There
are only 10 weeks of teaching left before the curtain falls on my time here at
Dong Thap Community College. That’s 6 more lesson plans, 2 more tests, 1 final,
5 Elementary Staff classes, 5 Pre-Intermediate Staff classes, 3 English
speaking clubs and 2 movie nights...
WHY
ARE THEY ALL SINGLE DIGITS? Where has the last 8 months gone????????
Ever
since I have been back from the US I felt the feeling of transition settle over
me as I begin the leave Vietnam and start to contemplate what it means to
return home to America. Frankly I am not enjoying the contemplation that much.
Don’t
get me wrong there are times where I feel ‘over it’. I could pack up right now,
board a bus, hail a cab, get on 3 planes and be home and be content. Then 10
minutes later the thought of leaving my students breaks my heart. I am sick of
being an ergonomic outlier and having to always figure out what to do with my
legs. Yet I love that whenever I enter a class my students all stand and say in
unison “Good morning/afternoon teacher” and end class that way with a choral
goodbye. In the US my legs will finally fit and my shower head won’t hit my
upper back, but I won’t get a standing O for showing up or setting them free.
Sure I can get dairy – GOD DO I MISS MILK AND CHEESE. But I will miss cà phê sữa đá and bánh mì opla and bò né terribly.
In
the spirit of the impending departure I have been on a kick of ‘do do do’ and
‘go go go’. Thus I attended a fellow ETAs’ conference this weekend in Bac
Lieu – which is southeast of my town. Traveling around the delta isn’t easy.
It’s a long, hot, and in my case cramped journey – but the 6-hour bus ride was
so worth it. I had a ball teaching, but more then that I got to see 4 other
ETAs and a Fulbright Researcher and boy do I miss them. I really love seeing my
Fulbright family, talking and understanding them and they understanding me, and
laughing – like really laughing until it hurts. At this conference I did a
lesson on poetry and pronunciation for the English students of Bac Lieu
University. Pictures are below.
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From left to right: Trevor, Me, Lindsay, Teresa and Quan |
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The start of the conference. |
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Teresa teaching |
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Lindsay teaching |
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Trevor teaching |
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Me teaching - and yes that's anatomy! Sneaking in the science! |
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Us at dinner |
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Quan, Teresa and myself enjoying the cheese and crackers. |
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The after dinner game, thank you gifts and libations. |
After
teaching Saturday morning and afternoon we went out to dinner and had a
wonderful time. Teresa, the Fulbright Research Fellow from Can Tho, brought
crackers and cheese – Gouda and Camembert. Seriously no joke the best food I
have had in 8 months. I plan on eating only crackers and cheese washed down by
glasses of cold milk when I make it stateside for a week straight. Then we
returned to the college and played a hilarious game of Bananagrams – made more
difficult by the two bottles of red wine and mint milanos. At points I couldn’t
keep up or spell I was laughing so hard at the jokes and wit. Seriously we are
all so lonely and deprived of humor in our provinces that when we get together
it’s a raucous good time.
What
sucks about these little get-togethers is the long bus ride – alone surrounded
by Nam and all it’s heat, crowding, dusty provincial flavor that the loneliness
and the yearning for home settles in and you feel yourself crawl resignedly
back into your shell of foreignness. I never wanted to go home in the beginning
– I didn’t even want to go home for interviews. But now – when I have the swing
of things with 10 weeks left (11 if you count the last week in Hanoi at the
Embassy) – I find myself distracted, really distracted and at times desperate
to be swept up and blend back into the crowd of fellow tall Americans. It ebbs
and flows and finding ways to stay above it is becoming a challenge.
In
the classroom Co Dung and I have started to reward participation and now we
have uber competitive classes – so our students are not feeling the same slouch
that seems to befoul me occasionally, but I am working to actively keep Thầy Tyler (Teacher Tyler)
engaged and dynamic. But Tyler – just me in my room – I am letting him, at
times settle into a listless despondence if it suits him.
This
was a huge 4 month (okay to be honest 7ish month) transition from American college
kid to provincial rural Fulbright ETA – and at the start of that process I
didn’t know what or who lay ahead and it took a leap of faith and bravado to
come halfway around the world with the only guaranteed fact being that I wasn’t
going to be in Hanoi or HCMC. And now, like I was in May last year and like I
was in August, September, October, November and December, etc. I am now
transitioning emotionally (I can’t even think about that last week and my last
classes), geographically from Vietnam to Rochester to San Francisco, and
professionally onward to the new challenge and journey of medical school.
But
when I need my center of gravity back here, in Nam, I just look at these
fabulous pictures that were taken with my students in class two weeks ago (they
just got processed with the crazy start of this week – my student is better I
have been told). I have looked at these often this week and think that in the
coming weeks I will continue to do so.
Perhaps
the only people potentially even remotely excited about all the single digits are
my parents. They won’t be happy it’s ending, but I think they would like to
have me home, and at this point between school in another state, Australia and
Vietnam they are allowed to want time with me. We have done this opposite sides
of globe thing before, but with such a short time between June (when I come
home) and August (when orientation for medical school is) I think they want to
spend sometime with me before I move out after 24 years for good and head West.
Of
course there is nothing quite like a game of badminton to bring you right back
to Nam. I wrote this and took a break – a break to lose at badminton as has
been my wont for the past 8 months. I did win 2 games. But lost 3 (or 4 – but
who’s counting?). My housekeeper Chi Hua had a gay old time when she played me.
I think it’s their form of entertainment. Let’s see what crazy things we can
make Tyler do. Let’s hit it here, no there, front of court, now back, now
front, left, right, left, left, at the net, way back – and so it goes. I look
like a monkey on steroids. I sweat an ocean and we all laugh – even me because
I am so exhausted and deranged that I am cackling hysterically. I am so going
to miss this little community of mine. And so now the desperation ebbs... oy!
Enjoy
the pictures of my students whom I adore below!
Goodbye
for now readers!
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My Tuesday class. |
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My Tuesday students hard at work. |
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The entire Tuesday class, Co Dung (my co-teacher) is in the black and while blazer. |
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My Wednesday class. Co Dung is on the left looking pretty in pink. |
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Some of the young ladies in my Wednesday class |
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More Wednesday students |
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The young men of my Wednesday class |
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More Wednesday students |
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The Wednesday ladies with Co Dung |
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One of my superstar Wednesday students. He's very focused and dedicated to learning English. |
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Another top Wednesday student |
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More young ladies, Co Dung and I from Wednesday's class |
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My Wednesday stuents working hard |
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Some of my Thursday students |
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More Thursday students |
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Happy Thursday student |
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Students working hard for the answers |
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Group work time |
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The entire Thursday class. Co Dung is in the front row, third in wearing white. |
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Myself and Co Dung with the young men of the Thursday class. |
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The young ladies of my Thursday class. |
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Some more Thursday students. |
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Me and the guys |
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Co Dung and I some more Thursday students |
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Co Dung and I with Thursday's class leader. |
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Me and one of the strongest students across the entire subject. She is such a hard worker! |
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Me and Qui, he's quiet but he tries really hard and has come such a long way. So proud of him! |
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He literally swept me off my feet. He's incrrigible but so much fun! |
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