Vietnam - A Different Orient

In a Land that is Not Like Lubbock!




Hello Elementary Friends,

Before I begin my discussions about my attendance at the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) in Melbourne, Victoria and about Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where we are spending one week of the third school holidays, I would like to tell you a story about why our family seems to have the "wanderlust" for travel and learning about other parts of the world.  

First of all, I am the daughter of George and Beverly Babcock from Lubbock, Texas.  As I was growing up, I recall so many instances of my parents (especially my dad) encouraging us to plan trips and to see the world.  We traveled all over the United States and Mexico (even driving all the way to Mexico City!).  My father sold various types of seeds all over the world - primarily in Mexico and Spain.  This is why it is so heartwarming to me to see my brother, Glen in the international trade business with his ExHale Homegrown C02 Products (ExHale Homegrown C02).  I received my first experience with a visit to a country "behind the iron curtain" in 1974 when my church choir, The Wesley Singers, traveled to Romania for a three week choir tour as part of a governmental program called Ambassadors for Friendship. We sang in government assembly halls and even stayed in homes of local citizens along the way.  It was a life "forming" experience.  So these and other trips and adventures led me to the belief that we only live once, so we need to garner as many experiences from this world as we can!  

So - with this frame of reference and world view, I married Mitch.  We, of course, traveled to the Caribbean and Europe prior to starting our family.  Along came Katie in 1983 and then Mary Beth in 1985.  The main part of this story came in May of 1989 when Katie had recently turned six years old.  She came home from school (Murfee Elementary) with a brochure about Camp Monakiwa which is located near Las Vegas, New Mexico.  Here is a photo of the land surrounding the camp.


I so distinctly remember how the following conversation unfolded because it would be the beginning of another generation of the "wanderlust" in our family!  

In the kitchen just after arriving home from school:
Katie:  Mommy - here is a brochure of Camp Monakiwa - I want to go there this summer!
Me:  Oh Katie - that is the camp that Mommy went to when I was a girl (around 10 years old).
Katie:  Well, I want to go there now while I am 6.
Me:  Oh, honey I think you are too young to go now, but maybe in a few years.
Katie - stomped outside to play

A while later - back in the kitchen:
Katie:  Mommy - I have three reasons why I should go to Camp Monakiwa.
Me:  Thinking - This should be good.  Saying - Well what are those three reasons, Kate.
Katie:  
Number One - so I can "see a land that is not like Lubbock."  
Number Two - so I can get away from Mary Beth for a week.  (I must interject here that Mary Beth was only four at the time - hardly that much of a pain!  She and Katie, of course, grew to be best friends and they still are to this day - never going a day without talking!)
And, Number Three - So I can make some new friends.

Me:  Thinking - Wow, if a six year old can articulate reasons this convincing, I guess we should consider it. Saying:  Katie - let me talk with your dad, and we will see.

Needless to say - Katie went to camp that summer.  She knew no one else who was going.  She went into a strange new place with people unfamiliar, ventured into a land very different from her home, and made some amazing new friends!  She came back ready to do it again and again and again!

Thus, the term "it is a land that is not like Lubbock" was born!  Very similar to "We are not in Kansas anymore!"

I tell you this story because it rather capsulizes the desire to have adventures!  Now - don't get me wrong - I very much love home, as well.  I love to come home, but it probably won't be long before my mind starts "wandering" with our next venture!  Mitch and I are very appreciative of the opportunities that we have had throughout our lives, but we are especially grateful for the experiences that 2016 has afforded us!  Australia, New Zealand, and now Vietnam have opened our minds and offered us so many learning "good fortunes!"

My Attendance at the ACEL (Australian Council for Educational Leaders) National Conference  September 29-30, 2016



Melbourne Australia




As I mentioned in last week's blog, I flew to Melbourne, Victoria from Sydney on Thursday (29th) to attend the ACEL Conference and to hear Dr. John Hattie speak.  I attended several sessions on topics of interest to me including differentiating instruction, maximizing the use of data, and my favorite - Visible Learning.  I listened to several speakers from all over Australia and the United States.  I would like to call your attention to a very interesting research and teaching professor from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.  Her name is Dr. Carol Ann Tomlinson.  Here is a link to her website:


She is the author of The Differentiated Classroom which I found to be very practical and insightful especially now that I have a classroom full of students all at different levels and with varying needs. I really enjoyed her presentation and I intend to follow her research now that I have been introduced to her work.

The main reason, however, that I went all the way to Melbourne for the conference was to hear Dr. John Hattie speak on Visible Learning and his research on highly effective teaching strategies.  The time came on Friday (30th) for Dr. Hattie's session.  I made sure that I was in my seat early, and I was looking for various options of getting a selfie with him.  Cindy Barnett (from Jeffco) suggested that I sit on the front row, then turn around and pretend to be taking a photo of the audience while actually taking a selfie with him behind me.  Well, he was introduced by an ACEL director, and then he showed up on the video monitor!  I was so upset!  There was a collective, "Oh Nooooo" from the audience.  He then proceeded to tell us that he was in Santa Barbara, California!  He informed us that he has been to the US so many times in the past few months that the US Immigration Department is accusing him of trying to live and work in the USA.  He said that if he left the US to come to Australia for the ACEL Conference that he would not be allowed back in the states for 4 months and he has several speaking engagements lined up there.  So - I guess he actually is attempting to live and work in the US after all.  Anyway, he then gave the same speech that he would have given if he would have been in Australia.



Here is little bit of information on Dr. Hattie:

Professor John Hattie is a researcher in education. His research interests include performance indicators, models of measurement, and evaluation of teaching and learning. John Hattie became known to a wider public with his two books Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers. Visible Learning is a synthesis of more than 800 meta-studies covering more than 80 million students.  According to John Hattie Visible Learning is the result of 15 years of research about what works best for learning in schools. He has been called “possibly the world’s most influential education academic."

I tried to "video the video monitor," but I was not very successful, so here is a TedTalk with Dr. Hattie speaking about why some teachers and schools are so successful.



Here is the ranked listing of the effect sizes within Dr. Hattie's research.  I am certain that you will find them as intriguing and stimulating as I do!


So even though the scoundrel, Dr. Hattie, did not actually show up in person, I still had a very nice time at the conference and learned some things that I did not know prior to attending!  Worth the cost of admission!

Vietnam - First Half


In today's blog I will discuss a few highlights of the first half of our trip to Vietnam.  Next week I will conclude with the second half.  

We arrived here from Sydney on Sunday (2nd) at around 9:00 AM.  We took a cab to our hotel, but were not able to check in until 2:30.  Our first impression was - "we are in a land that is not like Lubbock!"  There are motor bikes everywhere!  I have never seen so many in my whole life.  They are crowded on the street along with the cars.



Here is a video of the street right by our hotel the night we arrived!


Here is a photo of our welcome to Christina's Homestay.



We found it on AirBnB.  Here is a link that shows you some photos:


We spent the first couple days walking around the city and getting our bearings.  This is a very large city with around 10 or so million people.  And, it seems that they are ALL out on the streets at all times.




Statue of Ho Chi Minh - of course!



Little Lady with Traditional Hat in the Rain - just one of of hundreds like this!

On Tuesday evening we took what is called the Evening Food Tour.  I asked Mitch to write about the evening from his perspective.

Mitch's Report on the Evening Food Tour


Vietnam.  I really had no idea what to expect. My image of the country is one shaped by Walter Cronkite and Huntley/Brinkley.  There are the familiar names - Hue, Da Nang, Khe Sahh, Diem, Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh, ARVN, Viet Minh, Viet Cong, Tet, Ky.  I was stuck in the past. Vietnam wasn’t.

Karla and I have found Saigon ( okay, really Ho Chi Minh City but nobody calls it that other than government officials ) to be an amazing adventure.  It overwhelms the senses with constant noise interrupted by moments of unexpected music; aromas of flowers and bakeries and smells of garbage and decomposition; construction, remodeling and decay; exotic tastes of mysterious fruit and pho, noodles and meats.  It is yin and yang - yesterday and tomorrow only slightly nodding at today; beautiful women and androgynous men, or maybe the other way around; a communist country exploding with entrepreneurs.  Eleven million people on scooters all going in different directions.

Karla asked me to tell about our Street Food Tour to include in her blog.  I’m not sure I can do it justice but I’ll give it a try.  We were picked up at our hotel by 3 young people just as night was falling.  They were on scooters and soon so were we.  I rode behind Long Nguyen, Karla was riding with Phu, and Trahn was along for her training.  After strapping on helmets (as if they were going to do us any good as we rode through the Valley of the Shadow of Death) and Karla putting on her newly acquired face mask…the extra special one purchased for about 40 cents, we were off.  Into rush hour traffic.  Along with the other 10,999,999, 995 people also on scooters and miscellaneous taxis, buses, cars, bikes, pedestrians, dogs, and and cyclos (three wheeled bikes with passenger bench seat - think rickshaw).



It was daunting. It was terrifying.  It was great.  We had at least five stops to make along the way.

After deciding to simply trust Long and enjoy the ride it was an incredible experience.  We headed toward the Saigon River for our first stop.  As we arrived I didn’t know what was in store.  The initial meal was being served on a sidewalk along a busy street lined by dozens and dozens of vendors all cooking on smoky charcoal grills.  The health departments I know would not have approved which was reinforced by the 3 year old boy proudly peeing in the gutter.  He wouldn’t be the last such urinator of the evening.  At least he was downwind.




Our first course was beef with betel leaves.  It was delicious.  We were taught the ins and outs of Vietnamese wraps with basil and mint and bean sprouts and wedding cake (it’s a long story) all wrapped in delicate rice paper along with sauces and the meat.  The course was also huge - and there were many more to go.  We had kumquat juice with coconut to drink.  It was great.  After about an hour at that stop we mounted up and headed across the river.

As we left District One and entered District Four the construction was more pronounced and the buildings were newer and had been built in partnerships with Japanese and South Korean firms.  Construction cranes were everywhere as we came to our destination in a cul-de-sac on the bank of the River.  Across the water was the skyline of Saigon.  The river was busy with commercial shipping, pleasure craft and dinner cruises.  This was our dim sum stop.



We were soon served stuffed dumplings filled with all manner of vegetables, meats, and seafood.  Again, it was delicious.  We were served on the sidewalk on tables and chairs that reminded me of Playschool sets we had for the girls when they were young.  And small.  Very, very small.  Vietnam is not made for taller, fatter Americans.  It is a low country but we were surprised to later learn that the people today are much taller than they were 50 years ago.

We ate as much dim sum as we could…I was learning I was going to have to pace myself.  Our guides were great.  They were happy to tell us about their culture and their city, the food and the customs. They were earnest and enthusiastic and equally interested in learning from us. 

As we were leaving I was handed a face mask by Long.  He told me we were going to be on a 45 minute ride through construction.  Uh oh.  It turned out that the construction was only for a portion of the ride.  We stopped by the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office on our way to our next course.  It was an actual restaurant but I have no idea where.  I think the blood was all going to my digestive system as this portion of the trip was sort of a blur.





I fully recall the meal, however.  It was a family style offering of stuffed snails (much like stuffed crab except - oddly enough - snail); two sized of Vietnamese pancakes- which were more like crepes; more wraps (a lifetime of fajitas came in handy); some salad with pork belly, the usual leaves, carrots, and other things that now fade into a blur; and sesame spring rolls wrapped in a seaweed.  Again, it was wonderful.  To add some balance to the wonderfulness, however, we had a communication problem with my drink.  I ordered a watermelon juice and a bottled water. I got no water and salted lemonade with pig’s feet - at least that’s my story.  It was horrible.  No, it was beyond horrible because I was really, really thirsty from the masked construction ride.  Oh well.  We finished there and I think I was going down for the count and we still had two stops to go.

It was back to the scooter but I was almost in need of a step-ladder to get on it by this point.  I know I didn’t fall off but the next thing I knew we were stopping in front of a Ford dealership where the sidewalk and driveways had been turned into a huge pop up cafe.  Again, all the seating was Barbie sized chairs - no tables this time - but I didn’t mind to much because I thought is was going to be a much less painful fall to the pavement if I listed to one side or another.

This stop was Vietnamese pizza.  It was a large rice paper covered with egg and toppings.  I’m not sure Karla remembers this.  Her eyes were crossed and she kept mumbling about starving children in Africa.  The “pizza” was served on a plate along with a pair of scissors to cut it.  I was beyond the ability to use sharp objects so I guides handled the serving.  I ate a slice and it was not bad….it probably was wonderful but I was in full overdose by this time. Still no water.  And we still had one place to go.



We returned to the general area where we began for our dessert course which was referred to as the desert by all 3 guides.  To be very fair, their English was excellent and certainly better than my Vietnamese. 

We were served a variety of fruit cups.  One had ice cream and beans - this was nearly the end of Karla.  Another had durian - if the beans hadn’t killed her, the durian would have.  Durian is a very sweet but exceptionally stinky fruit.  Exceptionally stinky.  Her eyes rolled back in her head and I thought I was going to have to learn about Vietnamese hospitals.  She recovered but was politely declining any more dessert.  I ate it.  It had ice and ice is frozen water and I was desperate.

The dessert menu - yes that is $20,000 dong which is about 90 cents!

Our guides at the dessert stop


We returned home and expressed our appreciation to the guides.  They really were great people and seemed to have fun with us.  After wishing them a good evening Karla and I must have waddled upstairs as we were both in bed the following morning.  It was a memorable experience.

Thank you Mitch for capturing our experience so vividly!

Now - we have three more days in Vietnam - in store are the following:
A student led city tour
The A-O Show at the Saigon Opera House
Excursion to the Mekong Delta

We will arrive back in Sydney on Sunday (9th) just in time to begin Term Four on Monday morning (10th).  Thank goodness I have my lesson plans for the first few days completed!

Take care dear friends and Tạm biệt (Goodbye in Vietnamese)!



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