Rockin' the Holidays

The story of what I've been up to in the last month is best told in pictures. Click on the links to view my photo albums.

Halloween seems to be rather popular here.  There were plenty of costume shops and bars decked out with Halloween decor, and lots of zombies roaming Saigon that weekend (mostly Westerners, but some Vietnamese too).  We had a Halloween dance party at JD's, where I shared my culture by dressing as "Po' White Trash".  I thought I was pretty scary, but some of my non-American friends, who were mainly dressed as vampires and ghouls, were a little baffled - questions like "But what does that have to do with Halloween?"  I put on a redneck accent throughout the evening, so even if baffled, I think they were still entertained.

Vietnam pulled it off!

 Thanksgiving was also very enjoyable.  JD's offered a turkey dinner for a moderate price, and a number of my colleagues turned up to eat and/or drink.  Harry, the British restaurant owner and one of my favorite people here, did his best to serve American classics like turkey with cranberry sauce, pumpkin soup, and apple pie.  There was another FREE turkey dinner that Saturday at the other Western restaurant (owned by a Texan named Billy), and though there wasn't much left by the time I arrived, that turkey was much tastier.  I guess Americans know their turkey!

Another holiday that is quite a big deal here is Teacher's Day.  Students bring cake and flowers for their teachers, and our school even gives a bonus (for those who've worked there longer than 2 months, which I hadn't...bummer.)  Two of the classes I teach are actually primary and secondary school teachers themselves who were busy attending parties on Teacher's Day, so our classes were cancelled (a nice bonus in itself).  Even so, my class the following day brought me plenty of goodies.  I was also treated to flowers from my boss on Women's Day, which apparently they celebrate here in October.  I've heard a rumor that on International Women's Day in March, I'll get my second chance at a bonus!

 
Work got busy on Nov. 5 when we started up 8 new classes.  But my schedule eased up shortly after when we gained 2 awesome new teachers, Rob and Mary.  They're a young British couple who were teaching in Jordan before coming here, so we have a lot of stories to swap about our experience in the Arab world.  That makes 6 teachers total at our language center, and other newcomers are arriving regularly to work at the associated university.  We welcomed a few of them with a Night Out in Thu Dau Mot (our city).

Created from a real package of salami that I bought here.

Some other interesting packaging.

I'm currently only teaching 15 hours/week, though I still have to be in the office 40 hours/week, and I do a lot of additional lesson planning at home (I just don't find the office conducive to creativity.)  So I'm fairly busy, but not minding it and still finding plenty of time for fun.  There are always good times to be had hanging out with my teacher friends at JD's. I've had a couple weekends of revelry in Saigon (in October and November), and most recently, an absolutely fabulous beach weekend in Nha Trang which made me VERY happy with my decision to come to Vietnam and very excited to see what other beautiful spots this country has to offer. 



Though I haven't made any real Vietnamese friends, I'm learning a lot about the culture through my students.  The main thing that has struck me is how hard-working and dedicated to their families they are.  It is not uncommon for them to live with their parents their entire life. And the way they feel about this might surprise you - this excerpt from an essay by one of my Elementary students pretty much says it all:

"My family is like heaven.  There is peace, prosperity, love, and care.  The youngers have regard and respect for the elders.  If a member has some problem, the whole family is beside him. We love each other very much and expect to live together under the same roof forever."