Custas

The Diplomacy Academy of Vietnam's turn to Ring the Golden Bell (a game show for college students) has come and gone for another year.

The format has changed from last year. Gone are the graduation robes, sitting on the floor, and the opposing team. Now students compete to see how far they can get before giving a wrong answer. The winners get a cash prize.

More interesting this year than the game itself was the Custas commercial from the show's sponsor. Custas are a popular snack cake around here. Though the commercial is probably a "you had to see it" kind of thing, I'll try to describe it anyway.

Opening scene: A little girl, about 5-6 years old is fishing in a green plastic bucket.

Next scene: A mom comes home with a bag of groceries that has a box of Custas poking out of the top.

Next scene: The little girl is fishing with her grandfather at a small pond, sitting next to the same green plastic bucket. They are laughing. The grandpa hands her a Custas.

Next scene: Back in the kitchen the mom calls to her daughter, who shouts with excitement when she sees the box. She grabs it and runs off shouting, "Ong oi! Ong oi!" ("Grandpa! Grandpa!")

Final scene: The little girl places the box of cakes on the family altar in front of the picture of her deceased grandpa.

Very touching. Very sad.

(Click here for an explanation of the family altar written by one of Doug Young's students back in 2005.)

Back From Beijing

Last week Nancy and I traveled to China for 3 days of meetings with the China Teaching Fellowship (CTF) team leaders. Nancy and I are the old people among them; the others are all young women in their 20's. Once again, I came away impressed at sense of purpose and depth of spirituality and commitment of these team leaders. You would be too.

I also came away amazed that anyone would want to live in Beijing. It's a sprawling mass of concrete and the air is as bad as they say. The funny thing is that it feels less crowded and less hectic than Hanoi because, even though it contains 5-6 times as many people, it's much more spread out so it's less densely populated.

Of course, I'm not much of a big city person anyway. Hanoi's a struggle for me until I remember a George MacDonald poem I came across years ago.

I said, "Let me walk in the fields."
He said, "No, walk in the town."
I said, "There are no flowers there."
He said, "No flowers, but a crown."

Apples

After the break today, the class monitor asked me if she could have 5 minutes. I wasn't sure for what, but I said OK and sat down. She seemed nervous.

Going back to her desk, she pulled out a big bag of apples and walked to the front of the class. "Today is a very special day for me," she announced.

It was her birthday. "I am 20 years old. I have already seen many people die from diseases so I'm very happy I've reached this day and I want to share it with you. In English they say, 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away,' so I want to give each of you an apple and wish you good health forever."

All Things Work Together For Good...

The end of the week turned out nothing like we thought at the beginning. Instead of typing this in Hanoi, I should be with the rest of the VTF team about 350 km south of here. They're visiting a group of long-term teachers to see what their lives are like and whether they might feel called to sticking around longer themselves.

Just after noon on Thursday, we arrived at the Hanoi train station, climbed aboard and settled into our seats. And I felt this sharp pain in my chest. And then again. Nancy was looking panicky. I wasn't sure what to do myself. But heart disease has been around my family so we decided that I needed to get off the train and see a doctor. Nancy would have to stay and accompany the VTF teachers.

Off I went to the doctor just to get an EKG which came back normal. It was one of those feel-stupid-if-you-do-go-to-the-doctor (because it was nothing) or feel-stupid-if-you-don't (and end up dying on a train cruising through the rice paddies of Thanh Hoa). But I was/am fine.

Turns out it was good that I stayed behind for another reason. The English club had a big event Saturday morning (which I found out about Thursday afternoon when I should have been on the train). Since I was in Hanoi, I was able to be there to represent our teachers.

Plus, I discovered that there was a major miscommunication about our junior reading classes. We weren't told that we're supposed to be teaching them reading and summary writing for their final exam five weeks from now. I spent part of the afternoon getting a skeletal lesson plan together for the VTF teachers so they don't have to start from scratch when they get back Sunday night.

So, as Shakespeare would say, "All's well that ends well." As King James would say, "All things work together for good..."

A Day at the Museum

Last Thursday I bumped into Chi in the hallway, one of Scott's old students from K34. She and a friend from K33 were planning an outing with the English Club on Saturday and she wanted to invite the foreign teachers so the students would have a chance to speak English.

"Have you been to the Ethnology Museum before?" she asked.

I've lost count of how many times I've been there, but it was a good chance to hang out with students. The trip was being organized by the upperclassmen for freshmen who'd never been there before. And, since I don't teach freshmen this term, it was a good chance to meet some of them.

Saturday was a nice, relatively cool day and we all met at the front of the school with our bikes. The only students who knew where it was were on motorbikes so I was appointed to lead the 28 students and 3 teachers to the museum. We only lost 1 teacher who, fortunately, was with 2 students who could ask directions.

"Where did they go?"

Little kids are often around. The museum has a small learning center for them.

The Monkey Bridge.

In real life, these bridges are used in the countryside to cross small creeks and canals. In real life, I'd end up wet.

The back part of the museum is nicely landscaped with a lot of life-sized traditional houses. It's a popular place for wedding photos.


It was a nice surprise to meet one of my teaching colleagues who was there with her daughter - who is the same age as my 21-month-old granddaughter. She's the most outgoing little toddler I've met in Vietnam. (If any of last year's teachers are reading this, you know who she got that from.)

The photos are courtesy of my teammate, Will.