Ice cream and Shoes

Can life get any better? Today, after a little business at the DOET about photocopying my workshop outline, we went shopping for shoes that would be appropriate to teach in. I didn't think I would find any in my size, but surprise!! Here in Vietnam, they do not have a complete range of sizes in all styles. I go in and say my size, 38, and the shopkeepers pull out shoes in that size. It's is like when I go to a shop in Canada and ask for narrow sizes. My translator, Han, can drive a hard bargin and I got these sandles for 105,000 vnd or $6.56, and they are leather. I will shop with Han from now on.

Han then took us to her favourite ice cream shop just by the market. I had ice cream and sticky rice, a wonderful concoction. Han then went to another shop and bought us fried banana and sweet potato. It was very similar to Li's fried banana at the Riverview. What a wonderful treat. And I was even able to find my way home again!!

Life is a Beach

This past weekend I went to visit a friend, Marilyn, who lives a short bus ride from the beach at Sam Son. I had to make a trip to Hanoi, and there I met an incoming volunteer, Jean-Guy, who joined me on the train for a weekend to the beach. We went to a resort just for the day. They have a lovely set-up: rooms, and villas for rent, swimming pool, outside restaurant as well as an indoor one, sauna, hot tub, massage, and of course the ocean. Once in our bathing suits, we headed for teh ocean. It was as hot as my bath back home!!! But deeper and salty. We floated around with only a few fishermen in view. The whole beach was empty. This is not summer for Vietnamese, so they think it is too cold, unlike Canadians who are still finding it way too hot. After the swim, and relaxing on deck loungers, we had a superb lunch, filled with seafood of every description: shrimp, squid, fish, soup, shrimp salad. Then it was time for a face and neck massage. Ahhh, it ended too quickly. Then a long walk on the beach, a dip in the pool, and it was unfortunately, time to catch the bus back to Thang Hoa.

Primary Schools

This past week I have had the privilege of visiting many Primary Schools. They all seem to be in a similar design, they are built is a U shape with trees and benches and cement in the middle. I was able to sit in on two lessons a day, generally a lesson is Vietnamese language teaching and a Math lesson. Children have very strict rules in Vietnam. They all wear a uniform of sorts, some schools more strict than others, and they must sit up straight with their arms folded and resting on the top of their desks. If they wish to answer a question, they still keep their elbows on the desk and raise only their forearms. A change from Canadian classes.

Schools are underfunded and teachers are underpaid. Teachers also complain of not enough materials, or time to prepare lessons, and what do we do with multilevel groups!! It's good to know teachers are similar everywhere.

One school even gave me a bouquet of flowers. Did I ever feel special. Another school picked a whole bunch of fruit from the best tree in the compound.

Sightseeing in Ninh Binh Province

I was very fortunate this past to see much of Ninh Binh because my Education Ministry rep, Mr. Nghe, took me to as many sights as we had time for. The first day, Tuesday, we drove to Kim Son district on this incredibly bad road. We were also going right at rush hour 7:00 am so the traffic was incredible, trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, all trying to avoid potholes, so large enough to cover the whole road. The 30 km distance took us 45 minutes. This area is Catholic, so there were European style churches everywhere. Quite a surprise after all the pagodas I have seen. In the town of Phat Diem is a famous church that was the setting for Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American. It is a Catholic Church that incorporates pagoda designs. Quite incredible.

In Tam Diep, I was taken to a new development on the lake, a 54 hole golf course. They have hit a snag because the locals don't want to move. I don't blame them. These are their family farms, on a beautiful lake with green mountains in the backyard, who would want to move. A full resort and water activities is in the plan as well. I think they are also going to improve the roads. To get across the lake we drove across a cement bridge, just wide enough for the taxi. The bridge was also slightly underwater most of the way and the driver had to guess where the potholes were. He was a great driver!

In Gia Vien I got to see the largest Buddha in Asia. This is a new development as well and is expected to be completed in 2010. Right now they have 2 almost finished pagodas, one houses 3 very large Buddhas and one with the largest Buddha. The plan is put many more pagodas with Buddhas and they have hundreds of cast Buddhas off to the side, just waiting for a home. It started to rain heavily as we left. Unfortunately the new road is in the construction state, which means it is very treacherous driving at the best of time. Most of the people on motorcycles parked under a tunnel to wait out the storm, so we had the road to ourselves and could drive on whatever side looked the best and no one gave us the horn.




















On the weekend I went to Tam Coc with other Canadian volunteers. Tam Coc is a beautiful river trip in a small boat. We were rowed down the river, under two tunnels of limestone rock, into the karsts of Ninh Binh. Very lovely.

What am I eating!!!

This is my breakfast when I eat in my Hotel room. I have a coffee, dripped as you can see, and use sweetened condensed milk. It is wonderful. I can find grapes and dragonfruit which I recognize, but then I have this other fruit which is delicious but I don't have an English name for. All this is shared with a wonderful yogurt. So other than unknown fruits, my breakfast hasn't changed much.


I have also been dined royally this past week. This was my week to go to all the 8 districts of Ninh Binh, talk to teachers, principals, and Bureau of Education chiefs. At lunch time, the district I was in would take us all out for lunch at the best restaurant in the town. Wow!!

Tuesday I was in Kim Son district. The speciality there is some liquor much like vodka or snaups. It is served in tiny glasses and one is expected to drink it in one go. 100% as they say. It took a little non-verbal communication and smiles to convince them that this was not going to happen with me. My male counterparts here keep up with them, but I won't be doing that. The meal was incredible. There was pork, chicken, shrimp(4 inches long) and of course rice.

Wednesday I was in Yen Mo district and again was offered beer and vodka. They accepted by sipping instead of 100%. More chicken, pork, shrimp, something we rolled in leaves with spices. I was offered a spoon, so you can see my chopstick ability needs improving. I was also asked if I liked Vietnamese food because I was so large yet ate so little. People here put food in your bowl. I appreciate that for the most part, saves me embarrassment dropping food.

Thursday we were in Nho Quan district, land of the goat meat. Wow was it good. I think that's all we had, but it was served in many different ways. Again one of them was to use leaves and wrap the meat up in it. Here we were served bread instead of rice. First time that has happened to me. The bread is great here, thank you France!!

Friday, my last supper, I mean lunch, was in Hoa Lu district. This was with the local school principal and the teachers I interviewed. More low key, but the food was again excellent. Again goat meat, and some kind of appetizer that looked like red jelly with peanuts on top, and mystery stuff inside. I ate half of it, and thought I was doing a good thing. Women don't drink beer or vodka with their meal, like the other lunches that had more men.

So far I have not learned how to cook any of this, but I will work on it.

My New Home

I moved to Ninh Binh last week and now live in a Hotel. My neighbourhood is new. It used to be a meadow, but a couple of years ago a big Volleyball stadium was built and now the area is booming. It is a combination of hotels, cafes, and homes. There are 3 hotels on my corner but none of them made it into the Lonely Planet Vietnam. We are too far from the main road where the trains and buses stop. We do not get tourists here, which has both positives and negatives. So far the place is very quiet, except for the building. This morning, being Sunday, I thought I would have a lie in but by 7:00 am the sounds of building had started. It was raining so I think that's why they started at 7 and not 6!!

I was told the land here is very high, so only the rich can live here. That is obvious by the size of the houses. The big green building going up is a restaurant, all 4 floors. I am not sure how long it takes to finish a building around here. John said the fancy outside decorations were completed first. They are working from the top floor down, so I don't think it will be long before it is open for business.

I also live behind a Pagoda. It looks well cared for but I didn't see any monks around while I took pictuers.

My room is fine. I have a bed, and a large table for my work. I also have 2 balconies, with a relaxing chair on the larger one. Because of 2 balconies, I get good ventilation, a plus here. I have cable TV with 3 channels in English, 2 news and one Disney. I also have a tiny fridge and my own bathroom. Every evening, the maid brings up a huge thermos of hot water. It stays hot all night and the whole next day. I use it to make my tea and coffee. I also have an outdoor clothes line for my washed clothes. So far everything has been drying quickly.

National School Opening Day, Sept. 5

Many years ago on Sept. 5, Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to all the teachers in Vietnam encouraging them to be good teachers and for students to be good students, study hard and be successful. To this day schools in Vietnam open Sept. 5 with a grand ceremony. I was lucky to be invited, well really I invited myself, to the opening ceremony at one of the top Primary Schools in Ninh Binh.

My morning started with my translator, Mai Thu, picking me up at 7:15 on her motorbike, driving through town, me on the back carrying a huge bouquet of flowers. Unfortunately no picture of that. When we arrived at the school, I was greeted by Mr. Nam, the head of the Dept of Education and Training. Then I was asked to re-enter the school by the filming crew!! I will be on TV tonight. I sat with the other dignitaries and school teachers, and then was paraded in to a favourable spot at the front. In front of me were grades 2-5 with the middle section left for the new Grade 1s. They were paraded in to much pomp and ceremony. Very cute. Speeches were made, flowers were presented to the Principal, I even got on stage at one point to hand her flowers. What a cheer I got from all the kiddies.

The day started off cool and overcast, but within 15 minutes of sitting at the front, out came the beating sun. Everyone unfurled their umbrellas to hide under. It was a pretty picture. After the speeches, all the head teachers had to sign a letter saying they would do their best as teachers to educate the students. Imagine that in Thompson!!

Then came the entertainment. One young boy is a champion singer. He enters, and wins, all the Child Vietnam Idol contests around here. He is extremely poised and confindent on stage, as was the little girl who was the MC. They sang a few songs, with appropriate movements, then a group of dancers came on and preformed something. The kids in the audience went crazy.

Then it was over, and we paraded out. I was inundated with "Hello"'s as I left the school. Makes me feel welcome.

Language Barrier

This morning, Sat. Sept 6, after a Skype chat with Greg, I decided to go out for breakfast. It was pouring rain, but I needed to get out of my room. My Canadian friend, John, said he had bread and eggs at the cafe 2 blocks away. So I unfurled my umbrella and set out in the rain. I was warmly welcomed, as always in Vietnam, and looked over the menu. I saw something I thought was coffee with milk, and ordered it by pointing. What I got was not coffee with milk, but a wonderful coffee drink with ice cream!! What a treat. Now I have to remember what I ordered so I can get it again.

I think breakfast was over because there was no food on the menu.

Bac Ha Market

On Sunday, I signed on for a tour to Bac Ha Market. It had rained all Saturday night, and was still raining Sunday, so Marilyn decided to give it a miss. It ended up being a 3 1/2 hour trip to the Market. The roads were quite washed up and in some places the ground was so soft, we thought the bus might tip over. But it didn't. Once we got to Bac Ha the market was in full swing. It was still raining, and as it is an outside market, the ground was very muddy. This market was special because we saw large animals, horses and buffalo, pigs, goats, even puppies for sale. One cook stall was cooking up all the insides of the horse for sale only to the Hill men. It looked awful.
This market was different Hill people. They wear extremely colourful clothing, embroidered in yellows, oranges, etc. We stopped their for a lunch, extremely good. We were to go to another village but the roads were so washed out the buses weren't able to get up the hills.
That night we met another volunteer and her boyfriend for supper at a British pub. On Monday evening we took the night train back to Hanoi. Sept. 2 is a national holiday here. At 6 am there was hardly anyone on the road, my taxi got to my hotel in 10 minutes. The hotel was still locked up, so I sat outside and read my book for about half an hour till they opened up. When I went out for lunch, I couldn't believe how empty the streets were. Shops were even closed!!

Sapa

Booked a trip to Sapa in the mountains northwest of Hanoi for the longweekend Aug.30 to Sept.2. We went by overnight train, on a soft sleeper. That is such a civilized way to travel, and not too expensive. We arrived around 7 is the morning, and after much shuffling around(4 different buses) we took the hour trip up to Sapa. Our hotel had a beautiful view. The weather up here was so much cooler than Hanoi, we really enjoyed it. The challenge was the Hill people. We went to the local baquette cafe and we approached by sellers as we went in. They hung around outside, showing us their wears through the window. Then they followed us down to the main town, all the while saying "Buy from me Madam". They followed us for over 4 hours!! They are extremely persistant. We had a lovely time, walking around, going to little cafes, and eating out. It was so quiet and cool compared to Hanoi. Just what I needed.

Sat. at the tourist center, the local Hill people were having their "love Market". Apparently, the men and women dance for each other to help them chose a mate. We only saw one fellow dancing, and he wasn't having much luck. These women with the fans had a beautiful dance.