Have I tried every Vietnamese dish? No. Have I tried every southern Vietnamese dish? No. Have I now tried one thing that probably trumps any other terrifying food I will ever have the opportunity to try in my life? Probably yes. I sampled embryonic duck eggs with grace and appreciation. Last night I faced something infinitely more daunting. But that story comes later.
Wednesday night was the last student English club. Turnout wasn't huge, but at eight-ish it was significantly more than the four who came last week. I learned how to fold paper into boats/bowls to hold rambutan and other snacks, and then we all sat and chatted and ate snacks and sang. I added one more Vietnamese song to my repertoire. I asked the three seniors present about their future plans, and they asked me about mine. One student told me that before I arrived, they expected me to be tall, pale, and blonde. When I arrived and they saw that we had similar skin and hair, they felt confident that we might be friends. I don't know what that says for US-Vietnam relations, but I guess it meant something good for me.
Thursday morning I had one more last visit to Trang's parents' house. It was the first time I wasn't there for some sort of event, and consequently it was a very relaxed visit, just me and them. If there is any goodbye dish I would want to have, it would be the goobdye bánh xèo that Trang's mom made. Ngon, ngon, ngon (3x delicious!), accompanied by Trang's favorite liqueur: Bailey's. This time I didn't cry on the road home; I guess I got all of my boohoos out the first time.
A more modest spread than what I usually see
Goodbye
In the afternoon, I participated in the college's closing conference for my term as a Fulbrighter. It was held in Vietnamese, but it was still moving. I made a presentation in English, and then made some closing remarks in Vietnamese. It was the first time I've had stage fright in a long time. When I started, everyone sort of giggled, and I wasn't sure whether I had said something wrong or whether they were just laughing because they were surprised to hear me speaking Vietnamese. Afterward, no one commented positively or negatively, but Trang told me that I did a good job (and she would tell me if I hadn't) and that people thought that the way I spoke Vietnamese was probably like the way they speak English. I got a mound of goodbye gifts that I haven't opened yet, and a certificate from the local government that is the highest honor one can receive and usually takes two years of consistent exemplary service to earn. I was also interviewed by a reporter for the local news.
Receiving my governmental certificate of achievement
Being interviewed
After that, there was another goodbye party. The party was festive but uneventful until I discovered that either banana rice wine is either much stronger than regular rice wine or my tolerance is shot, because I was quickly buzzed. Buzzed enough to feel inspired to toast Mr. Luan, my biggest source of frustration but most concerted effort for appreciation, for our mutual respect for each other's patience when facing communication struggles. After a plate of watercock, a plate of ruddy ground dove, a few hours, and several more shots, I met the biggest culinary challenge I have met in my life. I recall the time I went to Six Flags Arlington and faced down a ride called the Chameleon that had a loop and went forward and backwards, and I told myself that if I rode this one ride I would never fear a ride again. This dish was the Chameleon's equivalent. A dish of fish sauce, chilis, and duông dừa: coconut beetle larvae. I have now eaten live coconut worms with bold terror and shots of banana seed
rice wine. And I had four. And to be perfectly honest, other than
the long time I spent watching them writhe in fish sauce while we all worked up the courage to
eat them, the worst part was how much pepper was in the fish sauce,
more so than the maggots themselves. You held it right behind the head, put the body in your mouth, and ripped the head off. People told me it was healthy protein, and that they are organic. Even after they'd been decapitated, the discarded heads kept moving in my bowl.
About to eat one
Are you ready for this? Behold, the terror of the worms:
If you want more, watch the mandibles keep moving after I've eaten the bodies. Now that's a sendoff.
I guess I am officially no longer a teacher. I taught my last two classes this morning. I asked the first years to fill out evaluations, and though they might have struggled to put their feedback into English words, they did well enough for it to be worthwhile. After last week I realized that they probably wanted to take pictures together (and I wished I had done that on the last day with my other classes) so we spent a lot of time doing assorted group shots and pair shots.
I had to finish class early because I had to go to a 'department meeting.' Trang had intended for this meeting to be a surprise, but at least four other faculty members blew her cover and called or texted me with questions about my farewell party today. At the farewell party, I couldn't help but remember a fellow ETA's blog post about her experience going to a one-year-old's birthday party, where the child slept somewhere out of the way and all of the adults drank and celebrated. I was told to sit at the far corner of the table and, after giving me a few parting gifts at the beginning of the meal, everyone else had a riotously good time having apparently hilarious conversations in Vietnamese. On the way home, Trang mentioned that it was odd that no one really talked about my departure or talked much to me. I was glad that at least one person noticed that I had been left out. I didn't really take it personally, but that doesn't mean it was an enjoyable experience.
The college has been preparing some sort of publication compiling students' and faculty members' reflections on their experiences with me as an ETA this year. Unfortunately, all of these things are in Vietnamese. Fortunately, at they all have English abstracts, and today Trang gave me a copy of the abstracts to look over, correct, and enjoy. I thought I would share some highlights with you. These are before my corrections, because I think it's better in my students' own words:
She is a young girl but her patience is wonderful. Thank you, Adelina, for providing us with great opportunities to practice English and appreciate your cultures!
Especially, whenever I make mistakes, she has some ways to correct them without making me embarrassed. Last but not least, she usually makes the class exciting. Thus, we can understand the lessons easily and remember them longer.
Studying with Adelina, the name of our ETA, was a really my happy time. She taught us with her heart. Sometimes, when I could not understand what she was saying, she enthusiastically expressed her ideas again and again.. That was really helpful. The atmosphere of the class was very relaxing.
A healthy dash of the other side of the coin:
However, I also met some difficulties. For example, sometimes, I can’t understand what she wanted to convey. Because she is unable to explain her presentation in Vietnamese, I can’t understand the lesson thoroughly. The more she tried to explain, the more confused I became, sometimes.
And a whole abstract, because it is so poignant:
During the last nine months, I have had a meaningful opportunity to study with an English teaching assistant-Ms Solis Montufar Adelina Mariflor. Of our memories, I remember most a period of American civilization subject. That time, my class studied about the Rocky Mountain Region of The US. She was really enthusiastic to teach us. She drew the map of the region onto the board carefully. She taught us about each state of the region with its own strait. She taught us how to pronounce the name of each state. She not only supplied us with the general knowledge, but also told some tourism destinations by showing us many pictures about them. Personally, I was most impressive about Devil’s Tower National Monument. It looks like a gigantic tree stump which turned to stone. Actually, it is phonolite volcanic rock that rings when struck. This information is also in the text book but it became more attractive with Adelina. So, I wished I had an opportunity to travel there. It would be one of my destinations of the US tour. After that, she gave us a quiz to check the knowledge. In the quiz, we had to write the name of each state. That made us worried because we could not remember their spellings. So, we cheated. We wispily discussed with our friends. Of course, we could not get the permission to do like that. Adelina went around us and maybe she knew that we were cheating. She just whispered: “no talking, no talking” with a really lovely voice. The quiz was really difficult but we decided to stop cheating. We did not want to make her upset. Her voice was impressive. I remembered that voice so much. After the quiz, I realized that her behavior had affected me very much. Instead of being angry with our cheating, she was so gentle. Thanks for her behavior, I have tried to get a better behavior.
Speaking of what's become normal, last night I dreamed that I walked into a bank asking for dollars. The thing was that I was speaking Vietnamese but none of the people there were Vietnamese and so no one understood me.
This morning I had my Vietnamese lesson. Trang met me and told me that she had a surprise for me, and that she hoped it wasn't terrible. Then she asked me where I wanted to go to breakfast, because she wanted me to be in a good mood before my surprise. That did not bode well for this surprise. Over breakfast we discussed the food cravings of pregnant women. Trang told me that many pregnant women in Vietnam eat clay pots. Clay pots. They crave them so intensely that they usually finish eating the lid by the time they get home from buying one at the market. She also told me that people think that if a woman craves sour food, she will have a daughter.
After breakfast we went to get bubble tea. Trang said it was time for my surprise, and again said she hoped it would be ok. I was going to say that the only surprise that would be a bad surprise would be a test, but just as I was about to say it I saw her reaching into her briefcase and I realized that that was exactly what my surprise would be. Vietnamese pop quiz! The first page was pretty rough. I had to label pictures of objects that I should know but for some reason don't (pen, chair, that sort of thing). If I had been asked to label pictures of fruit I would have rocked it. I also had ten questions with four words each, and I had to circle the word that didn't fit in each set. This was challenging if I didn't know more than two words in a set. Next, I had a short answer section. This one was much easier. I felt pretty clever when I confronted "What do you do at [time of day]?" I recognized that the word stood for a time of day, but couldn't remember what time of day it was. My answer? I eat pho. Perfectly suitable at any time of day. On the back I had to answer some multiple choice questions and read a short passage and then answer some reading comprehension questions. This side was a breeze. I scored 23 out of 40. Not stellar, but not totally abysmal.
After that I had a regular lesson, and I've gotten pretty comfortable telling stories in Vienglish. Too bad I can't get away with that on my final exam. I learned the word for 'dimples'. At first I misunderstood Trang's English explanation and thought that she was saying that it was the same word as corn, but it turns out that it is the same word as coin, dòng tiền. Neither makes too much sense to me. I also learned that if you don't look good in a photo, people say that you didn't eat the photo. Bạn không ăn ảnh. In other turns of conversation Trang told me that her senior students now email her in English, and she credits me for this change. I figured out how I ended up with a bug in my previous milk tea. It turns out it was a bee, not a fly. Forgive me for misidentifying it; I had already chewed on it. The place where they prepare the drinks is outside, and they line up glasses full of the tapioca to have them ready for whenever customers place their orders. Meanwhile, bees buzz in and out of the glasses. I guess they don't always make it out before the drink makes it in.
English club was in the evening. For the last several weeks, only first years have come, so I was pleasantly surprised to see three seniors, especially since this is their finals week. We talked about family. First I asked each of the students to describe their families in detail. Names, ages, occupations, et cetera. Then I made a big elaborate family tree on the board. Then the students asked me a ton of hypothetical questions. If I could choose between having an older brother or an older sister, which would I choose? What would I do if one of my children was a bad student? Would I like to have twins? It was nice to have the seniors there to make the club less of a lecture and more of an exchange, but looking at the first years' faces it sometimes looked like they were feeling left out.
From your great grandparents to your grandchildren, and in-laws too
Trang and I went out to dinner. It's been a long time! We got there and she sprung another test on me. Really? But thankfully it was a take home test, not a dinner test.
Saturday was the death anniversary of the first king of Vietnam, and so most people had the day off on Monday. For some reason, the college decided to have the day off on Friday, and so we were the only people working yesterday. Now that I'm not teaching Translation anymore, my Monday workday doesn't start until 9:55. It felt very strange to wake up so late but still have to go into work. When I got to class, only 18 of my 40 students were present. Apparently, more than half of them stayed home out of concern for the storm. However, rain never even made an appearance, and it was just a pleasantly cool day instead. I decided to take advantage of having a small class, and spent the last 45 minutes using my speed dating conversation activity. It got off to a slightly rockier start than it did when I used it in English club, which makes me wonder if those who attend the club regularly have gotten a leg up or if attendees are more capable and confident to begin with. When the conversations kept hitting lulls at around 3:30 minutes during the first round or two, I decided to write a few conversation starters on the board to help students if they got stuck. I worried that they would just ask each partner the same questions and end up exchanging canned answers instead of having a more natural conversation, but it seemed to help. One girl managed to look sleepy and bothered through most of the activity, but by the last few rounds I was happy to finally see here smiling and engaging with her partners. I don't usually ask my students if they enjoyed class or a certain activity -- it feels needy and I don't trust that it would generate sincere answers -- but I did ask this time. I was happy to receive an enthusiastic and resounding 'yes!' The best thing about this activity for me is that it is a sign of progress; I don't think it would have been possible six months ago.
Below, the rabble of casual English.
I was supposed to have a Vietnamese lesson this morning but Trang texted me about half an hour before we were supposed to meet because it was raining and asked if I wanted to reschedule for tomorrow. Since it took me about three rounds of falling back asleep with my phone in my hand and dreaming that I responded before I actually texted her back, it seemed like a good idea to reschedule.
At eleven I went out for lunch with Thuy (Trang's sister). She insists on taking me somewhere nice and always refuses to let me pay, even when I'm the one who initiates the going out. Last time I tried to pay for our milk tea but she took the money out of the cashier's hand and gave it back to me. I told her that if we were going to go out for food and drinks she should at least let me pay for drinks, but she told me that if I was going to pay for drinks we just wouldn't go out for drinks anymore. So. So we had lunch today: grilled shrimp in tamarind sauce, soup with fish meatballs and bitter melon, and clams in fish sauce. I wore my new heels and had a funny realization. If I wear four-inch heels in the US I am just less short; wearing four-inch heels in Vietnam makes me a towering giant.
My precious(es)
We had milk tea after lunch, but we went to a new place this time. Walking through that doorway was like walking out of Vietnam. There was effective air-conditioning. There was wi-fi. There were foreigners inside! It was surreal. It was the kind of place I sometimes wish for, but didn't know existed, much less within reasonable walking distance from the college. I don't know that I'll feel the need to go back, but it's nice to know it exists.
Much to my surprise, the teacher's English club went rather well today. I think my steadily decreasing expectations have as much to do with my satisfaction as any potential improvement might. I went in with the seed of a lesson plan, and it blossomed pretty nicely as I went along. I asked them to brainstorm words we can use to describe someone. They started with physical descriptors, and then I ushered them towards personality traits. After getting a good word bank I asked them to choose three words they would use to describe themselves. When we shared answers, with their help, I ended up being dubbed 'curvy (my word, for the sake of expanding vocabulary), creative, and cute (their suggestion). I probably would have finished my three with 'optimistic', but I liked the alliteration and wanted to honor their contribution. Next was three qualities they liked about themselves and three qualities they didn't like. Next was five words you think other people would use to describe you. I asked them each to give one word to describe me, and I was lovely, enthusiastic, confident, kind, and creative. It sounds like a short lesson, but between explaining new words and discussing with partners and then sharing with the class, it easily filled the time.
Wednesday night I tossed and turned and ended up figuring out my lesson plan for my first drawing class next week. I don't know if the lesson planning kept me awake or if the sleeplessness led to the planning. Probably both. Then, when I received my April schedule yesterday, the drawing class wasn't listed. It turns out I won't be teaching drawing after all. I guess I really do have to stick to not believing something is going to happen until it is happening. Silly me for thinking that signing paperwork and discussing definitive dates and times was enough of a guarantee. I'm disappointed, but focusing on the silver lining of having my Thursday nights stay free.
Somehow, I never got around to sharing the results of my Translation class evaluations. Below are some notable replies.
What lessons or activities did you like? Why?:
The activity I like is translate. One student read in English and one translate. Because its help me improve my speaking and listening skills.
I like standing in class and practising translation with teacher and my friends. It makes me confident and improve the other skills.
I like lessons or activities that the teacher offers. For example, the teacher asks the class to translate into English and Vietnamese. Because this can help us be confident in translation. And I can study more words and structure of sentences that help me avoid many errors when I write.
Other comments or suggestions:
The teacher was very well. But the problems is on my own (myself). Sometimes I feel a little confused on oral translation. You are very skillful, very well. Don't worry!
Teacher usually teaches over time, teacher should note about time because you and we are very tired, so we can't understand the lesson more :(
My favorite, however, was this reply to the question, "What is something the teacher could improve?": "Sometimes, I can't understand your pronunciation."
The most significant data is the reactions to "I would feel comfortable translating in a real-life situation." Only one student chose 'disagree'; 11, 'neither agree nor disagree'; 19, 'agree', and 3 'strongly agree'. Of course, since I didn't ask them this at the start of the course I don't know whether their comfort was caused by the class, but it feels good to know that, regardless of how things started, at least half of the students feel comfortable and capable.
Today I was supposed to have a Vietnamese lesson with Trang in the morning and then go out to lunch with her sister. However, about half an hour into our lesson, Trang got an upsetting text message and proceeded to have a drawn out texting session. And when I say drawn out I mean I fell asleep in my cafe chair and when I woke up thirty minutes later it was still going on. I suggested that Trang take me home and deal with whatever was afoot.
I met Thuy at the appointed time and we proceeded to have a blast. We had our usual massive lunch and then Thuy took me to a nearby shop so I could try on a dress I'd been eyeing every time I'm driven past it. It was neither surprising nor terribly disturbing to find that the dress didn't fit quite right, but Thuy seemed to have adopted a mission and took me to another store. I didn't find a dress, but I found the most fantastic pair of shoes. I tried them on just for fun, but they were just too amazing to deny. They came home with me. Our next stop was the milk tea place I go to with my students. I added lychee and hazelnut (we got two) to the list of flavors I've tried and Thuy helped me translate all of the flavor options so I can both boast a slightly expanded vocabulary and know exactly what all of my options are the next time I go. We had a great time and what with the feast and the two beverages we were bursting at the seams by the time she dropped me off at the college.
Season-irrelevant decor at the milk tea place
In the late afternoon, waves of rumbling gave way to sheets of pelting rain. I was lucky to be inside already, but I went and opened the door to enjoy the dramatic view and fresh scent of rain. I would expect locals to think me crazy for doing so, but given that they were all inside hiding there was no one to see my deviant behavior. When the rain got too horizontal I went back inside and watched the rain blow in under the door. The power went out soon after the tremendous but brief rainstorm, and I had to ask myself why (it seems) the college karaoke setup is hooked up to a backup generator but nothing else is.
Every day, it feels as though my departure is looming. Ever since the
calendar page turned to March, it was as though it said May. Everyone
started talking to me about when I will leave and how soon I am leaving
and what things they hope we can do before I leave and how they have to
spend more time with me now that there's so little time left. Hardly a
day goes by without some comment or conversation regarding my imminent
departure. I think that's why my schedule suddenly got packed (though
now it's balancing out again) and why I'm teaching first years now --
they want to squeeze every last bit of benefit out of me before I go. I
want to shake people and say, "Hey! There are still three months left!"
but I know that will slip by before we know it. I can still remember my
first week here with perfect clarity, sitting in my room and wondering
what had possessed me to want to come here, and feeling like ten months
would be an eternity. And now I'm well past halfway and sliding down the
downhill slope towards the end.
In addition to other
people making me feel like I'm as good as gone (not in a bad way), the
amount of time I'm spending preparing for what comes next makes me feel
like goodbye is around the corner. The fun part of this preparation is
planning where I want to go and for how long and how I will get there
and where I will stay for my June travels. For now, the list includes
Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Thailand. Less fun is looking for jobs.
Mostly, this makes me question things. It makes me question what I
really want to do, what I am really capable of doing, and, to some
degree, what I expect of myself. It makes me question the relative
importance of having a dream job (or at least an enjoyable one) versus
just plain having a job.
Thursday, I taught Listening in the morning. Last week they had asked me to sing for them because it was women's day. I told them I was still hoarse, so I wasn't able to oblige. I didn't get off scotch free, though, as the students didn't even let me start the lesson before they requested the song I owed them. The listening track was about predictions for the future, so I thought an activity I used with a speaking class last semester when we were talking about future cities would be suitable for today's wrap up. I asked them what they would make if they could invent anything. Last time I did this activity, participation was a little stilted. This time, the students (though they are technically lower-level students) seemed to have a better grasp on the activity and offered a lot of imaginative inventions.
Only in Vietnam would you want "shoes that make you faster than a motorbike"
Trang asked me to join her for lunch, and asked me what I wanted to eat. I decided it was time to revert to my old answer: something new. Only this time the discussion happened in Vietnamese. It took her a while to come up with something, but it was worth the wait. We had cháo cá, fish porridge. It didn't sound too exciting when she proposed it to me, but it was delicious! Even better, we had a really nice, long, relaxed time together, the likes of which we haven't had for several weeks. Among several conversation topics and a smattering of Vietnamese notes, Trang re-mentioned that I look like Britney Spears. I still don't see it.
Fertilized quail eggs, broth, fish, herbs
At 630 I met up with Thy, Thao, and Nhu, three of my second year students. They are participating in an upcoming speaking competition and wanted to meet up so I could help them prepare. However, we spent maybe 20 minutes working on their presentation, but I wasn't about to complain. Our two hours together flew by. We went to a milk tea/bubble tea place and had drinks and fried chicken. Unfortunately our schedules don't work for a repeat next week, but we're already planning for next next week.
Today continued the trend of preemptive farewells, but I'll get to that later. I taught the first years about telepathy, and it was kind of a throwaway lesson. There seemed to be a lot of conflating of telepathy and fortune-telling, and to be honest it didn't seem worthwhile to tease the two apart. I can't really see this being critical to their English speaking futures, and the more important part was to get them to talk, which they did. I'm starting to learn how to teach my first years. They seem to understand me well enough, but they really need me to model activities for them. This is something I learned in training, but something I can get away with not doing with my older students. With my first years, I have to ask the question, and then show them how to structure their response. For example:
Do you believe in telepathy?
Yes, I believe in telepathy because...
No, I don't believe in telepathy because...
I'm not sure if I believe in telepathy because...
After discussing telepathy and intuition, we conducted an 'experiment'. Five pairs of students sat back to back. The five facing forward had to draw a picture and focus on what they were doing. Their partners had to try to 'receive' the picture and draw what they thought was being drawn. There were a few convergences. A pair of girls drew hearts, but I didn't need telepathy to know that one was going to happen before I even taught today.
Two apples
In the afternoon I attended a meeting of the English teachers to discuss the semester so far, regarding my activities and performance. The first twenty minutes or so were essentially an assortment of 'we love Adelina' speeches from all of the teachers I've worked with. They talked about changes they observed in the students and in the classroom atmosphere, and things they themselves had learned from me. One of the teachers said, "Adelina's position is an English teaching assistant, but in reality she is the teacher and we are her assistants." To hear their statements wasn't just heart warming, it was affirming. It showed me that I am having indeed having a positive impact. I don't know if there will be another meeting like this before I go, but I will carry their words with me for the rest of my time here and long after I leave.
Most of the English department
Mr. Tuan, with whom I teach on Friday mornings, had invited me out to eat after the meeting. I don't know if it was a calculated move, but after the meeting all of the other teachers decided that they wanted to go out. Had I not already committed to Mr. Tuan, I would have gone with them. You may ask, why didn't everyone just go out together? Well, Mr. Tuan is persona non grata in the department, so it was one or the other. I tried not to let everyone else's views taint our dinner, however. He took me out for sour soup and fish cooked in fish sauce, two dishes I've had many times, but this time it was catfish. Unfortunately, the place we went put up a poor showing. In my opinion, the best part of sour soup is the broth. Tonight, the sauce tasted like spicy water. The only exciting thing about the meal were some enormous shrimps. Enormous! I have never seen shrimp with legs as long as my forearm. I spent most of the meal in silence, as much because we didn't have a lot to talk about as because he took me to a restaurant where a ton of his friends were, so they kept coming over to chat with him.
On Saturday morning I took the bus to HCMC and met up with Violet, Brittanye, and Kelly. After a delicious home-cooked lunch of utterly western burgers at the house of a consular employee who is a friend of a friend, Violet and I went looking for a tailor. Lam had given me the address of a good tailor outside of downtown, outside of the tourist area. Unfortunately, when our taxi deposited us at the given address, there was neither a tailor nor any of Lam's other landmarks in sight. After doing some wandering and asking around, Violet and I gave up on the quest, and just went shopping instead. It was raining in torrential spurts, so the shopping helped us stay dry. We didn't buy anything; we just partook of the ritual of trying on clothes that will never fit, central to life as a shopping-inclined westerner in Vietnam.
We stopped at a smoothie place and I had the best (only) avocado smoothie I've had in a long long time. Vincent, who teaches with Violet in Tra Vinh, and several of their students met us there, and then we all went back downtown. We went out for a few drinks and then went to dinner. After our western pizza dinner we went to a Vietnamese place for more food. We had a great time, and it was interesting to see how precocious and adventurous the Tra Vinh students are compared to mine.
Despite our late night out on Saturday, we got up at a decent time on Sunday and went to English mass at the cathedral. It was nice to go to church, even nicer to go with friends, and even nicer to be able to understand the language being spoken. After lunch we went to brunch at an American restaurant that actually felt like being and eating in America. So many times, western food just isn't quite right, which is why most of the time I prefer to eat good Vietnamese food rather than an approximation of American food that will never really satisfy my craving. But this food was good.
After that it was time to come back to Ben Tre. Violet and Vincent had gone to HCMC on Vincent's motorbike, and since Ben Tre is halfway between there and home, they stopped for a few hours in Ben Tre on the way back. We went out to dinner together and enjoyed some local specialties that I only get to eat when I have company. They also got to try some sweet Ben Tre coconuts before getting back on the road.
On Wednesday, the last USA class, I gave out course evaluations. One of the questions I asked was "What did you think about the quizzes?" I was very curious whether my students would feel that they were helpful, too difficult, or what. Here are some of the replies I got:
I don't like quizzes because there is less time to remember the lesson. And the quizz that is immediate will not be good.
It is pretty difficult but after the quizzes we can remember something from lessons.
They are useful and necessary.
The first, I think it help me developing my writing skill. The second, according to the quizzes, I can test my ability, my knowledge, my understood after readed material.
I thought the quizzes were a good way of measuring my understanding of the material so that I could try more.
I think it's very necessary. It help us can express our opinion.
I like doing quizzes after finishing the lesson. I can summarize what I learn in the class. I think the quizzes is very useful. If I can't understand the material clearly, but (after) when doing the quizzed I can know the main ideas or special line.
I think it's not difficult and not easy too. But I must try more to get good marks.
Quizzes are very important and necessary. It focuses on main points. They help me consolidate what I learn and test my knowledge on it.
"What is something the teacher did very well?" Got several replies like this one:
Explaining the reading and materials clearly; preparing for lesson (techniques, photocopied papers, teaching devices); be friendly, kind, lovely
"What lessons or activities did you like? Why?":
I like the revision games in the last lesson because it helped me remember the lesson and I felt very interesting.
Game and work group because it help more interesting when I learning and it help improve many skills.
I'm very happy about spotlight on the U.S.A. Through the course I know more about the U.S. (people culture, states,...)
I like work in group (speaking). Work in group, I can talk about my idea.
I like discussing in groups and answering teacher's question. I like the way which teacher describe something for us. I mean: body language.
I like work in groups because I can discuss with my friends, I will solve matters quickly. And I feel more comfortable and confident.
I was happy to see that the students' response to the quizzes was largely positive. Of course I am a teacher and quizzes are a teaching tool, but with the quizzes' rocky start, I felt some level of guilt about implementing them. The students' replies showed me that they could see why I had quizzes, and the quizzes accomplished what I intended. I had also been curious about students' thought about how often we did group work (almost every class). I asked them if they liked group work and solo work in the first section of the evaluation, where students circled a number, ranging from 1 - strongly disagree to 5 - strongly agree. All students agreed with the statement "I like it when we work in groups" and most students disagreed with "I prefer to work alone." I was grateful that several students chose to address this further in their answers to the open ended questions, as you can see above. Students saw group work as an opportunity to practice speaking, help or learn from their friends, and get more comfortable with the material.
In the additional comments section, one student wrote, "I think we should have more periods with American teacher in a week." Another said, "I love to do with Adelina, teacher. I hope she can stay more time in Vietn Nam." I'd call that very positive feedback.
2.27.12
My original plan was to take the 430 am bus to Ben Tre to be back in time to plan and then teach both of my Monday morning classes. Luckily, Trang suggested that I teach her class in the afternoon, so I got to 'sleep in' and take the 630 bus instead.
I taught Speaking at 10 and was met with a pleasant surprise. All year I've been having students count off and then get in groups to work together. From the very beginning, students always shouted out their group number in Vietnamese, even though it's obviously something that should be just as easy to do in English. I tried to encourage them to do so in English, but eventually I got tired of shouting over their shouting. Today, I heard my students shouting their group numbers in English. It brought a smile to my face. Even if it's a little thing, it's a sign that I'm having an impact. Unfortunately, during the res of the class they were a little lacking in energy. The last conversation group made up for it, though. We had a good, real conversation, and we even ended up going over time.
Busy in group work
Happy and busy in group work
The power went out in the late afternoon but luckily I was supposed to go out to dinner with Quyen from the teacher's English club, so I didn't have to sit around in the dark. We went out to eat bo la lop and nem nuong and bo dun, and after we'd eaten a bit she asked me which was my favorite. When I replied, she ordered a whole other platter. Both of us were struggling to eat our way through it, and she kept encouraging me to 'do my best' to eat it all.
Quyen had planned to take me to the supermarket after dinner, and so we did. She seemed to be under the impression that I had never been before, and wanted to show me around and explain all of the food to me. The only problem, aside from the fact that I've been several times, was that her English is not quite good enough to do all of the explaining she intended. There were some things I was interested in buying but she couldn't translate the cooking instructions, so I was reluctant to just add more things to my freezer.
When we turned onto my street on the way back from the supermarket it was clear that the power was still out. Many shops were closed or candlelit. The campus was almost pitch black. Some students were practicing a dance routine outside by the light of a motorcycle headlight, while some students studied outside by candlelight. I went to my room and decided to work on my computer until the battery died or the power came back. The power came back around 830 and a cheer rose from the campus. Indeed.
This hefty cricket flew straight towards my face minutes before the power came back.
2.28.12
I went to Trang's paternal grandfather's death anniversary today. Just like the last death anniversary I went to, there was no apparent ceremonial element; it was just a family gathering with a mountain of food. As always, the food was delicious. As seems to be a new trend, I was sent home with leftovers to furnish my lunch/dinner/whatever meal comes after a 9am feast on lunchlike food.
At the women's table
In the past, Sunny, one of the grandkids, has taken quite a shine to me. In fact, he usually goes straight for second base. Today I guess he was feeling slightly more gentlemanly, and restrained himself to stroking my arm throughout the meal, and occasionally rubbing his face on my arm. It was all very PG until nap time. I was sent to a hammock, and then Sunny decided he was going to climb in, too. It would have been fine (and was of course very cute, causing everyone to rush over and take pictures of us) except that he kept climbing in and out of the hammock which, as you can imagine, was impairing my napping. After a while of pretending to be asleep he left me alone long enough for me to actually fall asleep.
Me and Sunny
Between eating and napping, Sunny spent the morning serenading us with the ABCs and another alphabet song that he has taught himself off of youtube. Without further ado, I give you Sunny (and Trang's dad in the background):
2.29.12
Trang's sister took me out to lunch, and she took me to a restaurant that I've been to a handful of times. As she was deciding what to order, the waiter suggested a few things. It turns out he remembers me and he remembers what people usually get for me. In addition to the usual sour soup Thuy decided to order prawns with their eggs. To my surprise, the eggs tasted just like shrimp, except with a notably different texture. Last weekend, when I was in Hue, Thuy had called me because she had bought me some mangoes and wanted to bring them by, but I wasn't there to receive them. Apparently, she bought mangoes for me this time, too, but she had tasted some of them and deemed them unsuitable. So, after lunch, we went out to buy more mangoes. Thuy seems to have a skewed perspective of how much fruit it is reasonable to buy for one person (especially when that person also receives large fruit gifts from others), so I ended up with seven large, ripe, sweet mangoes. Whenever I try to tell her it's too much she insists that I just put them in my fridge. I am determined to not end up having to throw some of them out, even if it means gorging myself on mangoes and neglecting all of my other fruits in the meantime.
It's been a while since I had a new and interesting dish to show you.
I taught the English club in the evening and I was feeling really tired and at a loss for ideas. I decided to talk to the students about what they really want to do in the club. I don't want it to feel like a classroom, and I want them to talk more. So, I need to know what they actually want to talk about. We brainstormed future discussion topics, and they requested that I also give them grammar tips, so I will try to work those in. I didn't really have anything else prepared for the night's meeting, but I didn't want to end after just half an hour, so quick thinking came to the rescue. They like to play hangman and I usually do it with vocabulary, but tonight I used it to teach them expressions. They'd hangman their way through to revealing the phrase, and then I would explain the expression and when we use it. By the time I'd filled the board with expressions and explanations, we'd filled the alotted time.
A few days before my trip to Huế, the forecast showed all sun, all 70s. Right before I left that changed to rain, straight through. I hoped that it would be Delta-style rain, intense but brief, but instead it was a weekend of cold gray drizzle. Because our sightseeing had to be punctuated with periods of drying off and warming up, we didn't get to see as much as we had originally intended, but we nonetheless had a full and relaxing weekend.
2.16.12
I arrived in Da Nang on Thursday night. Maria (the Da Nang ETA) and I met at Bread of Life, a restaurant that employs local deaf people and whose proceeds go towards deaf education in central Vietnam, and I indulged in a baked mac and cheese. On our way out, we met a guy from Snook, Texas who had overheard our talk of the Aggie marching band (I had been telling Maria that Trang recently informed me that she greatly admires them) and wondered where we were from. He is also teaching English in Da Nang. It's a small world.
2.17.12
Maria still had to teach on Friday morning, but by then Lam had arrived and so he and I went back to Bread of Life for breakfast. The cab driver asked me if I was Malaysian. No? Thai, then? Nope, American. Now I am especially curious to go to Malaysia and find out if I fit right in. Wouldn't it be funny if they, instead, guessed that perhaps I am Vietnamese? This time at Bread of Life I had an 'Australian burger', a burger with a hard fried egg on top, plus bacon. It was a good start to the day. Lam and I decided to brave the weather and took a short walk along the Han River to get a better view of its famous bridge. On the way we saw a dead bird, and once there we saw a pig's cadaver washed up on the waterside. If we'd seen a third dead animal it might have felt like a bad omen.
One of two not-omens
Bridge in the background
Because we were still waiting for more ETAs to arrive, my original plan had been to spend the day on the beach and to go to Huế on Saturday. However, given the weather and the fact that my real objective was to see Huế, I decided to leave on Friday. Lam and I returned to meet Maria after her class and the three of us went to the train station to catch the 2:42pm train to Huế. It was the most scenic transportation option, and I imagine that the scenery would have looked quite different on a sunny day. We wound around mountains whose tops disappeared into the clouds, and below we could see waves breaking on the rocky beach.
We arrived in Huế in the late afternoon, and our first task was to find a place to stay. We lucked out with the Why Not? Hotel, whose rates were actually cheaper than the hostel's, and who provided us a daily free beer and 10% off everything at their restaurant. Naturally, we went there for dinner. I tried some Hue specialties, but they were slightly lackluster, probably because it was a tourist-oriented restaurant rather than a food stand.
Huda, one of three locally brewed beers
Bánh bè
Bánh nậm
Then, we went to the riverside to go on a dragon boat and listen to ca Huế (local music). We laughed at how the many strange things that happen in Vietnam are not even worth questioning anymore. We had booked the ride through our hotel, and to get to the Perfume River we were instructed to just 'follow the guy on the motorcycle.' So, he rode, and we walked. Perfectly normal. Furthermore, when it was time to get on the boat, we had to walk a rickety plank while the boat swayed on the rough water. Three men and one woman played instruments, while four women sang and provided the rhythm section. The most interesting 'instrument' was what I call the teacup castanets. The women held two teacups in each hand, one teacup inside the other, and clacked them together.
They are wearing traditional Hue headdresses with their ao dai
They played for about an hour. Near the end, they gave us paper lanterns to put in the river. We were supposed to make a wish as we did so, but my candle went out as soon as the lantern touched the water, so I'm not too confident about the fate of my wish. I should have wished for it to stop raining.
Paper lanterns on the Perfume River
2.18.12
We had grand plans for a thorough Saturday but, like I said, the weather disagreed. We were joined by Violet and Vincent, who had a harrowing midnight adventure up from Da Nang. Our first stop was a place famous for it's bún bò huế. This noodle soup is popular throughout Vietnam but, like it's name suggests, it originated in Huế. I had never had it, so I was excited to try it. In an effort to have a more accurate experience, I dared to drizzle it in a deep red chili sauce. Soon after, I was regrowing the skin in my mouth, but enjoying my soup all the same. Despite the slightly unusual meats (thinly sliced beef was accompanied by giant meatballs of shrimp and maybe pork) and the degree of burn, it didn't ultimately feel particularly different from any other noodle soup. I will say, though, that the weather in Vietnam had never before been more suitable for soup.
We decided that our tender mouths needed some soothing, so we sought dessert. By the time we finished our fried bananas with chocolate sauce, schedule dictated that we were supposed to have been there done that with our first sight, the Imperial City. Instead, we had had two meals and rented motorbikes at less than half of the price quoted by our hotel. By now, Sasha (ETA in Vinh) had arrived in Huế and our contingent was complete. We reconvened and made our way to the Imperial City.
Maria had been before so she didn't join us, but she had been generally disappointed by the Imperial City, so she had cautiously talked it down a lot prior to our visit. I don't know if it was because of this or in spite of it, but I really enjoyed it. There certainly wasn't much, most of it was destroyed during the war, but it had so much ambiance, especially with the weather, that roaming the grounds of what once was felt plenty interesting.
Just inside the Citadel walls
Group picture!
Group picture with the turtle topiary
Further interest was contributed by the following animal friends:
By the end of our meanderings we were quite ready to warm up, and did so with a western meal and our free beers. We all needed some time to thaw, so we went back to our hotel rooms. Vincent, Violet's friend, teaches with her in Tra Vinh but through another program, and he knew some people from his program working in Huế. His friends invited us to eat with them at 'the best vegetarian restaurant' in Huế and despite my misgivings I consented to attend. As each dish came out I kept looking for the meat, and kept having to dejectedly remind myself that it just wasn't going to show up. I felt bad because our hosts clearly thought they were giving us a special treat, and I'm not sure I did the best job of pretending to be enjoying the meal. I left as hungry as I came, despite partaking in every course, and had to supplement my dinner on my own, later.
Two more locally brewed beers.
2.19.12
On Sunday we went to the tomb of Emperor Khải Định, the second-to-last emperor. Even though I read about the incongruous relationship between its interior and exterior, I was still surprised when I went inside. On the outside it was large, dark, and imposing, while the inside was bright, intricate, and breathtaking. The walls were decorated with bas-relief mosaics made with glass and pieces of pottery. According to my guidebook, painters used their feet to make the dragon mural on the ceiling. I wondered if they used their feet to wield brushes, or whether it was a foot version of finger-painting. With the precedent of the Imperial City, I was surprised by the seemingly perfect condition of the tomb. It made me wish I had more time in Huế to see more tombs or that, at the very least, the weather had been more conducive to sightseeing. Next time?
Huế's very unusual Cathedral
Approaching the tomb
With some of the tomb's guardians
Looking out from the tomb
Foot-painted mural
Mosaics
The inner sanctum
Statue of the emperor
We bussed back to Da Nang in the afternoon, and a twenty minute rest stop finally gave me a moment at the beach, though not at all how I had imagined it. The water was so warm it was tempting to get in just to get out of the cold.
From Da Nang I flew to HCMC, but because my flight was delayed I got in too late to take the last bus to Ben Tre.
2.20.12
I arrived in Ben Tre at 1230 and I'd had to reschedule my morning translation class to the afternoon. I had intended to use my Texas powerpoint in class, but the projector failed to cooperate with my computer again. So, I just gave the verbal part of the presentation, and had a different student translate to the class one slide's worth of information. I was pleased when there were times where I could tell if the student had made a mistake or which part they needed me to repeat. After that I had them ask me questions about Texas through a classmate working as an interpreter. I was a little disappointed when a student raised her hand to inform me that class was over and ask me to let them go, but she caught up to me on the staircase and explained that they were expected to return the keys to the classroom at that time. Moreover, she told me that she found my presentation very interesting and wished that she could have asked many more questions.
