For those of you who
have not read my previous blog post (The Journey Begins- part 1) it can be
found here.This blog post continues from where the last one finished- Linda and I were
headed for Nam Dinh city…
As we climbed into the back seat of our car it was a refreshing change only having to fit two people in instead of the up to six people that we managed to fit in a single taxi during our adventures in Hanoi. After a long day I settled in for a few hours on the road and was feeling a mixture of exhaustion and excitement. The first thing that struck me as we drove outside of Hanoi and into more rural regions of Vietnam was how green everything was. I guess it is to be expected that a nation which is nearing the end of monsoon season would have lush green fields but having come from the dusty, brown surroundings of regional New South Wales I found the contrast very stark. The further we travelled out of Hanoi the more rural our surroundings became. The traffic became much less intense and the constant honking of horns dissipated slightly as we headed onto the highway. I watched the changing landscape with fascination. Some of the sights I had expected such as men and women tending their fields and children riding their bicycles along the side of the road; however, other sites took me somewhat by surprise. A sight that has now become somewhat familiar but initially had me taken aback were the gravesites scattered throughout rice fields or tucked in near a row of banana trees. Some of the headstones are intricately designed with trimmings reminisce of temple designs and a variety of traditional characters and symbols, while others were so plain and unassuming that they all but vanished into the sea of green surrounding them. At first I did not recognise what they were as it was not uncommon to only see a single headstone in the middle of the field- it was not until I saw larger groupings in a cemetery like formation that I cottoned on to what the small temple like statues actually represented. Another sight that took me slightly aback was the continuing density of cities and towns. We would pass by a new city separated from the last at times by only a few kilometres and, like Hanoi, they have buildings so close together it is difficult to determine where one ends and the next begins. Once again having come from regional NSW with its large house blocks and seemingly endless distances between cities I had not consciously comprehended how densely populated Vietnam really is.
As we hit the two hour mark my curiosity and excitement increased- each time we passed a new city I would examine the highway for signs of an exit, wondering if this latest city represented our final destination. Eventually after a further half an hour we turned off the highway and made our way towards Le Hong Phong Gifted High School. As we drove through Nam Dinh City I was immediately struck by the distinct lack of noise and commotion in the streets. It was pouring with rain which tempered the busyness slightly but I would soon come to discover that life in Nam Dinh City is much slower paced than life in Hanoi. Coming from a country town I quickly came to welcome the relative peace and quiet; however, the contrast to Hanoi was so stark as to be slightly disconcerting. Once we arrived at the school we dragged our luggage up our flight of stairs and examined for the first time that place we now call home.
No sooner had we arrived in Nam Dinh City and dumped our (my) ridiculous amounts of luggage in the room than we were whisked off to dinner at a local restaurant with some English teachers and Department of Education staff. Upon arriving in a new and unfamiliar place there is almost always an inherent awkwardness to making conversation which is only intensified when the people you are talking to speak a different language, but we would soon discover that the incredible friendliness and hospitality of the Vietnamese can make even the most unfamiliar situation seem welcoming. Over dinner we engaged in mostly small talk but it was a great opportunity to get to know our mentor teachers and we had the opportunity to sample a seemingly never ending array of unfamiliar Vietnamese cuisine such as bananas the size of my thumb (a speciality in Nam Dinh). Thankfully the snakes in jars that we passed on our way inside do not make their way onto the dinner menu on this particular evening.
Once dinner drew to a close we headed back to Le Hong Phong High School (where we live in the guest house on campus) and said goodbye to the teachers for the night… and that is when the homesickness hit! Homesickness is a very strange and at times overwhelming experience, even more so when you are experiencing it for the first time; it comes in waves and often out of the blue. With time you adjust to the ebb and flow and learn coping mechanisms, but this was the first time I had really stopped and rested since leaving Sydney airport a week earlier, and the homesickness hit me like a tonne of bricks. Vietnam is a beautiful country with absolutely stunning scenery, wonderful people and an amazing sense of liveliness and vibrancy; the noise, the food, the traffic and the frantic sidewalks which perpetually buzz with activity are things which contribute to Vietnam being such a wonderful place to live and volunteer, but they are also be things that can feel incredibly overwhelming at times. On this particular night I was hit with the overwhelming sense of dislike for all of Vietnam’s aforementioned qualities, and after a busy week with a hefty dose of new experiences coupled with absolute exhaustion I felt alienated and completely overwhelmed. All I wanted to do was jump on a plane a head back to the relative safety and familiarity of Australia. Eventually though, after a lengthy Skype session with my family and a few full nights of sleep my perspective returned and in the coming weeks many things that I wanted to escape would become things that I now cherish about my new home. Speaking of my new home I should probably tell you a bit about Nam Dinh City, Le Hong Phong High School and what it is I am keeping myself occupied with on a daily basis. Once again there really is no better place to start than at the very beginning…
On Friday night after arriving in Nam Dinh I headed to bed exhausted after having spent the last 24hrs settling in to my new surroundings and was relishing the opportunity to rest, sleep in and have what I assumed would be a relatively quiet weekend before meeting the other staff and students bright and early on Monday morning (much to my chagrin and to the amusement of all my friends and family who know my distinct lack of propensity for alertness in the early morning, school begins at 7am every morning here, so bright and early, means bright and early!). So you can imagine my surprise when I woke early in the morning to the incredibly noisy hustle and bustle of 1400 high school students arriving to begin lessons for the day… at 7am on a Saturday morning! It turns out that in Vietnam students attend high school six days a week from Monday to Saturday. Eventually Monday morning rolled and so began another whirlwind week.
During first period Monday mornings a whole school assembly is held where students sit in the blistering sun, on tiny red stools and in perfectly straight class lines to hear announcements and watch performances. This particular morning there was a palpable sense of excitement in the air- as Linda and I headed out to sit with the other teachers the students stared and whispered excitedly. During the assembly we were invited to speak to the students (with no prior notice mind you) and upon our introduction the students let out a massive cheer which would be just the first taste of ongoing life as a celebrity in Nam Dinh. After assembly Linda and I were whisked in opposite directions to visit classes and meet the students for the first time. As I walk down the halls of Le Hong Phong it is not uncommon to receive excited glance as students speculate as to whether or not the ‘Australian volunteer’ may be teaching them next period and this time was no exception. The first time I entered a classroom I received excited squeals, cheering and a standing ovation (this would continue for about two weeks) and after some initial shyness I was confronted with a seemingly endless barrage of questions from students wanting to know who is in my family, if I have a boyfriend and “how exactly do you pronounce Wagga Wagga again?… and where exactly is it anyway?”. For the first week or so classes consisted of introductions, games, singing the Australian anthem more times than I can count, and also being serenaded by students singing Taylor Swift songs on more than one occasion. Now that we have been here for a few weeks we have settled into a bit of a routine for teaching with a more regular timetable, and teaching the students is becoming the absolute highlight of this whole experience. The students enthusiasm is absolutely amazing (especially the English Major students) and I really cherish the chance to get up each day and teach the students a skill that they appreciate and value so dearly.
Outside of the classroom life has been somewhat slower paced but I am still very much enjoying it. For anyone wanting to know what it is like to be a celebrity, move to Vietnam and you may just find out! As far as I can tell I am the only Caucasian person living in Nam Dinh and as a result whenever I dare to venture outside the school gates I draw no shortage of stares, and have left many mouths agape in my stead as I wander around the streets. People ‘subtly’ take photos of me on their phones, teenage girls wave and giggle nervously and many a person will run up to me excitedly and say “hello” and then remember that is all the English they know and nervously depart with a smile and a nod, and I have received more compliments and proclamations of beauty since arriving than I have perhaps received in my whole life before coming here!. When I first arrived the attention was overwhelming as any sense of anonymity I once possessed whilst undertaking life’s more mediocre tasks like shopping or exercising was now shrouded in a constant haze of fascination from others. For me the novelty swiftly waned. Now that I have been here a while the stares have lessened somewhat in the immediate suburbs and when I venture further out I meet the stares (which almost always are a result of curiosity rather than impoliteness) with a friendly but direct smile which often disarms people just enough that they smile back politely and continue on their way, whilst I quietly smile to myself in amusement. There are of course times where such status is enjoyable… My students seem to adore me (and I adore them!) and their excitement and enthusiasm has kept me going through good days and bad. I am also never without food or entertainment- since arriving in Nam Dinh I have been invited out to dinner more times than I can count, to restaurants and homes of teachers or students and have come to value the incredible hospitality that the Vietnamese people so eagerly bestow upon their guests.
Every Friday we take time out from our regular classes to visit other schools throughout Nam Dinh Province and we once again find ourselves surrounded by a palpable air of enthusiasm as students embrace us in their classrooms and shower us with love and gifts (we have not been without fresh flowers on the table top since we arrived!). During these visits students clamour around eager to take photos and afterwards I receive endless Facebook subscriptions and friend requests (which due to sheer numbers I must politely decline) from students eager to find out more about the ‘Australian Volunteers’!
In between teaching and dinners my afternoons and evenings are filled with invitations from students to visit famous local sights like Tran Hung Dao Temple or to attend Mid-Autumn festivities, celebrations of Nam Dinh’s 750th Anniversary (which was a huge to-do with even the Vietnamese President in attendance) and various other local sites. On days when I am left to my own devices I wander or ride my bicycle around the city, exploring and taking photos and just generally soaking up the atmosphere of this small but charming city.
By now life is settling into something of a routine and things once absurd are becoming somewhat familiar (though never entirely so… like live pigs, bound at the ankles and being driven down the road in a cart, or being served snails at a local restaurants; I don’t think these things will ever become entirely ‘normal’ to me!). But I have settled into a routine with teaching and am starting to understand the ebbs and flows of each classroom and ability level. In the coming week I am starting a dance class after school, which the students seem very enthusiastic about, and we also get the opportunity to teach a class one evening a week of primary school students which should be fun (and Vietnamese children are just so darn cute!).
I could write all day about the intricacies and amusements of daily life here in Nam Dinh but alas this post is already ridiculously long and so I will save it for another day. All in all life in Nam Dinh is great fun and I can hardly believe how fast the time is passing (5 weeks in already)! Before I know it I’ll be packing up and heading home, no doubt taking a wealth of new experiences with me… luckily I’ve still got a few more months to enjoy first though!
