Family Far Away

Ahh, internet! Both time-waster and tool. One of the great advantages of it is being able to stay closer in touch from so far away. When we first came to Vietnam, calling America was prohibitively expensive and kept for emergencies only. Our dial-up email connection was a luxury.

Although the $20/month ADSL connection we have now doesn't seem much faster than dial-up, it's nice to be able to be able to send photos back and forth and stay in contact with VOIP and webcams. We've been able to peek in on our granddaughter, Ellie, putting together an aquarium with her dad after he got back from his six months at sea. We've even seen the first grainy ultrasound image of grandchild #2 who's due to liven up Hannah and Phillip's house next summer.

But what's even better is having a friend like Ellen, who has a heart a mile wide. With Beth and Dave planning to visit NY at the beginning of December, Nancy hatched a plot to get some Christmas presents delivered to Ellie. She asked Ellen if she'd be willing to pick up some gifts and bring them over to the house if we sent her some money for the gifts. (We're pretty sure she spent more than we sent, but that's how generous she is.) Ellen shopped, wrapped, and delivered the gifts and sent pictures too. It was closer than we ever expected to being there.

Ahh, internet. Now I've got to get off it and back to planning next week's lessons.

Christmas Cookies Photos

End of the Semester

My third year classes ended last week. Now I'm busier than ever! Some of it is end-of-the-semester work, like reading through the students' evaluations of the VTF teachers, but the main part of my workload these days is a special short-term class.

In October, the school asked for a foreign teacher to conduct a 4-week phonetics/pronunciation class in December. It eventually was trimmed down to 3 weeks. The seven students are in their mid-to-late 20's. Three are teachers; two have very good English, five have excellent English (including the one who earned her masters in Phonology in Australia). It's somewhat intimidating teaching students who could probably teach the course themselves. They've been chosen to attend the European Union's interpreter training program in Brussels, Belgium. My job is to help them brush up on their skills before they leave.

We meet 3 hours each morning, five days a week. That means I finish class and head straight home to get my VTF work done and then prep for the next day's class. I've not been able to prep too far in advance yet because I'm trying to tailor the content to their specific needs. That's meant a lot of careful listening this week.

A typical class for the first week:

• Breaking into their Vietnamese conversation about the woes of applying for visas and asking them to switch to English. Once they do, I let them continue for about 15 minutes while I listen and jot down problem words and sounds. Then we work on them. (Anyone got any advice on how to explain how to get the middle /r/ sound in "world" and "word"?)
• Catch Phrase! (Thanks, Jim & Nancy K.!) It helps them work on their vocabulary, synonyms, and think under pressure. They love it. The teachers want to know where they can get one for their classes. (Taboo is next week. Thanks, Bob & Judy!)
• Recording. One of the benefits of a small class is that I've been able to bring my computer and record them as they translate each others presentations. They've been able to listen to themselves and begin to compile their own list of specific problem words.
• The book. We have a book and cassette tapes that cover intonation (from a British point of view). It's not that helpful, but I try to use it a little every day or two because the boss gave it to me.

Today we also did a Jazz Chant. (Not "Pete Eats Meat." This time it was "Banker's Wife's Blues.") They seemed to like it and, weird as it seems, it really does help refine their speaking.

This afternoon has been my time to relax since I don't have any VTF responsibilities and I'm off till Monday. Tomorrow I'll start working on that. It's been a busy week, but I love small classes and I like teaching adults. It's been good.

In an hour, five of them are coming to the house to help Nancy make Christmas cookies. Time to finish getting things ready.

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.

Weekend Errands

There's no Walmart and I'm OK with that.

Saturday I wanted to pick up an AC adapter and a patch cable. The adapter's for Nancy so she doesn't have to keep recharging batteries to run her portable CD player. The cable's so I can transfer some cassette tapes to CD. I have a course coming up that relies heavily on tapes and it's a pain trying to find the right place on a cassette.

Nancy's been battling a flu the last few days, so also I needed to pick up some stuff for her and get some groceries. One stop at a super store and it's covered, right?

Well, like I said, there's no Walmart (or Wegmans, Price Chopper, Target...).

• First stop: A tiny shop around the corner from the school guesthouse to get some milk and juice for Nancy. Got milk; they're out of juice.
• Second stop: The local open market for a carrot, 2 red bell peppers and some fresh basil. I can make supper out of that and the green beans and pork we've got at home. On the way out of the market, I buy a couple of pomelos (think grapefruit only bigger, more seeds, and a little sweeter). That will give Nancy some Vitamin C.
• Third stop: After dropping the food at home, I hop on my bicycle and head for an electronic shop down near Hai Ba Trung Street. I could probably find an adapter and cable closer to home, but I know that if they don't have it they can tell me who does. The guy and girl who work there are really nice so that's been my shop since I've come to Hanoi.
• Fourth stop: The computer store near the VKO center for a $10 webcam. (My electronics shop doesn't carry them.) It's a little busy inside because they've got a dirt-cheap special on USB drives if you show them a student ID.
  
• Fifth stop: The bun bo nam bo shop for two bowls "to go." It's near home, so I don't have to balance it on my handlebars very long.

It all took only about 1/2 hour longer than it would have on a Saturday morning in New York.

Some parts of life aren't super-exciting. It's just life - probably like where you are. But at least you get to meet a lot of people along the way!

My Other Blog

I've started a blog to see whether it will be any help to my students. You can take a look at http://myenglishclass.edublogs.org/.

(It was originally posted on blogspot but there were some problems accessing it so I moved it over to edublogs.)

20 Floors Up and Still Honking

We don't get to too many luxury hotels - only when we have to attend a meeting at one of them - but Sunday night one of Nancy's friends invited us for coffee at the Summit Lounge on the rooftop of a place she used to work. At twenty stories above West Lake, there were no mosquitoes, a nice cool breeze and still the omnipresent honking of motorbike horns coming from hundreds of feet below.

But it was nice and we enjoyed spending the time with them. The menu prices made me think that we're not going to be seeing much of the place though.

Can't take credit for the photo. We were there later in the day when it was dark and they didn't come out. I stole this one from http://www.flickr.com/photos/marvincouldwell/441795840/.

I Used to Speak Vietnamese

It's not been a good language week for me. And it's only Monday.

Saturday night one of my classes invited Nancy, me, Robyn, Rick and Karen to dinner and karaoke to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. (I think Rick may have been the impetus behind it.). Karaoke is far from my favorite activity, but I'd like to get to know this class better and this was a good opportunity. An existential side benefit was the deep meaning of singing, "When I'm Sixty-Four" now that the words are starting to have a whole new meaning for me.

We met up with the students in front of the school and walked over to a restaurant along the lake for some fried rice. Along the way I was chatting with some students and realized that they were having trouble understanding me. Now, I've always known my vocabulary was limited, but my pronunciation used to be "pretty good for a foreigner." I do not want to be that guy who thinks he can speak well but no one can understand a word he's saying!

So, I need a new plan. I've been meeting with a young couple once a week so I can help them with English and they can help me with Vietnamese but that's really not enough. Once things get settled with the schedule at school...

It's a lot easier to teach a foreign language than learn one.

Connecting Old Friends With New

Last night we had a small party to introduce some of the friends of last year's teachers with this year's incoming teachers. A lot of food, a little singing, some pictionary, and a stab at Catch Phrase. Nancy has more pictures posted at her Picasa page. It's been really nice to be back at the same school and reconnect with people from last year - a little more like our UTP experience.

Where's Your Flag?

That's what a rather eccentric old woman asked me when I got home from a meeting at the Academy yesterday afternoon. September 2 is Vietnam's "Fourth of July" -- the anniversary of the day back in 1945 when Ho Chi Minh read Vietnam's declaration of independence from France. As on all the other national holidays, most of our neighbors fly the flag.

"Tell your landlord to get you a flag!"

I didn't call the landlord, but the conversation did shed a little light on one of those still-unanswered questions I've had: Should I display a flag on holidays to show respect or would it be too weird since I'm an "outsider"?

Nhập gia tùy tục is a proverb which has pretty much the same meaning as the English, "When in Rome...."

Maybe I should get a flag.

Class of 2012

You don't have to travel overseas to experience a culture gap. The Beloit College Mindset List is published every year to make people feel old - I mean, to help professors understand that some of their references may not be understood by the incoming freshmen. Here are some highlights from this year's list:

Most students entering college for the first time this fall were born in 1990. For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.

• GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
• Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
• Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
• Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
• Students have always been "Rocking the Vote.”
• Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
• College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
• IBM has never made typewriters.
• There has always been Pearl Jam.
• Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.
• They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.
• Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.
• Caller ID has always been available on phones.
• They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”
• Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.
• Soft drink refills have always been free.
• They have never known life without Seinfeld references.
• Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
• The Hubble Space Telescope has always been in space.
• There have always been charter schools.

If you want to see the whole list, you can find it at http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php.

The Scavenger Hunt

Saturday started off with 3 hours worth of orientation for observing the new teachers this week as they do their teaching practicum at DAV (Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam). The vice-dean of the English department is also serving as a mentor/observer, so she was there too. She came armed with a cassette tape of two English news broadcasts she wanted me to listen to and a transcript to correct. Since I don't have a cassette player, I headed over to campus about 1:30 to check the transcript. It didn't take long - just lots of minor corrections.

From 4-7 we were supposed to have a scavenger hunt for VTF. But, Friday one of our good Vietnamese friends (Lien) called to invite us to her house to celebrate its renovation - the family had added two floors, upgraded the kitchen, and done a lot of other work. She had been trying for a couple of weeks to try to get the three families she was inviting to mesh with a date and we didn't want to mess it up. So we moved the scavenger hunt to Sunday afternoon. Plus, that would give VTF Saturday night to work on their lesson plans.

Unfortunately, some of them were thinking that putting it off to Sunday night would be a good idea. But we did the scavenger hunt anyway and they were finished and on their way back home by 7 PM.

What do you look for on a scavenger hunt in Hanoi? Stuff like:

• A photo of a live animal.
• A photo of a cooked animal (whole).
• A photo of someone on your team talking with a child.
• A photo of an artist at work.
• A photo of you in a store downtown. One extra point if the shop owner is in the photo.
• Team photo with a Colonel Sanders statue.
• Team photo with everyone wearing a conical hat.
  
• Team photo of you drinking coffee or fruit drinks at a café.
• A bus ticket stub.
• A pair of chopsticks or a new pair of plastic sandals.
• Three pieces of fruit.
• A postcard of Hanoi.
• A single-use packet of shampoo.
• A Vietnamese postage stamp.
• A bottle of “Joy” brand water.
• Ten business cards from ten places you’ve never been.

There were about 40 items in all. The Dalat team pulled off a 38-35 win.

So, it wasn't as flashy as the Olympics, but sending them out without their team leaders brought them back feeling a little more comfortable about negotiating Vietnam and, hopefully, happy about the start of some good friendships.

New Relationships & New Schedules

Tonight I met with a young man and his friend who want me to help them with their English. The guy's dad is the guard who works near our house. A while back he asked if I'd be willing to tutor them and we were finally able to meet tonight. The plan is to begin this weekend and trade one hour of English for one hour of Vietnamese. Maybe this is the start of some new friendships.

Until this afternoon, my boss at the Diplomatic Academy thought I was still in the US. I've been doing some work for the department via email over the summer so it's not that I've been hiding out these last ten days - the subject just never came up. But the new textbook for the juniors needs a few finishing touches before it goes to the printer, so tomorrow I'll head over to the campus to see if I can help with that. The fall teaching schedules are ready too.

It's been nice to be back early enough this year to get some things in place before training ends.

Teamwork

A few months ago I came across an online news article about a young woman from the midwest who will spend a year teaching on the outskirts of Hanoi as part of the Fulbright program. Her blog is frighteningly titled, "Things That Could Kill Me in Vietnam".

Last night she posted that she'd arrived in VN. She got through immigration with the "scary visa people in military uniforms" and got her bags, but apparently she was on her own when it came to getting to her school. She somehow ended up paying $120 for what should have been a $20 taxi ride. She arrived at the hotel with no one to tell her that it's normal for the hotel to hold your passport when you check in. All this happened in the wee hours of the morning after the long flight from the US.

I'm glad she's still writing about it from here and hasn't turned around and headed back to the airport. And I hope she makes good friends quickly and starts to feel more at home in her neighborhood.

But reading her story got me thinking about how much I appreciate ELI's team approach to teaching. While Nancy and I can negotiate VN pretty well these days, the experience we had 8 years ago of having friends, old and new, on the other side of the "scary visa people" sure made life a lot easier and more enjoyable.

Now we get to be the people on the other side. It's been fun doing for others what others have done for us.

Just Photos From First Week of 2008 VTF Training

Yes, it's that hot.

2/3 of the new teams.

Hoan Kiem Lake intersection.

Hit the Ground Running

With the usual slight bump, the plane hit the runway and we're back in Hanoi. Jet lag? What jet lag? Who has time for jet lag?

11 PM Wednesday: We drag the last suitcase into the house, take a look around, unpack a little, hit the showers, then the pillow.

Thursday AM: Unpacking.

Thursday afternoon: Nancy and Sandy go to Elysse; David answers email and reworks the all-country training schedule for the Vietnam Teaching Fellowship (VTF). People have been waiting for the schedule since the weekend.

Thursday, 9:18 PM: Bed.

Friday, 8:30 AM: Meet with the ELI country director to go over the schedule for the VTF training that will begin Saturday.

Friday, 11:15 AM: Lunch with the Camp Vietnam teachers who are at our school this summer.

Friday, 2 PM: Visit the school to observe Camp Vietnam in action.

Friday, 6 PM: Dinner. Food Shop 45!

Saturday, 8 AM: Meeting with other trainers at their hotel.

Saturday, 9:30 AM: Leave for the airport to welcome the 2007-2008 VTF teachers.

Saturday, 2:30 PM: Lead VTF on a walking tour around the hotel so they can get their bearings.

Saturday, 6 PM: Take VTF somewhere nearby for dinner. Anything but KFC!

Sunday, 9 AM: First training session begins. Full days for the next five weeks.

Although our heads are still spinning from being in the USA, we're off to a busy start!

Summer Holiday's Over

This was a very strange, short summer break. Six weeks is a long vacation, but it can seem short when you're never anyplace for more than two weeks, like we were this year.

But, we did get to spend two weeks in Florida with one daughter, two in Virginia with the other and our granddaughter,

and two in New York with family. That's the "glass half full" view. The other side is that we weren't in NY nearly long enough to see many of our friends there.

Now it's time to get back to work and I'm looking forward to it. VTF 2008 is made up of two teams and we're looking forward to meeting them in eight short days when they step off the plane in Hanoi. Our team will be back at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam; the other will be enjoying the cool weather at Dalat University. Their training starts a week from Saturday! Can't wait!

Blog Reading

There are a couple of people from our last VTF team who blog and I have some friends elsewhere who occasionally post to blogs. Problem is, I never remembered to check them regularly.

Then I found Google Reader, which checks their updates and puts them all in one place. Very cool. Now I can stay up to date.

But I also had to remember to check Google Reader regularly to see if they had posted anything new.

Then I found Google Reader Watcher, which is an add-on to my Firefox browser (which I switched to mostly because of the Adblock Plus add-on that blocks banner ads and lets my slow internet work a little more quickly). This little add-on puts a small icon on the lower corner of my browser that tells me whether my Google Reader has any unread postings waiting for me.

Very cool! Now I can stay up to date with everyone. Maybe even ScribeFire will help me keep my postings up to date. We'll see.

You may already know all this, but I've been behind the curve on this blogging stuff.

Games Wanted

We're looking for some word games that we can bring back to use with our students = things like Catch Phrase, Scattergories, Taboo, Boggle, Mad Gab...

I've also got a friend who would like a couple English-language science books so he can up his vocabulary in that area. I think that a couple of used NYS Regents exam review books might work.

If you have a game or book that you don't use anymore that's in good shape, or you'd like to donate a new one, let me know and I'll give you info on where to send it.

Amazing Speed

Internet: We've been in Orlando for about a week now and I've been newly amazed at the speed of US internet access - a 53 minute "Car Talk" podcast that would have taken at least 10 minutes to download on SE Asian "ADSL" took about 90 seconds!

Summer Break: It's scary how fast this is going by already.

Cars: They really can go faster than 50 km/hr!

School Year Ends

The school year ends for us, anyway. Freshmen still have a couple more weeks but they've finished their classes with the foreign teachers. As I write, our team has already begun to head off in different directions: one to the USA, one to Africa to visit a friend, and the other three traveling around SE Asia before heading home or to new responsibilities in Hanoi. Our plane takes off in less than eight hours.

Our summer is short, compared to those in the University Teaching Program (UTP), but it's enough to visit family for a few weeks. In July we'll be back in Hanoi to welcome a new group of teachers and begin their training. This year's training will look a lot different than last year when we trained with the China teachers. Because of the heavy Olympic traffic, teachers in China have been asked to delay their arrival till September. That's too late for the Vietnam school year, so VTF will join the UTP teachers for their training. It will mean more work and more expense for the VTFers, but they'll be a lot more confident at the beginning of their teaching year after the extensive training. And they'll get their TEFL certificate (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) from Wheaton College after successfully completing the coursework.

Part of my summer will involve getting ready for VTF's training and helping to revise some of the university's curriculum, but now it's time to start my summer vacation.

Cookout

Last Saturday night our team had an end-of-the-year cookout for the English department at our school. Melia and Scott delivered about 15-20 invitations, but we weren't sure who was going to come or whether anyone would be bringing guests. We planned for the max; 40 kebobs, 40 pieces of chicken, huge pans of baked beans and potato salad, cookies.... We had lots of leftovers!


Finding a small grill and some charcoal wasn't nearly as difficult as getting damp charcoal lighted with no lighter fluid. Paper didn't work. Twigs off a dead branch weren't much more effective. Then I remembered that a worker had left a few strips of dry wood upstairs. Josh was able to get things going with that and we ended up with a good fire. Like most times I try to barbecue, I should have started about 1/2 hour earlier.

But anyway, everything got cooked and our friends seemed to enjoy the American food. It was nice to be able to get together outside of work.

The Earthquake

You know that feeling you get when you lay down at night after having been out in a canoe all day? That feeling that you're still bobbing around on the water?

About 3 o'clock on Monday afternoon I felt that kind of thing, but like I was bobbing forward and back. "That was weird," I thought. Then I heard about the devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, China.

Although word at this point is that all of our organization's teachers in China are OK (we didn't have any in the immediate area of the quake), thousands of Chinese aren't so fortunate. Please keep them in your thoughts!

Remember too, the people of Myanmar who are being victimized twice -- once by the cyclone and again by those who are preventing aid from reaching them. Twelve days after more than 62,000 people were killed by the storm, bodies remain unburied and food and drinking water are scarce. Today the EU's humanitarian aid commissioner said that, because the rice stocks in the country's main farming area have been destroyed, there is a risk of famine.

Best Book This Year

I saw the ads for Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller when it first came out about 5 years ago but I had a lot of other books on my reading list back then so I never really tracked it down. This year I finally got around to reading it when I borrowed it from my friend, Melia. She's been the source of a lot of my good reading material this year, including her blog.

To be honest, Miller's writing style is not my favorite, but the value is in the way he presents his beliefs as something that makes sense even in the western postmodern world. In fact, I thought it was kind of like a combination of C. S. Lewis's little apologetic book that came out of his radio broadcasts and Rick Warren's how-to book, all translated into postmodern language.

Miller does seem to have the "love everybody and it'll all turn out OK" mentality that many writers and speakers subscribe to these days. I can't imagine how they can reconcile that with the bulk of ancient writings (old or new parts) that include discipline and expectations as well as love. It's a good push of the pendulum, but it's unbalanced and unworkable by itself.

Still, it's the best book I've read so far this year and it's a good bridge for us old "moderns" into the postmodern scene (or I guess you could say, "pms."). I've not had time to list it on my favorites on this page -- we're in the middle of giving and grading finals -- but you can search Amazon below and find it.

Bao Duong

With the school year wrapping up, I've complied a list of stuff I need to get done by the end of the month. One thing on the list is getting some routine maintenance (bao duong) done on my Honda Super Dream. Since the bike is still pretty new, it's not been through much more than some oil changes and some minor adjustments to the brakes and chain.

Of course, like anywhere else, there's the challenge of finding a good mechanic. A few months ago a place dropped a flier in our gate that made them look like a pretty good choice, and it is a lot closer than the dealer where I bought it. So I rode up to the front door, told the guy what I wanted, and sat and watched for the hour or so that it took a mechanic to almost completely disassemble the motorbike, adjust and lube everything possible, and put it back together again. I was surprised! I mean, he even took apart the shocks.

After he washed it and another guy double-checked everything and took it for a spin, I got the bill. 50,000 VND. But they didn't realize I wanted the oil changed too. That added 40,000. Apparently oil costs a lot more than labor. The whole thing translated to $5.63 USD. I wish I had found a mechanic like that for my motorcycle in the US!

Weekends

Lately there have been so many "little" things going on at the same time that it seems like there's nothing "big" to write about. But, since Easter, there's been something going on every weekend.

First was a trip to Thai Nguyen. It's been a long time since I've been back (and longer for Nancy), so we hopped on the bus Saturday morning to visit a couple of our friends/former students. Aside from the usual "trolling," it was a smooth trip. "Trolling" is what we call it when the bus leaves the station and sloooowly pokes along the road looking for additional passengers to fill the empty seats - and the aisle, and any laps that look like they have room. We trolled almost all the way to the airport, but we had good seats this time so it wasn't bad from where we sat.

We visited with our friends, had lunch at a seafood restaurant, and marveled at the big lobster-like critter in the tank that you could order for $100 US per kilogram. And we were absolutely amazed to see a 4-story shopping center, complete with escalators, standing where the old, open-air central market had been.


Our friend and Nancy have been quite close over the years and she spent most of the day lobbying Nancy to move back up to Thai Nguyen to hang out, practice English, play with her kids, etc. (She has cute kids, but it didn't work.)


In the old days, Nancy taught our friend to bake and she's gotten pretty good at it. But she's been busy with work and family and hasn't had much time for baking. So, after helping her assemble an apple pie and sticking it in the oven, we headed out to catch one of the last buses back to Hanoi.

The following weekend was the big "Miss IIR" contest. IIR is the old name for our school - The Institute for International Relations. (The name was recently changed to The Diplomacy Institute of Vietnam.). The field had been narrowed from the original 25 contestants to 11 and Saturday night was the big competition. It was quite an event, but also quite long. I didn't stick around for all four hours, but I heard that a girl in one of Josh's freshman classes took first place.

It looks like weekends will stay full for a while. On Saturday we're going with the rest of the VTF team to Ha Long Bay to treat our spring fever and the following weekend we're in Beijing for the VTF/CTF team leader summit.

Easter Party

Easter's more of a church-going event than a party one, but an Easter party is a good way to introduce students to an important holiday that few of them have ever heard of. Even if they don't know the Christmas story, they at least know about Christmas. Easter, on the other hand, is almost totally unknown.

The first big question the 7 of us on VTF faced was, "How can we do an Easter party for all of our students?" We've got a total of almost 30 classes this semester with most class sizes hovering around 30. Nine hundred students?!

But, at this point in the year, we kind of know which students we've been able to build relationships with and who may be the best ones to invite. So we decided that we would each invite 3 students. Seventeen showed up.

A few of the teachers hid eggs in the garden on campus. Nancy and Melia stood guard while the rest of us met the students out front. (While we were waiting, a little girl discovered a couple of the eggs and was about to start smashing them till our "guards" intervened!)

The plastic eggs contained strips of paper with parts of the Easter story written on them. The rest of them were hard-boiled. After they were all found, we headed to our house where Josh and Melia helped half the group dye eggs while Deena told the other half the story and then had them put the strips in order. Then we switched groups and repeated the process.

No Vietnamese student party is complete without singing so, after singing "He Lives!" in both languages (and an assortment of other songs that have nothing to do with Easter), we all called it a night. It couldn't have gone smoother and it was great to have a house full of students again.

Signs of Easter Are...

...nowhere to be found.

At least not like you see signs of Christmas. The commercial side of Christmas has definitely made its way to Hanoi, but that's not the case with Easter. Three months ago, life-sized plastic Santas stood in front of shops with their motorized arms waving and pre-recorded, "Ho, Ho, Ho's" bellowing. Sidewalk vendors were selling Santa hats. Toy stores stocked artificial Christmas trees, stuffed St. Nick's and tinsel. But I can't find plastic eggs anywhere.

On the non-commercial front, it is encouraging to see a large resurrection mural on the front of the city's large Vietnamese Catholic church. Friday night the two International churches in Hanoi got together for a service. Anticipating more people attending than usual, HIF had two identical services on Sunday morning. Monday night VTF is banding together for some egg-dying with students and the deeper story of Easter.

Saturday night most of the Hanoi teachers, and a few from out-of-town, got together at the director's house to share a meal and talk a bit about what Easter means to them. A couple of people mentioned what it's like to tell the story in simplified, understandable English to people who are hearing it for the first time. In that setting it's easy to be talking and thinking at the same time - telling the story while thinking, "This sounds crazy! Do I really believe this?"

I do. Aside from the historical evidence and my belief that it makes sense philosophically, I know the difference the Resurrected One has made in my life.

I guess there are signs of Easter after all.

The National Pediatrics Hospital

On Thursday we found out that a friend and former student had to take her 4-month old daughter to the hospital in Hanoi. She had already had a CT scan and chest X-ray at the hospital in the provincial capital where they live, but the hospital said the problem was beyond them and suggested she bring her to Hanoi. We got a call saying they were at the National Pediatrics Hospital (Benh Vien Nhi Truong Uong)and started trying to figure out how to visit.

No Yellow Pages Here.

The most complicated part is finding the hospital since Benh Vien Nhi Truong Uong is listed as Bao ve Suc Khoe Tre em on the map. But our friend had given us the name of the street so it was just a matter of narrowing it down. I figured it would make the most sense to start asking near the place called Bao ve Suc Khoe Tre em, since "Tre em" means "child." On my way home from the Chinese Embassy (picking up visas for our April meetings), I pulled over and asked a bicycle repairman who had set up shop by the side of the road. He was eager to help; I had only gotten "Benh Vien Nhi" out of my mouth when he pointed down the road and told me to go straight ahead, through the intersection and turn left after about 200 meters. Turns out it's only about 1/2 mile from our house. I had ridden up to the gate last week when I was looking for a shortcut; I just hadn't paid attention to the sign.

So that's how, on Friday afternoon, Nancy and I found ourselves in the middle of a sprawling medical complex, wondering where we could find our friend and her baby.

The Hospital

The Pediatrics Hospital was full of kids - and parents, aunts and uncles. Because medical staff only takes care of medical matters, a trip to the hospital is a family event. Non-medical stuff, like bathing and changing diapers is the responsibility of the family. Food is up to the patient too - you buy it from the carts that are wheeled around the hospital or bring it in yourself. Visiting hours are scheduled around meals (6-7 AM, 11 AM - 1 PM, and 4 - 8 PM).

For less than $1/day, you get a spot in an 8-bed ward. Our friend is well-off enough that she could afford the quieter $20/day semi-private room (2 beds, a bathroom and sink - no hot water).

Vietnam's communal culture showed up even in the hallway of the neurology ward where adults and kids seemed to interact like one big extended family. Not surprisingly, everyone noticed Nancy and I as we walked through the hall. Surprisingly, no one said anything. We had a short visit, got to look at the films from the CT scan and X-ray (they were tucked under the mattress for safekeeping), and came back that evening with some pizza and fried rice Nancy bought from a local restaurant.

We were back several times over the next few days to pray, try to encourage, and help out wherever we could. Our little friend was back to her happy little self on Saturday and discharged on Sunday. The whole experience left me feeling overwhelmed at the huge number of kids there and wishing I could do something to help.

It's Cold Here - Really!

Tell someone that it's cold in Vietnam and most won't believe it. Most Americans who've been to Vietnam remember the oppressively sticky heat of the south. Most weather comments, even from those who live in northern VN, are about how hot it is. So what's with the cold? How cold is it?

Uh, about 58F (14C). OK, OK, stop laughing. Stop. Or I'll laugh next summer when you complain that 90F (32C) and 70% humidity is "sweltering." Ha!

Not only does it feel cold, with the temperature inside the house the same as outside, it's taking a serious toll on this subtropical area that's not geared for a 34-day (and counting) cold spell. And it's way worse in the economically poor mountainous areas, as this picture from the newspaper shows. It was taken in Lao Cai province last week when the winter fog froze to trees and road signs.

How cold is it?

• 50% of the rice crop in the north, and almost as much in the central part of the country has been killed by the cold. It dies when it gets below 15C.
• Over 55,000 cattle have died - mostly calves and young buffaloes in the mountainous provinces.
• A two-year old boy died of hypothermia after riding the family motorbike from Phu Tho to Hai Phong with his parents. He is one of hundreds of the children and elderly who have died because of the cold. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01MIS130208

The Vietnamese government is planning to come through with financial aid for some of these hard-hit families, but this year ahead will be a hard one for many. What makes these losses worse is that 10% of the Mekong (southern) rice crop has been lost to grasshoppers and disease. Inflation in January drove food prices up another 22%. Pork and beef prices are at U.S. levels or higher. In southern markets, wild tree leaves are being sold because of rising prices and poor vegetable crops. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/02/769425/

So keep VN - and us - in your thoughts. Maybe this will have the positive result of helping us all realize that we're not as self-sufficient as we might think.

It's Not Green Bay, But...

Here's a picture of what the sky's looked like for the last month or so. The tall building that's so hard to make out is a little over a mile away. I don't know if it's overcast, cloudy, smoggy, or what, but it's been a long time since the sky has been blue!


If you're curious what winter here feels like, lower your thermostat 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit, run a humidifier to keep the humidity at about 75%, and keep those settings there for a couple months. I know, 60 doesn't sound very cold, but when it's that temperature inside and out, it does make it hard to get out of bed in the morning.

But, on Friday, Nancy and I leave for Chiang Mai, Thailand for physicals, two of weeks of meetings, training, and a couple days off. It will be nice to be warm and see the sun again! (And, hopefully, we'll get to see Josh and Crystal.)

Thầy nào trò ấy means...

..."like teacher, like student."

Last spring when we were thinking about a logo specific to the Vietnam Teaching Fellowship (VTF) as opposed to its older brother, the China Teaching Fellowship (CTF), we thought that this traditional Vietnamese saying might be a nice thing to add. After all, we're not just about teaching, we're about sharing what we've been given.

Which Semester Is It?

Hard to tell. After having a couple of weeks of down time around Christmas and New Year's, I started the spring term with one of my classes (juniors) last week. A second class (sophomores) starts next week.

At the same time, I'm still finishing up finals from the fall semester - one for freshmen International Relations majors last week and another one for Freshmen English majors next week.

One reason the schedule's so complicated is because, at the beginning of the year, the freshmen have mandatory military training (which just looks like a lot of marching around from what we see). That means they go a month later at the end of the term. Another reason is that students have intensive lecture classes on subjects like politics, law and economics that get tacked onto their term as the lecturers are available. The only sure thing is that the term is 15 weeks long, so at least we know how many classes we have to teach.

The funny thing is - funny unusual, not funny ha-ha - is that some of us get just a couple weeks off, some get about a month. Melia finished the end of November (except for some finals) and won't start again till after Tet! But she had 5 writing classes last fall; after all that grading, she earned some rest.

VTF Santas Part 2

Deena was able to go down to Ha Nam province with the CAMA Services staff on December 18 to hand out the gifts we wrapped. I finally got around to putting it on YouTube. What you don't see is the older kids acted out the Christmas story in Vietnamese.

Thai Nguyen Wedding

Wednesday morning Huyen called to invite me to her brother's wedding. Short notice is pretty normal (the wedding was Thursday*) but she had told me before Christmas that he was getting married soon after the New Year. Fortunately, I've not started up with the second semester yet, so I went downtown, bought a card and went to bed early.

The ride up was sunny but cold. Since the family is well-connected in the steel business, the house was pretty crowded. The first face I recognized was Huyen's little cousin (who is not so little any more!) She greeted me with an enthusiastic, "Hi, David!" quickly followed by, "Where's Nancy?" She was Nancy's cultural guide in the fish-eye story and they've spent quite a bit of time together over the years.

This was the most elaborate Vietnamese wedding I've been to so far. Live traditional folk music, tea tables separate from the banquet tables, an improvised kitchen 3 times the size of my classrooms...

The customs, of course, were the same. Guests visit and eat as the groom and his family move from table to table to greet them. At the appointed time, the groom goes off with some of the older members of his family and a few close friends to get the bride and bring her back to his house. Then they go inside and the families have a short ceremony at the ancestral altar. More and more couples are doing the western wedding cake bit afterwards and these guys had a huge cake.

Weddings aren’t my favorite event because, the longer they last, the drunker some of the guests get. Then, one after another, they come by your table wanting to drink with you. The organization I work for has a no drinking policy, and I don’t drink anyway, so it’s always a pain. Even sipping doesn’t count – “Mot tram phan tram” is the standard ( “One hundred percent!”).

Still, this wedding was one I didn’t want to miss. And it was fun, for the most part. I was able to slip away to a quieter place in the house and chat with some uncles, cousins and grandkids before going in to the banquet. I'm so grateful for the chance to have learned some Vietnamese last year so I can talk with people now! It was a good chance to see some of my old students, friends, and to continue to cultivate small seeds among those who are still far from the master gardener.

* Two VTF teachers were invited to go to
Ha Long Bay today; the invitation came
at midnight last night.