The day when literally nothing went according to plan. Oh well!

Hello everybody,

Today I had the day off, and I had made plans with Lindsay, who works in Tiền Giang, very close to Bến Tre, to go into Ho Chi Minh City. I was incredibly exhausted in the morning from staying up too late I was super excited to see her, and also pretty stoked about exploring the area around Bến Tre. Mr. Hoang drove me from Bến Tre College to the coach station, and I boarded the bus going to Ho Chi Minh City.

The bus! 

The bus ride was two hours long, bumpy and uncomfortably close with the person next to me. However, the most uncomfortable part was the mosquitoes and flies who somehow managed to get into the bus. Did you know that buses are apparently a natural habitat for flying bugs? Me neither!

So I got to Ho Chi Minh City, and asked a motorbike taxi to take me to thói son, which is where Lindsay had told me to meet her. He confusedly responded that thói son was between Tiền Giang and Bến Tre, two hours back the way I had come. 

Oh goddamnit.

I had assumed we were going to Ho Chi Minh City, and Lindsay hadn't clarified that thói son wasn't anywhere near Ho Chi Minh City. Gaah. 

Well, nothing for it but to take a two hour bus ride back. I asked the driver to drop me off at thói son, and he agreed. Once we crossed the bridge into Bến Tre province he told me to get off, literally in the middle of nowhere.

I was on a stretch of Vietnamese highway, with motorbikes whizzing by, and nothing obvious nearby. I wandered up to the nearest store, this big coconut candy store, and asked the store owner, an elderly man, where thói son was. He replied that is was back over the bridge (thanks bus driver!) and about ten minutes away (okay I guess that's not that bad). I called Lindsay and got detailed directions from her companion, a Vietnamese teacher at Lindsay's host institution, then hopped onto the motorbike and sped off. 

Lindsay and her host institution Cô Anne were very good sports about waiting for me, they ended up waiting two hours for me to get back. However, once I got there it was absolutely worth the wait.   

The restaurant is right on the banks of the Mekong river, a huge bungalow with giant palm trees growing inside and out. You lie on the hammock and watch the river flow by while drinking from giant coconuts. Yeah. Totally worth it.

Lindsay and Anne

It was great to see Lindsay again, I can't believe it's only been a week since we all said goodbye! We caught up about her climbing Sapa and going to Tiền Giang University, and I talked about the fun times and the struggles at Bến Tre College. Lindsay and I commiserated over the differences between Hanoi and our provinces, and discussed getting our schedules and travel plans. Her guide, Anne, also spoke very good English and we had a lot of fun talking together. 

It was really great to speak English with a native speaker again. There are so many things about your speech patterns that are had to follow for people who have taken as English as a second language, and so you change your speech patterns and word choice when you are with non-native speakers. Speaking with Lindsay, it really felt like I was hearing my voice again for the first time in a week. 

The boats on the Mekong

The Mekong River

Apparently it is possible to get boats from here across the river to Lindsay's province, or to organize boat tours of the delta. Anne knew the cafe owner pretty well, so she said if we ever needed wanted to organize a tour she could get us a good price. Awesome. 

For lunch we wanted to get chào cua, or crab with rice porridge, but we ended up having to settle for chào gà, or chicken with rice porridge. We waited for a while for Anne to figure out the restaurant to order from, and then they had to kill and cook the chicken for us, which took an hour, so by the time we got food I was starving and pretty grumpy from low blood-sugar. However, because the cafe owner knew Anne the restaurant brought over the food for us so we could eat at the cafe without having to leave our luxurious hammocks. Which was pretty sweet.

As usual, the food was delicious. The chicken here is truly free-range, just roaming about the garden, so the meat is chewier but also more flavorful. 

Preparing the food

Truly free-range chickens--we ate a chicken just like these

Coming back from lunch/dinner was also a bit stressful because I had to find someone to take me back to Ben Tre College. Anne convinced the owner's sister to take me over. At first she took me to the wrong campus and I was worried that I wouldn't remember how to get back to my campus. However I remembered, and was so exhausted that I simply passed out. Woke up, fired up some Breaking Bad and got down to writing this post!

It's also my birthday tomorrow (actually, as of this posting, today! [shameless request for presents/cards]), so I'm super excited.

Walked into the bathroom and saw two cockroaches. Thanks for the birthday present, Vietnam. Super thoughtful.

Current insect fatality leaderboard:

9 Cockroaches

1 giant spider

1 normal size spider

So yeah, as you can probably tell from the last few posts, there have definitely been some rough
patches here in Ben Tre, but overall...

...i mean, it's just hard to complain sometimes :)

Thanks all for reading, check in with me again on Monday to see how the weekend went! And yeah, it's my birthday! (shameless request for presents/cards #2)

Take care of yourselves,

Jefferson 

Whirlwind introduction to Ben Tre

Good afternoon all, and welcome to another edition of Jefferson's days in Vietnam. 

Sorry for the late posting, was way too tired to give this post the detail it deserved. 

So I figure now would be a good time to give you some basic facts about Ben Tre College. Ben Tre College is a two-year college, colleges in Vietnam provide a degree that is less competitive than the four-year degree offered at universities. 

The Vietnamese educational system is built around the entrance exams; the higher you score on the entrance exams the better the school you can get into. So, imagine the SATs, but if the SATs were literally the only thing colleges care about. Yeah, stressful. Students at Ben Tre College, or any college in Vietnam, have had lower entrance examination scores so they cannot attend universities. Not the most prestigious institution in Vietnam, then, but still one that I am excited to be a part of.

My plan was originally that I would be getting situated this week, then observing classes next week and finally teaching the week after that. However, I really didn't want to spend two weeks in a row not teaching, so I asked that we do both the orientation and the observation this week. As a result, I will now be teaching class starting next week. Yay!

The center of campus

Students playing soccer in the yard

Every afternoon students play volleyball, soccer, badminton and this shuttlecock game where you juggle it for as long as possible. This all happens right outside my room.

My home! I'm living in the College's guest house, the second and third floor are student housing and the bottom is offices and my room.

On Tuesday I woke up with a basically free schedule in the morning, so I went shopping with Mr. Hoang. The supermarket we went to is only four years old, and it is a very nice grocery store with a fair amount of Western food. At the very least, I won't be starving. I found Pepperidge Farm cookies there and immediately stocked up. Comfort food = win 

The grocery store

We ate lunch at the food court, and I insisted on paying for Mr. Hoang. To my surprise, he agreed easily and we had a very nice lunch. 

The food court in the mall

After eating at the food court I headed back to my room to finish unpacking and to work on editing my friend's Fulbright application. Both Mr. Vu and Mr. Luan came by separately in the afternoon to give me gifts of fruit to welcome me to Ben Tre College, and I went to get coffee with Mr. Vu. Then we went to play soccer. 

We went to a soccer stadium just a block down the road from the college, nice 5 v. 5 synthetic fields. About 12 different Ben Tre teachers would be playing soccer from all different departments, the plan was for the English faculty to play the faculty of the other departments. Despite being out of shape and out of practice, I think I did pretty well for myself. I scored two goals, and the English faculty won a close game over the rest of Ben Tre faculty. I felt really good after the game, and (knock on wood) my knee and ankle both felt fine, so hopefully I can play some more on Thursday as well!  

The field where we played

That evening I went with Mr. Hoang to his house, and talked with a group of English students that he tutors privately. The students were all high school aged, very smart and very polite. It was my first real sort of experience as to what people expect of me here in Ben Tre. I was told that I should just answer any questions the students had, and so I wandered in basically unprepared. However, this led to what would become a common experience for me over the past few days. 

I stand at the front of the class, and introduce myself. I ask if the students have any questions for me. They have one, maybe two. Then i just get a lot of blank faces. I look to my fellow teacher for support, and he/she smiles at me, waiting for me to keep going. Uh-oh. 

I improvised and started asking the students each questions about where they wanted to travel, what they like to do, etc. In this way I was able to keep them talking for about an hour. Once I got them talking, I actually quite enjoyed talking with them. They were very experienced students with a good grasp of the English language and some really interesting hobbies. I wasn't feeling great about it, but as it turned out later this was a very good experience to have. 

The students tried to get my cell phone number, and one of them in particular was very pushy. However, I said that I would give them my email address only, and if they wanted to go meet, then they could email me. When I was in Cairo I gave out my phone number pretty liberally, and I ended up being sporadically called by people who I didn't know and who only spoke Arabic. Wanting to avoid that experience, I simply gave them my email. Mr. Hoang agreed with my decision.

I gave Mr. Hoang a present of some fruit and cookies, and said that if I had time I would return to speak with his students. In the morning I would be meeting with the board of rectors, the men in charge of the school, so I was quite nervous. I tried to get enough sleep but had to pause to kill a cockroach, so I again failed to get to sleep at a reasonable time. Oh well. 

My neighbor, feral cats roam outside the building at night. Reminds me of the SigEp house in Chicago

The next morning I woke up early and went over to see the board of rectors. I was quite nervous to be speaking to the whole board, especially since part of my speech was going to be in Vietnamese. I gave a short speech in Vietnamese greeting the board of rectors and introducing myself. Then I switched to English and told them I was very happy to be at Ben Tre College and that I planned to conduct myself enthusiastically and professionally while at Ben Tre. 

I gave the rector a fan that was handed out in the commencement packets from my graduation from the University of Chicago. The fan is a large print of the seal of the University of Chicago, which is why I decided to give that to him. I think he liked it, and Mr. Hoang told me after the meeting that I made a very good impression.  

With the board of rectors and the heads of the department at Ben Tre College

After seeing the board of rectors, I went off to observe Mrs. Thu teach a class. Along the way we were told that the schedule had changed, and that as a result I should wait with Mr. Hoang until she was available. No problem, we went into the teacher's room to wait. While I was waiting, Mrs. Hoang (no relation) came in and started talking with us. She suggested that while I was waiting I should come by and introduce myself to her students. You can probably see where this is going.

I agreed and walked upstairs, then headed into her classroom. She sat down at one of the desks and smiled at me. The class was almost entirely girls, as most of my classes are going to be, so I definitely heard a pronounced increase of giggling when I walked in. 

I introduced myself and asked if they had any questions. A couple of brave souls had questions, then silence. I stared out onto a sea of silent smiling faces, all waiting for me to do something. 

I quickly improvised a lesson about things that they liked. I wrote a list of things that I like on the board, and then asked them to discuss with their neighbor what they liked doing. Then I asked for suggestions of what they liked, and started writing them on the board. I had no idea what their level was, so it was definitely a basic lesson that they handled fairly easily. However, it got them talking to each other and it was a way to introduce myself.

One of the things I wrote on the board was "listening to music" and Mrs Hoang suggested that I sing a song for them, preferably a Vietnamese song. I declined immediately, as the only song I know is a Vietnamese love song that I only remember half the words to. She then suggested that I sing an American song, and I declined that offer as well. Then she suggested that I teach them an American song, an easy one, preferably a and I actually liked that suggestion. 

After a few moments of thought I decided to teach them "The Hokey-Pokey", because it is a simple song with an accompanying dance. The students, who might have been getting a little bored, were instructed to stand up and I took them all through the dance. After about ten minutes I successfully took them through a basic run of the song. 

Total teaching time: 20 minutes

Who needs lesson plans?

Anyways, with the stress of meeting with the rectors and the surprise lesson I taught, it was quite nice to simply observe the lesson taught by Mrs. Thu. She taught a very good listening lesson, and at the end she asked me to introduce myself to the class. I stayed at the back of the class, where I had been observing, and fielded any questions they had. If they were expecting me to do more, then too damn bad. 

After finishing observing class, we headed off to lunch. Mr. Hoang explained to me that my 8:00 am starts were actually quite late by Vietnamese time. Everyone got up around 6:30 or 7:00, and then headed over to school. Work went until 11:00, at which point everyone goes to lunch until noon. The point is to get a full four hours of work and lunch done before the noon sun hits. At that point, everyone goes inside and stays there until 2:00. In the afternoon it starts to cool down a bit and people reemerge to work from 2:00-5:00. Having been out there when the noon sun starts to beat down, I can totally understand. The heat here is punishing.

We went to lunch at a very nice restaurant near a man-made lake. The restaurant's architecture is all bungalows, very open with incredible amounts of shade, and the relaxing atmosphere was just what I needed. 

Seeing this does a lot to alleviate my stress

The restaurant

The beautiful Mr. Hoang, my constant companion

The lunch was amazing, grilled fish wrapped in rice paper and washed down with Tiger beer. The highlight was eating heo rừng, or wild pig (lit. "forest pig"). While the meat was recognizably pork and it had the same consistency, the flavor was very different. It was less rich and more flavorful, an interesting powerful savoriness that left a pleasant feeling in your stomach. I couldn't get enough of it. 

Doing work

After lunch the rain started pouring again. We had taken a motorbike to the restaurant and neither of us had ponchos, so Mr. Hoang and I just decided to wait out the rain. This particular restaurant had hammocks that they hang up occasionally, which Mr. Hoang requested. We lay there for twenty minutes in the hammocks, listening to the rain.

I feel quite spoiled over here sometimes.

After lunch I went back home and napped for a while, before Mr. Tuan summoned me and asked me to  come to his class to discuss the class we would teach. As you can probably imagine, I was dreading being told to stand at the front of the class again, so I approached his room nervously. However, Mr. Tuan simply wanted to inform me that he would be teaching the class, and we went over the planned syllabus for the next class. Mr. Tuan also invited me to play badminton with him later in the day, and I agreed.

Wednesday afternoon I decided to finally take the bike off the rack and head into the city. So, you remember the insanity of Vietnamese traffic that I described earlier? A crazy complicated mess of weaving motorbikes, honking horns and buses that absolutely do not care about your safety? That's what I would be joining. Wheeee!

My takeaways from Vietnamese traffic participation:

1. Always pay attention to everything, everywhere. Especially when you are new

2. Don't make any sudden or unexpected moves.

3. Follow the flow of traffic, and do what the locals do

4. Pray

After a surprisingly easy bike ride with no near-death misses and only one near-accident miss (sorry Mom! but I'm okay, you can breathe again!) I returned to campus to play badminton with Mr. Tuan.

I haven't played badminton in ages, so it wasn't surprising that I was pretty terrible. It was surprising, though, how much of a workout it can is. Sprinting all over the court gets your heart rate up pretty fast. And Mr. Tuan is a baller at badminton

Don't let his mild manner surprise you, Mr. Tuan is an animal on the court.

This whole time, I have been told several different times that I was going to be teaching this class or the other class, when do I want to do this activity, can I do this or that, when can I meet with etc. People have been telling me bits of information, and then asking me for decisions about when to do things that

I was warned that developing a schedule in Vietnam requires a bit more discussion than is typically the case in an American institution. As a result, I have been very relaxed about my schedule changing. People keep anxiously assuring me that I will get my schedule soon in an attempt to placate my non-existent frustration. I am honestly not all that concerned. I was warned this might happen, and as long as I get my schedule some reasonable amount of time before I am expected to go out and teach, I'm feeling okay.

On the way home Mr. Hoang gave me a gift of some coconuts. My fridge now looks like this:

Vietnamese hospitality. My fridge is full of dragon fruit, rambutans, guavas, sapodilla and coconuts. I bought none of these. All gifts. 

Wednesday night I got dinner at a rice place and chatted with the woman there semi-proficiently for a while. My Vietnamese is definitely progressing fast over here. Came back home, killed a cockroach, went to bed. 

On Thursday I woke up early to observe Mr. Bao Duy's class. The class went well, and I'm feeling confident about teaching the students next week. Then I went to meet the fourth vice-rector who was unable to attend the meeting on Wednesday. I was also taken to various departments where I met and tried to speak Vietnamese with several different department heads. In the afternoon I played soccer again (three goals this time!) and then worked on the lesson plan with Ms. Y.

So yeah, fun-filled couple of days! And best of all, as of this posting, there have been zero cockroaches to kill today. Progress!

Going into Ho Chi Minh city tomorrow to hang with a fellow ETA Lindsay, will let you know how the day goes tomorrow!

Peace,

Jefferson

Arrival at Bến Tre

Hello all,

I'm writing to you from my home for the next nine months, Bến Tre College!

Those who want to send letters, care packages, or hate mail, my address is

Jefferson Viet-Anh Day trợ giảng tiếng Anh
Trường Cao đẳng Bến Tre
ấp 1, xã Sơn Đông, thành phố Bến Tre
tỉnh Bến Tre

(Jefferson Viet-Anh Day, English Teacher
Bến Tre College
Hamlet 1, Sơn Đông commune, Bến Tre city
Bến Tre province)

The accents are super important, so please make sure they are all correct otherwise you might be saying something completely nonsensical. Also it would be great if you could let me know if you're sending something so I can ask my host for help if it mysteriously goes missing.

Requested care packages:

1. Western food, especially peanut butter and chocolate
2. English books
3. Letters, postcards, pictures.

Please don't send

1. Anything really valuable

Anyways, let's talk about the last couple days here in Hanoi!

I've been in Hanoi for a month and never noticed the bird-seller a few blocks down the street. Just goes to show how much there is to see around here.

Selling birds for good luck

Packing was an absolute nightmare, but as usual things managed to come together at the last second. I'm convinced that the longer you spend packing and the more things you pack, the smaller your luggage looks at the end.

You start out staring at your room saying "Oh my god, how am I going to fit everything into these suitcases!" and then you end up looking at two small suitcases and saying, "wait, that's everything I own?" Moving sucks.

It was Hung's birthday, so we got him a cake!

Saying goodbye to the hotel staff was hard, I had to struggle not to get choked up. This is the third emotional goodbye I've said in the last six weeks--First leaving Chicago, then leaving Boston, now leaving Hanoi--so I was wreck on the inside and it was a struggle to keep it together. I gave the hotel staff a bag of dragonfruit, and gave Jenny, Hoang and Lam each a UChicago pen. I think they appreciated it.

With my family, saying goodbye for now

I also got to say goodbye to my family, my Ong Dich and Chu Thuat were very sad to see me go. I was invited to Ong Dich's house in Son Tay, but unfortunately I didn't have time to go. I promised to come back to Hanoi soon and to come to their house. I gave a bunch of presents to Chu Thuat, including a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, which is one of my favorite whiskies. Chu Thuat said he wouldn't open the bottle until I came back to Hanoi to drink it with him. I found myself quite touched by all this. 

The flight was relatively uneventful, although i was able to chat with a girl selling snacks at the airport. Then I was totally unable to communicate in Vietnamese with the flight attendant. He was still very nice, giving me a free map of Southeast Asia for further travels, but it was a blow to my confidence in my Vietnamese. I feel like every conversation I have in Vietnamese either builds up my confidence a ton or crushes it completely. There is no in between.

At the airport I was picked up by Mr. Luan, Mr. Hoang (an English teacher and my guide for the next few weeks in Bến Tre) and Mr. Tiep. I was very grateful that they picked me up late at night, even with a long drive to Bến Tre ahead. Mr Hoang and I talked for a very long time on the three hour drive over, he has very good English and I think we will get along very well.

From left, Mr. Hoang, me and Mr. Tiep

We stopped for Pho on the way over

The gate of Bến Tre college

As expected, my accommodations at Bến Tre are more spartan than at the Rising Dragon in Hanoi. However, I have reasonable internet, air conditioning and a western style toilet, so in the grand scheme of things I have the important issues covered. I started unpacking and settled in. 

The first part of my room is an office/meeting area space

I get a bicycle

Mosquito net required for the bed

Combination bathroom, laundry room and kitchen. Efficiency!

As I was going to the bathroom, I noticed several large specks moving around the other side of the room, and four large cockroaches crawled out of the drain. Well, I had hoped my honeymoon period at Bến Tre would last longer, but I guess I am now officially introduced to rural Vietnam. Several bloody seconds later, three cockroaches had been killed and one had fled. Upon leaving the bathroom, I noticed that there was a spider about the size of my hand just chilling under the dresser. I officially declared myself too tired for this and left the spider undisturbed, resolving to ask Mr. Hoang if the spiders were dangerous tomorrow.

On Monday I woke up and called Mr. Hoang, and we wandered over to the cantina. He expressed disbelief that I did not know how to ride a motorbike, then promised to teach me while I am here in Bến Tre. He also told me that the spiders are "very bad." Oh good. 

After coffee and Hu Tieu, a pork soup with translucent noodles, we took the motorbike over to the teacher's lounge to meet the other English teachers. They were all very nice, and I am quite happy to meet all of them. I introduced myself in Vietnamese, which I think they liked. They were all teasing me about having a girlfriend, and joking about setting me up with various girls on the faculty. I quite enjoyed the atmosphere in the room, and they all speak very good English.

We all went out for coffee after the meeting.  I am never good with names, so I struggled a bit to remember everyone's name, but they all teased me about it and I will learn as we go forward. I'm looking forward to working with all of them. In particular I will be teaching with Mrs. Thu, Mr. Hoang, and Ms. Y. I was invited out to lunch with Mr. Vu, and I went with him and Mr. Hoang. We took a motorbike through the town to a restaurant on the river

This restaurant is gorgeous

The lighting is terrible, but Mr Hoang is on the left and Mr. Vu on the right

The Mekong in all its splendor.

Lunch was fantastic, we had stir-fried beef and fish soup, and all of it was fantastic. Mr. Vu and Mr. Hoang both speak very good English and they were very good sports about me practicing Vietnamese as well. Mr. Vu also invited me over to his house on September 2nd, which is Independence Day, so I am very happy about that! 

Mr. Vu also told me that the giant spiders aren't dangerous at all. So...I don't know.

After dinner I went shopping for comfort food at the supermarket with Mr. Hoang, and then came back to finish unpacking my room. We were planning to play soccer, but unfortunately plans fell through. We should be playing tomorrow. My room was feeling a little bare, so I decided to put up some photos. I've never been a big person for hanging up pictures, but it seemed like an appropriate time to do so, and I am glad I did. 

The pictures over my desk. My desk is out of frame because it is currently a total disaster. 

I think it brightens up the room quite a bit. Thanks Mẹ for giving me all these photos!

I was on my own for dinner, so I wandered out of campus, looking for a street stall. Just from my first impressions I can already tell that Bến Tre is different from Hanoi. Keep in mind these are first impressions, and are subject to evolution as I spend more time here. 

First of all, the language is different. The southern accent is very different from the northern. In the north, when "r," "gi" and "d" start a word they all make a "zuh"-sound. In the south, "r" is an r-sound and "gi" and "d" are "yuh"-sounds. That means you hear a lot of "yuh" in the south, which you never hear in the north, and that my already limited Vietnamese skills are challenged even more because of the different accent. 

Secondly, it is really dark here. I had complained before about how dark Hanoi streets get, and how few of the street lamps work. Oh lordy, I was such a fool. You don't know what dark is until you're on a street that has no street lights. It's a little terrifying. 

And finally, no one seems to know what to do with a foreigner. Everyone can pick out that I don't quite belong, that I'm clearly not Vietnamese because of what I wear, what I'm carrying, especially when I start speaking. However, in Hanoi when people realize you're a foreigner they start trying to sell you things, offer you motorbike rides or try to sell you fruit or something. Here, when people realize you're a foreigner, they just stare, like they're trying to figure out why you're here. 

It was a little disconcerting to have slowly gotten used to Hanoi and then to realize how different Hanoi is to here. 

Today I also had the first Vietnamese meal I did not thoroughly enjoy. I employed one of my favorite strategies, which is to wander into a random street stall and sit down, and see what they give me. Normally this works out wonderfully. This time I got chicken feet

I saw that the sign said "chân gà," and I knew that "gà" meant chicken, so I figured that whatever it was, it would have chicken in it, so it would probably be pretty good, right? Well, I learned today that "chân" means foot. Sigh. 

I had seen my grandparents eat chicken feet before so I knew how to approach it, and it actually didn't taste bad. Isn't something that I would seek out, but I wouldn't be forced to turn it down if someone offered it to me. And the small child running around there was adorable, he asked me in Vietnamese  where I was from and when I responded that I was from America he got this big grin and ran away. So yeah, it wasn't a total loss.

On the way back I stopped at a bánh xèo place, Vietnamese pancakes. I had had those before, so I knew what to expect. No surprise, it was delicious.

I also bought some jackfruit and sugarcane juice from a very nice lady and her mother. The grandmother asked if I was a teacher in Vietnamese, and I said I was from the college. It was the first time anyone has called me teacher, so I was unduly proud.    

Getting jackfruit in the middle of the night

The quintessential Vietnamese woman: rocking her grandchild to sleep while also running the store

I felt quite good coming back to my room with a bag of jackfruit, a full stomach and an evolving understanding of the province I'm based in. Then I walked into the bathroom and saw a giant spider in the middle of the floor. Sigh. Several seconds later, the spider was dead as was a cockroach that wandered by the scene. Nothing in Vietnam is ever easy...

So it's been an eventful first day in Bến Tre, some ups and some downs but more ups than downs. I am looking forward to getting to know this province, this college and the people who work and study here. It's going to be a fun and interesting nine months.

Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading,
Jefferson

Important Announcement

We interrupt our regular posting schedule to bring you this important update. After weeks of trying and failing to find ultimate frisbee in Hanoi, I finally found it.

It was glorious. 

Enjoy your Saturday.

Later,

Jefferson

Saying goodbye is never easy to do

Hello readers,

Bittersweet posting today, as I just bid farewell to ten of the fifteen ETAs. Trevor, Tyler, Justin, Quan, Anna, Lindsay, Koua, Claire and Kate are going off to Sapa for the weekend, and Jess is going to Hong Kong. I will be going to Ben Tre on Sunday, so I will be gone by the time they come back.

I am planning to see the ETAs in the south, like Jess in Vung Tao and Lindsay in Tra Vinh, who are about an hour away from me. I will also see the other ETAs at our mid-year conference and perhaps the Fulbright Vietnam 20th anniversary gala. So this is by no means a final goodbye. However it does mark the end of our orientation, and the end of us living and spending basically every waking moment together. I've grown quite close to this group of friends, and it isn't easy for me to say goodbye.

Enough of that, let's talk about what happened over the last two days!

On Thursday we finished up our formal Vietnamese lesson, and in the afternoon we headed to the Vietnamese National History Museum. I had gone here the last time I visited, but it was still nice to go through the museum again and see the highlights.

Outside the museum

The Dong Son drums

Inside the Museum

10th century carving depicting the Trung Sisters rebellion

20th century painting commemorating Tran Hung Dao's victory over the Mongols at Bach Dang River (for details see my previous previous post)

As a History major, if you let me I will ramble on and on about various aspects of Vietnamese history interminably, so I thought it would be better to reign in my inner lecturer for this post. Those interested in Vietnamese history should drop me a line through email or the comments section and I would love to talk about it more with you. Suffice it to say, visiting the museum was fascinating for me. 

Back at the hotel we were surprised by our hotel staff, who had prepared a cake for Tyler for his birthday

Delicious. Super jealous.

In the evening, Quan had invited us all to meet his friend Mr. Luu at the Vietnamese Institute of Literature (a university in Hanoi). We knew very little about Mr. Luu other than that he had been introducing Quan to a lot of very interesting people. We also had no idea what we would be doing when we met him, how formal the atmosphere was going to be or really anything.  

When we got to the Institute of Literature we found out that Mr. Luu is an interpreter who has worked with the Vietnamese president, among other  prestigious clientele, and that we would be attending his English club. The students were all very advanced and had many different interesting stories to tell, including a doctor who had researched at Harvard. I chatted with Dr. Dinh about my childhood growing up in Harvard square and we bonded over memories of Cambridge.

The best part for me was bringing my second cousins Thao and Hieu out with us. I had invited them to come out with us, and I was very excited about letting them spend more time with my friends (especially Trevor, Quan and Anna, who speak good Vietnamese) with a little less parental supervision. I had no idea we were going to an English club, and because their English is slightly weak I was a little concerned over how things would go. 

Mr. Luu speaking with Hieu and Thao, while Jess looks on

Things worked out beautifully. My cousins ended up meeting several new friends, and Thao's English in particular was good enough that they were able to participate. They also ended up meeting Mr. Luu, who invited them both to come to Mr. Luu's English club in the future to practice their English. I hope they are able to go in the future, and I'm really glad things worked out so well.

After the English club, some people went to see another concert at the Opera House and the rest of us went out to dinner. We went to Quán Ăn Ngon, a famous Hanoi establishment that serves traditional street food in a Western restaurant style.

Hieu, Thao, Kate, Amanda, Lindsay and Jess at Quán Ăn Ngon

The boys

After dinner we headed to a wine bar that Kate had heard about. After hanging out there for a little while Thao and Hieu had to head home, but it was still great to see them and I'm very glad they came out.

Family photo!

Chatting at the wine bar

A lovely establishment. Props to Kate, Vanlam and Amelia for being aware of the camera

After the bar we went back to the hotel and helped Tyler eat his delicious cake.

Friday has been a super long day. It was our last day of class! We commemorated this by taking our lovely Vietnamese teacher Cô Giang to lunch at a nearby hot-pot restaurant.  

Tyler and Koua cooking

Michelle, Cô Giang, Anna and Vanlam

In the evening we prepared to say our goodbyes, not just to each other but also to the Fulbright Vietnam organizers and the hotel staff, who have been so lovely to us. Quan, Koua and Claire took the initiative of buying cards and flowers for all of them, and all of us contributed.

The flowers that we presented to our teachers

The goodbye to the hotel staff was particularly emotional, as we really have become one big family

The bellhops who have taken care of us all the time and have always been friendly and professional. 

Lam and Justin strike a pose

All the ladies, Fulbright and staff

All the gents

Then we headed off to a delicious farewell dinner. Here commences the long string of goodbye photos: 

Vanlam and Jess looking stunning

Anna is the worst

Slightly better

All the ladies

With Amanda and Koua, my co-teachers through two lessons. I'm going to miss you two!

The guys with Ms. Diu

We are literally incapable of taking one nice picture together...

With my fellow Vietnamese heritage Fulbrighters

Jess and Amanda looking like models

With the lovely Cô Giang, Amelia, Lindsay and Kate

Flowers presented to, from left to right:

1. Ms. Nga, who is the director of the Fulbright program, 

2. Cô Giang, our Vietnamese teacher, 

                                   3. Mrs. Ginger Davis, our Vietnamese cultural advisor/generally awesome person, (her daughter is holding her bouquet) and 

                      4. Ms. Diu, who helps run the Fulbright program in Vietnam, helps us resolve differences with our hosts, introduces us all to Vietnam and just generally makes everything work

It was definitely sad to say goodbye to so many of my friends, especially after it felt like I was just getting to know them. I'll have to pack up and relocate soon, and it also feels like I've just gotten used to Hanoi. However, this isn't goodbye forever, and I think it's best to think of it as going to a new place and making new friends, without losing any old ones.

Anyways, those of us remaining in Hanoi decided to hit up a bar where we knew the musician playing, and it was a pretty fantastic night.

Classing it up in Hanoi

So, even though I'm sad about people leaving, its important to look on the bright side and keep moving forward. There's a lot of fun to be had in Vietnam, and I don't plan to spend much time sitting around moping. 

Thanks for reading! I know this was a longer post, and also a slightly more emotional one, so thanks for reading through to the end. 

You get a bonus picture, and don't say I never do anything for y'all:

Ginger's six-year old daughter Minh discovers the joy of photography

Thanks again for reading, my next post should be coming to you from Ben Tre!

Sincerely,

Jefferson