Closer To It

   Happy Thanksgiving!   I am thankful for understanding family and friends who do not get fed up when they have to wait so long for a blog entry. I know, I know.  Four months!  It’s inexcusable.  But I can add that constant activity and more than one week where computer issues kept us off the Internet add to my delinquency.  I am sure that our life feels more like we actually live here and I feel less the need to update people.  I feel reflective today, as we head to our friends the Perkins to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday because we worked on the actual day.

          We have had a good fall.  The girls are happy in EC4 and first grade.  Maeve is reading under the covers with a flashlight at night, -a lovely step in her learning life to be an independent reader and enjoy it – and Sophie is so happy to be busy with other kids and a great Aussie teacher all day long.

 

Sophie and Maeve at our school's Christmas Art Bazaar in November.  Clay Christmas sculptures at the Bazaar.

           It was the Moon festival that marked the “Oh my gosh we have lived here for a year.” moment for me.  Charles was actually gone in Taiwan for the first of his courses towards becoming certified to teach.  The festival celebrates the full moon, a harvest moon, and a time that represents the end of the harvest when parents were able to spend some time with their children.  Children get lanterns and there are shows and entertainment. 

            Charles had a great course in Taiwan with a fellow South Carolinian professor (now at the University of Pennsylvania) that impressed him.  He is headed back in February with many of the same classmates.  We survived for ten days without Dad (Really, in our life, the equivalent of Mom leaving for 10 days) and he brought back fantastic Asian chia pets. Maeve's cool Asian Chia Pet  (a hedgehog)

            I have enjoyed being back in the 5^th grade. We are now a community of learners and I feel like all of my very hard work in establishing trust and routines has really paid off.  They are lovely.  Chatty, but lovely.  On Vietnamese Teachers Day, many brought very personal presents that made me feel appreciated and special.  It is a good place to be.  I am missing the idea of looping with them another year, like I did at the Center.  Almost half way through the year marks the point at which I feel like things are running smoothly.  Hmmm…

            Mr. Viet is my fantastic classroom assistant.  I have enjoyed not only having his help all of the time in the classroom, but also getting to know someone who is Vietnamese.  His perspectives are unique and important to me.  One day when I was working on a piece in my writers’ notebook that I wanted to share with kids to illustrate how to generate ideas fro writing, I wrote about the “way, way back” seat in my families’ 1972 Vista Cruiser.  Knowing that my students would have no context whatsoever for the way, way back of a Vista Cruiser, I googled a pic.  “Wow,” he said, “you must have been very, very rich.” He explained that his parents were lucky to be alive in 1972 and close to starving.  “Yes,” I smiled, “we were rich beyond our dreams”.

Mr. Viet and Pentominoes

            Halloween was fun, both at school and with the other faculty families.  At school, our kids made up all of the games for a Halloween Carnival on our floor and we had a parade.  Another faculty family hosted a Halloween party and we visited the other faculty in the neighborhood and the staged stations where people waited for us.  It really felt like Halloween in an American neighborhood.  Fun and familiar. (OK some of the treats were a little unusual and no one had to worry about mom making you wear your coat over your costume…) 

  Fantastic ESL Teacher Jo in Her Mountie Costume.  

 Sweet Student Manning Her Halloween Carnival Booth

 Bad Hippy All That Was in My Closet Costume.  My Fifth Grade Colleagues Jen, the Mountie, and Shane, the Vietnamese Cleaning Lady (Nice Pants!)

 Halloween Shenanigans

            In November, we hit the ground running.  I went to a fantastic 5 day Literacy Coaching Asia Institute at Hong Kong International School.  Really, it was some of the best professional development I have had in some time, certainly since I left the wonderful folks at the Center for Inquiry.  It was inspiring and challenging to work with many of the Literacy coaches in Asia.  And one of the best parts is I will have a chance to come back together with most members of the institute next year. It feels like just right work for me right now, as I think about looking towards working with teachers more than being in the classroom.  Maybe not next year, but the following, I will actively seek a position that will allow me to.

 Wan Chai Hong Kong Street Market

   Wan Chai Street Scene

      I paid a heavy baggage fee on my return– no surprise to me after the taxi driver said, “Help me!” as he tried to get my suitcase out of the trunk.  Hong Kong is truly a shopper’s paradise.  Most dangerous was the good English Bookstore where I spent hours browsing, and a new find, Muji, a Japanese store that reminds me of a cross between Conrans and I don’t know what.  I could have dropped thousands.

            It was so chilly that I had to buy a fleece and I didn’t take it off the whole time I was there.  Flying to Hong Kong, going from third world to first, from 90 degrees to 50, was an interesting experience.  The nonstop energy of Hong Kong could be absolutely exhausting, I would imagine.  I really enjoyed a couple of “city” dinners all by myself, people watching.   It was a treat in my life where I am always surrounded by people. 

            There are times when I forget that I live in a foreign land. But those times are often punctured by a sight or sound that reminds me in no uncertain terms that I live in Vietnam.

            One morning on a walk to school I saw a funeral car which looks more like a parade float with open sides.  The casket was is in the middle and family members sat on the sides, their feet dangling over, throwing paper money off of the car to represent the riches and good wishes sent with their loved one to the afterlife.  In the front of the truck cab was a large framed picture of a young woman.  Grief, and tears, and mourning were right there, for all to see, for all to know and take in.  It wasn’t a private, discreet, and quiet funeral.  It was loud and right there in the middle of an early morning street.

  Vietnamese Funeral Car

            I have heard people talk about how westerners are “reserved” and I now wonder about that in new ways.  We would never parade though town mourning our loved ones.  Doctors in offices would never joke or talk to you about life in the hallway between visiting patients, or chat with another doctor about a condition within earshot of patients. 

            Another afternoon, I saw a crowd gaping at an accident scene near our apartment. A man was on the ground not moving, and no one was doing anything to help him.  A sweeper came by and lifted up his arm by the hand to sweep underneath him.  Grisly reality right in front of me…

            It strikes me that in Vietnam, people stand closer to the terrible things that happen in life and they don’t try to hide them.  Mourning includes wails for all to hear.  Death doesn’t get whisked away or covered up in fear of others seeing.  It strikes me that in Vietnam they are closer to the realities of living, without the trappings and formalities that my life has always known. They are closer to it - the grisly, elated, never boring, tumultuous trip that is life.

             

            

We're Home!

How lovely it was to walk into our apartment in Hung Vuong 2 and feel like we were home.  It looked like home, even smelled like home.  I had prepared myself for the worst I think - that we would walk in to mold and a tremendously funky Asian smell, but we didn't.  After a 24 hour trip, we stumbled and fell into our own beds.  Hard beds, yes, but they were familiarly ours.  It is one of those moments in your life when you realize how much joy can come from being prone.

On a side note, Charles had an important discovery the other day about why all Asian beds are so %#$^&* hard.  It has to do with the teaching of Buddha.  One of his tenants is not to have a luxurious bed.  Just great.  Even a bed topper has not yet brought ours to my acceptable comfort zone.

I had a renewed realization about myself and about Vietnam as I walked home from the bookstore this evening.  I have always been on the move in my life.  The longest I have lived in one place is in one of our South Carolina homes, I think.  I am comfortable with change, even embrace it.  On the other hand, I am such a creature of comfort and habit.  When my favorite linen pants got a hole and were to the point of no return, I wanted very desperately to have the very same pair new.  And maybe two more for when those wear out.

Vietnam is NEVER the same.  I walked past no less than 10 restaurants or stores new, gone, or completely overhauled in the time we were gone. You, blog readers, have already heard too much about how you can't find the same thing at the grocery store twice. Vietnam is a place where you have to accept what's offered, to play with the hand you're dealt. 

And we are back to play our cards.

School is off to a soaring start for us.  After a week and a half, the Waugh family is a little less exhausted and settling into routines.  I am certainly enjoying being back in 5th grade, but also have a tremendously larger respect for my former amazing colleague Tim O'Keefe, who taught most of my students for two years before I taught them for two.  I strongly feel our differences in first language and cultures in our room.  But this is a plus too.  I am learning new things every day.  My students have such unique and interesting perspectives on the world that make me think, and challenge me to explain things in new ways.  It's pretty fascinating.  

My favorite quote so far is when one of my students looked at me and said "Mrs. Waugh, what is "Holy cow?"  

But I am getting ahead of myself!  I need to share our summer of adventures.  It was so great to see our family and some of our friends.  We enjoyed the ease of US living, and I gave our credit cards the hardest workout they have ever had in such a short period of time.

I can't believe that I didn't mention this first....we are no longer property owners in North  America!  Certain cause for celebration.  We can already feel the financial belt loosening.  

My Mom and Dad are as we speak moving to San Diego, and we just missed meeting our new family member, Sam, who my mom and sister picked up in China at the end of July.  Did you notice that I did not use the words calm and quiet to yet describe our trip?

We did enjoy the cool, almost cold weather at the cabin for a month.  I never knew how much fun it could be to dig out sweatshirts and sit in front of a fire in the morning with a blanket.  I savored every chilly moment.

 Here, Maeve models her chosen Halloween costume, ala movie star, on the hammock.

         

We had a great visit with my brother and his wife at the cabin.  Here he gives the girls a cozy push.

     Sophie takes her aunt's lead and looks closely at the world as she sketches in the hammock.

Reading in front of the fire.  Life is good.

     I got to reconnect with my wonderful colleagues from the Center for Inquiry in South Carolina with a surprise visit to the International Whole Language Conference there.  It was great to see people and re-immerse in the land of literacy which I missed so much.  I got to see neighbors, and say an official goodbye to our favorite little house on Trenholm Road, as we closed on our house a week after I was there.

A trip to the cabin would not be the complete without a visit to the Grayling fish hatchery, a place I have been going since I was a kid.

My sister and her daughter visited too.  Here, Maeve models birthday balloons on the celebration of my 41st.  

The girls keep talking about Mackinac Island.  It truly made an impression on them.  The fudge, of course, is foremost in their minds, but our bike ride around the island, and Fort Mackinac are  in those memory banks too.  (Charles has been reading up on making fudge.) 

      Maeve was at first so nervous about riding with Charles like this, she cried a bit.  As you can see, tears quickly gave way to all smiles.

Maeve and Aunt Lauren on the ferry to Mackinac.

Always happy when he is on a boat!

     Back at the cabin, Sophie models her favorite attire in front of the fire.

We saw SO MUCH rain in the U.S on our trip, it was almost comical. Wherever we went, it rained.  Here, sun and rain mixed.

The girls at Hartwick Pines State Park "Wood Shaving Days".  All crowds were noticeably smaller in a place that is usually pretty crowded in the summer.  I think many people have given up summer travel in the hard economic times. 

At the logging museum.

Back at our favorite place, the dock.  Sophie checks the minnow trap.

Nature Girl, with dragonfly.

Family walk on K.P Trail

Junie B. Jones in the hammock.  (Our summer ride in the background.)

      The BIG pack.  We took up every ounce of our potential 400 pds.  Charles' CAPITALISM book weighed the most.  It was my job to give him a hard time about it.  I feel like a rich woman with all of the supplies that fill our cupboard and closets.

Picking flowers for Grandma.

Grandpa's treat - pony rides!

      Charles wanted to ensure that he had a humongous American breakfast on one of his last mornings.  Dad's favorite New Jersey diner came through.

Our flight home, although SO long (24hours total), was our best yet.  No bodily fluid incidents - a first!  We left Newark without boarding passes for the last leg of our flight - Tapei to Ho Chi Minh.  We were met in the hallway in Tapei, asked if we were the Waughs, given first class seats for our last leg (!) and walked onto the plane which had just started boarding.  Yahoo EVA airlines!  At that point both girls had big fat colds and hacking coughs. I braced for the worst as we came to HCMC.  I had heard about how they were taking temperatures at the airport because of the swine flu and we had to fill out health reports for each of us with immigration forms.  

We had no fevers, however, and when we did not show red in the ultra cool crowd temperature radar, we got right through.  We were home within 45 minutes.  : )

H1N1 is indeed in HCMC, and has shut down a few schools - not ours yet.  We have a new uber hand washing policy and hand gel available throughout the school.  All kids under 2nd grade have their temperatures taken before they go to class in the morning.  This may be a very good thing for all of our health this year!

Maeve was a seasoned pro as she started first grade this year.  She still loves school and has another great teacher this year.

   Sophie has entered another whole part of her life.  She loves school too, and has a huge new cache of things to talk about at the dinner table. (Her least favorite part - like her sister last year - rest time!) Charles talks about how Sophie gets her temperature taken and quickly says "Bye Dad." with a kiss in the morning.  He's not allowed to stay.

We have a lovely new house helper, Thuy, sister of Trang who helped us last year.  She is here 20 hours a week and wow is this apartment ever clean every day when we get home.  Definitely a plus.

And our life moves on in a foreign place, that is not so foreign any more.  There are still moments when I wonder why we left the comfort and ease of living in the States, especially those moments when it seems like everything is difficult and nothing works, or the gecko who has decided our bedroom drapes are home and keeps coming back even though we keep letting him outside is making his gecko mating sound at 2AM.

But life is certainly not boring, and my daughters cry "I want to go to the Japanese restaurant!", and one talked about missing Com Suon (grilled pork over rice) this summer and likes it only from her local place, and thank yous in our house come in all languages.  

Tam Biet for now. Don't be a stranger.

Four Candles and Our First Year Ends

      Our little Sophie girl is four.  No longer a baby, and able to stand up to her big sister in more ways than one....  We had a lovely celebration on her special day, delicious chocolate cake included thanks to our friend Bonnie.  Sophie has grown so much this year, and she talks so much more than when we first arrived in Vietnam. It's hard to imagine that she was just out of diapers when we arrived.

 

New Lego train set, favorite sleeping friend gecko, and Viewmaster.  Does it get any better than that?

Yes, indeed, strange Asian balloons...  They looked cute in the package.  (?)

Maeve celebrated  extensively with her kindergarten class to mark her first year in school.  What a successful year it was for her (and us!)  He teacher was wonderful, and she had a great crew of kids to spend her days with.

Maeve reads her story at her Author's Celebration.  It is a joy to see how much she is reading and writing, and how much she loves writing especially.  

A proud author.  : )

Maeve will miss one of her best friends Rae who is moving this summer.

     One of the most different and interesting things about being in an international school setting is just how many goodbyes you have to say!  Between students and colleagues, I have said more goodbyes in the last few months than in the last ten years.  It is not my favorite part of this life.  I feel like I just got to know people. On the elementary staff I am joining in the fall, only 10(half!) are returning.  This is an especially large turnover, I understand, but in general, saying goodbye to people and moving on is "something you get used to in international schools".  It sounds like often you get to cross paths with people again.

Sunday morning breakfast at the restaurant around the block.  

A self portrait sculpture for Dad on Father's day.
      

    This school year end marks the first time in my entire career that I walked out the school door with my students completely done for the summer. A little weird, but great right now for sure.  My friend Kari figured out something a long time ago that I should have thought of, and encourage all of my teacher friends to consider, even if you do not live in Southeast Asia.  She announced to me at the goodbye to teachers ceremony that we were going right to Zen spa for a massage as an early birthday present. I wish I would have made myself do something like this earlier in my 18 year career.  I sauntered home afterwards without all of the tremendous fatigue and weepiness I have never been able to shake right at the end of a school year.  Thanks Kari.  

    We sure are looking forward to seeing my dad in a couple of days.  It is nice to have a couple of down days to relax before we leave.  I am appreciating the fact that we own very little, especially in this time that I am taking stock and packing suitcases inside of suitcases for our trip to the States.  It is mucho liberating.  I must admit I do have my detailed lists of things to buy and bring back.

        I think in one of my earlier blog entries I had a picture of a Korean baby  papoosed on his mother's back.  I watched him grow this year, smiled each time I walked by him and got a chubby grin. I saw him walk the other day and it struck me then. We have been here 10 and a half months!  Charles and I talked over coffee this morning about not knowing what to expect about what "visiting" our home country will feel like next week.  It has been a good year for sure, but not without its stresses.  (Charles and Sophie were sick yet again this week.  We can't seem to get out from under it.  I think we need some Northern Michigan fresh air.) I am going to try to make myself do some journaling to keep track of my thoughts and ideas this summer.

      What I do know is that one suitcase is packed with Vietnam souvenirs that I can't wait to pass out, we are frantic to get hugs from family and friends and catch up on their lives, and kick back on the dock on KP Lake.  And I know that when we come back this foreign place just won't be quite as foreign.  Friends will be happy to see us return, and there will be many, many new friends to meet.  We are moving into a new Waugh family era with both girls in school and two incomes. Life feels good.

    Now, if we could only sell our lovely house on Trenholm Road which is again for sale this summer.  The price can't be beat, so if you know anyone who is interested please let us know.  

    Tam Biet from Vietnam for the last time this year.  It has been one we will always remember.  Thanks for reading and sharing a part of our experience.