It's been awhile ... apologies. I'll quickly summarize from last May until now. Applied for Hoan's US visa before going to the US for the summer. Was proposed to at the airport upon my return to Vietnam, I said yes of course. Tore my meniscus in August, still slowly getting back to normal after some cascade effects that gave me half a rotated pelvis causing back pain ... we're almost normal now so no worries. 2 failed visa interviews. 1 successful marriage license issued in Vietnam (December 21, 2022). No weddings yet, just the paperwork for now due to said visa issues. Trip home for Christmas by myself (still no visa for Hoan) which included lost luggage for a couple days. Luckily (?) it only contained Christmas presents and arrived Christmas morning. Tet holiday with Hoan's family. We've started construction on his parents' new house in his hometown. 3rd failed visa interview the day before I left for Bali. I think that catches you up on the highlights. So Bali ... I had originally planned to go for fall break in October but because of my knee, I didn't think it wise to go. I know I'd probably push myself too far and reinjure it or something dumb like that. So I rebooked for spring break. The plan: 2 days at the beach, 2 days in the rice paddies, and 2 days in the jungle. I only planned to do 1-2 things per day so I didn't push my body too far. If nothing else, I had 10 freshly downloaded books on my Kindle in a beautiful setting. Part 1 - Jimbaran Bay The first 2 nights I stayed in Jimbaran Bay, maybe 15 min south of the airport. The idea was beaches and relaxation. The beach however was not great so I went to a cultural center and read books by the pool instead. So the cultural park is officially called the "Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park" and contains mostly stuff related to Balinese culture and the Hindu Vishnu and his half eagle/half human mount Garuda. It was overall interesting but largely empty. Part 2 - Ubud Rice Paddies After my first 2 days, I travelled up to the town of Ubud where I stayed in little villa with private pool and rented a motorbike to get around. I went to the Sacred Monkey Sanctuary and had my bag temporarily stolen by a monkey who thought I had food (I didn't). I also met up with a fellow traveler that I met in the security line at the Hanoi airport for some famed Babi Guling (suckling pig). Part 3 - Ubud Jungle For the last two nights, I moved to a treehouse type bungalow in the jungle by a river. Upon the recommendation of my travel friend, I went to the Bali Bird Park. I also went to a Puppet and Mask museum that I randomly found on Google maps. Past that, I was in my bungalow reading or trying to overcome stomach cramps/diarrhea (TMI I know but fun fact, it happens often enough that people have dubbed it "Bali belly") which I later found out (in Hanoi) were a result of 3 type of bacteria I had picked up somewhere along the way. Contrasts with Vietnam- Traffic and Driving habits
The first thing I noticed was the helmets on motorbike drivers. Most people wore one, especially in the more urban areas. In Vietnam, as long as you have something on your head, they'll call it good so a lot of people just get the 50 cent plastic "helmets" you can get on the side of the road. They won't protect your head at all but they count for legal purposes. In Bali, however, I only saw 1 helmet that wasn't at least a 3/4 helmet with good padding. They drive on the other side of the road in Bali so when I did eventually cave and rent a motorbike, it was an adjustment which required thinking at literally every turn. Luckily the 2 or 3 times I ended up on the wrong side of the road, no one was coming the other way. Generally speaking, lanes actually meant something in Bali. I had one driver who preferred being in the middle of the road straddling 2 lanes if the traffic flow allowed for it, but overall at least 90% of people followed the recommended lanes. Here in Vietnam, they may as well not even have the lane lines painted. I've only seen them followed really on the interstates. The other major thing I noticed was children wearing helmets. Not that there were more of them per say - I only counted a total of 15 once I started noticing - most children were still not wearing helmets. What I did notice was the children also wore the 3/4 helmets. So based on observation, I'm guessing there is a law about the minimum acceptable helmet in Bali and that minimum is 3/4 no matter your age. Even passing helmet shops, they didn't display anything less than 3/4. Last observation was average number of people per motorbike. Here in Vietnam, it's not uncommon to see 3 or even 4 grown ass adults on one motorbike. 5 is not uncommon if 2 or 3 of them are small children. Sure, they're generally smaller people but I've done 3 on a bike and it's not comfortable. In Bali, almost the only 3 person bikes I saw were 1 adult and 2 children. I did see one 3 adult bike on my final day.
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While there are many reasons I choose to live abroad ...
Yesterday, in my last period class, we had a lockdown drill (already scheduled prior to recent US events). For those of you in the US, this is a regular occurrence at US schools among all the other drills like fire, tornado, and earthquake. Why would this be something to write about? Unfortunately, in the years since I’ve become a teacher, lockdown and active shooter drills have become commonplace in the US. As a student, I think we did MAYBE one lockdown drill in my later years, if any. As a teacher in the US, we had lockdown drills at least once or twice per year but they were always “soft” lockdowns … lock you and your students in the classroom but keep teaching. Once we legitimately had to lockdown for 2 hours due to an armed suspicious person in the park adjacent to campus. Luckily, I never had to experience running active shooter drills while teaching in the US. If I had, I honestly don’t think I’d still be teaching today. Being a teacher is stressful enough, we don’t need that added pressure of looking after the literal lives of our students. My first year in Vietnam, we only ever had fire drills as that’s basically the only bad thing that would ever happen at school. My second year in Vietnam, we added a lockdown drill. I don’t remember why we decided to add it but when it’s presented to the students it’s explained as “In the US … [cue depressing/scary explanation] … you want to hide from whoever is on campus. Be absolutely silent. Here we’re just doing it as a precaution should anything ever happen. Most likely, it would be an angry parent or a wild animal on campus, but it’s not anything to worry about.” This is the part that depresses and, recently, enrages me. The vast majority of our students have never lived in the US. They should have no fear of someone coming to campus with the intent to cause physical harm to them, and rightfully so. Guns in Vietnam are rare and definitely illegal for citizens to own. I can count the handful of guns I’ve seen in 4 years. All of them have either been strapped to one of the military police on duty at the central government buildings or chained to the table at the shooting range at Cu Chi Tunnels near Ho Chi Minh City. Even regular cops only carry a baton. If you want to cause physical harm to someone in Vietnam, you’d have to use your fists, some other weapon (kitchen knife, machete, or broom handle most likely) or run them down with your car/motorbike. Yes, our students come to us for an “American style educational experience” … but can’t we leave the trauma of lockdowns and guns out of that charming cultural experience? What is so wrong about wanting to preserve some childhood innocence? And all of this coming on the heels of the VERY recent shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. … and the Laguna Woods Church shooting before that … and the Buffalo, NY supermarket shooting before that … all within the last 2 weeks. Before that, as of May 14, the US has seen 213 mass shootings in 2022. Excuse my language but that is fucked up. Not that I was ever super super patriotic to begin with but at least starting with the pandemic, I get more and more disillusioned with the US. I do not think that we are the greatest nation in the world. I do not think that it is a great place to live and raise a family. I would not consider it the “land of opportunity” if you’re born there. I do not think it is doing its best to preserve “LIFE, liberty and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS”. Oh, we do a great job of protecting people’s individual liberties and those of corporations … but is that really above LIFE and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS?!? Multiple times this year, I’ve found myself chatting at lunch with colleagues about the state of affairs in the US, how ridiculous certain policies and systems are, and why we almost unanimously agree we cannot live, work, or raise a family in America anymore. If it weren’t for the strength of the American passport and family ties, many of us would consider choosing new countries that we could proudly call home. For those of you in America, I implore you to be outraged by current events. Do not accept the idea that “most gun owners safely store and lock up their guns”... what about those that don’t or only think they do. Do not accept the idea that “gun owners have to have a background check” … what about auctions, pawn shops, inherited guns, and under the table markets. FFS, even WalMart sells guns. It baffles me that so many people rally for pro-life causes and yet are also pro-gun ownership. You can’t safely have it both ways. The same lives you’re trying to bring into the world are then going to unsafe schools, shopping centers, churches and losing their lives to senseless violence and bigotry. I’ve seen many news articles this week saying things like “The key to stopping these tragedies is for society to be alert to these warning signs and act on them immediately.” …. Umm, no. The key to stopping these tragedies is to ban gun ownership for private citizens. If you want to shoot, go rent a gun at the gun range. If you want to hunt, you’re supposed to have a permit for that anyway so why not go ahead and rent a gun for the day too in a supervised hunting area. Or hell, learn to bow hunt. It seems more like a fun challenge anyways. Yes, I accept that shady deals will always happen. There will always be some loose guns unaccounted for. But is it honestly 100% necessary to your LIFE and PURSUIT of HAPPINESS that you own your own personal gun? Will the “thoughts and prayers” people are offering up right now save any lives from gun violence in the future? No. Be outraged. Be pro-living. Be outspoken for your children, grandchildren, neighbors, and friends. This state of affairs in America cannot go on. Not everyone is as lucky as I was to be able to choose a better life in another country. Apologies for the rant, no apologies for the opinions. chúc mừng năm mới ... happy new year!This was my fourth Tết (lunar new year) in Vietnam but my first celebrating with Vietnamese people in the traditional manner. I've known my boyfriend, Hoan, for 3 years and we've been dating for about two of those. He decided this year was the year he would invite me to về quê (go to the hometown) to ăn tết (celebrate Tet). Having been here for so long, I knew some of the traditions and superstitions around Tet.
The week before Tet (really like the 10 days before but whatever) was when Hoan started really getting everything ready to go ... as in coming home from work early and buying everything required to về quê. About 4 days before Tet break, I got dragged into the preparations. We went to buy fruit, clothes for his nieces, new shoes for me, prepare like 50 envelopes of lucky money and chúc tết (celebrate/give Tet wishes) at the houses of a couple relatives in Hanoi. In the course of 2 days, I met about 10 family members in Hanoi and was feeling pretty confident about going back to his hometown. I understood 90+% of the context of every conversation (in Vietnamese) over those 2 days and maybe 60-70% exactly what was being said. And then we về quê -edOur first stop was in Bim Son, Thanh Hoa (town, province ... equivalent to "Chapin, SC") to see his uncle and relatives. Everyone was really nice and patient with communicating with me, rephrasing as needed, etc. I could still understand a lot of what was being said/asked. While we didn't plan on spending the night, it got late, the rice wine shots were aplenty, and his cousins offered us their spare room so that we could stay and karaoke with them. The next morning his cousin drove us to his parents' house in the village of Thon Xa Ve, Thanh Hoa.
We napped after lunch, we napped before dinner, and we napped before midnight ... thank you rice wine. First important thing I learned about Tet in the countryside is that the party doesn't start until midnight. The goal is not to stay up until midnight. Anyways, the alarm went off at 11:55pm and we pulled ourselves out of bed, still drunk/hungover from the earlier rice wine shots at dinner with his old high school classmates. We lit the one firework we had procured from a neighbor (because of covid, they were hard to get as the good ones all come from china), watched outside for some of the other fireworks, then set off on our adventure. First stop was the temple to pay our respects to the town elders, get the certificate for the family (I guess saying that we had gone and paid our dues?) and light incense. Rice wine shots were had ... yes, at a temple and yes, plural. From there we went to family members houses. The first day of the new year is supposed to be for family visits, the day after is for friends. #thingsIlearned. From here the Tet pattern is: go to someone's house, "chúc mừng năm mới, chúc gia đình nhiều may mắn, sức khỏe, và thành công" (happy new year, wishes of luck, health, and success to your family), drink, eat, drink, leave, repeat. Variations on the well wishing include wishing marriage and babies on the yet unwed people ... aka me and Hoan. Many aunts wished 2-3 babies on us before asking when we are getting married. It was all great fun yet super exhausting. As in the US, small rural towns can have their own accents, linguistics, slang, etc. This was no different. Most of this last week in the village, I understood about 20% of the context of conversations and generously 5% of exactly what was being said. Hoan did a great job of trying to translate direct questions asked of me and answered what questions I did have about the conversations/what was happening. But I definitely just went with the flow most of the time. Some Tet foods
After the first few days ...Things calmed down. We still went around and saw people but the drinking switched from rice wine to tea. The food being forced upon us was snacks not meals. We saw more friends and less family. Our last 2 days we took a trip to the beach and had one last party at a rich relative's house. I mention that he's rich so I can explain why. Apparently, there is a mutant orchid strain which is sold for upwards of $10,000 USD per small plant in Vietnam. This relative grows and sells these orchids. Final PhotosFinal ThoughtsWhile I was way out of my depth language wise, I had a great time in Thanh Hoa. The only English conversations I had were with an 8 year old son of a former classmate of Hoan's and some 22 year old girl who was at the rich relative's party. But everyone was super nice and generous - friends, family, neighbors. I've been added to the family group chat and included in family photos. I learned a lot about the upbringing and character of my boyfriend which makes me love him more than I already do (sorry that's super sappy). This was the first time we've really gotten to travel together since his job is nonstop. Next goal: work on his English (and my translating abilities) in time for going to America for Christmas to meet my family.
Exercise. Shower. Netflix. Read. Plan. Study. Learn. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.
Such is the life when you're in a government mandated quarantine hotel. I see a physical human 6 times per day: 3 meal deliveries, 2 temperature checks, and 1 laundry return. Other than that we're left to our own devices. I chose to go home for the summer (post on that pending). Partly to see family that I haven't seen in 2, 2.5 or 3 years and partly to get vaccinated ... we didn't know how long it would be until we could get vaccinated in Vietnam (turns out my colleagues should be getting vaccinated next week). Also didn't know when the next time I'd get to see family would be. As it was, I signed a 2 year renewal and got a paid quarantine thrown in so figured I should take full advantage of that. But anyways, quarantine ... I knew I'd go batshit crazy without a plan so I made myself a daily/weekly schedule of things to do. Every morning I exercise before breakfast. I'm doing a 30 day couch to handstand challenge. Some days I do a zumba workout from youtube and other days I do a barre class. After breakfast, I'm usually productive and either do some lesson planning, reteach myself calculus BC topics, make answer keys, or write the calculator manuals I've been slowly working on for the last 2 years (they might actually get done this time). After lunch, I usually ngủ trưa (siesta, afternoon nap) until the afternoon temp check. I make sure to hula hoop daily, usually while reading or watching a tv show. Pacing the room is also an option, usually while listening to podcasts, though the room is only 10 paces one way. I did manage to get 10,000 steps one day (maybe another day too but didn't intentionally count that day). The "welcome committee" for the new hires came up with a quarantine wellness bingo and 10,000 steps in a day was one of the things. Check! In the evening is usually when I work on my languages. Keeping up with Vietnamese by listening to podcasts and journaling. I'm also starting to learn Korean. My original plan when I moved to Vietnam was "learn Vietnamese the first year then Korean the second" ... how naive I was ... Vietnamese is fucking hard. In case you're wondering "why Korean?" ... 70% of our students at St. Paul are Korean. "Why?" you ask ... because our owner is Korean. Anyways, I've done 2.5 lessons on Pimsleur, 4 topics on Duolingo, and watched a YouTube video about the Hangul alphabet. At minimum, I can now say to students/parents variations on: "hello", "nice to meet you", "I come from America", "Do you speak English?", "I do not speak Korean well", "thank you", "excuse me", "that's right", and "the weather is good". Occasionally, we have either trivia night or happy hour zoom sessions with other quarantined teachers along with whoever else wants to join. Our latest happy hour session topic was "Housing: the joys of living in Tay Ho". That wasn't literally the topic but may as well have been. Nothing against Tay Ho (I do like being able to get box mac and cheese from L's Place), it's just not my scene for everyday living. I'll take my vegetable lady and one legged water salesman who speak 0 English in Ba Dinh any day. After these 14 days are up, I get to go back to my apartment and hole up there for another 14 days. The friend who is cat sitting for me has agreed to stock up my fridge and my landlady offered to get me things as I need them. But I'm not allowed to leave the apartment for anything. So it'll be more of the same, just with a cat and lots of deep cleaning that I can do ... my fridge desperately needed a deep clean before I left for the states and I'm sure my cat has shed all over everything. August 5 ... freedom! Depending on the covid situation in Hanoi, it might only be freedom to get my own groceries from the store and take the stairs but freedom nonetheless. |
ShannonMath Teacher living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam Archives
February 2022
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