Van Den Bondes in Vietnam

My friends Carey Van Den Busch and Jason Bonde came to visit me in Vietnam for the holidays! I've asked them to write a guest blog entry sharing their favorite moments and memories.  Thanks for your post, and thanks MORE for visiting me!  Come back soon.
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After 42 hours of strenuous travel, we finally arrived in HCMC.  Samantha was the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.  All we wanted to do now was shower and change clothes.  We soon met her roommates, jumped into a couple of taxis, and headed over to the Caravelle Hotel for a wonderful Christmas dinner buffet, complete with Vietnamese Santa!  The food went on forever and the drinks were non-stop.  There was something for everyone from fruit, to seafood, to sushi, ham, sweets… even picky eaters were stuffed.

Welcoming committee

Xin Chao, Santa!

The next day, we were picked up by our private driver and Phu, who would be our travel guide for the next day and half.  We headed out of HCMC and into the Mekong Delta region, with Phu basically grilling Samantha on her Vietnam knowledge.  To Samantha’s credit (and Phu’s surprise), she answered most of his questions correctly.  After a quick stop at a roadside rest stop, we hopped on a boat which headed out to one of the islands in the Mekong River.  In short order, we enjoyed honey kumquat tea, checked out a bee farm, held a fairly large python, enjoyed many varieties of local fruit and finally jumped into a small canoe for a river ride one can only describe as intense.  The waterway was packed full of canoes jockeying for position in an attempt to get down the river.  The person at the front of the canoe pushed boats out the way, paddling when the waterway was clear, while the person in the back steered us down the waterway.

Fruit and tea

Bravery at its best

Mekong Delta traffic jam

After another short boat ride, we stopped at a shop that made coconut candy, and then found another lady that made super thin coconut and banana pancakes.  (We made sure to stock up for our soon-to-be relaxing time on a beach.)  But still we weren’t done!  Onward to a bumpy horse and carriage ride, then finally a chance to sit down and breathe at lunch, where we enjoyed a feast of red snapper, mixed vegetables, grilled shrimp and fried rice.

Pancakes drying in the sun

Bumpy ride

A quick boat ride back to the car, then onward to our homestay family.  After entrusting our bags and suitcases to strangers on motorbikes, we walked approximately a kilometer down river until we came across this beautiful house and garden, just in time for dinner that we would be responsible for cooking (thankfully with help)!  On the menu were spring rolls lightly grilled in oil and omelet/pancakes with mixed veggies.  After such a busy, fun-filled day and delicious dinner, we were ready to turn in.  Jason and I shared our own room and Samantha was in the room next to us.  We were separated by a few thin boards, but were able to have some privacy from each other.  Other guests at the homestay stayed in a different area of the sleeping quarters.

Mekong Bell Hop

Learning to make spring rolls

The next morning, we hopped onto another boat to tour the largest floating market in the Mekong Delta.  Each boat displayed their wares on long sticks for potential customers.  After a few stops to see how rice noodles are made and more tasty fruit at a home that also grills snakes (!), we headed back into the city of Can Tho to check out a city market that could only be described as bustling with a “distinctive” smell.  A quick lunch, then onward to the airport – the beautiful island of Phu Quoc awaits!

Mekong River

Produce displayed on boats

Floating market

Can Tho Market

Few words can describe the beauty of Phu Quoc.  Our tiny bungalow was quite cozy for the three of us.  Samantha quickly had a cot delivered for her to sleep on and remedied the situation of having a very open concept bathroom – thank goodness for the privacy curtain!  We were mere steps from the beach and bar.  For our first full day at the Thanh Kieu Resort we lazed on the beach enjoying the warm weather, blue water and tasty drinks.  Jason decided to get a beach massage (for a paltry $5 USD) that ended up with an upsell to full back threading!  There’s a story that will never get old.  Carey opted for a safe manicure from the persistent beach vendor.  For dinner we ventured up the road and ended at Itaca Restaurant and Lounge.  The atmosphere was trendy, the food was scrumptious, and the company was beyond compare. 

Sunset on Long Beach

The next day was an all-day Southern Island Tour.  First stop was a Pearl Farm where we learned a bit about the creation of pearls, browsed an enormous showroom with so much jewelry that it’s surprising Carey didn’t have a heart attack.  Next stop:  a SIM wine factory with samples that no one loved and a quick walk into the fields to show us the Myrtle flower, which is used in the creation of the wine.  After another quick stop (come to think about it, every stop was quick) at a second pearl farm, we headed to the Coconut Prison, which was used during the Vietnam War to keep North Vietnamese POWs.  The depictions of prison life were extremely graphic, and the descriptions were very anti-American propaganda.  A whirlwind stop at a fish sauce factory completed the morning itinerary.  Finally a two hour break at Sao Beach for lunch, and to cool our heels on the beach chairs and in the breaking water.  That did much to recharge our batteries, after such a hectic schedule in the morning.

Pearl

Coconut Prison

Fish Sauce / Stench Factory

Sao Beach

After our lunch and swim, we drove to a waterfall on Thanh Stream that promised beautiful photo opportunities.  What wasn’t made clear to us was the 600 meter roundtrip uphill walk on small boulders to get to there.  It was beautiful as promised, but after we got back to the van, nerves were frayed and feet most definitely sore.  On the way back to the resort we stopped at a pepper farm that really wasn’t much more than pointing out the pepper plants, and finally we headed back to the resort.  We couldn’t wait to walk in the water and enjoy the sunset from our beach.  Dinner at a neighboring resort, capped with alcoholic ice drinks ended another fun-filled day.

Thanh Stream Waterfall

Sunset dip

Carey was up early making sure the Packers pulled out a win over the Bears (and they did!)  The next day we headed down to the beach for a relaxing morning and afternoon before our night squid fishing adventure began.  We were picked up at 5:00pm and met another terrific couple from England staying at our resort.  We became fast friends.  Once on the boat, we relaxed on the upper deck to watch the sun dip below the horizon, then headed down below to get ready to catch (not so monster) squid.  Overall, it was an ‘A’ for effort, but an ‘F’ for execution.  Not one person (save the tour guide) caught a squid, and that seemed to be fine for everyone.  Nonetheless we were served a nice dinner as we made our way back to shore.

Squid fishing boat

Casting a line

Catch of the day

Early the next day we sadly said good-bye to Phu Quoc, nearly dragging Carey to the airport.  We had forgotten how busy HCMC was and were quickly thrust back into city life. Samantha took us to have our first taste of Pho.  Jason loved it!  Carey had a difficult time with the spoon in one hand and chopsticks in the other.  We then made our way across the world’s busiest round-a-bout (or so it seemed) and checked out the Ben Thanh Market for some souvenirs.  After a quick drink on a rooftop bar (bottles of beer for less than $1 USD – wow!), we taxied back home to get ready to ring in the New Year.

Ben Thanh Market

Saigon from the rooftop bar

We headed over to a Western bar called McSorley’s, where a meager $25 USD cover included one hour of free beer, buffet snacks, dancing and revelry.  Also, we were given a playing card that could be matched up to create Poker hands (flush, full house, etc) giving us the opportunity to mingle with other partygoers.  In short order Jason, Samantha and her housemate Nick matched up a full house with two other people and were gifted with a bottle of Champagne.  Not to be outdone, Carey quickly found some other people and won a free bottle of bubbly herself.  Although the countdown to New Year’s wasn’t as grand as Times Square, we can now check off “celebrate NYE in a foreign country” from our bucket list.

Champagne!

January 1st marked our last day in Vietnam, and as expected, the day started off slow.  The plan was to spend the day walking around doing typical touristy stuff.  We checked out the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office, both beautiful buildings featuring French architecture.  Our last stop for the day was the Reunification Palace, which was the main government building when Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam.  It was also the site of the end of the Vietnam War when North Vietnamese tanks crashed through its gates.  After a few hours relaxing back at Samantha’s place, we headed to the Opera House to see a performance of “AO Show”, which can best be described as Cirque de Soleil with baskets and bamboo.  Our verdict: simply amazing!

Notre Dame Cathedral

Inside the Post Office

Reunification Palace

Zipping up our bags for the final time and hauling them out to the street was certainly bittersweet.  Hugs and goodbyes were shared, then onward to the airport for 28 hours of travel ending in Milwaukee, where temperatures hovered in the single digits.  Even in the frigid Wisconsin cold, memories of HCMC and Phu Quoc won’t soon be forgotten.  Thank you for being a wonderful host, Samantha!

Hen gap lai!

~Carey and Jason

Buon Ma Thuot: Why I'll Never Learn My Lesson

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I woke up suddenly in a still-semi-drunk fog.  What’s that sound?  Is that my head pounding? Where am I? Oh, look, I remembered to change into my pajamas last night.  Good for me.

Bang! Bang! “Samantha! Wake up!”

Ok, not just my head pounding.  I stumbled over to the door to see what sort of fire Sarah had set in her room.  Surely there was no other reason for her to be waking me up so rudely in the middle of the night.

“Huh?” I mumbled through half-closed eyes as I cracked open the bedroom door.

“We’re late! We have to leave NOW!”

“What?  No. What time is it?”  I run to my phone and look at the clock.  “5:07?!?!  Oh my god!  What happened?  Hurry!!!”

We both screamed up the stairs to wake up Nick, and as I slammed the door and rushed to the bathroom to brush my teeth, the previous night’s events began to become clear in my mind.

I hadn’t planned to get drunk.  It was an accident, really.  The evening had started innocently enough, eating dinner with friends and drinking a few beers.  But then we grabbed a couple more beers to enjoy on the cab ride over to Cargo, and things went downhill from there.  We went to see The Cribs play a show, and since I had never heard of them, I didn’t mind hanging out a little bit too close to the bar and mingling with the seemingly hundreds of people I knew at the venue.  And somehow (who ever really knows how these things happen?) I drank maybe one too many and then lost track of how many too many I was drinking.

Luckily, I had packed my bag the night before.  I threw on my clothes and thought to myself, “This is ridiculous.  We’re never going to make it.  It’s twelve after five already and our flight LEAVES at 6:05!”

I could hear Sarah running around in a frantic dash and wondered if Nick had even moved from the bed.

“NICK!!! ARE YOU AWAKE??”  I screamed out the door, only considering poor Dave sleeping across the hall after it was too late.  Sorry, Dave.

Well, whatever.  Either Nick’s ready in five minutes or he isn’t.  Must find camera battery.  Must pack deodorant.  Must drink coffee.  Must stop drinking beer. 

5:18.  I ran downstairs, double-checking that I had my passport.  Shoes, shoes, where are my shoes?  Sarah flew into the living room, bag packed, the shock of the morning having wiped any sign of a hangover from her eyes.

“Where’s Nick?  Is he coming?  I’ll go flag down a cab.  Hurry!!”  Sarah ran off, leaving me to yell for Nick yet again.  

After a few minutes of pacing by the front gate, a couple more shouting matches up and down the stairs (sorry, Dave!!), and one more passport check, Nick and I went dashing through the alley to catch up with Sarah.  Thankfully, she had a cab waiting for us on the main road.

The cabbie must have sensed the panic in our voices as we frantically encouraged him to get us to the airport terminal ASAP.  At lightning speed through the deserted early-morning streets, the taxi driver catapulted us across town in what MUST have been record time.  A mere 11 minutes from our house to the airport?  Unheard of!

5:40.  We tumbled out of the cab and scrambled through the growing crowds of people towards the check-in counter.  There was no line, of course, because all the sensible people had long-since checked in for the flight.  Most of them were probably already seated, carry-on luggage stowed safely in the overhead compartment, waiting patiently for the taxi to the runway.

“Can we still check in for Buon Ma Thuot?  Please!!” I begged, thrusting our passports across the counter.  “We’re not checking any bags!  We can run!”

The woman glanced at our passports and picked up her walkie talkie.  I have no idea what she said, but it was probably along the lines of, “Hey, I have three idiots down here at the counter, reeking of stale cigarettes, alcohol sweats, and desperation, asking to board the flight to Buon Ma Thuot.”

It was now after 5:45am; the flight was scheduled to leave at 6:05.  But because this is Vietnam, the land of miracles, we were allowed to check in for the flight.  Home free!

Or not.

Upstairs in the hall, there were ten impossibly long lines waiting to go through security.  Where are all these people going?? It’s not even 6am!  We chose a short-ish looking line and held our breath.  It’s fine.... we’re checked in.  Right??

As we watched the security lines on either side of move faster than ours, we exchanged worried glances, but didn’t dare utter any reality-based phrases about not making the flight.  Positive thoughts only.

5:58.  I made it through security was recombobulating my bags.  Oh man, only seven minutes till the flight leaves.  Will they let us board the plane?

6:00.  We approached the boarding gate, and the agents must have be warned about us by the walkie talkie lady down at the ticket counter.  They chuckled a bit and scanned our boarding passes.

As we walked down the stairs towards the boarding area, we all finally exhaled and celebrated our success.  Hungover and with less than an hour between wake-up and take off, we made it.

And it’s a good thing we did.  The strange adventures did not end at the boarding gate.  By the end of the weekend, we had exited a taxi at a gas station in a random small town, walked aimlessly through said small town while being greeted by every citizen, mimed with locals to find out how to catch a bus, saw a family purchase a plastic bag full of live baby ducks, chatted with a local man outside his barber shop while waiting for a bus, sang My Heart Will Go On with a couple Vietnamese teenagers in the backseat of a bus, canoed around a lake, rode an elephant, drank too much coffee, been driven around rural villages on motorbikes without helmets, accidentally ate snake, been asked to be Facebook friends with some dude at a street food restaurant, and argued over the rules of strange card games.

Apparently, you can stay out too late, be over served, forget to set an alarm, and STILL have all your travel dreams come true!

Tiny little town Ea K'Tur
We may have been the first foreigners to wander the streets...

Duck delivery?

Bus stop

Our Celine Dion singing partners

Lak Resort
Ho Lak, Vietnam

Tin roofs, satellite TV

Ho Lak / Lak Lake

Dugout canoe ride

Jun Village

Riding an elephant across a lake... I love my life!

Ho Lak elephant

Under the Sea

One night, as I sat watching the BBC documentary Life with my housemates, I got it in my head that I wanted to learn to scuba dive.  Seeing footage of all the crazy fish and weird coral that live down in the water made me realize: I MUST see it for myself.

So I booked a very last minute trip to Thailand with my coworker Hannah and set off to swim with the fishes.  Twenty four hours and a xe om, plane, taxi, subway, sky train, night train, bus, and ferry later, we arrived in beautiful Koh Tao. 

Hannah rides the rails

Night train fun

Finally!  Koh Tao!

We stayed at Crystal Dive Resort on Koh Tao, and I signed up for the PADI Open Water Diver course.  After checking in to the bungalow and eating lunch, I started my course that afternoon.  The first day was less than thrilling, just watching videos and taking quizzes, but the promise of underwater adventure was just below the surface (see what I did there?).  

Crystal Dive Resort

Path to our bungalow

Pretty nice classroom, if you ask me

Another day of videos, quizzes, an exam (perfect score, whaaaat??), and practicing the basics in the swimming pool, and we were ready to dive to the bottom of the big blue sea.  I had worked myself into quite a little nervous wreck the night before, imagining myself getting tangled in seaweed, having my leg chopped off by the boat propellor, and slowing drowning due to a regulator malfunction.  But the morning of the first open water dives, I woke up early, all my death dreams pushed aside, ready to see some sharks and giant squid. 

Setting sail for the dive site

Even though I had aced the written exam, I struggled a bit with the practical side of diving.  I couldn’t really remember all the steps of checking your equipment before getting in the water, and I mostly relied on my partner to make sure everything was in working order.  Luckily there were seven people on the course, which put me the odd man out, so I was paired with one of the Dive Master trainers, Daniel.  I felt confident he wouldn’t let me jump in the water without all the gauges and other doodads operating properly.  

And once I was in the water and it was time to descend to the depths, I quickly discovered that filling in the correct circles on a test doesn’t actually mean you’ll be a great diver.  Right away my ears felt like they were going to explode from the sides of my head, and I strained to make them pop and equalize.  I rarely have trouble when flying, so I assumed it would be the same for diving: just swallow a few times and move on.  But no.  I had to be privately coached on how to do that thing where you plug your nose and blow to pop your ears, with the added graceful element of shaking your head from side to side to force the air bubbles out of your ear canal.  But the dive instructor Brandon was very patient, even when he had to drag me down to the bottom by the weight belt because I was too focused on blowing my ears to remember to actually descend below the surface.

Anyways, now for the good parts.

DIVING IS AWESOME.  You breathe under the water.  Like a fish.  No holding your breath.  No going up to the surface for air.  Just swimming around, free as a fish.

Over the course of two days, we did four open water dives for our certification.  We saw tons of cool fish and swam over some beautiful coral.  I’ve just spent about twenty minutes here at my computer trying to figure out how to best describe the experience, but no words can do the trick.  The only thing that comes close to doing it justice is this video taken by the resort on the last day of our dive certification course. 

My debut as choreographer comes in minute ten :)

That night we celebrated our new qualifications by drinking too many beers and playing with geckos.

Books and beers: the perfect studying combo

So tame

Maybe too tame

Before heading back to reality, we squeezed two more dives in on the morning before the ferry.  The second dive took us around a ship wreck, which was equally spectacular and creepy.  

Buddy check complete!

Sitting on the upper deck of the ferry boat speeding away from Koh Tao and towards Chumphon (Chumporn?  Chumpaloompah?), I reached up and discovered that I’d lost an earring somewhere in the depths of the Gulf of Thailand.  A small price to pay for one of the most remarkable experiences of my life (so far)!

Swing 

I want to go baaaaaack!

Less jewelry, more freckles

And it’s all thanks to David Attenborough.... 

Open Water experts!

Tessa

Brandon, me

Akhmed, Ollie, Tina

Piotr, Snir, Justin

It's the Little Things...

Today’s article is written for the Reach To Teach Teach Abroad Blog Carnival, a monthly series that focuses on providing helpful tips and advice to ESL teachers around the globe. I'll be posting a new ESL related article on my blog on the 5th of every month. Check back for more articles, and if you'd like to contribute to next month's Blog Carnival, please contact Dean at dean@reachtoteachrecruiting.com, and he will let you know how you can start participating!  For more tales of proud classroom moments from around the world, check out the other links for December's Blog Carnival.

It’s difficult to choose one moment in my time teaching abroad that I could label as my “best” or “proudest”.  When you’re in a career like teaching, there are so many highs (mixed with a healthy dose of lows), sometimes they become the norm, and you forget to be grateful for them.  But reflecting on those moments can be a real boost to your morale, giving you a jolt of energy and feeling of accomplishment.  

In the spirit of reflection, I’m going to share a few of my fondest memories, simple as they may seem.  I truly can’t choose just one!

Two years ago, when I was teaching in Taiwan, I had a sweet little class of three six-year-old girls.  They started with me in August in the very lowest level class, learning to say “hello” and recite the alphabet.  But by winter, we were reading simple books and chatting up a storm every week.  It’s amazing what young brains taught in a small group can absorb!

Reenacting the barber shop scene in "Kipper's Haircut"

I had a student in Taiwan that changed his name three times in the course of a year.  His name started out as Dan, but since there were two other boys in the class who had chosen the name Daniel, he decided he wanted to be different.  (Side note: the name Daniel is very popular in Taiwan because it’s Hello Kitty’s boyfriend’s name!)  Dan was not one for subtlety, so he chose to rename himself as Milk.  Yes, Milk.  Now, I loved this ‘name’ and did not question his decision.  It fit him quite well.  But his mother did not like this dairy moniker, so it was back to the drawing board.  After some deliberation, he came back to class rebranded as Mario.  I couldn’t help but sing the theme song every time I called his name for register.  

Check out his artwork.  Hahahaha!
Full credit :)

So many of the students here at British International School Vietnam come to class everyday with a great attitude and an excitement for learning.  It’s refreshing, really, to not battle constantly with behavioral issues (although I deal with a fair amount of this too) and to actually focus on teaching and learning.  This allows for breakthrough moments for the students.  I had a six-year-old girl earlier this year read a sentence independently during class.  She was so proud of herself because this was the first sentence she had ever read on her own!  She read the sentence, “The chick is in the egg,” and immediately broke into a huge smile and shouted out, “I read! I read by myself!”  A truly heartwarming moment that I had to capture on film.

Proud moment; first-time reader!

Here in Vietnam, I’m teaching the youngest students I’ve ever had in my class.  My four-year-olds are particularly cute, and they make me smile everyday when they insist on calling me “Ms. Samantha Cinderella Princess.”  I mean.... come on.  Too much cute.  Since I’ve never taught kids this young, I’m still learning the best practices and what appropriate goals are for this age.  Every once in a while, I come up with something that turns out fairly well, like this gem:

With these little cherubs surrounding me on a daily basis, it’s no wonder I can’t choose just ONE best moment!