The long goodbye
05/18/2009
The past week has flown by, and it's time to play catchup with the blog! I said goodbye to students in the Listening class on Wednesday and then enjoyed a great vegetarian meal with Ms. H, Ms. V, and several teachers who are leaving soon. Afterward, we went to Ms. H's house for dessert, which in Vietnamese tradition consisted of fresh fruit and green tea. I love having fresh fruit for dessert and want to keep that practice when I return home! As you can see, we were in good spirits that evening.
Ms. H's husband is a dentist and has an office in his home where he treats patients in the evenings and on weekends. We could hear the sound of drilling as we sat enjoying our tea and fruit, and naturally our conversation turned to dental care. At that point, our English teaching assistant mentioned that she had a toothache and would like to get it checked. Her wish came true, and in a few minutes she was in the chair. As it turned out, there was not enough time to treat her. I must confess that I'm thankful I haven't needed any dental work during my time here (I prefer visiting my dentist back in Richmond!).
On Thursday afternoon several of us met with the vice rector for a formal goodbye and an opportunity to provide him with feedback about our experiences here. The occasion would not be complete without photos! The university presented us each with a lovely gift to remind us of our time here. In the evening I had dinner with one of the British volunteers at our "regular" place down the hill. I have enjoyed getting to know her and the others, and it is difficult to think about goodbyes. I tell myself that we will stay in touch, and must make that happen!
I put the finishing touches on my last workshop before going to dinner Friday evening with the General Education faculty. Saturday morning's workshop was fun because I was able to show clips from several movies--"Rudy," "Smoke Signals," "Remember the Titans," and "It's a Wonderful Life" to illustrate several different aspects of American culture. People asked great questions, some of them unanticipated. Someone asked why Americans don't cry at funerals, which is how we are perceived, based on television and movies. Here crying is a sign of how much you cared for the person.
Ms. H and I celebrated the conclusion of my series of workshops by returning to her place for lunch, a nap and then a trip to the neighborhood hairdressers for a shampoo and neck massage. Very nice. And in the evening, we enjoyed the annual faculty musical competition in honor of Ho Chi Minh's birthday. Here you can see teachers from the School of Aquaculture in an impressively choreographed song and dance number. Many groups gave rousing renditions of patriotic songs and the audience enthusiastically kept time to the music by clapping and sometimes singing. It was standing room only!
Throughout the evening I kept trying to picture my colleagues at I.U. East taking part in a similar event. Many people here love karaoke, and enjoy singing, and it shows. Judges came from a university known for arts and culture, and gave prizes to the top three performances, as well as to the department with 100% participation, the oldest singer, etc. Pictured here is the Student Affairs staff--the equivalent of our registrar's, bursar's, and student life offices. Students obviously have great affection for these women and men, and rushed to the stage with bouquets of flowers when they finished singing. I could not understand most of the song lyrics, but occasionally the message of a song was translated to me, and many seemed to be about Ho Chi Minh's love for his country or a soldier's love for his country.
Okay, that brings me to Sunday and our English teaching assistant's departure for the airport, lunch with a very dear Vietnamese friend and her family, and dinner with English teachers in the evening to celebrate several who recently completed an online master's degree in English. That made me think of I.U. East's graduation and the press release about our first distance education graduate. It is amazing what we can do with communications technologies!
I'm writing this on Monday, which has been a blissfully quiet day starting with an early morning walk along the beach. I'm sure my last two weeks here will be filled with many more good times, some work, and hopefully opportunities to simply enjoy life in a resort city by the sea.
