...so it has been awhile...

I'm not making any concrete promises...but I might try and fill in some blanks soon!

Back at it...

Well, it has been a while and I apologize for being a slacker. I will try and get things up to date, which technically should take seven straight days of writing...

Let's see, ha ha, well to end the year off with a story I will explain my appearance on the Reunification Palace.

In June I became very concerned with the grade 8 graduation (even though I was just the 'music and art' teacher last year, I still had a special place in my heart for the grade 8's and I wanted to make sure they had a proper graduation...I didn't quite succeed...but that is not the story I am about to tell).

I took time to have them work on individual projects of self-reflection to post at their grad, I worked with the grade 8 teacher to plan things out, we discussed a 'grad day' and hoped to emulate what would be a day similar to what grade 8's in Canada would experience... Keeping it simple, focusing on the students...things did not really go as planned.

First, the day was changed and we were told grad must be on the weekend and that it must involve all students, not just grade 8 students but ALL STUDENTS...you can see where this is going, several hours of torture and no glory for the grade 8's. Well, that is exactly what happened. Things spun out of control and it was horrible on many fronts but despite that, there were a few funny things:

Funny thing number one: The location of the graduation was the Reunification Palace. Yes, an actual palace! How crazy is that?

Funny thing number two: The decorations were giant banners and I was on one of them. Yup, just me. Okay, so I feel like a giant in Vietnam anyway...but a banner...really? Larger than life - in all senses!

Funny thing number three: I wore the exact same outfit the night of the grad that I was wearing on the banner...And no one even warned me not to wear the same outfit - how embarrassing!

Needless to say there were some laughs to be had and now there are the residual jokes, "Hey Cheratien, remember that time you were on the Palace?"

After graduation there was some concern as to what might be done with my banner. I could make a large shelter out of the expansive tarp, or maybe drape it over my home as a decoration, or it could be used as a slip and slide. Yup, you read that correctly a 'slip and slide'. My banner is now renowned as the slip and slide, kids soap themselves up and launch themselves down the expanse of my giant banner body at any appropriate occasion...like water day, open house, any excuse will do. This has created a whole new level of residual jokes but I wont go there, you can fill it in I'm sure.

la cucaracha part 2

So it finally happened...there was a cockroach near our apartment. I say near because we have been fortunate enough not to have one in our apartment BUT we did have one on our laundry porch...which is almost too close for comfort! Now, since being in Vietnam I must admit I am getting used to seeing cockroaches and I have also learned that if you squash them they give off a type of pheromone (or something like that) that attracts other roaches (not cool if you are trying to get rid of them!). Anyway, this is how things went down at our place...

Krista went out to do laundry, when she went out, she screeched and came right back in. "There is a cockroach on the porch!", she stated in a not so calm manner. I took a peak out the door and spotted the culprit, he was big and doing the Vietnamese cockroach version of the Mexican hat dance in the middle of the floor. This could be a problem. There was no way I wanted this creature any closer than it was and if it got into the apartment I would lose my mind.

I decided that I would be a hero and scoop it over the edge of the porch with the dustpan (obviously I didn't want to squish it for the above mentioned reason). Now, this logic in my mind was quite solid, I would just dash out there, scoop the sucker into the dustpan and launch it over the edge of our 10th floor apartment. No squishing, no more cockroach - brilliant! I didn't factor in that cockroaches are really friggin' fast at really friggin' creepy!

Anyway, I went out armed with the dustpan, while Krista watched from the door. Well that big ass bug came running right at me! That was not part of the plan! I turned to blast back into the apartment and Krista had slammed the door and run away! Nice! this gave the roach time to gain on me...damn it! I had to fumble with the door and deal with the fact that I was running from a bug and that my plan was stupid! I got into the apartment and decided that a new plan must take shape. Seeing as Krista was not going to be the brawn in this operation I asked her to be the brains, "Can you go on Google and see if there is a natural way to kill these things?".

We discovered that you can immobilize cockroaches with soapy water! Perfect! This time I was prepared, I had a pitcher of soapy water and a dustpan! I went back out onto the porch, threw soapy water on the giant pest (POW! Take that you disgusting bug!) and then flung him over the porch (SHAZAM!). Victory was mine!

a room with a view

Since being in Vietnam I have witnessed some amazing sunsets, amazing night skies, amazing sunrises...Almost every day I am in awe of the sky, it is very hard to put in words.

If you mix this everyday occurrence with my obsession for taking pictures of the sun and the moon, you get a memory card full of pictures of the sky! Anyway, I am not a photographer so I wont say that my obsession really pays off very often but I have captured some very beautiful scenes right from my bedroom window and I think they are worth posting, if for no other reason than to share with my friends and family another part of my life here in Vietnam. Enjoy :).

angkor wat...a race to remember

Part of my character is to inspire others to endure fitness adventures. I don' t know how this became part of my make up (I am guessing my mom has something to do with it) but I quite enjoy it.

It came to my attention in October that there was a half-marathon taking place in Angkor Wat in December. I knew that I wanted to do the half-marathon and I also knew that training for a half-marathon is more fun with a friend. This is when I mentioned the half-marathon to an unsuspecting Krista. Unfortunately for me, Krista seemed to think if there was a 5km distance, that it would be more to her liking. After a few more conversations and some encouragement Krista agreed that she would do the half-marathon with me (note: I knew that Krista had run distances of 10km for her own personal training back in Canada thus amping up her distance would not be detrimental to her health in any way). It was great to have a training partner and Krista was a real trooper, considering our long runs usually took place at 4am.

Finally the day arrived. We were leaving for the airport with our friend Kristi - a seasoned runner - to visit Angkor Wat, to run a half - marathon! We were to catch a flight at 7pm and left with ample time. In the cab by ten to 5, we figured the half an hour drive would leave us with plenty of time to spare. Strangely enough the cab ride took almost two hours! TWO HOURS! How is that possible? We arrived at the airport basically 15minutes before our plane was to take flight. Even the cab driver was stressed out! Good thing we had training for a half-marathon under our belts, we had a lot of running ahead.

We ran to check in, at which point we realized that we had first class tickets...but we had no time to enjoy the lounge, bollocks! We blasted on to through customs, at which point Kristi's new passport presented a problem. Her new passport didn't have her visa in it so she brought along her old passport with the visa in it but they guy at the counter didn't want to let her go through until her new passport had the visa transferred into it. No stress, the boarding call for our plane is binging in the background, we know we have ZERO minutes to spare...sure buddy, go ahead, transfer the visa...

Kristi told us to go ahead (and to hold the plane) while her over enthusiastic customs officer proceeded to take her down the back hallways of the airport to remedy the visa situation. Krista and I ran for the gate and then dawdled around, much to the chagrin of the boarding agents, until Kristi came flying down the stairs. We made it on the flight - thank heavens- and enjoyed our first class seats in our frazzled states.

When we arrived in Cambodia, by the time we gathered our gear and got in our tuk tuk we were tired and content to be arriving at our hotel. It was late enough that we didn't want to go off site to search for a restaurant so we decided that we would eat in the hotel restaurant. This was more challenging than it sounded and our server Wha (pronounced like you are saying "what?" in a flippant manner) was rather amusing in his 'I don't want to serve you but know that I have to because you are here' kind of way. We asked him what would be the easiest thing to order, realizing that we were a huge imposition to everyone at this point. His recommendation, lumpking soup, and there it was on the menu, 'Lumpkin soup'. Sure, I'll take the 'lumpkin soup', who doesn't enjoy a good bowl of lumpkin soup from time to time? Krista and Kristi ordered some other fare and we were all happy with our choices. Lumpkin soup, also known as pumpkin soup, was rather tasty I might add.

After dinner we quickly went to bed because, not only were we tired but, we had planned to do sunrise at Angkor Wat the next morning - which meant we needed to rise at 4am and be on our way before 5am. Good times. It felt like I closed my eyes and then the alarm went off.

Our tuk tuk driver had us on our way in good time to see the sun come up. Funny thing how freaking cold it is before the sun comes up. Too bad I didn't think of that before we left the hotel. Anyway, we all huddled together in a shivering heap, excited, despite how cold we were, to be on our way to Angkor Wat. When we arrived we could see that the crowd was going to be huge and were happy that we left so early. We stumbled along our way (it was pretty dark) and found a cozy spot (if a rock wall on a temple gate can be cozy) to sit and witness the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Beautiful is a good word to describe the events of the morning. It was pretty amazing to witness, my biggest frustration being my inability to capture it with my camera.

After sunrise we grabbed some breakfast on site and were entertained by the little urchins vending wares. These little children were amazing. They had memorized facts about all countries, capital cities, leaders, national flowers...it was crazy...and the scam was, if they could tell you all about your country, or a country of your choice, you would have to buy some trinket from their pile.It was hard to turn the little buddies down but we did.

Then we went on to tour the ruins of Angkor. I can't even begin to put to words how absolutely incredible the ruins are. Intricate was the word of the day because there are so many reliefs carved into the stone. We just couldn't believe our eyes. We wandered all day in an awestruck stupor (partially due to our early rise, but mostly due to the amazing sites we were seeing). When we were temple-ed out we headed for some food and then back to the hotel. It was another early night due to the fact that it was going to be another 4am rise...race day!

We all woke and readied ourselves in our own race day rituals (mine mainly consisting of quality time in the bathroom due to my nervous stomach). We headed back into Angkor Wat, in the dark and cold, this time with a bit more purpose. It was organized like a tornado at the race start. There were no washrooms, save the one ice cream shop/ souvenir shop (bless them), and there were several races on the go (per usual) except no one was really sure where which race was starting from. Needless to say it made for an entertaining set up.

When all was finally figured out and we were off it was quite incredible. The steady pace being pounded out by the runners, the mist rising off the lake, the forest and temples all around, the local children lining the streets to cheer us on. There is something pretty magical about running a half-marathon, I highly recommend it.

Kristi finished first of our trio, speedy and content with her time, Krista, the first timer, was second and can be very proud of her accomplishment (5km my ass), and me I was content to come in third of the gang...slow and steady...

The trip home was not so chaotic, which was fine by me. Our first class lounge adventure was funny to say the least, seeing as neither Krista or I had ever been in a first class lounge before..."you mean you just take food, like whatever you want?"...and probably never will be again.

I'm thinking of keeping my schedule clear for next years half in Angkor, it is usually the first Sunday in December...any takers?

Jem, Jem is my name, no one else is the same Jem is my name!

She stopped at the local dress shop to see if anything new had come in. There were a few new dresses that caught her eye and she decided that the pink one was just right. Little did she know when she bought the cute pink dress that soon her hair would be dyed to match...

Yup, you guessed it, I had a crazy hair experience...I finally gave in and went to a hair salon here. I made it abundantly clear that I wanted highlights and lowlights in the exact same colour that I already had. They didn't understand the concept of lowlights and that should have been my clue to quit while I was ahead...I forged on. I showed them the two colours that I already had, a blond and a brown, and then I explained how to use the foils and to stagger the colours, it was not an easy process. To confuse them even more, I had to show them what a half set would look like... and they still did that wrong. Needless to say it was an adventure from the start.

After I explained everything as clearly as I possibly could a team of three hairstylists (I use that term lightly) started working on my head. They were using the foils like it was the first time they had ever used them and I looked like a topiary tree with tinfoil balls on it by the time they were done. When they had finished their handy work they just disappeared, poof, off to work on other patrons, no timer was set...just me and my sparkly bush head.

A significant amount of time passed before someone came to check on me, and when the woman opened one of the foils she gasped and ran to the back room - never a good sign - she came running back with a towel and another 'hairstylist' and she proceeded to open the top foils and towel off the colour (which at this point was platinum blond, I am talking bad eighties frosted tips craziness!) as the other stylist looked on in horror. So as she frantically wipes my bleached blond locks off, he just stares...I'm thinking maybe I should suggest taking me to the sink to wash the chemicals that are frying my hair to oblivion out but, before I get a chance, they disappear again. At this point I started to get a bit antsy. I asked the 'manager' if maybe I should get the rest of the foils out - he said I needed 5 more minutes...hmm were they hoping that my hair would melt off so I wouldn't see that I looked like a reject from a Sun In commercial?

So, five minutes passed and no one was attending to me I asked again and one of the three stooges came to open my low light foils, a similar scene played out except this time it wasn't a gasp it was a distinct, "Oh!" and the colour was not blond, nor was it brown, it was MAGENTA!! I am talking bright purpley pink! All I could do was laugh.

Anyway, they took me back to the sink and you could tell that they were a bit freaked out. One person would come in and look and say something to the shampoo-er and then leave and someone else would come in. I felt like a new exhibit at the zoo - " And look what we have here folks, a fine specimen, we call here Western girl with freaky pink streaks!" I just lay there with my rock-n-roll hair, thinking about how I was going to have to find a way to tone it down a bit.

Finally, the zoo inspired shampoo session ended and I was unleashed back into the main salon. The main stylist took back over and blew my circa 1985 "Jem and the holograms" hair dry and I left the salon...with a whole new appreciation for the colour pink. Good thing I don't take myself too seriously.

kids day in ho chi minh

Volunteering with the children in Ben Tre is very rewarding and I really enjoy the time I spend with them. I was asked, along with Krista, to help with a kids day in the city. I thought that it would be a lot of fun - and it was- but it wasn't without its Vietnam charm.

Sixty children from the countryside were being brought in to Ho Chi Minh City for the first time ever. What an exciting event. The children were going to leave their community center at 04:30 to arrive in HCMC at around 09:00. A collection of volunteers including myself and Krista were to meet them at the zoo at that time. All volunteers were asked to bring something for the children that day (a snack, an activity etc...). We were asked to provide water bottles for all of the children (a seemingly small task). Krista and I arranged for water bottles to be brought to the zoo for all of the children. We wanted each child to have 5oomL of water to carry with them at the zoo. Simple, right? Nope. What was delivered to the park were two giant 10 L water jugs (Very portable - exactly what you want to walk around the zoo with). Needless to say, there was some sort of miss-communication and it wasn't going to be possible to walk around with the big jugs all day. This meant that we needed to send someone who spoke Vietnamese to get the type of water bottles that we wanted and we also needed a volunteer to babysit 20L of water while we walked around the park. Brilliant.

The zoo itself was hard for me because I have mixed feelings about creatures in captivity (I've been known to cry at marineland...) but I thought I would be a good sport and suck it up for the kids. It definitely wasn't a great experience for me but the kids seemed to like it. I will not get into the small ponds with too many crocodiles, or the elephants on chains...but I will discuss the barfing children because it brings a perplexing topic to the surface for me.

We are at the zoo and there are several children who are not feeling well, one of which is in my smaller group. As we round the bend to the 'petting zoo' (I think 'crazy-little-goats-running-around-in-an-enclosed-space' would be a better name) this little girl turns and barfs in the grass. I am concerned so I stop and ask her if she is okay - she stares at me blankly because she doesn't speak English. The other guide who speaks Vietnamese comes up and says, "She's fine, just go." Clearly she was not fine but I started to leave just as she started throwing up again. I suggested that maybe she take a rest and get some water but the other guide was bound and determined to get this poor child in the pen with the crazy goats. It took the child two more rounds of being sick in the grass before the other guide would take her to rest in the shade! I don't get it, talk about tough love! Anyway, I started to think about it and even at school the children come when they are sick...they never seem to stay at home...and then people walk around with face masks on...it just seems so bizarre to me. Anyway, she rested and got some water and joined the group again later in the morning.

We had a picnic lunch at the zoo (chicken, rice, vegetables and soup in a bag - yup, soup in a bag folks! They serve everything in a bag here! I've seen coffee in a bag, curry in a bag, soup in a bag, milk, tea, juice...you name it and you can get it in a bag. It is weird to see people drinking coffee through a straw from a clear plastic bag - I have yet to try it, but I have had soup from a bag and curry in a bag so I am not far off). Then we did a few activities with our groups and headed to the water park.

In my humble opinion combining mass groups of children and a water park is never a good idea. I am a teacher and my safety alarm goes into hyper space when I think that my students might even think about beeing near a possible safety hazard. You can just imagine how stressed I was about taking a large group of kids, who may or may not have ever been in the water before, to a water park in HCMC.

Now, I am not sure if anyone understands the difference in safety standards in Canada vs. Vietnam but I will admit they are vast. Gaping. Not even on the same spectrum. Coronary would be a good way to describe this phase of the day - BECAUSE I ALMOST HAD ONE!

I should also mention that most of the other volunteers on this trip don't manage large groups of children on a regular basis. There are only two of us teacher types and the rest are just kind souls.

First, unleash the kids into the change room to get changed (no one supervise this phase please, just let Cheratien panic because any child could be taken at anytime and short of counting every last one no one would really notice).

Second, tell the children to put their name lanyards around their necks before they go on the slides so we know who they are (watch Cheratien argue with other volunteers that this idea is insane because the kids might get the name tags caught on something and choke to death or get sucked into some sort of underwater filtration devise). (It was a hard battle but Krista and I finally convinced the supervisors this was a bad,bad,bad idea).

Third, tell the kids to take off the lanyards...and then go have fun! What the hell? No they can't just go off into the water park! You can't just let 60 kids, from the countryside, who might or might not know how to swim, go into the water park by themselves! AAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhh!
We need a buddy system! We need small groups! Make this nightmare stop!

Don't worry Folks, after some quick convincing the children were divided into small groups, put into the buddy system, given times to check in and then guided by their leaders into the water park! Phew!

The water park itself was an interesting place. Apparently there are no rule about what you wear at a water park here in HCMC. I saw people in jeans and hoodies, skirts, dress shirts, shorts and tops...you name it and they were wearing it (another safety hazard - but not my concern, all of our kids had appropriate attire which we provided for them). Now, there were some swim suits, but it definitely was not mandatory! I guess it is a good way to have fun and wash your clothes all at once. Multi-tasking in a whole new way. Also, there was live entertainment, think boy band feat cheesy karaoke, only entertaining because it is so bad you can't believe it is happening.

The day ended with a photo shoot. Now, we all have our idea of what a photo shoot is like but it is nothing like a photo shoot here. Add a tremendous amount of picture taking to what you are imagining and then add really silly posing now drag it out for an hour longer than necessary and you might be close to what it is like to be part of a photo shoot here in Saigon. After that the kids were on their way back home as happy as clams!

I am glad that I had a chance to be a part of this experience, although it was stressful at times, it was really rewarding and soooooo much fun to see the kids having fun.