New Beginnings

Mud Bath in Nha Trang

The ruins in My Son

Working hard

The Forbidden City in Hue

I know it has been a long time since my last blog post so I'll try to recap everything that has happened in the past 2 plus weeks. Two weeks ago was our fall break, it was definitely needed. I went to Hue, Hoi An, My Son, and Nha Trang with Avis. We did a lot of sightseeing in Hue looking at the tombs and pagodas and seeing the forbidden city and former capital of Vietnam. There was so much history there, it was pretty incredible but I really enjoyed riding on the back of a motorbike around the city to see the places. In Hoi An we fell in love with the cute quaint town and the abundance of tailors. We had many shirts, tank tops, shorts, and sandals made, it was awesome. I am definitely going back there. The town had an ancient city to explore and cute little streets where cars couldn't drive, it was so beautiful. From there we went to My Son and some what was left of the temples, many were in ruins from the Vietnam War, or as they call it the American War. It was like Angkor Wat but much smaller and not as impressive they said. It was pretty remarkable, it was in the middle of the mountains/jungle. It was a hard day to be an American because they talked about how most of the historical site is gone from the bombing, I actually saw bomb craters there. I was glad to have Avis there with me because alone it might have been to much to bear, it is hard to not feel personal about it. But it was still pretty cool to see, at the end we saw a dance performance by the people that live in the My Son area, it was really cool.

From Hoi An we took the night bus to Nha Trang, 11 hours in a bus, wow that was interesting. The bus was actually nice, we had our own little sleeper units, you were basically laying the whole way and got a blanket. We bought silk sleeping bags and used those as well. It was definitely the cheapest option but I didn't sleep very well and we got to Nha Trang at 6am all disoriented. It was overcast and icky when we got to Nha Trang and we were both out of it so we relaxed, napped and read in our hotel room most of the day. The next day we decided we were going to rent motorbikes and go to the mud baths in Nha Trang, we followed a guide on the way there and then on the way back we went solo. We both got the scooter type where you can put your legs together up front. It was quite fun, but those things are way more bulky and heavy than they look. Driving in HCMC is crazy and not sure I will ever try to drive alone here but Nha Trang was quieter and we were out of the city. The mud baths were great. We showered off in cold mineral water, then sat in the mineral mud bath next was sunbathing until the mud was hard. Then a cool mineral water shower and power blasting, after we got to sit in the hot mineral water tubs. It was pretty cool and after we could lay by the pools as long as we want. On the way back into the city we decided to ride the motorbikes up the coast to feel the sea breeze and just look around. It was really cool being the only ones on the road. We were almost back to the our hotel when there was a traffic light, we both started to slow down and out of nowhere a Vietnamese man clips Avis and she tries to avoid him (which is quite hard with these scooters), she goes down right in front of me and I'm in shock, I pull over and start to walk my bike to the side when I accidentally rev the engine, my scooter than shoots out of my hands and flys forward and over. I leave it and go to Avis, the man that clipped and cut her off, just drove off (figures). We get her bike off to the side, she is pretty beat up but says she's ok. If it was me, I would have been bawling my eyes out or cursing up a storm. We took a little break and then brought the bikes back. We paid only $5 to rent the bikes for the day and both had to pay $15 for the "damages". I just wanted to get out of there at that point and get some stuff for Avis, she is one tough cookie. The next day we were suppose to do a motorbike tour with these guys we rented from but obviously had to cancel. Well the jerks said we couldn't get our money back, lesson learned, don't rent from guys on the street, go to one of the shops so you can get your money back if you need to cancel. So the next day we went to the beach and got two chairs under a canopy and read books and watched the huge waves before our flight back to Saigon.

Overall it was a great trip, I loved getting out of the city and doing some traveling. We saw so much and met lots of cool people. There were backpackers of all ages and from all different countries. I can't wait till Jen, Danielle, and Aly come in Dec to do more traveling.

This past week was long and tiring, hard to get back into the swing of things. But I joined the gym in our complex, which is way more convienent and will have spinning classes. Also the machines are the newest models. You can plug your ipod in and it charges it, plays music, plays videos on the machine, or you can watch tv. Also it has nike ipod so it will record your workout to your ipod and you can access the information online, awesome.

As many of you know I've been struggling with my weight for some time now but especially the past 6 months and haven't been able to get myself back into workout mode. Well I finally feel hope again. I worked out Tuesday which was great, but it was really yesterday and today that gave me that courage that I can do this. I downloaded the new season of Project Runway on itunes and put some episodes on my ipod. Yesterday and today I did an hour on the eliptical watching the show. I finally found a way to motivate myself and trick myself into getting back into shape, this added incentive is perfect for me. We all know I love working out, especially running and hopefully I will get back to that place of habit. The Terry Fox run is coming up this month here and it is my goal to run it, actually I will run it, my goal is to get in better shape for it.

Honestly I've had many obstacles and struggles while here but overall I am so happy I came here, once you see some of the pictures of my students and me teaching you will see the happiness. My biggest downfall is my weight struggle, it is messing with my head a little so having this feeling right now that I can get myself back into "jenn" shape is encouraging. I know I have a long, long way to go. But right now I'm just trying to enjoy working out again, because once I do that, the weight will come off. So please send me your prayers and happy thoughts that I stay on track, because my life is pretty amazing. I have the best family and friends, I love my job, I have supportive co-workers and slowly I am going to get myself back completely - mind, body, and spirit!

Fall Break here I come!!!

Well folks, my flight leaves in 3 hours so I'm headed to the airport to see some of this beautiful country. Avis and I are going to Hue, Hoi An, and Nha Trang for the next week. I can't wait to see the Imperial City, French Quarters, get some tailor made clothes, and of course relax on the beach! I'll take lots of pictures and blog about my adventure when I get back. I am leaving my computer behind because I'm on vacation, whohoo! But I will have my cell phone with me if needed! I'm so excited!!

Canadian Thanksgiving

Last night I was an “honorary” Canadian, really I just wanted to be able to have at least one Thanksgiving dinners while here. It was delicious; it was the closest I felt to being home, all the yummy Western food. It was also free flowing wine and beer, too bad it was a Monday night. I went with 9 other people from ISSP and we had our own table, it was a great time.
I know I worried a lot of people after my last post, I think I should have titled it differently, I wasn’t necessarily homesick, I was more fed up with the situation. Don’t get me wrong I miss my family and friends a lot and the securities of home. I just hit a wall after the equipment debacle. They are telling me now that I am going to get the rest of my equipment, but it hasn’t been placed so I don’t know about that. But last Tuesday I was finally allowed in the multipurpose room, my gym. The floor is less than to be desired, but I’m just glad to have my own space to use. I am not sure if we are keeping this floor or what is happening, it is kind of like a rubberized track, but not as nice or thick. I asked for a hard wood floor like a gym back home but they went this route, just not sure it will last long. When the kids fall down they scrap off skin, the floor is not smooth so it just makes me cringe when I see the students fall. Also I have these four HUGE pillars in my room, they are padded (I told them I wouldn’t teach in there unless they were) and the children love hiding behind them. In fact all of the Pre-Kindergarten class can fit behind one of them. It is really tricky teaching with these in there; I can’t see the whole class from any one spot in the room so I have to constantly be moving. Also there are concrete stairs with wood paneling over them jutting out from the stage, another safety problem I am trying to work around. Part of the floor on the other side wasn’t covered so that is another spot of concern. I am not so much as complaining as stating facts about my “space.” I just want to provide a safe learning environment for the students, that is my number one thing as a PE teacher and it is challenging but I am finding ways. The workers that are still in our school are trying to make it harder though. They like to start cleaning the floor right before I have a class, they turn off my AC (big boo) and do work in my room at night and don’t clean up. They actually started installing speakers in the room until I asked them to wait till after class. Ahh Vietnam! But the biggest thing is the students enjoy coming to my class and love learning and being active. You can throw more obstacles at me and I will keep on finding ways to teach these students because it is my passion. Just this past week one of my 3rd graders that still can’t jump rope, finally got it in long rope and we looked at each other, both kind of shocked and excited. I live for those moments, it is what teaching is about and when I get obstacles in my way here I just try to keep that in perspective.
I love my job and I know there are people out there that think physical education in a joke and that I don’t do anything. It hurts that people, especially teachers feel that way, because we all need to work together to make things come together in our school. We are all important, all subjects in school. I work hard at thinking of ways to teach students how to be active and learn new skills. I reinforce things they learn in class as well. I am just going to keep on doing my job and people will see that I really do make a difference and until then I am going to do my best, because that is all I can do. You can’t make someone see something differently if they don’t want to, but you can do your best!