that morning (usually 10+, which I don't know if I believe) and have two male teachers grab my arm hair and play with it, and have two or three female teachers tell me how handsome I am today. I escape and find a female English teacher (Hoa) and discuss 10 English, who I will teach today and who are her primary responsibility. She has just selected the top 6 students for competitions later this year, and we gossip a little about the students relative strengths and weaknesses (my favorite students, the top speakers, tend to have lower marks on grammar and have mostly not been selected).

The drum sounds and I head to my first class, 10 Literature. They are a class of 35 (all girls) with a lower level of English. I try to slow things down for them, with lots of gestures and simple tasks, but it is a frustrating endeavor to even get them to talk to their partner in English for a minute or two.

Fortunately, class ends early today (the drum lady is frustratingly inconsistent) and I refill my water bottle before 10 Math. 10 Math is the best class in the school-to a person, they are fun, funny, motivated, obedient, and high-energy. They put 100% into everything, even if they don't understand and make class a pleasure to teach. The drum sounds again and I head to my final period.

Unlike my non-major classes (Math, Physics, and Literature), where I mostly follow the book, with some fun lessons thrown in, with 10 and 11 English, I'm encouraged to do whatever the heck I want. Right now I'm in the middle of a unit on American Teenagers. Last class, we made "Tweets" and throw snowballs around the room. Today, we will split up into boy and girl groups and pass notes on what is desirable in a boyfriend/girlfriend (an activity I stole from my 10th grade sociology teacher, Mr. Larkin).

Class goes well and I'm energized. I leave- done for the day!- at 9:45. I return to my room, change, get a bowl of rice and vegetables and turn on a pirated cast of an NBA games. A west coast game, it ends around 11:30. I saunter out and shoot the breeze with students during their 30 minute lunch, then return to my room for a nap. I nap, watch movies, nap, read, and nap some more. If I'm lucky, I skype a college friend who is still up at midnight or later in the States. At 4:30, school lets out.

Some days, I do "advanced tutoring" with the gifted students. Today, I play basketball. There is a crew of about 15 guys in Lao Cai city who play at my school. Usually, 10-12 show up and we play rotating teams of 4 until it gets dark at 6:30. While only one guy speaks any English at all, communication is not a problem-I know the words for points, team, basket, foul, travel, and check up. Pointing and hand signals accomplish the rest. I can call out screens (chai or phai) and usually end up on the winning team, due to my 30 centimeter height advantage over most people (note: in the States I'm a mediocre basketball player; its just in Vietnam that I can get so many rebounds).

After basketball, we walk down to the street to drink Fanta, beer, and smoke (note: I only do the first). Du (the English speaker) will sometimes translate for me, but mostly I sit in silence and enjoy the companionship of fellow basketball players, listening to them chat in Vietnamese. At 7, I take my Kindle to a restaurant and eat- usually more rice and some chicken or beef. After dinner, I return to my room, shower, surf the web, watch TV*, and prepare my lessons the next day. At 10 PM (or later, if I talk to Dani), I go to bed,

A note on TV. TV in Vietnam is insane; it doesn't make any sense. I get about 200 channels- mostly Vietnamese or Japanese/Korean with Vietsub. I have 10 English channels- 6 movie, 2 sports, 1 news and 1 cartoon. TV in Vietnam is censored, but that means that shows start at random times (7:08 pm, 9:24 pm, etc). Further, Vietnamese sports channels show esoteric sports (think: futsal, darts, curling, 7s rugby, etc) If it is a major sport, it is from 2010 or before. Often, its heavily edited (think watching a football game with no commercials, and seeing only one team's possessions).

Summary
My life in Vietnam is pretty simple: teaching, watching TV, playing basketball. I try to travel often: with friends, by myself, with classes from my school. I try to visit Lao Cai City (45 minutes away) often for dinners with Pauline and Olivia (my two friends). It does get boring; it does get monotonous. I do get lonely.

I'm trying to find the bright side on life here- this is the lowest level of responsibility I will have for a long time (no monthly payments on anything, only teaching 15-20 hours per week total).Life is simple and uncomplicated. My income/living expenses is the highest it will be for a long time (I make $1000 per month and need to spend about $150, not including travel). Coming from a very fast-paced college experience (and anticipating a similar experience in law school), I'm trying to see this year as a welcome break from the frenetic pace of my life. A chance to think about who I am, what I want, my strengths and my weaknesses. A chance to evaluate who my real friends are, and how I will maintain my relationships going forward (a year in Vietnam has proved an excellent filter for which college friends have made the grade to lifelong, I think).

Assuming my computer continues to work for the last 2 months, I'd like to do a final update on how I've changed and how I met my goals (sadly, I remain unswole). As quick preview: while this year has been really difficult, I'm glad I did it. I've gotten a lot out of this year, despite (perhaps because of) its challenges.

Onwards. Always Onwards.
Daniel