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.....

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!

Homesick

I'm officially homesick. I have at times missed home before but today I had a "What the heck was I thinking coming here?" moment. I seriously just want to dig a hole and hide in it for awhile. I finally after two months got my PE equipment, except what I was told I was getting and what I got were two different things. Up until they delivered the shipment on friday I had this order form given to me saying what I would be receiving in the order. I was pretty stoked and excited because I knew I would have so much to work with and that finally it would be a little bit easier. But today I opened all the boxes by myself and low and behold didn't get a 1/3 of the thing I had ordered and was told were coming. They gave me a new sheet today with the order that was placed. I am just angry that I was told for months that I was getting this order and then I get a completely different one. Many of the things they said can be made in Vietnam, well then why aren't they made and at the school already, I placed this order at the end of February. I mean they even got rid of my gym mats and jump ropes. Both can be made here, but I don't see any gym mats! Also the jump ropes here are terrible, I bought some when i arrived to use temporarily and most of them have broken, I just don't understand why they would take jump ropes off the list and not even tell me. My first request on the order was for this ultimate scooter game pack and yes they did order it but it didn't come. I am just so angry and frustrated right now. I wanted this so bad and really I am so happy here, the children are amazing and my coworkers are great but I've never done this before. This is my first time teaching and I still don't have a "gym" after two months, the equipment I was told was coming, isn't, and I just feel like no one gives a rats....

I don't want to complain about it more but I am just so frustrated. I just want to teach the children and have the tools to do that. I really think I have a great boss who knows what she is doing but this whole working for a corporation as a school thing is tough. Especially when they have never done it before and don't know really want we need, just that they need to cut costs and do it where they see fit.

Today I am just sitting here wondering why I got myself into this. I mean finding a job back home would have been hard but at least they would have the tools needed to teach. I just feel so let down after opening up my boxes and seeing the final order. I just don't see how they plan on having a physical education program out of those items, especially when about 3 grand of equipment didn't even show up.

I'm so conflicted right now. Being type A and a perfectionist is really kicking my butt right now. I just want to do such an amazing job teaching and feel I am letting people down right now. It is just so hard to be all excited to get to work when I'm in a little room that echoes so much with random equipment that is falling apart. I really thought that once I received the equipment I ordered I would be better and once I got the "gym" I would be smooth sailing. I just wish I would have known that what I ordered was tossed out and replaced.

Really needing the love and support of my family and friends right now. Just hard right now being so far away, what I wouldn't give for a hug from one of you!

Birthday in Nam

Here are my birthday buys!!

Well I'm another year older, at the point where we don't need to actually say the age anymore. But I did have a wonderful birthday here in Vietnam, it was more like a 4 day celebration. On friday night there was a group of 20 of us that went to Barbeque Garden to eat. We ordered lots of yummy food, me mostly meat (of course) to grill at the table. It was a great chill time. After some people went out to party but I was hot and tired and wanted to save myself for saturday night. I know I can't party two nights in a row anymore.

Saturday I went out with Stephanie, Sophie, Todd, Avis, Frank, Nell, and Stacey. We went to four different bars. Started off in the backpackers district for a fish bowl for only $8, yummy. The dj even played happy birthday for me. Then went to a cowboy saloon that had a phillipino cover band playing metallica among other awesome songs. They were hilarious, it was a great time. I made friends with a regular and got 3 free gin and tonics. Also met the manager of the bar and band and he had them sing happy birthday to me (AWESOME) and they gave me a gift. So I am now the owner of a beautiful cd case that has a picture of Seventeen Saloon on it saying "Best Music in the Town" I used it as my purse for the rest of the night, my little wristie. I partied like it was my birthday that is for sure. I had a great time and finished up the night with street pho at 4am. It was my first time having street pho and it was delicious. It was so odd sitting on little plastic stools with different plates and silverware than each other, rats in the background. But really it was amazing and ONE DOLLAR, crazy huh?

My awesome birthday partying definitely hit me hard on sunday, let's just say I had a rough morning errr day. I might not have changed out of my pjs all day! It was rough but worth it. Monday brought me back to school for my actual birthday. It was super sweet, the kids sang me happy birthday and some of them gave me gifts, one 4th grader brought me cookies, another made me a card, it was so cute. Avis made me chocolate chip cookies, they were spectacular and made me think about my mom and how she always made me birthday cookies. So the day went well. I tried to tell the younger classes that my birthday was a holiday, not sure if they believed me. After work I went to dinner with Diane and Vicky at Restaurant 13, it is a yummy place right on the Saigon River, they surprised me and treated me to dinner, it was really sweet. After I went to Fanny's for dessert with Avis and Stephanie and had a yummy crepe from them on my bday. I didn't expect all the love and caring from my coworkers because we haven't known each other that long but I really really appreciated all that they did for me from dinner on friday, to drinks sat, and going out on my bday, monday. It was a great time, it was the first time I was really far away from home. I had a blast and even got to see my mom and dad sing me happy birthday on skype! Not sure what I would do without skype, I can't believe I lived in London for 6 months and only got to hear my parents voices on the phone, skype is incredible. You all need to get it stat. My name is jenniferahuff, find me!

So today I decided to go treat myself for my birthday and do a little shopping. I am still having some trouble going into the little shops because the people are like "one size" or "that is too small for you." I know I am bigger than I use to be and of course bigger than the people here but they have no tact at all, it gets frustrating and I still haven't gotten my skin thick enough to not let it bug me. But I found some awesome deals and a shop that had "Big Sizes" ha ha! Even though it is frustrating to hear those comments and find things my size, it is a steal shopping here. If you guys need a new winter coat, snowboard pants, north face anything, come here. They have all this stuff, new and cheap. Also they have banana republic, zara, gap, dkny, calvin klein, you name it. Basically everything you can buy back home is here. It is here because if they print the wrong size on the label or the cut of the top is a little off, they give it to people here, cheap. So here is what I bought today at Lucky Plaza: white capris $5, North Face backpack $5, DKNY top $8, black tank top $6, pink shirt $4, 2 pairs of Nike shorts $6 each, Project Runway Seasons 1-6 $10, The Blind Side dvd <$1, Knight & Day dvd <$1, a wooden map of Vietnam for our apartment wall $9. Bringing the grand total of my shopping spree to $60. Did I mention I love shopping here?

So yes I'm another year older, but I had a great birthday here in Vietnam and it wouldn't have been so special without my coworkers here. I also really felt the love from back home in emails, facebook messages, and on skype, thank you!!!!