Goodbye Hue

party at my student's house - so much food!

After coming back from my trip, I had four more days in Hue before completely leaving Vietnam. There were a lot of goodbyes, and I actually taught two private classes that week too. My private student invited me to her house for a big party with the whole class. I ate so much food! Everybody ate tons of rice cakes and lots of vegetarian hot pot – two of my favorite foods in Vietnam. After dinner, we played cards, and it was so nice to see students outside of class.

cute Vietnamese posing

The day before I left, I invited everyone to join me at a bar in Hue. A lot of people were there to say farewell. And, the day I left, I was still saying goodbye, having coffee and tea with friends, and sharing a final lunch at my favorite vegetarian restaurant in Hue. I will really miss all the wonderful friends I made during my time in Vietnam!

me and Amy

Goodbye Party

Back in the U.S.

After over 20 hours of flight time and more than 30 hours total, including layovers, I finally arrived in Atlanta. Mom, Dad, and Lucky all came to the airport to pick me up. I’m exhausted, but happy to be back with family. I’m looking forward to celebrating the Fourth of July with all my relatives, since I missed all the holidays during my fellowship.

Now, I’m focusing on my next move – Arizona! Starting in August, I’ll be working at Arizona State University, and I can’t wait. Wish me luck!

Final Trip

May was such a busy month – I taught 4 workshops the first week of May, helped organize and pull off two action research colloquia, and submitted my first paper for my PhD program. So, after all my classes finished on June 7 and I had nothing left to do, I decided to take a final trip to Laos and Halong Bay. I hadn’t planned to visit Laos originally, but I figured it was a good way to spend my last few weeks in Southeast Asia.

The Bus Ride

crowded bus with people sleeping in the aisle

There was no flight to Laos from Hue, so I took the bus to the capital of Laos, Vientiene. It was brutal – a 19 hour bus ride with Vietnamese feet in my face the whole time because the bus was so crowded. Also, the main purpose of the bus seemed to be to transport cargo from Vietnam to Laos – we stopped so many times for people to load and unload bags and other cargo from the roof of the bus. Needless to say, I was so relieved when we finally reached Vientiene at 5 in the morning!

Vientiene

Golden Stupa in Vientiene

Lao’s nickname is Lao “Please don’t Rush,” (from the country name, Lao PDR - People's Democratic Republic) and even the capital was super laid-back and chill. Some of my time there I visited the famous sites – like a temple with a golden stupa, or the COPE museum – but a lot of the time I spent relaxing in cafes, just walking around, or riding a bike. I wanted this to be a relaxing trip, and the weather – hot and rainy – forced me to take it slow. At the hostel, I met a French girl named Marion, and we traveled together throughout Laos. She was in the middle of a six month trip around Asia and made the perfect traveling companion for me.

By the River

Vang Vieng

I almost skipped going to Vang Vieng because the town has a pretty bad reputation as a backpacker party city. Every year, drunk backpackers die there, usually from drugs or from drunk accidents while tubing on the river. But, Vang  Vieng is also spectacularly beautiful, and I had to see it for myself.

outside the cave

Despite my initial trepidation, Vang Vieng turned out to be the best part of my trip. In the morning, Marion and I rented mountain bikes and traveled on country roads, past farms and cattle, to a secluded cave and swimming area called the “Blue Lagoon.” The roads were really rough, and I don’t think my but will ever be the same, but the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. When we arrived at the cave, no one else was around, so we were able to explore all on our own. Even though it was the morning, it was really hot, and we went straight to the “Blue Lagoon” for a swim in the clear waters. The lagoon had rope swings and a tree branch to jump off, and the water was so refreshing!

the "Blue Lagoon"

In the afternoon, we went back to Vang Vieng and had lunch. Marion didn’t want to go tubing, but I didn’t want to miss out on a chance to tube the river in Laos, despite the party reputation, so I went by myself. In Vang Vieng, as in the U.S., tubing revolves mainly around drinking. In this case, there are four bars at the beginning of the tubing course, and most people never make it to the end of the tubing (they usually take a tuk-tuk back from the last bar). You tube from bar to bar, and workers throw out ropes to bring you in to each bar from the river. For me, however, I just wanted a relaxing afternoon, so I skipped the bars, avoided the ropes, and drifted down the river in blissful peace and solitude. The mountains were beautiful, the water felt great, and life was good!

a nice view of Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang

in front of the waterfall

My last stop in Laos was Luang Prabang, a world heritage site and favorite among travelers in Laos. Luang Prabang was a nice city, but the best things were day trips nearby. The first place I went was a lovely, crystal blue waterfall. Here you could hike to the top of the waterfall and then swim in one of the pools at the bottom of the waterfall. At the top of the waterfall, there was a guy with a raft. Even though you could cross by yourself, I decided to take the raft just for fun. After getting sweaty climbing to the top, swimming in the waterfall was just amazing! Even though the fish were nibbling at my legs, the water felt great and I really enjoyed myself.

Another interesting trip was a boat ride to Buddha cave. I went with Marion, and while we both agreed that Buddha cave was a bit of a let-down, the boat ride there was wonderful. Cruising on the Mekong river, we just enjoyed riding and looking at the scenery.

raft at the top of the waterfall

In Luang Prabang itself, the night market was a daily event – the best part was the vegetarian buffet. Although it was really a buffet, for just $1.25 you could fill a large plate full of as much vegetarian food as you wanted. Needless to say, I ate there all four nights! Another highlight was the temple at the top of a hill – even though the temple itself wasn’t anything special, the view of Luang Prabang and the surrounding area was awesome!

Marion and I in front of "Buddha Cave"

Halong Bay

After a relaxing trip to Laos, I felt my stress level rise again as soon as I came back to Vietnam. I really wanted to see Halong Bay before leaving Vietnam, so I booked a cheap 2 day, one night trip on a junk boat. These tours are notorious for scamming and lying to people, so I just decided to pick a cheap one and go with the flow.

in Halong Bay

Actually, I enjoyed the trip a lot – the Bay was beautiful, and I enjoyed talking with all the other travelers on the boat. There was quite an international mix – German, Chile, American, Israeli, Malaysian, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. However, the other travelers joked that it was really a “waiting” tour. There were only a few small activities the first day – swimming, kayaking, and a cave – and other than that, we were herded to different places only to wait for long periods of time once there. Also, the tour guides were awful – one got into an argument and started cursing at one of the passengers. And did I mention the cockroaches on the boat?

View of Halong Bay from the Boat

People complain because Halong Bay tours make you feel like you’re being scammed and the tour company is just trying to get as much money out of you as possible. And, it’s true. But, it’s also true that Halong Bay is a beautiful place to visit, if only to say you’ve seen one of the wonders of the world. I’m glad that I took the trip, but it was quite a change of pace from Laos!

Hanoi

me and my free tour guide in Hanoi

I ended my trip in Hanoi. It was my third trip to Hanoi, and I realized that I had seen almost all the famous sites. I stayed with my coworker Jill and was also able to catch up with some Australian friends who used to work in Hue, so it was nice to be able to see them before leaving Vietnam. I also did a free tour with a university student. We went outside of the city, which was nice, and visited a pottery village. I also just walked around Hanoi a lot and watched T.V. in Jill’s apartment. It might not have been the most exciting part of the trip, but it was a nice way to end my final trip in Southeast Asia.

Action Research Colloquia and Tombs in Hue

 Action Research Colloquia

For the last two months, I’ve been working with two other English Language Fellows in Hanoi and Danang, two people from the general consulate in Ho Chi Minh, and staff at my university to put together two Action Research Colloquia for teachers in Vietnam. Last week, we actually held the two action research colloquia – a full-day colloquium in Danang on Thursday and a half-day colloquium here in Hue on Saturday.

My Coworker, Presenting at the Colloquium

They were a lot of work to put together, but both colloquia went really well and we had excellent attendance. I never really thought about all the things that go in to organizing an event like that – budgeting, submitting official proposals, negotiating with different people, screening presentation proposals, etc. Sometimes it was a little overwhelming, but it was definitely a good experience for me to get practice organizing and planning a professional conference. I also presented about some research on peer-editing in writing – I only did the research two weeks before the conference, so it was a tight schedule!

Anyways, we got a lot of good feedback from the participants, and I think my coworker in Hanoi is already planning another one for next year. It was a nice event to cap off my work here in Vietnam.

Khai Dinh Tomb

Khai Dinh Tomb

 Tombs in Hue

After the second colloquium, my coworker Jill and I decided to do some more sight-seeing in Hue. A lot of my students participate in a tour guide club here called “Hue Enter.” The students give free tour guides for foreign tourists. It’s a chance for them to practice their English and get experience working as a tour guide. I went on a tour with Hue Enter when I first came to Vietnam and really liked it, so I arranged for Jill and I to go on a tour with two student guides.

Student Tour Guide Explaining a Statue to Jill

The only thing left on my list of things to see in Hue was the tombs. Since Hue was the capital of some royal dynasties in Vietnam, it is full of royal tombs. With the students, we just visited two of the most famous: Khai Dinh Tomb and Tu Duc Tomb.

French Inspired Decorations

The students picked us up on motorcycles, and off we went. First was Khai Dinh Tomb. Emperor Khai Dinh had close ties to France and died in the 20^th century, so his tomb had a lot of French influence. A display in the tomb showed all kinds of French furniture, clocks, dishes, etc. that he used during his lifetime, and the decorations and paintings inside also reflected his French influence, with a mix of Vietnamese and French style architecture. According to our tour guides, Khai Dinh raised taxes to build his tomb, making him an unpopular leader. Even though his tomb is smaller than others in Hue, it took 11 years to build because nobody wanted to work hard building it. Our guides also showed us the common features of every tomb – a stele with the emperor’s biography, statues of soldiers, horses, and elephants, and two obelisks on either side of the entrance.

Gate at Tu Duc Tomb

In Front of the Lake at Tu Duc Tomb

Next we saw Tu Duc Tomb. This one was built around 50 years before Khai Dinh tomb in the 19^th century, but it seemed a lot older and more traditional. It was also a lot bigger – the emperor used it as a kind of summer home, so it included a palace and several other buildings along with the tomb. I thought it was a bit creepy to go on vacation to your future burial tomb, but my tour guides seemed to think it was pretty normal. Despite having over a hundred wives and concubines, the emperor never had any children. So, he had to write his own epitaph for his tomb, which was considered a bad omen. In addition, while pictures show Emperor Khai Dinh being buried at his tomb, Tu Duc’s body is not in his tomb, and nobody knows where it is. The two hundred laborers who buried the king in a secret location were immediately beheaded afterwards, so nobody knows where the body really is. Creepy, right? Tu Duc tomb also had the stautes, stele, and obelisks, so it was interesting to compare with the more modern Khai Dinh tomb.

Learning to Make Incense

Old Woman Making a Conical Hat

After the tombs, we stopped by a store that makes incense and conical hats, and they let Jill and I try our hand at making the incense. The store smelled incredible! Afterwards, we visited a famous vegetarian restaurant near the tombs. I’d only been there once before with some students because it’s too far from the city for my bicycle. The restaurant is decorated really nicely, and the food is good too. Overall, it was an excellent day of sight-seeing with good company, and a great way to finish a busy week of conferences!

Lunch with MA Students

Decorations at the Restaurant

Metaphor Class and Workshops

Metaphor Class 

The last few weeks have been really busy! First, I finished up my 8-week metaphor class. The students were really nice and enthusiastic – they bought cake, snacks, and drinks to have a celebration at the end of the course. One of the classes bought a cake with a number 8 candle, so I asked why they picked that candle. The student replied that it was an 8-week course, so it seemed to fit. How sweet! Other students gave me presents and even a thank-you card. I could see they had made a lot of friends in the class and really appreciated my instruction.

Although it was a lot of work to hold the class on top of all my regular courses, the students who attended regularly were really nice to work with. And, of course, I learned a lot from preparing the class and doing the research. Now, to analyze all the data . . . I can’t believe my first paper is already due in just a couple of weeks!

Workshops in Southern Vietnam

The first week in May, I traveled to three cities to give workshops for four different universities in Vietnam. It was my first time to give big workshops for teachers, so I was a bit nervous, but they went really well. The topics included Teaching American Culture while Avoiding Stereotypes, Culture in English Language Teaching, Teaching English Metaphors and Idioms, and Teaching Spoken Grammar and English Communication Skills.

 

The cities I traveled to were Quy Nhon, Thuy Hoa, and Nha Trang, all coastal cities by the beach. And, since I was traveling with my contact from the General Consulate, we stayed in really nice hotels. It was amazing – I woke up to the sun rising over the ocean right outside my window and go to go jogging on the beach! I went a bit crazy at the breakfast buffets too – after not having waffles for almost a year, I was ecstatic to have some for breakfast. I was also excited to use the gym and swimming pools. I think the general consulate people thought I was a bit strange . . .

Although the beaches were nice, the workshops were the best part of the trip. There were between 15 and 60 people at each workshop, mostly university lecturers in Vietnam. Everyone was super friendly, asked lots of questions, took notes, and actively participated in all the workshops. I’m not sure if they will actually change anything about their teaching after attending the workshop, but it was nice to finally do some teacher training and work with some people outside of Hue.

The universities would usually organize a tea-break or lunch with me after the workshops. This was nice, but being vegan caused a lot of problems. I ended up eating a lot of cooked green stuff with rice for my meals (on 3 separate occasions!). Still, it was nice getting to connect with some universities here that don’t have any foreign teachers. They were really appreciative for the workshop and open to anything I had to say.

This has been a big year of firsts – from presenting at conferences, to publishing papers, to giving these workshops – but it’s been a really good learning experience. I’m getting to do a lot of things I’ve never done before, and growing a lot as a teacher. Overall, it was a busy, but wonderful week of workshops!

What I've been doing during the last month . . .

washing vegetables - this is my coworker who hosted the event

So, I suddenly realized it has been a month since my last post! I’m not really sure what happened – I think I was mostly being lazy . . . Anyways, here are a few of the things that have been happening over the last month.

Lunch with Students

About two weeks ago, my TESOL MA student and coworker at Hue University College of Foreign Languages invited me to her house for lunch on Saturday. I arrived at her house in the morning, and all the students were busy prepping everything for lunch – washing and chopping all the vegetables and fruit, grilling the meat, and preparing a veritable feast for lunch! The food was delicious, and it was nice to see the MA students outside of class. Most of the students work and study at the same time, and they don't often have time to meet and prepare a big meal together, so it was a special treat for everyone involved. After lunch, we went our for Karaoke - one of the students had her two little kids with her, and they were so cute singing Vietnamese songs! The six-year-old girl didn't even have to look at the screen - she had all her songs memorized!

ready for lunch - yummy!

The MA students were so sweet and so fun to work with. They sometimes email me questions about their research and ask for my advice, and since they're all teachers, they really appreciate the hard work I put into their MA Testing and Assessment course. 

MA TESOL students

 Just this week, two other MA students invited me out to lunch. We went to the only famous vegetarian restaurant that I haven't been to in Hue (it's a little ways outside the city, so it's difficult for me to get there by bicycle). The restaurant was really lovely - the owner is an artist, so you could see lots of artwork and the owner's art studio inside the restaurant. The building was a beautiful, old-styled Vietnamese house, and there were lots of plants and a fish pond too. And, oh yeah, the food was pretty great too! Anyways, it was really sweet of them to think of me and take me out for lunch.

beautiful decorations at the vegetarian restaurant

at the restaurant

Hue Festival

Every two years, Hue holds an international festival, and it's been happening this week! There are tons of performances and groups from around the world- so far, I've seen the opening ceremony, with acts from around the world, a Japanese drumming group, an American country music group, Sri Lanka drummers and dancers, a Hungarian band with dancers, Mongolian performers with a contortionist, an Australian electric string ensemble, and a famous white guy who sings in Vietnamese. Plus, everything is really cheap - it cost around $15 to see the opening ceremony, and $5 to get into the citadel and see a variety of acts on the other evenings. Plus, the citadel is decorated with lots of lights and looks spectacular at night.

really, really energetic Japanese drum ensemble

American country band that did a cool fusion song
with the traditional Vietnamese performers on the left

Needless to say, there are loads of tourists and visitors in the city right now. The whole city is celebrating with decorations and there are so many activities and things to see everyday. It's impossible to see everything, especially when you have to work during the day . . . But, it's a great time to be living in Hue and get a chance to experience the international festival!

Mongolian Band act that included an incredible contortionist

happy samba music from Brazil

Work

Other than all the socializing and festival, I've been really busy with work. My research class is finishing next week, so I can't wait to collect all the data and hurry to submit a 12,000 word paper by the beginning of June. I also have a lot of classes at the university, and it turns out that planning two international studies classes (U.S. government and politics, and Ethnic Communities in the U.S.) take a long time each week! Plus, I started teaching a private class. So, my schedule has been super busy! I'm definitely looking forward to having more free time when my metaphor class and international studies classes wrap up in the next few weeks.

Some exciting news I received during the month was that an article I submitted to TESOL Journal has been accepted for publication. It took about one year and one re-submission for it to be accepted, so this was a huge deal for me. It's still in the first editing stage, so don't expect to see it in print anytime soon, but great news nonetheless!

Overwhelmingly Busy!

MA Class

After coming back from Cambodia, I was completely swamped with work, mostly because of my MA TESOL class. Instead of having a regular class which meets every week, the MA classes at my university last for only 2-3 weeks. The students take two subjects every 2-3 weeks throughout the semester, which means the teacher must cram a full semester’s course into just 9 days! Even though it was tough, I learned a lot from the class. It was my first time to teach an MA level course, and the subject, testing and assessment, made me start to reconsider the types of tests and assessments I’d used in the past. Plus, it forced me to go through the module on Testing and Assessment from the University of Birmingham website to actually learn the material to teach the class.

posing with some of the MA students and a massive bouquet of flowers!

The students were really great. I gave them a series of seminars on research methods last semester, and this semester I specifically requested to teach one of the classes. Many of them are busy teachers who work while studying, something that I can really relate to . . . They gave me flowers for international women’s day and presents at the end of the course. (This week, I ended up getting 4 bunches of flowers!) Overall, a really positive experience!

Workshop at the Learning Resource Center

the students were so proud of their posters!

This weekend, I also gave a workshop for students at the learning resource center on English learning strategies. I was told there might be more than 80 students – really about 60-70 showed up on Saturday morning, many of whom I had taught before at the College of Foreign Languages.

working on their posters

Overall, the workshop went really well and I think the students got a lot out of it. I had them make group posters with study tips for speaking, listening, reading, writing, vocabulary, and pronunciation (I figured they didn’t need any tips for grammar . . .). They were so proud of their posters, took lots of pictures, and were really excited to share their ideas with other groups.

students sharing learning tips

The Beach

hanging out at the beach

So, after six months, I finally made it out to the beach near Hue. It’s too far to travel by bicycle, so I hitched a ride with one of my friends. We all met out at a resort owned by a French guy. The beach was quiet and secluded – so peaceful after a long week of work!

William is still working at the beach. Take a break, man!

The resort had a little bar and everyone brought some fruit to share. Even though I only spent the morning there, it was a really relaxing trip. I can’t wait to go back!

secluded, peaceful beach just outside of the city

fun at the beach

Good-Bye Party

One of my good friends here is going back to Australia, so we had a nice farewell party for her (actually, she organized it, but that’s beside the point . . .) Everyone met up at her house for a giant buffet of food, including rice cakes, sushi, pizza, fruit, and loads of alcohol. Afterwards, we headed out to a nearby Karaoke joint. Normally, I don’t really like going out for Karaoke, but everyone said I gave a brilliant rendition of “Barbie Girl.”

Karaoke - Sing your hearts out!

Anyways, it was definitely a fun night, but I’m gonna miss my running buddy. Hope she has a safe trip back home, and maybe we’ll meet again in Hanoi. Keep your fingers crossed! (On a side note, I inadvertently found out that crossing your fingers is a really, really dirty gesture in Vietnam. I was teaching the idiom, “keep your fingers crossed,” and when I made the gesture, everyone gasped. How embarrassing!)