This week I began teaching my 1st and 5th grade classes. Each class has nine subjects and are taught entirely in English unless the AC (Academic Counselor) needs to say something in Vietnamese for disciplinary measures. I teach 1st grade from 8am-11am with 15 minute breaks at the end of each hour. I then have time to prepare for my 5th grade class and to eat lunch. At 1pm-4pm I teach the 5th grade class. The last hour I have to clean up and prepare for the next day. Now that you have a run down of the general schedule, I'll begin with a day in the life of my work week.
Alarm goes off at 5 or 5:30am, depending on how late I stayed up the previous night. Get up, hop in the shower (with hot water), dry off, get dressed and ready to go eat breakfast. I walk down 3 flights of stairs, greet the owners of the guesthouse if they are awake "Chao Ong, Chao Chi, Chao buoi sang!" (Hello uncle, hello elder sister, good morning!). I grab my sandals, open the door and hear the birds chirping in this urban atrium. Turn right into the alleyway, a moto glides by my left side, I strategically avoid the puddles of water from last night's rain. After 20 yards I meet with my coffee maker, she is roughly in her 40s, polite and quick. Behind her orange display she creates a magnificent liquid masterpiece, a full plastic cup of espresso coffee, condensed milk, and ice. She makes sure she fills it up to the top by adding coffee at the end, ensuring a full cup's worth of caffeine (others only create half the drink). I give her 10,000VND, (.48 cents USD), and turn around back toward my home. Along the way I meet with the grandmother, I nod my head and she turns to her giant witches' pot of soupy goodness. No, it is not of demonic ingredients, but of tantalizing ones for the palate. In less than a minute in my hands I have a bowl of noodles, pork, cilantro, chili, lime, coagulated pig's blood (very much like tofu), green onion, salt, and some other seasonings to be determined. I sit down in a blue chair designed for a kindergartener next to an older Vietnamese man. We greet, then return to business, I am careful to eat each noodle and avoid the fatty parts of the pork. By the end of the meal my nostrils are cleared and it's time to finish off with that coffee masterpiece. I give the grandmother lady 20,000VND (.96 cents USD) and return to my guesthouse 20 feet away. I open the doors, greet the cleaning lady, "Chao co, co khoe khong?" (Hello aunt, how are you?" "Chao, khoe" She responds that she's well and with a smile. I venture up the three flights of stairs and change for work. I walk back downstairs and meet my driver, Ong, (another uncle), now this man would fit right in with what I imagine an Italian mobster would look like. He wears a dress shirt, usually green that reveals a V down his chest about 8 or 9 inches. The only thing he's missing is chest hair and a chain. He has long graying hair and a wide face with gentle eyes. He knows the drill, he takes my briefcase and we drive to my workplace, 15 minutes away with traffic. I like this Ong, he always chooses to drive slower and safer, rather than faster and dangerous. We make it to SNA, time to begin work.
I'll briefly run over the class. It's Teacher Christy (AC), her Vietnamese name is Thuy. Every worker seems to have two names, an American name and a Vietnamese name, except for us foreign workers, we have the privilege of only being called one name. So Christy and I run the classroom together, I teach, read from the book, write simple words on the board, we sing songs, get the kids to draw, color, cut, glue, and read. Christy does a lot of the disciplining, but I will do it as well, when the kids are really getting out of hand, which doesn't happen very often. We go over the alphabet and words like dog, cat, play etc. Maybe we play a game and get some of the energy out of these kids. Throughout this class, students tattle on each other by telling me, "Teacher John, Phil spoke Viet na me" (They usually drop the s). In our class, the kids are only to speak English, the other half of their day is spent with the Vietnamese teacher where they are to only speak Vietnamese. I don't punish them for that, Christy will, but I'm easy right now, it's the first week. 11am hits, bam, bye 1st grade. I grab lunch at the cafeteria for free and try to guess what I'm eating, usually rice with fish/beef/pork and some vegetables. I grab a coffee outside and go up to my 5th grade classroom to prepare. This time my AC is Jessie, her Vietnamese name is Phung. She reminds me of a classmate in my high school, glasses, studious, polite, and inquisitive. She is also hard on the kids, though these ones need it sometimes. Here, we have three really bright students, Jack, Johnny, and William. This class contains 11 students, while my 1st grade classes has 20. It's much more managable and we get to speak about some more interesting things. So it's a nice change in the day. Unfortunately we have a few students who are much behind the others, so we fall behind the schedule because I want to make sure everyone is on the same page and that no students get behind the others. Soon enough, we reach 4pm. I go downstairs and grab the books I need for the next day. I look at the lessons and create activities if I think we'll need them. For 5th grade I'll think of creative ways to elicit the answers from the students. It's 5pm. Ong is here, on time. I grab my helmet and hop on the moto to get home. It's rush hour, motos line the streets. Honks go off in every direction, we ride inches away from each other until we make it off the large boulevards and go onto street Co Bac and head down our alleyway. I give Ong $4, which is double the price from what one other worker told me, but I like how Ong is always on time and is safe.
I go upstairs, relax for 20 minutes by checking my email, then hop in the shower. Return to my computer to see if there's any new communication from anyone, then decide it's about time to go grab dinner. This is roughly my day, the dinner time changes each day in general, so no run through on that one.
Onto part two of this posting.
Today at 7:15am we began our Opening Ceremony for the new school year. I played with my 1st graders till 8am when we were called up to go into the auditorium. We sit for the next 2.5 hours, listening to Government officials, chairmen, the principal, directors, and other echelons of power at the school. We also even have a high school student sing Mariah Carey's song, "Hero," another group sing, dance, and perform Lady Gaga's Paparazzi, and lastly another hip hop dance performance. All of this action occurs right in front of a sculpture of Ho Chi Minh's upper half body and head. While sitting there, I'm just thinking about how strange and odd this whole thing is. Our school is devoted to being half American and half Vietnamese. The education is split into half. The staff obviously are primarily Vietnamese with the remaining teachers and staff being American, one Australian, and one Philippino. I'm thinking to myself, if Ho Chi Minh was here right now, what on earth would be going through his mind. How odd it is that in 1975, the American War (as it is called here, AKA Vietnam War back in the U.S.) ended. Yet, here I am, 36 years later working at a school with American and Vietnamese educators. This is not to mention that our school is a private school and the irony of having Ho Chi Minh's sculpture there with the type of government he brought about...
1986 is when Vietnam changed it's economy from a highly centralized planned economy to a socialist oriented market economy. It was titled, Doi Moi, Renovation, and it permitted privately owned enterprises to take part in commodity production. Later, the collectivization of the industrial and agricultural sectors were abandoned. Thus, here today we have the economy and the school I work at. Though I have to admit, to comprehend all of this is rather difficult. I'm sure it must be strange for the grandmother in my alleyway to be serving Americans again, when during her lifetime Americans and Vietnamese were both perishing in the same war.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
The home hunt and a weekend of Solace
Wednesday, August 17th, after being offered the job at SNA (Schools of North America), John the sleezy moto driver and I went to go looking for a place to live. We went to about 4-5 places, all wanted around $300-$350 a month. I was hoping for a bit less than that and to ensure I'd have a balcony, AC, internet, and a view. I also wanted to have more than a cubicle with a bed. After searching, we eventually came to Guesthouse Thanh on Duong Co Bac (Street Co Bac). I checked out the room which is on the 4th floor I believe, and it was love at first sight. Big windows, a large room, AC, internet, and a balcony though it is small. It sounded like a good deal, $270 a month. Which it is indeed, but the whole process went rather quickly. The moto driver rapidly encouraged me to find a place, which was helpful at the time, but it also gave me a sense of permanence which I did not want. Considering the fact that I did not decide to take the job until the following day. Despite all of this, I agreed, signed some contract written fully in Vietnamese and paid the $270. I'm happy I did not have to make a deposit of the first 3-4 months as I read about online before coming here. It appears as though the agreement is on a month to month basis. So perhaps I'll move, it depends on how things turn out and how much I enjoy living here once I become fully independent.
I decided that the next day I would go to work at 7:45am. John, the cheapskate moto driver, was supposed to pick me up at 7:15am, he did not show up. I waited til 7:23am till I grabbed a new driver. The previous moto driver took the business card I was given, so I had to tell the new moto driver the address based on memory. Needless to say, we got lost and I arrived 7 minutes late on my first day. It all worked out fine and my new boss was understanding about the issue. And so, the whirlwind continued. Luckily the classes I have are fairly simple, 1st and 5th graders. I had to create the lesson plans for only the 5th grade class. It did not take too much time as I have an assistant in the classroom. Plus we bascially just follow the textbooks with a few activities thrown in to fill in time if needed.
I made a deal with the boss man that I needed to go to Cambodia and therefore, had to leave work early on friday. That was accomplished, I took a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh from 3pm to 10pm. Usually it's a 6 hour bus ride, but once we crossed the border into Cambodia, the rain was relentless. It even felt like the driver almost lost control sometimes due to all the mud caused by the rain. Let me back track for a second or two. I was going to say it was a feeling of nostalgia, but actually it was more of excitement. Crossing into Cambodia, a giant smile appeared on my face. Though it had only been 3 days spent in Vietnam, I was profoundly happy to feel comfortable, to know I can greet people, have conversations and not have to think deeply about it or stumble on my pronunciation. Crossing the border was the microcosm of Cambodia for me. After getting my visa, I had to do the health check. The lady there, asked how I was, I responded to her in Khmer, sok sup bai (I'm well), sok sup bai te? (How are you?) She said "Ah! Che(h) Khmer te? Nyay peasah Khmer lu Ah nas!" (You know Khmer? You speak very well [yes, say the general greeting and instantly you speak Khmer very well :) ] ). She proceeded to ask me in English where I was from, I told her California, she asked about Long Beach (the town/city with the largest population of Cambodians outside of Cambodia) and so we continued our exchange regarding what she knows about Cambodia. I felt at home, at ease. Something a little difficult to describe. From there on, the smile continued for the next 3 hours.
Upon arrival in Phnom Penh, it was dark and I was disoriented. Unsure of where I was, and thus, paid more for the tuk tuk ride than I should have, but that did not bother me. I was happy to be somewhere where I felt some form of belonging and that I was going to see an awesome friend, my Jules. Jules showed up with her cousin and we made our way to her uncle's house. I could not believe how polite they were to have me stay in their home as I know many Khmer families do not ever allow friends to stay the night. Jules and I spoke about our future, about her experience in Cambodia for the first time, about how quickly I landed a job, and soon enough it was time for bed. Going to sleep around midnight and waking up at 5:40amish, I could not be more elated. We all piled into her Uncle's car, 10 in total. It was a toyota highlander, needless to say it was not legal in the U.S. We drove from Phnom Penh to Kampong Som. A beach area aka Sihanoukville. Along the way we stopped by a river and got our feet wet. Eventually we found a guesthouse to stay at and then fixed a flat tire. While fixing the flat tire, we went across the street and got some of the best Nom Som Jake (Sticky rice with banana wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled) I've had in a while. I couldn't believe it when I saw it, it was so perfect. It's probably my favorite Khmer food/pastry and I completely forgot to get some until that moment. The rice was savory and the banana soft and sweet, I had two they were so good. Next, we grabbed lunch and the family grabbed fresh seafood, shrimp, mussels, crab, some worm looking things, and barbacued squid. We made our way to the beach and began our feast. And my God, was it a feast! We had pounds upon pounds of seafood. There was no way we could finish it all in one sitting. So we took a break in the water. The waves were weak, not as weak as some of the ones I've seen on the east coast, but they were right near there. The water however, was very comfortable. It was warm, but not hot like a spa, and thus it was relaxing with the heat of the sun. Jules and I decided to swim out to the buoi. It wasn't very far and I think we both wanted to work off our feast (at least I know I did). We accomplished our task and came back to the shallow water where we relaxed. We returned to our shaded chairs and continued to talk about our long-term and short-term futures. In the background was the beautiful beach as the sun began to set. As the sun began to drop closer to the horizon, we descended into the Gulf of Thailand. Enjoying the sunset, we laid on our backs and floated in the water, the water seeped into our ears, defeaning any nearby sound. We only had the solace of the waves to calm us despite some boats nearby who tried to interrupt our peace. At this point, I felt as though all my worries regarding settling in Vietnam disappeared, the worries of getting sick by the water or food vanished, it was just me and the sea, as cheerful as one can be. We stayed in the water until I actually felt cold, yes it was one of the rare occasions, if not the first, where I actually felt cold in Southeast Asia. I went ahead and swam which warmed me right back up. Eventually, we left the beach when there was no more sun to be had.
We made our way to our guesthouse and got ready for the nights festivities. Which would later include drinks and dancing at a club, a real club, one that I could easily see being in the U.S. minus all the Khmer singing and so forth. We danced the night away, rejuvenated our spirits and made our way back to the coast to end our night with singing, jokes, and many cheers. This was the weekend of Solace I needed.
I decided that the next day I would go to work at 7:45am. John, the cheapskate moto driver, was supposed to pick me up at 7:15am, he did not show up. I waited til 7:23am till I grabbed a new driver. The previous moto driver took the business card I was given, so I had to tell the new moto driver the address based on memory. Needless to say, we got lost and I arrived 7 minutes late on my first day. It all worked out fine and my new boss was understanding about the issue. And so, the whirlwind continued. Luckily the classes I have are fairly simple, 1st and 5th graders. I had to create the lesson plans for only the 5th grade class. It did not take too much time as I have an assistant in the classroom. Plus we bascially just follow the textbooks with a few activities thrown in to fill in time if needed.
I made a deal with the boss man that I needed to go to Cambodia and therefore, had to leave work early on friday. That was accomplished, I took a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh from 3pm to 10pm. Usually it's a 6 hour bus ride, but once we crossed the border into Cambodia, the rain was relentless. It even felt like the driver almost lost control sometimes due to all the mud caused by the rain. Let me back track for a second or two. I was going to say it was a feeling of nostalgia, but actually it was more of excitement. Crossing into Cambodia, a giant smile appeared on my face. Though it had only been 3 days spent in Vietnam, I was profoundly happy to feel comfortable, to know I can greet people, have conversations and not have to think deeply about it or stumble on my pronunciation. Crossing the border was the microcosm of Cambodia for me. After getting my visa, I had to do the health check. The lady there, asked how I was, I responded to her in Khmer, sok sup bai (I'm well), sok sup bai te? (How are you?) She said "Ah! Che(h) Khmer te? Nyay peasah Khmer lu Ah nas!" (You know Khmer? You speak very well [yes, say the general greeting and instantly you speak Khmer very well :) ] ). She proceeded to ask me in English where I was from, I told her California, she asked about Long Beach (the town/city with the largest population of Cambodians outside of Cambodia) and so we continued our exchange regarding what she knows about Cambodia. I felt at home, at ease. Something a little difficult to describe. From there on, the smile continued for the next 3 hours.
Upon arrival in Phnom Penh, it was dark and I was disoriented. Unsure of where I was, and thus, paid more for the tuk tuk ride than I should have, but that did not bother me. I was happy to be somewhere where I felt some form of belonging and that I was going to see an awesome friend, my Jules. Jules showed up with her cousin and we made our way to her uncle's house. I could not believe how polite they were to have me stay in their home as I know many Khmer families do not ever allow friends to stay the night. Jules and I spoke about our future, about her experience in Cambodia for the first time, about how quickly I landed a job, and soon enough it was time for bed. Going to sleep around midnight and waking up at 5:40amish, I could not be more elated. We all piled into her Uncle's car, 10 in total. It was a toyota highlander, needless to say it was not legal in the U.S. We drove from Phnom Penh to Kampong Som. A beach area aka Sihanoukville. Along the way we stopped by a river and got our feet wet. Eventually we found a guesthouse to stay at and then fixed a flat tire. While fixing the flat tire, we went across the street and got some of the best Nom Som Jake (Sticky rice with banana wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled) I've had in a while. I couldn't believe it when I saw it, it was so perfect. It's probably my favorite Khmer food/pastry and I completely forgot to get some until that moment. The rice was savory and the banana soft and sweet, I had two they were so good. Next, we grabbed lunch and the family grabbed fresh seafood, shrimp, mussels, crab, some worm looking things, and barbacued squid. We made our way to the beach and began our feast. And my God, was it a feast! We had pounds upon pounds of seafood. There was no way we could finish it all in one sitting. So we took a break in the water. The waves were weak, not as weak as some of the ones I've seen on the east coast, but they were right near there. The water however, was very comfortable. It was warm, but not hot like a spa, and thus it was relaxing with the heat of the sun. Jules and I decided to swim out to the buoi. It wasn't very far and I think we both wanted to work off our feast (at least I know I did). We accomplished our task and came back to the shallow water where we relaxed. We returned to our shaded chairs and continued to talk about our long-term and short-term futures. In the background was the beautiful beach as the sun began to set. As the sun began to drop closer to the horizon, we descended into the Gulf of Thailand. Enjoying the sunset, we laid on our backs and floated in the water, the water seeped into our ears, defeaning any nearby sound. We only had the solace of the waves to calm us despite some boats nearby who tried to interrupt our peace. At this point, I felt as though all my worries regarding settling in Vietnam disappeared, the worries of getting sick by the water or food vanished, it was just me and the sea, as cheerful as one can be. We stayed in the water until I actually felt cold, yes it was one of the rare occasions, if not the first, where I actually felt cold in Southeast Asia. I went ahead and swam which warmed me right back up. Eventually, we left the beach when there was no more sun to be had.
We made our way to our guesthouse and got ready for the nights festivities. Which would later include drinks and dancing at a club, a real club, one that I could easily see being in the U.S. minus all the Khmer singing and so forth. We danced the night away, rejuvenated our spirits and made our way back to the coast to end our night with singing, jokes, and many cheers. This was the weekend of Solace I needed.
(Along the way to Kompong Som)
Jules while we were on a bathroom break
(Kampong Som Beach)
(This was only part of the feast :) )
Monday, August 22, 2011
Video of my new home
I made a video of my place, as you'll see it's of rookie quality. I did it today after work. I have more to write about, but I also need to get some sleep so I can lesson plan in the morning and attempt to wake up on time. I hope you enjoy it, and I may try to redo it again. But I want to get this out there so you have something new to see.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Day 3
Time for the synposis of the last two days and what day 3 will become. Day 1, Tuesday August 16th, I arrived in Saigon at 11:37am. 17 minutes late. But that was of no concern. I found a taxi and made it over to my hotel, Thien Hong. The owners there were incredibly accomodating and nice. Though my room was simply a bed and a bathroom, it at least had AC and their benign friendship made up for it. To give you an idea, my door could only open to about a 60 degree angle before the door hit either the tv or the bed. Never looked close enough to see which one it hit, but that tv shook often. After unpacking briefly I made my way to go make copies of my CV and cover letter. Along the way, multiple drivers tried to spark conversation, valiantly being a man on a mission, I ignored all attempts except for one. Who I asked where the internet cafe was. His name turns out to be "John" as well, though I'm still not certain of the truth behind that. I make my copies and I asked him of a good place to eat. We agree that he'll take me to go eat somewhere and we'll also have a few drinks. We drive quite a ways to a place over the Saigon river. I'll have to look for the name of it next time because I haven't been that observant. Upon arrival I am a little sketched out, I see Vietnamese women dressed fairly scantily, but this would pass for nearly modest back at home. Skirts reveal about 3/4 of the legs, some shirts reveal upper cleavage. Instantly, I'm thinking how do I get out of here, this is not where I want to be on my first day. I wanted a small red table with a few chairs and one cook who makes a few dishes. Despite my expectations, it turned out to be a fun night. Though I might add, an expensive one which I was ensured it would be a cheap place. Eventually John's friend showed up, Quy, and us three drank Tiger beer and ate some really good yellow noodles with seafood, cilantro, tomato, onion, and had a tangy brown sauce. Probably hoison sauce, with chili. I was impressed by the food, and I managed to learn a few more Vietnamese words and had my small notebook there with me. Also, one thing to note is throughout our dining experience, we moved our table about 4 times, moving closer and closer from the edge to the center. The monsoon rains were pooring rain and despite the restaurants attempts to block it with their awnings, the power of rain ruled.
Before the end of the night John and Quy agree that one of them will meet me at 9am to go visit schools. That night, I get home around 9pm and fall fast asleep. The next morning I awake, shower, and go find my first bowl of pho. Once again, a valiant mission, this time with no failures. I walk down the alleyway that has a width ranging from 8 feet to 5 feet and turn left onto Pham Ngu Lao street, a very touristy area. I walk along the sidewalk, it is early, the hawkers aren't approaching me with a purpose. I pass hotels, bus tours, banks, fancier hotels, and finally I get down to the corner and I find my bliss. There are 6 tables, all Vietnamese men eating breakfast before work. This is it. I falter with my Vietnamese "Chao Anh, Toi di....." Hello sir, I go..(couldn't think of 'here to eat'). They get my point and bring me to a table inside, hiding me from everyone else. But I get a view of the kitchen which for me, is even better than the street scene at this time of day. I order Pho with rare thin beef. The bowl was small in comparison to those back home, but the aromas, and steaming bean sprouts made up for it. I find hot sauce and hoison sauce, add them in, along with mint leaves and begin to chow down. I end up drinking most of the broth, a few times I got a gulp or two of hot sauce. Leading to the secretion of tears from my eyes, but they were divine tears of joy. Too eager to eat, I only took a picture after I ate.
I meet with John at 9am. We go to about 6 schools. We go to one I never saw online, but it was in the area of some other schools. The place looked rather sketchy and poor. The questions on the application ranged from my intentions of marriage, to where I am in the family line and the occupations of my parents, brothers, and sisters. Of course height and weight were thrown in. Feeling rather violated of my privacy I keep in mind the ESL business is one of show as well, of face, and that having young white males and females are key components to their businesses. After about an hour of filling out their multiple paged lengthy application, I speak with the recruitment lady. She decides she wants me to go speak with their principal of the elementary school (a different location). At 2pm, I have my first interview for a job. I meet Steve and Karen. Steve is a warm welcoming person from Orange County who worked there in school administration. He's been here for 3 months. He says there are other teachers from Southern California as well. I'm beginning to feel comfortable here. The classroom will have the teacher and two assistants. Talk about support! that's what we had at SDCCA (San Diego Center for Children Academy, my previous workplace). So basically I'm taking Mr. Mac's job, but in a different country with different students, and it will be a 1st grade class from 8:30-11:30am and a 5th grade class from 12:30-3:30pm. It's all sounding good, the interview goes fairly well. Steve asks for me to sit outside while he and Karen dicuss their opinions. Less than five minutes later, Steve grabs me and offers me the job. To make a longer story shot, I was skeptical because the pay rate is the minimum of what I was looking for. Should have high rolled first, but stupidly my salary negotiations are never as good as I wished they were. I eventually get them to give me another hundred a month. I'll be paid twice a month, in cash, Vietnamese Dong.
Right after the interview I meet up with John. (John is to the right of me and Quy on the left) We instantly begin looking for places I can rent. But this will have to be the next posting since this one is really long and I'd like to give a tour of my place with a video.
Before the end of the night John and Quy agree that one of them will meet me at 9am to go visit schools. That night, I get home around 9pm and fall fast asleep. The next morning I awake, shower, and go find my first bowl of pho. Once again, a valiant mission, this time with no failures. I walk down the alleyway that has a width ranging from 8 feet to 5 feet and turn left onto Pham Ngu Lao street, a very touristy area. I walk along the sidewalk, it is early, the hawkers aren't approaching me with a purpose. I pass hotels, bus tours, banks, fancier hotels, and finally I get down to the corner and I find my bliss. There are 6 tables, all Vietnamese men eating breakfast before work. This is it. I falter with my Vietnamese "Chao Anh, Toi di....." Hello sir, I go..(couldn't think of 'here to eat'). They get my point and bring me to a table inside, hiding me from everyone else. But I get a view of the kitchen which for me, is even better than the street scene at this time of day. I order Pho with rare thin beef. The bowl was small in comparison to those back home, but the aromas, and steaming bean sprouts made up for it. I find hot sauce and hoison sauce, add them in, along with mint leaves and begin to chow down. I end up drinking most of the broth, a few times I got a gulp or two of hot sauce. Leading to the secretion of tears from my eyes, but they were divine tears of joy. Too eager to eat, I only took a picture after I ate.
I meet with John at 9am. We go to about 6 schools. We go to one I never saw online, but it was in the area of some other schools. The place looked rather sketchy and poor. The questions on the application ranged from my intentions of marriage, to where I am in the family line and the occupations of my parents, brothers, and sisters. Of course height and weight were thrown in. Feeling rather violated of my privacy I keep in mind the ESL business is one of show as well, of face, and that having young white males and females are key components to their businesses. After about an hour of filling out their multiple paged lengthy application, I speak with the recruitment lady. She decides she wants me to go speak with their principal of the elementary school (a different location). At 2pm, I have my first interview for a job. I meet Steve and Karen. Steve is a warm welcoming person from Orange County who worked there in school administration. He's been here for 3 months. He says there are other teachers from Southern California as well. I'm beginning to feel comfortable here. The classroom will have the teacher and two assistants. Talk about support! that's what we had at SDCCA (San Diego Center for Children Academy, my previous workplace). So basically I'm taking Mr. Mac's job, but in a different country with different students, and it will be a 1st grade class from 8:30-11:30am and a 5th grade class from 12:30-3:30pm. It's all sounding good, the interview goes fairly well. Steve asks for me to sit outside while he and Karen dicuss their opinions. Less than five minutes later, Steve grabs me and offers me the job. To make a longer story shot, I was skeptical because the pay rate is the minimum of what I was looking for. Should have high rolled first, but stupidly my salary negotiations are never as good as I wished they were. I eventually get them to give me another hundred a month. I'll be paid twice a month, in cash, Vietnamese Dong.
Monday, August 15, 2011
TakeOff
It’s 12:48am. I’m tired, dead, beat, running on the last vestiges of energy. I’m all mixed and confused, excited, worried, frustrated, sleepy, basically imagine all emotions possible and mix them into a bowl. That’s what’s going on in this exhausted brain. I can’t wait to touch my foot on the soil of Vietnam. Ahead of me I have a 13 hour flight to Taiepei, Taiwan. Then a 3 hour layover and a 3 hour 20 minute flight to HCMC. I’ll be arriving at 11:20am assuming everything is on time. I’m very happy I’ll be arriving during the day rather than at night. Hopefully I’ll feel refreshed after some sleep and ready to have a day of finding all of the schools and preparing my CV and Cover Letter.
Leaving today has been a bit of a struggle. I could have easily dove into the depths of despair with each goodbye, experiencing the undertow of future missed opportunities with family and friends. I could have cried, choked up, and delved into what I can put into no other way than ‘weakness’ (though I do not intend to say expressing emotion is a weakness). However, today I stayed strong, I had to. If I didn’t it would have led to a bad start. I had to have the heart of stone, the guardian of the heart had to be on post. He couldn’t have done a better job, the chainmail was unpenetrable, immaculate in its immunity. Nothing could touch it, and that’s exactly how it had to be.
Last night, talking with my good friend Marion, we went to our arsenals of philosophy. The conversations flowed like an ebbing of webs, connections all throughout and sporadic at times, yet seemingly well planned. One of the topics was that of saying a goodbye to someone. He explained his thought how it’s a very delicate situation. That, he/she wants to encourage the other and be proud of the other for their next journey, but simultaneously experiences the deep pain of a loved one departing. He explained the difficulty of conveying the contrasting emotions. It was described in a perfect fashion, that he/she must clearly detail the longing for the future yet also the excitement for it simultaneously. I wish I could recall word for word what was said, however, my memory is lacking.
I have to say, in the end, I see this not as a goodbye, but as a see you later. It's not forever, despite what some family members, or Ugh cough,, Mom, speculate.It’s time for takeoff, further thoughts will have to wait.
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