Thursday, June 12, 2009 marked the end of our time as full time students. We had 9 classes with Language Corps and now they're sending us out for practical purposes. Split into groups I'm with three Americans, Jazmin Fushini from Trenton, New Jersey, Arturo Torras from Queens, NY and Vladimiro Navarrete from Austin, Texas. The four of us teach at New Day, a school with about 30 students ranging from age 6 through 20. They put 15 students in each class generally arranging it as one beginner/intermediate class and one intermediate/advanced class. Considering how short handed the school is regarding textbooks, number of teachers and range of skills per class the students seem very excited to learn and, for the most part, well behaved. A number of students speak English very well. Protocol for the class consisted of introducing new vocabulary while trying to make it relevant to previous sessions. The teacher introduces the vocab through reading a story the students will have to identify later. Again, I was very impressed with the attention the students paid and how quickly they were able to write an entire paragraph about what they'd just heard. One little girl, clearly the leader of her group, announced "no no, these answers aren't adequate, we need more time," when teacher announced it time to share with the rest of the class.
We had one hour of class followed by a ten minute break. The school has a small play area with a basketball hoop, some soccer balls and a small sandy area to kick the balls around. I tried to teach a kid how to throw a behind the back pass, but didn't find much success (for him or myself). All in all it's a lot of fun. The kids seem to love being at school, which was certainly never the case for me when I was young, and seem to get a lot out of the classes.
We'll be working in the schools this week and the next. Then it's off to China. I haven't bought a ticket from Saigon to Beijing yet. I think it means I'll have to get another Vietnamese visa, but those are cheap and easy. I took my passport to the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh on Friday and by Wednesday I will have a visa to China. It's not a working visa though, just a tourist visa. This means there's a new plan on where I'll be in China and potentially for how long. I'll be in Weifang now for two months with my time there ending August 25, giving me 10 days before I'll start teaching in Chongqing, a city province more in the south central. And how long I could be there I'm not certain. The pay is the same, however, and I won't have to find or pay for my own accommodation. I'm taking this course of action because each province in China has it's own specific criteria for visa's. In Weifang there's a law that a tourist visa can't be transfered into a work visa while the person is still in China. By law they have to be in their home country to obtain a work visa (I didn't find this out until recently). The city of Chongqing, however, has no such law and will grant me a work visa within days of arrival.
I've really enjoyed my time here. Southeast Asia is unlike any place I've been. I love the motorcycle culture, the food, the temples and some great scenery. Those aside I like the people the most. Almost everyone here shows a great deal of gratitude for what they have. I think after what happened with the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot they're appreciative to live in a country not rife with violence and uncertainty. It's still a very impoverished country, but that doesn't seem to necessarily bother anyone. Almost as if they're fine with the idea that things have slowly gotten better and they will continue to slowly do so. Even if it's slow it's still there. Of course, I've been wrong before (apologies for all the cliches in this post).
Hours later, it's still raining.
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