Tales From A Weary Traveler

On Saturday night, after the Opening Ceremony at work, I attended the Top 10, a music competition between members of Dr. Le’s choir. Let me elaborate a little more before you write this off as some lame high school-esque talent show. Dr.Le, in addition to running what seems like every other international school in Ho Chi Minh City, is also an accomplished choir director. He has assembled an impressive choir here that includes faculty from all of his schools in the area and trust me, this isn’t some glee club. Several of the members are classically and professionally trained, so the caliber of the performances were truly impressive. Every year they put on a performance I would liken to American Idol. Members of the choir audition months in advance and the top 10 (hence the name of the show) are selected to compete for large sums of cash, prizes, and of course endless bouquets of flowers.

There are of course hosts for this event and several other performances throughout the show. A large theater was rented for the evening and the proceeds from tickets go to charity. I saw several other people and students from work, but was a little surprised to find my roommates and I were the only people from the American staff present. This was such a good chance to learn more about the Vietnamese culture and the Vietnamese staff at work that I just couldn’t pass it up. Several of the people we work with on a daily basis are in the choir and Hong, the music teacher from our campus, was actually a contestant. We didn’t know this until we arrived and saw his face on the huge banner hanging in the entrance hall. The opening act was quite interesting to say the least. As customary for this annual event, the cheerleaders came out and performed to pulsing electronic music, a little random but entertaining.

In between performances from the competitors, the entire choir sang a few songs. During this time we were able to pick out some of our coworkers among the massive group of singers. I would like to draw attention to the fans on stage pointed at Dr.Le. This is true for anywhere he goes since he apparently he gets warm very easily. Sitting in the front row of the auditorium for instance he had 3 fans pointed on him the entire performance.

Hong was the second to the last contestant to perform and they were definitely saving the best for last. I was blown away by how amazing and powerful his voice was, not to mention he started by playing the piano while singing at the same time, he truly is very talented. Even though we obviously couldn’t understand any of the words in the song (everything that evening was in Vietnamese) it was very clear he was the best singer of the evening. Once his scores were revealed on the big screen, we saw the judges agreed as well. With only one more singer to go, Hong was in first place. And while the last act was another talented young woman, she didn’t stand a chance.

After receiving his awards he then shyly delivered an acceptance speech, which our coworker Hannah translated for us. He thanked Dr.Le and the rest of the staff, you know, the standard stuff. But then he announced he was going to donate 5,000,000 VND ($250) out of the 25,000,000 he won to one of the orphanages the school frequently donates to. I thought this was such a great gesture, especially since that amount of money goes a really long way here.

It may seem this would be the way to end the night, but there is more to come. I am waiting for my boss to email me  incriminating photos of myself that I will be sharing with you soon.

This past Saturday I was forced to wake with the rising sun in order to attend the Opening Ceremony for my school. I was completely unaware that this is kind of a big deal. I arrived at work to find a full band playing in front of the school, several enormously elaborate floral displays, and every member of the Vietnamese staff frantically tending to every last-minute detail. Two lines of elementary students were formed at the entrance to cheer for each person who entered the school on their way up to the auditorium. My job was to tell the teachers when to take their students into the ceremony, so once I was finished, I found my seat, conveniently located in the front with members of the Ministry of Education, Board of Education, as well as my bosses Karen (Executive Director of our school) and Steve (our principal). These seats also came with bottles of water and snacks.

The ceremony itself was a 2 hour ordeal, consisting of speeches from different dignitaries, an explanation of the school’s newly rewritten Mission Statement, and performances from the students. Had everything said not had to translated from English to Vietnamese or vice versa it would have been a rather speedy production, but that comes with working in an international school I suppose. The performances from the students were very impressive. There were little drummer boys, singers, and hip-hop dancers.

Wait for them to break it down about half way threw the video…

Once the auditorium portion of the ceremony was finished, we headed outside for the release of the balloons. Each student received a balloon with an origami eagle attached to it. Tied to the feet of the eagles were scrolls of paper on which the students had written their wishes on. Literally hundreds of these eagles had been made in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, again showing the staff’s commitment to making the ceremony as perfect as possible.

Before the balloons are released there is the ceremonious “beating of the drum” and then the children release them into the air. It really was a spectacle to be seen. Hundreds of brightly colored balloons rising into the sky while all the children are clapping and cheering. It wasn’t until the dj started playing “We Are The World” that the cheese factor took over, but until then it was a feeling of unity one rarely gets to experience.

I went to the market the other day, where they not only have food but they also sell sunglasses, watches, shoes, and clothes. I decided that since I had just gotten paid I was going to buy myself something new to wear to work. The fashion here is a little different from home but I was about to discover the style was not the biggest change. I was looking at blouses when I noticed what size I was in Vietnam…an XL! Needless to say finding pants is going to be out of the question. It’s a good thing a cheap tailor is easy to find around here.

The shirt on the left, a XL in Vietnam. The shirt on the right, a M in America. But as the Vietnamese would say, “Same Same”.

This past weekend my work sent me to a conference called 10 Things to Know About Grading and Assessment. The conference was held at at Saigon South International School(SSIS), one of the top 3 international schools in Ho Chi Minh City. My principal even warned me “Kelly, when you go to SSIS, don’t be lured away by their top notch facilities and gorgeous campus”. To which I said “Of course not Steve”. However, once I arrived on Saturday morning I could see the warning was warranted.

The building above is just the middle school. Buildings of equal size hold both the elementary and high school classes. I was in awe of the pristine, manicured lawns and newly built high school facility. There was a pool and soccer fields, not to mention the school is constructed on river front property.

The conference itself was held in the auditorium. There were people from other international schools in Ho Chi Minh City as well other parts of Asia, including Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai. Everyone was either American or Canadian though so I was able to meet other people like myself who had decided to work and live abroad. I met people who had been moving from country to country for the past 2o years, deciding to have kids and raise a family along the way. I met other people who were committed to only being abroad for a couple years before returning to the comforts and familiarity of home. After talking to everyone else about their campuses I soon realized my school was much smaller and less extravagant by comparison, not to mention nobody had even heard of it. This wasn’t too surprising, there are countless international schools here, yet I was still hoping someone would recognize the name. After the first day of the conference, one of the teachers from SSIS offered to take me a another girl on a tour of the campus.

The campus really is impressive. Each building has a separate library to accommodate the needs of the varying grade levels. They offer art and music classes taught by trained professionals. Students can learn French, Spanish, and Chinese. Student artwork from all grades line the hallways. The high school building is a newly finished $10 million dollar project. It even has an outdoor patio space reminiscent of Starbucks. This place is nice.

I then joined my new friend and her husband at their apartment, across the street from the school, for a glass of wine. We sat on their balcony overlooking the school and talked about traveling, work, and life. As we discussed the differences between our schools I realized I could not be happier with where I am working.

One of the downsides I discovered with working at such a large school (their enrollment easily triples ours) is that the individual voice is lost. Even though the couple had both been working at the school for 4 years, they still did not know most of the staff. I also like being part of the process of improving a school’s performance, which is part of the reason I was sent to the conference in the first place. Even though my school, the Schools of North America, may not be one the top schools in Ho Chi Minh City, or even one of the most recognized names for that matter, I am excited to be working in a place where my opinions are not only heard but valued and where the staff feels more like a family. I feel like there are going to be a lot of positive changes for the school this upcoming year and maybe the next time I find myself at one of these conferences people will know exactly where my school is when I say “I work for Schools of North America”.

Here is a link to my school if you are interested in seeing where I work:

http://sna.edu.vn/

I’ve gotten quite used to the fact that when I go out in my neighborhood, I’m going to be the only foreigner walking around, unless of course I’m with roommates. I live in the Binh Thanh District, a suburb right next to district 7. The only other people, aside from few other teachers that live in this neighborhood, are Vietnamese. So when I go to the market, I’m the one who stands out. When I walk to work in the morning, I’m the one getting all the strange stares. And when I sit down in a restaurant to eat, I’m the one who can’t read anything on the menu.

Now there are areas of Saigon where you can go and find a whole bunch of tourists or Ex-Pats (Europeans now living in Vietnam) wandering around, but wheres the fun in that? Those areas, mainly in district 1, tend to more expensive, even for Vietnamese standards. Why pay $8 for lunch when I can get it in another area for half the price and double the quality? I’m not gonna lie, I also enjoy the attention. People aren’t staring to be rude, we really are a novelty in this area. Pus, once the neighbors get used to seeing you around, they are the most friendly people. They say hi to you every morning, even if they are shouting it from inside their house. The owners of the restaurants remember you and want to share with you places to go and interesting information about their country.

The following video is from a restaurant about 4 blocks from my house. Sqy and I had dinner with our friend Adrian from work. He is Vietnamese so we just had him order for us, this way we could be surprised when the food came out. This place had seating out on the sidewalk, but we took an elevator up to the rooftop seating area to get a view of the neighborhood.

There are only two seasons in Vietnam, the rainy season and the non-rainy season. Right now, until around November, is the rainy season. So far it has rained almost everyday, something that has taken a little getting used to since in San Diego we next to no rain. Sometimes it’s just a light sprinkle, but on more than one occasion there have been downpours of epic proportions. Yesterday was one such shower. So I took out my camera in order to share with you what my house sounds like when it rains.