http://www.cafepress.com/travelgoddess

http://www.cafepress.com/travelgoddess

Thanks to Nancy for sending me a heads up on this one.

I am just starting to research this lawsuit now and it looks like MC and Visa are being asked to return 1% + 2% of foreign transaction fees to Americans who traveled abroad over the past TEN YEARS. From what I am reading online there was a letter sent to suspected credit card holders. But due I am jumping around addresswise in the US, I havent seen this myself.

Here is an interesting bit on NPR regarding this lawsuit:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17265338

And here are more articles on the matter:

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/money/2007/12/foreignexch_ref.html

http://www.creditcards.com/Foreign-Transaction-Fees.php

WANT TO FILE A CLAIM? Go here:

http://www.ccfsettlement.com/

I SOOOO hope this isnt a tease. Although I wasnt able to use my credit card as much in Vietnam, I have used it often enough over the past few years, overseas, that any refund would be FANTASTIC!!!! Especially since I will most likely be in South America earning crap money over the next year or so. Crossing me fingers and looking for a permanent address I can provide for the claim. hhmmmm.

^^^ My new fav ESL teaching book; Ideas, teaching analysis and more!!! ^^^

“Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language” by Jerry G. Gebhard

I love, love, love this book.

Doing the CELTA was great, but there isnt much chance in the hectic, underpaid/overworked world of ESL, at least not in the places have taught, to really get down and dirty with career development. Thank goodness for books like this.

I originally got this book because I was looking for some new activities, and it has that. Everything from the video activity I did last week (1/2 the class watches and listens while the other 1/2 listens only. Then you create discussion groups about the video with a mix of the listen and listen/look folks.) Brilliant.

But then there is SO much more. There are Teacher Self Development Tasks, tons of book recs on the topics in each chapter, real life examples of the author and his fellow teachers. The one thing I will never, ever forget from this book (and that it was nice to see in print).

1. teaching is HARD work
2. EVERYTHING you do in English in the classroom is teaching English. Everything.

Its a nice mix of thinking and doing in the same book. Below are some of my favorite bits from the book.
———————————————————————————–
* p. 53-What makes an interactive classroom interactive?
- Reduction in the centrality of the teacher
-An appreciation for the uniqueness of individuals
- Chances for the students to negotiate meaning with each other and the teacher
- Choices, both in relation to what students say and how they say it
———————————————————————————-

* p. 78-Some ways to give instructions include
-writing down instructions and giving them verbally
-giving instructions verbally and role-playing them; showing the ss what they are to do
-having a ss read the inst., then having a student or two paraphrase the inst. to the class
-giving them inst. as a dictation, then having the students check each others dictation
-miming the inst. as ss guess and tell u what they are supposed to do
-whispering the inst. as ss lean forward in their seats, having them repeat the inst. to the person next to them in a whisper

Hit my 3 week anniversary back in the US today. And am going through all the reverse culture shock moments I remember. I feel oddly unsettled by the quiet in the city, I am invading everyone elses personal space (instead of the vice versa in Vietnam), I am extremely overwhelmed with the availability of English language reading material (one of the main reasons I come back between countries), and of course, am starting to miss the folks I left behind in said country. There are so many more examples,but honestly, this can get dull fast!!

Every country ends up touching me, changing me and making me a slightly different person than before. This time its much more than my name change that stands out, to me anyway. There is a deep sense of being spoiled rotten. I am NOT saying that everything in Vietnam was amazingly wonderful. If that were true, you bet your ass I would not have left or would go straight back. What I am saying is that there were parts of my lifestyle that I really enjoyed that are somehow never going to be possible here back in the states. For example; we shall take the least personal example we can think of; MASSAGES. I started to get massages regularly in Vietnam to help speed up the digestive problems that I had. Acupuncture, Reiki, massages, etc. These were all in the same bag of bodily recovery. I probably would have gotten them even if I didnt have such problems, but this is why I started.

To get weekly, or 3 times a week massages in San Francisco would be somewhat of a financial miracle. My $5 hour foot massages in Hanoi are $10 per 10 minutes at the pedicurist. And its just not as good.

Then we move onto the mental stimulation at work. I loved, loved, loved the geekiness (pre-summer madness especially) at my school in Hanoi. The semantical fights that we got into as a whole were fuckin hilarious. The size of the teacher population was also nice because there was almost always someone in the teachers room when you had a burning linguistic survey or American English versus British English clarity moment in waiting.

And then there is the cost of living.

And the most embarassing of all is a bit of a taming of the shrew moment for me. I am, as expected, having “issues” (that one is for you Kexxxy) about being asked to follow rules. Walk on this side of the road, dont use your cell phone in my store, no tea in the classroom (oops), etc, etc. There is something really maddeningly sweet about knowing that you really can say or do nearly anything and NOT be told that you shouldnt. Or that there will be no one around organized enough to correct you, let alone punish you. Sigh. I knew this was going to happen. You wouldnt believe the (thank god, internal) hissy fits I have gone into over the paperwork that has been required to start working again. Anything time consuming that I dont want to do I want someone else to do. Anything.

The flip side is that I am for once applying for jobs that I never would have before, due this new sense of cockiness. Who knows if this will calm down and bring me back to my once amicable and humble self. For now I am somewhat of a high maintenance bitch, to be fair. Goddess, I so hope it isnt showing as much on the outside as I feel it on the inside.

Its also a good thing because, as suspected, my European students are much more harder to please in class than the Asian students I have taught in the past. I had a feeling that part of my classroom antics would not go over well. And for the most part all is ok, but there are moments when I know that I just cant fall back on certain things like I could in Vietnam. But then, I didnt know these back up moments before I taught there for a few months (or weeks?) either. So I suppose I will adjust. And it really is enjoyable to have a diverse group to teach.

It took…

* 9-10 hours (in one day, starting at 5am)
* too many bottles of water to count
* a lot of AA batteries for my MP3 player
* many stops to ask for directions during the first hour
* many photo opportuity stops
* 4 coffee shop stops once it stopped raining
* 1 beef noodle stop (breakfast was baguettes while riding)
* and an entire container of Tiget Balm afterwards

But I DID IT. The books/maps say that it is a 100 kilometer journey, BUT according to the road signs I was 98 kilometers to Quang Nhai 1.5 hours into the trip. So, no way.

There is much to share about this trip, but for now (due to slow internet access and my inability to sit on my ass, for obvious reasons, haha, I will make this a visual experience.

I was treated to some beautiful nature scenes in no time at all:

Highway 1 sign

The highway was a 2 laner the whole way. It rotated between going through town centers to going through farmland. At no time was it anywhere near what a “highway” is like in the states. The buses and trucks were incredibly loud with their horns, and I think I lost what is left of my good hearing due to this, but never did I get run off the road by the vehicles. There were a lot of locals on bikes around me most of the time, although, admittedly, they were probably not going as far in one day. (Or were they?)

Coffee shop owner kicking it after we both had hammock naps.

See…

Some friendly locals cheering me on (me thinks)

And right around the last 30 k’s I wanted to see how badly my face was burnt, it was tingling, to say the least. But no mirrors anywhere in sight. So, I did the next best thing, I took my photo to see. Ut-oh, better get out of the sun soon!

Oh,and here is a catchy tune that helped me through the tough moments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_cB5UNGqVs

Going on vacation this wed. Going to try my first ever, long distance anticipated bicycle trip. I could never justify spending $2000 on a trip like this, so am flying (read, biking) solo. Have an itinerary similar to what a lot of the bike tours in Vietnam do, and it looks very doable. All is dependent on weather, my cat gut reaction to all that exercise (me thinks this will be good for me), and how well the bicycle holds up.

The route is planned something like this; (but I am looking forward to any deviations that come up as I am biking and hear of other places that rock along the way.)

* Hanoi to Hue via overnight train on wed

(all of the following via bicycle)

* Hue to Danang (110 km)

* Danang to Hoi An (35 km)

* Hoi An to Quang Ngai (46 km)

* Quang Ngai to Qui nhon (70 km)

* Qui Nhon to Dai Lanh (80 km)

* Dai Lanh to Nha Trang (83 km)

* Nha Trang to Hanoi via plane

I have 10 days. Will buy bike in Hue instead of trying to lug one along on train (possibility of having it stolen and pain in the ass to check in, me thinks.

I will try and blog as I go, internet cafe dependent.

Am SO excited I could only sleep 3 hours last night, my brain was buzzing with ideas and anticipation of such an adventure. The flat terrain of Hanoi seems to be the same as the route I am taking, so this is a supreme time for me to get this dream out of my system. Or, better yet, get started on doing trips like this.

Hurrah and cant wait.

(Oh, if you have any info on any of the above towns, please feel free to send it to me. Am still doing the last bit of research over the last 2 nights.)

^^ Ly (pronounced Lee),an ex-student of mine, and me (right)on an awesome day trip that the students organized. SO sweet! ^^^

I know I havent updated the blog in awhile.

My excuses are as follows:(no one excuse stands alone)

* first 3 weeks of teaching has kicked my butt and sucked all my creative juices

* The teachers at the schools I am working for (1 school, 2 branches) are super friendly and thus I have been dragged (ha!) out on a number of after work activities.

* I almost started dating (gasp) during this time. false alarm, but still…

* I am still living in a hotel with no computer or internet access

* A part of me is sick of so many remote friends. I adore y’all, really. But I want a strong in-person life as well.

How’s that?

I start looking for apartments again tomorrow and have the ambitious but totally doable goal of moving before my school’s Tet holiday begins (Feb 12th, sounds like most places start the vacation time a week later). Once I get that sorted life will really start to rock! Cant wait. Although I have no problems living in my hotel room, thus the dragging of the feet issue since I returned from Thailand 3 weeks ago.

Tet holiday begins sometime around the 17th. No two people give the same answer, haha, so I cant really tell you when it is. What I can tell you is that my plans are very up in the air. I have off from teaching from Feb 12 to 22nd. SO, if you have any suggestions on where to go, please let me know. I would adore a spa/exercise vacation, but the ones I have found so far have been insanely expensive. And I am supposed to be here making not spending money, so….

^^ Me (left, making incredibly weird face), Vicky (center) and Thang (pronounced Tang, I think) on the same day trip to a small ceramic village just north of Hanoi last weekend.

Oh, we were SO cocky.

Sitting around having drinks at a rooftop bar a few days before our CELTA course started.

If I remember correctly the conversation went something like this:

Cocky pre-celta student #1:

“So, what do you think about this class? Can it be THAT stressful?”

(cause the rumor had it that this class would overtake EVERY aspect of our lives for the duration)

Cocky pre-celta student #2:

“No way, I did all the pre-course material and have read a little of the books they recommended. All the stress buzz MUST be about folks who cant manage their time.”

#1
“Yeah, thats what I was thinking.”

(both #1 and #2 breathe a huge sigh of relief and take a BIG gulp from their drinks)

#2

“Besides, there are weekends to catch up or get ahead on assignments. How hard can this be?”

#1

“Yeah, I bet it will be time consuming but not hard at all. I am looking forward to it, actually.”

#2

“Yeah, me too. ”

(more gulps.)

WE WERE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WRONG!

It really IS that stressful.

I will, now that we are more than 1/2 way through, admit one thing. And this time there is no speculation, this is the reality of Celta.

IT’s not that any one task is hard or stressful. Its the fact that we are students for most of the day and then teachers in the remaining time. AND THEN, there are the written assignments, and the evaluating your peers (daily), and being evaluated (every other day), and switching between two learning levels (elementary and intermediate). And if that isnt enough, there is evening planning AFTER your 8-10 hours at school 5 days a week.

Lesson planning would never take this long outside of this environment, but to follow the methods and steps drilled into us, it seriously takes anywhere from 6-8 hours PER LESSON. We have been teaching 2-3 lessons per week. This time includes research time (pics, activities, etc), writing the detailed lesson plan they advise, fighting with the printer and copying machine and working with the other teachers that day (cause we shared grammar points on our teaching days for the first 3 weeks). And I havent covered it all. Oh no! But I will stop there.

Basically, I am beat, worn out, and until I actually had a “good” lesson today, thought that I was the worst teacher, not to mention human being for not being able to follow such detailed instructions to a T.

All the comparisons to boot camp are true.

All of the “get sleep, eat well, and dont travel until its over” advice are well spoken.

And all of my 2 seconds of free time are over til the class ends next week.

Until then:)

D

Hanoi is no stranger to visitors and it shows. The motorbike drivers are as persistent as the dirty old men hanging out on the street corner in Buenos Aires and our homeless population in San Francisco. But the fact that people from all over the world are drawn to this precious city means one thing for me personally (and possibly you when you visit, cause you know you will!); the ease with which you can float through this culture.

For example. When I moved to Taiwan my boss or a local friend had to come with me everywhere to do practically everything, daily tasks like laundry, meals and such exclused. But finding an apartment, transferring the scooter to my name and more were impossible for me to do solo due to the limited amount of English spoken in Tainan, the city I lived in. But it wasnt just the language barrier. There was a way of doing things that was thought as the “right” way and since I was a foreigner and did things differently, even the slightest of adjustments to the local method of any transaction caused a deer in headlights affect to whoever I was trying to communicate with, thus the companion to assist in situations such as this.

This is why I find if kind of funny when a dear Taiwanese friend of mine emailed me this week and said that she thought that Vietnam was “40 years behind Taiwan.” In what way? I want to ask her, and will. But I need to know. Cause, to be honest, if we’re talking about modern urban life, or mindset and openness to a global existence, no way sister, Vietnam is not lagging. Not a centimeter. In all fairness, I have been here about 2 weeks, but I have had more hand gesturee conversations understood and more in depth English conversations in this short time than my entire 10 months in Taiwan. No offense folks, but NO ONE CULTURE IS SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHERS. And this mindset was part of the problem last time around when I was in Asia, or rather, Taiwan.

I know y’all get grumpy on me when I get this specifically negative about a place, but I consider this more blunt and telling than negative. I could tell you a trillion things wrong with my own culture if you like, but I am afraid that this would be a most boring post indeed.

^^^ View from my balcony ^^^

It is entirely possible that foreginers puzzle the Vietnamese just as much as we do any other place we lay our backpacks and demand clean water. But, generally speaking, they are more tolerant to curious here, in a way that is heartfelt and downright fucking adorable. There are oodles of folks trying to scam me on a daily basis, but somehow this annoying injustice melts away quickly when I tap into the vibe of this city.

Add to this that simple things like my new cell Veitnam cell provider has a few pages in their instructions manual in English. And part of these instructions are how to change the recorded menus on my phone to English, so I can check my balance is such a minor thing, but is SO appreciated. Do you know that in Taiwan this was not even an option? Instead I had to memorize what numbers to press to get to my voicemail and ignore the Mandarin instructions. Yes, this could all be avoided if I would spend all waking hours learning the local languages, BUT when you first arrive in a new country, this kind of thing is just friggin wonderul.

Now if you will excuse me, I have a written assignment for class that is due on Monday that I have about an hour to do now. This was the reason I hijaked my friends computer in the first place, but got seriously distracted with email, paying bills and MUSIC. God, I love music. More soon.

And I scoffed those who told me how intense this CELTA program is!!!!

To be fair, its not that any particular component of the class course if stressful in itself, but when you have to pay SUCH close attention from 9am to 5pm and then go home and prepare for teaching the next day or study the zillion things you learned that day, ITS INTENSE.

Nevertheless I am insanely glad that I am taking this class. My teaching hasnt really changed all that much yet, but I know what teaching habits I am carrying over from teaching in Taiwan a few years ago, and of those, which would be best to tweak to teach adults and which skills can carry right over. Thank goddess.

Truth be told, I am not as bad of a teacher as I thought, but I will probably never be fully comfortable standing in front of a group of folks explaining anything. It’s just not who I am innately. Observing, digging, analyzing; there are ME at the core. The hair of my personality that likes to communicate and clarify (and entertain) is helping me with teaching. The thing I like about this class on how to teach ESL to adult learners is that we are exposed to learning theory and many different aspects of language theories also. I may very well just keep going with this train of learning if I like teaching adults. We shall see. The fact that I was as intrigued as I was with our pronunciation lecture this morning made me think that this may be the reason why I kept signing up for this class and yet cancelling before beginning, until now.

Still trying to settle in here, thus the lack of posts about Vietnam. Trust me, I have oodles to write about. Oodles. I could easily live here for 3-6 months, even with the pollution, noise and heat. Have kidnapped a friends computer for a day to catch up on a few class related as well as personal things online, so I hope to get some photos and more posted on here sooner than later. Internet access is plentiful in Hanoi, and cheap, but I have not found an amazingly high speed connection in a quiet, productive environment yet. Truthfully, I havent really tried. Been super busy with walking the first few days and then this class. I am sure there are such places here and once I find them I can get back on track.

But then there is a part of me that DOESNT want to tell you about how interesting this place is. Keep it closer to a secret, so to speak. But I am a blabber mouth, so that wont work. Damn.

Anyway, its been a long day of classes and teaching practice followed by an “oh my god, we survived the first week” dinner and drinks with my classmates, who ROCK in so many ways. Since leaving the restaurant I have been online already 3 hours trying to sort through things I have been ignoring since I arrived, is it 10 days ago now? Holy shit, it is! A personal thanks to Nancy for helping me with the mail issue, you’re an angel chica!