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February 28, 2009
Back to School
As some of you know, I spent the three years between college at UC - San Diego and PiA in Vietnam as a teacher. While that first year was as a substitute, the second two were as a full time teacher of 7th grade social studies and 8th grade world history. I spent a lot of time standing in front of the classroom like this...
So...Why exactly did I find myself back in the exhilarating and exhausting role of a classroom teacher? Didn't i join PiA to make my mark on the business world instead?
Actually, this lesson was a sort of public sector - private sector joint venture. As part of my company's community service initiative, my colleague and I visited a school in Dong Nai province, about one hour's drive outside of Saigon. While the area has attracted some international investment - mostly in the form of manufacturing facilities - it remains poor like most of rural Vietnam.
The road leading to this school was a dirt one, and while there were a few computers on campus, none of them were connected to the internet. These students are definitely on the other side of the Digital Divide.
This is a photo of my colleague, Hoang, who shared with the students his experience as an international student in Perth, Australia. Hoang has a Master's in Business from Curtin University, and he shared that the year he spent in Western Australia helped him to improve his English, further his career, and broaden his perspective on the world. Sort of like my time on PiA here in Vietnam...
I taught an English lesson to two classes - a group of enthusiastic 6th graders and aloof 8th graders. Whether it is developing Dong Nai, Vietnam, or wealthy La Jolla, California, USA, something happens to students during that 7th grade year that makes them too cool for school. I tried my best to inspire them to be interested, and I did manage to get a few of the students to volunteer to answer my questions and risk the censure of their peers.
There were a few superstars in the class, who could answer questions about their name, age, family, sports, and hobbies - despite the fact that my English sounded very different from their teacher's. While most of the students had very basic English skills (at least from what I was able to glean in my 45 minutes in the classroom), every single one of them is ahead of where I was at their age. Like many American students, I did not even start studying a second language until high school.
Finally, here is a photo of me and the teachers. The English teacher is at the far right of the photo, in the light green suit. To support them, we purchased some supplies including a CD player for listening to English language material, maps of the world and Vietnam, and posters with images of fruit, modes of transportation, and everyday activities with both English and Vietnamese translations.
Our idea was that the posters would help to inspire the students to learn English independently - for example, seeing an image of an apple and seeing its English translation below. However, when we arrived at the school, not one of the nearly twenty posters that we had sent weeks earlier was out for display. The administration explained that putting those posters up would make some rooms different from others - completely unacceptable. Instead, they were being stored in a room for use by the teachers in their lessons. Getting those posters on the wall for the students to enjoy, despite the reluctance of the Communist party appointed administrators, is our next challenge!
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February 23, 2009
Jungle Triathlon
Sitting here at the desk in my room, my leg muscles are aching and my back and shoulders are sunburned and throbbing. Over the weekend, I participated in a triathlon outside of the city, and here is the description from the event website:
Location: Madagui, south Lamdong province, 150 km from HCMC
February 21 , 2009 - February 22 , 2009
Team of two racers
Two skill levels: Extreme and Adventure
Disciplines: Mountain biking in primary forest, jungle running in an incredible wildlife, and river swimming with surprise obstacles.
Project supported: Community Sustainable Cocoa Agro-forestry System
The course ended up taking my teammate and me over five hours. It was grueling at times - especially carrying a mountain bike up steep trails - but beautiful when I took the time to appreciate the forest. It felt so quiet and peaceful compared to the chaos of Saigon. Back at work today, I felt clear headed and motivated. I need to do more events like this when I have time on the weekends...
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February 19, 2009
Sanuk in Bangkok
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Dental Tourism
Last week, I took a look in the mirror and realized that my teeth were not looking as "pearly white" as I would like. That probably has something to do with my love for red wine, coffee, and chocolate. I also suspect that breathing the filthy air around here leaves some stains on my chompers - and in my lungs.
Anyway, to remedy the situation, I set out to have my teeth whitened for the first time in my life. First, I called my dentist, a Canadian who works out of International SOS, a medical clinic that caters to expats. The price? A whopping $290, which is about double the monthly salary around here. I did some research and found a Vietnamese dental clinic that offered the service for 120,000 Vietnam Dong (about $70).
While I was a bit wary at first to go to a Vietnamese dentist, everything turned out fine. The staff was very professional and while the equipment looked more 1980s than 2009, it looked as clean and sterile as that in any American clinic that I have been to.
So, for all of you who have yet to come visit me, I have an idea for financing your trip...Include in your trip the dental work and plas...oops, I mean elective surgery...that you have been meaning to get done. Thailand offers world-class medical care - seriously - at a fraction of US prices...Plus, you can recover in style here...
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