An Ode to the American Taxpayer and a Little R.E.S.P.C.E.T

Last Friday (August 10, 2012) the Fulbright ETA’s had our first teaching experience, and it ROCKED! The 15 of us were broken up into groups of 3 and our smaller groups each wrote an entire lesson plan and carried it out for 20 Vietnamese students. We taught at the American Center, which is a branch of the US Embassy in Hanoi (the US Consulate in HCMC has it’s own American Center). The student’s who frequent the AC are the go-getters. They come after a full day of university and use the English language library and attend sessions on English and American culture. Thus we were teaching the cream-of-the-crop. Our lesson was on Facebook and when it’s appropriate to use Facebook and how to handle delicate social situations with social media. The kids got really into the lesson and I am sure I saw some burgeoning young actors. It was great to put into practice two weeks of intense training and interact with students. I am totally PHYSCHED to start working with my own students in Dong Thap.

Notice the first day glow. It's a glow of pride and relief, not sweat. The air was on. Thank you sweet Jesus!

Queue the orchestra because here comes the promised ode, written entirely by yours truly. (A soft trumpet playing in the background) To all of those hard working Americans who pay their taxes to the Intrusive Revenue Snoopers (A.K.A the IRS) I thank you. For it is you good citizens who support our diplomatic havens abroad (A.K.A Embassies). And it is they who funded a weekend to Mai Chau. The Ode has ended you may be seated (BTW I am aware that being a classical composer is not in my future). Pat yourselves on the back for being good citizens and getting through this paragraph.

Mai Chau is located about 4 hours west of Hanoi and is where a large community of Hmong peoples has settled. The Hmong people are an ethnic minority in Vietnam with largely Thai descent. Mai Chau is incredible. You enter the valley from the top of the mountains and below you spreads out a canvas of green rice paddies from which jut huge mountains covered with jungle fauna. The green fields are broken only by streams and lakes covered with lily pads. If you thought I just described a Hollywood sound stage, you would be forgiven. When we arrived a monsoon was barreling down on us so we quickly dashed from our bus to our very posh hotel. Inside we were greeted with cinnamon tea and cool towels. I love the Vietnamese hospitality.

After settling in we had an incredible lunch, which ended with chocolate cake (God how I have missed chocolate). Then we took a tour of one of the Hmong villages and then toured a local cave. Like Ha Long Bay this cave was used to store munitions and officers during the American War. Unlike Ha Long Bay this cave had thousands of bats who where flying very close to our heads. After our interaction with Mother Nature we returned to the resort for a Vietnamese BBQ dinner and a display of Hmong dances. The next morning we had a quick breakfast and went bike riding through the “streets”. Streets in Mai Chau are elevated sidewalks between the paddies that are wide enough for 1 car and 1 motorbike. These streets connect the nameless villages and it was stunning. This place is just stupefying. If you ever come to Vietnam Mai Chau MUST be on your list.

The lily pads of the lake abutting our resort.

The view from the resort dining room. Amazing right?!

Unlike the glow at the AC, this glow is all sweat and sunburn. Pics from biking are below.

The view of Mai Chau and Hoa Binh Valley from the highway, which in Vietnam is a two-lane road.

Upon our return to Hanoi we began the next phase of our orientation training, Vietnamese lessons. I will not bore you with the details; rather I will try to amuse you. It should come as no surprise that in Vietnam age equals respect. As such there are at least 7 first-person personal pronouns for men and 7 more for women. The system works by comparing the speaker’s age to the age of the listener. Assuming I am speaking there is a different way for me to say “he/you” for a man my own age, 15 years older then me but younger then my father, my father, older then my father but less then 60 years old, a grandfather over 60 and a 70-plus great-grandfather. In addition to at least 2 ways to address people younger then I am. Then multiply that by four to account for the female pronouns and a separate set for male teachers and another for female teachers. As you can imagine this is daunting and using the wrong pronoun is a serious offense. So far not so funny right? What if I told you the wrong tone could put you on the curb? For women who are grandparents and over the age of 60 the personal pronoun is bà. If you use the wrong tone and slightly foreign tongue and say bò instead of bà you just called a grandmother a cow. In an attempt to be respectful you could be in some serious trouble. As I was told and I quote “it would behoove you to practice, practice, practice”…an utterly serious piece of advice wouldn’t you agree?! (All puns intended).

On a lighter note I got tickets to the Hanoi Opera!!!!!!!! This Saturday on the 18^th a bunch of us ETAs are seeing Rachmaninov (who I am listening to as I write this post). The Vietnamese National Symphony Orchestra is playing his Piano Concerto No. 2 minor Op. 18 and the Symphonic Dance Op. 45. Then on the 23^rd we are seeing Beethoven’s Namensfeier Overture and The Creaturs of Prometheus along with Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. I am over the moon and can’t wait to get my culture on. The best part, the tickets were $10 and $11 respectively. Also I booked my trip to Sapa for two weekends from now with 10 of the other ETAs!

That is all for now my readers. Xin Chao (goodbye in Vietnamese).

Isn't this great! I also saw two men carrying a glass door on a motorbike. It was wedged between the back of the driver and the belly of the passenger. Who knew motorbikes could be so efficient?