Along the way I was able to take some pictures–mostly in Dong Thap and Lao Cai–so instead of typing on and on, I’ll just share some pictures and fill in the blanks with words where necessary.

While I was in Dong Thap I had plenty of work to do, but we still had time for some exploring. One one occasion they took me to see a few pagodas…

…such as this one. The pagoda/Buddhist culture seems different in the South. There appeared to be more Buddhists there than at most pagodas I have visited in the North. Next, we went to the house that was owned by the Chinese man that a young Marguerite Duras had an affair with many years ago:

It has become a bit of a tourist attraction in Dong Thap, as Duras has written about the whole thing in her memoirs (and there was even a movie about it!). It’s a very old house, but very nicely preserved and decorated on the inside:

Finally, before having a beer-filled lunch and returning to Dong Thap Community College, we went to a local garden/nursery to look at trees and flowers:

On my second-last day in Dong Thap, we had another excursion. They took me to Tram Chim Park. Tram Chim is a wetlands area, home to many different kinds of birds–the most special of all being the Sarus Crane. We took boats down the winding river…

(check out the motor!) Eventually we got to a lookout tower and went up to see what we could see.

Sadly, there were no Cranes on that day. Our guide told us that they only stop here 1 or 2 months out of the year, and that they eat a certain kind of tuber that grows here.

Once we were done trying to find birds with the binoculars they gave us, we hopped back in the boats and took a different route back, and had lunch in the town nearby.

We had the biggest shrimp (prawns? I’m never sure..) that I’ve ever seen!

Lao Cai, on the other hand, was a very different sort of place. Dong Thap is in a river delta, and Lao Cai is up in the mountains. Since I was only in Lao Cai for 3 days, I didn’t have much time for sight-seeing, but I did get to spend one morning out in Lao Cai City with 2 of the teachers that I was working with there. We went to see two pagodas that are near the border with China. There is only a small-ish river separating China from Vietnam, and there is a border crossing there for Chinese and Vietnamese to cross back-and-forth.

Look, it’s China!

This bridge is only for people walking back and forth, but I’m told there is another border crossing somewhere else for cars and trucks.

I didn’t really take any pictures in the pagodas that we went to. The most remarkable thing about the first pagoda we went to was the huge tree outside of it. I couldn’t get any good shots of it–they all turned out badly–so this is the best I could do:

Also, there was a little park next door that had statues of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. Here I am with my friend, the rat:

That’s all for this update; check back soon for new pictures of Jane!

Jane having a laugh while sitting in my closet

I’ll try to import as many old posts as I can, when I get a chance.

It’s about time I gave you all an update, isn’t it? December and January were very busy months. Where shall I begin..?

Work was busier than usual until mid-January. During the second week of December WUSC organized the annual Uniterra Review and Planning workshop with all of the volunteers and partner oranizations. Shortly after that, I went back to a familiar place (Ha Tay Community College) to facilitate two short workshops about soft skills (presentation skills and teamwork/team-building skills). The last big thing, which I spent a lot of time preparing for, was another workshop which I facilitated in Hue at the beginning of January; the topics were Learning Management Systems and Information Security. The last week-ish before Tet holiday, which started on January 19th, was spent winding down and wrapping up a few small tasks.

Jane has also been growing and changing a lot, as usual! She’s walking really well now, and talking up a storm. She seems to understand almost everything (in Vietnamese, at least) and can learn to say new words and sounds very quickly. Some English words are harder, as they’re long and have too many syllables, but her Vietnamese is really good so far.

It was really nice to be home for almost two weeks during Tet. It was good for Jane and I to spend more time together everyday.

You can see a few more pictures of Jane, Hien and I from Tet here.

This year the weather wasn’t very nice during Tet–mostly cold and rainy–so we didn’t get out too much, but we still managed to visit Hien’s parent’s hometowns and visited a few of Hien’s friends as well. But most of the time was spent at home waiting for people to come visit us! Well, not just waiting.. Playing with Jane, and eating and drinking lots of delicious things too!

My two weeks in Kien Giang were really rewarding in terms of the work I was able to accomplish. Kien Giang Technology and Economics College was very organized–they had a detailed working plan covering my two weeks there–and worked with me very effectively. It was very different from my daily office routine at VACC! I’ll have some pictures to share soon (maybe this evening) once I copy them from my camera to the computer.

I got back to Hanoi on Saturday (3rd) and then hurried to the bus station to catch the last bus to Ninh Binh. I got there with 10 minutes to spare! On Sunday we all went to Hien’s father’s homeland, where that morning they had a special ceremony: they opened Hien’s grandfather’s grave, took out his bones, and then moved them to a smaller casket and buried them again at a different grave site. According to tradition, it all had to be complete before sunrise on the 4th, so of course we weren’t there to see it happen, but we did arrive in time mid-morning for thebig meal/celebration that took place afterwards. There were about 20 tables, and they invited all of the extended family to attend.

What else..? While I was away Jane continued growing and changing every day. She knows so many words now! And she’s learning more and more each day. She can tell us when she has to poo (in Vietnamese: ị). It has happened more than once, so it isn’t just a coincidence! Though some times by the time we have fetched her potshe has already finished pooing in her diaper. I guess she doesn’t just mean that she has to poo, but that she has to poo right now. She is still hesitant to try walking, unless she has something to hold on to, but she can crawl really fast.

Now I’m in Kien Giang province, not far from the southwestern most parts of Vietnam, to work at Kien Giang Technology and Economics College for two weeks.They are a member college of the Vietnam Association of Community Colleges (where I’m currently placed in Hanoi) and requested my assistance for some IT and ESL training. Should be interesting; I hope I can get a lot done while I’m here! I’ll miss Hien and Jane a lot while I’m away, though.

Speaking of Jane: she’s a crawling speed demon these days. She could crawl up the stairs if we let her! She always goes right for the staircase, and we have torun after her and try to distract her with something else at the other end of the room. Also, beer continues to be her favourite thing in the world (and her favourite word to say, it seems). At meal time once she sees a bottle/can of beer, she locks in on it and shouts, “Beer! Beer!” We help her to hold an empty bottle and clink with somebody else’s bottle, which she finds very amusing

Jane is changing so much, so quickly, these days. She’s a really talkative and energetic little girl. She can say quite a few different words, like all of the people in the family, and some random things like “fish”, “chicken”, etc. She seems to pick up new words quickly; she’s good at copy-catting sounds when we say things to her. One of her newest things is my name! Before she could say “dad” in Vietnamese (bố) and call me (bố ơi), and now she can say “bố John (ơi)!” Her English vocabulary is more limited (“baby” and “beer” so far, I think) but I’m sure she’ll start picking up English words just as quickly. Mummy needs to start speaking a bit more English with her when daddy isn’t around! She can also point people out when you ask her, “Where’s dad?”, “Where’s aunt Hoai”, or ask her about things she likes in the house, like “Where’s the buffalo?” (a picture on our wall she really likes to look at)

Jane still isn’t walking on her own yet, though she can take some steps as long as she has something to hold on to. She walks on the floor along the side of the bed or couch. I’m sure it won’t be much longer before she’s walking. And she can crawl like a pro now! No more falling over. She’s quick, too.

Jane and Hien are staying in Ninh Binh now. When I go there next weekend to visit I’ll bring my camera and snap a few new pictures to share.

So, uh.. August and September sure flew by didn’t they!?

It has been abusy couple of months for me. At the beginning of August I got back to Hanoi from my special assignment in the South, but once I got to Hanoi I had to scramble (along with some colleagues) to write a final report about the project we coordinated during July in the South. Then on August 16th I flew to Canada for a quick summer vacation, which was very nice – though also busy. A lot of running around.

Since returning to Hanoi at the beginning of September I’ve started a new mandate (still with the same volunteer program). I’m working with the Vietnamese Association of Community Colleges, which is the umbrella association that most of our project’s strategic partner colleges belong to. I’ll be helping them, and teachers from any of their member colleges, by doing capacity building activities related to IT and ESL. I think I’ll be much busier here than I was last year at Hanoi Community College!

Another thing that has been keeping me busy is adjusting to a new house. At the end of September Hien and I had to move because our lease was up at our old house and the owner wanted to raise the rent way too much. It took a long time to find a new house in our (admittedly very low) price range – hey, we’re trying to save money! – but at the last minute we found something decent, and all is well. The move went pretty smoothly and we’re getting settled in now. The house is older and smaller than our last house, so we’re spending a little extra money prettying the place up and getting it tidy. Even though it’s not as nice as our old house, I think we’ll be happier here because the owner is much more easy-going. Unfortunately, Jane still hasn’t really adjusted to the new place yet. She’s been cranky all week. Though part of it is due to the weather, I think: she loves to go outside but it seems like it’s been raining forever, so we can’t take her out for long walks. For the most part it hasn’t been raining hard, but it just never seems to stop. When the sunshine comes back she’ll be much happier because we’ll be able to take her out to explore whenever she feels like it.

I guess that’s it for this update. From now on I should be able to update the blog routinely again!

Since yesterday afternoon, my back has slowly been getting better. Yesterday evening I didn’t push it much; I just rested at the hotel and watched movies. This morning my back was stiff again, but it seems like most ailments always feel the worst in the morning. This afternoon I had to sit in a desk chair for quite a while behind my computer, and afterwards I couldn’t quite stand up straight again. It didn’t hurt much, but there was a spot in my lower back that just wouldn’t straighten out. I was trying to stand straight, but really all I was doing was pushing my chest back! That trouble spot in my lower back wouldn’t budge. So I came back to the hotel and laid down for about half an hour, and when I stood up again I felt so much better. Like I could’ve tap danced down the five flights of stairs to the lobby! (Though I decided to play it safeand took the elevator)

Now I’m back from dinner and still feeling pretty good. Laying down is the cure to all problems. And sitting will, it seems, be the cause of future problems! So I must repeat myself from my last post: Never will I sit again! I’ll learn exercises and stretches to strengthen my back so hopefully this doesn’t happen again (at least, not as seriously), and spend the rest of my life standing, walking, or laying down.

This morning I woke up and it was still bothering me, but it wasn’t worse than other times that I’ve had a sore back. By lunch-time, though.. I could hardly walk anymore! I didn’t even eat lunch. I took a taxi back to my room and laid down on my back for two hours. Laying down seemed to help temporarily, but once the afternoon was over it was hurting even more than before lunch-time. Walking was painful and slow, but I managed to make my way to a taxi and then went directly to a clinic to see a doctor. Fortunately it wasn’t busy there, and the folks that worked there were nice. I got an x-ray done, and the doctor said that there appears to be some spinal degeneration. He gave me some medicine to take–an anti-inflammatory, some sort of muscle relaxant, and something for my tummy in case the anti-inflammatory bothers me–and he told me not to sit for long periods of time, and to do some light exercises/stretches regularly to ease the pain. Never will I sit again! Now I’ll need to design a special stand-up (bar-like) desk so I can keep being a computer nerd without having debilitating back problems.