Blog 3 - Crashing back down to earth... then holiday!

So the final induction week started. We were split into groups and were each given 300,000 dong to buy items for breakfast where the new teachers meet the existing members of staff. The newbies pulled it off with an array of pastries, bacon, cakes, juices and cheeses. We met all the current staff and got to know them – how long they’d been here, where they’d been on the international school circuit etc. They are all very nice and were very welcoming to us all. That evening there was a HUGE storm – rain lashed down for a good 3 hours with copious amount of thunder and some amazing lightning – I sat out on my covered balcony with a few beers and watched it for about an hour! It was b-e-a-utiful!

The next day we were back to business in school, planning for the year ahead. In the evening a couple of us newbies went football training with one of the local ex-pat teams The Saigon Saints. Having not done much exercise for a good month, this was a struggle – especially in the 30 degree heat and high humidity – good for weight loss though I suppose!

The school is located in district 8 of HCMC, this is very much on the fringe of the hustle and bustle of the city and although it takes me 2 minutes to walk to work, any journey to town is a taxi ride away. So, following suit of one or two others, I bit the bullet and hired a moped off of Mr Hung on a month to month basis (ex pats can’t own vehicles here) to get me around and join in with the madness on the streets of Saigon. It’s certainly an experience weaving in and out of the traffic but if you take it steady and beep your horn every now and then it’s easy.

Later in the week the school had arranged a ‘cook in’ on the primary campus... Everybody brought some food and drink and it was a really good way to get to know our new colleagues. A celebrity teacher has also joined us this year – you may have heard about her in the news – the one and only Gillian Gibbons! After muchos Tiger beer, a bunch of the hardcore drinkers (and me) leapt into taxis to the backpacker district to continue ‘getting to know each other’. We set up camp in a bar called Allez Boo and sampled some of the local (Saigon) beer. The backpacker district (Pham au Lau) was busy and vibrant – something which is very much lacking in our residential suburb. There were backpackers (surprisingly), street sellers, bars spilling out onto the pavements, locals ushering you into their bar with offers of BOGOF, street side shacks offering food and drink and scores of locals playing ‘shuttlecock’ in the nearby park (check out the video upload, its mint!). One common street seller was the man on a bike with a rack full of dried squid (that looked like it had been there for at least 2 months). 100,000 dong was slammed on the table for anybody who would go for one... with a bellyful of beer and not a kebab hut in sight; I stepped up to the plate. If anyone has peeled off the bottom of their shoe before, added a little chilli sauce and tried chewing it, then you would know exactly how the squid tasted. I persevered, with the incentive of a cash payout and eventually nailed the delicacy... Easy money. I triumphantly picked up my winnings and did a quick mental calculation to find out what I could spend my hard-earned winnings on - £3.30... note to self, do not do anything crazy for less than 500 thou!

It was back to school on the Friday, setting up the work for the year ahead... planning, preparing and making my new classroom geographied. Being the only geographer at the school and teaching most of the classes, I have been able to choose what I want to teach and when which is fantastic. So I redesigned the KS3 curriculum and introduced crime, fashion and sport to freshen up some of the topics. IGCSE is pretty straight forward stuff and I spent a little time creating some more interactive resources for the classes. As the school is fairly new, there is no year 13 geography this year but I do have a handful of year 12s to put through their AS level. The school has yet to migrate to the IB yet as it is still relatively small and this does not make it cost effective. Anyways, a day full of productivity meant that we had earned (another) night out so we hit some bars in the centre and ended up in backpacker district once again til the early hours – had to call it a day at 2 as had our first game for the Saigon Saints the next day!

Awoke a little blurry but excited about getting back onto the footy field. The Saints play in a league that has 3 or 4 other ex pat teams and another 6 or 7 Vietnamese teams. The coach ‘Raffa’ gave us the lowdown on what to expect from playing the Vietnamese – they are not very physical and go down easily, rolling around screaming etc. Also the Vietnamese referees rarely give decisions your way and your strikers are ALWAYS offside. This is the way it is out here and we’re to get used to it and try and hide our frustrations – easier said then done in some instances! Anyways, we managed to carve out a victory on our debut and I managed to cop man of the match at left back too – which to my amusement, meant that I had to wash the kit for next week!! We sunk a few beers back at ‘Phattys’ the clubs’ watering hole and sponsors before returning for a well earned takeaway. I ordered a large pizza from a place called Al Frescos and when it arrived it came with 2 garlic bread, spaghetti bolognaise and a large Coke! Some sort of offer apparently, well at least I had my meals sorted for the next few days!!

On Sunday I made my first trip into district 1 on the brum brum beep beep to get a few essentials and my first experience at a Vietnamese hairdresser! And an experience it was – not only do you get a haircut but also the choice of manicure, pedicure or hand/foot massage – I opted for the hand massage, very strange but funny all the same. I then want to the Lottemart to fill up the fridge with a range of Vietnamese/western foods to keep me going. Monday was the final day of prep before the kids started back on Tuesday. The teachers had a kick around afterschool on the astro and a nice early night ensued ready for the first day!

So, the first day – there was a staff briefing to finalise arrangements and plans for the day. The school has a good mix of nationalities – a large percentage of Vietnamese, many Koreans, some Malaysians and a few westerners (including one Welsh student!). My first lesson was double year 12, 5 students (2 Koreans, 2 Vietnamese and 1 Malaysian) who all did very well at IGCSE last year. They were very polite and attentive and I introduced myself and what the plan was for the year. I then had my first lessons with year 9 and year 8 and they both went very well. The maximum number of students I have in a class is 18 so this makes marking and differentiation much easier than it has been in the past. By Friday I had met all of my classes that I would be teaching this year and was very happy with their attitudes and level of English and geography! At the end of school on Friday I was very pleased and excited for the year ahead. The students are motivated and keen to learn. I knew behaviour would be a lot better than English schools but my fear was there would be a lack of character and banter to be had – thankfully there are some great characters in each class and I am able to teach with a bit of humour which makes everything a ok! There is a positive learning ethos and achievement is seen as a positive thing between students. Everything learnt and studied during my PGCE now has a lot more relevant and I find myself more motivated to plan and teach interactive lessons where each student takes at least something away from the class! (Apologies for the cheesy teacher stuff, but it really is a real pleasure to have students like this!)
Now the issue with the names! The school encourages new students to adopt a western name to aid the teachers – we have students called Wilbert, Alfred, Cherry, Flora, Tiffany, Crystal, Dennis etc. (I have also been told that some names were requested but not allowed such as Pocahontas and Apple!) Then we have Korean students who prefer their own names – Do Khoi, Kyue Young, Khuong Anh, Phuong Duyen, Seoung Kyoung, Chee Kiong and then the Vietnamese who prefer to keep their own names (to the amusement of some teachers) – Thong, Hung, Benjaporn, Trang, Long, Wen Ju, Wen Ji, Phu, Phi etc. So it has been fairly difficult getting to know (and pronounce) the names of the students but with this being my only real problem with classroom management I am happy and sure I will get used to them eventually! The students have problems pronouncing my name too – Mr Dorian often ends up as Mr Julian or Mr (check front of book) Dorian – again, something I’m sure they will get used to over the next year!
Football training as usual on Wednesday of this week, followed by a cheeky beer afterwards. On Friday a few of us went to a Thai restaurant and sampled a range of spicy and tasty Thai dishes – total bill plus wine was less than a 10er – happy days!! The wine slowed me down a little the next day at football and i was obviously conscious this time of not playing too well as the maids did not appreciate 15 football kits in my washing last week :o)

Monday was our first payday – albeit for half a month. The custom at the school was to go to the director and collect and count your wages out in cash. We are paid in dollars and have to pay it into banks ourselves or we have an option to transfer a percentage back to our UK banks.

No sooner had we been back at school then it was time for our first public holiday! We had Tuesday and Wednesday off the next week so all the new teachers decided to head to a beach resort called Mu Nei. We left school at 5ish on the Monday in a minibus stacked with beer, music and munchies for the 6 hour trip!! As minibus journeys go, this was a top top trip! Much singing and banter was had, mixed in with a number of comedy toilet stops. We eventually arrived in Mu Nei, a little merry and mad our way to our hotel. The guys chose a quaint little place called The Full Moon which was shrouded in palm trees and wooden beach huts whereas the girls opted for the 4 star luxury hotel with pool bar etc.

After settling into our rooms we headed for The Wax bar which was on the sea front where we continued to have a few drinks and play some pool. It was very quiet and towards the end it was just us and the bar staff. A couple of us decided to go for a swim and left our belongings in the bar where some of the others were. On our return we all had some money missing along with a phone and a camera. A heated argument ensued (remember it was only us and the bar staff in the whole place). After a while, a security guard came up form the beach with the phone and camera claiming he’d found it on the beach, we tried to contact the police but they didn’t speak any English and the bar staff refused to call them. We all learnt an (expensive) lesson that night and subsequent attempts to contact the police were unsuccessful – bottom line, the police are not interested in helping ex-pats.

Determined to not let last nights events spoil our holiday we spent the next day beaching it up and spending time propping up the sunken pool bar in the girls hotel. We went to a bar famous for its wind and kite surfing called Jibes (apparently Mu Nei is a Mecca for kite surfers) and had a fantastic seafood meal. A few games of pool and an early night for me whilst some others went to a club and returned with stories of crazy dancing by the locals. The final day was spent soaking up some more rays and a few of us rented some body boards and hit the surf before showering, settling our bills and then got on the minibus for the long haul back. This time the journey wasn’t as crazy but most kept themselves amused with games like 20 questions, eye spy and quizzes. Back in Saigon we got caught in the holiday traffic, bikes absolutely everywhere swarming around the minibus, beeping and causing traffic jams! There’s no place like home.
Eventually we were all back in the comfort of our own apartments and glad there was only two days until the weekend!

So life seems to be settling down a little here, work is starting to pile up a little and the ‘holiday’ is well and truly over now! It has certainly been an eye-opening experience these last few weeks and the next month seems to be packed with things to do as well. I have found myself on occasion wondering what people are up to at home and what I would be doing if I was there – no, I’m not homesick... yet! We’ll see! Extra big promise to not leave next chapter too long again (I am officially rubbish at blogging – perhaps I should just release a bi-annual or something).

Anyways – hope you are all ok in the UK, be good to hear what you are up to too – email me at [email protected] or leave a massage for me on the message board here!

Take care
Dorian

PS: Next instalment promises to be action packed! – Cai Dai Temple, Cu Chi tunnels, Bowling, D of E, Pattaya and Ofsted! Pheew!