Starting My New Job

Hue College of Foreign Languages

I've been living in Hue and teaching at Hue University College of Foreign Languages for about two weeks now. So far, only two of my classes (Writing for Third Year Students) have started, but they're going well. My classes usually have 35-40 students, mostly women, and even though there's a text book and some basic class requirements, I am basically free to do any activities I want in class. It's nice to have that kind of flexibility again . . .

"Building C"

Everybody at the college has been very friendly, but it's a little hard to adjust to different concepts of time - Students come in to class quite late, and none of the teachers follow the time on the class schedule. Offices close and open at random times of the day, and you're never sure if the person you need to talk to will be there or not. Also, I don't get to see the other English teachers that much since everybody has different schedules, and I'm the only American here, so I'm feeling a little isolated too.

Next week, I start teaching my other six classes (4 speaking classes and 2 pronunciation classes) as well as a series of seminars for MA students. I'm also thinking about starting up an English Conversation Club at the college, so I should be pretty busy.

Hospital:

So far, I've been to the hospital in Vietnam for two reasons - to get vaccinations and to get a health check for my work permit. The vaccinations were incredibly cheap - about $9 for each rabies shot and $3.50 for the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine. The doctor, however, seemed quite suspicious of my desire to get inoculated, and I had to bring a letter from the college, a witness from the college, and sign a paper. Still, considering that the Japanese Encephalitis shot would have cost $355 in the US, putting up with a suspicious doctor isn't so bad.

Even though I brought a health check from the US, the work permit requires tons and tons of tests, so I had to just start over here. I had a blood test, TB test, eye test, ENT consultation, mental health check, chest x-ray, dental visit, and so on. This is even after someone from the college bargained with the hospital to skip some of the requirements and reduce the fee (which meant I didn't have to see the gynecologist, thank goodness!). I have to go back on Sunday to get the TB test checked and then go back sometime next week to get the final paper signed. Do we make foreigners go through all this just to work in the US too?

my desk

Living Arrangements: 


So I'm back to living in a dorm, which isn't so bad, considering that it's free, has air conditioning (which is not common in Vietnam), and is right across the street from work. I manage to keep most of the bugs and lizards out of my bedroom, but there are these tiny, microscopic ants that can get through any crack. Have to make sure to hide anything edible and leave the garbage can in the bathroom so they'll go there. The bathroom doesn't have class, so it's open to the outside. This means that mosquitoes, lizards, ants, grasshoppers, and giant cockroaches can get in whenever they want. The lizards are actually pretty cute, except for the pervert ones that watch me take a shower, but the cockroaches are at least as big as the ones in Georgia and give me the creeps!

my bathroom - a western-style toilet, thank goodness!

The biggest problem with the dorm is the internet - it doesn't work well, and is always kicking me off. Last Saturday around 8am, the power randomly went out as well. The manager said they were repairing a power line and there would be no electricity until 5pm. Apparently, this type of thing happens quite frequently - the power also went out during the English department's freshman orientation on the same day.

my bed and other furniture