School!

After I finished the blog Sunday we went swimming in the Ecopark! Anh (my host father) took Anna and I on his motorcycle to one of the pools in the Private Villa Area. The motorcycle ride was very short but it was my first ride on a motorcycle and it was so fun! At one part of the ride we had to go around a huge round-a-bout where I was truly in the middle of the crazy traffic that is typical in Vietnam.

When we got to the pool Dung was there; she was hosting an event at the clubhouse next to the pool so we greeted her then got into the pool. Anna was nervous about swimming so instead I helped her practice kicking. We played in the pool for a little bit while Anh swam laps. We went back home after about 45 minutes and relaxed for the rest of the day.

One of the gifts I brought for Anh was this deck of cards called "House of Cards". My mom has the same deck and she used to love to make houses out of the cards. All have slits on the edges and designs on one side so you can make fun structures out of them. After that we had dinner then I waited until 11 PM to Skype my parents in Seattle where the local time was 9 AM. After we talked I went to bed as I had my first day of school the next day!

I got up bright and early, put on my uniform, and had breakfast with Anna before we walked across the street to the school. Unbeknownst to me, each week starts with a whole school assembly outside in the courtyard. I walked into a big, bustling courtyard where I was met by many stares and a few waves from students who (I assume) have never met an American before. I was then greeted by my English teacher, Ms. Thuy and she introduced me to the rest of my class who I sat with during the assembly. It began with a band of students playing a short song. They were followed by the activities director, then the Dean of the school, however both spoke in quick Vietnamese so I just watched. The boy next to said that the Dean was informing students of the rules. After his speech, two students from my class performed; one on the piano, and the other on guitar. When they finished, we applauded and ended the assembly to start the school day.

In Vietnam you stay in one classroom while the teachers move around, so the classes I experienced were with the same students. On Monday I had English class, something called "soft skills" which is a leadership/team building class, art, and literature. The day is broken in the middle by lunch which is served in a small and noisy cafeteria. Each day we receive a tray with a portion of vegetables, tofu or egg, meat, and a heaping serving of rice. The school food in Vietnam is much better than any food I've had at any public school in America. After lunch, we split by gender and age for naptime. It is a little odd getting used to having time to sleep in the middle of the school day and with a bunch of girls you don't really know.. but it's not too bad and it's a nice break during the long day. Literature was the final class of the day where I muddled through some ancient poetry until we

were dismissed at 4:15.

I walked home with a friend I met named The Anh, though he asked me to call him Gypsy, after the name of a character from the show 'Pacific Rim.' Gypsy is interested in American culture and speaks English almost fluently so he helped translate some of the texts we read and pieces of the lectures.

The rest of the school week went a lot like this but with different classes each day. Tuesday I had literature, PE, English, and soft skills. On Wednesday we had English taught by a teacher from South Africa. We talked for a little while before class and bonded over our shared experiences with being new to Hanoi and Asia in general.

It is now Thursday afternoon, I Skyped with my sister Lily earlier and after dinner, we plan to go swimming at the same pool we went to Sunday.

The pictures are of Anna and I in our school uniforms, and Anna building her house of cards.

Thanks for reading!