Pellknights on Tour : Mai Châu Oh Wow!

Good evening from Hanoi,

We last left you with the news that we were off to watch Kingsmen 2 at the cinema - it was really good and we would definitely recommend. Since then it feels like a lot of time has passed and we were surprised when we learned we posted only a week ago. So much has happened since then.

Rob stalked by a little girl at Cafe Moc - fast food restaurant

Last week we had another busy week of teaching. Rob really enjoyed his teaching, he had a lot of fun and excitement levels reached their peak for Rob when he got to wheel out his map of the world in Grade 4 lessons for the unit entitled 'I'm from Japan'. He gave the students a bit of a geography lesson by teaching them the continents, cities and some landmarks. Rob is still finding his secondary teaching interesting and this week the teenager who told him he has the class from hell and also listed one of her hobbies as bad boys left him a note saying 'if you open this you are a dumbass'. Brutal. Apart from this Rob has really taken to the teaching and has loved getting to know his students better.

Becky reunited with her Best Mate - so much sass

Emma with Pho

Becky had another good week as well. The class from hell were put in their place and behaved insanely well. She is really getting to know her students now and has formed special bonds with a number of them - notably Linh one of her Grade 3 students. Becky was surprised in one of her classes when a whole team of students burst into tears because they did not win. Basically we divide the classes into 4 teams - names can be anything but the starting point is: monkey, elephant, snake, tiger. The winners earn a smiley face stamp which the kids are super excited about receiving. Becky also does a sticker for the best student of the lesson from a team that did not win. The snakes in this particular class are very good and normally win but lost for the first time. Becky felt very bad when they all burst into tears, particularly because it was a tie breaker where they had to play rock, paper, scissors to determine the winner. On Thursday Becky had another great afternoon at Hoang Liet school and then got some Kindergarten teaching to do so was whisked away on the back of a motorbike. This was an oddly exhilarating experience, but not one Becky is going to relive any time soon - hopefully. Becky has also taken a liking to Pho this week - meat, noodles, spring onions etc. in a bowl. Emma and Becky grabbed some Pho at the Cafe In this week before teaching.

Emma and her crew

Lake near our house

Becky's kindergarten class with Mid-Autumn Festival Star Lanterns

Thach Ban B students

Emma, Becky and Chris

On Friday night we headed to our favourite steak restaurant before heading home to pack up for our trip to Mai Chau. We were awake at around 5am on Saturday to get across to VEO headquarters where our bus awaited us. The scenery on the way was breathtaking and we stopped at a viewing point with the most spectacular views. It also gave Emma and Becky an opportunity to jump all over rocks. The journey climbed over the mountains and our ears popped as we got higher! We dropped down into a beautiful valley and arrived at our accommodation. Luckily our bus could fit down the small roads but the other bus group had to walk! We were in a home stay, the best parallel is probably a B&B. We were on the second floor on a sort of stilted building. A giant mosquito net was there to protect us and everyone crashed on the floor on mattresses and duvets - like a huge sleepover; emphasis on the sleep as we had the best nights sleep we have had since being here!

Rachel, Emma, Becky and Sabrina

Our accommodation

The school

Off to school

After we arrived we had lunch and a power nap and then we were off to a local primary school to do some teaching. Rob had lovingly crafted a lesson plan as group team leader with the help of our lovely mentor Hang. The plan was to teach the students some words related to the Mid-Autumn Festival (this Weds) and then create some traditional star lanterns. Rob informed a small group of us that the Mid-Autumn Festival story is essentially about a boy who lied and deceived his way through live ending up stuck on the moon after his Banyan Tree floated away and he would not let go. This tree had given him great wealth. We guess the moral of the story is don't lie! We aren't sure how it is related to Mid-Autumn but it seemed important. Rob was grouped with Becky and Natalie (teaching with ELC in Halong). We started with hangman for our names and then the Hello, how are you song - a great tune Becky would thoroughly recommend for enjoyment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVlcKp3bWH8). Then we moved to teaching some of the key words for the Mid-Autumn Festival and then the whole class played some games, including zombie game which was hilarious. In another classroom the children were so scared of the zombie teachers they climbed up the barred windows!!! The final bit of the lesson was some DIY; making star lanterns. These are traditional items of the Mid-Autumn Festival (like pumpkins at Halloweens). They are colourful stars and they are carried in lanterns parade or at Becky's kindergarten class the students danced and sung around a circle whilst carrying them. We had a presentation at the end of the session where the students were given books and gifts before we headed back to our home stay.

Rob helps make lanterns

Rob showing them the how to video

Off home!

We got back grabbed a beer and dinner (which involved a lot of rice wine - very strong wine). After napping we went to the VEO Gala Night where we sung Summer Nights with friends and Bohemian Rhapsody. We were also treated to a traditional dance by the local men and women - the women had flowing scarves which they moved to the music and the men had traditional instruments. We played some games (e.g. holding a balloon back to back in your pair them bursting it - Emma and Becky were pros) and also got an opportunity to do some dance ourselves. The dancers held three sets of long bamboo sticks and tapped them in and out to the beat. We had to move our feet in-between the bamboo sticks before they smashed together. Some people got a little bit caught up in them! It was bizarrely addictive to keep going round and round to try and perfect your dance. A fire was then lit before it poured with rain so we headed to bed and had the aforementioned best nights sleep ever!

Traditional dance

Sack race

The next we woke up early and got a delightful baguette and egg for breakfast and the most incredible coffee. We then gathered for the Amazing Race which was a rather bizarre collection of team building exercises, including a sack race (which we definitely won but lost... because we had more players - not bitter), turning a carpet over with the whole team with just your feet and without coming off, untying a human knot, passing a bottle with just your knees, finding a flag and taking a photo with traditional dress on and then climbing 1200 steps to Chieu Cave. This was a gruelling walk in the blistering heat and we had a much deserved sugar cane ice drink at the top. We look sweaty in the pictures, which is a fair representation, but it was well worth it for the stunning views and cool cave. We got back, grabbed lunch, packed and then headed back on the bus. It was a truly inspiring weekend and we hope to volunteer with VEO again.

Enjoy our pictures below! We will post all about our week's teaching next week. We are off to Cat Ba island this weekend for Rob's birthday which should be amazing.

Thanks for reading.