When I arrived at Hanoi airport I was expecting to be collected by the manager of the charity that I would be working with. After about 5 minutes of looking around I realised that he wasn't at the airport but I assumed that good old Asian timekeeping was to blame so I resigned myself to the fact that I was probably in for a long wait. The taxi driver standing next to me asked me if I was waiting for someone and instantly volunteered his phone so that I could call to see what was going on. Good job that he did - it turns out that Mr. Son (the manager of the charity) had come to the airport to get me but then received a call saying that his Mum was gravely ill and he needed to leave to get to her bedside. Non-one was coming to collect me so Mr. Son texted the taxi driver's phone with the address of the office and a contact number for Xung at the charity who would meet me there. The taxi driver was a great help - it was a wonderful introduction to the hospitality shown by the people of Vietnam!
Once I arrived and dumped my bags Xung took me out for lunch at a street vendor down the road, he bought me pineapple, lychees and coconut ice-cream (way more food than I would ever possibly eat!) and left me to rest for the remainder of the day. I was in heaven! He told me that I he would meet me at 9am the next day and we would run through my schedule for the coming weeks. At 9.45pm the headteacher from the school came to the door and told me that she'd pick me up for school at 7am the next morning and I would be teaching until 7.15pm. Panic set in as I had nothing planned (I had no idea who I would be teaching or at what level as this Vietnamese trip was planned very last minute)! She then told me that I could teach them whatever I wanted as there was no set plan and no set curriculum. Double panic!! She told me that I would be teaching 6-7 year olds so, once she'd gone, I quickly fired up my laptop and searched for children's songs, children's games and lesson plans for teaching English to people who didn't speak a single word!
Of course, as is always the case, the reality wasn't as bad as I'd initially thought it would be. I was given a book on arrival and told that I would teach from that. Phuong Anh, a Vietnamese student teacher, would be there to help and translate for me and we would only teach for two hours in the morning then the children would play for an hour before lunch and sleep. The teachers also get to sleep every day from 12.30pm to 2pm - brilliant! In the afternoon I taught the 6 year olds again before spending 2 hours with the 9- 10 year olds and 2 hours with the 12- 16 year olds. Phuong Anh once again proved that the Vietnamese people very lovely as she offered to take me out into Hanoi and show me around next weekend. She loves to sing so we may even end up in a Karaoke bar after seeing the sights!
Today I only taught for 3 hours. I worked with the 8-9 year olds first and then watched Ice Age (which I still haven't seen all the way through!) with the 6 year olds until lunch. After a little sleep (woohoo!) I taught the 6 year olds before coming home at 3pm. Now I'm desperately trying to plan for tomorrow's lessons - I have felt like I've been on the back foot since I got here so it will be nice to be a little prepared!
The children are all on school holiday at present so all of the children that I am teaching are part of the summer school. The parents pay for these lessons. I am yet to find out how the school is funded throughout term-time but I know that, however they are funded, they are doing well as they have A/C in the rooms and an interactive whiteboard!
I am living at the office of the charity in a room with a British girl called Alex. Things are quite disorganised but we have a young man who stays with us and prepares dinner in the evenings (he's the nephew of Mr. Son), wifi and A/C. It's relative luxury compared to India! There's a huge Jackfruit tree outside, fruit markets just down the road and countless pharmacies just in case I need them (although that would be a shame considering I made it all the way through my time in India without getting sick!).
I have booked my ticket home - I will be flying back on 28th June to arrive on 29th. I will be going straight back to York but will be back in London on 11th July for several days. I can't believe that that will have been 5 months of travelling by that point, it's gone so fast!
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