Back in Hue

After returning from Hanoi, I have to make up a week’s worth of classes, as well as all the classes that were canceled because of the two storms. So, I’ve been pretty busy! So far, I’ve only made up 4 out of 12 classes. It’s depressing because I feel like as soon as I make up some of the classes, there will be another storm, and more classes will be canceled and need to be made up. Sigh.

Conversation Club

So, in case I wasn’t busy enough, I also volunteered to start a conversation club at the university. I posted flyers around the school, told my classes about the club, and suggested that students who were too late or ineligible to sign up for my metaphor class could join the club on Monday nights instead. Needless to say, I was rather bummed when only four students showed up for the first meeting. It was the night before a big storm, and the security guard didn’t even want to open the classroom for me. After about fifty minutes, the parking attendant came and asked one of the students to take his motorcycle and go home so he could leave as well. Obviously, we just called it a night.

This week, however, about 25-30 students showed up, and it went really well. We did a couple of icebreaker activities, and the students were talking a lot. I also asked the students to bring a snack or drink to share, which not everyone did, but we had enough to go around. Overall, it was a nice, casual, friendly environment for speaking, and a fairly successful night.

Let’s see how next week goes!  

Metaphor Class

Last week, I started a metaphor class as part of my PHD research. The Tuesday class got rained out, but the Wednesday class was able to start last week, and I was able to teach both classes this week. I’m relieved to have started because I was worried about the constant delays – first for my last-minute trip to Hanoi, and then for the storm last week.

During the first class, I had to give the students participant information sheets and have them sign consent forms to participate in the research. Then, we took a pre-test to get the baseline for the class. I felt a little like I was crushing their spirits asking them to sign forms and take a test on the first day. Ten fewer students came back to the Wednesday class this week, so maybe it was a bit discouraging for them . . . For the students that came, though, the class went pretty well.

At any rate, this semester’s class is more of a pilot, so it doesn’t really matter. Still, I’m happy to have the class started and underway. Again, let’s just see how next week goes . . .

fried mung bean rice cakes - I helped make these!

Rice Cakes

On Sunday, one of my students invited me over to her rented room to make rice cakes. Originally, she wanted me to visit her hometown, but the weather wasn’t good (do you notice a theme here?), so we stayed in Hue instead. The rice cakes were made with cassava flour, which she bought at the market. You roll the flour into a little ball, flatten it out into a small pancake shape, fill it with mung beans, and seal it shut. Mine were always too big, but they were still quite tasty. My student fried half of them and steamed the other half with some spices and green onions – I preferred the steamed rice cakes. They were nice and chewy!

steamed mung bean rice cakes - nice and chewy!

After eating, the student and her friend taught me a Vietnamese card game. I’d seen old women playing the game at the market, and younger people playing in cafes, so I asked them to teach me. It was a pretty simple game, but I guess it’s exciting if you play for money. I taught them how to play “BS” and “Egyptian Rat Screw.” Definitely a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Cooking

So, I’m still doing a lot of cooking, but it’s definitely more of a challenge here. I cook on a portable stove in the bathroom, and I have a very limited supply of kitchen equipment. No toaster, no oven, no microwave, no blender – just the stove. I also am limited by ingredients – sometimes, I have no real idea what I bought and what I’m cooking. For example, random herbs, or green, leafy stuff, or some kind of red bean. I’m also still eating all vegetarian food – it hasn’t been too hard, but I might be missing out on some stuff. At any rate, I feel like random herbs, green leafy stuff, and some kind of red bean is a pretty good combination!

Week in Hanoi

posing with LMI seminar students

Lower Mekong Initiative Seminar

So, this week I was unexpectedly asked to teach a seminar for another fellow who suddenly resigned. I got the call from the embassy last Tuesday, and flew to Hanoi on Sunday to start a 6-day seminar. The seminar was for government officials and academics in the area of water resources and the environment, and the aim was to help them to be able to communicate in English for conferences, meetings, etc. There were 16 participants, and it was really nice to be able to work with such a small group after teaching up to 45 students at a time in Hue. Also, their English was great, they participated really well (especially the university lecturers – I love teaching teachers!), and usually did all the homework on time. Other than constantly checking their phones and making calls, they were excellent students, and the seminar turned out to be pretty interesting. Plus, I got to learn a lot about environmental issues and water resources management, especially here in Vietnam. All in all, a successful week in the capital!

Do I need to go on a diet?

Accommodations

I stayed in the university’s guesthouse, which was basically like a dorm for teachers. I was very excited to have my own fridge in my room – quite the upgrade from Hue! There was also a microwave downstairs – luxury! The third night I was there, though, I went to sit down on the bed and it broke. That’s right – I broke the bed! It was a little late, so I just took the mattress, slept on the floor, and texted someone to come fix it in the morning. Maybe I need to go on a diet . . .

near the one pillar padoga

Sightseeing

I took the extra time in Hanoi to do a little sightseeing that I hadn’t gotten around to during the orientation. I was also brave enough to take the motorcycle taxis this time – much cheaper than a regular taxis, but I’m not really sure how good of a deal I got. I wasn’t really good at bargaining with the drivers, and had no real idea how much they should be charging me. Still, hopping on a stranger’s motorcycle and trusting that you’ll end up in the right place somehow worked out.

Ho Chi Minh Museum and Complex

giant statue of the great Ho Chi Minh

My first sightseeing destination was the Ho Chi Minh Museum and Complex. The museum was a little eclectic – besides pictures and relics from Ho Chi Minh’s life, it included a lot of weird art. There was a giant table with fruit, a reproduction of Picasso’s Guernica, and a car coming out of the wall. I also felt like I would have been brainwashed a little better if I knew Vietnamese – the museum was full of propaganda about socialism and Ho Chi Minh’s life.

or this? I don't see the connection . . .

What does this have to do with Ho Chi Minh?

Outside the museum is Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. It’s only open to visitors in the morning, which is when I was teaching, so I didn’t go inside. There’s also a one-pillar pagoda, the president’s house, and Ho Chi Minh’s house. The president’s house is quite grand, but Ho Chi Minh wanted to live in something more modest. He was famous for his modest lifestyle, and you can really tell when you see his house, which consisted of only three rooms (no kitchen and no private bathroom), although he did have some pretty stellar cars given to him by Russia and France (bullet proof, with heavy duty tires for the mountains).

one pillar pagoda

A short walk took me to West Lake, which was relaxing after the noise and traffic of Hanoi. Seriously, it’s 

never quiet there!

Museum of Ethnology and Show

Another day, I visited the museum of Ethnology. Here, you can see various costumes, artwork, pictures, housing, traditions, and ceremonies from different ethnic groups in Vietnam. I especially liked seeing different styles of clothing, and outside the museum there are different houses to explore from various regions of the country.

Can you guess why this is called a "long house?"

In the evening, I went to see the National Truong Theatre perform. There was hardly anyone in the audience, and I sat up front in the first row. The show included plays, dances, and traditional music. The costumes were quite interesting, and the music was quite unique as well – there was even an instrument that reminded me of a primitive oboe!

Wondering around the street after the show, I found a restaurant that served vegetable pho. It was my first pho in Vietnam, and boy was it delicious!

Thai Nguyen

On Friday, instead of teaching, I took a trip to Thai Nguyen with someone from the embassy. At first, I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to go. We had planned to take a car from the embassy, but with the government shutdown, that wasn’t allowed. However, we ended up being able to bum a ride with someone from Pearson who was going there for a meeting, so it all worked out.

Thai Nguyen is another city a little north of Hanoi, and there is a regional language center at Thai Nguyen University. We went to the regional center for a brief tour and a meeting. It definitely gave me some good ideas about what to do with the regional center here in Hue . . .

sightseeing!

A Crazy Week!

The last week has been so eventful, I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve decided just to go in chronological order, starting last with last Friday.

Research for PHD

I started a distance PHD in applied linguistics at the University of Birmingham in June. My focus is on applying cognitive linguistics principles and research to teaching English classes, and I’ve been working with a brilliant professor named Jeannette Littlemore. She is so positive and encouraging. For the first 12,000 word paper, I’ve developed two 8-week courses on Metaphor and Idioms. So, all I was missing was the students, which I figured would be easy to find here.

And boy, was I right. I asked the other English teachers to let their students know about the class and posted flyers at the university, but at the beginning of the week, I only had three or four students signed up. Since I needed around 50 students total for two groups, I was worried. Then, on Thursday I told my writing students about the class and one of the students posted the details on Facebook. I received hundreds of emails, and by Friday evening both classes were full. The class is for 3^rd or 4^th year students at Hue College of Foreign Languages, but I got emails from freshmen, sophomores, students from HUE College of Medicine, Hue College of Economics, high school students, teachers at other colleges, and so on. The good news is, I have the students to test my materials on, even if I had to spend hours replying to all the emails!

Birthday Party

Last Saturday I went to a friend’s friend’s birthday party. There were a lot of couch surfers there, and I ate so much birthday cake! Everybody was supposed to bring a snack or drink, so I brought my favorite new Vietnamese snack, jackfruit chips. I think I ate almost all of them myself though. It was a lot of fun, but I was glad that I had ridden my bike there myself when I saw everyone riding their motorcycles after drinking – one girl even fell over on the motorcycle while waiting for everyone to get ready to leave. Definitely safer on the bike . . .

When I returned to the dormitory late (at 11:30), the security guard proceeded to lecture me about staying out late in Vietnamese, even though I had arranged beforehand with the receptionist to return between 11 and 12. It was my first time staying out past curfew in a month! I felt like a child . . .

Government Shut-Down

So, I'm here on a fellowship with the US state department, but I'm paid through a grant with Georgetown, so the shut-down doesn't affect me. However, I think about my former colleagues back in Texas and know that if I were still there, I would be staying home this week. I hope for everyone's sake that Congress can get its act together soon!

News

The university informed me that the local news station would come to film me and my class on Monday. There are other foreign teachers here, but they are from other countries in Asia – I was told the university wanted someone who “looked foreign” – a.k.a. someone white. When classes were canceled because of the monsoon, I felt relieved that I wouldn’t have to do the filming. Of course, it was only a short reprieve – they rescheduled for Thursday. They also interviewed one of my students - I told him not to say anything bad about me, but it's all in Vietnamese, so how should I know? The translator told me, though, that the student said when he found out I was going to be his teacher, he was so excited he couldn't sleep! How cute is that?

It’s supposed to air on the local news station next week – if I get a link for the video online, I will certainly post it here.

"Che" - It doesn't always look this pretty,
especially when you mix it up,
but it always tastes delicious!

Vietnamese Sweets

Anyone who knows me at all knows I have a HUGE sweet tooth. This week I discovered an ice cream place about ten minutes from where I live – I had seen it before, but I think I was afraid to go because I couldn’t read the menu. (I only know the word for ice cream – “kem” – which I learned very soon after my arrival in Vietnam!) This place may be my downfall, because for about $.35, you can get either three small scoops of ice cream topped with dried coconut, peanuts, and sauce, or something called “kem bo,” which I believe contains icecream, ice, dried coconuts, peanuts, and sauce in a glass and is mixed together with a spoon. Delicious!

Another favorite treat is called “che” and it’s basically fruit mixed with some kind of sugary liquid (I believe it contains coconut juice, but I’m not sure) and ice. It’s also served in a glass and mixed up with a spoon before eating. Yum!

Trip to Hanoi

Next week, I’ll be visiting Hanoi. One of the other fellows had to resign suddenly, and I’ve been asked to cover his seminar for government officials. They called me Tuesday, and I got permission to miss classes for the next week at the university. Of course, I have to make-up all the classes when I return, so it’s actually a lot of extra work for me. But, I heard my Vietnamese co-teachers in Hanoi are really nice and professional, and I think it will be a good change of pace. More on that in a later post . . .