Merry Christmas from Hanoi/Mai Chau!

Good morning from Hanoi/Mai Chau,

It is the morning of New Years Eve here in Mai Chau, Vietnam and we have just celebrated our second Christmas together under rather unusual circumstances: living abroad, working Christmas day, and not being around the normal group of friends and family. Obviously this is sad in many respects but that is not to say we had a bad christmas this year.

Prior to Christmas we went out to dinner with Becky's TA Mai and Danni, where we had lots of nice duck - vit. Mai has been one of the best things about Vietnam - Becky and Danni have a new friend. After dinner we headed for a party at Danni's house where we both got very drunk.. in the photo you can tell Becky is gone.

Photo Credit - Hannah Heffernan

On Christmas Eve we went for an extravagant but delicious meal at the Green Tangerine - a French restaurant in Hanoi. It was stunning. On Christmas morning we both opened our stockings before Becky headed off to work the morning at Tran Phu where it was time to say goodbye to Becky's grade 2 and 4 classes there and two TAs: the wonderful Yen and Nhung. Grade 2 and 4 enjoyed some singing to get into the festive spirit and all got candy. The reason these are Becky's last Monday classes is because this Monday is New Years - which is a holiday in Vietnam! The following Monday Becky has a day off to go to Halong with Claire and Amy. Robert was in school in the afternoon and spent it with his Grade 3's... he thinks he did a normal lesson. It was actually quite nice working Christmas - there was a good atmosphere although apparently 60 people called in sick on Christmas Day.... 

Christmas Eve: 

Christmas Day: 

Presents from Mai

Photo credit Hang: Becky and Hang

In the evening we headed to dinner at Republic with Liv and Aaron - it was very tasty and we had good company. We even invested in a bottle of prosecco. It was then off to bed because Boxing Day was just another normal working day.

The rest of the week was crazy busy. Becky had a full week, going well over the normal periods we work. She also got a new haircut on Tuesday evening - it is a big change (for Becky) - pics will come soon! Rob got really unwell on Thursday and Friday and was off in bed with a bit of a fever and migraine. Luckily he got up Saturday morning feeling much better.

We have headed to Mai Chau, again, for the New Year. We are joined by Emma, Liv and Aaron. So far it has been great fun and we will post after the new year. This is the view Becky has just woken up to (left)....

The road to Mai Chau

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love to all xxx

A Saprising Mistery

Good afternoon from the rather nippy Hanoi,

We are now a day away from Christmas Day and it will be strange to spend our first Christmas living together in a foreign country. As usual the teaching days approaching Christmas have been busy and tiring. Both of us are feeling quite run down again, as most of the teachers seem to be. The chesty cough has returned. The one thing we certainly will not miss in Hanoi is the terrible air quality which must have a dreadful impact on the people that live here given it has made us both quite unwell and we haven't even been here 6 months! We would probably happily stay in Hanoi if the air was cleaner.

Getting in the Christmas spirit with the kids.... 

We spent the weekend, as we mentioned in the last blog, in Sapa. Sapa is situated in Lao Cai province and is very close to the border of China. In fact our tour guide told us people there often get 1 day visas across the border for 50,000 dong to visit/shop etc. and they just need to be back across into Vietnam by 21:00. It made us think about how close we will be to the border when we are in Shenzhen in June. Perhaps the next few weeks will not be the last time we spend in Hanoi?

Anyway we took the overnight train to Sapa on the elegant Victoria Express. Before departing we did a bit of shopping and relaxed with some wine and cocktails in the Victoria lounge. We heard before boarding that we had lucked out and got our own private cabin. A tip we can certainly give is that you should just book into a 4 person cabin and see what happens. You might be lucky like us and if you are not the fee for upgrading was very reasonable and lower than what we were quoted to just book out a private cabin. It was really worth doing this as there is very little space. The cabin will be fun with Claire and Amy on our 16 hour train from Da Nang to Saigon.... Even though it was cramped the cabin was really cute and charming. The beds were actually more comfortable than our so-called mattresses in our rooms which are so hard we are both convinced we have permanently damaged our backs from them! At least it justifies getting lots of massages.

Rob in the Victoria lounge

Our cabin and Becky

The train crew came around and served us drinks before we departed. The train was beautifully decorated with a Christmas theme which made us feel very at home. Although it was comfortable both of us found it very hard to sleep on the train purely because it was so noisy. So when we arrived at our beautiful hotel - after a private transfer in a jeep - the news that we might get our room early was definitely welcomed. We went in for a delicious buffet breakfast in the Tavan restaurant which had the biggest Christmas tree and a roaring fire. It all felt very homely. We noticed upon arriving in Sapa that it was noticeably colder than Hanoi and there was thick mist covering the mountains - hence the blog title. It gave Sapa a certain mystery and awe and was beautiful. We were lucky that the mist did clear a bit when we were out.

At around 9am we were able to check into our room so got a nap before heading off for a trek around Va Vieng village with Thao. Along the way we saw many of the minority groups which live in Sapa dressed in their traditional dress. We saw some Black Hmong and Red Zao. Our guide, Thao, explained that the women wear thick leggings on their legs to protect them from snake bites. Becky had a sneaking suspicion this was why and was relieved at the thick wellies she was wearing... although we saw no snakes. What we did see were absolutely HUGE spiders. Robert was not impressed. The walk was beautiful and we got to experience two extremely rickety bridges which Becky was not entirely convinced would hold. The first shook as you crossed and the second had wood which looked rotten and you could see parts where the wood had given way.... anyway we made it across safely and our guide was very amused at our reactions. The second bridge is actually also used by motorbikes.... that certainly is not a mark of safety in Vietnam but we guess it is reassuring? On the walk we saw lots of beautiful nature including little pigs and lots of buffalo and the beautiful rice terraces which Sapa is famed for. We also had some really interesting conversation with Thao who told us that on balance she is not keen on the tourism in Sapa because it is destroying the environment. Becky also commented that the culture of Sapa seems to gradually getting westernised with Vietnamese restaurants now serving cocktails and western food and it being inundated with bars and karaoke places. It does seem a great shame and although the wealth it brings to the region will mean this isn't reversed you could see what Thao meant by the environmental impacts - there were hotel blocks being built up everywhere.

Thao also discussed with us a fact we had noticed being in Vietnam which is how hard the women work. It is the same in Sapa with many of the women doing all the work and taking care of the house. We only saw men in the Bia Hoi. It really is quite bizarre. Thao also sadly told us that many of the women now do not wear their traditional hoop earrings - which all show your relationship status; married, single etc. - because when their husbands get drunk they pull them in violent attacks often. It makes you realise that anywhere in the world there are always things going on that unless someone like Thao tells you about them, and we suspect many tourist guides sugar coat everything, you never realise they are happening. Thao also told us many people in Sapa actually speak English and not Vietnamese due to their education and being taught English through tourism. The Vietnamese government now provides education for free in Sapa to ensure the local children get taught Vietnamese as well as English.

After a throughly enjoyable tour we got back to our hotel and headed for a foot massage which was so good that we booked in for another massage the day after. We got ready and then headed to dinner where we got a delicious bottle of prosecco - we have not had prosecco since we left England - and watched the spectacular traditional dance. We even had a go at the end. We both fell in love with this beautiful Vietnamese woman who was the most beautiful dancer and very unusual looking. Although Becky regrets not taking up the offer this lady gave her to dance with her. We headed to the bar after dinner for drinks and some cheese before getting an early night.

We slept in the next morning and enjoyed another great buffet breakfast by the fire. Around lunch we wondered around Sapa and then came back for our full body massage which was incredible. We were both quite surprised when we realised our masseurs had climbed on top of us.... it was really relaxing. After grabbing lunch in the bar and playing a bit of scrabble we got our car back to the train station and it was time to get the overnight train. By this point Becky was feeling quite unwell and we both slept a bit better as a result of just needing to sleep! We arrived back into Hanoi and got into bed before we both had to head out to teach in the afternoon.

Rob relaxes post massage

Thank you to Gary and Joanne for a throughly enjoyed Christmas present.

Our new favourite cocktail - Japanese Slipper

As mentioned this last week of teaching has been testing again - this time written tests and lots of marking. The testing has raised all sorts of questions for us both and it is a wake up call for us both that we are not in England anymore. As though being gone since August wasn't a bit enough sign.... To be honest sometimes (and Becky was discussing this with a former intern this week) people seem to forget we are in a developing country and the way things work will be nowhere near the same. Some in a good way and some in a bad way. Neither of us have really experienced culture shock but we can see why people do. It can be frustrating when you can see so many processes not working properly and nobody fixing them. We explained in the last blog that we were strongly advised to score students at least 5 in the speaking test as otherwise they fail and have to be held back a grade. Any teacher in the UK will feel this sounds like rigging the test scores... and obviously it is. However when we both thought about it we kind of understood... both of us mainly teach children in Primary schools - so under the age of 10 - and many of Becky's students at 5 or 6. It seems harsh to fail a child at that age and of course a low mark will demotivate them. At the same time we both feel it means they never learn from their mistakes. An unmarked test would be far better or perhaps a different form of consequence for failing. It does make you realise the huge pressure teachers and TAs are under to produce amazing results and it does result in behaviour that is out of character... like literally changing answers on papers... both of us and many teachers have witnessed this. Of course in England there has been such an outcry at testing of children so young that SATs have been scrapped until just before you head to secondary school and even then the consequence of a poor result doesn't mean you are held back a whole year. It has made many teachers feel that marking these tests, where the scores will be altered in many cases, is a pointless exercise. On the flip side Becky was just telling Rob that it has let her spend some quality time one on one with some students who complete the tests faster explaining where they did well and where they did badly. This is time we rarely get given classes can be over 60 students large. Rob feels it has been a bit of a break for us. We do the listening part of the test and then the students crack on themselves. Teaching will mostly resume as normal next week.

One of the things the tests also show is how hard our TAs work. So many of them have marked tests (hundreds and hundreds) and assisted with the oral tests. When Becky thinks through all of her TAs they all have really special qualities and do work incredibly hard. At Tran Phu Becky teachers with Yen and Nhung. Yen insisted on taking all the tests even when Becky got Livvy (who covered for her whilst in Sapa) to try and get them off Yen. She works so hard and smiles the whole way through it. Nhung was so committed to getting the tests inputted and given to BME on time that she drove out to Chu Van An on Wednesday to collect them off Becky and she is always up for having a laugh. At Thach Ban B Thao, Hieu and Nga have marked basically all of the tests. Both Nga and Thao have been unwell this term, but taken no time off, because they are committed to their students. Hieu cares so much about how the students do. Mai at Thuy Linh is an angel, she is always smiling and laughing, her English is incredible, and she is an excellent teacher. Tra at Chu Van An arrived early and wrote all the grade 1 names on their tests - no small feat given there are over 200 of them - because she knew some of them couldn't write well and it would save time. This shows her incredible work ethic. At Hoang Liet Becky works with Van who is always a ray of sunshine, smiling, happy and the kids love her. She also knows when they need to be quiet and has an awesome sense of authority. She will go above and beyond to help. At Thuy Linh Becky also works with Hang who the children adore and is always smiling and bubbly. She is an incredible lady.

Robert gets on well with all of his TAs. At Thach Ban A he works with Hiuyen, who is nice and always helpful. There is also Lien at Tay Mo who is a good laugh and the children love her. Robert also works with a Hiuyen at Tay Mo who he finds is a great support. All of his TAs have assisted him this semester and we will both miss them when we leave in a few weeks.

This week was also the week where Becky and Rob both hosted Vietnam's Got Talent: Christmas Special, in their classes. This resulted in some beautiful renditions of We Wish you a Merry Christmas. On Friday night we headed out to a jazz evening at Noble House where we saw some Christmas songs sun. It did feel a little like home.

Last night we headed out for dinner with my wonderful TA Mai and Danni. Afterwards we went for a party at Danni's house which was good fun. Anyway we hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas Day - we miss you all and send you all our love for the festive season.

We're still here! Promise!

Good evening from Hanoi,

It seems like an eternity since we posted and although the busy lifestyle in Vietnam is partly to blame this time it is also laziness which has contributed so we apologise for this incredibly tardy post. Last time we posted we had got back from Cat Ba... which seems like a decade ago now.

The week after Cat Ba we had another really lovely week of teaching. It would be fair to say we are both now feeling sad about leaving our students and working out how on earth we will say goodbye. Both of us have really bonded with our classes, on the whole, and realistically when we leave we will never see them again. It makes us wonder about the teachers we had in the past who we had good banter with, or who really helped us and then moved on. They probably felt similar feelings to what we have at the moment. It will be even harder in China when we have taught them for a whole year. Believe it or not the week of 27th Nov - 1st Dec was the week we were meant to be making Christmas cards with our students... Becky is very by the book so did this but felt dirty the whole week. The children enter their cards into a competition where our employer awards them money as a prize if they have the best card.

Daniel and Becky attempted to get some cute pictures with the children which basically ended in Daniel being bundled and chasing/being chased around the playground. It was very funny to watch. ELC, who arranged our placements, actually hold a competition for two photographs so perhaps Daniel has some contenders! On Friday 24th but 23rd in England Becky received the news that one of her best friends Lizzie is engaged to James Hindson. This obviously resulted in a very exciting Skype call and catch up. Many congratulations Lizzie and James.

After a day at school after Lizzie's engagement news we headed to the opera to watch Carmen at Hanoi Opera House. This wasn't quite like seeing an opera in England but was interesting and good fun nonetheless. Robert enjoyed being in the audience and being able to analyse the performances of the stars. The tickets were incredibly good value for money and if anyone visits Hanoi we would recommend trying to pay a visit just because it is so economic. 

The morning after the opera we had our Lord of the Rings marathon with Liv and Aaron which resulted in us only getting through The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers... partly because Liv and Aaron were feeling a little worse for wear. Avid LOTR fans will be pleased to hear we did finish with Return of the King the week after although we still have the last battle sequence to watch. Liv is awaiting this with excitement.... 

On Sunday 26th Nov Sam and Jess were in Hanoi visiting so we spent a day playing tourist with them. We started at Hoa Lu prison where Vietnamese prisoners were kept by the French and then American soldiers during the American/Vietnam War. It was fascinating but a little gruesome. Then we made our way to the beautiful Temple of Literature where Rob played tour guide given he had learned about the Temple of Literature for his secondary school teaching. We introduced Sam and Jess to our district of Cau Giay with a few drinks in the Bia Hoi and then a meal at a Vietnamese restaurant which had smokey water and stepping stones. Although the food was nice we experienced slightly bizarre treatment from the waiting staff who laughed at the way we ate the food and even started doing impressions of Rob. It is something we have not experienced here at all, as on the whole, the service is slow but people are polite. We certainly won't be returning! Our evening was brought up again with a visit to Trill Rooftop Bar with its stunning views across Hanoi. Becky did a romantic photo shoot of Sam and Jess before they headed back to Old Quarter to get an early night before their trip to Halong. 

Temple of Literature photos: 

Photos at Dinner and the rooftop bar:

We've already discussed some of the teaching on the week commencing 27th Nov, what we didn't mention was Becky making the room Christmassy. We have a little tree, a snowman, a cardboard wreath and lots of tinsel. Although Rob wasn't sure he could trust Becky with this important task he was pleasantly surprised when he arrived home and it has made our little room a little more homely. The weekend of 2nd/3rd Dec we headed to Hai Phong to celebrate our friend Liz's birthday. She is a teacher in Hai Phong. We went along with Maria and Laura and had a fantastic night out. It was a pleasure to see the beautiful Liz and we hadn't properly caught up with Maria and Laura since the flight and it was fantastic to spend time with them. We followed this up with drinks at Trill Rooftop on Fri 9th Dec and hope to see them for drinks many times before we head off for travelling. Belated happy birthday to lovely Liz. 

l-r Laura, Liz, Maria, Becky, Rob

At Hai Phong railway station

The next week of teaching was quite frustrating for the both of us. We ended up getting extra teaching and having quite a long week, particularly Becky who went over our contracted hours. On our teaching program there is a wide mix of people with different backgrounds and also different timetables and we have often found we are both working on the higher end in terms of number of periods a week. Indeed this month Becky is likely to go well over the number of periods she should be working in a month but we do get paid extra if this happens. We also had a training session on tests we need to begin administering in the approach to Christmas. This has been what this week of teaching has been so far. It made us realise how close we are to finishing teaching in Vietnam. 

Going to miss these guys!

At the weekend we went to Coi Village on another VEO trip. We were joined by Caitlyn - a teacher in Hanoi with us. You may remember they are an organisation that delivers teaching and infrastructure projects in rural areas of Vietnam such as Sapa. Last time we went to Mai Chau and this time we went to Coi Village. It is the most isolated from the world we have both felt the whole time - Coi Village really was in the middle of nowhere and the colder temperatures and foggy surroundings made it feel really mysterious. It was absolutely stunning and quite surreal to suddenly be around children who do not seem to have met many foreigners. The trip started on Saturday morning (9th Dec) with an early bus journey with a stop off in some tea fields on the way, where we lifted up Tu (from ELC) and watched several people almost fall into the bushes. When we arrived we had lunch and then napped. The standard lunch on these trips is a buffet style sharing at the table lunch with some rice in a bowl, probably some soup and various mystery meats. After we had rested we set off in our groups - this time we decided to take a rest from teaching and join the infrastructure group. The aim was to create a play area for the local children including painting tyres. We helped lifting lots of heavy rocks from the stream, as well as creating a Vietnam flag tyre with Tu and an ocean tyre - beautiful sky with sunset and then sea with little boats. This was a great success and we even got to meet a cute puppy. 

Caitlyn enjoys the tea views

Caitlyn and Tu

Rob, Caitlyn and Tu

When we arrived back we rested before grabbing dinner and taking part in the gala night. We were both knackered so got an early night. The gala night involved lots of activities with balloons. The Vietnamese seem to love games involving balloons! We also tried some corn wine at dinner which was perfect for getting us to sleep. The next day we were up early to head to a cave. We walked up and then entered the cave. We had been provided with flip flops as there was water inside the cave. It was one of the more frightening caves we have been in. It was completely dark, the entrance had a rope to help you climb down into the cave and then a shaky looking step ladder. We then crossed water before the biggest challenge which was walking across this slippery clay like mud. Both of us fell on our arses... Becky managed to do it in front of everyone. After a Vietnamese man slipped and almost went flying down a drop we decided to turn back... we had already seen a lot of the cave. By this point the flip flops were saturated with mud and so useless that we took them off. It definitely would have been better to keep our shoes with grip on! It was particularly difficult for Rob who has size 14 feet - a thing that doesn't exist in Vietnamese flip flops. We then hiked to another cave but we decided to explore after we were told the cave is described as entrance to hell and we heard from good sources there were rickety ladders and thin ledges with drops to your death! Apparently people also get lost in there as there are so many levels. If anyone has seen the film The Descent they will know why we were so nervous! The jungle surrounding the caves was beautiful and we enjoyed taking in the scenery whilst getting to know some of the teachers from Hai Phong. 

After an active time it was time to head back to Hanoi on the long bus journey. We ordered in a treat takeaway and begun preparing for the teaching week. This week we have been doing students speaking tests. Becky teachers younger children and for some of them it is very difficult - they literally do not answer questions. We have been told that a 5 is a pass and really we should be trying to pass them. This sounds a bit bizarre but when we thought about it these kids are so young... can you imagine being failed in your French test at 5-6 years old! Harsh. For both of us the tests have also been an opportunity to see some of our students do really well... both of us have awarded the elusive 10/10, much to the delight of those students. You feel fantastic when you award this perfect score and the happy smiles on the students' faces are well worth it. 

The last few weeks have had real ups and downs and both of us have actually felt quite negative at some points. The miscommunication you sometimes experience living in another country with a different culture can be extremely frustrating. You also have to contend with people from your own western culture and the different personalities you come across. Many people have had a rollercoaster experience and we do genuinely feel for some of them. It is tough. One of the things we won't regret about this is experience is some of the incredible people we have met - we have made friends for life in Sabrina, Danni and Livvy. We are really excited to be heading to Shenzhen with both Sabrina and Liv. We will be living with Livvy. 

The next few weeks will whiz by and then we will be off on our travels. Nearer to the time we will explain what our plans are. At the moment we are going to travel around Vietnam, Thailand and Laos before heading home. It is going to be the most organised trip ever given Becky is sorting it out. This weekend we are headed to Sapa - Rob's parents have kindly funded a trip there on the Victoria Express to the stunning Victoria Hotel as a Christmas present and we are super excited to see beautiful Sapa. Many thanks to Joanne and Gary for this gift. The weekend after it is Christmas and then we are in Mai Chau for New Year with the following weekend being the first weekend that Amy and Claire are here! It is going to be an exciting few weeks.

We will try to keep you updated and make the next few blog posts more regular otherwise they will be longer than even this one! 

Until then, all the best, thanks for reading.