Friday and Saturday

The activity continues to ramp up every day we are here. Friday was filled with meetings about future workshops that the faculty want me to conduct- it seems they want to pack in as much as possible while we are here in addition to the original schedule. Yikes! Friday afternoon Eric and I attended a meeting with the English Club (with about 10 students)-discussed many topics (good practice) and agendas for the following meetings which we have been invited to attend. In the evening, Eric and I were invited to Lan Thao's birthday party (daughter of our friend Lan Anh) with the rest of the family-picture following. Today we decided to motorbike outside the city to try and find our way to the chicken farm to visit our farmer friend, Phung and Minh- but we got lost and headed back to Hanoi before it got dark. We think we now know where we made the wrong turn and will try again another day! Enjoy the photos!

Lan Ahn's family

Eric and Bao

The food just kept coming!

It's amazing what people transport on motorbikes

On our way out of the city

Watch for animals in the road!

The river just to the north of Hanoi is a boat highway

Rice drying season

Week Two

The week began with a lecture on 'Labor Relations in the US' to 40 undergraduate students in the Business Administration major. We started with an overview and then broke into small group discussions about the similarities and differences between Vietnam/US labor relations. My interpreter, Mr. Tung, had studied the material prior to class and, as I understood from the students, did a great job interpreting (from English to Vietnamese and back again!). Most of Tuesday was taken up by editing conference papers in preparation for a women's conference which the Academy is hosting in mid-October. The abstracts and papers were quite interesting--the theme of the conference is Women and Entrepreneurship in the Industrial Revolution 4.0. I'll also be presenting a paper from the U.S. perspective. On Wednesday, Eric and I were invited to a 2 hour conversation with the English Club where we simply sat in a circle and talked about many different topics- the purpose, of course, was to practice English. Today I'll begin preparing for next week's lectures, catching up on emails and other work not related to Vietnam.

"All work and no play..."
Of course, with Eric around, the fun never ends. He is quite industrious, curious and loves an adventure, so while I'm working, he does his own thing---by himself, with his friends and then makes new friends. When I'm not working, I get to join in the fun. This week we have had invites to several dinners and lunches- some with friends, some with VWA faculty. The motorbike runs beautifully and we now have some new "sturdy" helmets which we have decided will come home with us since we plan to make more trips back to Vietnam in the future. Last night we were caught in rush hour traffic which is just an amazing mass of cars and motorbikes, all vying for an inch or space to move forward- some of us gave up and the sidewalk then became part of the road. It was a madhouse. We decided, instead of battling with the traffic, we would stop for coffee until the roads cleared- it was great fun watching the madness of rush hour while sipping cafe sua da!

We were also invited over the weekend to visit the Citadel- the old "Forbidden City" which is currently being excavated. We toured the Citadel with Ms. Chi, her husband, and baby followed by Bun Cha- one of my favorite dishes in Vietnam.

 

 The room where the Vietnam War strategy was executed

 Entrance to the Citadel

Celebration for the start of the school year

Ms. Nga and Ms. Thu Huong, Vietnam Fulbright Directors

Our room

Vy and Thao, VWA students

View from hallway balcony outside of our room

The Six Week Journey Begins

Eric and I arrived in Hanoi at 11pm after a long flight--13 hours to Seoul and then another 4 to Hanoi. We were met by Vy and the Academy's driver, Mr. Giang. Vy is a student at the Vietnam Women's Academy where I'll be teaching for the next 6 weeks. She later introduced us to Thao, another student and friend. Vy and Thao were very helpful over the next several days as we attempted to settle in. I will post several photos at a later date, but the broadband isn't so broad, so am having a difficult time uploading!

Where we live: We live in a room on campus- a bed, 4 chairs, a desk, a small fridge/microwave, a clothes rack, an ironing board and a TV. To the left as you walk in the door is a small room with a toilet and the next door on the left is a small room which includes a shower head, a sink and an automatic washing machine. We have an air conditioner and hot water now which is wonderful!

Where I work: For the next six weeks, I'll be teaching labor relations and other related topics to undergraduate students and faculty at the Vietnam Women's Academy (VWA). The Academy will be celebrating its 60th year and is an arm of the Vietnam Women's Union (VWU): a women's socio-political and developmental organization mandated to protect women's legitimate rights and strive for gender equality. There are approximately 15 million members in the VWU at the national, provincial, local levels. The VWA has been a training ground for members of the VWU and has now expanded to become an accredited university. Since 2013, it has created 6 bachelor's degrees in the areas of social work, business administration, law, gender and development, multimedia communication and tourism. In fact, it is the only university in all of Vietnam to offer a degree in Gender and Development.
 
The first 3 days: The first days in any new culture are always a blur. The combination of jet lag, new people, new conditions, HOT weather, etc add up to feelings of anxiety, excitement, overload and exhaustion. It helps to have been through this phase before and to know that it is temporary. It also helps to have a husband (Eric) who reminds you to breath and relax. He's the best. So here's the summary:

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were start-up days where I met with faculty to discuss my teaching schedule, conference presentations and workshop activity. There were festivities for the start of the new school year as well as an evening gala for the freshmen. All of the dances and song were performed by VWA students. Very impressive! The Vietnamese culture is famous for its festivities and this begins at a very young age. While I was busy getting oriented, Eric did his thing: rented a motorbike, purchased local phones, joined in during the lunches and got together with friends for coffee/beer. More to tell, but signing off to motorbike to our friend's house for dinner....here we go on a fun filled, hard working journey!

Here I am in Haiphong, with my friend Dzung, her husband and daughter. I met Dzung at MSU last year when she was studying international trade. She helps Haiphong's economic development by establishing business partnerships with international companies.

 While in Haiphong, I taught for two days- the first day with faculty and staff at Haiphong Private University about Performance Management and the second day, I worked with business students on the topic of Organizational Change (below).

Tricia and Alexa flew to Hanoi on December 29th to visit for a week- this is Tricia on our trip to Halong Bay, a beautiful area off the coast of Vietnam, with thousands of limestone islands jutting out of the water. We stayed on a boat for 2 nights and had lots of adventures- visited a fishing village, kayaked in the ocean, walked and rode bikes on Cat Ba Island, ate some amazing dishes, chatted with other passengers from all over the world, visited a huge cave system, etc. I was most happy just being with Tricia! Unfortunately, Alexa had fallen ill the night before, so Eric stayed behind and nursed her back to health.

 When Alexa got better, Tricia fell ill and so missed our outing to the bowling alley with Thao, my friend's daughter. We ate pizza, bowled and shopped in a beautiful mall-it was as if we had been suddenly transported back to the States.

 Some of my colleagues at the university (Hite, LyLy, Yong, Ha, Huong and Minh) took Alexa and I on a day trip to one of the newest and largest pagoda's in northern Vietnam, lunch at a restaurant that specializes in duck and then a boat ride through a number of caves.

Other university colleagues in the business school (Chi Anh, Hien and other staff) made lunch for Eric and I at Chi Anh's house-here Hien is teaching me how to roll the filling in rice paper to make speing rolls or Nem.

 A couple of days later I flew to Hue in central Vietnam where I presented an all day workshop for faculty and students on "Interactive Teaching Techniques" at the Hue University of Foreign Languages- here I am receiving a gift from the Rector (President) of the university. The photo below is a snapshot of faculty and students working on an exercise at the workshop.

 The next day, Eric and I flew to Ho Chi Minh City where I gave a presentation to faculty and students on conducting research at Ton Duc Thang University. Above is a photo of the faculty and students and the photo below shows us with Leanne Noble and Hollis Stewart, two labor educators who had been teaching at TDT for 6 months. In the middle is Vinh, a student and TDT employee who organized the workshop.

While in HCMC, I worked with other Fulbright Scholars from across Vietnam while Eric played. Here he is exploring the Chu Chi tunnels-one part of a series of tunnels that ran for miles through central Vietnam and were used during the war as a safe haven from the bombing/chemical weapons used by the Southern Vietnamese and Americans. They were build large enough for the Vietnamese to move through, but too small for the Americans who often got stuck or trapped while trying to invade the tunnels.

 We had our last reunion with the Fulbright crew and their family members in HCMC and enjoyed an amazing meal of seafood.

 We all found time to play on one of the days while in HCMC- touring the Mekong River...

 Our captain and crew...

 Eric at his favorite barbershop/barber- right on the street, like everything else. Eric is getting spiffed up for our "Thank you Party"- below are photos of our friends that made our stay in Vietnam so wonderful.

After our party and before taking off for Malysia, Eric and I take off on the motorbike for Ba Ve National Park, about 30 miles west of Hanoi. We visited the Ho Chi Minh monument and pagoda on top of BaVi Mountain- we counted the number of steps on the way down from the pagoda...1212!

 Eric proposes to me again in the ruins of an old French Church- a part of the French summer camp- a playground for the French during the hot season heat of Hanoi. So romantic.

Now we are in Kuching- East Malaysia- to visit my friend, Norseha Unin and her family. Norseha and her family lived in E. Lansing for six years while Norseha received her Ph.D. We first visited a stilt village in the jungle (I wish I had written down the names of all the places we visited!)

Many years ago, the tribes in the jungle practiced head-hunting as they fought their boundary battles with nearby villages.

 Kek Lapis, or Indonesian Layer Cake is sold throughout Kuching. It takes hours to make each cake and comes in an assortment of flavors- we visited one of the bakeries and sampled each flavor- sometimes twice. YUM.

 Here's the crew we spend three days with.. from left to right Humiera, Norseha, Sumayia, Fifi, Hisham, Effa, Feeka and Maya.

 We also visited the Fairy cave- the most amazing I have been in so far- so beautiful

Hisham and Norseha- we are waiting for the girls and to celebrate Feeka's 25th birthday. The seafood restaurant was huge- like a big market, but with large round tables, seating hundreds of people. To prepare for the next round of customers, the table clothes are gathered up (with all the dirty dishes still on the table), a new tablecloth spread out and more patrons seated.

 At Norseha's mom's house- also, her brother, sister-in-law and new baby live there.

Our farewell dinner at Norseha's house- the girls dressed up in matching Sarong's that Norseha had purchased in the market that day.