Monday, July 3, 2017

Tây Ninh

It took us the better part of 36 hours to get from Flossmoor, Illinois to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. An hour to get to O'Hare airport. A couple of hours waiting at the airport for our non-stop, 15+ hour AVE airlines flight to Taipei, Taiwan -- the Boeing triple-7 (extended range) can directly connect any two airports in the world. A couple of hours waiting there. A three hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City. A couple of hours in immigration at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport -- turns out, you do need separate visas for 8-year olds! An hour from the airport to the Nikko Hotel in Saigon's bustling "District 1".

Safa and I are indebted to Dr. Janelle Scharon for letting us string along on this trip. Dr. Scharon has the important work of coordinating a group of first-year teachers under the aegis of Teach For Vietnam. Safa and I are simply taking in the sights, sounds, aromas and tastes of what, for all of us, is a new country.

Ho Chi Minh city is a vibrantly perfect conflation of motor-scooters, friendly people, and sumptuous food. In the first 24 hours, I had two kinds of chicken, pizza with shrimp, [1] iced tea, iced coffee, and sugar-cane juice from a street vendor (it was nicely sealed).

On the morning of Monday, July 3rd, we traveled from Ho Chi Minh City to Tây Ninh about 3 hours to the northwest. The landscape alternates between urban congestion and rural farmland -- often within the course of minutes.

I met the other coaches who have flown in from places like Houston and Beijing. I was happy to listen in on their conversation about how to help the 16 teachers in this program and offer a few suggestions (about feedback and retrospectives) when asked. I do not have formal training in childhood pedagogy; however, I'm planning to make myself useful with the skills I do have.

[1] I have recently transitioned from being a vegetarian to allowing chicken and seafood to infiltrate my diet.

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