New Schools and MSTRKRFT

It's been a while since my last post; this is mostly due to my acute problems with laziness. That is not to say, however, that I've just been sitting on my ass for the last ten days. I've probably only spent 3 or 4 of those days sitting on my ass. Back to work, starting with more hours next week, and will be full time by March. My schedule is less than stellar, but I'm willing to pay my dues at my new job. By some sick twist of fate, I begin work before 8 AM 5 days a week. Enough said.

This morning I taught at a new school that has never had a foreign english teacher before. The school is a 25 minute ride with no traffic, and more of a 45 minute ride with it. So, I had to be at Apollo for my taxi at 6:40. No joke. I was less than pleased, as my students at this school are 1st graders, who I usually hate teaching. They tend to be out of control, lack focus, and are impervious to my favorite mode of discipline: sarcasm and attitude. Probably because they speak no english and are 6 years old. Happy to say I was pleasantly surprised with this school, not only because I was treated like a celebrity. I had not only a TA, but multiple other teachers sitting in with cameras, making sure they had documentation of their first english class with a foreigner. It not only made me feel good, but the children were well behaved despite their numbers of 40 students per class. During my half hour break between my two 70-minute classes, I went with the TA to get a coffee. We sat in a room adjacent to the school store, which sells not only food and snacks to the children, but toys as well. Don't really understand why they do that, but there you go. After the students were done with their morning exercises* (this is common to all elementary schools in Vietnam-they blast music and everyone stands in the outdoor courtyard to do their exercise routine. It looks kind of creepy to me, but also cool in a 2008-Beijing-Olympics kind of way) a lot of kids came in to buy food and toys, and then spent the next 20 minutes standing around staring at me. It was kind of awkward and kind of flattering. 

Despite the favorable teaching conditions, it was a bit of a difficult morning, as I had gotten all of 4 hours of sleep the night before. MSTRKRFT (musician from Canada) was performing at Lush on Thursday night, so I obviously had to go and dance until I was so drenched in sweat I was dripping onto the floor. Now, something you may or may not know about Vietnam: as a general rule, the music taste blows. So, when a musician I've not only heard of, but whose music I enjoy and who has the stamp of approval of my music-guru brother randomly came to Saigon, I just had to go. 100,000 Vietnamese Dong (equivalent to around $5, though the government is in the process of devaluing the Dong, so who knows how much it will be worth in the next few months) got you into the show, and also got you a free drink. It was my big splurge for the week. A group of teachers from Apollo went together. It was all around a great time, but come 1 AM I realized it would be irresponsible to stay longer, so I left in the middle. Bummer. 

I am a bit tired, so will leave my rich-people-eating-endangered-species talk for another post. Get excited for that.

*This is just one of the interesting things about Vietnamese public schools. All lunches are provided for students, which are brought and distributed by a bunch of female workers whose job I believe is to clean and keep the schools orderly. There are a huge number of staff at the schools. Not only are lunches comped, but each student has a toothbrush and a water cup, identified by number. Vietnamese like to brush their teeth after lunch. In the afternoons, everyone takes a nap. The desks are moved to the side of the room, and students sleep on mats on the floor. Not something that was offered at Burns Park Elementary. All in all, the schooling experience is quite different.