Teacher's Day, Cooking Dinner

Teacher’s Day

Wednesday, November 20^th was teacher’s day here in Vietnam. First, all classes were canceled and the school held a ceremony for all teachers. The ceremony started like all others at my university here in Vietnam – with a few dances and songs from students, which are always fun to watch. This was followed by lots of speeches, all in Vietnamese, which were not so interesting. After receiving flowers from the rector, we went to a hotel downtown for lunch.

presents for teacher's day

students singing a song for teacher's day

In the afternoon, some students stopped by my room to visit. It was a little awkward, and I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do, but I showed them some pictures of my family and we talked for a little while. They brought me flowers and a few other presents. In total, I received 6 bouquets of flowers, one card, a scarf, one figurine, and a few emails for teacher’s day. One of my coworkers told me that since her father-in-law, her brother-in-law, her sister, and herself are all teachers and live together, her house is always packed with flowers at this time of the year!

Cooking Dinner

Our first dinner - vegetable soup, bread, guava, and rice cakes

making rice cakes together

A few weeks ago, I invited some students and teachers over for dinner. I cooked vegetable soup, which wasn’t really American, because I had to use Vietnamese ingredients, and wasn’t really Vietnamese, because it was sort of American style. That’s basically how all my cooking is here in Vietnam. So, we had soup, bread, and guava, and one of the Taiwanese teachers made rice cake for dessert in her rice cooker. After dinner, I taught everyone how to play some different card games, like “BS,” and we had a nice little party. 

So, to return the favor, my Vietnamese student wanted to show me how to make Vietnamese rice cakes. She brought over all the ingredients, and we made the rice cakes together. They’re easy to make, but they sure do take a long time! There were pork and shrimp rice cakes for all the meat-eaters, and two types of rice cakes for me – bean, and tofu and mushroom. First, you take the dough and make little balls. Then, you flatten out the balls into circles, add the filling, and seal the edges. I didn’t do such a great job with this, because I like my rice cake with lots of filling. So, I always overfill them and then they break during the cooking process and the filling comes out. But, I still think they taste better that way! We had tons of rice cakes, even without cooking them all, and I was stuffed! Afterwards, we played cards again, and now I can honestly say that I know how to make Vietnamese rice cakes, having learned on two separate occasions.

making rice cakes

the final product - rice cakes!

Hiking, Halloween, Volunteering, and a Mystery Student

hiking in Vietnam!

trail at the top

Hiking

So, I had been avoiding hiking because my Vietnamese students had said it was dangerous to go alone as there were often thieves and other unsavory types at the top. But, after a month and a half, I couldn't resist and decided to climb the mountain near our school. Supposedly, this is the tallest mountain in Hue city, but it only takes about ten or fifteen minutes to reach the top. I didn't know where the path was, so I cut through the cemetery at the bottom of the mountain and just went straight up. Once I reached the top, I could see the path that I should have taken. The whole time, I didn't see a soul, and I can honestly say, the biggest danger I faced was injury - the path was not well maintained at all and was covered with sticks, not to mention slippery from the rain from the night before. 

View of Hue from the Top

Of course, after I finished and went down the proper path, I made a mental note of where to take the path for the next time. But, naturally, a few weeks later, I couldn't find the path again (It's not as easy as you think - first you have to go past some houses and then the path is behind a school - nothing's marked). So, I cut through the cemetery again until I found the path and got my hike on. Not worried about thieves, I took my camera this time and got some nice pictures.

Picture of Flowers for Paul

It would have been a perfect hike if I had had my hiking companion with me - It really made me miss Lucky in particular, and the hill country hikers in general. I have to remember that Lucky is living it up at the lake without me, and is better off with my parents in the U.S. (Sigh. . .) Channeling Paul, the leader of the hiking group, I took some pictures of wildflowers at the top. Paul used to stop the car and pull over on the way to a hike if he saw any kind of pretty wildflower. 

Halloween

Halloween was Thursday, and the international studies department at the university put together a Halloween party. Even though it didn’t remind me much of Halloween in the U.S. and made me a little homesick, I went and got a taste of what people in other countries think we do to celebrate Halloween. There was a relay race to carry tiny peas with chopsticks, and another game where people used toilet paper to wrap someone up to look like a mummy (that one actually is a real game in the U.S.) My friend Amy said she suggested these activities two years ago, and since then, the students always do these activities for the Halloween party. Other than that, there were some plays which I couldn’t really understand well, some singing, and lots of junk food (at least they got that part right!). Some of the students were dressed up with make-up and costumes for the party, and the department had hung up some nice decorations. Overall, it was enjoyable, but nothing compared to the real thing.

Later, on Saturday, I was invited to a farewell party for an expat who used to work at the university. Some of the guests wore costumes, especially a group of nurses from Finland who were on an exchange program and came in their work outfits. It was interesting to meet some new foreigners from lots of different countries, but I didn’t really know a lot of people there, so I didn’t stay that long.

At any rate, that was my Halloween in Vietnam.

children and volunteers posing together

this game seemed REALLY dangerous

Volunteering

Sunday morning, my student picked me up at 8am, saying we would get breakfast and then go to a pagoda to play with some children. I didn’t really know what she meant, but I just decided to agree and go with the flow. After a bowl of steaming noodles, we arrived at an orphanage, where a volunteer organization from our university was already arranging games and interacting with the children there. The kids rushed up to my student, hugging her and asking her questions. As the youngest in my family, I’m not really great with children, but there was one especially cute kid that raised his arms to be picked up, and then sat in my lap playing with my camera case for twenty minutes or so. My camera turned out to be a big hit, in fact, and the kids enjoyed taking pictures, with and without me. The children at the orphanage seemed to be treated fairly well, but they had very minimal furnishings – the beds didn’t have matresses, and a lot of kids slept together in one room. The room for the handicapped was a little depressing as well, with a section in the corner where kids could be locked up and no volunteers hanging around to play with the disabled children.

this little guy just climbed right into my lap

After playing with the children, we headed over to the hospital, where another volunteer group was handing out food for sick patients. I’m not sure how helpful I was, but it was nice to be helpful and meet some students outside of class.

passing out food at the hospital

Next stop – another orphanage, this time with the volunteer organization from the hospital. I couldn’t believe how active my student was and how much volunteering she did – she seems to know everyone in the city, and she’s worked at so many different jobs here. Honestly, I don’t know how she finds the time! When we arrived, lunch had just been eaten and all the kids were laying down for a nap. So, we ate lunch, which had been prepared by the monks there and consisted of rice with mushrooms and vegetables, fake ham, and pumpkin soup. For a vegetarian like me, if monks are eating it, I can relax and enjoy my food, knowing it’s all meat-free. We hung around for about an hour and a half, but nothing was going on, so we left at that point. I felt a little bad for just eating and not really helping out with anything, but I sure did enjoy the lunch there!

Overall, it was a good chance for me to meet some students outside of class and see some unfamiliar parts of Vietnamese life. Maybe I will go back another weekend . . .

A Student Whose Name I Couldn't Remember

So, one day when I was walking near the university, one student stopped and asked if I wanted a ride. (This always happens when I’m out for a walk – the Vietnamese seem to get confused by the concept of walking for exercise, and I get offered rides all the time!) The student asked if I would get coffee with her on Sunday, and I agreed, giving her my phone number. The problem was, I couldn’t remember the student’s name, or even which class she was in, and I felt guilty. I used to take such pride in learning all my students’ names, but now I teach so many students and can’t remember any names (much less pronounce them correctly!). Anyways, she texted me and we agreed to meet on Sunday night.

When she came to pick me up and I started talking with her, I realized that she wasn't my student and that I had never met her before! In fact, she didn't know my name either! To make a long story short, there was no need for me to feel guilty, and I need to be more careful when making plans in the future.