Welcome to Vietnam

30.5 hours, 9,131 miles and 11 time zones. I am happy to report that me and all my luggage made it safely and in one piece to Vietnam yesterday. Since then a lot has happened so here is a short list.

1. My first day of orientation (Day 2 for the rest of the group) and it was all day on teaching English as a second language. This topic runs for two weeks and the gentlemen teaching it is very knowledgeable. The basic premise is that you are perhaps slightly inept (or grossly depending on your own self-image) but qualified. Take a deep breath and breathe.
2. I met the other ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) and they are wonderful. Such an open and easy going bunch with awesome stories and experiences. This weekend all 15 of us are tentatively planning on going to Ha Long Bay.
3. I have converted all my US dollars into dong (pronounced dun) and I am rich and official. Today 1 dollar = 20,866.87 dong. Currently I am a millionaire. Yippy!
4.  I have learned how to cross the street. Here is the basic overview: Tonnage determines right of way. This means that a bus or car will NOT stop for you. In fact nobody will stop for pedestrians, but smaller vehicles can swerve if they so choose to avoid you. A bus or van or truck can’t swerve without knocking down a palleton of motorbikes, Vespa’s and bikes triggering a crash like those seen in the Tour d’France. So don’t leave the curb if a car to bus is in the area. A tangent to this rule is that driver’s don’t stop so from the moment you leave the curb to the time you scurry shaking to the other curb NEVER STEP BACKWARDS. Vietnamese drivers assume a constant forward motion and try to avoid your future path, which means in the moment they are aiming at you. Thus if you move backwards you will most certainly die, if you walk diagonally you may die, if you stop you have a slim chance of living, and if you move forward head down you may live.
5.  I learned how to say watermelon, coconut, strawberry and pineapple. All are the same word, just different tones. Pineapple is Dứa (note the up-tone), coconut is Dừa (note down-tone), watermelon is Dua (no tone) and strawberry is Dâu (note the fat or round-tone). The good news is I like all these fruits so no matter what I say at the market I am good. Unfortunately this doesn’t work for Ca. The up-tone means fish, the flat tone means cup, and the down-tone means bad (which is something of an insult…or so I'm told). This could end badly.
6.  Also the food is GREAT.

I have to end this as I have homework to do tonight. That’s right our teacher assigned us readings. You can imagine our stunned looks at orientation today. I think our teacher enjoyed dispensing the assignment very much, as is his right. I'm off to hit the books. I will post photos at some point in the near future. I promise.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen

Me and my loving parents at Mario's. Heaven on Earth!

I must preface this blog post with a warning: I am writing this while in a deep and wonderful food coma. Hence the Sound of Music titular reference, it's wholesome and fitting. Deal with it. 

Two long-time and very close friends, Maddy and Corinne.
We all figure skated together for essentially our entire childhoods.
Such good times.

I just returned from my farewell dinner with my parents at Mario’s tonight. Those from Rochester know Mario’s. For those who don’t...I'm sorry. Mario’s is the best restaurant in Rochester (besides Richardson’s Canal House, another personal favorite) and is an Italian steakhouse to end all steakhouses. We started with bruschetta and fried taleggio. Then I had the grilled Caesar wedge salad, the New York Strip steak (with a side of lobster mac and cheese), part of my mother’s lobster raviolis. OMG! OMG! Between the huge chunks of lobster, fresh ricotta, homemade pasta and bisque-cream sauce I thought I was going to die. It was so rich I could barely chew it. Then just because dinner wasn't gluttonous enough, a slice of seven-layer chocolate ganache truffle cake. All of this was washed down by an incredible bottle of Vermentino wine. A perfect summer white, I think it’s my new favorite. Just to be clear the table shared the bottle, and a shot of limoncello, which I am proud to say was not shared. Tomorrow I should run to the west coast and then swim to Vietnam while towing my luggage behind me. I also bumped into one of my former skating coaches at Mario's, Judy Ferris-Brunett. Her patience and grit got me through my golds, and that damn Argentine Tango. There is a pair of angle wings for her in ice dancing heaven.

Now that you're hungry (or perhaps slightly nauseous, like me), but most certainly jealous I arrive at the topic of this post, my last full day in the USA for a long time, and my last day at home for an even longer time. The packing is done, though it was hampered by my cute but useless companion (see below). Now all I have to do is make to my gates on time. I am feeling very relived that the preparation is over, it was an exhausting and extensive process stretching well over a month.

I had an undocumented travel buddy. I think she is a bit overdressed for the tropics. A fur coat...really?! She is going to schvitz like a pudding at a picnic and the wet look is very unbecoming on her. I am going miss my buddy. Love you Sterling!

I also found out today that my primary applications for medical school were verified by AMCAS and ACOMMAS! On Monday they will be transmitted to the schools I applied to and secondary apps will be rolling in (I have already completed two and returned one of them). Yeah! In addition I received word from the US Embassy in Hanoi that at the end of orientation they have set aside a day for me to go to the embassy, meet the people who are presenting on day 1 that I will miss, and receive a personal briefing of all the information I missed. Basically my own day 1 on day 30! Way to go US Embassy!

In preparation for the impending emotional departure I have spent the last two weeks seeing friends in Philadelphia, visiting campus, taking in some local sites in Philly and spending time with friends in Rochester. At this point I feel ready, or as ready as I will ever be for this. I know that I will have an awesome time and learn an incredible amount about myself, the changing world we live in, the human spirit and the role the US has on the global stage in a direct and very personal manner. I also know that this time abroad will make me appreciate the US, my family and the blessings in my life in ways unknown to me. Absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder, but this endeavor will be eye opening. I can’t wait. It’s time to grab for the brass ring and embrace every bit of this no-doubt once-in-a-lifetime voyage. I will end this final US-based post with an apt quote from Jeremey Bentham. Godspeed!

    "Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains. And for every grain of enjoyment you sow in the bosom of another, you shall find a harvest in your own bosom; while every sorrow which you pluck out from the thoughts and feelings of a fellow creature shall be replaced by beautiful peace and joy in the sanctuary of your soul."

Sunday brunch in Manayunk, PA. On the left is Dr. Jeff Ashley, my academic and research advisor at PhilaU. On the right is Dr. Marcella McCoy-Deh the Honors Program and Fulbright Director at PhilaU. Both were instrumental in my academic career. I am proud to say that both are my colleagues and dear friends.

A Trip to Vietnam

I went to Vietnam today. Not the country, but the Vietnamese restaurant in Philadelphia called Vietnam. I am in Philadelphia this week visiting some old university friends, professors and relaxing. Anyway, I had lunch with two wonderful and dear professors and an extremely close friend. According to the restaurant’s menu all the dishes are created from the owner’s family recipes starting with his grandmother who was from Vietnam.

The food was incredible; so fresh, light and flavorful. If I starve in Vietnam it won’t be for the lack of good food, but for my subpar chopstick skills. It’s not that my chopstick skills are bad, they are respectable and I can manage, but I had a few cases of the food not staying on the chopsticks long enough to make it into my mouth. Especially the smaller pieces. Whoops!

The table shared an appetizer sampler of which I could not tell you exactly what it all contained; perhaps the most memorable item was the grape leaf wraps. For lunch we ordered lemon grass chicken, sweet and sour chicken, curry chicken and pho (beef noodle soup). If the food today is any indication I will be a very happy and lighter man, especially if my chopstick skills plateau. On the plus side my love of ginger and basil will be very satisfied J.

Delinquent Already

Somewhere on this blog I had stated my intention to write weekly (perhaps a bit overzealous). This is my second post in 3 weeks…not a great start, but it should be noted that I have spent the past couple weeks fighting through a visa/plane flight quagmire. I will not bore anybody with the minutia but I will provide the condensed version here.

The issues started three weeks ago when the travel company who books travel for the Fulbright booked my flights and then failed to inform me or send the itinerary to my program director for approval. They realized this clerical error when I called them to follow up on my travel since I hadn’t heard anything from them in three weeks. After a few more calls and e-mails between travel agents, myself and the Fulbright SE Asia regional director in NYC my fights were booked. Meanwhile I had not heard anything about the status of my visa, which was the last piece of this puzzle. On Friday I received an email from the US Embassy in Vietnam with my visa code, sans one small detail.

My visa dates were valid starting the first day of orientation and the flights that comply with the Fly America Act arrive in Hanoi at 9:40 pm each night, which means I would miss the first day of orientation. At this point my contact in Vietnam at the Embassy was exploring options to get a new visa, I was calling the travel agency to move the flights, and it was Friday, which means that nobody will be doing business on either side of the pacific for the next two days. This uncertainty and back and forth lasted through Monday afternoon. Despite everybody’s best efforts I will have to arrive the night of the 30^th in Hanoi and miss the first day of orientation (which will be videotaped for me). Unfortunately the first day of orientation is full of lectures from the staff at the US Embassy on topics including politics, economics and sensitive issues in US-Vietnamese relations.

This is perhaps my first real interaction with international communication, or miscommunication. Part of this journey is learning to operate in a new culture with different norms and rhythms. As a result I am trying to learn to go with the flow, which is not natural for me. Adopting a slower and more relaxed lifestyle might be challenging but I can’t really complain about slowing down.

As I near my departure in less than two weeks I am most worried about the teaching. I have never lectured an entire class before and the mechanics of teaching a foreign language are elusive to me at this point. A large part of the orientation is devoted to teaching the ETAs how to teach English to non-native English speakers. That will help, but I am wondering if 2 weeks will be enough to make me an effective lecturer. I think of the professors and teachers who had an impact on me and who were effective in the classroom and I am wondering how they did it. I want my students to feel comfortable to make mistakes and try speaking the language. In a culture where saving face is highly valued and rote learning is the most common lecture method I am wondering how I can get my students to open up, be expressive, communicative and critically analyze the rules and grammar they already know. Plus the thought of writing my own syllabus, midterm, final exam, assignments, lesson plans and managing my own classroom looms large. Given my limited practice executing these tasks Nervous Nelly and Trepidation who took up residence in my head a couple weeks ago are growing more pronounced on a daily basis and will continue to do so until I touchdown.