Lunch Program at Primary School

I think I've talked a bit about Primary Schools in Vietnam. My workshops are held at the Le Hong Phong Primary School, a school with 600 students from Grades 1 to 5.


Students arrive at the school for 7:30 and stay the whole day. They have recess about 9:00 ( I hear their loud, happy (shrill) voices outside my classroom. I usually have to break at that time as well.

Lunch is at 10:30 and is served at the school. After lunch the children have to sleep for awhile and then they can go out and play. Classes resume at 2:00 and go to 4:00 or 4:30 (haven't figured out which yet).



I checked out lunch last week. The cook and her assistants cook in a room attached to the the school. The food is usually rice, and a soup made of tomatos and some meat. The rice and soup is divided into individual pots for each classroom. The food and dishes are taken to the classrooms and the teacher doles out the food to the students. After lunch, the assistants return and pick up the dirty dishes.


Puts a whole new spin on "Lunch Duty" doesn't it???

Road Less Travelled

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 5 and it has finally stopped raining. Nhan called this morning and suggested a road trip. " Let's go".

We decided to head out towards the old capital Hoa Lu and see some of the flood damage. Along the way we decided to visit a pagoda, Chua Ban Long. This pagoda is off the main road, accessible by a much smaller road just right for a motorcycle. As you can see, the water was up to the roads, and more. Many of the houses had water damage and people were waiting for the water to go down.

At the pagoda we met a 91 year old Buddist monk who had been looking after the pagoda for over 50 years. She said they did not get as many visitors as they used to. I wonder if the building of the new big Bai Dinh pagoda has cut into visitors. It was extremely peaceful here. We were unable to climb to the top of the mountain because the stairs were too slippery due to the flooding.


Once we left the Chua Ban Long we took the main road to Hoa Lu but were stopped by construction. Other motorcyclists were travelling through a huge puddle, slowly and carefully, and all the men gave us instructions on how we should do it. Nhan was not keen, and as we have lots of time to visit, we decided to head somewhere else. We got out the trusty map and saw that Hang Mua was close.


Hang Mua is designed and built as a version of the Great Wall of China. Tourists can see a long wall rising from the floor to the peak of the mountain. Once you climb 486 stone steps, you have a panoramic view of the valley and rice fields on one side, and the mountains and Tam Coc river on the other.

At first I thought the goats were going to collect our entrance fee, but the keeper was down the road looking after her flooded house.



Of course we climbed up. Fortunately today was not hot or sunny. The view ws incredible once we reached the top. We saw lots of little boats on the Tam Coc filled with the tourists who had been stuck in their hotels for days because of the rains. Everyone ws taking advantage of the good weather.

Flooding In Vietnam

As I mentioned in my last blog, there is a lot of rain in Vietnam. Well it hasn't stopped raining and we are suffering from flooding all over Vietnam. Over 60 deaths as of today, winter crops totally destroyed, dikes breaking. The worst is yet to come. Already cost of food has doubled especially in Hanoi. I am including two sites for you to look for more information on the flooding and pictures.

http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/showarticle.php?num=05SOC051108

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/photogal/2008/11/811399/

Many of the schools are still closed. The Universities are open but the students have to wade to their classrooms. People are fishing in the streets of Hanoi. The backyard ponds have flooded and the fish have escaped to the streets. The owners are trying to reclaim them before they swim away.