End of November

Sorry it's been awhile, I've been pretty busy with teaching and getting things together for accrediation for the school. As a start up school we have lots to do and at times it is overwhelming but all seems to work out in the end. I have a curriculum to work off of but I was able to make up my unit plans and themes for PE which is pretty cool, I love having the creativity freedom to try new things. I came up with 6 yearly unit themes for my Kindergarten thru Third Grade classes, they are Manipulative Madness, Take Turns & Tag, Fitness Fanatics, Throwing Rolling Kicking, Scooter Sensation, and Rhythm & Movement. I like have a fun name to the unit theme for the kids and under these topics I can cover so many skills and concepts. The students love coming in and seeing what the daily theme is up on the wall with my posters too. My curriculum director thought the idea was great and liked how I think outside the box and make it more fun and motivating for the students. For my 4th and 5th graders I am doing sports theme units such as soccer, football, etc. It will get interesting towards the end of the year because I don't have volleyballs, basketballs, badminton, tennis, so my creativity with really have to come out. Also with school we are working on WASC accrediation, it takes a few years but we have to compile lots of documentation that we are fulfilling the requirements to be accredited. So all of this plus grading for report cards makes one busy Jenn.

Last week was quite weird, it was the first time ever that I worked on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Thanksgiving wasn't too bad here, it wasn't till friday here that I got a little sad and thought about how back home everyone was together celebrating. We had a Thanksgiving Potluck with all the foreign teachers at Mary's apartment, it was delicious and very nice. I had to eat at the little table in the other room, so it was just like Thanksgiving back home, always at the kids table. But this time the wine was in our room :-) Black Friday was a long long day, many of us were just not really there, it was weird knowing all our family was together and no one was working. But I was able to connect with my mom many times that morning and it was almost like I was part of Black Friday with her, so that was great.

Oh I almost forgot I got parasites last week. I had to take a sick day last monday and go to the doctor here. After numerous tests they figured out I had an infection and parasites, great. I was put on 3 different meds, one of which made me really nauseous but by Thanksgiving I was better finally. My doctor visit wasn't too bad and my health insurance here covered it so that was nice. But I do not want parasites again, painful and not fun!

So only 2 more weeks of teaching after this one and then my 3 week Christmas break, I can't wait. I am planning on going to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Singapore by myself for a few days then Nell, the librarian and I are going to Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam December 24th-28th for some sun and relaxation for Christmas. Then Jen, Danielle, and Aly come on the 30th and we go off traveling in Cambodia and Thailand. So lots of traveling coming up and I'm super excited. If anyone has any suggestions on places to go or stay let me know. Also any words to the wise for me. I did travel alone in Europe for 9 days but any advice is appreciated. I love and miss you all so much, last week was hard being so far away and thinking about Christmas makes me sad too. That's why my break is filled with traveling to keep me busy!

Did I mention....

Yes I am wearing shorts & sunglasses in the snow!!

.....it is 1998 here in Vietnam, seriously. I have heard so many old school Britney Spears songs, NSync, and Backstreet Boys that I sometimes have to look around and make sure I'm not in the halls of GHS. At first I just thought it was the Pearl Cafe, but no at the gym, at random stores, it is bizarre and a blast from the past.

....when it rains it dumps buckets, within minutes. Last night I was downtown at the Market doing a little Xmas shopping and grabbed some Japanese before hailing a taxi back to the apartment. I get in the cab and tell him my address and he tells me no, too much rain, flood. The next one said the same one, I had to wait till an SUV/van type taxi came by. It is literally so bad on the street by our apartment complexs that motorbikes flood, it gets knee deep sometimes, crazy. I saw two people on motorbikes get hosed by a truck the other day, kind of laughed and then realized that could be me. I'll still to cabs in HCMC, people drive like maniacs here.

.....there are no rules when it comes to driving. Ok there are probably some, but from watching people drive here, I would say no, none. You can go down a one way, you can drive on the other side of the street, cut people off. It is all about how can "I" get to where I need to go the fastest, take the sidewalk, yep I think I will.

.....crosswalks are non existent, even if you find one that means nothing. The traffic never stops and it is never "your" right away. I've learned that if you look at the traffic and try to cross they keep on coming and you have to dodge them but if you take a leap of faith and look at the traffic and then just start walking looking forward at the other side of the street, they go around you. It's a risk but it has paid off so far. Also people put up their hand to stop the traffic and then cross the street, looks so funny but I tried it once and think it worked.

....Vietnamese is the hardest language ever. I mean think about it, in the U.S. we all speak english and look at how different we sound. Now if you equate that to Vietnam we would all be saying different things in their language. Heck when I say thank you here I might be saying rice cereal sometimes, who knows. I never realized how much spanish I actually knew until I came here, sometimes I just want to try spanish.

.....the workers at our school are clueless as to how a school runs. Case in point. I come into the Multi Purpose Room (MPR)to teach and they have the huge rolls of carpet out and are setting them out outside the room for Halloween the next day. I tell them I have class and they nod like they understand but keep on going on with their stuff, they almost took out one of my 3rd graders. I just have to laugh it off and say, oh Vietnam. Also today they decided it was time to start jackhammered the stage in MPR while I'm teaching my 2nd grade class. Oh, Vietnam!

.....how tiny the people are here. Like not just short, they are tiny, tiny people. Like I was bigger in 6th grade than most of the population here.

.....Vietnamese children are adorable, I just want to wrap them up and take them home with me. The kids at our school really are the cutest, it is hard to get angry with them because they can give you that cute little smile. Oh but they know Miss Jennifer has an angry side and know they don't want to go there.

.....I went to Snow World this weekend at a big park that had a beach, zoo, amusement park, etc. It cost $2.50. We get in there and they give us a winter coat, rubber boots (felt awesome with bare feet, all wet) and little gloves. We then go into this big freezer with snow (stuff they make at ski resorts). It was so cute, they had a sledding hill. It was great, I felt like I got a little part of home that day. First time I went sledding in shorts.


.....that giraffes have the longest tongues. I got to pet and feed some at the zoo saturday. Their tongues are insane, wow. I also saw a white tiger at the zoo, that was pretty cool.

.....it is still HOT here, yep that's right. Hard to think it is almost Thanksgiving back home, I feel like it is still July or August here.

.....the Cowboys suck, Love the Packers!!!

Until next time.....