Routine at Last?

Life seems to have settled into a rhythm, but change may be in the air. It's possible that my two "English Enhancement" classes will be switched out for regular undergraduate classes. Most of the Enhancement students have excellent English already and are earning their livings as interpreters. They graduated years ago and are taking this course to improve their interpreting skills. The Enhancement class is a small component of it. Unfortunately, because they have good language skills already, there's not much to teach them and they often are unwilling to do any of the exercises in class. A few are downright argumentative. (Please don't try to tell me "gauge" can also be pronounced "gawge.") If my schedule gets changed, I will not be sorry to see them go.

On the positive side are my 4th year reading classes. While some of the students are new to me, I've taught most of them in one or two other courses over the last two years. It's nice for them because they know what to expect from me and for me because I know what I can expect from them.

The Supper Club is back in business and each Tuesday night Nancy and I have dinner with five students we've known for a while. Dinner's usually followed by Jenga, Uno or Taboo. It's our turn to cook next week - an expensive proposition when you're making western food for seven people, but worth it for the friendships.

Nancy still tires easily, but is able to do more than she could a month ago. She's started tutoring one student from last year, a friend, and a woman who's trying to pass the exam to get into the DAV faculty. This morning she went out to Ciputra where a friend, Peggy, invited a group of women to officially celebrate Nancy's return to VN and to hear her story firsthand. (It's 5 PM and she's still gone, so she must be having a good time -- of course, Kirsten's in town too.)

I know I should put some photos on this blog, but picture taking hasn't become part of my routine yet.

First Class of the Fall Semester

A couple people clapped when I walked into the room, which I took as a good sign. Most of the thirty-five students in this morning's reading class are from the 33B class I taught last fall. Two are from 33G, the minority class I taught last year, and a couple others are from 33I, who had me for writing a couple years ago. I told them I wasn't sure whether they would be happy or sad to see me back. (Assuring them they will have less homework this time probably helped a little.) We got started with an article from the Japan Times and got further with it than I expected.

During the first class of the day, I observed a new ELI teacher who is practice teaching at the DAV as part of her training. She's an elementary teacher from Tennessee and did a great job transferring her skills to EFL. She and her husband leave Sunday to teach in Pakse, Laos. In fact, most of the new teachers this year (7 of 11) are headed to Laos. Only three will stay in Vietnam. We could use more - the DAV, where I teach, is down from five ELI teachers two years ago to three.

On the home front, I just got back from taking Nancy to the doctor. She's been having flu-like symptoms since Friday and we wanted to rule out H1N1. It's been ruled out. This early reminder that her immune system is not what it used to be turned out to be a bacterial infection. They gave her antibiotics and she should be back to normal soon.

Unpacking

I'm a step ahead of my nephew - he's moving into a new house in SC, while I only have to move back into our home in Hanoi. We arrived late Sunday night (VN time) on the 9th and have pretty much finished unpacking what we brought. Now we just need to remember where we stored the things we left! It's been a nice homecoming, with neighbors, friends and colleagues all happy to see us back. My Vietnamese is rusty, but could be worse (I need to slow down and pay more attention to my pronunciation).

Since Monday, I've been to two meetings at the school, received the schedule for one of my classes, transcribed two audio texts for a colleague, turned down a request to help with an exam for interpreters, met our new teammates, and done a load of laundry. I still need to buy some garlic and fish sauce so we can cook at home. It's hot, but nice to be back.

Teaching-wise, it looks like I'll have three classes with the English department and two with the interpreter training section. Things are changing a lot at the school this year, so there are still a lot of things up in the air. The tutoring at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to have faded away during the spring, so I don't think I'll be doing that any more. My classes start Monday and it looks like they may need me to be a mentor teacher for the new teachers' practicum, but I won't know that till the end of the week.

I'd try finishing this post off more stylishly, but it's 3:30 PM and jet lag's starting to kick in.

On the Road Again

My last road trip of the year ended yesterday when I returned to Orlando from Rochester, NY. It was nice to see old friends, update them on life in Vietnam, and thank some of the people who make it financially possible for us to be there.

Nancy couldn't come with me because she had a couple days of radiation left, but now that's over and her cancer treatment is finished! Her follow-up will consist of daily medicine and routine checkups for the next few years, but her prognosis is good and we're very grateful for that!

Our next big trip is to Vietnam. We leave early this Saturday (8 August) and arrive on Sunday. After sorting out out the time zones, it works out to a 32-hour trip (if there are no complications) from the time we leave Hannah's house in Orlando till we reach ours in Hanoi. We've heard all summer that it's been HOT there, but it will nice to be "home."

The Next Step

Yesterday I booked our tickets to return to Hanoi on August 8. For $2100, we received two one-way tickets and a mixed bag of emotions. You would think that lots of goodbyes would be offset by lots of hellos, but it's always a tough transition. Side by side with the excitement of seeing old friends, returning to work, and getting back in time for the fall semester (just like so many of us have prayed), is the realization that we've been spoiled by so much time with friends and family in this country. It will be hard to say, "See you next time."

And then, there's the 32-hour trip itself, the nagging thought that something might go wrong to complicate things or delay us again, and the knowledge that we'll have a lot of readjusting to do after being away for six months. But, all in all, we're very glad to have a date set to return to what we've been called to.

Nancy will finish her radiation therapy around July 23. We'll have a couple of weeks to rest up, pack up, and hang out with the kids and grandkids before arriving in Hanoi a couple weeks before our first official responsibilities. That will give us time to get over jet lag and meet new teammates. I might even be able to get my teaching schedule early! It will be good to be back.