Beach Party Vietnam

Read About Me Somewhere Else Now!

2009-01-12T21:48:00.002+07:00

At some point, I decided I ought to have my own website. And I could write code for it and stuff! So.. go to my new blog thing, and then update yer bookmarks!

FYI:

2008-12-31T15:45:00.003+07:00

I haven't forgotten about my blog—or all of my faithful readers / adoring fans! Expect a new post on the weekend with all the wonderful details about: Xmas, Việt Nam winning the Suzuki Cup, New Years, and.. more!

Chúc mừng năm mới! / Happy New Year!

Busy Weekend Already!

2008-12-20T16:58:00.002+07:00

Yesterday evening one of my colleagues at the Hải Phòng Department of Education invited me to a concert: RockStorm! So around 6 o'clock we had some dinner—snails and looooooots of vodka, and then phở—and then we headed off to the concert. It was nothing like I've ever seen in Việt Nam, as most people tend to prefer softer/poppier music or folk/traditional music. Hard rockin' music just isn't as big a draw. All the bands were pretty mediocre (it's just not my kinda thing either!), but it was interesting to see anyways. Almost all the bands had a really bad keyboard player, and during their set the songs would get progressively softer. Boooooo power ballads!

This morning I went to an English/Christmas festival at a primary school called Minh Khai, which was pretty fun. The kids sang songs and danced, read poems and stories in English, etc. I helped out by asking them questions in a short game. If they answered correctly they got a present from Santa! And at the end they presented me with a gift, which made me feel uncomfortable; I hardly did anything. I certainly appreciate how kind and friendly people are, but they shouldn't have given me a gift. It's too much! Anyways, I think I might need to re-gift it..

I think tomorrow I'll attempt to shop for some sort of jacket, as it's getting chilly in the mornings and evenings. At the very least, I should buy a scarf.. before I get another cold.

Việt Nam to Modernise Education

2008-12-19T14:56:00.004+07:00

I didn't have to work this morning, so I took the opportunity to enjoy a cup of coffee and read the newspaper. In doing so, I found this interesting article. Some points in the article can maybe give you an idea of where education is at now in VN (I'm not quite enough of an expert to give a highly detailed account—yet! Just you wait).

According to the draft, by 2020, 80 per cent of Vietnamese should graduate from senior secondary school, 100 per cent of districts should have regular educational centres, 95 per cent of communes and wards should have study centres and 65 per cent of labourers should have got training.

Sometimes it's difficult for me to gauge just how many kids make it beyond primary school (which is grades 1-5), but I think 80% is a decent figure to reach for. But more importantly, there is a definite disparity between schools/facilities in the city and in the countryside; focusing to bridge that quality gap seems really important to me.

The draft also set targets that 99 per cent of children and 90 per cent of ethnic minority children should attend primary schools at the correct age, 70 per cent of disabled people and 95 per cent of poor children should receive assistance to attend school.

The minorities and hill tribes (all the peoples in this list, except for Kinh/Việt, seem to get the short end of stick sometimes. A greater support system for them would be great, but I'm not sure how achievable that 90% figure is (in the near future). Oh, and WUSC Việt Nam has also been involved in a project related to this: click here to watch a video!

Professor Dr Nguyen Huu Chau, director of the Viet Nam Education Institute, the institution that compiled the draft, said that the draft had 11 solutions to help implement the above targets, including solutions to renew educational management and affirm the key role of teachers and principals in the education system.

I sometimes wonder about these sorts of vague mentions of "solutions." Does, "renew educational management and affirm the key role of teachers and principals," just mean clamp down and be more strict? It very well could mean that! Classrooms here are so different; kids can't really ask questions. Whatever is taught to them, they take at face value—and that's all there is to it. (Of course, other country's systems aren't perfect either.. but it would be nice if Việt Nam's educational system was more willing to accept a bit of open-mindedness and free thinking)

The draft should have criteria to build some international – level universities and should focus more on a moral education for students, said some.

More internationally recognized universities would certainly be a good thing, but a focus on improving primary, secondary and high school education first might be more practical! Việt Nam's primary education is pretty good, I'd say, and it's the reason why the country has a high rate of literacy. But still, I think too many kids miss out on secondary and/or high school education. I guess all levels of education can be developed simultaneously, though, if it's all planned out adequately.

Anyways, read the article! It's interesting.

Train 1 - Bus 0

2008-12-18T13:25:00.003+07:00

Reasons why train travel is always better than bus travel (in Việt Nam):

You have more space! On a train, seats are in groups of four, with two seats facing the other two, which provides for more leg room. In each little group of seats, the four passengers have enough space to move around a bit, stretch their legs, etc. But on a bus, all the seats face forward (with very little leg room!). Also, on a bus even if all the seats are full the driver will keep accepting passengers to stand/sit in the aisle. That can get really hectic on a busy ride. The train station, however, should only sell as many tickets are there are seats. Isn't that nice!

More storage space too. The overhead racks have lots of room for bags, and there is a cargo car for the really big stuff. The baggage racks on the buses are usually pretty tiny..

Trains are on tracks, so they have to drive fairly straight/smoothly. Roads and highways are much more unpredictable, and buses are constantly speeding up and slowing down suddenly, swerving left and right (nearly colliding with oncoming traffic!) to pass slower moving vehicles. Lots more people over here seem to get car sick, and after having been on a few bus trips it's no wonder as to why! Of course, under the right circumstances the bus can be enjoyable too—but the train feels more reliable to me.

I think what I need to do is find the best time of day for taking the bus; a time of day when traffic is light, and there are fewer passengers. Maybe really early in the morning? A 6AM bus, perhaps? I'll be taking the bus to Ninh Bình next week, so I'll test that theory out! (Train tracks don't run between here and there, so if I wanted to take the train I'd have to go: Hải Phòng > Hà Nội > Ninh Bình. Which is just silly!)

Workshop/Meeting in Hà Nội

2008-12-15T09:16:00.002+07:00

After lunch I'll have to end my peaceful visit to Ninh Bình, hop on a bus, and head for Hà Nội. There's a two day workshop-meeting-thing at the WUSC/CECI office for all of the Uniterra volunteers in Việt Nam; we'll mostly be talking with each other about experiences we've had so far working in different parts of Việt Nam. And I hope they'll have some information to offer us about Uniterra phase two! (The Uniterra programme's funding runs out in March, and we're all waiting patiently to find out of CIDA will provide more funding. And then we'll have to wait and see if Việt Nam will still be considered a priority and/or if there will be any positions here at all!)

On Tuesday morning I have to do a ten minute talk/presentation about my experiences working in Ninh Bình, which I am entirely unprepared for. I'm expected to make a little PowerPoint presentation (who bothers with PowerPoint for a ten minute talk, anyways? Talk about overkill), so now I have to go and half-bake some sort of silly presentation.

Web Programming is Tedious

2008-12-10T20:14:00.003+07:00

And had I been able to recall that fact in September, I might have negotiated myself into another teaching job! Well—it's not so bad, but I'd much rather be writing code for 'normal' software that doesn't run in a web browser.

The goal is for me to be done the website for Nguyen Tri Phuong primary school at the end of this week, which I think is doable. But... I'll still have to go back to the school at least once next week to explain to their computer guy how everything works. (And I wish I could just have a couple more days to polish everything off! Grumble, grumble, grumble...) And speaking of next week! Uniterra has arranged a two day workshop-like-thing for all of the volunteers in Việt Nam. That's on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'll head for Hà Nội on Monday. And I figure that I'll spend the weekend in Ninh Bình, which I'm sure will be a fun time. So basically I just have to focus on working hard tomorrow and Friday, and then I'm free until Thursday or Friday next week.

And in other news: Mr. Long, my friend and colleague from the Department of Education, has lent me his classical guitar. Between working, finishing off a Master's degree, and spending time with his wife and kids, he's too busy to ever play it. So he very kindly offer to let me take it!

Wow

2008-12-07T16:06:00.002+07:00

Last week went by quick! It was fun having Kate and Nhan (Kate's translator) staying here; we went out for dinner together each evening, and did a bit of sight-seeing that I wouldn't have bothered to do on my own.

Monday through Wednesday were pretty business-as-usual. I was working at home as there always seem to be network/Internet issues at school. I got a lot accomplished during those three days—gold star for me! On Thursday Hanh, Nga, and Ngoc (all from the WUSC office in Ha Noi) came to visit us, so on Thursday and Friday I spent most of my time socializing and very little time working. Thursday night we all went out for dinner and then went bowling, which was pretty fun. There's a shopping centre in Hai Phong called Parkson Plaza, and it's so unlike anywhere else I've been in Viet Nam. When you walk into Parkson Plaza you feel like you're in The Bay. It's soooooo strange. But anyways! On the top floor there is a bowling alley and a movie theatre, which is nifty. Friday morning I was the guest speaker at Kate's workshop (she was teaching about methodology to English teachers in Hai Phong), and Friday afternoon we went to look at some pagodas (camera was dead, no pictures). At the second pagoda we visited there was a little green pond that was full of turtles! Usually those dirty little ponds appear to be lifeless, but this one had so many turtles in it! Very cool. I'll definitely visit the turtles a few more times.

Visitors!

2008-11-30T10:20:00.003+07:00

I have friends again! Kate has come to town with her translator, as they're doing an ESL workshop this week. They also brought Hien along for a quick visit, which was great! But she had to head back to Ninh Binh this morning, so she's on a bus now.

My throat is fiiiiiiiiinally starting to get better. The fever/chills and headaches pretty much passed a few days ago, but the sore throat really stuck around. Swallowing food has been difficult! (I'm not sure if it was the medicines or my awesome new hat that made me start to get better!) Now my next problem: my right ear has been sore, which I understand can be a symptom of tonsillitis (and the right side of my throat was the sorest side too). But as my throat soreness subsides, the ear pain doesn't. The doctor said both my ears were great when I went there on Wednesday though. What are the odds that this could develop into an ear infection? Slim to nil, I hope? I mean, I'm already taking antibiotics—I hope I'm just worrying about nothing. It doesn't hurt a lot, but it's a nuisance.

Tonsillitis!?

2008-11-27T08:23:00.002+07:00

Last weekend I felt like I was starting to come down with a cold, but after a few days I started to figure out that it wasn't just a cold. So yesterday morning I went to the doctor and he told me that I have tonsillitis. :( (Also he prescribed me some medicines. I hope they do the trick!)

I haven't really done any work this week, because I have no energy and don't feel so well most of the time. It's probably not a problem though, as I think I have enough extra time later on in my work schedule that everything will still work out alright.

Now it's time for me finish breakfast and take my pills.

Today: Ngày Nhà Giáo Việt Nam

2008-11-20T14:46:00.003+07:00

(Or, in English, Teacher's Day in Vietnam)

Yip, today was the day to celebrate teachers in Việt Nam and I was invited to the event at my school. It was a pretty big deal, too! I figured there'd be some sort of small ceremony and then we'd go back to business as usual, but wasn't the case. There were no classes today, and the small ceremony lasted all morning. There were lots of people there, too—a few men from the military, and a bunch of distinguished looking older folks (I'm thinking.. a mix of former teachers/principals and maybe even a couple of politicians. Not sure). There were speeches, and then there was a performance from some youngsters, and then many awards/certificates were handed out to the really super duper teachers. After all of that a few different people sang songs or read poems, and that part really dragged; it seemed like people were never going to stop singing these really boring songs. But eventually it ended! After all of that I kinda thought we'd all disperse, I'd eat a quick lunch, and then spend the afternoon working from home. But that was a crazy idea, because there was a huge lunch at the school which I had no choice but to attend (after all this time I ought to know that my assumptions are always 100% incorrect). So I drank a lot, ate a lot, drank some more.. and now I don't feel like doing work. Also, the principal at my school encouraged me to rest this afternoon so that's just what I should do. I love it when people enable me to be lazy!

This weekend I might go to Hà Nội, mostly because I want to take the train somewhere and haven't do so yet. But a one-night trip to Hà Nội could also be useful: I want to do a bit of shopping around, and I still know very few places to go in Hải Phòng, so I'm more likely to get things done in Hà Nội. I want to shop for some interesting little things to ship home before xmas, and there is more of that sort of stuff to be found in Hà Nội.

First Week Back at Work, etc..

2008-11-17T08:16:00.004+07:00

Alright, it's catch-up-on-blogging time!

My first week working in Hải Phòng went pretty well. On Monday I helped Hải and Long get some computers set up for the workshop they were starting to teach, and then Tuesday-Friday I worked in the library at Nguyễn Tri Phương primary school (in case I hadn't mentioned already: I'm designing a website for this school). Last week I started working on the basic design and layout of the site, but now I'm at a point where I need to start writing php code and testing it out online. So that means that this week Long and I will have to help the school find some webspace and register a domain name—I think we'll tackle that either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I found a decent looking host in Việt Nam that could cost as little as $1USD per month, so hopefully the price will be right for the school. (Schools and the Department of Education in Hải Phòng appear to have bigger budgets than schools and the DOET in Ninh Bình, so I think it's all good)

On the weekend I took a bus to Ninh Bình to visit Hiền, Roman and Kate.. but Roman and Kate went to Thanh Hóa province to visit (another volunteer) Marilyn! So I guess I'll catch up with Roman and Kate next time I visit Ninh Bình (that is, if they don't come out to see me first). Anyways, I had a fun trip and the bus rides weren't too crazy. I'm thinking of taking a trip to Hà Nội next weekend to do a bit of shopping, but haven't made up my mind for sure yet.

The Weekend

2008-11-09T15:28:00.004+07:00

It's when all the magic happens! This weekend I got a haircut and bought a new bicycle. I never did find any road bikes in Ninh Bình, but fortunately it was easy in Hải Phòng--so now I have a bicycle that's almost big enough for me, and it's pretty fast too. During the week I've been exploring all the parts of town that are within walking distance of my hotel, but now I can venture farther away from home. It's been a bit chilly this weekend (I think the high was only 25c yesterday!) but that's nice riding weather.

According to the newspaper there's some sort of typhoon headed for Việt Nam this week, but I'm hoping it misses the north. Recently there's been a lot of rain; not so much in Hải Phòng, but there have been lots of problems in Hà Nội. I'm also planning to visit Ninh Bình next weekend, so torrential rains and flooding could complicate my plans. Nobody do a rain dance!

This week is also my first week of work officially! But Monday morning I'll actually be helping out another volunteer get ready for his workshop this week, so I don't get to start on my own work until Tuesday. And even then, it might be a slow start--I'll be making a website for a school, and I'm not sure how many materials they've prepared yet so we'll need to talk about what exactly they want in a website. Also, out here I'll be on my own a bit more, which I'm sure will prove to be interesting given that I'm not exactly a fluent speaker of Vietnamese yet. I hope I can get by and that the staff at the school won't get too frustrated with me on the days when I don't have anybody to translate for me (I expect to be making use of my dictionary an awful lot!).

Getting to Know Hải Phòng

2008-11-03T08:53:00.002+07:00

When I first got here I was kind of dazed and confused. I was coming down with a bit of a cold, and I really didn't like my room at Hòa Bình hotel (bad sleeps). But now that I've had time to move to a different hotel and wander around a bit, I find the city much less confusing. I still can't really remember where everything is, but I don't really get lost as often as I do in Hà Nội.

Now I'm living in Đông Đô hotel, and the room is quite nice; it's on the fifth floor, so I get a cool breeze coming in through the window. And it has an Internet connection! It's a bit more expensive than what I was used to in Ninh Bình.. but in Hải Phòng the only place in that price range is Hòa Bình hotel, and I'd rather sleep on a park bench than stay there.

Speaking of parks! Hải Phòng has a really nice strip of of park space that runs between two streets. I'm always amazed at the number of trees in urban areas of Việt Nam. And lakes! There aren't as many lakes here as in Hà Nội, but there are still a few. But Hải Phòng is also closer to beaches and Cát Bà island, so that's a bonus. The water at the nearest beach (Đồ Sơn) looked a bit too dirty for swimming in, but it's still nice to relax on the beach from time to time!

I think tomorrow I'm visiting a school with Mr. Long, my helper and sometimes translator from Hải Phòng's DOET, but I don't officially start working until next week.

The only other task I have to tackle this week is figuring out my mode of transportation; so by the time I write my next post I might be the owner of a new motorbike/scooter! Exciting :)

I'm in Hải Phòng..

2008-10-31T17:07:00.003+07:00

..safe and sound! I'm currently staying at a hotel that I pretty much hate, but it'll be good enough for a few nights before I find something more acceptable (it's actually not a terrible hotel, but I'd hate to live in it for five months, so I'm going to find something different fast). Fortunately, I've already found a café that I like very much, and am taking advantage of their free wifi to write this post. So I will spend lots of time at the café--well, anywhere but at the hotel, really.. but the café will be my top choice!

I'll update the blog again in a day or two to ramble about my work situation here in Hải Phòng, because I don't feel like typing it all now.

Ninh Bình, I'll Miss You!

2008-10-29T11:19:00.002+07:00

This afternoon WUSC's driver will pick me up at 2 o'clock and take me away (more like: drag me away kicking and screaming) to Hà Nội, and then eventually Hải Phòng later in the week. Hạnh (from WUSC) and I will be going on some sort of adventure to Cát Bà island to visit Hải, a fellow volunteer. I guess I have a couple crazy days ahead of me. I guess if I'm busy I'll have less idle time to sit around moping about having to leave Ninh Bình, but it'll still be depressing.

Bloggin' and Washin' Clothes

2008-10-23T08:17:00.003+07:00

This morning I'm washing some clothes (I wash all of my clothes on my own, like, without the help of a washing machine! Can you believe that!?) so I'll slowly write this post while things are soaking..

Yesterday morning I had another visit to the Department of Education, so Mr. Nam and I could do some more "setup computer!!" (that's what he says whenever I sit down in front of a computer now). I think I actually enjoy installing Windows, Office, etc. over and over again! When everything goes smoothly, at least. They took me out for lunch yesterday, and it was a dog meat extravaganza: boiled dog meat, fried dog meat, roasted dog legs, soup with dog ribs and other assorted bones! It was a dog and cat meat specialty restaurant (though no cat meat was ordered). I think cat meat might be the only I haven't eaten now -- last weekend I even tried horse meat! It was pretty tough. Y'know, horses just don't look like good eats to me.

Today Hien and I are supposed to teach a bit more at our school. Hopefully today our students are a bit less unteachable; otherwise, we'll just have to reteach the same things a second or third time. People are always taking notes, and we go extra slow to allow them to write their notes and practice things on their computers, but they still forget nearly everything after a day or two!

Random Update and Stuff

2008-10-20T21:49:00.003+07:00

I had a fun weekend!

Friday evening one of the ladies from the Department of Education invited Hien and I to her home for dinner, and it was a delicious meal. Soooooo much good food, and her husband and kids were really friendly too.

On Saturday morning I went with some friends to Van Long, which is a nature reserve place. It was a river tour, in some ways similar to other places I've been before, but the difference in Van Long was that you could actually see wildlife! There were lots of big white birds that reminded me of Great Blue Herons, and some other smaller birds. I saw a really nifty blue (shiny!!!) bird, but I was not successful in photographing it. After Van Long we had a massive lunch and then I spent the afternoon at home. And then Saturday evening I visited Hien's house. Her neighbourhood was pretty busy, as there was going to be a wedding next door on Sunday.

Yesterday I mostly played video games with Roman, another volunteer. Haven't done that in a while, so it was big fun! Oh, but Hien and I also taught for a bit in the morning; our students were particularly frustrating. And there were some new ones, who were totally clueless as they'd missed everything we taught before. We taught for an hour and a half and then left the school as quick as we could!

This morning I took a trip to the DOET to setup Windows and Office on a couple computers, which Mr. Nam seemed pretty thrilled by. He's keen to learn even the most boring things!

I Don't Have to Leave Yet!

2008-10-17T16:34:00.002+07:00

I found out yesterday that I now won't be leaving for Hải Phòng until Wednesday, the 29th. Hurray!!! This gives me some free time to accomplish a few things that I wouldn't have had time to do otherwise: continue teaching the teachers at Thanh Bình school about MS Office, and do some work on the computers in their lab. And today I was also asked to setup Windows and Office on a couple computers in one of the offices at the Department of Education, so I'll get that done Monday morning. If I can keep finding little things to do, maybe I'll never have to leave! I'll keep my fingers crossed.

We had some cool days this week (very cloudy and windy), and all of a sudden everybody was feeling cold and wearing long sleeve shirts and jackets. It felt refreshing to me, but I guess 20 degrees with no sunshine is chilly for a Vietnamese person (and I'm sure after a few more summers here, I'd feel the same way).

This week I had two really fun lunches with the people from the DOET; we ate looooots of goat meat! On both occasions we went to goat-meat-only restaurants. On Monday I even ate some of the goat's blood jello-thingy but I couldn't stomach very much of it, no matter how much they kept reminding me of how good it is for my health. Do you think it's really good for your health..? I'm not yet convinced! If I can ever actually finish a bowl, maybe I'll feel a difference and find out.

What else..? Harper was elected again, but I didn't vote so I guess I've lost the right to complain. Any bets on how long it will be until Stephane Dion either steps down as leader of the Liberals, or is kicked out by the rest of the party? I'm sure it's got to happen soon.

That's all from me for now!

Ninh Bình Thanksgiving

2008-10-14T10:05:00.004+07:00

Kate and I figured we'd do a little something for Thanksgiving, but we had to improvise. You're not going to find any turkeys or pumpkin pies in Ninh Bình province (pumpkin pie is gross anyways, so not much of a loss)! So she, Nhàn (Kate's translator), Hiền, and I went to the Goatman for chicken and french fries. We even bought a cake to eat for dessert afterwards. So yeah, instead of turkey we at an almost-as-traditional Thanksgiving sweet and sour chicken! With potatoes and some veggies. There was even some leftover cake for me to have for breakfast this morning.

Yesterday I had a final lunch kinda thing with some people from the Department of Education -- at least, I thought it would be the last. But now I've been invited to something on Friday as well! Anyways, yesterday's lunch went well. I handed in a CD with all my materials from the workshops, and we hardly spoke about work at all. I still have to finish off a report for WUSC, which is about 2/3 done. It's a rainy day so I'll finish it and email it away this afternoon!

The Goatman Strikes Again!

2008-10-10T21:08:00.003+07:00

I think that in all of my blog posts, I've not once mentioned The Goatman. Can you believe that!? Well, now I will! There is a restaurant in Ninh Bình called Trâu Vàng (translation: gold/yellow buffalo), and there's a big statue of a buffalo standing in the front. At first Roman (another volunteer) and I mistook the statue for that of a goat (as Ninh Bình is famous for goat meat), so we started calling the restaurant "The Goatman". "[Water]Buffalo-man" just wouldn't roll off the tongue quite the same, so Goatman has stuck. It's a fairly busy restaurant, located on the main highway, and it's the restaurant that I always have the most interesting experiences in. Many a time, I've been invited to join a table of really drunk people to eat and drink. I always go with the flow and join in, since everybody's friendly -- it's just so random!

Tonight while I was eating, an especially drunk fellow came over to my table, sat down beside me, pointed at my beer, and said "bia!" So I said, "yes!" And then we had to clink glasses and drink a few times. And then he showed me how to eat peanuts (this I, of course, already know.. but it's better to humour people in these sorts of situations). So he picked up a peanut and said, "Viet Nam!" and then opened the shell and gave me a nut to eat. Then he asked me if it was delicious, so I told him it was, and then he shook my hand and returned to his table. He came back to chat with me some more towards the end of my meal, which was also entertaining, but it was less interesting than the first encounter.

I don't know what it is about The Goatman and the patrons it attracts, but this always seems to happen! It's fun though -- I just make sure not to go there if I want to eat a fast, quiet meal.

Time for a Short Break!

2008-10-10T13:58:00.002+07:00

I think I have one report just about done! I just have to edit it for any spelling or grammatical boo-boos before I pass it on to Hien for translation. I still have 2 other reports to complete, but they have templates that I can fill all the information into, so they should be easily finished over the weekend. I think it might be a rainy weekend in Ninh Binh, as I noticed on the weather forecast that there is a big storm-system-thing that appears to be headed for Vietnam. It was covering pretty much all of the ocean between Vietnam and the Philippines! So if it rains and I can't really go out too much, I'll eventually have no choice but to finish my reports.

And if it doesn't rain, I'll take advantage of (maybe) clear, sunny conditions and go out photographing the town!

Right now other than trying to get reports done, Hien and I are also trying to schedule a lunch and and final meeting with Mr. Nam from the Department of Education. His usual response is to talk about how busy he always is; I think he's just giving us the brush-off. But I guess in the worst-case-scenario if he really doesn't want to see us I can just complete this report, package it with a few other things on a CD, and leave it with him. We'll see what happens!

The Sky is Falling!

2008-10-08T17:43:00.004+07:00

Every time I turn on BBC World (one of three English stations in Ninh Bình!), it seems like there's more and more bad news going on around the world. But you'd never know it otherwise -- so I guess I'll just stop watching the news. Problem solved! Easy. For some reason, though, BBC World never ever mentions Canada or the TSX. Last time I checked theglobeandmail.com, the TSX was having big losses. But I guess it's not quite a bad enough situation yet. When it becomes a major problem, then it'll be newsworthy (maybe the whole country will need to be on the verge of bankruptcy, like Iceland). Canada's just not a big player on the world news scene!

What else was in the news..? It also seems that the Conservatives' campaign is losing steam, which is interesting. I guess they were supposed to have released their campaign on Tuesday.. but I haven't checked the news since Monday, so I don't know what sort of reaction there's been to that yet.

I actually started writing a report today. Go me! Of course, I didn't actually finish it (let's not get carried away here!). But I'm well on my way to.. almost finishing it! Usually I'd procrastinate much longer before I started half-baking something like this. Pesky reports...

Next week I'm going to try to invite my friends from the Department of Education out for lunch, as they've all been so helpful during my time here. Hopefully they won't be too busy! They're always busy, busy, busy.

Quick Trip to Hanoi

2008-10-06T16:26:00.002+07:00

On the weekend I helped Hien shop for a new laptop in Hanoi, which was fun. Just having to travel somewhere by bus is an adventure all by itself! But we also had fun in Hanoi, even if it was a really brief trip. The computer shop we went to seemed.. surprisingly legit! Part of me was expecting to see knock-off merchandise, but it was all the real deal. Shopping for computers in Vietnam is a bit more pricey than elsewhere, because (I think) of tariffs that have to be paid when shop/business owners import computers. But we managed to get a nice laptop for a reasonable price, so it was a mission accomplished!

While we were shopping I saw an HP Mini-Note, which was really tempting! I had been thinking about buying a fancy, expensive new cell phone (gadgets woo!), but why buy a phone when I could buy one of these? I probably won't buy it though--or a new cell phone--as I don't actually need either of them. They're just really nifty! If anything, I should be investing in a new camera. My camera still works fine, but it takes a memory card that Sony doesn't make anymore.. and the 1 memory card I have is only 64mb. Way too small! Maybe I'll get myself a camera for Christmas...

I've been working on a few different small projects to pass the time; I'll do anything to avoid having to write reports. As it turns out I won't be doing any PowerPoint workshops for that other volunteer I had mentioned before, so I'll quietly enjoy the rest of my time in Ninh Binh and, somewhere along the way, write those stupid reports.

Them Workshops is Done

2008-10-02T09:49:00.003+07:00

Now that I have free time I feel like I ought to catch up on some news from around the world. Right now I'm enjoying an iced coffee and reading the Globe and Mail from the comfort of my favourite cafe! Of course, Canada will be having an election soon.. but you'd never know it outside of Canada, because of all the coverage of the circus that is the American election. Honestly, who cares anymore? The campaign process is so long and drawn out and boring! Though the upcoming vice-presidential debate could be interesting, because I think those two are more likely to drop the gloves and say something stupid/scandalous/risky/etc.

But anyways -- back to Canada and our superior form of government! Will it be another minority government for the Conservative party? Does the entire country still think Stephane Dion is a doofus? Will the NDP lose seats? I haven't been following anything too closely, but it seems like Jack Layton has been a pretty lame duck in recent months. I won't be voting because it's surprisingly difficult for a Canadian to vote from overseas; it's not worth the hassle. I wonder why it can't just be done online? Y'know, you can order a new birth certificate online, we file our taxes online.. with the right security measures in place, I don't see why voting couldn't also be implemented online. I mean, if the Internet can be secure enough for filing taxes, why can't we also use it for submitting votes? But nooooooooo! I'd have to mail a form to Canada, they'd mail me back a ballot thingy, and then I'd have to mail that thing back again! Mail is slow and I'm not paying to FedEx this junk around just to vote in an election that will probably end up with another crippled minority government.

In other news! I've just received a transmission from the mothership with the following orders: take more pictures of the Ninh Binh area and share them with the whole Internet. This, of course, is something I've intended to do since I got here. So now that I've received official orders, maybe I'll get on it.

Next week I might be helping out a volunteer in a neighbouring province by teaching a little 1-day workshop about PowerPoint (if I can ever remember to email her about the details and plans). But other than that, and maybe teaching the teachers at my school some more, I haven't got much left to do. Just some sort of silly report and then a final meeting or two to tell everybody what I've done (these are things everybody knows already.. but, hey! Why not have another meeting?).

Now it Really Feels Like Autumn!

2008-09-30T17:14:00.004+07:00

It was down right cold today! Maybe... 25°. And wiiiiiiiiindy and rainy. According to Viet Nam Net it was 18-28° in Ha Noi and Hai Phong today, so it must've been approximately the same in Ninh Binh. Definitely the coldest day I've ever experienced in Viet Nam so far! It rained a fair bit during the morning, and then on and off the rest of the day (and it constantly looks like it's going to rain some more). Vietnamese people find it cold, but it sort of feels like a breath of fresh air after a hot summer to me. But even to me it felt a bit cool -- I guess 25° is no longer shorts and t-shirt weather for me.

Gmail caused us problems again today. Grr.

Silly Me

2008-09-29T20:20:00.002+07:00

After my worrying about maybe not having any students this morning, I was the one that was late! Now, I'm certain that I set my alarm -- but I've been known to sometimes turn off alarm clocks while still in a deep slumber. Or maybe I just didn't set it? I guess we'll never know (sounds like a mystery for somebody from Cold Case or The X Files to solve)! Anyways, Hien called me at 7:25am and said, "Where are you? All our students are here!" To which I replied, "I don't know what happened!" Then I sprang into the shower, dressed, and pedalled off to school. I hate having to rush right after waking up... I yawned all morning and felt like trash.

We'll only teach two and a half days this week, so I switch back into lazy-mode Wednesday afternoon. Or maybe that's lazier-mode.

Lately we've been enjoying some beautiful, cool autumn weather. I'm sure we've got a few scorching hot days left yet, but it definitely feels like it's getting cooler in the mornings and evenings.

Computer Nerd Weekend

2008-09-28T17:54:00.003+07:00

Yesterday morning Hien and I taught the teachers at our school some more, and it was super fun. We were working with PowerPoint, and even though our students can be pretty clueless, they were really eager. We all had fun and laughed a lot.

This afternoon Hien and I were back at the computer lab, preparing everything for this week. Of course, this week we will teach our... last workshop together! :( But it's only, like, a half a workshop. A make-up workshop. I'm sure it'll be an interesting week. I have a feeling that somebody will have forgotten to inform our students to attend Monday morning, or, better yet, told them to attend at the wrong school! It's all part of the fun.

After we're done teaching I'll have to scramble for a couple days to restore all the computers to how they were; install typing programs, etc for the kids, and then it'll be time for me to write some sort of silly final report. And what's the deal with reports, anyways? Who cares!? Having to write a report feels like some sort of cruel and unusual punishment. Boo.

This weekend I also decided I'd like to write some programs/code again, so I started a project. So to get back into the swing of working in Python, I'm coding a little text editor. I'm never happy with text editors -- I'm right and they're all wrong! So after a few more days of ignoring my actual work (..what reports? :D) and focusing on this project, I'll have something almost usable to show off.

Gmail >:0

2008-09-25T16:37:00.003+07:00

Thursdays are learn about the Internet and email days. This morning went pretty smoothly, though we had a late start as some of our students were late. (Some of our students live almost as far as 40km away, and had to drive their motorbikes in heavy rain this morning -- I'm surprised they even came!)

But during the afternoon when we started talking about email, we hit some problems. For some reason Gmail wouldn't let anybody register new accounts anymore; the sign up form wouldn't load. In it's place we'd get an error message and a link to Google's help pages. Why, Google? Why oh why!?! After having experienced problems with Yahoo! Mail in past workshops we switched to using Gmail, which had been work flawlessly. But today was a different story. I guess the afternoon didn't go soooo badly, but it was frustrating. Some of our students were using the Internet for pretty much the first time ever, so it was difficult to try to explain to them a) how it works, and b) how come it's broken when it should work perfectly. And of course, I have no clue why Gmail wasn't working. It just.. didn't work! Ah well, we still have plenty of time in the morning to cover it before we have a little party and they get me drunk (that usually happens at ~10.30am).

What else is new..? Hanh cleared up my contract confusion with the Ninh Binh Department of Education and Training, so I'll be making the move to Hai Phong mid-October as planned. And I'm still not exactly looking forward to it! :[ In terms of work, I'm told it will be better than Ninh Binh; it's a much larger city with better facilities and more support for us volunteers. But I'll have to learn a new (probably confusing) city/roadmap, make new friends, and I won't be working with Hien anymore. One of the bright sides is that I'll get to do some different work, and they'll probably be more willing to give me extra work to do. There is already another volunteer there conducting IT workshops and there isn't enough money in the budget for more workshops, so I'll be doing other IT stuff (like making websites, fixing computers, maybe some quick on-site training at schools). I'll probably still help Hai at his workshops, but I won't be the teacher. I'm still really enjoying teaching, but teaching the same 1 week long chunk of material all the time would get stale eventually, so doing different tasks will be refreshing.

Tonight: Party Night in Ninh Binh!

2008-09-23T17:19:00.004+07:00

This evening Hanh (from WUSC) is coming to Ninh Binh along with 3 other volunteers and 1 of their translators, so we'll all be going out for dinner, coffee, and then maybe even.. karaoke! It'll be really fun to see Hanh and Hai (a volunteer in Hai Phong) again. The other 2 volunteers are new arrivals, so I'll be meeting them for the first time. Also, not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I'm getting better at karaoke. Last time we went out, I sang, like, almost 10 songs!

Hien and I are teaching our (sort of) last workshop this week. It's officially the last one, though we still have to teach a few more days next week to make up for a cancelled workshop from August. We'll also teach the staff from our school on a few more occasions, just for fun.

I had an interesting conversation with Mr. Nam (from the Department of Education and Training) today. He seems to be convinced that my contract in Ninh Binh goes until December.. but my original contract with WUSC ends October 18th! How could I have worked until December? I wanted to stay in Ninh Binh until March, but can't, so I think I'll have to leave for Hai Phong mid-October. Or, at least, that's what I thought until this morning. Now I'm confused! But I'm just going to keep quiet about it, and let somebody from WUSC talk it out with Mr. Nam.

Tomorrow's topic will be: Excel! Spreadsheets are so boring. But sometimes our students are very keen on them, so hopefully this group has a bunch of Excel nerds. That makes teaching it more enjoyable.

Pesky English Club

2008-09-21T14:36:00.004+07:00

For some crazy reason I had agreed to attend an English club last night. At the last second I tried to come up with an excuse to be absent, as I really felt like having a lazy night, but.. I couldn't think of any believable stories! So I went along and it wasn't so bad, but still kinda dull (the fun part was after English club when I went out for drinks with some friends). They're planning to hold another get-together next weekend, which ought to be more enjoyable; it will be held in the park during the afternoon. It'll be less like a classroom-club-thing, and more.. having fun and practicing speaking English with lots of friends. More casual -- and there will be snacks! If they bring Choco Pies I'll surely be in attendance! (And, of course, they should be Orion brand Choco Pies. I'll accept no knock-offs!)

The reason that I wanted to stay home last night and be lazy was because Hien and I taught in the morning, and our students kind of... frustrated us. A lot! They were being so loud and confusing! But they were having fun trying to learn with us, so it was tolerable (though tiring). Afterwards they invited us out for delicious fruit drinks, which was really nice of them. A good student is a student who buys their teacher a mango shake after class! And they even brought along some grapefruits for us all to snack on.

Back to the English language: I think I made up a new word today. You should all add it to your everday vocabularies! It's a combination of "maybe" and "probably" -- maybobably. This word can be used in those special situations where you're extra unsure about something. Ex: "I'll, I dunno, maybe.. probably.. go to English club next weekend, I guess," can be shortened to, "I'll maybobably go to English club next weekend." Do you think it'll catch on???

Alright, enough silliness. This week Hien and I teach workshop #8, and as of today, I've officially been in Vietnam for 5 months. Time flies, eh! I'll be pretty busy from now until my time in Ninh Binh is finished, but I'm also hoping to find time to do a bit of last minute sight-seeing around here. The most important place for me to see is Cuc Phuong National Park, but I may also try to find some other interesting pagodas to visit. Maybe next Sunday will be go-to-Cuc-Phuong-day..? Seems like a good plan.

Well I've Got Good Gnus and I've Got Bad Gnus

2008-09-19T21:31:00.004+07:00

I suppose things were just going too well in Ninh Binh! My luck was bound to run out eventually. So I'll have to ship off to Hai Phong, I think mid-October or maybe early November, to keep on doing the same sort of work. I guess this isn't exactly really bad news--bad news would be having to return to Canada! It's more like.. bad-but-ultimately-acceptable news, as it allows me to keep on working in Vietnam. Just not in the province I would most like to be working in.

So Hien and I will have a busy few weeks coming up. We're teaching next week and the week after, and after the workshops are over we'll need to get all of our lab computers ready for the school to use in classes again. Oh, and of course I also have to whip up a website for Thanh Binh school. If I can talk Mr. Nam into forgetting about some useless features, it'll be really easy to put together. But first the school and/or Department of Education and Training needs to figure out how to host the website and who will pay for it. Maybe they'll just decide that nobody wants to spend any money, and scrap the idea. That sounds funny, but right now it seems like it actually could happen! The DOET usually doesn't like to pay for much, and the schools tend to have very tight budgets.

Today I Find Out...

2008-09-19T08:58:00.004+07:00

...What will happen me after mid-October. I will either a) continue working in Ninh Bình, or b) move to Hải Phòng and work there. In either case, I'll be doing the same sort of teaching work. We've been waiting impatiently for ~2 weeks for the Department of Education and Training in Ninh Binh to say whether or not I can stay here. They have to send some sort of official communication to WUSC/Uniterra with their decision. I'm really hoping to just stay in Ninh Binh. Like, really hoping! Not that Hai Phong would be a bad place to work or anything; I just don't want to move right now. But I do want to stay in Vietnam, so if working in Hai Phong keeps me here.. I'm happy! Oddly enough, the placement I had originally applied for (and didn't get) was in Hai Phong. But it was more of a programming/coding job, not teaching...

Speaking of teaching! Last night Hien and I finallllllllly got to teach our English class again. It had been over a month since we last taught them. I sometimes run into a few of the guys at the local cafe (it's, like, my second home), but we've haven't had a class in a long time! Their translator has been working with the students who knew the least English, and they've really improved. For those students conversation is still really basic: "what is your name?", "how many people are in your family?", "how old are you?", etc. But their pronunciations and memories are getting sharper.

Hien and I have also agreed to teach the office staff at my school some things, so we worked with them for a bit less than 2 hours yesterday after classes were out, and we'll see them again today and tomorrow morning. Our school has a new principal and she's super nice, so when she and Mr. Nam asked about us teaching them we were more than happy to do it.

Also: forgot to mention that I added a few photos to my flickr gallery last weekend. I know it's a meager offering, but hey, at least it's something!

Make a Website!

2008-09-17T11:01:00.003+07:00

Just like that one! So Mr. Nam would like me to make a website for my school, just like that of Cát Linh primary school in Hanoi. This will be a fun project, but he doesn't really realize what's involved in making this site. To his credit, he does know what HTML is; but that's all he knows about. Cát Linh's website is actually more complicated than I was expecting it to be, and it would take some time to recreate a web application like that. He doesn't know that it's built with ASP.NET/VB.NET pages, has databases full of information, etc. So now I need to narrow down exactly what might be useful, and start working away at it. And then we have to figure out the hosting situation! Probably the school is too cheap to pay for even an inexpensive hosting package... so maybe I'll have to put together a server computer at the school. And then teach somebody how to maintain it and keep it online! I hope they'll just pay for a cheap hosting package.

Since I'm teaching next week, and the week after, my weekend plans have just changed from a trip to Thanh Hoa to.. writing HTML and other scripts. And drinking lots of coffee! I really need to get a good start on this; otherwise, time is going to be a problem.

I was also given another task this morning: teach the school's principals and office staff about the Internet, email, etc. They're nice folks, so we should have fun doing that. I just don't know when they want me to do it yet.

How to Offer Somebody a Motorbike Ride

2008-09-15T10:41:00.004+07:00

This is something I meant to babble about a while ago. In Hanoi there are lots and lots of xe ôm drivers; in English we'd call them motorbike taxis, I suppose. So the drivers will just hang around on a corner, and offer rides to people who walk by -- foreigners especially! Last time I was in Hanoi, while Hien and I were walking to a restaurant for lunch, a driver said to us, "Hello, motorbike?" He may not know any other bits of English, but he spoke those two words very clearly! And then after lunch, walking back to the hotel, another driver said to us, "Motorbike, hello?" So, we can see that there are two very different approaches to soliciting people for a motorbike ride! I don't know why, exactly, but I find this particularly humourous. It must have been the way that the two drivers spoke, and delivered those questions -- as though the driver was speaking not to me, but to his motorbike. And then the motorbike was supposed to say, "Hello, driver!" Too funny!

While we're on the subject of xe ôm drivers: they're sort of notorious for overcharging people. Of course, there are many good drivers, but also quite a few rip-off artists. You always have to agree on a price before leaving; otherwise, you're setting yourself up for trouble. It's fun negotiating on a price; y'know, I know these guys need the money so I don't bargain them down too much, but at the same time, I don't like to agree to a price that's outrageously high just because I'm a foreigner.

In a perfect world I'd just go everywhere by bicycle, but it is fun to take a xe ôm some times. The drivers usually give you a pretty wild ride!

Vacation, Workshop #7, etc.

2008-09-14T15:41:00.003+07:00

I haven't updated in quite a while, so here's a bunch of stuff for you to read!

Vacation to Bai Tu Long
The first weekend of September, I went to Bai Tu Long Bay along with Hien, Hanh (from WUSC), and a few WUSC Students Without Borders interns. We stayed at a really nice resort on the beach, and took a day trip out to an island that had even nicer beaches. The best part: it wasn't at all busy! There were some other people, but it wasn't crowded like Sam Son beach was earlier this summer. So I was able to swim and swim and swim without having to be concerned about bumping into strangers. The beaches and water were much cleaner than at Sam Son, too. Each night we feasted on all sorts of delicious, fresh seafoods. I'm not even sure what most of the things were, but they certainly were delicious! I'd love to go back to that area eventually; there are so many more beaches and parks to explore.

Workshop #7
Last week Hien and I taught our 7th workshop, and it went quite well. We had, possibly, our best group of students yet. They were so nice! Usually when we teach about email we use Yahoo! webmail, but this week we decided that Yahoo! was a pain and switched over to Gmail. Great success! Yahoo! is by far the most popular site for, like, everything in Vietnam.. but our students didn't seem to mind sticking with Google and Gmail, as they hardly knew anything about the Internet to begin with. Because of their lack of experience teaching about the Internet can be super frustrating sometimes, but I'll once they start to "get it" we all have lots of fun.

What else? Have I mentioned in any previous posts about how I'll be staying in Vietnam longer? I don't remember. So: I'm staying in Vietnam longer! :) The Primary Teacher Development program runs until March 2009, so I'll be staying until then (and, ideally, even longer after that!). I don't know yet whether I'll continue working in Ninh Binh--that's what we're hoping for!--or if I'll have to work elsewhere. If I have to do something different, I think it would be either in Hanoi or Vinh Phuc. But Ninh Binh (AKA: "home sweet home") is preferred.

What's coming up this week? I don't have to teach, but I do need to work on my lab computers a bit. But I shouldn't work too hard; goodness, no. Wouldn't want that. Next weekend Kate and I (and maybe a couple other volunteers) will be visiting a CECI volunteer in Thanh Hoa province. That means: more time on the beach for Johnny!

I s'pose that's all for now.

WordPress.com and I are Finished!

2008-09-14T10:12:00.000+07:00

It's over! Nice software, but the service isn't so great in this part of the world (particularly over a slow, unreliable Internet connection). So I'm starting anew with a Blogger account, with hopes that it will always be accessible to me; it's owned by Google (Big Brother?), and they have servers all over the world. Even on the worst of days, I can always do Google searches and check my Gmail -- so Blogger will hopefully be just as reliable. Seems like sound logic to me!

The next time I'm experiencing an extreme bout of boredom, I'll take the time to add and back-date all my old posts from WordPress. September has been awfully rainy, so I should have enough time holed up at home.. I'll get those old posts added eventually.

Stay tuned for more news about what's been up lately!