Hoi An and Da Nang

Took a few days holiday and went south to the ancient city of Hoi An. It has been designated a Unesco World Heritage site. There are several buildings of historical and cultural significance open to the public, and several streets that do not allow cars. Bicycles and motorcycles are still allowed. You can attend a traditional music show, a handicraft workshop, and old houses. The old houses reminded me of the Chinese movies Eric takes me too--I felt that Jet Li was looking down on me from the balcony on the second floor. One thing Hoi An is famous for is there lanterns. They make them in their shops. You can watch them make one just for you.

We arrived in Hoi An during a flood. The rain has come so strongly and for many days, and the river flooded covering the street beside the river, the bridge, and up to the second street. It was truly something to see. By the next day the water had receded leaving only mud. The clean up is fairly basic, a water hose and a man/woman with a push broom shovel.

We talked to an American who ran a used book store who said the water came up 6 inches an hour for 15 hours. One of the joys of living on a flood plain. The black on the yellow building shows how high the water was this time. We ended up calling over a water taxi to get us across to the other side. We didn't want to go through all the mud again.



Hoi An has many tailors and shoe makers. Marilyn had a pair of sandles made for her, and Amanda, Marilyn and I had clothes made. That was an interesting experience. It is cheaper to have a tailor make your clothes than to buy off the rack.







The rain changed our plans for this trip. We were unable to visit many sites outside the city because of the rain, so we went into Da Nang and stayed at a hotel on the beach. We were the only visitors. In the morning around 5, people from town come to the beach to play badminton, soccer, and exercise for a couple of hours before work. They come again around 4 until dark. We spent some of the non-rainy time on the beach and in the waves. It was great.

End of Workshop 2

Hard to believe the second workshop is over. Both Nhan and I were less stressed for this one. It started as the other one, with speeches from the Department of Education, but they were alot shorter. I'm old news already.

We continued to have fun with more ice-breakers and silly games. I played the one I use with my class at UCN to help them remember their fellow classmates names: your name and an adjective that starts with the same letter as your name. I heard participants calling each other the funny names all week. It took 30 minutes but I think I'll continue it for the workshops just because it helps them get to know each other.

This week I decided to use open-ended questions instead of Bloom's Taxonomy. I had run some of this by my friend Lark earlier on and she had spoken of her success with it. That Skype makes people so close!! I don't know if the teachers found open-ended easier but I sure did.










Closing ceremonies were very informal. No one from the Dept of Education was able to attend, so it was just us teachers sitting around looking at pictures of Canadian schools, my friends, and snow. They even stayed and helped us clean-up so we were out in record time.

You'll notice this time all the tall people standing next to me. They think they are the same height as me, until we actually measure or look at the picture. Nhan and I were invited back to Cuc Phong by the male teacher. He lives just outside the park and said he would be our guide. We've got his number and will visit in November.

Cuc Phuong National Park

Cuc Phuong is the oldest national park in Vietnam. Magnificent limestone mountains rise up majestically from the green, rice-terraces and traditional stilt houses of the Muong hill-tribe.
I visited this area Sat. Oct 11 with 5 other Wusc volunteers--3 young women with Students Without Borders, a volunteer from Thanh Hoa and a volunteer who lives in Ninh Binh with me. We rented a van and driver to take us around for the weekend.

Our first stop was the Endangered Primate Rescue Center. This program has around 140 primates in breeding Programs. This is a joint project with Germany and several other countries, not Canada. Our tour included an English speaking biologist/technician. He showed us stick spiders, big spiders, monkeys, and gibbons. We even saw a couple of monkeys in the trees outside the Rescue Center's fence.

Then it was back in the van for the 20 km drive into the Park. Rowena decided to play with the butterflies before we headed out on our 6 km hike to the 1000 year old tree.
The hike was a series of stone and concrete steps, mostly up. These steps get very slippery in the rainy season, so we were not skipping our way. We only saw a variety of spiders, no other animals. They were all smart enough to be asleep somewhere cooler. We made it to the 1000 year old tree, along with all the other tourists.

Imagine doing a hike in your high heels and dress clothes. Happens all the time here.
We decided to complete the circle hike instead of going back the same way. That may have been a mistake, as it was the road less travelled, and both down and up. It seemed alot farther than 3 km. But needless to say, we made it. After a lunch at the park we headed south. The Park offers accommodation in lovely stilt houses. We are thinking of that for a return visit. Then we can do an early morning walk and maybe see some animals.

From there we drove the 20 km into the park..There are several hiking trails available. We decided to hike to the 1000year old tree, a supposed 6 km return hike. It started well, as all hikes do, but the uphill steps, covered with slime and moss, made it slow going. It was beautiful in the park, lots of giant spiders, and beautiful butterflies. We started our hike around 10:30 so any animals were in

Dinner at Nhan's

Yesterday Nhan invited me to dinner. Nhan is my translator from Ha Noi and she has had to rent a room in Ninh Binh. She is as much a stranger here as I am, but she has the advantage of speaking the language.
To prepare for dinner, we first went to the market. Nhan had the list for ingredients for spring rolls. While she was doing her shopping, I was looking around. No pictures of this, not sure of people's reactions yet. We were in the meat, fish section of the market. All the little stalls selling fish, shrimp, crab, mussels, squid had these animals live in little basins with fresh air pumping into the basins. Sort of like a fish tank or a live-well on a boat. People here only want fresh fish and they want to see it swimming or splashing about, as so often happens. The chickens and birds are plucked of their feathers but otherwise intact. The cow and pig are cut up, with all the parts for sale.
Once we had the food, it was back to Nhan's house to clean and prepare the ingredients. Nhan lives in a compound with 6 rooms. They all share a toilet, shower, and small common food prep area that has a cold water tap. The 2 puppies from the landlord came to keep us company in hopes of a little treat.
We cooked rice in a rice cooker, just like the Black and Decker ones from home, boiled water in a little tea kettle, and cooked the spring rolls on a one-burner gas stove.
The power decided to go out in Nhan's room just when we were ready to cook. First the landlady, then the landlord came to try and get it going. I stayed out of the way, especially when I saw the landlord with a syringe like thing in his hand. I had visions of everything blowing up.
But it didn't and half an hour later we were cooking. I can't promise to make springrolls as good as Nhan but I will give it a try when I get home.

Yes, I really do have a job here!

After several weeks of preparation, I started my first workshop Monday, Sept. 29. The workshop was to start at 8:00 so I wanted to be early, 7:30, and set a few things up before the participants arrived. I was one of the last to arrive!! Things began with Opening Ceremonies, which meant that Mr. Nam, the director of Primary Education in Ninh Binh Province, gave a speech about me, Wusc, and Vietnam and the cooperation we had. He exhorted them to learn everything they could from the expert from Canada. I would have been a little intimidating if I hadn't heard this type of speech many times over the past 4 weeks.

It was challenging to speak through a translator. I would say something, and then she would say it again in Vietnamese. You can imagine how much time that would take. I had 30 participants, teachers, administrators from around the province, a mix from each smaller district. Most did not know each other. I had about 2/3 women to 1/3 men.

Almost from the beginning I was behind in my lesson outline. After the first lunch, a 3 hour one, I realized that they needed to be energized, so we started playing more games first thing in the morning and after lunch. They were a hit once they were translated. They told me their favourite was a version of Musical Chairs that we played today, Friday. I think part of that was they had become comfortable with each other and the crazy things I had them doing.

But with so much time spent playing "educational" games I became further behind in my original plan. But I can put a "Student Centered Learning" focus on anything.

Half-way through, I wondered if I was getting through to anyone. I kept hearing but we don't have the resources you have in Canada, we can't do this. And of course they have nothing compared to our well-supplied schools with SDML. My final project for them was to take some of the strategies I had practiced with them, and apply them to their classes. Surprise!! They did and thought they were an improvement.

Then we had "Closing Ceremonies". I was in the middle of my lesson when Mr. Nam walked in, and almost turned off my computer for me and told me to go have tea while they reset the classroom for these ceremoneis. An hour later I was called back to the class, to a setting of fruit, and snacks. Speeches followed, and a presentation for me. I had used the 20 questions activity with them so I played it again with the gift. After 10 questions, I asked if I could just open it. They laughed. they presented me with a beautiful embroidered picture of Vietnam, without the frame, so I could take it back with me. How wonderful.


After the closing, a few teachers invited me out for lunch. John, my fellow Canadian, was peddling past the restaurant as we were going in, so he was welcomed as well. We were invited to visit them all next weekend and meet their families. We are checking out the bus schedule and planning our day. They live in the area of giant shrimp and Viet vodka!

Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. They make me feel special.